Finally the weekend!

Jon made it through one week of school! He had to come home on monday night, but finally on tuesday he got electricity. The bldg. permit office misplaced our request for permission to hook up electricity, so they got on it after we called. Didn't really want to call and worry them, because it might give them reason to find fault with the service. He is so lonely over there. He does have television, and the landlord's grandson has come by to speak and is real nice. He even invited Jon to go to church with them. He was really glad to be home and see his "girl", meaning Candy, the camaro. I wasn't able to send much in the way of food with him last weekend, other than non-perishables, since we didn't know when we would get lights. Yesterday I made chicken spaghetti, cheese soup, and beef stroganoff in large amounts so he would have plenty to take back. He kinda likes school, just not being over there!

Patrick had a good week at school. Monday night was open house, so we went and spoke to all the teachers. He and Jeremiah and Howard cut grass at the church yesterday and also the other ladies' houses where they cut.

Today is the big 175th birthday of our church. There is a parade this afternoon followed by a party at the pavillion. Hamburgers, chips, ice cream and cake are on the menu. Tomorrow Dr. Jim Futral will preach the 11:00 service. Looking forward to that. Don't really like the idea of a parade. It looks like we are pointing to ourselves instead of Jesus. I don't think that we should be in the business of promoting Carrollton Baptist Church. I think Jesus gets lost in the hoopla.

Liz called and talked for an hour wednesday night. She was really wound up! Enjoyed talking to her. Seems like she is very busy with school and working every spare minute.

I have worked a lot this week. I am tired. Jeanette had her second treatment wednesday. She is doing ok. Haven't talked to her today. Last time she had her treatment, the weekend was pretty bad.

Sid is getting his carpet and seats installed in his old purple truck. It is so pretty. He has worked so hard on it. He and Jon were down there this morning working on their respective projects.

The puppies arrived last Friday! There are 2 girls and 1 boy. They are so tiny and precious. They are 1 week old now and are doing fine. Mama has gotten her strength back and will leave them a little more now. I can't wait for them to open their eyes and start playing with each other. They will be fun.

this is one of the babies on the first day. This is a little girl.

Today after Patrick went to school, Sidney, Jonathan and I went to Starkville. First we went to 4-County Electric to see about getting him electricity, then we dropped Sid and the trailer off at Jon's house site. Jon and I then went to the school to finish registering him. We waited in several lines and finally finished. Tried to get a coke at the 45 quick stop, but the clerk was so high, she couldn't check us out. Sid was so thirsty, so we just had to bring him something. She kept wanting to charge us $397.77 and then she would say, no, that's not right, then she couldn't make the cash register work, so finally I asked for a calculator and figured the price of 3 cokes, forgot the candy bars and told her to keep the change. We had to get out of there! Sid wondered why it took us forever. When we got back, he had the pole just about ready to go, but the hole wasn't quite deep enough, so Jon got to see some digging action! We got it all ready to hook up, it is up to the electric folks now. Hopefully they will get it going before monday, so he can stay in his trailer. Sid and Jon are both taking off tomorrow and taking the camper. They should take care of getting the water done tomorrow as well. I am glad that Jon has this opportunity, but I will be so sad, because I will miss him so much. He is apprehensive because of new surroundings, no friends around, no television. I think that Sid and I will get him a tv for his birthday, which is 2 weeks from Sunday. Maybe we'll get it and give it to him early. Jon is so precious. I hope that he will apply himself and do well.

We are going to Starkville tomorrow to finish registering Jonathan for school and tending to getting him some electricity to his trailer. God is so good. He just keeps opening doors that we never thought about. He is awesome.

Patrick and his medal from the tournament.

School is in and I never updated from our trip. Figures!! Well, rewind to the world series. It was so fun. We got there friday and had a banquet and opening ceremonies. The boys traded pins with the other teams. It was so neat to see boys from all over the south, all great baseball players. We played Saturday morning against the Jefferson Parish (LA) team and it was a great game. The score was back and forth, but ultimately we lost 8-7. We took the boys bowling that afternoon, because we didn't have another game until sunday morning and our motel did not have a pool. Sunday morning we played another LA team and lost 16-11. For a team that was not supposed to go to the state tournament, much less the world series, they played competitively against a state champion and runner-up! Since it was a double elimination tournament, we went home after our second loss. It didn't matter-they got to go and they had a ball., Literally! We also got to see the "Miracle League" play. Our team even gave them the gifts we brought to trade. The Miracle League was so awesome. They are teams of handicapped kids and adults, either physically or mentally handicapped.

Patrick up to bat

Giving the gifts to the miracle kids

Since Sidney was supposed to be on vacation that week anyway, we went on to Atlanta to spend sunday night. We visited the cocacola museum monday morning and it was well worth a visit. Monday afternoon we headed to Charleston to see Judd and Gloria. When they found out that we were heading their way (kinda), they insisted that we come and visit. Judd took off and showed us some really neat stuff. We visited Cypress gardens swamp, where parts of The Patriot were filmed. We got to ride through the swamp with a guide. It was very beautiful. Sid and Patrick even took their own boat out after the tour. They saw baby alligators in the wild. WE went to the beach a couple of mornings and went to see the oldest and largest live oak in the state, the angel oak. It was so beautiful, rumored to be 1400 years old, but how do they know? Stopped to get corn at a roadside produce market and visited the petting zoo there. Patrick still enjoys petting animals, even though he is getting so big! Judd and Gloria took us out to the Rosebank farms restaurant on Kiawah Island. Very good, and unusual. We went to the old market downtown and walked on the riverwalk. We had a blast. We had a great surprise on Thursday. Katie came up. We were so glad to see her. On our last night there Judd, Sidney, Patrick and I went to a charleston Riverdogs game. They are a "A" team for the yankees. The dogs won and Patrick bought a cool hat. We came home on Saturday. Had a couple of weeks to catch up until school started on the 6th of August. Patrick worked the last 2 weeks at the Rays, tearing down an old shed. It was good for him and it got him used to gettting up early in the morning. Last Wednesday, the 6th was the first day of 7th grade! He likes it pretty well so far. He says much better than elementary. Jon starts to school this monday at East Mississippi community college. He is nervous and not sure about leaving home. He has a camper to stay in on a very pretty farm out in the country just about 6 or 7 miles from the school. We will go this weekend to get things set up and try to get him some electricity. the spot has water and a septic tank, but we have to set a pole and they have to get some electricity to it. I know that I will miss him. He will be home on the weekends and on the days that he works. He won't know when that will be until he gets over there and his teacher sets him up on a schedule. I pray that he will stick with it and do well. Sid and I? well, we are just working!

Sid and Belinda at the Coca Cola Museum

Patrick and Sidney at Kiawah Beach

The Angel Oak

cypress garden swamp