More than a Reunion

Picture of the Day:
We visited Reunion Church, a church plant of Plainfield Christian Church, where Brian Lowery is the
pastor. He had a wonderful sermon, thought-provoking, original, challenging.
We had driven to Plainfield yesterday to spend the night with Wendy Wagoner. She cooked us a wonderful dinner, and then Todd and Lynn Dillon stopped by later for dessert. Always lots of laughs with the Dillons, accompanied by serious talk about important subjects--this time it was worship.
After church this morning, Brian joined us for brunch. We went to Stone Creek, and I think the vegetarian omelette was the best I've ever tasted.
My first reason to be there was to visit with Brian about an idea I have for Christian Standard. I'd like his help to create a new feature in the magazine, but we'll see if he decides he could take it on. I really hope so! It was wonderful to get acquainted with him and learn of his heart for ministry as we met for about an hour after lunch.
Evelyn and I talked with Wendy for a couple of hours after my meeting, and we were off for home by about 5:00.

Quote of the Day:
What if the very first message you received each day was from God's Word, instead of from Facebook or Twitter or the radio?
—Brian Lowery, in this morning's sermon

Between Trips

Thursday through Saturday Evelyn and I were at the International Conference on Missions in Indianapolis. I went up Thursday morning in time to present our new student subscription plan to the Christian college presidents meeting before the convention began. I'll need to do some serious follow-up with them, I believe, and that will start next week. Shawn McMullen and I set up and manned the 1-space-wide Standard Publishing booth, which received several comments for its modesty (small size and limited offerings). But I thought we made it look as nice as we could, and we DID get a lot of comments, talk with a lot of people, give away some door prizes, and distribute samplers for much of our curriculum, VBS, etc.

We put Lookouts and Christian Standards on all the main session seats before the Friday-night session. Four CCU students helped us, along with Todd and Lynn Dillon and Shawn's daughter, Kelsey. We treated all our workers to dinner as a thank-you. Evelyn posed with Kelsey after dinner before we returned to our respective booth duties and the main session.

Today I cleaned up details, handled correspondence, prepared copy for this week's e-newsletter, and wrote my column that will be posted at christianstandard.com Thursday. Tonight I paid bills. Tomorrow morning we'll be up and at 'em early, in time to pack and be on the road (hopefully) by 9 a.m. It's over the river and through the woods to the grandkids' house we'll go for a big Thanksgiving weekend back East.

Catching Up, Cleaning Up

I guess you could say I took a break from posting this weekend. I didn't really intend to do that, but the weekend was so busy I just didn't have time to write anything coherent.
And, even though the weekend was filled with activity, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures either. So I'll just have to draw some word pictures.
Friday evening I rushed home from work in time to gather up Evelyn and get to Wuskes after 6:00 for dinner. Todd and Lynn Dillon and Dave and Monica Roberson joined us at the rehabbed, remodeled home that has demanded the blood, sweat, tears, and mostly toil of Terry and Shirley since they moved in to this place this spring.
When we drove into the driveway and saw flower pots with asters and pansies greeting us at the door, when we stepped into their living room amid the glow of the lamps and looked around at the perfectly coordinated walls and drapes and upholstery, when we saw the dining room table set with fresh flowers and autumn-themed napkins and candle holders, we thought we were walking through the set for a magazine photo shoot. Everyone was gathered on their back porch and looking at their expansive, park-like back yard, and all of us agreed they're living in a green oasis in the middle of the city.
The ladies had brought salads, and Terry cooked giant hamburgers on the grill before Shirley topped them with a cheesy mushroom mix unlike any treat I've ever tasted before.
We laughed and talked till past 8:30 and then adjourned to our house for dessert and our overnighter.
We had bought pies from Graeter's, and we snuggled around our kitchen table enjoying Dutch apple or pumpkin (or both!) and decaf. The last person didn't shuffle off to bed till well after midnight.
The next morning the pajama party continued as the coffee pot started brewing by 7:30. Monica had brought a coffee cake, and Lynn brought a breakfast casserole to bake. Evelyn kept the coffee coming and made a big fruit salad. We ate and talked till after noon, and I had to leave the fun for a meeting at the church that kept me there from 1:00 till 5:00.
Evelyn made chicken salad, and the group enjoyed a bounteous lunch that also included fresh tomatoes, cranberry salad, leftovers from the night before, and mini croissants. But the Robersons and Dillons had left by the time I arrived back home.
We had planned to go to an International Fireworks competition at Coney Island that night. But 20 mph winds in a 50-degree evening were giving us second thoughts. And all of us, older people that we are, were feeling too tired for adventure. So we took the Wuskes home and grabbed some dinner at Panera before returning to their house to finish off the pies.
We left there by 9:00, I was in bed reading the Wall Street Journal by 9:45, and the lights were out by 10:15. We fell dead asleep, both of us, and it was wonderful!
Sunday Evelyn and I stood at the Welcome Center before and after first service, and then headed for home about 11:00. I took the car to get the oil changed, and then we had a wonderful lunch of leftover chicken salad and other delights from the Saturday lunch. I hauled hoses around the yard, trying to get some water on it since a lawn service had aerated the lawn and put down grass seed. In between watering, I brought the check book up-to-date, we had a nice phone visit with Jennifer, and I finished the PowerPoint for the sermon I'm preaching this week at Hope.
We ate a little snack and then drove over to Starbucks at Union Centre Blvd to visit with Bill and Verna Weber at 7:00. We hadn't seen them for at least two weeks, and we had a bunch of catching up to do. We left after 9:00 and headed home to finish getting ready for the next morning and the new week.
It was a full but rich weekend. We're so thankful to have friends who are so much fun while offering so much substance and interest to our lives.
I do have some pictures for this post, though. I'm keeping my word to show my office after the clean-up day Friday. One responder on Facebook said she thought my "before" pictures were the "after" shots. I hope no one things the true "after" pictures, below, should really be the "befores."
Think what you will, I hauled armload after armload out of that office to the recyling bins. We won't talk about what's in the file drawers (and the fact that I don't really know what all's in those file drawers). At least I cut through the clutter, put papers where I can find them easily again, and emptied up a bunch of desk space. (And, yes, the disinfectant wipes came in handy when I got down to those flat surfaces and realized how dirty they were!)