A Delightful Weekend

Margaret and I just had a great weekend! Saturday night we, and our friend Ron Jones,
went to Stewart’s Brewing Company for dinner and to hear some good music.

Ron and Margaret

The food here is very good! I had crab cakes (bottom), Margaret had a steak (middle),
and Ron ordered the salmon (top)

We had also gone to Stewart’s to hear the Barrelhouse Blues Band whom we enjoy a great deal.
I tried to get a couple of pictures of the band playing but the pics didn’t turn out. Click on the link and
you can view their website. The group is led by Charlie “Choo Choo” Rickner who does
the lead vocals and plays harmonica. If you like Blues, you gotta’ hear these guys!

Sunday I preached at Pleasant Hill Wesleyan Church (PHWC), located about 5 miles NE of Elkton, MD

Our first introduction to PHWC was back in 2007 when we were invited to share our
missionary work at the TFC Chapel in Elkton. Since then I have preached there many
times. They are currently between Pastors and I am preaching some of the Sunday
morning services. It feels good to be preaching more frequently again!

2nd Annual Thanksgiving For Trucker Friends

Three of our truck driver friends live near us.  Last year Margaret invited them to join us for our Thanksgiving meal.  We repeated the invitations this year.  The past eight years we were always at the chapel on Thanksgiving day.  Also, the drivers and our family have other commitments on Thanksgiving day, so we have our meal the weekend before the holiday.

Our daughter Sheri and her two sons, Jonathan and Patrick Sean, came up from Virginia Friday night.  Sheri fixes a deep fat fried turkey for her family and agreed to bring her fryer with her this year.  Margaret had tasted one of Sheri’s fried turkeys before and loved it.

Sheri setup the fryer in the back yard.  It uses about 4 gallons of oil and has a propane burner.

When they thought the bird should be done, Jonathan lifted it out of the fryer so Sheri could check it’s temperature

It’s done!

Our three driver friends, left to right: Jay Jones, Tony Kong, and Ron Jones.  Jay and Tony are now retired from truck driving.
Lower right, Baby Girl was also spending the day visiting with us again.

I wanted a picture of the table before it got messed up!

Ready to begin the feast! Left to right: Ron Jones, Sandy Jones (neighbor and friend from church), Tony Kong, Jay Jones, Jonathan, Sheri, Patrick Sean, Margaret, and Baby Girl.  Even though we had three Jones’ with us, they are not related.

Margaret, Jonathan, and Sheri did an awesome job preparing the meal.  The fried turkey was delicious.  Sandy provided the desert—two pumpkin pies.  We have so many blessings to be thankful for!!!

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Jim's Birthday

Our friend Jim Lipp's birthday was this week, Thursday, July 17th, and we wanted to do something special for him.  Margaret organized a card shower for him.

Margaret was in Elkton that Thursday to run some errands and met Jim at the truck stop for breakfast and gave him his cards. You can see how happy he was.

Jim had never heard of a card shower. Margaret had to explain what it was.  He received 20 cards Thursday plus three more that showed up later.  Jim says, "Thank you!", to all of those who sent him cards.

The rest of his celebration was a home cooked meal at our house yesterday, Saturday.  Margaret had asked Jim what he wanted and he requested kielbasa sausage, real mashed potatoes, and Bush's baked beans. Pictured above on the right is our friend, driver and Volunteer Chaplain Ron Jones, who was also invited.

Jim enjoying his special meal

Ron's dietary restrictions preclude kielbasa and potatoes so Margaret also fixed fish and rice for him.  I'm not a fan of fish so Margaret doesn't get it at home very often. She opted to have fish and rice also.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins