Happy Birthday, Diane!

There are at least two good things about birthdays. if you're in the right situation. If you're on Facebook, you get lots of greetings from all kinds of people you may not hear from any other time.
And if you're on the Magazines staff at Standard Publishing, you get free lunch with all your other co-workers at the place of your choice.
Today was Diane Jones-Dunham's birthday, and she chose a place new to her--and me! The Rusty Bucket on Mason-Montgomery Road. I was surprised at how good it was, and how hard it was to choose what I wanted from all the interesting possibilities on the menu.
Happy birthday, Diane! Today's celebration was the perfect proof of a truth we sometimes forget: "It's more blessed to give than to receive." I've received another great idea for where to take Evelyn for lunch on Sundays or dinner anytime! (Or dessert! I had a couple bites of that cookies and cream sundae Diane got free for being the birthday girl. Let's see . . . just six more months till mine!)

Our Autumn Weekend

"Let's get together this fall and do something to see the leaves," I suggested to Evelyn's brother and wife, Ken and Susan Aulen.
They called several weeks ago with an idea I hadn't anticipated. "Let's ride the Loveland Bike Trail." We agreed that this weekend would be the time.
Ken and Susan got here about 5:00 Friday. Wendy Wagoner had been here much of the afternoon, doing some work, using our copier, and visiting with  Evelyn. Evelyn decided to fix white chicken chili for dinner; Wendy had requested she make it at least one time before Wendy goes to Tanzania in January, and Friday night seemed like the right time.
It was a wonderful dinner. The soup is a favorite; we had plenty of good relishes to accompany it. And I stopped by Graeter's to pick up a dutch apple pie and cinnamon ice cream for dessert.
Wendy (and Milo!) left about 7:30, but we enjoyed staying up and catching up with Ken and Susan.
The next morning Evelyn had pumpkin muffins, apple butter, fruit, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We needed to eat hearty before our big day of exercise!
We got to the bike rental shop in Loveland after 10:30, and we were on our way after 11:00. Ken and
 Susan brought their bikes, and Evelyn and I rented ours.

It was a gray, chilly day. But the showers of the early morning had stopped by the time we were on the trail. But a breeze plus the wind chill of just riding the bikes made Evelyn wish she'd worn gloves and me happy I'd brought my ear  protection.
We rode 8.7 miles from Loveland to Milford, with a stop to rest our our legs and catch our breath (and eat granola bars and water) on the way. But even with the stop, we got there in about 90 minutes.

We rode and walked our bikes into Historic Milford (I didn't know there was a historic Milford!), and ate lunch at Padrinos on Main Street. Evelyn and I split a small pizza and a salad, and it was very good!
As it turns out, historic Milford has several little shops like you find in Waynesville or Lebanon, and we wandered through a few of them before taking out for the ride back to Loveland.
We had hoped the afternoon would get warmer, but it seemed to be getting chillier. We rode back with a couple of rest stops this time and made it to Loveland before 4:00—just before the rains came. We rode through steady rain in the car on the way home.

The trees are beautiful this year, but, oddly, not as pretty along the bike trail as some places in the neighborhoods we drive through every day.

We had about an hour to warm up and clean up before leaving for dinner. I had made reservations at Tellers in Hyde Park. It's a nice place, and we had a gift certificate and Groupon to use there. This was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a special dinner at a favorite place.
Evelyn and Susan had the salmon. Ken had the trout and shrimp. And I gave up the chance to eat healthy by ordering the pork shank. Oh, it was good--juicy, falling off the bone. Each couple shared a coffee creme brulee for dessert. We were full and happy.
We came home and visited for a couple of hours before giving up for the day.
At 6:30 Sunday morning, one of our smoke alarms started chirping, and we fumbled half asleep to try to figure out why, since Evelyn had replaced all the batteries in all the smoke alarms not long ago. I got the bright idea to push the "Test/Alarm" button on the errant device, which set of sirens, and a digital voice "Evacuate. Evacuate!" through every smoke alarm in the house (some time ago we upgraded to a system that connects all the alarms.) I was mortified, and  Evelyn went downstairs, where Ken and Susan had been sleeping, to tell them they did not need to evacuate!
I had planned to sleep till 7:00, but at 6:45 I gave up and headed to the bathroom to shave.
Sunday we enjoyed worship at 9:00 at Mason. Trevor DeVage's sermon was the wrap-up for our "I'm a Church Member." It was a nice challenge. "If you're a growing church member, you're a dying church member." Three attributes of a growing church member: He's serving, giving, and going. (I think I need to rethink all three in my life!)
I had received a gift card to Mimi's from the folks in my office for Boss's Day, so we used it to treat Ken and Susan to breakfast after church. They were on their way not too long after lunch, and Evelyn an I settled into an afternoon of errands: grocery, lawn mowing and other yard errands, checkbook updating, and assorted online visiting and task-completing.
We ate popcorn and leftover pie and ice cream for dinner while we watched 60 Minutes, Madame Secretary, and the episode of NCIS we had recorded last Monday.
It was a very pleasant autumn weekend. The weather was beautiful Friday and Sunday (not so much when we were out IN it all day Saturday!) . I'm guessing we won't have many more pretty weekends yet this year.

After a Long Weekend

Vacation: a break from work, at the end of which you're ready to get back to the job.
That's the way it's supposed to be, right, but as I crawled out of bed and drove to the office this morning, after a long weekend away, I wasn't quite ready to pick back up the routine.
But it wasn't long before I was feeling productive and satisfied again as I looked at the proof for the November issue (it looks good), handled correspondence, and made a decision about how to promote our app at the International Conference on Missions this November.
The highlight of the day, in many ways, was our birthday celebration with Lookout editor Kelly Carr. According to our tradition, she chose the place for lunch, and all of us enjoyed her choice, Mimi's.

We're having beautiful weather. Evelyn cut the back and side yards this afternoon, and I mowed the front, trimmed, and watered plants after work before supper.
I'm ready (I think!) to tackle a long list of tasks that need to be accomplished this week. After a good day of getting back into the routine, I need to be more productive tomorrow than I was today.

