It is growing cold outside and it is very wet as well.

We have been fairly busy at work this evening, but that is ok because they are paying us a good wage to come here and do a job.

I work off in the morning, but have to come back to work on Tuesday days for overtime. I will have no days off this coming week. My next day off will be Thursday of the following week. Yuk.

I can use the money to get more work done on the house. I drove to night, so in the morning Gary and I will have beer (or Bourbon) at his place before I head home to sleep.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I’m back working at the refinery. I worked on the garage and the house while on vacation for Thanksgiving week. I needed to come to work so I could have a break and let my body stop hurting.

During my days off I did get a new deck put on the garage and rebuilt its north gable. I also replaced a bunch of sheetrock in Morgan’s closet. I also got our insurance information to the mortgage company, so I am hoping they send us some of the money to continue house repairs.

We’ve spent about $10,000 on repairs thus far and have a lot more to do. I’m doing most of the work myself so we will have enough money to do the needed repairs, plus contractors are hard to come by. Most of the ones I’ve spoken with have said it would two or three months before they can even think about getting to our house. I can’t wait that long.

The vacation wasn’t all work. I did get to spend some time on our now cluttered porch with some friends on a number of evenings. Lisa and I spent some time on the Porch with, MK and Lisa, Pastor Mark and his lovely wife-Peggy, and Gary J. We had some good wines, beers, mixed drinks and even a cigar or two.

I read what I believe to be a VERY good article written by Pastor Mark. It’s titled The Westminster Standards vs. the Current Controversy (it is also here). I found it to be reasonable and refreshing to read on the current hoopla over so called “Federal Vision.”

I do hope reason well return to the Reformed Camp and these issue can be discussed without all the hyperbole and fireworks that been seen in the past.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Today was a big day. I got home this morning, poured me a Samuel Adams into an Ice cold mug and read some in F.F. Bruce's Commentary on John's Gospel. After finishing my beer I set down the book and went to sleep. The good/bad news for this morning was the roofers were coming today. They arrived early and started their work, which can be, and was, noisy. I knew they were coming so I put the box fan right next to my head and put in some earplugs when I went to bed. I hoped this would allow me to sleep. The roofers did wake me a couple of times, but I was able to go right back to sleep.

I got up at about 11:30, which is very early, to start getting ready for a wedding. Lisa and I went to Jared and Ashley’s wedding at Immaculate Conception Cathedral. Father Gilbeau conducted a beautiful wedding. After the wedding we went to Mazen’s (the best restaurant in SW Louisiana) for the reception. We ate some wonderful food and visited with friends for a while. I had to work tonight, so I only had one beer (New Castle Brown Ale) and we left the reception early.

When Lisa and I got home or roof was finished and looked good. The blue roof is gone!!!!

C. Cudd volunteered to cover me at work for a few hours so I did not have to go in at the normal time. I tried to sleep when I got home but was unable to so I watched the movie Troy (again) instead.

I got to work at about 7:30. I am tired. This is going to be a hard night’s work. The good news is I am on vacation when I leave here in the morning.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

After a very hard night at work (work was not hard –staying awake was hard) I went home and instead of going to sleep I spent two hours looking for our two missing Labrador Retrievers (a yellow and a black). They got out early last night. My wife and son both spent a good deal of time calling for them shortly after their escape from the yard.

Lisa and the little boys left early this morning, so they could run by Walmart before school. As she left the store, one of the boys saw the dogs sitting by the store entrance. We assume they saw Lisa and the boys go in and were waiting for them to come out. They were thrilled to see a familiar face and loaded up in the Jeep and came home.

With the dogs safe at home I finally went to bed. The dogs and I slept all day. I got up in time to pick up the boys, run an errand and I’m back at work.

We did have a delivery of roofing supplies in the yard when I woke up. They should start replacing our FEMA blue roof tomorrow. I had hoped to have the garage roof re-decked so it too could be re-roofed but all this overtime has killed that possibility.

I will do that work next week while on vacation.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I just found out how to put pictures on my blog, so I thought I would start by putting a picture of the man who I think is the greatest man in American history: Robert E. Lee.

Lee was a great Christian man. He did his duty knowing that it would very likely cost him everything he had (and it did). In defeat he remained a humble Christian who sought to serve others and continue to do his duty.

Lee was a man who was gifted by God and he used those gifts to serve the Lord in his calling.

Now on to my own stuff. We have to Labrador Retirevers (a Black and a yellow). Tonight the gate was not closed well and they got out of the yard and are missing. Christian is very upset because he dearly loves Oakley (the black Lab). I'm hoping they're home in the morning.

I did not get enough sleep today. Christian needed my help to run a couple of important errands, so he got me up early and I never go back to sleep. I still feel good but when it gets to 3 or 4 in the morning it gets really rough.

Cram Deo,
Kenith

Tonight is my first night of 4 nights of overtime. I was hoping to have the next few days off so I could replace the decking on my garage roof. Roofers are supposed to be at the house Saturday. I was hoping to get the garage finished so they could get everything done at the same time. Since I won’t be able to get the garage finished they will have to come back another day or I will have to do the job myself.

Tonight is my sixth graveyard and I have three more after tonight, then I will be on vacation, which I will use to work on the garage, house and yard. I will have 48 hours of overtime this week. We're going to need the money for lots of Rita repairs.

I’ve started reading F.F. Bruce’s Commentary on the Gospel of John. He does a very good job on chapter one of the John’s Gospel.

Later,
Kenith

Things are still slogging along here in our post Hurricane Rita world. Our house and property are still looking bad, but we are all doing fine.

I’ve been putting in a lot of hours on my garage. I tore most of the deck (that was left) off. I removed all the facial boards off the front of the garage and I then hooked up a come-along and pulled it back to where it was square from east to west, but this through it off north to south. So let out on the come-along and then built a strong back for the north-south run.

It took a number of attempts, but it is now square. With Terry’s help, I’ve replaced the rafters that were destroyed and hope to but the deck on as soon as I get a day off.

At the age of 45 I finally own a new vehicle. We bought several for Lisa over the years but I finally bought one for me. We gave our old van to our niece Kimberlee and bought the bottom line Dodge pickup truck. I also signed for Christian to buy him one and we are looking at getting a vehicle for Morgan.

We went into the hurricane with four vehicles (3 of them were wrecks). After the storm we were down to one vehicle. Now we are up to three.

Rev. Mark Duncan, the new pastor of Covenant PCA here in Sulphur is now a near neighbour of ours. He was a lot of help to me after the hurricane and has stopped and visited with Lisa and me on the porch a few times now. I’m hoping we can soon get to know his wife soon too.

I’m working graveyard shift again. This week I’m driving and Gary is supplying the beer after work. It was exactly the opposite before I got the truck, but now that I have a dependable vehicle he can switch off. This morning Gary, Kevin C. and I all stopped at Gary’s and had a few Killians before heading home for bed. TK was supposed to join us but was unable to do so.

Lisa said that a FEMA rep was coming over to the house in the morning. (Sunday is not a good day for that, but folks with an ox in the ditch have to take these things as they come.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Things are starting to get back to normal. Everyone is back at work and/or school. I’ve started working on things around the house (as opposed to cutting up fallen trees and limbs).

I started removing the deck off the roof of the garage. On of the large oaks we had landed on the garage and my work van. The garage is tore up pretty bad, about 1/3 of the roof was crushed and the front of the garage is leaning to the west.

I hope I can straighten it out by taking of the roof and facial boards, and then put it all back together. The insurance is not enough to pay someone to do it, and even if it were it would take months just to be able to get a crew to do it.

The damage in the house will have to wait for me to finish in the garage. I will need to put down new floors and replace a ceiling (sheetrock) and some walls in several rooms. Lisa and I were already planning to renovate the kitchen (one place where we got some damage) so I will do all this inside work at one time.

