Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

December is a crazy, busy month isn’t it? With the trimming of trees, prepping of Nativity Scenes, practicing for the church musical and shopping for Christmas gifts, it’s a whir of activity and let's face it... stress!

Which is exactly why taking time to enjoy a meal with the girlfriends was so important. We managed to find an evening that worked for the four of us and made it a date.

To continue our theme of staying local in Richland, Michigan, we chose Kare’s Village Diner. The proprietor, Kare (pronounced like the word “care”), dreamt of owning her own restaurant since childhood and happily opened her diner in the spring of 2007. You can read more about Kare’s here.

Since it’s opening 6 years ago, Kare’s has become a popular breakfast spot in Richland, located just across M-89 from the Gull Lake Schools campus. It’s a pretty small place with little more than a handful of tables. 

We knew they were open for lunch as well, but were happy to learn they are open until 8 p.m. most days, serving breakfast, lunch or dinner! On Friday nights they have a fish fry!

We arrived at 6pm and had the restaurant to ourselves. It was not Friday, so we checked out the menu and after some chatting with the waitress, all decided to order a hand-pattied burger. Ruth went for the basic burger with cheese, lettuce and tomato. Elisabeth continued her search for the best olive burger in Richland and Sarah followed her lead. I chose my favorite burger species - mushroom and swiss.  Hand battered onion rings or hand cut fries accompanied the burgers. 

True to the promise, the burgers were fresh and the onion rings crispy-fried masterpieces. Although the jury is out on the BEST olive burger in Richland, Kare’s has a place on the list of finalists. 



As the evening progressed, the conversation moved from excitement about the season to checking on personal concerns and discussing logistics for our upcoming trip to visit Snowbird Anna! As we watched the snow fall outside, we chatted about pedicures and beaches in our future. But it was the friendship surrounding us that made us feel warm that night.  

We reminded each other that Jesus is the Reason for the Season and to just... slow...down. 

Even though we felt stressed when we walked in, we enjoyed lots of laughs and love during dinner and left feeling supported and calm. Isn’t it amazing what good friends can do for us? That reminds me of a Bible verse: 

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 

May you experience the blessing of Jesus today and always,

Miriam