Thankful Thursday with a Bit of Randomness Thrown In

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post in a long time. But since we're at the mission headquarters for a few days with good internet access, I decided to play a little catch up. Because we DO have a lot to be thankful for...

I had a lovely, lovely time last Friday with a few of my girlfriends. We went to Tecumseh to a large fabric store and made a stop in the cheese store there too. I resisted the urge to buy fabric -- the sticker shock alone was enough to make me pause; when did fabric become so expensive?! -- but I was unable to resist the cheese.

Oh, the cheese.

The owner of the cheese store is one smart guy. He kept offering samples, each one absolutely delectable. Irresistible even. I indulged in a small chunk of gouda with caramelized onion and another of cheddar soaked in balsamic vinegar. The cheese was so good that I didn't want to mask their deliciousness with my beloved dill-flavored Triskets, so I did have to stop and buy some water crackers afterward. Cheese that good deserves to shine.

We also went to Adrian to a new British tea shop for lunch, where we indulged in high tea. What a fun experience: they have a large selection of teas to go with the small squares of quiche, triangles of cucumber sandwiches, several kinds of scones, and tiny little tarts.

Oh, the tarts.

The whole day was lovely, but the trip would have been worth it for the tarts alone. We all want to go back again just for the tea and tarts.

I could go on about the day, but let's move on to other things I'm thankful for...

Our first presentation was on Sunday morning at one of our supporting churches in Jones, MI, where we enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. I have to say, we have the most amazing support team!

Sunday evening found us attending an outreach picnic at a church in northern Indiana. Who doesn't love a good potluck picnic? Then we spent a couple nights with Ivan's mom, thankful for a little down time.

Tuesday found us on our way to Mike and Rita's, where we enjoyed seeing their new place and catching up with them. Ivan had fun going with Mike to one of the robotics sessions. Sadly it was a very short visit, as we had to get up in the wee hours of the morning and head to the airport.  But we hope to have more time with them later this summer.

We're really liking the new (to us, at least) trend of hotels providing much cheaper long-term parking options. Mike found a hotel only a couple miles from the airport where we could park our car and take a shuttle over to the airport. Such convenience! This was such an economical parking option; I'm sure it would have cost more in gas to have someone make the two trips, to take us and then pick us up at the airport.

We're renting a car while we're here in Atlanta, and they gave us an upgrade at no extra cost. I wonder if the guy didn't feel a little bad after making us pay an extra $18/day on required insurance? Our credit card covers accidents, fire, etc. but not liability for a third person who might be injured in said accident or fire. I guess with liability becoming such a money maker for those more litigious minded, it has become a necessity.

Too bad for the rest of us.

Something that made me feel bad was another "sign of the times" I'm sure. There was a little girl traveling alone who sat just across the aisle from us on the plane. The poor child had a cold and kept coughing and coughing, but the flight attendant prevented me from offering her a cough drop.

Anyway, back to the things to be thankful for...

I'm really, REALLY thankful we were close to an Apple store yesterday when my Macbook Air decided to stop working. Because initially I was majorly panicked! The primary reason for coming to Atlanta is so the video guru here at the mission can help us finish the short presentation video we're working on -- the one that's on this computer. 

Yeah, this one.

So of course you know I'm thankful because the nice people at the Apple store totally got it working again. Yay for the Apple tech guy!

There are actually a lot of nice people here in Atlanta...

The people who work here at the headquarters are beyond nice, and we can't say enough good things about each and every one of them. I could tell you story after story of the things they've done/do that go above and beyond the call of duty, but if I got started it would be hard to stop. So I won't. Will you just take my word for it?

So are the ladies who run the Missionary Care Center at the First Baptist Church here in Atlanta (Charles Stanley's church). We had an appointment there this afternoon, and those ladies were so kind and gracious. After we'd finished "shopping" the store (it's free for missionaries), they took time to pray with and for us. What a blessing.

I have more things I could share, but I see that my time is running short. Because another super nice person has invited us to dinner and I need to get going. So this is all for now, but I'm sure I'll be back with more Tales of Thankfulness.