My Easter Weekend Adventure

Thursday afternoon, I left Grand Rapids and flew to Washington, D.C. to visit Jess and Andy for the weekend.  Jess picked me up and we headed to Andy's office in the city and picked him up.  They were so gracious to let me stay on their "spare" sofa bed in Andy's office.  Thanks Andy, for sharing your space!

Friday evening, we were invited over to Ben and Candice's for a cookout along with Sam and Veronica.  We had such a great time with delicious food and wonderful evening of fellowship....and a lot of laughs!  Thanks Sam!  : )  Keith called and we got to talk to him briefly.  He was having a good trip.

Saturday, Jess and I went out and shopped for a little bit.  Then, came back and Jess planned her Easter dinner menu.  Then, she and Andy went grocery shopping while I stayed at their apartment.

Unfortunately, because of my daily health issues, I was not able to attend Easter service with Jess and Andy.  However, I was able to watch the live service from Calvary Church in Grand Rapids via the Internet.

Sunday, after they returned from church, we took photos of each other.  Jess talked me into doing this photo challenge through her friend, Allie Lehmann's blog.  The first challenge was to take a portrait of someone. We took each others photos.  Then, we took some pictures of Jess and Andy downstairs in the lobby of their apartment building.  

Jess took this pic of me for submission.

I took this one for submission.  (By the way, we had a fun time with Andy's nice Nikon D-300.

Jess made a delicious ham with brown sugar glaze along with a delicious peach ginger sauce for the top.  She also made roasted potatoes with green beans in a tarragon sauce, and Pepsi Cola salad.  They made homemade pies in their pie maker for dessert.  YUM!  I just have to add, Jess is probably the only person I know that would try something new on guests.  She loves trying new things, especially on the weekends when she has time to make things from scratch.  Easter dinner was definitely another success! 

I awoke to this beautiful sight every morning. 

 Monday was a day of mixed emotions.  It was the day I departed for home, and also the day that Keith and the Dominican team were making their way home as well.  However, they wouldn't get back until the wee hours of the next morning, 4:30 a.m. or so.  Jess dropped me off at the airport and my flight had been delayed about an hour.  Apparently, they had serious mechanical problems with the original plane, so they had to make a switch of planes.  I didn't end up getting home until around 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, before I left the house, I had left a spare key hidden in my car which was parked inside our garage.  I also made sure by using the key several times before I left to make sure I could get back inside the house.  My very good friend, Pat, had volunteered to pick me up from the airport.  She waited until I got the key and unlocked the door to the house.  I went to unlock the door of the house and it would not unlock!  Oh no!!!  Now what was I going to do?!?  I jimmied the lock with the key several times and still it would not work.  Pat called her husband, Steve, to come.  He also tried it, but ended up going through a window and unlocking the door.  What a fiasco!  So, Steve left.  Pat and I stood at the door for a bit and I showed her the original key and put it in the door.  Then, I put the new key in the door and it worked!!  Pat and I stood there and she said, "That is bizarre!!!"  I had her try it as well, and yes, it did indeed work!  Unbelievable! So, I got inside the house at 9:00 p.m.  I am so grateful that I had Pat pick me up as I had originally planned to just take a taxi.  I would have really been up a creek, if I would have done that.  I most likely would have gone to my neighbor's house.  Sometimes you just have to wonder why things such as this happen.  

All in all, I will have to say I had a wonderful trip to visit Jess and Andy.  I loved just spending time with them.  We didn't really do any sightseeing this time.  I did get a chance to do a little bit of shopping before I left.  I just soaked in every moment I had with them.  It was great!

Keith arrived home the next morning very tired out, of course.  He came in and we talked for some time and then went to sleep.  He took the day to rest and try to regain his energy to prepare to return to school today.  He had an excellent trip.  I don't have photos as yet to post from the trip.  The one day they worked at a house pouring cement, etc.  Well, apparently they were served some juice and that's the culprit that made 5 out of the 7 kids working there sick; Keith also was sick for part of the day, but did feel better in a short time.  He ended up going right back to work the next day.  The kids all worked very hard and did accomplish very much.

Thank you all for praying for Keith and myself while we were both traveling.