Blessings from last week

Last Tuesday I was supposed to meet up with my Uncle Gene and his son Tony for lunch. I gave misleading directions and we missed each other. Wednesday though I was able to drive down to St. Augustine and have lunch with them. It was the first time I met my cousin Tony and it has probably been 10 years since I've seen my uncle. He called me out of the blue and asked to see me...that's all...just touch base. No Jerry Springer theatrics or death bed wishes. Tony is writing his second book on Russian History and teaches at Essex collage in England, his sister is an elementary teacher and his brother does some sort of work with American students that study abroad. After asking him questions about his life and his passions he then asked me what I lived for. I was able to tell him I lived for God but not much more. Evidently I'm not an evangelist and none of the verses I have "hidden" in my heart found their way into to the conversation but I'm glad for God's grace and mercy that will find a way when I don't.

The other fun part about last week was the Clay County Fair. Several families from church thought it would be fun to drive down to the Fair for Dollar Day on Thursday. It was a dollar to get in and a dollar per ride. Each child got to ride three rides and we saw a butterfly garden, pig race, a Frisbee dog show and an "alligator wrestler"...not to mention the live stock .... it was pretty much in that order.

In this picture I have a butterfly on a Q-tip that has been soaked in Gatorade and I am on the phone trying to find out where we can meet up with the Moffatts that had just arrived. I am not a cell phone user but it did come in handy. We bought not one bite of carnival food but saved our pennies to stop by the clean Ci-Ci pizza place that was on our route home. It was a good time and the kids wanted to know if we were going back next year...and if Dad would be able to come. Josh thinks he will have the time off by then because he will be out of work but this from the same mouth Friday night who told his co-worker that took us out to dinner that he wasn't at all worried that he will get laid off. Coming to terms with it and worrying about it are two different things he says but I suppose if he wants to make his opinion known maybe he should get his own blog...oh wait, he does have his own....ah, blessings.