Weekends with Friends

I've been preoccupied or pooped, and the blog has suffered. But I want to remember how we spent the last two weekends.

The FOUR-Day Weekend: Labor Day

Our four-day weekend began Friday afternoon when Wendy Wagoner came to see us. She did laundry, and we ran out to supper, followed by a stop at the Cone on the way home.
Evelyn made pumpkin-pecan pancakes for breakfast, accompanied by a bowl of fresh blueberries and raspberries. Better than First Watch!
Saturday afternoon we mowed grass and I did some other yard work.

Then we got cleaned up and left home by 5:30 for dinner and a movie. I had a Groupon for Kenwood Theater, so we saw the film Boyhood after a delightful visit to Dewey's pizza, just a couple of doors away from the theater.

I'm glad I saw the movie, because it achieved something unique, filming the same cast each year for 12 years, with a script to portray the life of a boy from ages 6 to 18. The film was well-acted, I guess, and the premise was unique enough to keep us watching. But I'm not sure I'd go so far as to recommend it. 

For one thing, there's a lot of rough language, especially in one particular scene featuring a circle of teenage boys trying to impress each other with how crass they could be. I'm not a prude about such things, but it did get wince-worthy more than once. 

And then there was the message of the film. Or the lack thereof. The main characters in the movie lived generally hopeless lives, battered by their poor decisions and those of others around them. I figure it's very true-to-life, at least life as many people live it, and so I guess I should say, "See the movie and then go love your neighbor." But many of the non-Christians I know aren't as messed up as these folks were.

Sunday I led worship in the Classic Service and was really blessed to get to do so. Not only by the chance to plan it and recruit a couple of volunteers to take a special part in it, but also by Trevor DeVage's hope-inspiring sermon about Heaven, the last in our 31-week journey through The Story.

Sunday evening we met Dave and Carol Ray for supper at First Watch. We met at 5:00 and had to be kicked out when the store closed (early on Sundays) at 8:00. We stood on the sidewalk and parking lot still talking till after dark, and then a young, thin woman accosted us with a long story about being pregnant and kicked out of the house where she lived and she could stay at the Days Inn for $52, but she had only $24 and she swore she wasn't lying and she really didn't want to lose this baby and could we please help her. Evelyn and Dave and I gave her cash, and on the way home I think we all had "buyer's remorse." One side of me wished we had offered to follow her to the Day's Inn and pay for her room for her. I wonder if she would have let us.

Monday was a rainy day and a quiet day around the house. Jennifer called us late in the afternoon (a nice visit!), and by then it was raining steadily off and on. Instead of cooking on the grill as we had planned, we ran to El Rancho Grande for a quick Mexican fix. I was surprised to see a big crowd there on a holiday evening.

The plants always look prettiest in the morning. The light rain made them seem even healthier.
By Labor Day some years, the pot garden is looking pretty scraggly. But I was taken by how
nice it looked this year, first thing, on Labor Day morning.

Last Weekend: Road Trip
Once or twice or three times every year we get together with Todd and Lyn Dillon and Terry and Shirley Wuske, usually spending overnight Friday at one of our homes. This weekend we picked up Wuskes at 4:00 on Friday and headed to Dillons' place in Plainfield, Indiana. (I took off the whole afternoon so Evelyn and I could enjoy a long lunch with Bob and Sue Willson who were in town for a quick visit. We sat at McAllister's with them for at least 90 minutes.)
Todd and Lyn are the consummate hosts, and we couldn't have enjoyed more sitting around their table with them Friday night. Lyn said she bought all the food already prepared, and it was yummy. The laughter and the talking were even better.
We chose this weekend for the visit because Saturday was the Penrod Arts Fair, a one-of-a-kind event meeting on several acres of the grounds surrounding the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It is a juried show. The presenters of painting, pottery, leather work, metalwork, leaded glass, woodwork, handmade jewelry, and more are all top-quality. Add three areas of eclectic food offerings plus several performance stages featuring everything from bluegrass to ballet and you have a day more than worth the $15 admission--especially when you can browse the grassy aisles with good friends. (We arrived midmorning after enjoying breakfast treats--yogurt parfaits created by Shirley and homemade cinnamon rolls baked by Evelyn--along with healthy portions of coffee and conversation.)
Actually the grass turned to mud in several spots, because it rained hard overnight and drizzled off and on all morning. We wore long sleeves and carried umbrellas (we only actually used them a little), and weren't daunted at all by the weather. Actually it was nice to have a cooler day without beating sun.
We were back at Dillons for a wonderful supper of cauliflower soup and chicken salad croissants. It was pleasant to enjoy the meal on their screened-in back porch, and again the good food was enhanced by the good conversation.

It's wonderful to be able to laugh hysterically as well as talk about deep issues that concern us, all with the same group. It's an experience that provides encouragement and accountability, a sharing of Christian fellowship that can't be manufactured or programmed.
We left after 8:00, drove to Wuske's house to pick up our car and were home well before midnight. It was a short night because Evelyn and I had volunteered to be at the new Starting Point (replacement for the old Welcome Center) for its trial run at 8:30 Sunday morning.
Sunday afternoon included grocery shopping, bill paying, and a nice phone visit with Geoff.
Two great weekends--too nice to forget.

This Week at a Glance

This is becoming my weekly instead of my daily diary, but I'm determined not to just let it go. A few things to record from this week:

Made some progress at work: planning/editing the November issue, consulting with Jim Nieman about layout and design options for the October issue. Spent quite a bit of time emailing and on the phone to nail down plans for the Stone-Campbell Dialogue meeting that will happen this year in Abilene in October. (Evelyn and I are planning a nice dinner out the weekend before her birthday, because I'll be in Texas on her birthday.) Did some work toward further marketing of the Christian Standard app and its digital editions. As of today, close to 1,300 people have downloaded the app and close to 100 have actually paid to read the magazine via the app. That's gratifying; the numbers grow every day. But the progress seems slow to me.

