Sunday meetin' clothes,and Southern hospitality

This past Sunday we were invited to my husbands Chaplain' church, it is an hour away. They were having a welcome home ceremony for all of the men in the 39th, but mostly for their Pastor whom they had missed so dearly. I might add here, this Chaplain did a great job at providing spiritual care for my husband while he was away.

We are both from the Midwest, my husband grew up in a practicing Lutheran Family, I grew up in a RLDS family. No one talks out loud in our churches, not even a single amen. It was our first time at a Baptist church, actually it was a "Second Baptist Church". I am not sure what makes it "second". Next time I see the Chaplain I will ask. This is the first time I went to a church where there was someone named Cleta, and Coyse (pronounced...coy-zee).

The church did a great job on welcoming the men and women home. I had a real hard time making it through the first part of the service. Choking on tears and occupying myself with the "Pink Ninja". Recalling once more how lucky I am to have him home. How difficult "18 months" was for both of us. We have already picked up and started moving forward without much thought or discussion on the 18 months. When I sit and meditate at all on it, it breaks my heart that Dear Husband has missed so much.

After church the ladies auxiliary group put out one of the most fantastic pot-lucks I have ever seen. Every table was decorated with table clothes, and decorated with a patriotic theme. They seriously went to a lot of effort. The food.......Oh my. Lets just say the Baptists are a competitive bunch. It appeared that every woman tried to out do the next. I also am still curious as to how they kept a 30 foot table of hot food, HOT, and a 30 foot long table of cold food Cold. The desert table.......Triple layer cakes on pedestals with beautiful icing, pecan pie, peach cobblers, banana pudding, it was gorgeous.

We are not all day Sunday church goers. We are hour or maybe 2 hour church people. We did not see much of that "all day" up North. We have noted it down here, mostly at the Baptist churches. They have a full parking lot from sun up to sun down. Now I know why they are there all day..... We had a great time in fellowship with these people and someone has to stay and eat that all of that good Southern cooking.