Church Comedy

This summer our church had a comedy/drama for VBS. Each day there would be a 15 minute skit. The skit was so well received that it was decided to combine the 5 skits into one play, and be performed for the whole church. Last night was the performance. What a great job everyone did! As usual, Owen and Karen did a magnificent job building and painting the set.

George G. and Chase S. were the bumbling sheriff and deputy. Our church loves a good western!

I don't know who these girls are...but they were funny! (Just kidding, they're my drama queens, Sarah and Maggie.)

Nathan, our church's Youth Leader, fits in well with our group.

Plenty of blackmail material here.

Believe it or not, this play actually present the gospel in a good way...in spite of the comedy.

Yes, that's pie on Nathan's face. My only regret is that I forgot to take a picture of the Sheriff and his deputy in their pajamas, and my batteries ran out before Craig came out as Big Bad Jake. Anyone in our church may copy these pictures without asking my permission. Thanks everyone for all your long hours of rehearsals and work. It was definitely worth it!

Mike videotaped the whole performance, so if you'd like a copy of it, let us know and we will burn a dvd for you.

Remember Buttercup and Buttermilk? Here they are at a week or two.

Here they are at a few months old.

And here they are this morning in their beautiful colors. (Yes, I know I need to scrub the pool.)

When I came outside, all three turkeys were standing on the edge of the pool watching the ducks. But then I got out my camera and two of the turkeys ran away.

Showing off for the turkey. The ducks and turkeys are still best of friends. They walk through the field gobbling up bugs.

This morning was Sarah's first day back with Abigail after going to Alabama for a week. Abigail was just giddy to be back with her favorite cousins, Sarah and Maggie. Sarah gave Abigail a gift...a pair of purple Fwip Fwops! Abigail was so excited to get her very own pair of flip flops just like Sarah's! She was pleased as pumpkin to pose for me.

This afternoon Mike and I took Ruthie to Annapolis for her twice yearly appt with her asthma dr. She did very well and the dr is pleased. She even talked about taking Ruthie off the meds next time. PTL! That's extra good news considering Ruthie is still recovering from a headcold.

We are desperate for rain again. We're hoping our first hurricane of the season (Irene) comes up the coast to bring us some much needed relief. The rest of MD has gotten more than average rainfall...just not here.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

The campers are home! We found out we could pick up the campers after the Friday evening service...so we did. Mike and I drove down to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Lou's home again. We ate dinner and visited for a couple hours. Then off to The Wilds to pick up the darlings. The service lasted until 11 pm, and it was midnight before we left for home. But it was worth it! We drove all night with one or two short rest stops and got home around noon on Saturday.

Every Marylander knows what this means. Crab feast! My parents invited our extended family over for crabs. Mom wanted it simple, so we had french fries (with vinegar and old bay!), hotdogs, crabs and corn on the cob. Delicious!

It was funny watching Dustin on the VA cooker and Simba on the MD cooker. Looks like a chef's war or something.

There were three tables set up for crabs. One outside, one on the porch, and one inside. It was just humid enough with a threat of rain, but the rain held off.

The french fries were a real hit. We had two kinds...steak fries and crinklecut fries.Aunt Leslie had to stay home with a sick Donovan, but Uncle Mike brought baby Kat and Brandon. KathrynRose was more than happy to spend time with everyone. Usually she is all smiles but this time she was seriously studying all the cousins and aunts. So much fun!

Lizzie got to feed her for a few minutes. KathrynRose was too busy playing to want to eat much.

Floyd, Mom and Dad at the porch table.

Auntie Cecilia's grandbaby didn't come...so she was part of the lineup to hold baby KathrynRose.

Of course, we all enjoyed Abigail. Abigail and Ruthie spent time swimming in the pool which was 80 degrees. After awhile, Abigail declared that her horsies were cold...so it was time to get out. "Are you cold?" asked her Daddy. "No, just my horsies."

Lizzie picked crabs for Maggie. This morning we ate the remaining 2+ dozen leftover crabs for breakfast. We call that The Decent Mother's Breakfast!
We're all still a bit off schedule from the traveling. Sarah is in Alabama visiting her friend, Rebekah, so Anna is babysitting Abigail this week.

Today we have had rain off and on...mostly on. The campers brought home a headcold which Ruthie now has. Tonight we watched The Great Escape and realized anew how many lives have been given for our freedom. Every time I watch this movie, I think about how good music really enhances a movie...and terrible music ruins a movie.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

You know what they say...a face with pizza dough on it is a happy face! This past Saturday, our family had the fun of cousin-sitting Abigail. Maggie decided to make pizzas and Abigail had a blast!

I'm not sure who had more fun...Maggie or Abigail! Poor Maggie's hands hurt her afterwards.