Thursday Paul Williams was in the office for our last official meeting together. His contract as consultant with Christian Standard ends in August. It was a productive meeting, a nostalgic meeting, a meeting with blessings (Paul has always shed light on my path), ultimately a difficult meeting. I will truly miss all the insight and ideas he's shared to help make Christian Standard what it has become.

Friday I had a great lunch with Dave Lautzenheiser; talked over my plan for the worship service August 31. He asked me to lead in the Classic service, because he plans to be out of town that weekend.

The weather has been hot and dry, at least it was till the end of the week when we had a couple of rip-roarin' thunderstorms overnight a couple of nights. I had thought maybe I'd come home from work Friday to cut grass, but Evelyn decided (and I agreed) it was just too hot! So on an impulse we called Terry and Shirley Wuske and invited them to share dinner with us at LaRosa's (our treat)—just for the fun of it and to celebrate the new half-time development position Terry began with Grundy Mountain Mission last week. He'll do a fine job, and he can do it from Cincinnati! So they won't have to move, and we won't have to tell them good-bye. We adjourned to our place after spaghetti and hoagies to finish off a peach pie Evelyn had baked earlier in the week (with peaches we had bought in Amish country). We really enjoyed the spontaneous evening together.

Saturday night Paul and Sev Friskney came for dinner. We hadn't visited with them all summer, and it was good to laugh and catch up. We had typical picnic fare: hamburgers on the grill, baked beans, cole slaw, and Evelyn's potato salad. She made a Rice Chex ice cream dessert that we used to serve every summer but hadn't had for years. It was a fine evening.

Brian preached in the gym, and those of us in the auditorium
enjoyed his sermon via the video feed.

We enjoyed being at church this morning. This was our regular Welcome Center Sunday, so we were there about 8:30. I had some contacts to make regarding that worship service next Sunday, and we enjoyed all the chatting and laughing we always enjoy with the extended time to see folks. Trevor had asked Brian Jobe to be guest preacher, and he had a fine sermon. I'm thinking I'll use his points as the jumping off point for my men's group Bible Study Thursday.

 After church Evelyn and I each had separate meetings to attend. Mark Senseman led a training meeting for people who have been serving at the Welcome Center; he announced and explained some exciting innovations and renovations coming to that whole ministry. Evelyn attended Mark's meeting while I attended training led by Dale Reeves for "tribe" leaders in anticipation of a new series kicking off September 7. Dale has done an excellent job getting all that ready. Evelyn attended training for women's Bible study leaders last Sunday at lunchtime, and she's at a women's kick-off event this evening (Sunday) for that whole emphasis. It's really great to see strategic plans, training, and fresh ideas from those leading the ministries we're involved in!

A Weekend in August

We ate dinner Saturday night with Bill and Verna Weber, Donovan and Jocelyn and Ruby and Nora, and the Webers' friends from South Africa, Phil and Irene Hughes.
The Hugheses had been visiting the Webers as a part of their four-month visit to the U.S. this summer. We had wanted to connect with Webers--we hadn't seen them since a couple of brief hellos at the NACC. They suggested we meet them on their way out of town (they had come to visit with Donovan's family for the day) and back home to Indy. So we drove over to the Bob Evans on North Bend Road and enjoyed a nice early supper with them.

"Thanks for coming over here to eat dinner with us," Verna said as we were breaking up.
"Hey, this is the high spot of our weekend," I said.
"Oh, I hope not!" Bill replied.
Well, maybe it was. But the whole weekend has been pleasant.
Friday we had a big night out with a Groupon-discounted dinner at Mimi's followed by frame shopping at Hobby Lobby.
Saturday I spent a couple hours weeding, trimming, and watering outside. I decided to take some flower pictures while I was working.. The pictures look better than the yard. We haven't had rain for quite awhile, and the grass is pretty brown.

Then I got a good start on my final batch of notes to folks to tell them about the Alaska trip we're helping host next summer.
After we got home from supper, we watched the latest Muppets movie via Movies on Demand from Time Warner.
Evelyn and I worked the Welcome Center at church, and she and I each had meetings at church at noon.
I went to the grocery on the way home and bought a can of soup to eat for lunch. Then I finished my Alaska invitations and took 'em to the post office late in the afternoon.
We had a nice talk with Jen on the phone after supper.
A simple weekend. A pleasant weekend.

Look What Was Waiting for Us When We Got Home . . .

We got home today from our visit to Amish country, and while I was filling the sprinkling cans to water the plants on the deck (they really needed the water), my eyes fell on our four tomato plants, laden with ripening fruit.
I picked the ripest. There's more out there waiting for us. Evelyn and I ate one of them for supper, and I'm taking some cherry tomatoes in my lunch tomorrow. The one we ate tonight tastes homegrown--I think we'll be tasting them every day for the next couple of weeks.
This morning up in Berlin we went food shopping--first at a country store where we picked up some South Carolina peaches (had one of those for supper too) and some Amish-made jelly. Then on to Heini's Cheese Castle. (Go ahead and make jokes about the name--we did!) We got some cheese spread and a few small blocks of cheese and threw it all in a cooler we had brought anticipating some food purchases.
We stopped for a late lunch in Grove City, OH and were home before 4:30. I (we) had plenty of time to tend to the yard, unpack, go through the mail, bring the checkbook up-to-date, clear out some of my work emails, and pay bills.
It was nice to be away. I'm ready to get back at the work ahead of me.