I am going to hire someone to re-roof (shingle) the house and garage. I’ve been trying to get someone to come out and look at it and give me a bid. I’ve called a number of contractors and have only gotten one of them to come by. He was out of the ball park with his estimate. He quoted me $300 a square (mega price gauging). I have a 12 on 12 pitch so I will have to pay extra, but that is ridicules.

I broke down and bought a new truck to replace the old van the tree landed on. I looked at several used vehicles and decided to get the bottom line new Dodge. This is my first ever official new vehicle and I’m only 45 years old. (My wife has had several new ones, but that doesn’t count.)

I’ve decided that I don’t like hurricanes. Rita has torn this place up. It has been six weeks since the storm and we have a very, very long way to go to get this place cleaned up and looking good again. Even with our damages we are blessed to be able to live in our own house and we still have jobs. That’s better than many of the people around us.

Coram Deo,
Kenith
Ps. I have lots of work to do so my posting will continue to be slow for a while.

My posting has been none existant since Hurricane Rita blew through here. I was posting things on the Semper Reformanda section of Christian Forums during that time. I am going to place that stuff here and I am working on a Hurricane article andwill post it when complete.

Here is the Semper Reformanda stuff:
22 Sept. 2005 -- 6:33 AM:
Well folks, looks like Rita has taken a more northerly course and we are now looks like SE Texas and SW Louisiana are gonna take it on the chin.I live less than 25 miles from Texas and about thirty miles inland from the Gulf, but most of what lies between me and the gulf is marsh land.

Keep us in your prayers. I've gotta go. There is lots of work to do before Rita slams into us here.

In Christ,
Kenith
=============
22 Sept 2005 -- 4:54 PM

Well, it has been a very hot sunny day here. I've boarded up all the windows facing South and east. The roads out of here are clogged, and I am beginning to think it will be better to be in my home instead of stranded in my car when this gal hits.

We are under mandatory evacutation orders, but you can't get out. I am on fairly high ground for these parts (13 feet above sea level, but 30 miles from the coast.), and I think we will have to ride her out in our closet.

My dad made it through Audry (1957) which was a cateigory 4 storm also. Audry killed over six hundred people in Cameron Parish (we don't have counties), which is just south of where I am. But this area where I live, while it took a lot of wind damage, was far enough inland to escape the tidal surge (which is what klilled all the folks in Cameron).

Thats the bad thing, they tell you to get out but the roads can't handle the amount of traffik that such an order produces.I will update as I am able. When the power goes out, it will be out for several weeks (I do own a generator), so I will be off line for a while.Keep on praying for us. We are doing all we can to stay safe. We are in God's hands.

BTW: Jon, you have given me good advice. If the roads clear out I will take it.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith
================
22 Sept. 2005 -- 10:32 PM
Thank You all.Here are is the latest info on Rita (there is good news. She has weakend from 175 MPH winds to now a bit over 140 MPH winds.)-- looking for a silver lining.

Here is the report: ...RITA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 12INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES OVERSOUTHEASTERN TEXAS AND SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA AS IT MOVES INLAND. SINCE RITA IS EXPECTED TO SLOW DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY AFTER MAKING LANDFALL...TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS IN EXCESS OF 25 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS OVER EASTERN TEXAS AND WESTERN LOUISIANA. IN ADDITION...RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA NCLUDING METROPOLITAN NEW ORLEANS.REPEATING THE 10 PM CDT POSITION...26.2 N... 90.3 W. MOVEMENTTOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...140 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 917 MB.AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 1 AM CDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 4 AMCDT.+++++++++++++++++
BTW: Buy all the gasoline you can. The refinery I work at shutdown today . We are a 250,000 barrel a day ( BPD) refinary. The price is going to shoot up. There are more than a dozen otehr refineries that also shut down. If we loose power, which we expect, this means we can not restart the refinary until power comes back. These things take a long time to bring back up. If we could start tomorrow it would be a couple of weeks (at best -- and that is unusual) to get it back up to speed.

=======================
25 Sept. 2005 -- 5:29 PM

Hello,

Its me. We are alive and well, but I have Major property damage as do thousands of other people around here. I did manage to get a generator and I am shocked that I have phone line (land lines cell are dead). I have DSL so I can make a report.

