LAST Weekend

October was a busy month. And November has turned out that way, too. We were busy all day Saturday or the whole weekend every weekend, and I've been leading two small groups and attending a Tuesday morning (6:15 a.m.) "No Man Left Behind" group at church. I've posted a some pictures on Facebook without making comments or adding descriptions here. I have a "month at a glance" post in my head, but this will be "weekend at a glance" for LAST weekend! Yep, I started this blog post last Sunday and gave up, tired, before it was finished. Now, a week later, I'll finish it.
Last Friday evening we ate Mexican at El Rancho Grande and came home to watch a show or two we had been saving on the DVR. Saturday was a blessed day at home all day long--at least for me. I was up early to run to Kroger's to get the stuff Evelyn needed for supper. She put her casserole together (an old stand-by, Party Chicken), with instructions about temperature and time for be to get it started.
She and Tammy Weatherly drove to Louisville to attend the funeral service for the mother of a friend and former colleague, Carrie Birmingham. Evelyn taught with her years ago, before Carrie moved to California to teach at Pepperdine, and Tammy and Jon were friends and classmates.
Before she left I peeled and cut up a Crock Pot full of apples with a little brown sugar and cinnamon to make applesauce. It was finished about 3:00 in the afternoon.
While Evelyn was gone, I pulled up my zinnia bed and the tomato plants, dumped out most of the hanging baskets and patio pots, ran the lawn mower over the leafiest areas in the backyard to mulch the leaves, and planted a pot of bulbs that I hope will be glorious next spring. I put away the tomato stakes and all the empty pots, arranging it all in the garage.
I got the idea on the Internet for my bulb garden in a pot:
Fill a large pot with soil within about 11 inches from the top and plant a layer of late-blooming tulips.
Cover with dirt within about 6 inches from the top, plant a layer of daffodils.
Cover with dirt within about 3 inches from the top, and plant a layer of crocus. Finish covering the bulbs with dirt.
The idea is that the crocus will bloom first, and then the daffodils, and then the tulips, making a grand display of springtime color on the patio for several weeks. I hope it works.
I swept the deck, brought some of the deck furniture into the house, and arranged a few cool-hardy plants on the deck for a few more weeks of display before we have winter.

I had bought more bulbs than I could use, so I planted a tulip patch close to the driveway where we'll see them every day as we come and go.
 The air was cool, the sun was warm, and it was a wonderful day to get so much done.
I came inside, took a shower, and read a bit while waiting for Tammy and Evelyn to get back. They arrived here a bit later than they planned, but I had turned down the oven to delay the "done" time of the main dish. Evelyn threw some peas in a pot to cook and got the meal on the table quickly. We enjoyed visiting with Tammy for a couple of hours before Evelyn left to ride back home with her, where she'd left our car earlier in the day.
Sunday we were at the first service and then off to brunch and back home early. On the way home, we stopped at Home Depot and bought one more box of gutter guards, which I installed on the last quarter of the house in good time. Evelyn mowed while I worked, and then I finished mowing, edged, and blew off the driveway and sidewalks. I planted my leftover daffodils at the front of the house, looked at my watch, and saw 3:30. "Good, I thought, I still have some time left in the afternoon." When I came inside I realized I hadn't set back my watch (it was Time Change Sunday), and the time was only 2:30! Lots of time left.
So I cleaned up and then tackled a pile of filing that had accumulated over the last couple of months or longer. Not a favorite task, but it was very nice to have the time to tackle it.
Before it got dark, I took some pictures in the backyard. Our beautiful maple tree hadn't lost most of its leaves yet (this week it has), and the Knockout roses were still blooming profusely. It was a good weekend to be home, to be outside, and to be able to get so many jobs done.

Happy Boss's Day!

 

"I read your blog, and I think you had a good idea."
"A good idea?"
"Yeah, we should have a dinner for all of us who are STAYING at Standard Publishing."
Well, we didn't have a dinner at work today, but we did have fun! It's Boss's Day, and the good people in the editorial department got together to assemble a whole platform of goodies to celebrate.
People were talking all day about the sugar shot they got from the spread. There WERE a lot of donuts, cookies, and brownies. And they were WONderful!
But I did save the pie in my lunch to eat another day!

Matt Lockhart, Jon Underwood, and Carla Crane led the line for the goodies (top) after five of the bosses (including me, Shawn McMullen, and Lindsay Black) posed in front of the spread.

Another Good-bye

The buffet line of goodies filled tables on three sides of the room, and the big cake was on the fourth side. As I waited my turn to fill my plate from the Crock Pot creations, salads, snacks, and desserts, I said to a co-worker, "We need to plan a pitch-in for all of us who are STAYing!"
"That's a good idea," she agreed.
It seems we've had several goodie-laden send-offs for colleagues leaving for greener pastures. And more than one has left without a celebration.
Today we said good-bye to Bob Wallace who has worked in a variety of sales and marketing positions at Standard Publishing for, I think he said, 12 years. He's excited about his new position at Lifeway's headquarters in Nashville.
"Everyone there treated me so nice, even the HR department."
"They're big on their history. They have a whole section of one floor reproducing the founder's office."
"My boss has been so flexible with me. 'If you need to take a three-day weekend to get back home to  Cincinnati for your kids and do some work at home, that's no problem. If you need to come in late some Monday, that's no problem; just call me.'"
"They're very committed to family. My boss said you need special permission to work in the office after 5:30. The garage is locked and you need to go through channels to be allowed to stay. He said it's not worth it."
"They're all about the business, but there's a sense of mission you can feel in the meetings and conversations."
"They explained to me their two-year and five-year plans for the department where I'll be working."
I'm happy for him.
And for us who remain behind? I'm glad we have such good cooks and generous buffet contributors!

Meeting with the Stone-Campbell Dialogue

Drove home today from Indianapolis after attending the Stone-Campbell Dialogue meeting in Indianapolis starting Sunday afternoon. I always enjoy this opportunity to fellowship, worship, and learn with leaders from the Disciples of Christ, the a cappella churches of Christ, and friends from the Christian churches and churches of Christ.
This year we met at Allisonville Christian Church on the north side of Indy. Sunday afternoon's session consisted of three messages about the healing power of the Lord's Supper, followed by a fellowship meal hosted by the Allisonville congregation, and then a brief Communion service.
I suppose about 100-150 folks attended, with representatives from each of the three groups attending.
The local committee members that had planned the event were the speakers for the 4:30 session:

Kent Ellett, Speedway Church of Christ

Diane Spleth, Allisonville Christian Church

Mike Bowling, Englewood Christian Church

This is the beautiful Communion setting at the Allisonville church

Monday morning featured a challenging, convicting, and informing session on the theme of "Soul Repair" led by Rita Nakashima Brock, founding co-director of the Soul Repair Center, Brite Divinity School, Ft. Worth, Texas.

"Soul repair" refers to the task of helping soldiers (and others) who must do acts in war (or in some other line of duty) that contradict their moral or ethical values. Such men and women suffer from a condition called moral injury, which is a condition distinct from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr. Brock has written a book (Soul Repair), and I want to read it.

In the afternoon we reviewed the history of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue and considered options for its future. 

This morning we visited the Disciples Center in downtown Indianapolis, took a brief tour, enjoyed a Communion service together, and then were adjourned. 

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

We've been celebrating Evelyn's birthday since Wednesday night when the Coopers came for dinner and brought a gift for Evelyn and a candle for the chocolate chip cookies!

This morning we met Terry and Shirley at Half Day Cafe in Wyoming for a wonderful brunch.

Bill and Verna Weber are here tonight. Verna's been attending a conference in Cincinnati, and needs to go to Louisville for the NACC meeting Monday, so she's staying the weekend. We said, "Well, Bill should come over Saturday night, too, and we'll celebrate Evelyn's birthday." We've had a wonderful evening. They took us to dinner at Raja India in West Chester, and then we came home to have birthday cheesecake (from J. Annette's in Mason) and lots of laughs as well as serious talk about faith, the past, and the future. It's been great!

Sunday, Workday, Funday

We attended the 9:00 service this morning. Drew Sherman, minister at Compass Christian Church in Colleyville, Texas, was our guest speaker. He ministers where Trevor DeVage was associate for 11 years, and I know Trevor was delighted to be with him this weekend. We were pleased too, because he brought us a WONDERFUL sermon on the life of David, challenging us to allow ourselves to be used by God as David was.
We had breakfast at Marie's Scrambler. The food is fine, but in spite of the fact that the place is always packed, I just can't convince myself that it's a place I really like. It had been a long time since we'd been there, so I decided to give it another try, but my feelings about the place haven't changed.

