The other evening at church, we asked A.J. about when he would be starting the Pumpkin Patch this year. Check last years blog - http://mountairyjournal.blogspot.com/2007/11/pumpkin-patch.htmlHe told us that it was really in jeopardy, because of the deer eating the crop. He normally sells 80% of his pumpkins to be trucked out to stores. This year the deer have eaten 80% of his whole crop of pumpkins. The remaining 20% was to be used for the Pumpkin Patch and he wasn't sure it would make it. So, instead of 5 Saturdays he was going to cut it to 3 weeks and hope he had some left to do it.The deer have eaten 4 acres of pumpkins. A.J. had to acquire a special permit from the Game Warden to shoot the deer destroying his crop. He told me later that there were more than a few neighbors that were upset with him protecting what was left of his crop and shooting the deer. They were concerned that he might be hurting the hunting season that is coming soon.It's a real shame in several ways. A.J. has lost all the work and time that he invested in the pumpkins, not to mention the income. The community may lose the enjoyment of the Pumpkin Patch. St.Andrews UMC usually sells hot dogs, drinks, and snacks at the Pumpkin Patch on Saturdays as a fund raiser and we may lose that. The fact is I enjoyed simply going to the Pumpkin Patch on the Saturdays it was open last year and I've been looking forward to it this year.I guess what really torqued my jaw was people complaining about A.J. shooting the deer and trying to save what is left , simply because they wanted to shoot them later. There is one slight silver lining here. A.J. has made a corn maze and a hay maze, made with those huge rolls of hay. The deer haven't started chowing on those yet, so we can still go play. Maybe we can do a Sunday service there. Just a thought.
On September 14th, Providence UMC, in the community of Java, celebrated their 2008 Homecoming. 
Our guest pianist was Mark Adams. Mark has been joining us on piano for Homecoming for a number of years and we always enjoy having him with us.
Brian Daniels read the scripture for the day.
We had a great crowd of visitors, a lot of folks we hadn't seen since last Homecoming.
I had the privilege of giving the message.
Brian, with accompaniment on piano by Joanne, sang a solo and the benediction.
Of course, what would Homecoming be without the meal? There was an abundance of good food and no one left hungry. I would like to thank everyone who helped make this such a successful Homecoming.
Oops, got caught going for dessert, well, maybe my third one.
But, how do you pick just one dessert to try?
It was a beautiful day, sunshine and not too hot. There a bit of a breeze and the two new ceiling fans in the picnic pavilion were a great help.
I love Homecoming Sundays! Can we do this once a month? I can just fast between. 
I got an email from Tammy Daniels after Homecoming, she said her mom had commented that in the past we had always had two large trash bags of garbage after Homecoming. But this Homecoming we had "3" trash bags full. Tammy ended her email with, "How do you measure success?" Yessir, it was a good day!
Last week my Aunt Pauline, my dad's sister, came to Lynchburg for a visit. She came down all the way from New Hampshire. Let's just say it had been a long time.
When we were kids we always got sweaters from our Aunt Pauline every year for Christmas. We were always amazed how she always got our size right and a style that was what we wanted. It wasn't until I had kids that I found out that she would send the money to my folks and they would pick the sweaters and get them just right. It was almost like finding out about Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. Major bummer, another childhood bubble burst.
It had been a lot of years since we had been together. She got to see Jeremiah for the first time since before he was a teenager. She also got to meet Katie and Leah for the first time. I think it was sort of a time warp shock for Pauline.
She and Leah got along fine. Leah kept trying to feed Pauline the cardboard coaster she was eating. It was good time telling old stories, most of which I didn't even remember. I loved it when she and my dad were telling stories about when they were kids. All too soon she had to head back to New Hampshire. Thanks for the visit Aunt Pauline.
