Old Glory flies from the Hall’s front porch.

Wendy and I picked up Grandma Vander Hart headed to Boone for a 4th of July cookout at the Hall’s yesterday. It was a gorgeous day and while the family gathering was much smaller than it might have been considering the size of Wendy’s clan, we had great food and a lazy afternoon of pleasant conversation.

That capped off a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Wendy and I enjoyed some rest on Friday night and Saturday, watching Wimbledon together and remembering our visit there a few years ago. We went to a matinee movie, something we rarely do these days. We went to see Green Lantern with extremely low expectations and were pleasantly surprised that a silly movie based on a comic book prompted such great conversation about the themes of love, will, and fear which carried on through the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday night we enjoyed a wonderful date night dinner out with the VL’s. After spending a week together in June with every meal dominated by the chaos of three families and four young children, we blissfully enjoyed a quiet dinner with adult conversation. We even got to extend the conversation back at our house for a dessert of chocolate lava cake and a wonderful Bordeaux. Mmmmmmmm.

I played bass in worship on Sunday morning which was a blast. I haven’t been playing as regularly with our crazy summer schedule, and the drummer pointed out that my fingers needed to limber up. Nevertheless, the joy of playing with the worship team and being part of the music never gets old for me.

We then headed to Des Moines to meet up with Tim & Kumi and Taylor & Clayton for lunch at Court Avenue Brewing company. More great food and pleasant conversation as we celebrated Taylor’s impending 21st birthday (more about that tomorrow).

How blessed to have a weekend full of people and experiences we love and appreciate most in life wrapped around a celebration of the freedom and sacrifice that made it possible.