Xanga

Lunch in the Poconos

Our motorcoach was waiting for us at the end of the train ride ~ prepared to take us on a short drive to Ehrhardts for lunch.

We were one of three busloads of guests in the dining room.

This is the only photo I took of the delicious food.  It was served family style, and this is the only one that started with me ~ presenting an attractive, untouched platter.

The view from the dining room.

Following the meal, we were given an hour to relax and walk around the grounds before the show started.

A reverse view ~ looking at the dining room from the dock.

A seating area in front of Ehrhardts Motel next door.

Abe & Mark

John & John

The Dock

Seaweed

The Rocks

Water’s Edge

The most colorful leaves in the area.

~~~

(to be continued)

The Old Gang

Our trip yesterday was with friends from dating days.  We began getting together several years after everyone married – when someone thought it would be fun to get in touch with those we were no longer seeing on a regular basis. 

For lack of a better name we called ourselves “The Old Gang.”

We probably started meeting in the late ’60s or early ’70s.

Even our driver is part of “The Old Gang” – and yes, he is very tall – 6′ 7″.

Yesterday we met at 6:45 a.m. and traveled about four hours by coach (including a coffee break) to the Poconos – where we rode a train to our lunch destination.  

Our welcome snack at the Visitor’s Center was coffee, iced tea, and apple cake.  Julie (getting coffee) is the person who usually organizes our picnics, trips, etc. 

Brother-in-laws, Abe and Marv

Marti and Sharon

Finishing our cake and coffee

It was a beautiful fall morning for a train ride.

Our conductor

Boarding

A few facts about the twenty-plus couples from “The Old Gang.”

Of those who come to our (almost yearly) get-togethers, nobody is divorced and no one has lost a spouse to death.  The oldest person is almost seventy, and the youngest is sixty-one.  Most are married forty-three to forty-six years. 

True to most train trips, we saw lots of interesting, old buildings with lots of “character.”

Leaves were just beginning to change.

~~~

(to be continued)

A Day To Remember

That’s just a hint of what we did today.  I’ll tell you about it tomorrow night.

I Praise You God

For Your Power

It is beyond my imagination

Beyond anything I have ever seen

Nothing is too difficult for You

Power to make everything

Power to keep everything

Where would I be without Your power?

I praise You for Your power over the broad events of my life

Nothing in my life has been accidental

Nothing in my life is incidental

Thank You that I can live today in Your power

I can face the future free of concern

Because of Your power

Goodbye Abigail

Tonight we went to Olive Garden with our son, Jere, his wife, Kristen, and their two oldest children, Josh and Jana.  It was their farewell gift to Abigail, our granddaughter from Maine, who was their summer nanny.

She is going home to Maine in the morning.

L. to R. – Abigail, Jana, Josh, Cerwin, Kristen, and Jere.

Abigail has been a fabulous help to Jere & Kristen’s family – especially when Kristen had to spend the month of June in the hospital while awaiting the birth of Jesse.

Beautiful, large, Begonias in Olive Garden’s garden.

Trinity Fellowship Church of the Brethren

Waynesboro, PA

Since we had a two-hour drive to Trinity, we were out of the house at sunrise this morning.

We planned to arrive half-an-hour early, because we were sharing about our work with TFC – via PowerPoint – for their Sunday School session.  However, Cerwin thinks he messed up the GPS unit when he brushed dust off the screen, and since we did not know the back roads it took us about fifteen minutes off route before we realized we were going the wrong direction.  Consequently, we arrived about the time Sunday School started.  It was a bit nerve-wracking, but at least we weren’t late. 

We had a super morning and enjoyed visiting friends and making new ones.  I even met two blog friends – it was great to see http://www.xanga.com/RoseKay and http://www.xanga.com/beckysherwin.  I never met Rose, but we knew each other immediately.  I’ve known Becky since she was a baby, but don’t get to see her very often since she married and moved two hours away.  It was neat to catch up on her life.

After church we were invited to Dean and Diane’s house for lunch.  (True to the life of a trucker – Dean could not be there because he had a load to deliver in Iowa.)  I liked this decoration just outside their entrance door.

We had a delicious lunch of smoked pork chops (grilled), gourmet potatoes, peas, rolls, and pumpkin roll and pecan bars for dessert – plus the items pictured below.

We enjoyed meeting their friends Tom and Joyce and Earl and Barb.  Our hostess, Diane is sitting next to Cerwin.

Joyce, Tom, Barb, and Earl.  I should have asked them to look up – they were all intent on eating!

Pickled miniature peppers and cole slaw – I could have made a meal out of these!  She canned lots of them earlier in the summer.

Delicious Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

A beautiful fruit dish.

~~~

Our afternoon conversation never lacked for interesting subjects, and it was time to go home before we realized so many hours had gone by.  Thanks, Diane, for making sure we had a fabulous day.

New Birth

The new birth can be experienced

but

it cannot be explained.

~~~

I love the bee’s pollen-filled sack in the last photo.  Sometimes they fill their sacks so full they can barely fly!

~~~

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy

he has given us

new birth

into a living hope

through

the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

(1 Peter 1:3 NIV) 

Thursday

Highway News and Good News Meeting at TFC’s International Office.

Inge, JJ, and I meet on a regular basis ~ to coordinate our methods of communication, discuss ideas, and make sure we know what each other is doing and thinking.  This month the meeting was geared only to the Highway News, and helping JJ (the editor) with ideas for 2008 – so we invited the “guys.”

This tableful was making a lot of noise when it was time to start, so someone suggested that I needed a gavel.  This is the first time I ever used deer antlers!  (You can tell we have hunters on staff.)

Clockwise:  Bunny O’Hare – white shirt at end of table – Director of Chaplains; Inge Koenig – Executive Assistant to the President; Mike Hayden – Director of Business and Finance; Don Hollinger – Writer and Photographer for the Highway News; Scott Weidner – President and CEO; JJ Landis – Editor; My empty chair; Howard Moses – Director of Chaplain Care.

I love these guys and gals!  They love the Lord, care about truckers, are creative, share encouraging words, and keep the ministry and each other on the growing edge.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know JJ (Jennifer) better this year, since she, Inge, and I began serving on the Communications Team.

JJ, you are a blessing to TFC and the 30,000 people who read the Highway News.

Chapel Construction for Quebec

This process continues to amaze me ~ and I’ve watched and photographed it many times.

On July 12 – shortly after delivering the new chapel to Pilot Travel Center, East St. Louis, IL – Cerwin backed this trailer into the TFC shop.

This is what the interior looked like that day.

Flooring

Framing

Cerwin had begun the installation of partitions and insulation.

Paneling

Standing in the chapel ~ looking toward the living quarters.

Cabinets in the living quarters.

In the living quarters ~ looking toward the chapel area.

Carpet was installed earlier this week.

~~~

We hope to deliver this chapel to Quebec in late October.

Today Cerwin took it to be sandblasted, where the transformation of the exterior begins. 

Cerwin and Claude discussed chapel lettering when we visited the chapel in Woodstock, Ontario, in late July.

I am anxious to see a chapel that is lettered in French, but I expect our Quebec chaplain, Claude Mathieu, is even more excited to see a chapel with French lettering!