Last week I was on vacation, which means I worked around the house a good bit. I also made it to my youngest son's Easter party at school and I went fishing on the Sabine River one morning with my neighbour. We got skunked on the fishing, but I did see a pileated woodpecker and two ospreys. One osprey was flying with a fish in its talons and the other was sitting in a tree above the river. I hated not catching the fish, but I was very pleased with the bird sightings.

I also took my little boys and MK’s son fishing at my sister’s pond. We fished a bit and swam a in the pond as well. We caught a few bass and some bluegill as well. For lunch I broke out some of the MRE’s that I had saved from the hurricane aftermath. On this trip I got to visit with my sister and parents. All seem to be doing fine. The boys had a good time; they loved the fishing, swimming and they also got to chase my parents’ chickens.

I did grill two days (Fri & Sat last) The Seeps came over Saturday and Woody and Elisabeth came by the day before. On both days we had good food and drinks (beer and wine).

Easter Sunday we went to church at Bethel. Pastor Duncan filled the pulpit and delivered a very good sermon. After Church I took a nap, and then I got up and joined my family, along with most of Lisa’s family at Tracy and J’s (Lisa’s sister’s house). I was able to visit and watch the Easter egg hunt, before I had to go to work that night for some unwanted overtime.

I am now working my regular shift and have had two very busy days. I hope we have a quiet weekend at the plant. It would be nice to come to work and not have to jump through hoops for most of the day.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

My last day to not work was the night (Saturday before last) that I took off for my niece Recie’s wedding to Paul. I then worked Sunday night to Monday morning, slept until noonish. Worked around the house and spent time with the family. I was able to get back to sleep some time after one o’clock Tuesday morning and was up about 4:45 AM to start four days of overtime.

I finished my overtime on Friday afternoon and started my regular shift Saturday morning. This did give me as “seventh day” last week which means that Sunday I was paid double time. I hate not having my days off, but at least I will be well compensated this time around.

Recie and Paul had a nice wedding service at First Baptist Church in Longville. Brother Stewart did a great job. His comments about what marriage is all about were right on target. Both Morgan and Christian were in the wedding. Morgan was one of Recie’s bride’s maids and Christian was Paul’s best man.

I thing we all had a pretty good time at the reception afterwards. It was a Baptist wedding, but more a Presbyterian reception, with heavy Cajun influences, so we had music, dancing and a moderate amount of alcohol (a keg of beer and some stuff for mixed drinks) and plenty of food.

(NOTE: To find out what a good old Reformed wedding reception/celebration is really like I recommend you read Drinking With Calvin and Luther by Jim West. It is a fun and informative read. Even my Baptist co-worker "CC" Cudd says it is a great book.)

I think the South Louisiana custom of pinning cash to the bride’s vale in order to dance with her (women pin cash to the grooms coat to dance with him also) is a great tradition. I don’t know where the tradition comes from, but it does give the new couple a good bit of ready cash for the honeymoon.

The big event last week was Christian’s Labrador retriever had eight puppies (6 yellow, 2 black).

My evenings last week were fairly normal. I helped the little boys with their homework, they read to me, etc… We did go out to eat a few times, because the kitchen is gutted and we have no stove or oven.

Mk and Pastor Mark came over Friday night. We sat on the porch and talked and drank a little wine. Then Mk and I went to J. Priola’s to watch the LSU vs. UCLA game. The food was good as were the drinks, but LSU got hammered.

I work two more days and then I am on vacation.

Coram Deo,
Kenith