Birthday Trip for Bianca, Part 2

After an amazing first day of my birthday trip, the second day kept getting better!

We slept in until 9:00 a.m., and enjoyed a breakfast of donuts, Michigan blueberries and cherries. It was quite good, and not a typical breakfast for our family! J

I was sitting out on the screened-in porch waiting for our home church service to start. I wondered why it was taking so long for everyone to get ready. A few cars were coming down the road, and our friend Mr. M said something about there being a lot of traffic. Our other dear friends, who have become like family to us, have a rather distinctive car. Next thing I knew, that model of car pulls up into the driveway!! I covered my mouth and kept saying, “Oh my goodness!” I was quite surprised!

We enjoyed showing the other M family around the cottage and the lake. That explains why we were waiting forever to start church: we were waiting for the other family to come!

All of the kids (minus one who is on a missions trip) down at the waterfront. We’ve become best friends over the years!

We took some family portraits before we started church. Here is our family trying not to flip the hammock. J

We all piled into the cottage living room for a worship service. We sang “Creation Calls” from a Brian Doerksen DVD, and then we watched a sermon by Louie Giglio called “Indescribable.” Both sent chills up my spine because we were surrounded by such amazing creation, and then to think of the God who created it all and how much He loves me! The song “Creation Calls” has a line in it that talks about feeling the “thundering breakers roar,” and that is the background noise we listened to the whole day! God is amazing!

After church, we cooked up our lunch. We grilled hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, and cheeseburgers.

Our picnic table out on the porch.

Then we had my birthday cake! I picked out a delicious strawberry shortcake. Mommy did a great job making it, and everybody really enjoyed it!

Next I opened my gifts. I’ll say one thing; I have enough books to last me for a couple of years now! J

Then it was time for water fun! Unfortunately, we were going to go out on the boat and jet ski and go tubing and water skiing, but the water was too choppy. Instead, we had fun playing on the sandbar and floating on the tubes. It was so wavy, that it felt like we were tubing, but we weren’t behind a boat!

Everybody came out and enjoyed the cold water, including the parents! At one point, we fit all 7 girls and moms on one tube at the same time! The boys had their own tube because they were rougher and kept pushing each other off.

I just had to end with a sunset picture from the day before. This was taken just after the sun sank below the horizon.

Following an afternoon full of playing in the water, we enjoyed a light dinner of cold cut sandwiches and leftovers from lunch. Sadly, all good things have to come to an end sometime. We had to pack up and leave for the trip home. BUT, we had an amazing time admiring God’s creation, enjoying fellowship with friends, and celebrating my birthday. I will remember this birthday trip for the rest of my life, as one of the most special ones I’ve ever had!