This place is beat up badly. My own home had most the shingles ripped off the east side of my house and it is leaking like a lot all offer the house every time it rains. I had two large Oaks in my yard knocked down. One fell on my garage and a car. We have food and water to last a week or so. I only have a little gasoline so I will not be able to post often. It will only be on for a few hours every day to keep the Refridgerator cold. We will let the kids watch a dvd then as well.

Thanks for the prayers and please continue to do so.

The Lord bless y'all.
Kenith
===============
26 Sept 2005 -- 10:17 PM
Thanks. I have the generator on for a couple of hours. We are under lock down here. There are national guard and police at every entrance into this town and many others in east Texas and SW Louisiana. You can leave but it is very hard to get in, unless you are like me, and work at an oil refinery. The Gov. wants us here.

I SENT MY WIFE AND CHILDREN AWAY to friends who live about 70 miles east. They have electricity, etc...it is very HOT and MUGGY. but I have plenty of food and water. We are not New Orleans, so there are very few looters, but there are a few, so I am watching my place and my neighbours homes also. I am well armed (it is a Southern thing) so all should be ok. Looters are cowards and don't like to mess with others who have guns.

Keep us in your prayers. My widowed sister-in-law has a pine tree that fell through her house. Most of the heavy damage here is from uprooted or broken trees. It is unbelievable. It looks like a bomb went off in most neighbour hoods.

God has been good. Things could have been much worst; the storm lost 50 MPH of her winds before she hit. She had gotten to 175 mph winds but hit at 125 mph winds.

The damage from 125 is awesome. I don,t think my house would be here at all if Rita had stayed at 175.

Gotta go.
Thanks for the prayers.
Kenith
===================

26 Sept. 2005 -- 10:41 PM
I appreciate the concern. My generator is outside under my porch and I have extension cords running into the house. So it is running safely. Some folks have asphyxiated themselves? Unbelievable.

We are looking forward to a cool front coming through here in a few days. It is 95 deg. with a heat index of 105-110. 100% humidity. Yuck.

Food and water are available and there are workcrews from the power company out in force. It may be a couple of months in some areas before power is resatored.

In Christ our Saviour's name,
Kenith
====================
27 Sept. 2005 -- 4:41 PM
Everyone is OK. I am staying at the house trying to fix up and clean up. Mike [Seep] has been commuting between here and Arkansas. Mike's family is in Arkansas, but his house and property are fine. Mike is on his way back from Arkansas. He went there to pick up a couple of diesel generators for his inlaws. They live in Ragley and have no power, water or phones.

My property took a good hit. My garage is toast and I have major shingle damage, which allowed for some water damage inside, but it could have been much worse, and it was for a lot of people.

My wife and kids are staying with some friends (PCA elderand his wife) who live in Grand Couteau. She brought me ice and tarps today. I hope she can bring gasoline tomorrow.

How did your folks come out of this storm?

Coram Deo,
Kenith
==================
28 Sept. 2005 -- 9:10 PM
I am on generator backup power. The familyu is about 70 miles east. I'm still home guarding the homestead.

It is hot and muggy. The word today is it will be four weeks before we get power. I hope that is bad info. We will see.

The reports from here on will likely be pretty boring. "Worked hard and sweated all day will do same tomorrow" etc...

I have to give praise to the Southern Baptist relief folk. They are here in force declaring the love of Christ by their deeds. Most of them here are retired folk and they are feeding people (with food and Bibles), housing them, washing their (my) cloths, providing showers clearing downed trees. Most of the SBC folk working in my area are from Tennessee.

I praise God for them!!!

Coram Deo,
Kenith
==================
2 Oct. 2005 -- 9:17 PM
UPDATE:A lot of the same. No power here. There are a view places that now have power, but they are few and far between.

I went to Grand Couteau last night and spent the evening with my family. I spent the night and worshipped with the PCA folks at the Church in Lafayette.

I am supposed to go back to work tomorrow. The refinery doesn't yet have power, but they are working on it.