The proof page for our November cover. Scott Ryan designed it, and
we think it will attract attention.

Mostly what I did this afternoon is read the proof for the November issue of Christian Standard, which goes to the printer Wednesday. For some reason, I've gotten a little behind this month; it's been awhile since I've read proof on a Sunday afternoon.
The November issue will center mainly on missions; we'll distribute it at ICOM in November. There's some really good stuff in it! :-)
I was at it from about 1:00 till about 5:00, with a nice break to talk with Geoff on the phone somewhere there in the middle. Jennifer called not long after I was finished, and we had a nice visit with her too. They're each involved in meaningful and important things. Geoff is editing his doctoral dissertation proposal down to the right word length before emailing it tonight. He and Lisa have found a new, larger apartment they'll move to on October 16. Matt and Jen are making final preparations for a 10-day trip to India to speak at a huge youth conference sponsored by Central India Christian Mission. They leave October 7.

Evelyn and I ate butternut squash soup from Costco for supper and watched the season premier of "60 Minutes." If we can stay awake, we'll watch PBS's "Foyle's War" at 9:00 before bedtime

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Weekends Are Made for This . . .

• Eating out (at a new Mexican place, Blue Agave beside LaRosa's in Tri-County for supper last night, [new for us, that is] and Bronte Bistro at Joseph-Beth Bookstore for brunch today).
• Running errands: Visits to Costco, Home Depot, Lowe's, the Apple Store, Staple's, and of course my favorite, Kroger's.
• Good times with friends: the Wuskes last night and Bill and Verna Weber and Paul and Sev Friskney today at brunch.
• Doing stuff we love: After Costco last night we picked up the Wuskes and drove to Newport on the Levee to hang out and see the fireworks after the Reds game. We stumbled into a big Oktoberfest celebration on the river bank below the stores at the Levee. We'd already eaten, so we passed up the goetta balls, brats with sauerkraut, and funnel cakes (although that last one really tempted me).
• Doing something on a lark: In addition to trying the Mexican restaurant when we'd really driven over there to eat at LaRosa's, we and the Wuskes decided to try the giant ferris wheel set up at the edge of Oktoberfest. It was a beautiful evening to see all the lights at the riverfront and feel the cool breeze.
• Laughing: with the Wuskes, and always with Sev Friskney and Verna Weber. The Webers, Friskneys, and Taylors used to get together every six weeks or so, but we hadn't been together since before school was out last spring. It was great to reconnect. And laugh. We sat at Bronte for at least 2 hours together.

On the way home, Evelyn and I decided just to stop at the Apple store and see what they're saying about iPhone 5s availability. The guy said a) they're getting new stock every evening, b) the online "order and pick up at the store" option had been disabled; maybe it would be reinstated this week, and c) if you show up at the store when they open, at 10 a.m. weekdays and Saturday, you'll have a pretty good chance of getting the phone you want. That's encouraging, because I thought with the hot interest in the new iPhones (9 million sold in the first weekend), maybe they'd be out of stock till next month or something. Also discouraging, though, because taking two hours on a work morning to drive down there, wait in line, and get the phones set up before driving back to work is almost impossible. We're thinking we'll be there when the store opens NEXT Saturday.

Another Meal

Had lunch with Trevor DeVage yesterday. (Mimi's serves a good soup and sandwich for lunch!) It was great catching him up on some details in my life and hearing him talk about progress and his vision for our church.
He mentioned my Sunday blog post, and as we talked I thought of another point to add to my rant.
The subject was "being fed vs. feeding yourself." And as we ate our tasty viddles, it dawned on me: "Some of the best meals I've eaten were when I was feeding someone else!" Lunch with customers or writers, a Saturday-night dinner with friends at our house, a holiday meal for our family. I always eat better when I'm feeding someone else. I invited Trevor to Mimi's, but I'd never grab lunch there by myself.
And I seldom learn the Bible better than when I'm preparing to teach a Bible lesson, lead a small group,  or prepare a sermon.
So here's another response to "I'm not being fed." Not only, "Pick up a fork and eat," but also, "Go prepare a meal for someone else."

