Since I wrote
last, it’s been a pretty eventful birthday and anniversary month with my
birthday on 10/19, my Dad’s heavenly birthday on 10/21, granddaughter Daisy’s
birthday on 10/28, and Levi’s birthday and Carissa and Matt’s 3rd anniversary
on 11/14. I’ll never forget Carissa bringing out a birthday cupcake for
Levi at her wedding reception—a sweet moment between my first and last born
children, pun intended.
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| Levi blowing out the candles on his birthday dessert with help from his nieces Alma and Hazel |
Our pastor has
been preaching a series on prayer lately, so when I was asked to do special
music on 10/21, I thought the classic Lord’s Prayer would fit well. God got
me through it as I was at the tickly throat stage of a cold at the time, but it
went well, I thought.
My exciting
news is that I’ve started in a barbershop quartet with three other guys from my
chorus. Marty sings lead, Rob sings tenor, Bryan sings bass, and I sing
baritone. So far, we’ve just been picking the songs we want to learn and
starting to learn them. It will probably be after the holidays before we
actually perform anywhere, but it’s exciting for me anyway.
Now that Cai
and Amy have established a home of their own, they’ve been encouraging us to
come visit them. So, we took another quick trip down to the Philadelphia
area on 10/26 – 28. We were able to spend pretty much the whole day that
Saturday at their house with them and the Wilkinsons (Carissa, Matt, and Ruby)
and Updegroves (Caitlin and Ben). We played games, ate delicious soup,
and just talked and enjoyed each other’s company. Saturday night some of
them came over to our hotel and played in the pool with us, then Sunday morning
we went to church with the Updegroves and Wilkinsons before heading back
home.
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| In the pool area of our hotel |
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| Ruby and Mommom playing |
I had some
vacation to use up from work and didn’t really have anywhere to go, so Krista
had the good idea to take time to just stay home and work on projects that I
never have time for. So, that’s what I did last week. I got some of
the garage cleaned out, our snowblower taken in for its winter preparation, and
some work done on the shelves for our downstairs. I didn’t get as much
done as I’d hoped, but at least some progress was made. The other benefit
was I didn’t have to get up so early, and that always feels good.
Especially because I was able to watch all of the Seahawks triumph over the
Packers Thursday night without being so tired on Friday.
Saturday night
11/17, our local library (where Krista works) had a fund-raiser they call After
Hours. Hannah, Kevin, Ella, Cody, and I all went. Krista was there
too, but she was working/volunteering at it. They had a mystery for us to
solve that was a lot of fun, along with lots of delicious food. It was a
fun event, and Kevin and I each won a basket they raffled off. His was
Disney princess themed—since he has a young daughter, it was perfect!—and mine
had Buffalo Bills autographed pictures and Kentucky Fried Chicken gift cards
and swag—since I love to eat, it was perfect!
Yesterday our
church had our harvest dinner and 50th anniversary celebration. God has
blessed us with 50 years of ministry in the Brockport area, and we are blessed
to be used by Him to build His kingdom.
We finally got
our first significant snow last week, so that was another reason I was glad I
wasn’t getting up early to go to work. I would guess between two days of
snowing off and on that we got a total of 5 to 6 inches, so no big deal, but it
does show that the weather and season is changing.
As we prepare
to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, we are thankful that we know to Whom we
are thankful. We don’t just “give thanks” in some vague way. Rather
we thank the God of the Universe for loving us, creating us, and redeeming us
so we can have fellowship with Him and enjoy His blessings now and forever!