In Christ,
Kenith
=================
3 Oct. 2005 -- 9:35 PM
Update:I am back at work, but we have a long way to go to get things back up and running. I came to work this morning but volunteered for the night shift so I went home and came back this evening.

There is now electricity here and there in different neighbourhoods. It is not yet available in mine, so when we work off in the morning a number of us are going to a co-workers house that does have power so we can sleep in airconditioned rooms .

Looks like we will be working everyday for a good while.

The family is doing fine in Grand Couteau; I'm at work and things are moving forward.

In Christ,
Kenith
=====================
4 Oct. 2005 -- 10:58 AM
Tell Sarah I said hello, and I hope she is feeling better.

Yes, my family is staying at Sarah's parents house. I joined them Saturday evening and we worshipped with the Lafayette PCA congregation Sunday morning.

Paster Stan delivered a very good message. He saw Rosalee, but Sarah did not come home for the weekend.

Dr. Mike is in town somewhere. I hope to get in touch with him today.

In Christ,
Kenith

=================
23 Oct 2005 -- 8:46 PM

Things are improving daily. Most stores are open. We did have a good bit of Christian support especially from the Southern Baptist. They did great work.

The PCA also sent some folks in to help with our widows and families really hard hit.

We are still waiting on insurance to come by the house. We will need a new roof and garage, but our roof is tarpped and secure from rain. We've had power for a little more than a week and that has gone a long way to making things normal again.

The local schools are supposed to start back Tuesday. They have been closed since before Rita hit a months ago.

We are well some folks here lost everything, especially those in the Parish (county for the rest of you) south of us. There is nothing left down there. The towns on the coast don't exist anymore. Some don't have one building left.We are about twenty five or thirty miles from the gulf and that makes a big difference.

This was our first direct hit from a major storm in 48 years. This time folks got out of the way and saved their lives, last time (1957) hundreds upon hundreds died.

Our refinery is limping back into production of gasoline (so we will see some savings at the pumps soon--I hope).

I am very thankful for your prayers.

In Christ,
Kenith

I hope to my article on the blog soon.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Tonight is hot and muggy even though the weather on the web shows that it is supposedly one degree cooler than it was last night. The humidity is way up from last night.

Gary and I did have a beer on the front porch yesterday. It was Abita Amber (which is a good beer) and we are planning on have another one when we knock off in the morning.

I slept pretty good yesterday. I got up a little after one in the afternoon, which is a little early for me but I am doing weell this evening. When I awoke, there was knowone home. I took the dogs out to do their business and then just vegitated until it was time to come to work. I did turn on Ben-Hur and whatched the first half of that great classic movie.

The only part of the family I saw today was Christian and that was only for a few minutes.

That is all for tonight,
Kenith

This is my first night of Graveyard shift. It is an awesome night. I think we turned the corner on the summer. It's started cooling off in the evenings. That's something that does not happen here in the mid summer period. The local whether on the web shows 79 deg outside, but it seems a little cooler than that. It must be the breeze.

I'm top operator on the unit tonight. I'm pumped up into that position, and have been for a couple of years. Officially I'm still a board man (he's the guy who sits in front of six or seven computer screens and runs these units. The top is kind of like a working foreman. I have two "board people" and three "outside people" that I work with.

I just came inside after making a round through our units. It is a beautiful night; the moon is full and brillant and I have about more than two hours left to go for my shift. I rode to work with Gary. When we work off in the morning we're gonna have a beer (Abita Amber) on the front porch before he heads home and I go to my graveyard room.

I should sleep until about 2 pm. That is pretty normal for me on graveyards. Lisa and all the kids (grown and not so grown) were doing well when I came to work.

I pick up a couple of movies at Walmart this evening. One for me, Ben Hur, and one for Lisa, Singing in the Rain.

Time to get back to work.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Yesterday I went with my dad to the VA hospital in Houston. He had to have an eye exam and needed somebody to drive back to Louisiana. It was great to spend a day with him, just visiting and discussing different subjects. We discussed theology a bit (which is not unusual), LSU football, family and lots of other items.