Fed, but Not Enough

I had lunch at church today. Dale Reeves and Allison Rambo did a fine job offering training to small group (a.k.a. "Tribes") leaders at our church, and lunch was a part of the deal. (Side note, how great to have folks responsible for and helping adult discipleship/education/classes/small groups now!) They had box lunches from Honeybaked Ham, one of my favorite lunch spots (their cafe is just down the street from my office location), and I tried the chicken salad sandwich. Never had it before--it was great!

Dale had extra lunches on hand, and he was passing them out after the meeting. I brought two more
home, and Evelyn and I will have 'em for supper tomorrow night. So that means the church will have fed me TWICE this week! Sweet! And this in appreciation for doing a task I was already committed to.

But here's the thing. The church isn't feeding me all week. I spent about $100 at the grocery store yesterday, and Evelyn will probably hit Kroger's for some midweek fill-ins later. Not only that, but I also have money in my pocket for at least a couple lunches out this week. I'm making plans, investing resources, and looking forward to some fine meals Evelyn and I will provide for ourselves. After the church offered me a couple of box lunches, I figure the rest of my "three squares" are on my plate to provide.

Pretty obvious, right? Eating is my responsibility, not anyone else's. Preschoolers and invalids may depend on someone else to keep them fed, but I'm very pleased I'm not in either category. I feed myself. If I looked at my wife and said, "I'm not being fed," she'd probably tell me to pick up my fork or get off my duff and open the refrigerator.

Occasionally I don't eat enough for dinner, so I supplement with a bedtime snack. Sometimes I end up at a restaurant that doesn't please me and I decide not to go back. There's nothing wrong with deciding the dispenser of the food is not satisfying me. When that happens, I choose another menu. But I don't blame the cook. When it comes to being fed, I'm my own dietician.

Actually, there's nothing new about this. Maybe 20 or 30 years ago a preacher friend of mine was reflecting on the accusation he'd heard from some disgruntled church members. Their beef? "I'm not being fed."

Unfortunately, the complaint doesn't go away. But neither has the response. "If you're not being fed, go get something to eat!"

This is especially appropriate when the complainers are not new Christians, starving for truth, but experienced believers with a finely developed appetite for what they do and don't like. I'm thinking of so many people I've encountered in the Two Thirds World eating little or the the same something day after day. I imagine them standing with a sack of White Castles in their hand, taking a bite of the oniony  bullets, making a face, and saying to their benefactor: "I'm not being fed." I don't think so. Hungry people relish whatever's put before them.

I have lots of concerns about my spiritual diet. I don't know the Bible as well as I wish I did. I don't read as much of it each week as I think I ought. I pray, but I want to pray more. I study, but each lesson reminds me how much I still need to learn. I eat, but not enough.

And I know whatever the church serves for an hour on  Sunday cannot be anything more than an appetizer or, if done really well, a cooking lesson.

I'm grateful for the lunch the church served today. Delighted for the leftovers to enjoy tomorrow. But the church did not feed me enough this week. And it never will. And it never should.

A Saturday at Home

Woke before 7:00 and padded out to the living room about 10 minutes before Evelyn was up. It was gray and rainy outside, and we stayed inside reading and eventually eating some coffee cake and peaches for breakfast. Wendy had said she could Skype "later morning" for us, so I went to the grocery store about 9:00 since it was chilly and damp outside but the promise was for a pretty day in the afternoon.
We talked to Wendy for 90 minutes or more. She told us the harrowing (that's actually not too strong a word for it) story of her tending to the delivery and ultimately (after more than 24 hours of labor) Caesarean birth to a minister's wife who had come to the center with him for the current training session. Wendy was up and working for 30 or 36 hours. Evelyn and I were talking about it at supper, and we agreed, "Only God and adrenaline gave her the ability to do that, because she just isn't a stay-up-all-night kind of girl."
We ate after we talked with her and then headed outside to clean the garage. I love the kind of day when you can jump into a project and work at it for as long as it takes, without worrying about a time deadline or a schedule. Evelyn and I spent the rest of the afternoon working in the garage--I hosed off my potter's bench and a set of plastic bins/shelves, rearranged all the stuff on the utility shelves, helped Evelyn decide where to put what in the white cabinets and what could be donated or thrown away. Evelyn swept and Shop-Vac'd the whole floor, and since the Shop-Vac was out, I swept out my car and then washed the windshield and back window in and out. It was cool outside, but the sun was warm. It was a great day to do this work, and I feel really good about it.
After a shower, I cooked some hamburgers on the grill, and Evelyn made cole slaw and heated up a can of Bush's baked beans. It has been a good Saturday! We're adjourning to the family room to watch a movie before we go to bed.