Blooming Possibilities

Believe it or not, these are Knockout roses. I've discovered if you catch them in bud, they look almost like tea roses in a bouquet. Of course, they're not as pretty after they open fully, but hey, with Knockouts, there are almost always more to pick in a couple of days.
The flowers are in preparation for an overnight visit from Wendy Wagoner tomorrow evening. And because we'll be busy with her then and with Dan and Cindi Cooper Wednesday evening (our weekly shared dinner and viewing of our favorite TV show, Major Crimes), I needed to prepare my Thursday-morning Bible study this evening. That Serendipity New Testament for Groups was my ally in this week's preparation.
Two outstanding events of the day: had lunch with Mark Haas, former art director at Standard, to catch up, hear about his work with Rebel Pilgrim Productions, and talk about our long list of shared concerns, friends, and interests. Was proud to show him our new digital edition available on our new app. Was glad to hear how fulfilled and challenged he is by his current work.
Later talked with Dave Empson who graciously allowed me to have a table/display at the upcoming International Conference on Missions in exchange for a free ad in Christian Standard. Marketing budgets have been cut (again) at Standard, and the new marketing director had decided Standard wouldn't be going to ICOM this year. I can't blame her, but I'm very glad Dave and I worked out this deal so there can be at least some presence for Christian Standard at this large convention. We need to do whatever we can to keep this app in front of people.
The ICOM people want me to do some interviews, like those I did for NACC, with missionaries and others at ICOM. I'll enjoy that, and it will add to the video archive available to us for links from upcoming digital editions.

Weekend Update

It's been a fine summer weekend--good food, good friends, (pretty) good weather, and some unique experiences.
Friday night wasn't unique. Evelyn and I mowed grass; she did more than half before I got here after 5:45. I finished the yard and then edged and blew grass off the sidewalks. After a quick shower (it's hot these days, and so humid), we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Raja India, for supper, before stopping at the grocery to pick up a couple of things on our way back home. We relaxed with Cold Justice and the evening news before heading to bed.
Saturday I was up early. The morning was pleasant, although humid, and I sat on the deck and read this week's chapter from The Story with my first cup of coffee. The rest of the morning was breakfast, our walk through the Park (I walk two miles; Evelyn walks three), Saturday Wall Street Journal, and a couple of hours of this-and-that in the yard. It's satisfying to have the time to tend to little details: chopping some branches off bushes and trees, watering and feeding the plants in pots, killing weeds, checking the gutters, doing a little grass trimming.
After lunch we went to Dave and Mary Lautzenheiser's for Dave's 60th birthday party. Mary had prepared a wonderful spread of food, and we really enjoyed visiting with friends from church as well as Dave and Mary. It rained some on our way to their house, but it cleared up in plenty of time for us to tour the beautiful flower beds he's planted all around his house. Dave, the master gardener, is an inspiration.
I came home and did some work for Christian Standard for a little while and then went to the grocery store. Evelyn and I had eaten so much at Lautzenheisers that we didn't really need supper. So Evelyn popped a huge bowl of popcorn that we enjoyed while we watched an old movie that I had picked up at Redbox while I was at the grocery store. The Sum of All Fears, starring Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman, had a plot with a few lapses in logic, but it was well-acted and engaging. I'm glad we saw it.
Sunday we were up early and on our walk before we got ready for church. (Believe it or not, we weren't the only ones out walking at 6:45 in the morning!)

Today was the first Sunday in the New Testament portion of The Story, and the church had planned "Christmas in June" to mark our study of the birth of Jesus. It was a creative service, full of blessings, especially the excellent sermon by Brad Wilson. The biggest takeaway for me: Think of all the incidents of obedience that made the Christmas story happen: Mary and Joseph, of course, in a succession of good decisions; but also the shepherds and the Magi.
We met Terry and Shirley Wuske at first service and adjourned to the Frisch's in Liberty Township where we left the Wuskes' car and embarked on Ponderama, an annual tour of homes that have installed inspiring water features created by one firm here in greater Cincinnati. We went to three homes, and the first two were truly magnificent.
The home on Crest Road in Colerain Township sits adjacent to two home lots the homeowners purchased and turned into a park of flower beds and water features plus a gazebo. I've really never seen anything quite like it in a private home.
The pictures below were taken in only one section of their landscaped back and side yards, and they only begin to convey what this place was like.

Evelyn really liked these bushes with the
feathery leaves (at the 2nd home we
visited), but the homeowner didn't know
their name.

Then we drove back to Liberty Township and visited two homes off of Kyles Station Road. The first is down a long, private lane in a secluded setting that is truly remarkable.
We decided the best way to end our "tour" was with a stop at The Cone. We sat and visited before taking the Wuskes back to their car before 2:00.
I did some emailing and other work for Christian Standard when we got home. We ran out for supper to El Rancho Grande (love those Val-Pak coupons) and stopped into Krogers to return the Redbox movie and pick up a couple items still needed after yesterday's grocery run.

Busy Times, Fun Times, Inspiring Times

Here it is Tuesday, and I'm just now finding time to write a brief rundown of the weekend. This has been a busy week since then.
Jim and Diane and I have been busy with several new and out-of-the-ordinary tasks associated with the creation and introduction of the new Christian Standard app that we hope will be live on the Apple Newsstand in another week or two. It's very exciting, and once we get it established (learn how to use the interface and establish the print/digital integration), the month-by-month work on it will not be nearly as consuming as this journey up the learning curve.
But I really think it will create a digital version of the magazine that many will find attractive. We plan to push it at the NACC; I'm hoping for a slew of downloads during NACC.
Last night I met with Dales Reeves and a bunch of other members of the Christ's Church at Mason writers group he's formed. The church is planning an all-church study of Thom Rainer's book I Am a Church Member, and members of our group are writing devotions for all six weeks of the study. Dale runs a good meeting, we have a fun group, and I enjoyed the time with them.
Now about the weekend:
Friday night Evelyn and I mowed grass, and I did several lawn tasks. Then we ate pizza and salads from LaRosa's on the deck, enjoying a beautiful, sunny but cool evening.
Saturday I read the chapter in The Story for Sunday morning, paid bills, enjoyed breakfast, got the car washed, and went to the grocery. About 1:30 Bill and Verna Weber arrived from Indy, and before 2:00 we drove to Bill and Joni Baker's house for a pleasant meeting and picnic-style meal they had prepared.
The occasion was to hear a progress report, consider next steps, and pray for Victoria and Joshua Baah-Binney, Ghanaians studying here in preparation for ministry when they return home to Africa. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, ate a lot (!), and praised the Lord a lot for the Baah-Binney's commitment and his provision for all their needs. There will surely be more needs to come, though, and we will probably be involved in some way to help meet them.