I brought lots of reading material because I assumed there would be a lot of waiting, and I was correct. The folks at the VA were running behind. They had lots of refugees from N.O. area to work in. I read a number of letters from John Calvin that I brought along.

I like reading correspondence from those in the past. Calvin’s Institutes are great, but you don’t get to see the humanity of the man who wrote them. You get to know people as people when you have the chance to read their personal letters.

I have work to do around the house (I don’t want to say “house work”) so this will be all the blogging for now.

In Christ,
Kenith

This summer my blogging has been sporadic at best. It’s been mid-August since my last instalment so let me see if I can catch things up a little bit. My Lisa and Lisa S. went to Utah for education a few weeks back. I took off from work to keep the kids going and maintain the house in some semblance of order. The children all did fine, but I don’t think my house keeping skills are the best in the world, but we did survive and Lisa returned home safely. She was awed by the beauty that she the country around where she was at.

I did not get as much reading done over the summer as I had hoped. I could not read in June because I was on turnaround and afterwards I was just burnt out and it took me a while to recoup and be in the mood to read a book (Though I did read short articles then.) Still I did get through FF Bruce and Bruce Metzger’s books on the Canon of Scripture. I also finished A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland by John Mack Faragher. This is a GREAT BOOK. I also managed to read the letters between St Jerome and St. Augustine (early 4th century). I enjoyed them. Some of the subject matter was very interesting. St. Jerome was pretty testy at the beginning of their correspondence but was not so in the latter letters.

I had to put Calvin’s Institutes aside, along J.N.D. Kelly’s Early Christian Doctrines aside for a time, but I am ready to pick both of them back up and get them (at least Kelly’s book) finished soon. I’ve also started reading Federal Vision, so I can get a handle on the issues involved in this current controversy.

I will try to do a better job blogging this next month.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

My training at work, on our new unit, went well last. I still have a lot to learn, but I was able to trace some things out. I still need to do a lot more of the same.

Wednesday TK invited Kevin Clopton and me over for suds and conversation. He splurged and provided us with Chimay bière, boudin, chips and dip. We had a great visit and a wonderful time discussing history (church and otherwise) and theology.

TK and I both got of work at 3 PM on Thursday, so he came over after work for a beer. My neighbour Stan joined us (Stan had water) on the porch. TK and Stan are old friends. They worshipped together at First Baptist Church of Sulphur for many years. Then the mailman stopped by. He too is an old FBC member, but he has become a Calvinist and is looking around for a church that is closer to where he is theologically.

My good friend and fellow rescue team member, Ted Allen’s father died, so I went and paid my respects on Friday. Mr. Allen was WWII veteran. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Silver Star and a Purple Heart during the war. He was a true American hero. (Ted has written some comments about his dad on his on blog here.)

Saturday I attended the wedding of my buddy Fred Slawson’s daughter, Shawna. It was a nice wedding.

Sunday Lisa, the little boys and I attended worship services at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Mark Duncan, their new pastor, was preaching and I wanted to hear him. I have heard Rev. Duncan preach a number of times before, but I thought it would be good to hear him again. The sermon was from Genesis, and it was excellent. Another bonus was we where able to celebrate the Lord’s Supper today.

Mark Duncan has a website. It can be found by clicking here.

After Church we came home, ate dinner and I went to bed, so that I could work tonight.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Things around the house have been ok, but not great. Lisa has been sick for more than a week. Last week she came down with strep throat and an ear ache. She was very sick for several days and was on the starting to feel better by Sunday, has relapsed some since then. Today she is going to see MK. He is going to give her a shot to get her over this stuff.

At work, I’m training on our new unit at work this week. We will be commissioning it soon and I have lots yet to learn on it.

TK has transferred to the docks and since we are both training this week, he was able to come over after work on Monday. We sat on the front porch, drank a couple of Killians and visited. It was nice, because we have been on different shifts and have not been able to get together much in the last few years.

Yesterday, Gary J. came by with some New Castle Brown Ale’s on ice so we sat on the porch, drank a few beers and watched a beautiful downpour and lightening storm.

