At Home

We arrived home late in the afternoon on Saturday. There was no one home. The kids had ball games and Bill and Starla had gone to pick them up.
We carried our dirty laundry inside and got busy going through our huge pile of mail.
Bill, Starla, Kailey and Hunter came home then and it was happy chaos greeting each other. Then everyone settled into something to do for a little while. I finished sorting mail.
I needed to go to the store to get something for our fellowship meal after church. I thought I might make ham pot pie.
So after we ate supper we all piled into my car and went to Walmart. We also had to stop at Lowe's and pick up a new thermostat for the house the other one wasn't working right.
Then we drove back home. I made ham pot pie while everyone did their own thing. It was great having them come in and out of the kitchen, chatting about this and that and catching up on all that had gone on with the kids in the last 10 weeks.
One by one everyone got showered and settled in for the night. Ahh, my own bed, but why couldn't I sleep? Sometimes this happens on the first night back at home. But I was ok, I didn't get upset or grouchy. I was just happy to be home.
We got up for church the next morning and Pops and I left the house earlier than the rest. He had an elder's meeting and I was attending First Place with the ladies. I was excited. I love these women so very much. I miss them more than they can imagine too.
We had a good lesson led by Ginny Logsdon.
After that was Sunday school and I was surprized to see how many people came. Attendance has really picked up. I was just soaking up the fellowship with the members from my home church. It felt wonderful to be here.
After Sunday school we went to the auditorium for Worship service. Again, I was surprized by the attendance and I tried to get around and say hi to everyone but that was impossible. I made it about half way before the service started.
After communion I noticed that something new has been started since we were here last and guess who's turn it was to do it? Bill Perdew's. I was so proud to see him get up and take part in the service. He is such a good man and is getting more and more into serving all the time. Good job, Bill. You will receive a blessing from God.
Pop's cousin, Peggy and her son, Justin, were visiting our church today. So we talked with them until they had to leave. Then we stayed for the fellowship meal and were some of the last to leave as usual.
My ham pot pie was all gone and we hadn't even gotten any. Oh well, I still had some ingredients at the house, I will make some more when we get home.
We spent a few short hours at the house before returning to the church for Sunday evening service. After the service a group of members were practicing for a special that they are doing for the upcoming hymn sing so I watched. It is very touching and a good presentation. I wish I could be here for the hymn sing, but they are going to videotape it and put it on Youtube. Make sure to check it out if you can't come to the hymn sing.
I said goodbye to all of my wonderful church friends because I knew that I probably wouldn't see them again until Easter weekend. I always hate the goodbye part. It is so hard to leave those you love so dearly.
Monday morning was busy. Pops went to Hyndman to spend the day with our preacher, Chad Fatula. Bill P. went to work. Starla and I were meeting my sister, Amy and her daughter, Kacey for breakfast in Somerset. Then I had an appointment with the eye dr.
I enjoyed seeing Amy and wish that we could've had more time together. But that's the way it goes. I have learned to make the most of time spent together with someone.
My eye appointment went as expected. I had to get new glasses because my bi-focal wasn't strong enough anymore. I think the Dr. found every way possible to tell me that I am getting old. He did a complete exam including dilating my pupils and after all of that told me to go pick a pair of glasses. Well, that is hard to do when you can barely see at all. Why don't they tell you to pick glasses before dilating your eyes?
After the eye Dr. we drove to Confluence to visit with my Dad. He was in a good mood and we helped him put all of the post cards that I had sent into his photo album. It was a nice visit and we didn't stay real long because you could tell he was tired and so after an hour or so we left.
We dropped Kacey off at the cafe where my sister works and then Starla and I had one more stop. We had to take my taxes down to the CPA to get them done. She said she would get them done as quickly as possible since she knew we weren't here for long.
Then we went home. I worked somemore on laundry and then we got ready for supper. We were invited to Chad and Diane Fatula's for supper. They were making steak. Pops came home and then shortly thereafter we left to go to Hyndman. Bill P. was coming there right after work.
Diane made steaks on the grill and baked potatoes and a big tossed salad. She also had a loaf of crusty bread to go along with that. I had made an apple pie. So we had a good meal and enjoyed the good times with them. Their sons, Chaz and Drew are such good fun. What a sense of humor runs in that family. It was a nice time and I hope to do it again when we go home next. I thought maybe we would have them to our house this time and make pork chops or chicken on the grill.
The next morning Bill P. went to work and Starla and Pops went to Hyndman to do some stuff at the church. I stayed home to get our truck repacked and to prepare for our sons coming up for supper today. But our tax lady called and said that our taxes were done already. Wow, that was less than 24 hours. So I drove over and picked those up too.
Then I came back to the house and started cooking. We were having spaghetti and salad.
We saw Drew in church on Sunday but I hadn't seen Tom in 10 weeks. I miss my kids while on the road. I do get to text them and occassionally talk to them on the phone but it is hard to have children, even if they are grown and not get to see them very often.
So our visit with them was a lot of catching up and just enjoying time spent together. Drew brought his "puppy" Bullet; although he is full size now. I can't believe how large he is and his voice has gotten deeper, so that when he barks, it is deep and loud. It was quite a lot of chaos with him and our dogs. But it was good chaos.
Tueday evening was spent just relaxing around the house. We were going back into service at 11:30pm and didn't know when the load opportunities would start coming.
We got to sleep a good night's sleep in our bed undisturbed and the load opportunities started coming around 10:00 the next morning. We declined about 15 or 20 before we found one that interested us, but we didn't get that one. We ended up getting one picking up in Pittsburgh, PA and going to St. Joseph, MO.
So just like that, it such a short time, we were back on the road.
It was good to be home.