Category: Announcements

Many will remember that in July my garden was wiped out. My plants were green stems. At the time I plowed under my beans and planted three more rows of beans. I also stuck a few more tomato plants in the ground.

Anyway, God, who rules the gardens, was gracious by bringing my plants back to the point of health that they could produce some fruit.

We have canned about 25 quarts of beans and yesterday I spent the day canning 25 quarts of tomatoes. I also picked enough tomatoes for another 10 or so quarts. And the really fun thing was that I got into my turnip patch which I had largely forgotten about.

I pulled a Turnip that must have weighed 10 pounds. Biggest Turnip I’ve ever seen. I thought it would be to woody to eat but I peeled it, sliced it up and took out the woodiest parts. Then I boiled the turnips and had quite a nice meal of them. I was genuinely excited by this since I know there are many more turnips in the patch to be harvested. We will, thanks to the God of the harvest, have plenty of turnips this winter to eat.

Also you should see the magnificent Peppers we have picked. Now, I wish we’d planted a few more since we don’t have nearly the Peppers we’ve had in previous years. Still, the ones we do have are beautiful! My daughter has made quarts and quarts and quarts of salsa for this winter. Hmmmm …. good stuff Maynard.

All of the McAtee’s are very thankful to God for the bountiful harvest we’ve had thus far.

Today my wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary.

It is difficult for me to understand where the years have gone. I still feel like I’m same old 24 year old I was on the day we were married.

I can’t speak highly enough concerning my wife. She was willing to marry someone who was more then a little rough around the edges, being convinced, for reasons known only to her, that God’s hand was upon my life. Jane has been my closest confidant and God has used her to bring significant stability into my life. Like all good wives she has been patient. In the tradition of all good wives she has only seldom spoken a cross word. She has never betrayed my trust, never wavered in her love for me, never tired of extending forgiveness for my boneheadedness. She has been stellar in all respects. I know, beyond any doubt, that with Jane, I received far better than I deserved. She has been one expression of God’s mercy to me.

Without Jane it is difficult to see how I would have developed the ability to trust people. Without Jane my social skills would be completely in abeyance. Without Jane I wouldn’t have learned how to let things pass.

On our first anniversary we were in Seminary and she had to teach me that Seminary was no excuse for not celebrating anniversaries. On our fifth anniversary we had just started our first pastorate. By then I had learned that celebrating anniversaries was important. We rented a swanky Hotel room that cost us very little due to my connections with the travel industry. Other anniversaries I remember was the one when we picnicked, the one where we got away at a New England Oceanside bed and breakfast, the several where we went out for a night on the town, and the one when I was finally able to buy her a decent anniversary gift.

In the 25 years we’ve been married we have moved six times (five times in the first five years alone). We managed to finish Seminary together where things got so tight we learned how to make garbage soup out of potato peelings, carrot peelings, and boiled chicken or turkey bones. We’ve had three children. We’ve been at two Churches. We’ve traveled quite a bit within the Continental United States (compliments of free flight benefits when I worked at United Airlines), we’ve seen dreams we’ve had squashed without understanding why, and we have repeatedly seen God’s hand of providence as a married couple.

Jane Louise is all that a husband could ask for and more. She is the embodiment of all that Scripture speaks of when it speaks of a godly wife.

I pray my son will one day find a woman as fine as his mother. Every night I go to bed believing and praying that there must be at least one more woman out there like Jane for Anthony.

Happy Anniversary Jane.

“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

US Congressman & Notorious Homosexual Barney Frank
2003 Response To Attempts To Reform Mortgage Industry

And this is one of the key guys who helped fix the problem he created.

Yeah right …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH–o

This first one is for all you postmodern types who can’t learn in a linear fashion. This video is 9 minutes long and in a very condensed fashion explains what happened with the market.

This second video gives us more of a flavor of Palin’s pentecostal roots. You’ll find in this video a Kenyan Pastor praying over Palin that she would be delivered from the power of witchcraft among other things.

“Did you guys use different textbooks or something?”

My Sister-in-law to my daughter

(These in-laws send their children to government schools and were suspicious that Anna wasn’t quite right after they had engaged in a few minutes of conversation)