Gotta get to work.
Kenith

I had another good set of days off, after working off graveyard shift last Monday morning. Monday was a loss day. I slept until about two in the afternoon and then just vegetated around the house.

Wednesday the little boy’s and I went to Longville to fish. We visited with family for a little while, and then my brother Terry and I took the boys to Sandy’s to fish. The fish were not biting to good, but everyone caught a few fish (bluegill and small bass).

After a couple of hours of fishing we decided it was time to swim. So we swam the rest of the afternoon. We all had a great time including Oakley (Christian’s Labrador retriever) who had made the trip to Longville with us. Oakley and the kids had a great time in the pond. We even got Oakley to go off the diving board.

We were dog sitting this last weekend. Hammer, a 90 lbs American bulldog, was our houseguest from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. He’s massive but very good dog. He is also much bigger than any dog I would ever want to have.

Saturday we spent much of the day at the Seep’s. It was their son’s birthday and so we went over with the little boys. They had a great time playing videogames and then swimming in the pool. Mike and I visited outside while our wives visited on the inside. While we were there Josh P. and his son came over. The boy soon joined the other kids in the pool and Josh joined Mike and me. We watched the children swim, enjoyed a couple of drinks and discussed off shore fishing (which Mike and Josh did that morning), books and theology.

Sunday we worshipped at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Sulphur. They had a guest pastor preaching. I have heard some very good things about him and I wanted to hear preach. Lisa, the little boys and I ate dinner at the church and visited with friends, before heading home.

Later that evening the folks at Covenant had a fellowship at the Church. Just after our dog owning friends picked up hammer, Gary J. called to see if Lisa and I were going to the fellowship. Lisa had started watching a movie with the little boys (at their request), so she was unwilling leave. Tommy K. (a.k.a. A.R. Minian) told Gary that he had brought a bottle of Terrazas Malbec. I spoke with Lisa and then headed out to Covenant. There was a good group gathered when I got there. Most of the young men were throwing a football around. Everyone else was sitting around talking. I found a chair and pulled up next to T.K. (i.e. A.R. Minian) and pour a glass of Malbec. That is a good wine.

I have enjoyed the Sunday afternoon Covenant fellowships every time I have been able to make one.

This was a good week. I worked off Monday afternoon and only returned to work this evening. Tuesday I stayed home with the little boys. I cutgrass and spent time with the boys and our dog (a Labrador retriever). That evening Lisa and I went out to eat with Gary and Liz Johnson.

We went to the special wine dinner at Johnny Carino’s. It was awesome. The food was great. Three of the four wines were good, but one of the wines was very good. That wine was from Argentina and it is the first Argentine wine that I have ever had. It was wonderful. The wine was a Terrazas Malbec. I will be looking to buy several bottles of this wine. (BTW: You can drink all the wine you like at these dinners at Johnny Carino’s.) This was the fourth one of these events that Lisa and I have attended and each one has been excellent.

Wednesday I spent the day at home with the boys again. That evening I grilled some Ribs, pork steaks, steaks and dogs. It was Mike’s birthday and so Lisa invited the Seeps over. We enjoyed some good food and good wine. We also gave Mike a nice bottle of wine as a gift.

After eating supper Mike, our wives and I all went and sat on the front porch to talk. Mike brought a Scotch that he had heard was a fine whisky. It was a 16 year old Lagavulin (of course we only had two fingers each). Wow-- That is a fine Scotch whisky. It was like sipping on silk. We had a very nice evening sitting on the porch in our rockers (the men sipping whisky) and talking.

On Thursday Morgan, the little boy’s and I went to Longville. We visited with my folks for a while. I bought food for the kids on the way up there (I was not planning to eat). When we got there Mom had been frying pork chops, so I had to eat. It was so good.

It was good to visit. I spent time with Mom, Dad and Anne (my brother’s girlfriend). The boys played with their cousins. After a good vist and several cups of coffee, I loaded my crew, and Bailey my niece, in the Jeep and we went to my sister Sandy's place to swim in her pond. All the kids had a great time. I swam with them for a while, but then I got out and found a place to watch them from the shade. I don’t get much sun and it was a good thing I got out when I did.

