Ruminations: Less than a week to go until Yellowstone Adventure 2021

    This week has been Vacation Bible School (VBS) week at our church.  It has been a great week getting kids to understand Jesus.  I think we averaged 120 kids every night, but it takes a lot of volunteers to make VBS a success.  We had some great people working with the kids and with the adults this week.  When I was a kid I think the preacher and his wife put on VBS and that was all.  Then again our church only had around 20 kids.  I come from a small baptist church in Vicksburg Indiana.  The church is no longer there, but the memories are with me. It was a coal heated, no air conditioned, one piano, two story, Bible teaching church.  The people that went there were great and they truly cared for each other.  

   As the title indicates I have less than a week to go until I head the wagon west. I have one more doctor appointment next week and hopefully the dermatologist does not find any further issues.  Cathy's sister is ailing and in the emergency room now.  She has been battling cancer for quite some time and now has to contend with a a couple cracks in her ankle. She is in my daily prayers and I know God can cure her cancer.  Cathy watches her dog while she is away from her home.  We now have three dogs in the house and at times it gets a little crowded when all 4 of the grand-kids are also there.  Sammy, the oldest dog, has learned to just go hide and sleep when everyone is around.  With Cathy's sister not doing well I may not get started next week.  We will see how her sister does over the next few days.  

   The past week my dependable 7 year old Honda push mower gave up the ghost.  It was a great self propelled push mower and did a great job on the small lawn I have.  After taking it to the local mower shop, I determined it was beyond fixing and making me have 100 percent confidence in it while I am gone to Yellowstone.  So I ordered a new mower from Lowe's and it was delivered 3 days later.  I also took the old mower down to the Amish area and their Honda service group gave me $53 for it.  They will use the mower for replacement parts.  The Amish area is very interesting to visit.  They have a lot of specialized areas, such as mowers and granite counter tops.  They also have roofing and cabinet making areas.  They normally do good work, but sometimes they are behind the times for new technology.  While in the area I picked up some marinated turkey and steaks from their local butcher.  The turkey is excellent grilled.