 We left Bakers after 5:30 and drove to Riverbend to enjoy a concert by Cincinnati Pops. We sat on the
lawn (we'd brought our sling chairs) and visited in the hot sunshine till the program began at 8:00. (We were there when the gates opened at 6:30.)  After the sun set, I was actually chilly. But it was a fine program of orchestral spectaculars, finished off by the 1812 Overture and cannons, and then a wonderful fireworks display before we went home.
Webers spent the night, and we lingered over breakfast the next morning (Evelyn's raisin bread, granola, and fresh fruit). All of us left before 10:00; they for LifeSpring and we for CCM. We enjoyed visiting with friends in the lobby and snuck into the 10:30 service for inspiring singing and a wonderful sermon from Trevor, centering on the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and their failure to finish rebuilding the temple as God had commanded (Haggai and Ezra were the main texts).
Trevor painted the word "SURRENDER" in bold letters on a white flag on the floor as he began his sermon, but we didn't see what he'd written till he drove home his final point at the end: "The secret to a life with meaning is surrender. . . . The day I found freedom is the day I raised the white flag."
We grabbed lunch at Noodles and Company and then came home to tend to desk-type tasks, in between talking with Katie and Byron and later Geoff about our upcoming visit all together to New York. We're looking forward to a wonderful time together.

A Beautiful Sunday

I heard the sermon twice today, and I was blessed both times. Trevor DeVage preached at 9:00, and Brad Wilson preached in the Classic service at 10:30. We attended the 9:00 audtorium service, and then I led the singing in the Classic service for Dave Lautzenheiser who's on vacation. Actually, I was a sub for the sub! Jason Newlon was supposed to lead, but he returned Saturday from a business trip to India, exhausted from an inability to sleep while he was gone.
The memorable point from the sermon, which retold the story of the remarkable defeat of the Assyrian army against King Hezekiah because of God's intervention to bless the godly king: reliance leads to redemption. I think we all need to learn to rely on God more completely.
For lunch we tried a new fast-food Italian restaurant on Mason-Montgomery Road, Piada. We both liked it well enough to go back, although Evelyn wasn't as thrilled with hers as I was with mine.
Then we went to Natorp's and spent my birthday gift certificate (almost) on a hanging basket and a plant to put in it, plus succulents to plant in the wall planter Jennifer gave me last year, plus my free perennial with coupon and any purchase.
We came home and Evelyn mowed a little more than half the yard while I went on a wild goose chase for coco liners for several of our planters. I was gone longer than I planned, and didn't get everything I wanted, even at that.

I finished the mowing, edged the lawn, and blew away all the clippings. Then I filled the planters on our deck. My idea this year is to have an all-foliage pot garden. It's off to a good start, I think. We'll see how it looks when the plants have grown more, in a month. (The beautiful hosta and the purple heart plant were saved from last year. I saved purple shamrocks all winter, too, which will go in the rectangle planter in the back. And the sedum came from the yard.)
Evelyn made flautas for supper, and we watched one segment of 60 Minutes as well as a few minutes of America's Funniest Videos while we ate them.

Hail, Rain, and Work (Nice Visits Too)

"Just because I don't sleep in on a Saturday doesn't mean I won't take a nap before the day is done."
I posted that to Facebook early, too early, this morning. Evelyn was up by 6:45 to get ready to leave by 8:30 for CCU's graduation, but I awoke a few minutes before that and decided not to go back to bed .
I balanced the checkbook and paid bills. Wendy was up after awhile, and we ate breakfast together while Evelyn got ready to leave.
(Did I mention that Wendy Wagoner was with us this weekend? She came Thursday evening in time for supper and left tonight after a quick Skyline dinner together as she drove out of town. She visited with Cincinnati friends Friday and today during the day, but we still had lots of time to catch up with her. Last night we grabbed dinner at a restaurant in Blue Ash called Through the Garden. [I had a Groupon.] And then back home we watched Saving Mr. Banks via cable On Demand. She hadn't seen it, and we enjoyed seeing it a second time.)
I updated Twitter posts via Buffer and nosed around on Facebook awhile. Then I got to the business of

writing my column that will appear Tuesday. I often do that kind of work on Sunday afternoons. But it was cold and rainy this morning, and it is SUPPOSED to be dry and a little warmer tomorrow. So I decided to save tomorrow afternoon for outside work and get my inside work done this morning.

It was a wise decision. Wendy left after 11:00 to go have lunch with some friends, and while I was working, I heard hail pelting the windows! I decided to snap some pictures for the blog, and I'm glad I did, because it didn't hail anywhere where Wendy or Evelyn were.

I found some lunch to microwave and made a salad of greens that I picked from the flower box 

on the deck. My first homegrown lettuce of the season! I did a few straightening/pitching/sorting errands around the house until Evelyn got home after 1:00 so I could visit with her then.
It finally did clear up, so I went outside and made some progress in the yard: trimmed lilac bushes and a  rose bush, and dug weeds in the big bed with the pine trees in the back of the yard.
All that took as much energy and time as I had (I trimmed two bundles and a garbage can full of branches from three bushes), so I came in to visit with "the girls" awhile. Wendy wanted to leave soon, and I hadn't been to the store yet to buy anything for supper. So we decided just to eat supper with her, as I said, as she drove out of town.
Evelyn made a grocery list while I took a quick shower before we left for supper. Then the two of us grabbed the items on her list at Kroger's on the way home.
It was still early, so I gathered pots and hanging baskets and began the process of distributing them around the yard and arranging them on the deck. Maybe tomorrow I'll fill a few of them. I have some of what I'll use from that Garden Gallop I joined Thursday.
I think we'll watch another movie soon, to end the day.
I never did get that nap.

