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

Pooh Bear

This past weekend our Daughter, Sheri, and her youngest son, Patrick Sean, came from Virginia to visit.  One of the things they brought with them was a belated Christmas present.

Sheri had put together a Pooh puzzle and then framed it for me.

I can't imagine how she was able to do this. There are so many pieces that look so much alike!  Thank you Sheri for a special gift.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Margaret's Goose, Part 2

Margaret fixed the goose today.

Here Margaret is removing the apple stuffing from the goose

The carved goose, ready for serving.  It tasted delicious.  We had been told that it would be greasy but that was not the case.  The flavor was quite mild.

The table is set and we're ready for dinner

Margaret invited Jim Tracy (center) to sample the bird he had helped to prepare. On the left is Jim's friend, Teresa. On the right is our daughter Sheri, and her son Patrick Sean

Margaret in the center

(Jim got the goose feathers. He want's to make something with them.)

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Busy Weekend

We had a wonderful and busy weekend.  Our 10 yr-old grandson, Patrick Sean, was visiting with us.  Friday afternoon the three of us went to the Air Mobility Command Museum located on the Dover Air Force Base.

This is a picture of the tarmac next to the museum which is located in the hanger in the top center.  There are 19 restored aircraft inside and outside the museum.  I got this photo from the museum website.  It is a great museum and the admission is right, free.

Saturday was my 62nd birthday.

Margaret and Patrick Sean had a birthday cake for me, complete with 62 candles!  I am amazed that our smoke detector did not go off!

It is a wonder that the cake survived! (Chocolate Oreo, of course)

 

Patrick Sean shot a video of me opening his present to me, a bar of extra dark chocolate.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Lansdale, PA for the 29th annual TFC Bucks-Montgomery Chapter Pig Roast and concert

As always, the food was great.  You can just see Patrick Sean at the far end of the serving line in the yellow hoodie.  Margaret is just to the right of him.

Here is a closer picture of them.  Next to Margaret is Peg O'Hare, wife of TFC Director of Chaplains, Bunny O'Hare.  That evening there was a great Gospel Concert by the Mark Trammell Trio.  I brought two CDs and a video of them home.

I drove home after the concert.  This was my longest stint driving since my accident.  We were ready for a snack when we got back into Delaware and went to one of my favorite restaurants.

The Charcoal Pit is a 1950's hamburger and ice cream restaurant that I started eating at when I was still in high school.

Patrick Sean was fascinated with the table-side jukebox

"The Pit" still serves milk shakes the old fashion way, in the metal mixing containers.  I had a triple thick, double chocolate shake (chocolate syrup and chocolate ice cream).

Sunday afternoon we went to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, DE.  Patrick Sean took a bunch of pictures of the animals there.

On the way home we stopped at another restaurant dating from my growing up days, The Dog House.  They specialize in foot-long hot dogs with a big assortment of optional toppings.

That evening we went to another Gospel concert.  This time we heard a great choir from the Smyrna AME church that came to our church to share their music ministry.  Today, Margaret and Patrick Sean drove to Philadelphia to tour the U.S. Mint.

Praise the Lord for a wonderful weekend.  I guess Patrick Sean enjoyed his visit because he was reluctant for Margaret to take him home to Virginia when it was time to leave this evening.  He wanted to stay a little longer.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Roller Coaster Week

Monday was a rough day, especially for Margaret.  She had to have our 16 year-old pet cat, Darn Cat (DC).  He had lost more than half of his body weight and the vet said all of his tests were negative, it was just old age.

Margaret holding DC shortly before he was put to sleep.
(see all of the photos)

On the up side of the week, our youngest grandson, 10 year-old Patrick Sean, is visiting us from VA for a week.  Tonight we went to watch a little league game.  Our church sponsors one of the teams and this was a good opportunity for us to check them out.

Margaret and Patrick Sean sitting in the stands.  The temperature was in the mid sixties with a stiff breeze, quite chilly.

The kids are really young.  The coaches operate a pitching machine to pitch the balls.  If you look closely you can see one of the bright orange balls in the air on the way to home plate.  If the batter doesn't hit a ball before their turn is over then a tee-ball stand is set up and they hit the ball on that. We had a good time.

Patrick Sean spotted this purple car and had to take some pictures for his mom, Sheri.  Purple is her favorite color.

(see all of the photos)

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Refrigerator Art

The days of paper and crayons are over.  No more unrecognizable children's crayon squiggles on craft paper put up on the refrigerator door with a cute magnet.  That stuff is old hat for the electronic generation.  Now it's digital photos, doctored with photo editing software and distributed electronically.  For proof see the below photo art work from our youngest grandson, Patrick Sean, titled Me Me 1.  (I expect the "1" means there is more to come, or maybe that Margaret is his #1 Me Me?)

Me Me 1

Thank you Patrick Sean

(Pray for me. I could be sleeping in the shed tonight for posting this.)