I had a great weekend. I got to see both sides of my extended family, preach a sermon, and spend a day on CAL’s farm, one of my favorite places on earth.
On Friday night, my family celebrated my cousin HANJ’s 25th birthday three days early. She came in from Pensacola for the event. I suppose it would not have been as good a party had the guest of honor not attended.
My mother hosted the event and the barbeque was provided by M & M Catering, which has recently opened a new location. It lived up to its exceptional reputation. My mother went with a watermelon theme. There were watermelon bowls, place settings, napkins, etc. I never knew so many watermelon based items existed.
It was refreshing to see DLNV in “Party Nazi” mode (a term coined by JEV). It was a subdued performance. This was obvious as we did not even have place settings on this night! Say it ain’t so, Party Nazi!
The cake was of the ice cream variety from Baskin Robbins. This photo is of DLNV being unable to light the cake. My father eventually saved the day.
As for the usual cousin updates:
- HANW is well and handled the photography duties as usual. Her husband, the beloved MLW, could not attend due to work, but thankfully his parents did.
- HANJ moves from Pensacola to Converse, TX (a suburb of San Antonio) on September 20th where her husband is renting a home from a college friend from UT. Her stay in the San Antonio area will be brief as she will soon be moving to Abilene. Such is the life of a military wife. No word on any connection between her next destination and Chuck Taylor.
- ACN is in Massachusetts and though she could not attend, called from Massachusetts. She will soon train to be an RA at UMass where classes begin the day after Labor Day (September 2nd).
- HLN arrived late as she completed yet another dance class. She was her usual brooding self. One of the highlights of the evening came when, after getting lost en route to the house (to which she has visited dozens of times), her father walked from the house to the street corner to indicate a turn. She sped right by him and he had to walk back to the house!
- She is dating a guy named Jake who attends the Webb School of Knoxville. When I asked what he liked she instantly replied, “Math”. He is also a chess player. I already like the guy. The family likes him too and hopes it works out as his last name of Persian descent rhymes with HLN’s first name. The family has liked people for lesser reasons.
It was a good night with family and we even closed in time to catch most of the Olympics. All sarcasm aside, DLNV did a great job hosting the event.
Sunday was a typical work hard, play hard Sunday. JTH, WAM, MPW and I hit the road to Newport, Tennessee, where I preached at the English Mountain Christian Church for the vacationing Rick Carr. The church, built in 1967, was once pastored by Fred Craddock. It is also the home church of my “aunt” PRM and it was good to see her and her family. Her father introduced me.
I preached a sermon called “Outsider’s In” based upon Matthew 15:1-28. The title came from the “reality” show filmed in Newport which had premiered on Friday. The congregation seemed to have the same negative opinion of the show as I did.
I must also note that the pianist, Dr. Bennie Caton, was amazing!
JTH graciously chauffeured, driving the Chanana. Amazingly, we had no transportation problems all day. We did arrive excessively early. To pass the time, we played Phase 10 on the church steps. We did let KJW drive part of the day. Just kidding. I just could not resist posting this photo.
JTH displayed his new mohawk. For WAM’s invaluable commentary on the new do, check out the WAM Quote of the Day.
Afterwards, we were joined my much of my extended family at the Holiday Inn for the lunch buffet. My parents were in Newport already for my father’s high school reunion and had stayed at the hotel the night before. RAW and KJW also drove from Knoxville and joined us. KJW was a hit. Plus, they had pie, so I was happy.
Afterwards, my friends and I caravanned to CAL’s farm. We interrupted a visit between CAL and her Rush trainer Amy. We spent the day swimming, playing basketball, and working the punching bag. We decided to save experimenting with potato guns, shooting pool, and touring the farm for a later visit. KJW especially enjoyed making friends with CAL’s dogs Rip and Raven. She especially liked Rip, the wiener dog, as he is her size. Strikingly, Amy's 70-pound dog was terrified of KJW!
Most of the day was spent in the pool. KJW, usually enamored of the pool, spent some time in but was timid. She recently ingested too much water at her aunt PCW’s house and has been a little gun shy ever since.
KJW’s timiditywas trumped by WAM’s off the springboard. He contemplated using it for minutes fearing the board might not support his weight. CAL tried to encourage him by noting that the board is “twenty years old. It’s had a good life.” RAW eventually coaxed him off of the board by noting that prudence had never stopped him in the past. RAW made a video of WAM diving. I will post a copy if and when I receive it.
JTH and I were not so apprehensive. JTH entertained with a series of acrobatic dives. I simply decimated a pool toy with every wrestling move that I know. This was a surprisingly large number.
I preached, saw KJW, and simulated wrestling holds. It was quite the day.
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