If you thought Texas was country...

There are some characters in Kentucky. A phone call just came in from one of the members of the congregation here. He began the conversation with, "I thought you woulda done gone to the hospital by now!" Today is his birthday and he wants the baby to be born on his birthday. There are quite a few August birthdays in the small congregation here and they all keep making requests that the baby be born on their day.

Last night, at the Sunday night gathering, the quirkiness of the people out here made me laugh. My brother-in-law taught on 1 Corinthians 13. At the end, he asked for comments and one of the guys (who makes a good living by picking up roadkill and making it into pet food) asked "We didn't miss the one on women speaking at meetings and wearing head coverings, did we? I don't want to miss hearing your take on that one." That guy also frequently comes to meetings in his horse and buggy. Another lady said "Talking about patience, what if you're married to someone who doesn't have that?"

A few nights ago we went over to the house of the guy who has the birthday today. His wife made us some of her famous pecan pie. We got to hear about their dog, Woodrow, and how she cleans his behind after he poops. The pie maker's sister was also there. Everything she said was funny to her, so after every comment, she would get a huge smile, look at us, and then hit her knee. She actually was a pretty entertaining lady, but perhaps in a different way that she imagined.

A lot of people out here have gardens, so we are enjoying baby watermelons, flavorful tomatoes and jalapenos that get dropped off on the doorstep or given to us as we go on evening walks. I made some yummy jalapeno poppers and John Mark has been making some tasty salsa, but we've still got a lot of garden goods to eat up.

I don't know if it's just a good conversation starter when I'm around, but everybody's talking about China and how we need to throw away or return any toys that have come from there and be careful not to buy fish or seafood that's imported from China. Since it's not something I can really avoid when I'm living in China, I don't pay attention to the news, but people want to know what I think about it. Saturday, we had the neighbor across the street over for turkey burgers and discussed our disillusionment with Wal-Mart. She said she thinks she made it through last Christmas without buying anything from there, which is no small feat when you have grandkids.

We're still waiting on that baby, but having a good, relaxing time in the process.



Laura and me a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon.



Laura's baby shower last weekend.