COMING HOME

Yesterday we were really tired from the three days of the Conference.  But I woke up at 5 a.m. with my back killing me.  The mattress was soft and my back did not like it.  After three nights it rebelled.  I ended up getting up out of bed and sitting in the chair by the door.  I got on the computer, did my daily challenge solitaire puzzle, played Words with Friends, and read my email, facebook page and started trying to catch up with my blog buddies.  But I fell asleep for about a half hour.  So I decided to get up and get the day going.

I went to the breakfast room and got the same breakfast for Joe and me as we had the day before.  Then I got Joe up to eat.

While he got ready, I packed all our bags and set them by the door. Joe took them and put them in the car.  While he was doing this, I made a video to show you the room before we left.

I expected we would go back the same way we came, but the GPS took us the longer way down Rt. 309.  It was pretty scenery though.

Joe has gotten the hang of making videos and sort of enjoys filming as we drive along.  I had the camera in the cup holder between us and I said to him, "Take a picture of that mountain for me, will you?"  He was a long time doing it and I thought he was having trouble.  Finally he laid the camera down.  "Did you get the picture?" I asked.  "I got the video," he said.  So here it is.

It took a long time to get home.  About an hour longer than the other way.  After driving about 2 hours we were tired, hungry and had to use the restroom.  I was stopped at a red light and saw we were right next to a diner.  So we decided to stop for lunch and I pulled in.

We had never heard of this diner before.  It was called Zoto's Diner in Line Lexington, PA.  Another place I had never heard of. We got a table and then Joe used the restroom and I ordered us beverages.  Then I used the restroom and Joe ordered our entrees.  We both had burgers and fries.  I had lemonade and Joe had iced tea.  These were the best burgers and fries I have had in a long time.  They were wonderful.  I'm telling you if this place were not over an hour from home, I would be eating there a lot!



We felt much better after stopping and continued on another hour to home.

It was good to get back to my own home with my own things around me.  We were so busy unpacking and putting things away that we completely forgot about dinner.  I remembered at 11 p.m. and didn't want to eat that late.  I needed something, though, to take my medicine so I made myself an egg.

I slept well last night.  I was cold the whole time I was away.  Here it is warm.  Well, actually hot.  It got up into the 80s.

This morning I had errands to run and I called Debbie to ask if she wanted to go with me.  She did.  I picked her up and we went to One Dollarzone, Walmart and Shop Rite.  I have more errands to run tomorrow and I am going to church in the afternoon to decorate for our International Dinner on Sunday.  It should be fun.

So that's it for now.  I feel as if I have lived two weeks in the last few days.  And now I have the weekend.

APRIL @ 7 P.M.
This is from yesterday.  I didn't get today's shot.  Too busy.

Kathy

DAY THREE OF THE 134TH BFC ANNUAL CONVENTION

I was so tired last night that I just went to bed and didn't update you on the third day of the conference.  It's been a tough week.

We got up a little later and had breakfast at the hotel.  They have a nice little breakfast room.  There was hot cereal, cold cereal, toast, waffles with syrup, yogurt, danish, fruit cups, tea and coffee.  Very nice.  Joe and I both had danish and he had yogurt while I took a fruit cup.

This is the view outside of our room.  It was so pretty.

We got ready and headed back to the conference.  You know with the conference whose them was "Semper Reformanda" we had to sing "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."  I love hearing the men sing.

The final speaker was Dr. Carl Cassels who has been a pastor for 60 years and is now retired.

Then there was more singing.

I finally got a chance to take some pictures to show you how pretty Pinebrook is.

This is the cabin we stayed in last year.
 

 This looks like a nice place to have lunch on a warm sunny day.

More cabins.
 

This is Fellowship Hall where all the meetings were held.
 

And the Dining Hall.
 

I love the lake.
 

Then the reports began.

Introduction of our church planters.  You can see some of them standing against the far wall.

I love this picture I took of Pastor and Joe.  They are so intent on what is going on.

 Joe had to leave early again.  He didn't miss too much though because they were finished early and by 2 p.m. when I turned on the livestream, they were finished.

We both took naps and then I told Joe we had to go out and get dinner.  I had so wanted to try the restaurant Ichiban so that is where we went.

It was so pretty inside.  The mural on the wall was under a light which changed color making it red, blue, green and yellow.

The service and food were both good.  It was fun going to a new restaurant together.  I had Oolong tea and Buddah's Delight with rice.  Joe had green tea and Yaki Soba.  It was surprisingly affordable too.

I would go back there if we go to Conference next year.  I'd get Joe's Yaki Soba too.  I tried some and it was delicious.

So then it was back to the hotel and getting to bed so that we could get up early to get on the road to home.  I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

APRIL @ 7 P.M.
Have I got a good shot today.  This was right outside of our hotel.  So pretty.  The picture does not do it justice.

Have a good night.

Kathy

DAY TWO OF THE 134TH BFC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Today was not at all what I expected.  I remember last year how much fun the second day was.  But not this year.

We got up at 6:30 and got ready to go to the conference.  Joe had a working breakfast to attend.  But...  he was shaking like a leaf.  His tremors were so bad he could hardly hold his Bible.  I was so glad we had a handicapped accessible bathroom for him to use.

We got to breakfast just a little bit late.  I got him to the table for the meeting and then went and got him breakfast.  Pastor got him some orange juice.  I went and sat with Carolyn to eat my breakfast.  I had scrambled eggs, bacon and fried potatoes.

As we were finishing up Donna joined us.  She was on her way to work but said she would be at the conference tomorrow.  We talked for a bit then I headed up to the Guest Services building to pay for my breakfast.  

