Forbidden Apple

For our fifth Anniversary, my husband and I enjoyed dinner at the 1913 Room in Grand Rapids, MI. It is the only restaurant in Michigan to have received the AAA five diamond rating. We had a wonderful time. Pictured here is our dessert, the “Forbidden Apple”. It is chocolate ice cream with a red candy coating and chocolate liquor inside, served with a small candied apple. This dessert is a special of the restaurant and quite tasty! As a special treat, the restaurant included an edible anniversary plaque (and complimentary champagne!).

West Shore Symphony Orchestra

This summer I was able to attend a performance of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra (for free)!! I arrived early and got front row seats. I enjoyed the performance quite a bit. At one point the conductor taught us a little bit about conducting and then let some volunteers try it out. This short video is just one of the 'contestants'. Enjoy!!

Labor Day Bridge Walk

One of my pics from my Labor Day activity: the 51st Annual Mackinaw Bridge Walk! It was my first time. My husband and I did it in under two hours (even though I stopped to take a bunch of pictures)!

Can't they read?

It is almost the last day of August and if I want to keep up my pattern of posting, I need to post! Since I’m short on time; I’m leaving for the weekend soon, here’s an interesting picture I took this summer (interesting to me anyway). Enjoy!

Cardboard Testimonies

My small group Bible study has been discussing passages from the book Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, a book on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. Last week we discussed Matthew 5:22 “22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother [1] will be liable to judgment; whoever insults [2] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell [3] of fire.” (ESV) According to Willard, “Filthy language and name calling are always an expression of contempt. The current swarm of filthy language floats upon the sea of contempt in which our society is now adrift.” Discussing these things made me realize how often I judge people on superficial levels, I don’t see people the way that God sees them. I saw this video on the blog of a friend of a friend later in the week and it caused me to think even more about how judgmental I can be, without even realizing it. God works in the lives of all sorts of people, who am I to judge those around me, especially those I don’t even know. I hope this video touches you in some way, for HIS glory.

American

“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” is a line from a song that brings out the patriotism in me. Generally speaking, we have it pretty easy here in America. Our faith is rarely tested as it is in countries that don’t know freedom as we do. As we reflect on our independence let’s get out of our comfort zone and stretch our faith to see what God will do when His people believe. Here’s a video of some fireworks I watched to celebrate the independence of the United States of America.

Feast of the Strawberry Moon

Last weekend my husband and I went to the Feast of the Strawberry Moon. It was held on Harbor Island in Grand Haven, MI. We have no idea why it is called the Feast of the Strawberry Moon. There was not enough food to call it a feast, we didn’t see any strawberries, and the event was during the day, so we didn’t see the moon either. What we do know is that it was a reenactment of life in the 1700s. People portrayed Native Americans, voyagers, crafts people, fur traders, and merchants. The most exciting part for us was one of the entertainment acts, a couple of juggling brothers. If you were a kid the candy cannon was pretty cool too. They had a small canon that they loaded down with candy and at appointed times kids would gather in the middle of the camp. A couple of men would shoot it off and candy went flying! Here's a video of the candy cannon. Unfortunately I shot it sideways and don't know how to edit it, so I guess you'll just have to tilt your head.