Michigan Trip, Part 3

Day 5 (August 14) of our Michigan Trip brought some more work and more time spent with friends. We had arranged a breakfast date with some very good friends of ours at one of our favorite places in town. We used to eat out at Big Apple Bagel every other Tuesday during the school year. We would have our “usual” breakfasts and then go to the library to study for a few hours. It was a tradition we have missed!

We all ordered our usual bagels, muffins, and hot chocolates and then sat down to visit with Mrs. D and her daughters, M and M.

We had lots of stories and pictures to swap between our missions trip to Guatemala and Miss D’s recent trip to Haiti. It was so good to catch up with them!

Sometimes I laugh in amazement that these two are such close friends! They are opposite in so many ways on the surface, but inside their hearts beat the same.

Photo Credit: Roma.

After we said our goodbyes, we decided to drive through our old neighborhood (which wasn’t far from BAB.) It was a little strange driving past our old house. It’s really just a house now; it didn’t quite feel like we were driving past “home.” Texas is truly “home” now!

We stopped by a neighbor’s house to pay a quick visit, since they wouldn’t be able to come to my party that Saturday. The kids were really excited to see their buddies again!

After this, we went to Sam’s Club to do more shopping. We ended up with several carts filled with food! While we were there, we ran into a friend from church. It was fun to come up behind her and surprise her. J

We returned to our hotel room and unloaded most of the groceries. Then we got down to work and started cutting and chopping things for the potato and chicken salad. Our motivation to finish was getting to go to Wednesday night Dinner and Devotions at our old church.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Thankfully we were able to get all our work done on time, and went to church. We were so glad that we had the opportunity to go, as we were able to see even more friends that wouldn’t be able to make it to the party over the weekend. It also gave us more time for some one-on-one catching up with people.

Thursday morning, we left the hotel bright and early. Our van was loaded up with coolers of food. We were headed to a friend’s house to have a cooking party. These friends graciously allowed us use of their spacious kitchen and cooking tools, and also were on hand to help with cooking, feed us lunch, and more.

We did an incredible amount of cooking! We made about 6 gallons each of chicken salad, potato salad, and coleslaw. We also baked and frosted 6 Texas sheet cakes. It took us all morning and the better part of the afternoon to do all that and clean up after ourselves. I think we used every dish and cooking utensil in the kitchen!

Photo Credit: Roma.

We loaded all of the food back into the coolers and into the car and headed to the church, to load up their refrigerators. Then we finally returned to the hotel, where we unloaded more things and then headed down to the pool for a swim. Afterward, we took showers and had a light supper while we unwound. We went to bed early, knowing we had another big work day ahead of us on Friday . . .

To be continued . . .