Old Time Fiddler's Convention

Much has happened since our last blog post. I will summarize the main events below:

• The kids have started school, and we are ramping up for our afterschool program. This year, we're going to have an intensified focus on homework help. We feel that we would do a better service to the kids and their families if we work with them to raise grades and enhance their education. Since Ruthie is going out of town on Saturday, we are going to open our doors on the 25th.
• We took our iguana, Rocket, in to the vet. He had some discoloration that we were worried about. It turned out that Rocket was actually a female, and a very healthy one. Upon hearing of this, I made some comments about her bad moods, etc., which were not appreciated by the opposite sex. So I will refrain from making them here. Although they were funny. You can imagine. We're trying to figure out how to handle this paradigm shift. We have been calling her, "Rockette," or "The Iguana Formerly Known as Rocket."
• Over the weekend, we attended a small family reunion with Ruthie's relatives in Virginia. They are a great bunch, and we spent a great deal of time staring at a fire, conversing, and sitting around. On Saturday, we went to the Old Fiddler's Convention in Galax, VA, which was pretty amazing, of which we took many pictures which somehow vanished from our camera.
• On Sunday, we spoke at Children's Church at Lyndell Taylor's church. My whole message was about how any talent or interest can be used to minister. I gave numerous examples from our work here, and sent them home with an assignment: find one thing you enjoy doing, and use it to show someone kindness. Lyndell's gonna let me know how they do.

Okay. I reckon that's enough for now.