Fun with fire

My parents rolled in around dinner time on Friday night, right before a big storm swept through and promptly left- after blowing dust, hailing, and bringing down a limb large enough to take out a power line and pole. Our meal was interrupted by a loss of power, hardly noticed since it was still quite bright outside. As the night wore on, and we waited patiently for everything to return to normal so we could watch a movie, we realized that we might be in the dark for a while. Always up for an adventure, Scotty suggested we move our kitchen table onto the front porch, hang up our gas camping lantern and enjoy a little bit of friendly competition- Amish style. Most of you know us as missionaries to Bolivia, but we are also missionaries of a great German board game called Settlers of Catan- making converts in all the new lands we go to. My parents felt the call only last year, and have grown much in their desire to play more and more. In the middle of the game, we realized that we were the only ones on our busy street with any light, and providing a heart-warming familial scene for all the cars driving by and the neighbors wandering the dark night aimlessly. Around 10:30 we felt hope spring within us as two Duke power trucks rolled by- our knights in shining diesel trucks had come! We celebrated with a few leftover fireworks we had been saving from New Years. We felt our spirits fall again when we arrived at the scene of the crime and talked to the man whose tree stole our precious electricity, and found that guestimates called 4am as the time we could expect light to return. I began thinking anxiously of all the food I had just bought and stored in the fridge- good thing we finished off all the ice cream earlier that day. We all slept restlessly with open windows to let in the breeze, but awoke mid-morning sometime to the flickering of the lamp... we couldn't have planned a more interesting evening for my parents!

We also took in a festive cultural experience after heading downtown to check out the Food Lion street fair. I think I gained a few pounds just looking at the deep fried corndogs, funnel cakes, and giant turkey legs. But at least everyone was drunk and the air reeked of smoke. We actually did have fun walking through the throngs of eager race fans and making faces at the great Panthers protecting the football stadium, and celebrated our hike with a big cup of ice cream.

Saturday was our 9-monthaversary and my beloved husband surprised me by compiling meaningful photos from our marriage adventures in a frame that he fixed up for me. I made him steaks. We're quite a team!