Updates

Hannah slept well last night, didn't sleep well the night before, and slept well the two previous nights. I'm feeling a bit under the weather with a cold. The two oldest children are doing well with their school work. They have songs about verbs and Bethany is doing multiplication and Joel is learning about similes and all sorts of things.

Karen canned a batch of salsa the other day. We're going to do a double batch on Saturday. The home made salsa tastes so much better than the store bought! We got a copy of Lehmanns Non-Electric Catalog the other day. There are so many interesting non-electric gadgets! A non-electric lifestyle is somehow seductive, but I think the reality is a lot of manual work and no air conditioning! Still it would be nice to be a little less dependent on the electrical grid!

Bethany has been practicing on the new piano (digital, not acoustic. Ignore previous non-electric comments). Also, Karen has been playing it and sharpening some skills that had grown rusty over the years. I think she sounds terrific.

Last weekend was really busy. On Saturday for lunch we were at a BBQ because some friends were in town. It was really great, although not everyone on the invitee list could make it. For supper we were at a shower for Karen's niece who is getting married. Unfortunately I felt ill, and we had to leave early. Sunday morning I was still a bit ill, but had to drive to Pembroke to preach. It was a nice drive and I ended up feeling better. Nice folks there! Sunday night we had our annual church corn roast. Every year the whole church goes over to the Shepherd's house. Sometimes it's a pot-luck, and sometimes it's a BBQ. But the fixture is a huge caudron of fresh corn on the cob. It's a nice time of fellowship, and we usually get a number of visitors who get the chance to find out what Christians are like outside of church. I took Monday as a vacation day to recover!