Week of Daily Joys....Day 1 for us

A fellow blogging friend has decided to join a friend of hers in blogging about a Week of Daily Joys. I have decided also to join this week (although a couple days late due to being on a camping trip) because it is always a wonderful reminder of the very simple things of life that truly bring me happiness and the ways that God provides for me. I encourage you to join!!!

In a summer of economic hardship we have been blessed to travel to several states over the last couple months to visit family and friends. We just returned from a long weekend of camping in Michigan (which is were I was born and raised!!) and going to visit (especially during the summer months) brings back lots of great memories for me! We spent countless summer days on Lake Michigan soaking up the summer rays....playing in the sand....picnicing....running up and down the dunes. I even have fond memories (my mom would possibly care to differ) of picking yummy fruit to be canned, frozen, made in to jam, or just to be eaten fresh. Family. Camping.

So this weekend while driving to the beach one day we drove past this house.....this is not just any house. This was my great grandparents (or Oma and Opa) house where we spent soooo much time at....a meeting ground for all our family.....a "secret castle" upstairs.....a "dungeon" that was scary but intriguing (I never was brave enough to get in it), a back yard to play in which housed a huge vegetable/flower garden and apple trees, not really many toys to speak of but with an imagination you could play inside and outside that house for hours, a pink bathroom (and I mean pink sink, toilet, tub), homemade cookies which took hours to make and I would give anything to have just 1 today, my Opa's little upholstery shop next to the house that we ran in and out of, yummy food only Oma's could make with sooo much family packed into 1 small dining room/kitchen area that you couldn't help but feel LOVED!!! The list could go on for hours but hopefully you get the idea that my cup is over flowing with joy of seeing this little house and longing today for Heaven to see these two precious people that loved me immensely and are the reason for ALL the memories listed!!!