Blessed Easter

We had a great week-end. Long too! We had Good Friday off, so I worked on the lawn and yard for the first time in about four weeks. We're coming to the end of the oak leaves falling and we're in the middle of the oak blossom and pollen season. I put the bagger on the lawn mower and vacuumed the leaves and grass clippings. I also trimmed the areca palms in the back and whacked back the newly leafing Rangoon Creeper in anticipation of its 9 month growing season. I also helped a single friend across the street; she needed some leaves cleaned off her roof. GB spent the day in the house -- some cleaning, some school stuff, and some quilting. We had a Good Friday service in our pastor's house in the evening with about 25 people. On Saturday we had a practice for the 8 people in our little choir and then met about 30 from our congregation at a church about a mile from our house. We've been looking for another site for some time. The school cafeteria has been good for us, but it's off the street and we don't have a really visible presence. This site was the home for a Presbyterian USA church for nearly 50 years, but the congregation got older and dwindled down to about 30. They have since joined with another Presbyterian USA church a few miles away. They want us to lease for two years and then they want to sell. We believe that God has been moving and preparing the way for us. We've been in the Lake George cafeteria for over 3.5 years and it seems that -- in His time -- we have a next step. We will have a congregational meeting in two weeks about this...This church and property is right in the heart of Conway. The sanctuary was built in 1962. It's got a strange roof but it's weather worthy. There is a child care of about 90 kids (6 wks to pre-K) that uses some of the classrooms during the week. Lots of possibilities!

Saturday evening we drove about 30 miles -- south and west of Disney -- and took Ruth & John Ippel out for supper. We had a good time with them; learned a new card game from them also. I think we've had a new card game from the Ippels every year for the past four years!
We had a great service this morning. First a brunch and then a great service. Our little choir led the singing well!

Moving Day

Saturday is "Moving Day" in a golf tournament, because you have to move up in the standings on Saturday to be on top of the tournament on Sunday. We left the house at 7:30 AM this morning and were on the grounds of Bay Hill Golf & Country Club by 8:15 for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Arnie's tournament raises money every year for the Winnie Palmer Women and Children's Hospital in Orlando. We parked ourselves by the second green and saw 2/3 of the field play a rather difficult par 3. Only 2 birdies but 8 bogies for the 47 players we watched...After Tiger Woods went by, we grabbed some lunch (got an Arnold Palmer Tee -- iced tea/lemonade in a unique bottle), and followed Phil Mickelson around. He had the best shot that we saw all day. We were sitting on the right side of the 8th fairway catching some shade and Phil pushed a drive past the tree line almost to the cart path. We stood on the back of the cart path (Phil said, "You may want to get back a little; it's going to be close.") and watched / heard him sizzle a second shot through the trees about 200 yards that ended about three feet from the pin! What fun! We were impressed by the fitness of many of the golfers, Tiger in particular. And it was Moving Day; Vijay Singh double bogied and Tiger was 4 under, so the two of them and four others are tied for the lead. The day was perfect -- upper 80's, partly cloudy, breezy to keep things feeling a bit cooler. We came home sunburned and with a much greater appreciation for the golfers and the huge infrastructure that makes a tournament happen and look good on television. The galleries were absolutely polite -- quiet and respectful at all times, not only of the players but also of other onlookers. It reminded us of the Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial before the Saturday parade...really really quiet and then a cheer or groan or roar of approval! Just one picture because cameras and cell phones were prohibited. Lots of memories and the hope that we can do this again!

A Little Travel

We drove down to Hutchinson Island / Nettles Island on Sunday and visited with Uncle Hank & Aunt Marideen. It was a beautiful day, travel was easy for the 2 plus hours on the road, and we had a great time with the relatives. GB and I walked on the beach for the first time in a long, long while. We even found a few shells! There was quite a breeze from the east and a number of Men-of-War were tossed up on the beach. The ocean was a beautiful blue-green color, the waves were wonderful, and the water temp was not-too-bad! We even got a little sunburned! (Thought that the GB / Aunt Marideen picture was appropriate - did you ever see Aunt Marideen talk without moving her hands?)

On Tuesday we (middle school math teacher Rich Magee and I) took 26 TCS kids to the Christian Schools of Florida math competition in Tampa. We fielded two teams -- a middle school team and an elementary team of 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders. It was held at Cambridge Christian School and 5 Central Florida Christian schools participated. We had a coach that had 47 seats, so we had 15 parents join us. We left just after 7 AM and were back at school before 3 PM. The middle school team took fourth place, but my elementary team was the 2nd place team! We had practiced weekly for the past 7 weeks and it was good to see all of that hard work pay off!