I loved seeing Abigail wearing my patchwork apron :-)

And here's one of their creations...complete with basil from the garden. Delicious! Abigail came over on Monday with Sarah...but all the cousins were in NC. Where are the cousins?! She just couldn't fathom them being gone. How 'bout Allen...where's Allen? Later we called Maggie on her cellphone and talked to Abigail. "Hi cousins!" she said. It was so cute!

On Sunday morning, six of us left to go to NC to drop off the three campers at The Wilds. Of course, we had to pass the amish before leaving our county. It's our dangerous tradition!

We drove from 10 to 6, arriving at Aunt Jackie and Uncle Lou's home in Asheville. What a delightful visit! I had not seen them in 25+ years, so it was a real treat.

I loved Aunt Jackie's cozy living room. It reminded me so much of Mike's home in CT before his parents moved to FL.

The view of the mountains from their porch is beautiful.

We all liked her primitive log table.

Here's another view from the porch.

Aunt Jackie has a real appreciation for all things handcrafted...just like my mother in law, Clare. I enjoy both of their knitted, cross-stitched, embroidered, and quilted items throughout their homes.

Aunt Jackie tried to take us to visit Georgia Bonesteel's quilt shop in Hendersonville...but we were unable to find it. Aunt Jackie drove up to several stores and ran in asking about the shop but we were still unable to find it. Gloria Bonesteel was popular in the 1980s when she was on PBS teaching quilting. I learned to quilt through her series. Thank you, Aunt Jackie for everything...we had a great time. Uncle Lou, thank you for dinner and for cleaning up both meals. What a blessing you two are!

Later on, we decided to visit downtown Ashville. What a wonderful place to walk around and enjoy all the many shops. I enjoyed Mast's General Store.
I liked the real wood floors and the real wood shelves. I also enjoyed looking at all the cast iron for sale. Here's the rug display.

The upstairs had camping supplies and clothes. This store reminds me of the Five and Dime store that I used to visit in Hanover, PA. I miss those kinds of stores.

Beautiful Fiesta ware.

Of course, we liked the signs.

Had to take the Bee sign to show Maggie.

There were bears in several places throughout, all painted differently. Aunt Jackie says she sees bears in the spring. Wow...that's more fun than copperheads!

There was an American Doll store! Ruthie loved this store. She has been studying American Doll clothes...and then sewing her own version. She gives away more than she keeps, but I think she has fun designing the dresses. She got lots of ideas on this trip!

Ruthie especially enjoyed the vintage type dresses.

Later on we drove to Brevard to drop Allen, Lizzie and Anna off at camp. This is Anna and Lizzie's cabin. It was quite a hike to get to! I had not seen this building before. I was a camper here during my high school days in the 70s, so it is exciting to see the camp still building new things.

This is my only other picture from the camp. We were kept busy getting everyone settled in. This stream is where they go tubing. I used to love tubing here. I noticed the water level is much lower now. We saw our friend Denise and her sons who used to go to our church. Anna also saw a friend from Camp BIMI. So it was a fun time.

It was exciting to see the many, many buses from independent Baptist churches all over the Bible belt states. But that excitement quickly turned to heartbreak as we watched the teens getting off the buses. The immodest clothes were a shock to us. From what we could see, the youth from independent Baptist churches have the same love affair with the world that we expect from youths who have never heard the gospel. We talked to our three children and decided to let them stay. They are strong...but I have no desire to return next year.

These two pictures are for Allen. We told Allen about the mountains in CA and how there were many places alongside the road for the trucks to use if their brakes failed while going downhill. Well, after we left camp, we saw several such places.

Oops...my last three pictures are in the left column. Oh well. You can still see the dirthills for the trucks.

I always enjoy seeing trains!

On the way down, we listened to this cd by R.C. Sproul, Jr. What a blessing! We felt this message was given just for us. Lots to meditate on. If you'd like to borrow this cd, let me know and I will get it to you. Mr. Sproul gave some points that I wanted to make note of here...but I forgot them! So I will listen to them again and come back to type them in here. This is definitely a cd to hear.

Ruthie is lonely without her siblings, so Sarah took Maggie and Ruthie to Grandaddy's home for the evening. We got home from NC at 3 am this morning, so I am dragging. I have a feeling Mike is downstairs asleep at his desk :-)

This morning when we went outside to take Maggie to her appts, there was an awful stench in the air. It smelled toxic...like burning plastic. I kept Ruthie in the air-conditioned car. Turns out, the smell (and the smoke) came from a fire that is burning in the Great Dismal Swamp in VA! Both the smoke and the smell were gone by mid-afternoon.

Many blessings ~ Kathie