Busy and L--O--N--G day yesterday.  Wednesdays are usually busy but this was Ash Wednesday which added an extra event.

We were up well before dawn and I snapped a couple pictures on our way to the grandson's where we were babysitting.

The sky was starting to become lighter (though not as light as this photo makes it appear) by the time we got to his townhouse.  It was still about a half an hour before sunrise.

We actually arrived before Nathan had left for work. Since this was his birthday, we got to wish him a Happy Birthday in person.  Normally he has just left when we arrive.  And NO the girls aren't left alone.  On Mondays and Tuesdays their mother  doesn't drop them off at his place until around seven thirty.  And besides, Beth is there getting ready for school and work.

Wednesdays are special because Charlotte's school has late starts on Wednesdays.  That means we get to spend more time with her before school.

Wednesdays are also the mornings when our Men's Bible Study meets at eight thirty.  We had a surprise there yesterday also, our friend Bob had some sort of attack/seizure/spell.  We were sitting around the table watching a lesson on DVD when he started laying his head on the table.  Most of us thought that he was just bored with the speaker (British and monotoned).  But then he kind of flopped his head back in the chair and started to stand up.  A couple of the guys got a hold of him and kept him from falling.  He was only partial coherent and his pulse was thready.  We quickly called 911.

I also called our church prayer chain.  One of the guys tried calling Bob's wife, Julie but was unable to reach her.  They did get a hold of one of her friends who said that they would try calling her work and emailing her.

I went outside to wait for the ambulance and direct them to the correct door.  They arrived within just a very few minutes.  The paramedics examined him and asked him some questions then loaded him on a gurney and moved him to the ambulance.  They worked on him while still sitting in the parking lot for five to ten minutes then took off for the hospital.

Later Julie posted on FaceBook that they kept him overnight and were going to do an EKG in the morning.  There was talk of fitting him with a defibrillator or pacemaker.

After that excitement, I went back to Nathan's.  By this time Ella had taken Charlotte to school and was just keeping an eye on Lorelia, who does not have preschool on Wednesdays.

Her Aunt Audrie came after work at about noon to take over watching her.

From there Ella and I stopped at Village Inn for lunch with pie.

We then went to our church where we are helping with the middle school kids in our after school program.  The program is over a five and is followed by a community supper.  Normally we would go home after the supper.  This, however, was Ash Wednesday and there was a service at seven.  So we stayed.

One of our friends, Carl, who often helps with the after school program was running the dishwasher after the meal.  I heard him tell someone that he was going to need to leave before it got dark because he had ridden his bicycle and didn't want to be on the streets after dark.  He lives about four or five miles from the church.

I asked if he wanted to stay for the service and let Ella and I take him and his bike home afterward.  He was delighted.

Over the last several years we have partnered with another United Methodist Church in the area and shared services on Ash Wednesday, Maundy
 Thursday and Good Friday.  This was our year to host the Ash Wednesday service.  So we got a chance to visit briefly with some of our friends from that congregation before leaving to take Carl home.

Rudolf, our truck was extremely low on gasoline.  With the price having reached nearly $3.50 a gallon for the ethanol blend (cheapest), I thought it was worth going slightly out of our way to stop at Sam's Club for gas and get our club discount.

We were just pulling into Sam's when we received a call from our friend, Lyn, to ask if we were going to go to Village Inn for pie.

Of course we would go for more pie.  So we told here that we'd meet her there.

All in all, it was about eleven when we returned home.

Kramer the cat quickly pointed out that she was low on food and out of water.  I apologized and remedied that situation before climbing into bed.

And then I awoke at four o'clock this morning and was unable to sleep.  So, I've written this extremely long post.