This Weekend, and Last

The road to blog oblivion is paved with good intentions. I have pictures for my blog, but I haven't been

Isn't this a beautiful pie Cindi made for us?

posting them or writing descriptions. Here's a little make-up with a rundown of last weekend and this weekend.
Last Friday we planned to go the Reds game; they were promoting a special buy-four ticket offer in addition to Friday night fireworks. But when we got closer to the day and realized we'd be sitting in about 55 degrees with a breeze, we decided we weren't that big of fans.
We had the plans with Dan and Cindi Cooper, but Cindi offered to bring dinner to our place, and Evelyn and she decided we'd rent Captain Phillips, the Tom Hanks movie about the ship boarded by pirates off the Somali coast. We had seen it at the theater, but the Coopers hadn't, and we were game to see it again.
Cindi brought a wonderful homemade chicken pot pie and a tasty apple salad, and Evelyn bought some Graeter's to go with her homemade cookies (peanut butter with mini Reese's cups melted inside).
What a nice evening, and I enjoyed the movie as much the second time a the first!
Saturday I got up early to get a haircut at 8:30, and then we met Bill and Verna Weber at 10:45 for brunch at Bob Evans. (They were in town celebrating Ruby Weber's birthday with Donovan and Jocelyn and Nora.) From there we drove to Hamersville, Ohio where we attended the memorial service for Tom Friskney at the Church of Christ there.
Mr. Friskney had been our professor at CBS in undergraduate school. I learned much of what I know about page layout from the yearbook class he led and I attended three semesters. His son Paul was Evelyn's supervisor and colleague all the years she taught English, and we're friends with Paul and his wife, Sev. It was a wonderful service. Jon Weatherly's tribute, as so often happens at funerals, taught us aspects of Professor Friskney's life we hadn't known and challenged us with his qualities that we had known but might have forgotten.
The Hamersville church building was packed (we stood at the back); at least half of the congregation were Hamersville locals who had known the Friskneys through the decades they've lived there. Perhaps the most memorable part of the service was the singing: "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" and Mr. Friskney's favorite hymn, "I Know Whom I Have Believed." The room reverberated with the voices of the enthusiastic singers. It's been awhile since I've been in congregational singing like that; it was thrilling.

 Saturday night we fired up the grill for the first time this year: chicken and vegetables, so good.

Sunday morning I heard the same sermon twice; Mark Sullivan preached it in the first service in the

Mark Sullivan preaching in the 9:00 service.

auditorium, and Trevor preached in the Classic service at 10:30. I was hosting there and chose to attend that whole service too. The message centering on the tragic lives of Rehoboam and Jeroboam told the story of the division of the kingdom of Israel. One quote to remember, referring to the effects of Solomon's sin toward the end of his life: "We make decisions, and those decisions turn around and make us."
This weekend on Friday we tried to eat dinner at Dewey's in West Chester, but by the time we got there at 6:10, they were already standing outside waiting to get a seat. So we slipped over to Friday's and had a nice meal splitting a side salad and sharing three small appetizers. We drove up to the outlet mall one exit north on 75 to pick up at item Evelyn needs and then back down to Kohl's to spend Kohl's cash, a $5 reward coupon, and to use a 20% discount coupon. We bought a couple of picture frames, and believe it or not, even with all those discounts, we still owed a little money.
Saturday was rainy much of the day. I paid bills and managed finances in the morning and then went to

the grocery store. Later in the afternoon, when the skies cleared, I drove to Home Depot for mulch and some bags of top soil (it was about the third trunkful of the week) and came home to spread the top soil and trim one of our hydrangea bushes before coming in to take a shower. I grilled a second time, a variation on the chicken and vegetables theme. This time the meat had a fajita marinade, and we ate it in soft tacos with grilled peppers and onions. It was very good!
Terry and Shirley arrived at our place about 8:30 to spend the night. They'd been on vacation all week at the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan (all their stories and descriptions and pictures made me want to go some year!). They brought us a pie they'd bought at a bakery up there: chocolate pecan. Oh my goodness!
We all rode to church together this morning (Trevor's challenging sermon to put our "issue" on the altar

and pray for God to consume it like he did with Elijah's offering), and then returned home to enjoy Mother's Day brunch together. I had said I would cook, but the longer Evelyn and I talked about it, the more we decided she should fix her favorite Amish Breakfast Casserole and her wonderful cinnamon biscuits. I made the fruit salad and poured the orange juice!
Terry and Shirley left early in the afternoon, and I spent much of the rest of the day spreading mulch in the courtyard in front of the house. Jennifer called in the middle of the work, which gave me a welcome break, and later I drove to Home Depot since I was about one bag short for completing that section. I got another trunkful (8 bags), which should take me around the side of the house whenever I get to that.
I took a shower and Evelyn made nachos for supper--we were still pretty full from lunch! Geoff called while we were eating. It's always a good day when we get to talk to both of the kids.
Two good weekends, too good to forget, which is why I wanted to make these notes while I could grab the moments to do so.

The tulips I planted in this pot last fall made a beautiful display on our deck this week.

Nice Weekend, Happy Birthday

I've always believed birthdays are one of the best reasons to be on Facebook, and this year was no exception. In a pretense of humility, I will not count up how many birthday wishes I received. It wouldn't be easy, anyway, because some commented in response to my last blog post, some commented in response to a quote about aging I posted, and some commented in response to a shameless self-promotion plug I posted the day after my birthday--all in addition to Facebook's birthday notification at the top of friends' home pages.
It IS nice to hear from folks I might not communicate with any other time, though. I'm not planning on signing off of Facebook!
Actually, this year, I got my birthday cake as a result of one of those posts (not sure which one). My big day was Sunday, and it was a busy day at church. Evelyn and I had Welcome Center duty, and I filled-in as teacher of the Seekers class at 9:00. Then I had been asked to emcee a fundraising lunch that happened in the church parlor after the last service. When the event organizers, Dave and Valerie Reed, saw it was my birthday, they stopped by Kroger on the way to church and bought me a cake so everyone could sing "Happy Birthday" during the luncheon. I loved it!
The lunch was very nice, designed to raise funds to name a room in CCU's remodeled Rine Hall after

I opened my eyes and snapped this picture during the
closing prayer at the end of our lunch Sunday.