I hope to repeat this trip when I am off next week, except next week I hope to do some fishing too.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I’m at work. Back on my regular shift, and glad to be here. Since then I’ve only had two full days off since the last half of May. Next week I should have three whole days off. I’m hoping to take the kids fishing for at least one of these days.

The last few days at work have been really busy. We first had instrument problems on a heater, then we had to deal with a plugged line and yesterday Steve Wood, Ron Metoyers and I spent about 8 hours on the side of a tower working on a level problem. Steve and I were back up there this morning. We’ve also had a couple of other problems this morning, but I think we are getting to a point where everything is lining out and (hopefully) the rest of our Saturday will be quiet.

We have a guest pastor coming to Bethel tomorrow. The Seeps, and Lisa and I are supposed to be taking the pastor, his wife and daughter out to eat tonight. We are going to Chili’s.

Our guest pastor is Rev. Duane Garner, he is associate pastor at Auburn Ave. PCA in Monroe. Sad thing is, I will not be able to attend worship services tomorrow because of work.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Two years ago today my brother Gerry passed away, after a three year battle with colon and liver cancer. He died at his home. I was working at the time. Mike Seep, my brother’s doctor (and my best friend) called me at about one in the morning and told me that Gerry had passed away.

I rushed from work to my brother’s house. Mike was still there as was the whole family. I cried, sat next to Gerry’s bed, stroked his hair and told him goodbye.

I love him dearly and miss him terribly, but I am confident that I will see him again in glory. The Lord was gracious to my brother.

Cancer is a terrible thing. It slowly and painfully took my brother from us, but it gave him time to reflect and make things right with our holy God. Gerry made sure of his salvation and redemption in Christ while he was suffering.

I don’t know why the Lord took him. God keeps those secret things to himself, but He is sovereign and He blessed us with Gerry for forty-two years. In all things we are to give God honour and praise, even in a time like that, when our heart is broken and seems to us beyond mending.

Gerry I love you and miss you.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith

I’ve had one day off since my work on the turnaround ended on June 26. I was off this last Sunday and was able to attend Church with my family. Sunday school was taught by my friend Chester. He did a great job on an overview of the Abraham to Christ.

Lisa pointed out to me how good Chester did. She said he did not get bogged down in attempts to get into too much detail. This was a hint to me I do like to get into the minutia of a subject. I am supposed to be teaching this Sunday on the Old Testament Canon, and will try to follow Chester example, but I can make no promises.

After Church Sunday, the little boys and I drove up to Longville to spend the day. My folks were barbequing and so we spent the afternoon there. My brother, Terry’s children are down for the summer (they live in Oregon) and we had seen them since last summer. It was good to meet with them again.

With the turnaround over I have had more time at home. I’ve been able to get home between thee and four in the afternoon (instead of 7:30 at night). This gives me more time with the family. Last week I began reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to the little boys.

I read this book, and the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia, to my older children when they were young, and I’m excited about reading it again to the little boys. The Chronicles of Narnia is such a great series of books. CS Lewis did a brilliant job writing them.

Yesterday, after working until 2 pm on the 4th of July, Lisa, the little boys and I went to Woody’s house for another barbeque (it too was very good). We spent the afternoon there and had a good time. There was plenty of good food and cold beer (always a winning combination). There were also several high dollar Bourbons that were that three of us brought for a taste test. The bourbons were Basil Hayden, Van Winkle Special Reserve, and Jefferson’s Reserve. All three of them are great bourbons. The Jefferson’s Reserve seems to have been the favourite, but I was most fond of the Van Winkle.

When we got home, Lisa found that the ceiling in the boy’s room was leaking. Our upstairs air-conditioner was leaking condensate and it messed up a small section of the boy’s ceiling, I will have to buy a sheet of sheetrock when I get off work today so I can fix the ceiling.

Coram Deo,
Kenith