Before

After--actually the picture doesn't really show
how much better this looks!

21st Century, Here We Come!

I decided we would take a plunge into the 21st century and get iPhones. Our current cell phone contract has expired, so we can change with no penalty.
I decided we should get the 5s model, better in every way than the 5c, but the 5s couldn't be preordered.
We decided we'd go to the Apple store during suppertime when maybe the line wouldn't be long. It wasn't long, but by the time we got there, all the Verizon 5s's for that store had been sold.
"You can order them online," the polite young fellow in the blue shirt said.
We ate supper at Cheesecake Factory (a couple of delectable dishes from the "Skinnylicious" menu--and we resisted the urge to get cheesecake for dessert), shopped the sale at Dillard's (Evelyn found some shoes at a great price), and then headed home through a driving rain to watch an old movie we had recorded months ago.
Before we fired up the television, I went online to order our phones. But the online Apple store will allow a person to order only one phone at a time. Only when it is delivered (in 7-10 business days) and activated can the second phone be purchased.
That won't work for us.
So we'll keep checking the Apple store every other day this week to see when their additional stock gets in.
21st century--we'll be there soon. We just don't know when.

Four Issues

It dawned on me this evening that I've been working on three issues of Christian Standard all at the same time, with a fourth one in process.
I'm reading (i.e., editing) the December issue. The theme is incarnation, and we have three really good theological articles, one each from Matt Proctor, Miriam Perkins, and Jon Weatherly. They're so good, I wish I could share 'em now! The cover for this issue is coming from Plain Joe Studios, and we expect to see it soon. We'll meet with Scott Ryan a week from tomorrow to agree on illustrations/graphics for the rest of the issue.  It goes to the printer the first week in November.
Meanwhile, I've been assigning material for the February issue. The theme is "How to Teach the Bible in a Biblically Illiterate Age." The deadline is November 1, and I still have a couple of pieces to assign and a couple of assigned pieces to verify. It goes to the printer the first week in January.
At the same time, Jim Nieman is completing the layout for the November issue. I'll read proof on it next week, write the editorial for that issue, and we'll show it to Scott Ryan for suggestions/tweaks on the layout. It goes to the printer the first week in October, just about the time the January issue's pieces are due. That's the fourth issue, although we're not really doing much with it this week.
It all sounds a bit confusing, I guess, and I must admit when Jim asks me a question about one issue just as I've answered an email about another, it's easy for me to get them mixed up.

Evelyn asked, "Do you really think anyone cares that we had
Peanut Butter 'n Chip ice cream  tonight?"
"No," I answered.

Whining from a Night Person

Our Thursday group is doing a three-week study on prayer that I developed in anticipation of
participating in an all-church study October and November.

This week I'm beginning a regimen of getting up by or before 5:00 a.m. to be at the church by or just
after 6:00 a.m. TWICE each week.
Some observers might think I've chosen this plan because I am a morning person. I AM NOT.
For some time now (how many years has it been?), I've met with a circle of guys on Thursday mornings for Bible study. That is continuing this year. Tomorrow will be the third Thursday we've met this September as we're starting a new school year. We meet at 6:00 a.m. and finish shortly after 7:00 so everyone can get to work.
A few weeks ago Jim Baird asked me to participate in a study they've been offering to men in the church: "No Man Left Behind," a course about how to disciple men. Dale Reeves suggested to him that he ask me. It's meeting on Tuesday mornings at 6:15, I think for eight weeks.
So twice each week I'm setting out all my clothes the night before and making sure my briefcase is packed and easy to find, sliding my change and phone and keys onto the bathroom counter so I won't have to hunt for them in the dark in the bedroom, and aiming for bed by 10:00 p.m. so I can get up around 5:00 (actually on Thursdays I set the alarm for 4:50!). The goal is to slip out of bed, close the bathroom door in the dark before turning on the light, opening and closing cabinets and drawers as quietly as possible--all in an effort not to wake Evelyn.
She, by the way, IS a morning person, and also a very light sleeper. And now in this first semester of her retirement, she has me bumbling around at least an hour before she would normally get up (and at least 90 minutes or more before I would prefer to).
I need to commit myself to seeing some growth happening in me in exchange for these upsets to my natural body rhythm. :-)

