Oh My Stars- a fun filled July 4th weekend
Happy Birthday Weekend, America! Not a perfect nation- but one that God has surely blessed and guided as wrongs have been redressed. I am dismayed at the rise in popularity of socialism and Marxism and the decline in appreciating our country’s democracy and (mostly) free market, especially among young people. Just no. Also some groups are trying to equate patriotism to nationalism. Oh dear. Well, to quote Lee Greenwood, “I am proud to be an American...” We had a nice weekend- more plans than we usually have. We are homebodies but don’t mind the occasional weekend, or long weekend, of plans.
Friday evening, we went to a celebration of life for a man who died a few months ago. It was held at a beautiful farm turned rustic, bucolic event center. The celebration was very nice, obviously with the patina of grief hovering in the air. Donnie knew the deceased pretty well but mostly in a professional context. Donnie had many business interactions over the years with the decedent, including a complex legal case that spanned four years and required daily interactions between Donnie and the deceased. In the process of the legal proceeding, Donnie got to know many family members of the very successful business the man ran with some people in his family. Donnie had a great deal of respect for the man not just as a business man but also as the patriarch of a large, loving and close knit family. The celebration of life was lovely as was the life lived of the decedent.
Saturday was a mix of the usual- errand running and whatnot and the unusual- we saw friends whom we hadn’t seen in about five years. Our friends now live in Connecticut and don’t make it back this way that often (or when they do, it’s for a short time and they spend time with family). They were our first family friends (Jacob and their daughter Paige are two days apart in age and literally befriended each other in daycare as babies 👶. Then we realized that we went to the same church and we became family friends) and we were saddened when they moved away when the kids were little. We had a great time visiting and though our time with them came to end all too soon, we are consoled that they plan to move back to the area in a couple of years.
Sunday was church (in person 👏🏻) then the pool and then seeing some family members whom we hadn’t seen since before Covid. These relatives live in Virginia and usually come out to Ohio once every summer. That didn’t happen last summer but they came out to visit this year. We ate at Milano’s with them along with several members of Donnie’s family. Had a nice evening of good food and fellowship.
Monday was a busy, busy, day. I got up early to get started with the day’s activities. For me, that was making several side dishes, dessert, getting the main dishes ready and then cleaning up the kitchen that all of the food prep rendered... quite messy. We were having twelve family members over for a 5th of July/ Abby’s gradation celebration meal later in the day and my brother was coming early in the afternoon so I hoped to have everything ready by the time that he came. I hadn’t seen my brother since before Covid... how crazy is that?? He lives a few hours away and was going to come to our house in November but he woke up with a fever so he didn’t make it. Anyway, it was wonderful to see him after so long and to have another Abby graduation celebration (this meal was the graduation celebration grand finale 🙂). Had a great time visiting with guests. Plus all that hard prep work paid off and breakfast, lunch, and dinner of Tuesday consisted of leftovers (with some still left over for Wednesday).
After our guests left, it was all hands {several under duress...} on deck to clean everything up so that we could relax a little before the work week started for the workers. We did get a little bit of relaxing done (Donnie and I are watching a British crime drama on Netflix) before we realized that the dishwasher was not running even though I’d turned it on. Donnie and I (mostly Donnie) tried to troubleshoot to figure out what was wrong. Everything we tried was in vain so we are thinking that the dishwasher needs to be replaced. Such is life in the suburbs... It was a great weekend, dishwasher- may- need- replacing nonetheless.
Friday night at the farm…
Saturday
Old friends- who don’t seem to age
Sunday- 4th of July
When I saw an, “Oh my stars” shirt online for sale, I knew I had to get it. I say, “Oh my stars” a lot so this shirt is appropriate. Plus... when coupled with a blue and white striped skirt… it is quite patriotic. Note that I didn’t wear the shirt this wrinkled. I wore it on the 4th but have no pictures of me wearing it so I pulled it out of the dirty laundry to snap a picture of :).
Monday-
Fixed a meal and put together another balloon arch- the girls helpd me put up the arch. It only took about 1/2 an hour to do. Here is Abby, my brother Joe and Kacia
oh my gosh- LOVE that outfit- what a fun weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great weekend! We had such great weather here near Memphis where we live and it was such a relief from the humidity we'd been experiencing. I agree about our nation and the youth- so many of our sons' friends have lost friendships over their beliefs. My sons can agree to disagree, but sadly, their friends cannot. It's terrible! I too am proud to be an American and that the Lord chose to place me here. We need Him so desperately, though and I can't imagine how saddened He is looking at our world today. We have turned so far from Him! I pray for our nation and our leaders all the time. Thanks for sharing with us!
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