Retirement--again!

Today was our last Sunday at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita KS...it was a glorious day. Jerry preached from Philippians 4, on rejoicing - we were recognized at the close of each of the services, the congregations sang joyously on Jerry's favorite hymn "Because He Lives", we have a basket full of cards to read at our leisure, and we got lots of hugs. I received a beautiful large cross woven from Kansas wheat, which is truly a marvelous memento. Jerry was given an IPOD ("an 8-track for the 21st century")loaded with all his sermons from this past year, choral music, Elder training material, and anything else that was a reminder of our year here--what a great gift for him! If it had not been for Carla's presence on Friday, I don't believe we would have made it through the day! This was our day to have the rental furniture picked up, disconnect phone/cable/internet, get everything distributed either to the rv or the Spanns home (where we are presently staying) or loaded in the Escape for the trip to Midland, and a walk-thru by the apartment manager...and Jerry ended up having an burial first thing in the morning, followed by a memorial service, followed by a dental appointment for several fillings, followed by his last fiddle lesson (Oh, did I mention he has taken up the fiddle?) Without Carla, I could not have done it - so I will be forever grateful for all her help. We ended up the day at the Prairie Rose for a barbeque dinner followed by cowboy music entertainment with a group of friends from EPC--we enjoyed the food, laughed at all the jokes, and the music was just great--so tired though we were, and extremely hot from the hard days' work, it was a fun evening. We were so glad to be able to take Carla to it, for we have been out there before (to hear Roy Rogers Jr) and had talked about what a neat evening it was. We are about to finish up packing now--we leave in the morning for cool Colorado with Bev & Richard Spann, and you cannot begin to imagine how excited we are--the fish better beware! We are all four tired, so the prospect of cool weather, hungry fish, neat friends, and no agenda really sounds good right now. We will not realize we are really and truly retired until we get home to Midland--right now, its just a vacation to look forward to. We did not realize that in one year we would become so attached to our new church family. We have made so many very special new friends. Right now I am very grateful for our modern conveniences like email and cell phones so we can stay in touch! Our trip to Midland the first week of August will find us facing a house full of boxes which were moved by Atlas--I'm sure its absolute chaos, but like Scarlett - I'll think about that tomorrow. We'll appreciate your continued prayers for our friend Carol and her battle with breast cancer, and our upcoming travels. God bless you all!