Vic and June Hunter. June was a graduate of the school and an active supporter. Her "adopted" daughter, Marilyn Pitzer, gave a fine tribute to Vic and June and presented Dave Faust (he was there and made a nice presentation, too) with a check for $25,000 from the Hunter estate plus a personal gift from her family. It was a moving, enjoyable day. We sat with Dale and Judy McCann and Cliff and Becky Leighty, plus one of the students who accompanied the Fausts to church for the event.
I attended the 10:30 worship in the gym (I'm usually in the auditorium or the chapel) and was especially blessed by Trevor's sermon about Solomon. I plan to discuss again with our men's Bible study Thursday four words Trevor chose to characterize Solomon's life:

• Compromise
• Exception
• Meaningless
• Duty

A couple of quotes I jotted in my bulletin:

"The road to folly starts with the word except."

"When a good thing becomes a god thing, that's a bad thing."

"Do something big with your one and only life."

We stopped at Kohl's on the way home and used a coupon to buy my birthday gift, a new pair of Skechers I can wear to work on jeans Friday.
Anticipating rain on Monday, Evelyn and I mowed grass after we got home. (For the record, that's lawn mowing no. 4 this year.) Shirley Wuske wanted to come dig some hydrangea sprouts from the bushes in the front yard, so we invited them to come share my birthday cake. After grass, before the Wuskes, both of the kids called, and we enjoyed nice catch-up visits with them. We had a great time digging and eating and visiting with Terry and Shirley (they brought ice cream to go with the cake!), and by the time they left, we were ready to get ready for the week.
It was a busy day, which is why I didn't have time to write about it then.
The birthday continued Monday; Evelyn got up in the morning and baked two coffee cakes for me to take to work. And then today the Magazines people took me to lunch. I chose Jason's Deli, the restaurant Sev and Paul Friskney had introduced us to earlier this year.
So I feel fully entered into my year as a 64-year-old. It was a happy birthday!

A Nice Weekend

Pictures of the Day:
A highlight of the weekend was the concert by the Purdue Glee Club at Christ's Church at Mason Saturday night. More than 500 made a nice crowd in our auditorium to see the uniquely energetic and entertaining show/concert performed by this stage full of young men singing in tuxes. Their repertoire covered the gamut: sacred, classical, Broadway, gospel, pop, and patriotic. Always with strong voices, sometimes with complex harmonies, varying their stage presence from formal rows to seemingly unchoreographed interactions with each other and the audience, their performance was a joy to watch as well as hear.

We made an evening of the outing by inviting the Webers and the Friskneys to join us for supper at

The singers filled the aisles with song more than once, this time
to serenade ladies they chose from the audience.

5:00 and then go to the concert with us. We enjoyed the meal and the laughter at Mimi's and got to the church by 6:15 or 6:30 to get good seats for the 7:00 concert. Afterwards, Evelyn was one of the volunteers serving trays of homemade cookies to the crowd that lingered in the large lobby area outside the auditorium. Several of the singers had nice reunions with family members made more pleasurable by our church's hospitality.
Bill and Verna stayed overnight with us and left about 10:00 Sunday morning to worship at Lifespring Christian Church and spend the day with the Webers 2.0. We decided to go to second service at Mason Sunday morning; the net effect was two long, hashing-out-life visits with the Webers: Saturday night till almost midnight and then again over a leisurely breakfast Sunday morning. (Evelyn had made our favorite coffee cake--yum!)
Friday night was a typical Big Night Out for Evelyn and me: dinner out (Macaroni Grill --and that was special!) and a shopping trip at Costco's followed by Evelyn snagging this quarter's sale at the Clinique counter at Macy's.
Sunday we sat with our friend Alan Guttman in the Classic Service at 10:30, ate lunch quickly at McAllister's, and then returned home for a productive afternoon. Evelyn graded papers, and I worked a couple hours in the yard (trimmed all the rose bushes). It was a sunny 60-degree day, and I went with Evelyn on her walk after my yard work. Then I came in and did something I haven't done for a long time on a Sunday afternoon. I took a nap--a long nap! Evelyn was afraid I wouldn't sleep that night, but I managed to quit waking to see the alarm clock by about 11:00 p.m.

Quote of the Day:
"We think obedience is fine for kids and dogs. But we don't celebrate obedience in our culture. . . . Obedience puts us in our place. It's God's wisdom and strength we can't outgrow."
—Trevor DeVage in his excellent sermon in our The Story series, this week on King Saul's sorry pattern of disobedience.

Welcome Home, Welcome Weekend

Picture of the Day:

John and Sally Skerl hosted an open house at their new house in Maineville yesterday, and we really enjoyed the chance to stop by. The house is wonderful--especially the wraparound deck at the back overlooking a rushing creek in front of a wooded hillside.

They provided a buffet full of yummy treats, and we really enjoyed snacking while visiting with some friends from church as well as Rick Ruble, whom we were surprised to discover is Sally's relative. (Sorry, I've already forgotten the connection.)

The best part, though, is realizing their commitment to the Lord and the Christian spirit underlying their invitation to fellowship. It was a nice way to spend a late Saturday afternoon and early evening!

Back home, we spent the last part of the evening watching Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. I had wanted to see it when it was in the theaters, and I'm glad we got the chance to watch it at home. Some of it is difficult to watch, but it is well-acted and, of course, a compelling story. I learned some history I hadn't fully realized.

Today we attended both Sunday-morning services; I did Communion meditation and offering prayer in the 10:30 service. We grabbed lunch at Skyline with Dan and Cindi Cooper; it was the first we had sat and talked with them in weeks, and we had a nice time.  I got ready for my trip tomorrow in the afternoon and then spent a couple of hours outside in the cool air and warm sunshine cleaning out the flower bed in the front of the house and filling a garbage can with leaves and branches and twigs.

Enjoyed the last few minutes of the Michigan/UK NCAA basketball game and then Sixty Minutes and then another movie on TV before bedtime.

Quote of the Day:

"Grief is the silent, knife-like terror and sadness that comes a hundred times a day, when you start to speak to someone who is no longer there. Grief is the emptiness that comes when you eat alone after eating with another for many years.

Grief is teaching yourself to go to bed without saying good night to the one who had died. Grief is the helpless wishing that things were different when you know they are not and never will be again."

