November 2018 Update

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.

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.

In the pool area of our hotel

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!