Happy Birthday Dad

Sunday was my Dad's 60th birthday. My parents came over Sunday and I made supper. We had BBQ ribs, fresh corn on the cob, baked potatoes and black raspberry pie. Isaiah picked out the pie. I was going to make a blueberry cream pie but the farmer's market had no blueberries this week. Isaiah said "why don't you just buy one mom?". The thing is, in most places a bought pie just wouldn't be the same as home made. But here, we have Amish! Wonderful, home baker's who sell their goods for a fair price. I paid $5 for the pie. My dad loved the pie. Isaiah picked that flavor because somewhere in his brain he remembers long ago that my dad got a black raspberry ice cream cone. The kid doesn't miss a thing!

Before Dad left I gave him his cards. I guess he got a chuckle at the "present" I put in his card. A crumpled up one dollar bill. He just doesn't know what he's going to spend it on. He told mom he was going to save it. You just never know what little thing will make someone happy!

August 2 we all got up and went to church. There are plenty of churches to pick from in our own town but this is a special church. This is the church some of our extended family goes to. My Grandma Naomi had a cousin who's family has attended this church for quite a few generations.

I think the board said 49 were in attendance last week. That's the kind of church I like! I don't go for these mega churches. There's a lot of older people there. Lots of farmers. One man had an awesome farmer tan. It looked like he had white glasses on! Another man is 80 and still holds a season pass to Cedar Point where he goes several times a summer and rides all the roller coasters.

While we were upstairs in church Isaiah was downstairs with the kids. It was our first time at that church so "Uncle" Mel took Isaiah downstairs. They decorated construction paper T-shirts. Isaiah's was yellow (his FAVORITE color) and it said "Cartoon Network" on it. I said "know what he's done this summer?". That kid loves cartoons. He loves drawing and watching them.

After church was coffee hour. The church's motto is "we don't meet unless we eat". There was a nice spread of food. Way more than just coffee! There was quiche, breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, blueberry muffins and grapes in snow (brought by my mom). While I was eating Isaiah came and said "Mom. You know that blonde kid? He says he's my cousin". I told him he probably was. Mel informed Isaiah that he was probably related to 3/4 of the people in the church in some way. Isaiah smiled and ran off.

When we walked in to coffee hour Isaiah said "Wow Mel is way older than I thought". Which made me crack up! He's seen Mel a few times over the last couple years. Isaiah just doesn't remember people well unless he sees them often. Mel's actually a 3rd cousin, not an uncle. He's just 1 of seven kids so he's uncle to a lot of the kids! Plus almost everyone calls his parents Grandma and Grandpa, they are the ideal grandparents.

I told Mel what Isaiah said, he's only 46 and he kept kidding Isaiah. While in line to eat he went to grab a blueberry muffin and said "is this something an old person would eat?" and Isaiah got tickled! It ends up, what Isaiah was talking about was this photo of Mel. Isaiah apparently thought this yearbook yourself photo that I made of Mel was a real photo! He thought Mel was in High School! Thank goodness none of that is true. Can you imagine how badly he'd be picked on if he looked like this? He's actually a mortgage loan officer.

We sat and ate for an hour then headed home. It was a great experience and I'm sure we'll be back. Even though it's an hour drive.
But we sure didn't leave hungry!