—Edgar Jackson, quoted by Trevor DeVage in his sermon today on Naomi and Ruth. Find a longer quote here.

A Different Sunday, a Good Sunday

Several things about the day were usual:
• Evelyn and I were at church a little after 8:30 to do our fourth-Sunday stint at the Welcome Center.
•  We attended the 9:00 service and heard an excellent sermon based on the era of the Old Testament Judges, based on that chapter in The Story. Trevor DeVage did an excellent job of summarizing 330 years of history and challenging us with the cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance that characterized the behavior of the Israelite nation at that time.

But more things about the day were unusual.
• We sat during the second service with our friend Alan Guttman who's been coming to my Thursday men's Bible study for years and  Sunday-morning church for weeks.
• After 2nd service we ran to the VA hospital emergency room on Vine Street after receiving a text from Shirley Wuske saying they didn't come to church because Terry decided to go to the hospital with chest pains. We got there just in time to visit and joke with them before he was discharged. (They decided it was just muscle pain, not a heart problem.)
(We had gone through the drive-in lane at Wendy's and grabbed fish sandwiches on the way to the hospital.)
• Then we left the hospital and drove to Eden Park in plenty of time to see the 2:00 performance of Pride and Prejudice at Playhouse in the Park.
It was excellent! We had bought tickets with the gift certificate Evelyn's colleagues gave her as a going-away gift when she retired from full-time teaching last spring. This play was her choice from the current season, and I was glad to go with what she wanted.
We had good seats and thoroughly enjoyed the production.

This beautiful setting was used in many creative ways to contain the various scenes of the play. These
two butlers lit the candles on this chandelier in the 2 minutes before the play began.

After the play we used a Living Social coupon to grab some dinner at Mount Adams Bar and Grill. I had their bean burrito, and Evelyn enjoyed the chef salad. Then we split a piece of Graeter's fudge cake with ice cream for dessert.
We were home in time to relax in front of 60 Minutes and some other TV, along with catching up on Facebook and then getting ready for the work week just ahead of us.

Weekend Update

Quote of the Day:
I've reached retirement age. And I don't need to see any more depictions of the crucifixion.
—Evelyn Taylor, after we saw Son of God Friday night.

Picture of the Day:
A so-so picture of Dale Reeves preaching a mighty fine sermon this morning at Christ's Church at Mason. Our three preachers were each speaking at different venues this morning, and Dale spoke at the Classic service in the chapel.
We were attending that service so we could sit with Alan Guttman who had promised to come back to church this morning, for the third week in a row. He sits with Lloyd and Shirley Bradshaw, but Lloyd is in the hospital with a serious infection (he's been there since last Sunday and won't go home yet for several more days). I told Alan at our Thursday-morning group that Evelyn and I would sit with him today if he wanted to come back to church.
It was a nice service, and all three of us agreed that Dale did a good job. We ate breakfast/lunch with Alan at Bob Evans (he treated!) after church.
Wendy Wagoner came to visit us Friday. We ate out at El Rancho Grande before catching the 7:40 showing of Son of God. I enjoyed it, even though most of it we'd seen in The Bible miniseries on TV last year. The crucifixion segment was the second-most graphic depiction I've seen (after Passion of the Christ, of course.) Evelyn served us scones for breakfast Saturday; Wendy left to visit her friends the Carters in Springfield about 10 Saturday morning.
Evelyn and I took a walk in the glorious spring-like sunny afternoon. Later  I visited Lloyd in the hospital along with getting the car washed (had to get all that winter salt removed), picking up Despicable Me2 at Redbox, and grabbing a few groceries. We had egg salad sandwiches and tomato bisque soup (from Costco) for supper. I did some reading and planning in The Story and then fell asleep in the middle of the movie before we headed for bed to get a full night's sleep before Time Change Sunday.
Today we were away from home by 2:45 and in New Stanton, PA by 7:10, the first leg in our trip to see our kids with friends for a spring break vacation this week.

Fat Tuesday

Quote of the Day:
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
—James Branch Cabell, novelist, in The Silver Stallion. Quoted by  Simon J.  Dahlman in the upcoming May issue of Christian Standard in his monthly feature, "Seen and Heard."

Pictures of the Day:
I snapped pictures of some proof pages from the April issue of Christian Standard, which we send to
the printer tomorrow. These are some of the best articles in the issue. I'm looking forward to seeing reactions to it. (I'm even more looking forward to seeing reactions to several pieces in the March issue, which is just now in readers' hands.)
Meanwhile, we had our second meeting with our design consultant Scott Ryan to choose art and layout directions for the May issue (thus the quote above). Scott designed the cover on the April issue, pictured here. The photo is by Tom Patrick, taken at the North American Christian Convention in Louisville last summer.
May's issue will be themed, "I Love the Church!" with a lead article by Bob Russell and his picture on the cover.
I decided this year to try going vegetarian during Lent (except maybe when someone has us for dinner--I'm not going to inflict my choice on them; or maybe when we have someone here for dinner--not everyone LIKES bean burritos!). I had to stop on the way to work this morning to pick up a frozen entree for lunch, and since tomorrow is the beginning of my "fast," my little nod to Mardi Gras was to get an entree with turkey in it! Yeah, I know, Fat Tuesday means much more to many others.

Important Issues

Quote of the Day:
Remember, God’s will was for John to be exiled, Paul to be jailed, Jesus to be executed. Why do we assume God’s will for us is to have a great job, a happy wife, and a large bank account?
—Kevin A. Thompson in his February 20 blog post

Picture of the Day:
Bill and Verna Weber were with us today all day. Bill taught the "Perspectives" class last night in Dayton and tonight at the Cincinnati Vineyard. Evelyn enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with them this morning while I went to work. I joined them for lunch at Mimi's, and they treated! Mimi's serves not only a tasty lunch, but a well-presented lunch. Witness my choice of lobster bisque and harvest salad with fruit cup.
We had leftover vegetable soup and grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches for supper with Verna while Bill was off to his assignment.
It's always good to visit with them. We always find so much to talk about--beyond surface into important issues quickly and always.