Weekend Update

Friday night we went to see A Strange Brand of Happy, Joe Boyd's new movie, with Terry and Shirley Wuske and enjoyed dinner with them at Red Robin afterwards.

Our granddaughter, Nina, decorated this pot as a Christmas
gift last year. It looks nice with a pretty yellow mum
to decorate our deck this autumn.

Saturday morning I cut grass, trimmed bushes, edged the front lawn, watered, fed, and rearranged flower pots, and made a bouquet of zinnias for the kitchen table.
I took my shower at noon and was dressed just in time to help Evelyn finish up lunch for Byron and Katie Cartwright,
who were in town for a conference last week at CCU. They arrived about 1 and spent overnight with us. We laughed, ate, talked, and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with them. They took us to dinner at Wild Ginger in Hyde Park Saturday night, and we capped off the evening with ice cream at Graeter's (on Hyde Park Square). The evening was cool, and we were almost shivering as we finished off our ice cream outside and hurried back to the car.
I was "hosting" in both chapel services Sunday morning, and Evelyn attended the 9:00 service in the worship center. So we met at Panera's for lunch. As soon as I was home and had changed clothes, I started on a list of more yard work. Finished trimming the bushes in front of the house, mowed down the fading patch of black-eyed Susans, watered plants again, and repotted some maroon shamrocks that had gotten water-logged and wilty on the deck. Then a trip to the store before chicken tacos while we watched the evening news.
It was a full weekend, remarkably productive while also making time for lifelong friends and meaningful worship. The beautiful sunshine, dry air, and cool temperatures just added to the blessing of it all.

Another Good-bye

We've been having hot, hazy weather this week, and the rising sun has been beautiful every morning on the way to work. I stopped in the church parking lot to try to capture it today. It was prettier than this, but this will help me remember it.

Today we had another going-away party. Joann VanMeter decided to retire (I think she had toyed with the idea for some time), and we had a surprise farewell lunch for her today at noon. Matt Lockhart expressed the company's appreciation for her 14 years (I think that's the right number) of service, most recently (and most valuably) as our rights and permissions manager. Her skill and knowledge of the whole rights scene has grown with her years of experience. That, plus her knowledge and concern for our customers and contributors and her warm personality and ready laugh all combine to make us very sorry she's leaving.
But she's not the only one to go. A week ago Friday I treated the Magazines staff to lunch so that Shawn McMullen could tell them that he's been recommended by the elders of Lifespring Christian Church to become their senior minister. He'll preach trial sermons at Lifespring's various campuses this month, and if the elders' call is confirmed September 29, he'll begin at Lifespring November 1.

This follows a summer in which we lost Jared Alexander, Robb Faust, Zach Davis, Valaira Hoskins, and a couple of others I didn't know as well and whose names I've forgotten.
Someone came by my desk after lunch today, "You're not planning on leaving, are you?"
"Not planning on it," I said.

