A Weekend Away

Last Friday afternoon we drove to Sayre, PA to check in to the BriMarie Inn for the weekend. The BriMarie is a Victoria bed & breakfast plus a restaurant.  I had stayed there once before but this was Margaret’s first stay.  We were there to attend the American Evangelical Christian Churches (AECC) Annual North East Region Conference in Waverly, NY.  Sayre, PA and Waverly, NY are adjacent to each other on opposite sides of the border.

The conference began Friday night but we were delayed by construction on the drive and arrived too late for that.  It should be about a 4.5 hour drive but took us almost 6 hours. The conference continued through late Saturday afternoon.  We did not want to drive back Saturday night so we stayed through Sunday morning.  After breakfast Sunday we returned to the conference host church to attend Sunday services.

I had Margaret’s camera which is smaller than than mine.  I intended to take a bunch of pictures but the camera batteries died after only two shots and we didn’t have any spare ones with us.

Talking to Margaret is Bonna Brown. Next to her is her husband Jim.  Jim & Bonna are from Hagerstown, MD.
The couple next to Jim made a seven hour drive from New England.

The man on the right, in the red shirt, is a full-time truck driver, Jim, who has visited with me in the chapel at Elkton.

Saturday night we opted to eat in the BriMarie Inn restaurant.  The menu had a couple of appetizers that looked like they would be within our diets (and budget). One was steamed mussels for me, and a vegetable pizza for Margaret. Those plus a salad each sounded like a good plan.  Wrong!  At that restaurant the appetizers portions are what we think of as entrées.  I got 21 mussels and Margaret’s pizza had eight pieces. Of course I forced myself to eat all of mine.  I went way over my goal on Saturday and over again on Sunday.  Even so my daily average is still good and I’m back on target today.  You can see my food diary here.

All in all it was a nice relaxing weekend away with some good friends. As Margaret said, “It is nice to attend an event and not be working on staff!”

AECC Northeast Conference 2007

July 13-14 Chaplains Tom Kramer, "Hoppy" Hopkins, and I went to Waverly, NY to attend the annual AECC Northeast Regional Conference.  We stayed in a lovely Victorian Bed and Breakfast in nearby Sayre, PA, the BriMarie Inn.

My room at the BriMarie

Chaplain "Hoppy", second from left, and Chaplain Tom next to him.
(see more pictures)

Some of you may remember that my ordination was at this conference last year.

The first session was Friday night followed by a time of fellowship.  I gave a presentation about our TFC ministry during one of the Saturday morning sessions.  Lunch was provided by the host church and no one left hungry.  The final activity before we left was communion.  It was great to see some of the folks we met last year.

Margaret and Tom's wife, Linda, did not go with us this year.  They were in D.C. for a Women of Faith conference.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins