Gee...I've been a bad blogger lately!

Has it really been since the Gaither concert that I have written on this thing? Wow...that's what the holidays will do for you!

We had a great Thanksgiving! My ENTIRE family was here: Dad and my brother and sister. They have never all been to my house together and it was great! Then we went down together to Ottumwa for George and Waydene's 50th anniversary and all six cousins were together for the first time since 1977. We haven't done that since Jorin was a little pup. That was the year I dropped him on his head and ran away and hid because I thought that Uncle George would kill me.

I preached for George's church the Sunday following. They are such an easy church to preach to. Some places make it easy on a preacher and some...well...make it harder. First Pentecostal is easier than many I have spoken in. Their new pastor is just great! He is an evangelist at heart and has a vision to reach those in Ottumwa that aren't being reached elsewhere. If you're ever in Ottumwa drop in on them on Church Street.

It's funny...one time I preached at a Church of God in Christ here in Council Bluffs. I love preaching in black churches! When we left that night Shawn said, "Wow...I never heard you preach like that!" I said, "Gee, most of the time people don't work with me like that!"

You know...that's an interesting thought for me. Do I make it easier or harder for the person standing in the pulpit on Sunday? How can I make their job of preaching easier? Hmmm...I need to think on that! Any thoughts?

Thanksgiving is coming...Yeah and Yikes!

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is just a matter of days away! Where has this year gone???

I am very excited about this year's celebration...my family is coming! Yeah! This will be the FIRST time in 19 years of marriage that I have had my family here for a holiday and to have them all together is just an incredible thing. We all live in different states and rarely are all together at the same time.

The special occasion is my uncle and aunt's (George and Waydene Edgerly) 50th anniversary celebration the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We're not a large family. My nuclear family will all be here and that only consists of 11 of us. All of George's family is only 13 people. We're depending on my cousin Jorin's little boy, Ian, to carry on the Edgerly name.

It is good for me to have my uncle and aunt's anniversary to celebrate...they married only 3 months after my parents who divorced after 23 years together...they were the only divorce that I can find in my genealogy. Sad. George and Waydene also let me live with them when I was in college and have been a second set of parents to me in my adulthood. They have been a major blessing to me and I credit them with much of my success in life. They're good folks.

Now...if I'm going to have all these people here I had better get that basement cleaned up and these carpets...oh boy, there's work to do!

The weekend

We had a nice weekend...since school was out on Friday we had two of Gracie's friends spend the night on Thursday. Molly and Becca are really nice girls and they seem to hit it off well at school. Molly's dad is our DARE officer; she has four of the cutest siblings (especially little Hallie!) and I am just getting to know Becca's family.

We went to see WALL-E at the $1 theatre after school on Thursday. Georgia Brogan went with us. She is such a good surrogate grandma for the kids! It was a good movie - very imaginative and pretty much had a biblical worldview - we must take care of the things that God has given us and not relinquish our responsibilities for the sake of pleasure. Good wisdom that we need to hear.

I took the girls to the zoo on Friday. I absolutely LOVE our zoo! Since we have a membership I often go by myself and just enjoy the quiet of the animals. The penguins are my favorite.

I'm glad I started this second blog to just write about life. It's good to be able to journal and share my thoughts without feeling like I have be saying something that has a moral or point to it. HA HA.