Fall hasn’t
quite fallen around here yet. We’re enjoying a week of summer-like
temperatures in the 80s, but reality is forecast to return on Sunday.
Krista and I
celebrated 35 years of wedded bliss on 8/22. We started our fun by going
on a long bike ride on the canal path from our house all the way out to
Greece. No, not the country--that would have been a REALLY long
ride. Greece is a town west of Rochester. We figured out the ride
was about 17.5 miles. Ella brought our car out to us there, and we drove
back. Then we went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse (great steaks!), and
then finished our festivities by seeing the movie “Max” about a war dog.
I highly recommend the movie!
On 8/23 I
remembered that my Mom was born 87 years ago. In our church that day, it
was our Senior Pastor’s last day with us. He is moving to a resident
chaplaincy in Kansas City, Kansas, for a year, and then he and his family are
moving to northeastern Pennsylvania to be near their families. We have
been greatly blessed and encouraged by their ministry at our church for the
past nine years. Please pray for us during this transition time:
for our Associate Pastor Matt who is now our Interim Pastor and assuming all of
the pastoral responsibilities, for our Deacons and Trustees, and for our
Pastoral Search Team.
On 8/29, Levi
and I took Cai back to Cairn University for the school year. Cai must
really love school because he was very excited about getting back there.
I’m sure the fact that his girlfriend, Amy, is there had nothing to do with his
excitement. The nice part for me was two-fold. One, I got to eat
lunch at Chick-Fil-A, which I love, but unfortunately there are none of their
restaurants near where I live. Two, was my good friend and former
co-worker, Jeremy, met me at Chick-Fil-A! We got to spend way too little
time together there before I had to leave for the long trip home, but it was so
good to see him again.
On 9/1,
Krista and I and Pastor Matt and his wife, Stephanie, went to Hannah and
Kevin’s house for dinner. Kevin made beef wellington, mashed potatoes,
roasted brussel sprouts, and more that I’m not remembering. Kevin said he
was embarrassed. He said the meat was overcooked, the potatoes were
bland, and the brussel sprouts were burned. Do you want to know what bugs
me? It bugs me when people are so much better than me at something, and
do an amazing job at it, then further distance themselves from me by saying
something that blew me away was a poor effort on their part. Let me make
this clear: I do not like brussel sprouts. They are an abomination to
me, and I never eat them if I can help it. To be polite to my son-in-law,
I took some of his. Then I took more. They were so good!! And
the rest of the meal was so good I went home very uncomfortable from how much I
ate, but I would gladly do it again. Hey, maybe I should agree with him
that it wasn’t very good and encourage him to try it again on us until he can
get it right. I wonder how often he’ll believe me that it wasn’t good
when I stuff myself silly.
Speaking of
Hannah and Kevin, please keep them in your prayers as their baby is due any day
now. Lord willing, I will announce a new granddaughter to you in my
October update.
Every year my
company does health screenings in preparation for our benefits selection.
For the last two years, my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers weren’t very
good. I’ve been trying to eat better and relax more when I go to get
tested, and it seems to have worked. I don’t have my cholesterol numbers
yet for this year, but my blood pressure was back in the normal range. I
thank God for the generally good health I enjoy!
We spent our
Labor Day laboring. No, not Hannah—she’s still waiting for her baby, I
just said. Pay attention! I just meant we spent it doing chores
around our house: cleaning out gutters, getting cobwebs off the house,
and stuff like that. Everything seems a little foggy when you’re my age,
so I don’t remember getting together or eating fun foods, but I’m sure we
did. Because we always do.
My
son-in-law, Mat, celebrated his birthday on 9/12. I won’t say how old he
is, but it rhymes with mirty.
Football is
back! The Bills opened their season with a dominating win over the
Colts. The Seahawks opened their season by giving away a game to the
Rams. Let’s hope the Bills continue their trend and the Seahawks stop
theirs immediately!
On 9/15, I
remembered that my Dad was born 87 years ago. Also that day, Zach and
Levi both played their first official game with their soccer teams. I
mentioned last month that Zach was playing with a local Christian school, but I
didn’t mention that Levi is too, on a younger co-ed team. They’ve both
played a couple games and seem to be enjoying it. I got to go to part of
another of Levi’s games yesterday, and it was fun to see him playing.
Yesterday’s game was actually against the school where his cousin, Deborah,
plays, so that made it even more fun to see them battling each other. You
will notice I’m not mentioning the outcome of their games. Draw your own
conclusions. Tonight Zach’s team is playing against the alumni and parents.
I plan on playing if Krista will let me. I’m glad I’ll have a couple of
days to recover.
Our Awana
year got started this past Wednesday. I’m helping in T&T boys again
(3rd – 6th grade). It is shocking to me that my youngest child, Levi, is
the only one left in T&T. My baby girl, Jemmie, is in 7th grade now
and has moved to Trek (7th and 8th).
If you make
it your habit, which generally I would encourage, to go to the web version of
this update each month to see my cool pictures, I’m afraid you will be
disappointed this month. I am a failure as a photographer this
month. I looked, and I have exactly zero pictures. Maybe I can
include one my son-in-law, Kevin, sent me to help motivate the Bills for this
week’s contest against the Patriots.
Until
October!
