Week 1: Hot Apple Pie should be FRIED, not baked.

While I was driving to Morristown a few days ago, that old song from high school came on... "We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way, oh no."

Being a home-school graduate, and an only child during my formative years, I've always managed to keep myself entertained even when I'm alone. My favorite way is what I like to call "exploring" or "adventure." That's mostly what I've been doing for the past week.

Having found the coffee shop (the real one), I decided to take Saturday and drive to another town in the county. I followed the sign that said "Dandridge" and soon found myself in Tennessee's second-oldest town, named after the first First Lady Martha Dandridge Washington. I looked around a bit, drove a bit outside town in either direction -- found two BEAUTIFUL lakes and caught a glimpse of the mountains -- and then decided to head home for dinner. After about ten minutes, when I should have been back in JC, I realized I had gone the wrong way. Then up from the horizon arose I-40, a beautiful sight for lost eyes, and before I knew it I was at Bass Pro Shop in Sevierville. I know you're thinking, "Why didn't you just whip out your trusty Agent P the GPS?" Well we saw what that did for me at the coffee shop. I wanted to know that I could get around on my own. So, what should have been about an hour of exploring turned into a 2 1/2 hour adventure before I finally got home. Now I know how to get to Sevierville. A Bible verse comes to mind: "Lean not unto thine own understanding."

Sunday I went to a church nearby, and I really enjoyed it so I went back Sunday night (which I rarely do) and got to hear a mission team share about helping build a church in Brazil. Cool. I noticed "outreach" on the schedule for Monday night, and frankly I wasn't sure about strangers coming to visit me, so I decided to make some quick spaghetti and dash away to pick up my missed delivery from FedEx. However, I did not have a can opener for the sauce, my meat was frozen, and they came early. I couldn't turn them away because they had a baby. They came inside and instantly I was glad I answered the door. Sometimes you know a kindred spirit from the moment you first say "Hey yall, come on in!" Well these people are really neat and I plan on taking them up on that invitation to a "singles mixer" in a few weeks. You know what that means... my very first ever SINGLE MINGLE!!!

More later.