Weekend Update

This daily diary is turning into a weekly (or less) update! Let me record our activities at least for last weekend.
Friday Evelyn and I went to Relish Modern Tapas for a wonderful supper. We tried a couple of their larger portions, main dishes (she the fish tacos, I the salmon) along with hummus and pita bread and later some lettuce wraps filled with quinoa salad. Very yummy, and different from the usual and mainstream. Then we hopped across the street to the Regal Cinemas to see Lee Daniels' the Butler. Our verdict: the acting was superb, especially by Oprah and Forrest Whitaker, despite the much-publicized departures from actual history. We enjoyed it.
Saturday I was at the BMV at 8:05 to get new plates for my car. I stood in four lines throughout the morning and was finally out of there by sometime after 10:00. Line one: to pay the sales tax and transfer the title. But that can't be done until the folks next door do a VIN check. Line two: Grab my number out of the machine--I was 31, and they were serving number 2--sit and read the newspaper till I'm called to do my VIN check. Line 3: take the VIN check form back to the title transfer lady, pay the sales taxes (the second largest check I've written this year), and get my Ohio Title. Line 4: go to the Returning Customers counter where I am called ahead of all the people in the room with numbers and escorted to the counter where I can buy new plates.
I stopped to buy two new tires for the car (the rear tires were waffled and wobbly-sounding) and had just enough time to stop at Auto Zone to buy bolts to attach the plates to the front (I bought the car in Kentucky, where they don't require front plates) and browse the garden section at Wal-Mart.
Then off to lunch with Dave Faust to brainstorm with him some ideas for replacing Shawn McMullen who plans to leave the editorship of The Lookout to become senior minister at Lifespring Christian Church.
I paid bills and cleaned out a drawer in the afternoon after I finally got home. (Dave and I enjoyed a LONG lunch at Seasons 52, a place I definitely want to return to!) Then we had a pleasant and fun evening with Terry and Shirley Wuske at their place. They fixed a steak on the grill and we ate on their patio adjacent to their spacious, park-like backyard. Brandon was in for the day, and we enjoyed visiting with him too.
Terry drilled holes in my front bumper, and we installed my shiny, new Ohio license plates.

Sunday was worship at the 9:00 service, breakfast at Cracker Barrel, Skyping with Wendy, a trip to the grocery store followed by my daily watering, some desk work inside (wrote a draft of my column that goes live Tuesday--tomorrow--morning at ChristianStandard.com), chicken tacos and some TV in the evening. A pleasant day!

Sundays With Friends

This Sunday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and fun celebration with Kay and Fred Freeberg, two former neighbors who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The party was at Jag's Steak and Seafood Restaurant, a great place not far from home in West Chester. I've often thought about visiting there, and this was the perfect opportunity.
The food was wonderful. We had great fun visiting not only with Kay and Fred, but their kids Kathy and Rob, their kids spouses, and other former Pheasant Hill Drive neighbors Gayle and Glenda Mulberry.
The thing is, we had attended the Mulberry's 50th wedding anniversary celebration just three weeks earlier. Their party was at Parkers Blue Ash Tavern, another fine restaurant in our area, with equally excellent food and a great time of visiting. We visited across the table with the Freebergs at the Mulberry party and with the Mulberrys at the Freeberg's party. Two great meals and two fine times of catching up with former neighbors and friends.

I didn't get the best pictures of Kay and Fred at their party. These were taken as they were speaking at the end of the evening after all the tributes, memories, and a Jeopardy-style guessing game.

 The better picture of Kay and Fred was at the Mulberry's party.

And I snapped a picture of the Mulberrys that night too.

Faithful for a Lifetime

Evelyn and I drove to E91 Church in Indy today to attend the celebration for John and Joyce Samples, honoring John's 50 years in ministry and retirement (just a few days short of his 80th birthday). It was a wonderful time, full of funny stories and touching tributes—laughter and tears.
Rick Grover, minister, said he had lunch with John earlier this week, and John said, "It's hard to be given so much attention for doing something you love."
Early in his ministry as senior pastor at E91, Dave Faust called John to serve there as seniors minister after John retired from his role as director of Christian ministry at Standard Publishing. Dave said someone told him, "If you didn't do anything else right in your ministry here, you did a good thing when you brought John to E91."

The 75-minute program included moving testimonies from John's family--son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. It was a challenge to all of us to remain faithful for a lifetime.
Evelyn and I had a great time at the packed reception. We got to visit with Roy and Joy Lawson, Mike and Linda Sweeney, Betty Aldridge, Mike Berry, Dave Smith, and others.

We were home by 7:15, and I watered plants while Evelyn collected the mail from the neighbor and began getting the house back to normal after our week of vacation in Montana. 

We ate popcorn for supper and found the season premier of "Duck Dynasty" to watch while we munched before calling it a day.