When I say up, I mean UP.  It is a very steep hill I have to climb to get to the building. And when I got there, no one was there to take my money.  I waited around for a few minutes and then left for the worship service.

I saw Pastor Sean there.  He really wasn't that blurry in real life (ha, ha).  I got to talk to him for a few minutes.  He's moving to Chicago in about 12 weeks.  We so appreciate all he did to help our church last year.

 The first part of the day was singing.  There is nothing better than hearing a room full of godly men singing together.

Love this song.

For the singing Joe moved back to where I was sitting with Carolyn.  Joe can't carry a tune, so I try to help him out.

Notice how red Joe's face is.  He was starting to not feel too well.  After the singing, he went back to his seat at the table.

Our speaker this morning (and this afternoon) was Dr. Frank James, the President of Biblical Seminary.  Keeping with the theme this year of Sempre Reformanda (Always Reforming) he spoke this morning on Martin Luther and this afternoon on John Calvin.  Great examples of how we should be.  He was a wonderful speaker.  I've been taking notes on each of the messages so I can go back and study them when I get home.

We had a break after he finished and then the business part of the day started.

Joe got through about a half hour of the meeting before he stumbled back to me and said, "I need to leave now."  I sat him down while I got my things together and we left.  I was disappointed because I wanted to be there, but I understood that he was sick.

When we got back to the hotel, he went right to bed.  I touched him and realized he was burning up.  I didn't have a thermometer, but his face was bright red and he felt like a furnace when I put my hand on his forehead.  He said my hand felt so nice and cool.  I gave him some ibuprofan and he took his inhalers and then went to sleep for a couple of hours.  We missed lunch, but I had some snacks we had brought with us so I ate some of them.  Joe went to the lobby and got a soda and some ice.  That was his lunch.

When he woke up they were just going to start the afternoon sessions.  So I put the live stream on my computer and we watched everything that was going on.  We saw the votes that were taken and heard the discussions.  I even heard the afternoon message that way and took my notes.  It wasn't as good as being there, but certainly better than nothing.

When the meetings broke for dinner, Joe went back to sleep.  He slept for an hour and when he woke up his fever had broken.  By this time I was starving.  I told him we had to go somewhere for dinner.  So we headed for Friendly's which is only half a mile from here.

We both had burgers and fries and Joe had a sundae.   We also both had mango iced tea.  I tried it for the first time in Philly at East Coast Wings & Grill and loved it.  What I had tonight was even better.

I'm so glad Joe is feeling better.  He is still not 100% but at least he's not burning up like he was.  You can tell by looking at him, though, that he just doesn't feel good.

The area around the restaurant is just lovely.  Here is the dogwood through the window that's in back of Joe and some of the other scenery.

And yes, it was raining.  Pretty hard off and on.  No, we didn't bring our umbrellas.  Why do you ask?  We just moved quickly to and from the car.

When we got back we tuned in the livestream broadcast again.  All we got was the end of the ordination ceremony and a worship song.

So now we are in bed and winding down the day.  Joe is going to try it tomorrow for the last day.  We may eat breakfast here, though, and go over in time for the first meeting at 8:45.  That way we can sleep in a little later.  It's the last day of the conference and Joe wants to be there.

Hope you all have a good night.  I will do my best to get pictures of this pretty hotel room and some of the plants and flowers at the conference grounds.  It's a pretty place.

Kathy

DAY ONE OF THE 134TH BFC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

I didn't sleep well last night and was anxious to get going this morning.  The first place I had to go to was the garage.  Again.  Yesterday when I was coming home from church the Tire Pressure Sensor light went on.  Not low tire pressure, but something wrong with the sensor.  Probably the new one they just put in.  *sigh*  So at 7:30 this morning I was on my way to Mayfair Tire to have it looked at.  I explained what had happened and in less than an hour they had reset everything and I was on my way.  Nothing wrong with any of the tires or sensors just as I had thought.  Just needed to be reset after having a new sensor put in.

We left early this afternoon to head to the Pocono Mountains to attend the Annual Conference of the Bible Fellowship Church.  Last year Joe was an Alternate Delegate, but this year he was elected a full Delegate.

We went a different way than we did last year.  This time we headed for my sister's house.  About 2/3 of the way to her house, we turned off.  But knowing where I was going made it so much easier.

The scenery was so beautiful.  And it just kept getting better as we went along. 

You can tell it was raining.  Well, more like drizzling.  Very lightly.

After I left my familiar roads I didn't know where I was going.  So I was very happy when we at last made it to the hotel where we were staying.

Last year we stayed on the conference grounds and although it was very convenient and very beautiful, it wasn't great for people with disabilities.  So this year we are staying at a hotel just 11 minutes away in a room that is handicapped accessible.

The people at this place are beyond friendly and helpful.  We got settled in and then found our way over to Pinebrook for the Conference.  We parked by the Guest Services building.  Look at this beautiful view.

We had dinner and then went to the first meeting.  The worship time was wonderful and the speaker, Dr. Sloan, was just great.

Here's Joe at the delegates' table.
 

 The singing was great.

My friend, Donna, saw me sitting there and sat next to me.  She introduced me to one of her friends.  That lady knows everyone! I saw my former pastor, Pastor Wayne, there and was able to talk to him for a few minutes.  Hopefully I'll get to see him more tomorrow.

We also welcomed a new church to the Fellowship.  That was nice.

Joe stayed as long as he could and then gave up.  We left just about a half hour before the meeting was over to come back to the hotel.  I got lost just once driving in the dark.  By the time the conference is over, I'll know the way by heart.

 Kathy