The breaking news is that Pauline went to the hospital. She was complaining of shortness of breath so Vicki took her last night. One lung filled with fluid and then collapsed. Right now we are waiting to learn what’s going on so I thought it would be a good time to catch up on things with us before I get farther behind.
THE PHIFER REUNION. I left this out last time because the newsletter was getting so long. Last Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Camden for the Phifer reunion (Pauline’s family). This is always held at the Nathan Bedford State Park and while there were a few familiar faces, we saw a lot of people there we’d never seen before. We have no idea where these relatives have been hiding all these years.
From our perspective we enjoyed a great pot luck lunch, talked to people we haven’t seen in a year, and went hiking on the trail behind the lodge. (I think the hill going up the trail got steeper since last year. GoogleEarth shows something like a 75 foot elevation change for that hill.) After the reunion we also visited Aunt Sue.
The big thing I wanted to record here is that Pauline’s old church, Sandy Point Baptist, was hit by lightning the night before. This started a fire in the attic which was put out. We did not get to go inside so we do not know how extensive the damage was.
PASPORTKIDS! CAMP. Several children (and adults) from church went to PASSPORTkids! camp. This particular camp was held at Clyde M. York 4-H Center in Crossville, Tennessee. Vicki and Jenna were among this group. They left Thursday and came home yesterday. Of course, they had all of the normal camp activities: basketball, swimming, etc.
This being a missions emphasis camp they had worship services every day, a guest missionary, and a missions action project. The guest missionary was a former Muslim from Lebanon who now works with Arabic speaking people and deaf people here in the US. The mission action project was to put together care packages for kids moving to the US from other countries. These kits include stuffed animals, crayons, etc. and will be distributed to kids moving to the Knoxville area. They were told many of these kids come from extreme poverty and have never seen crayons before.
From the sound of it they had a really good time. Jenna said she enjoyed this camp more than last year’s camp. (Vicki hadn’t been home but a few hours when she decided to take Pauline to the hospital. She hasn’t even gotten to sleep in her own bed yet.)
39TH ANNUAL THRESHING SHOW. With Vicki and Jenna gone the timing of the Threshing Show could not have been better for me to keep two boys entertained. (Jenna was not happy as she looks forward to spending time with her cousin Bonnie each year.)
The show was much the same as previous years. Attendance seemed to to be as good as always. There were seven engines under steam this year which is a significant increase from just a few years ago. I think the boys really enjoyed the show and connecting with their cousins. Ben got to drive an old lawn mower around for a while which made his day. They came home both days covered in wheat chaff, grime, and coal soot--smiling ear to ear.
Joe