Returning From Montana

I wrote this from the middle seat of our flight from Bozeman, Montana, to Denver, and now that I’ve made the happy discovery of free Wi-Fi at DEN, I get to post it.

We’re returning home after a fine week visiting Ken and Susan Aulen (Evelyn’s brother) at their second home in Big Sky, Montana. The week has included

• ·      two hikes (the most difficult and the second most difficult I’ve ever taken);
• ·      two trips through Yellowstone National Forest;
• ·      picture-taking of multicolored mountain cliffs, pine-covered mountainsides, rushing mountain rivers with their spectacular waterfalls, unique mountain wildflowers, and magnificent mountain animals (bison, elk, a baldheaded eagle, and even a chipmunk);
• ·      great food at local restaurants and cooked at home by Evelyn and Ken and Susan;
• ·      learning a new game I want to get sometime before Christmas (“Wits and Wagers”); and
• ·      exploring two quaint Montana mountain towns (Cooke Cit, and Red Lodge).

Ken and Susan have a large and comfortable condo, which served as the base for our daytrips and one

overnight trip. They enjoyed showing us around the spacious ski resort at Big Sky where they live and work every winter. And we enjoyed the extended time with them—our longest time together since I can remember.

They are good and gracious people, and our week was punctuated by lots of laughter and long conversations about where life has taken us and what might be ahead.

Our flight today is part of the price we’re paying for this week discovering unique vistas and adventures unlike anything or anyplace we’ve experienced before. We travel Frontier from Bozeman to Denver and then wait three hours before boarding the longer flight from Denver to Cincinnati, scheduled to arrive at CVG after 11:30 p.m. One consolation: the arrival time will be only 9:30 on our bodies, which now are acclimated to Mountain Time. But Sunday morning will come soon, followed right away by a full work week.

We’ve never before taken three weeks-plus of traveling vacation time in one year. (We cruised around Italy and Greece early in June.) My vacation days are all spent, except for one or two at Thanksgiving and three or four at Christmas. But we have lots of memories (and pictures—I WILL post a bunch on Facebook!) in exchange for what we’ve spent, and I’m very grateful for it all.

Montana Vistas

Saturday we flew to Bozeman, Montana, for a week's visit with Ken and Susan Aulen (Evelyn's brother) at their condo adjacent to the Big Sky ski resort. What beautiful country this is, and what wonderful tour hosts Ken and Susan are. 

Sunday we visited Yellowstone National Park, enjoying several scenic stops and seeing the most famous tourist site, Old Faithful. Actually, we hiked a half mile to an observation point above the geyser, for a view not many enjoy. Then, after hiking back down, walking over to the Yellowstone Lodge (fantastic rustic interior) and enjoying moose tracks ice cream, we walked back to Old Faithful and saw her erupt from our seat with the other tourists at ground level.

The park is full of geysers and other unusual geologic phenomena, including “Paint Pots,” which I don’t understand and can’t explain!

A highlight was hiking along the Yellowstone River, viewing two huge waterfalls, and standing stunned at the canyon walls on either side of the river, dubbed (for good reason) as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Dinner was at Bullwinkle’s in West Yellowstone.

Yesterday we hiked to Lava Lake, “one of the most popular trails” in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, and probably the most difficult hike I’ve ever completed. Rated “moderately difficult,” the hike is an almost constant ascent of 1600 feet across three miles of boulder-strewn, sometimes boulder-covered dirt trail.

We were shaded by a forest of 12-story-tall lodge pole pines, accompanied by the melody of a river rushing down the mountain, often walking past hedges of some unnamed wild berries just now starting to ripen to a raspberry red.

We were rewarded at the top by access to Lava Lake, a shimmering blue beauty surrounded by pines and auto-sized boulders. We found several places to rest and soak up the serenity and enjoy our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chips, and peanut butter cookies. Protein bars and miniature Butterfingers gave us energy on the trail both climbing and descending the mountain.

My aching legs and hips were weak and rubbery by the time I had finished the hike back to the bottom. I was somewhat consoled this morning by the fact that the other three in our quartet were still speaking of their sore muscles.

Ken fixed shrimp on the grill, and we enjoyed dinner in Ken and Susan’s comfortable condo.

All these pictures and more are (or soon will be) in an album on my Facebook page.