Well Sunday was another busy day that was quite warm. I started the morning with a 6'ish roll out despite it being Sunday. Nancy followed about an hour later. Seems my internal alarm clock wakes me up a little before 6 each day and I try my best to sleep in to no avail. Anyhow after my usual routine we got ready for our trip to Tampa for the 10 AM worship service at Element Church.
We picked up neighbors Dan and Carol as we carpool on Sundays. We took 4 large plastic bins to accommodate the clothing, diapers, baby formula, etc that will be donated for the foster care families and made them readily available at Element. Already we have lots of formula donated and now we just need boys and girls clothing for babies and toddlers. Our house church is also sponsoring two teenagers who are now turning 18 and being turned out from the foster care program on their own.
There was a good crowd despite it being a Sunday where the Bucs are playing in Tampa. Many of our church are season ticket holders and they saw our Bucs win big over the Bills on a very warm day. The temps were in the middle 80's with bright sunshine. Bobby had a baptism at the end of the service outside in their own water trough for horses. That was a dramatic event as a mid 30's guys decided to change his life style. Bobby had an awesome message on how GOD uses ordinary people for extraordinary occurrences.
We came back to Seminole for a lite lunch of a fresh garden salad before heading to the local nursing pavilion where we participated in pushing patients in wheelchairs to a small worship service led by our old church from SFBC. That is a heart rendering occasion as many are on threshold of death due to their physical ailments and age. We managed to show them some attention and caring as many have no family or relatives and to offer some hope through their faith in the LORD. It's an ambivalent place as we all hope we never have to be in their places but at the same time they do receive some care because of their inability to care for themselves with no family.
Well we got back after the service to watch the Bucs beat up on the Bills for about an hour before heading to GG's for a 17th birthday dinner she was preparing for Betsy's son, Garrett's. We see him once a year and wow has he changed since we last saw him and he seemed to have matured in many ways as well. He definitely has that Greek look from his fathers side of the family. GG had spaghetti and meat balls which was what Garrett requested along with a salad and a strawberry cake. Yikes everything was delicious. We had to leave early as we wanted to attend the SFBC Christmas musical which started at 6. We made it but had to leave the cleanup for Betsy as we were supposed to eat at 4 but as always we were running an hour late.
The musical was awesome and inspiring and we hugged many necks as we saw lots of old familiar faces in the crowd. We stayed afterwards but declined on any of the refreshments as we were still digesting the big supper. It was a nice spread they had with a couple hundred in attendance. We renewed many old friendships as well. We were home around 8.
I almost forgot today was Paw Paw(dad's) 86 th birthday. Wow where did the time go. I called him early in the morning and he was getting over an intestinal bug that had plagued him for a couple days. He sounded great and in good spirits. He took me in when I was just a youngster around the age of 4-5 and raised me as his own along with 3 girls he and JoAnn had together. To my children and grand children he is their Paw Paw (grandfather and great grandfather). He is in very good shape and older than most of those we saw at the nursing pavilion today. I think the hard work he was accustom to all of his life is now rewarding him with few ailments in his later years. He still has a sharp mind and gets around quite well while still driving everyday to his city home from out in the sticks where he shares a house with a friend. He is always doing some type of physical work at both places. He is an inspiration to us all with his knowledge of our lineage and ability to recall certain events, dates and people.
Well I tuned into the late NFL game and the Carolina Panthers were getting beat by the Saints and a chance to take over first place in our division, LATER
