The Servant's Quarters

What a great holiday we had!!! A lot of fun throughout the weekend, but we were sure tired by the end.

The holiday got off to a great start on July 3. My boss sent us all home early to get a jump on the weekend, so I left Dearborn and headed over to the Plymouth Super Center, a gas station on Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth. Our new church, Living Word, was sponsoring a "gas buy down" to bless the community. As a congregation, we ponied up $3000 to lower the price by $.30 a gallon. We enabled the station to sell 10,000 gallons of gas for $3.89. It was a huge success, with people lining up an hour in advance for their cheap gas. We had a lot of fun, and we blessed a lot of people. The media was out in force, with a traffic copter, photographers, and camera crews from three stations being on hand. The coverage from WXYZ can be seen here.

The next day, we had plans to spend the holiday with our dear friends, the Carlsons. They live on a homestead outside of Saline. We arrived in the early afternoon and stayed until way too late for our own good. We were all tired by the time we left. It was a great day. We grilled delicious food, enjoyed the peaceful country setting, and had our own fireworks after dark. Lots of fun times. I really appreciate these wonderful friends, especially during a year when some friendships that seemed solid came to sudden and difficult conclusions. In a world where it's sometimes hard to depend on people, the Carlsons are incredibly devoted and caring. We love them.

The next day brought another meal with friends. This time, it was with Kevin and Jackie Grim at our house. Although it was the day after the Independence Day holiday, we wanted to have a barbeque with burgers and dogs for our pals. Unfortunately, our much abused grill had given up the ghost last year. A few days earlier, I had pulled it apart and made a list of parts I would need to fix it up. I expected the price to be around $40. I was shocked when it turned out to be twice that. Considering I could almost buy a new grill for that amount, we decided to replace instead of repair. So, Saturday morning, Rita and I struck out for Lowe's to purchase our new grill. I was hoping that we would be able to buy one assembled as I didn't want to be under the gun to put it together before the Grims arrived. Sure enough, we found exactly the one we wanted, and it fit pretty nicely in our van. Mission accomplished!

The Grims showed up a couple of hours later, and I happily grilled a huge helping of hamburgers, dogs, and brats on my new, huge, three burner grill. Dessert was a birthday cake baked by Olivia for Kevin. Fun! Well, the rest of our visit was pleasant, but I found that the Grims looked as tired as we felt. Both of our families played hard the day before, and it wasn't too long after the meal that Kevin and Jackie made their farewells.

The rest of Saturday and all day Sunday developed into down time. We laid around, watched TV, read, talked, and napped.

It was truly a great weekend!!! Wish they were all this good!