Feeding a Visitor

This little guy visited our deck, climbed up on the railing, and had some supper from our pot of parsley. I didn't know squirrels ATE parsley! Such taste!
We're having the first real heat wave of the summer, and it's late in the summer for it, seems to me. We're at the stage of the year when the annuals are looking leggy or heading toward death and I'm tired of watering and feeding and killing bugs. The heat doesn't make it any more pleasant or the health of the plants any more likely.
But we ARE getting a good crop of tomatoes this year; we've been eating them every night and usually at lunch too. And the last big holiday before Thanksgiving is coming this weekend. Those are all good things.
The progress I'm making at work is a good thing too. Spent quite a bit of time today working on
marketing or sales initiatives for Christian Standard or the Christian Standard app. That and correspondence and a long phone call with Roy Lawson (who has been one my most faithful counselors throughout much of my career) filled the day. I started a more complicated than usual editing project last thing Monday and left it spread out on my desk to finish first thing this morning. Didn't get to it all day.
Took a first look at the whole proof of our October issue, which goes to the printer next week. With the holiday Monday, I have quite a bit to accomplish the next three days.

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.