Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.
This week hasn’t been quite as busy as the last few, thank the Lord. Here are some of the best parts of it:
1. Unexpected guests. I have to admit, to my shame, when the possibility first came up, my first thoughts were about how much work it would take to get ready for them and the uncomfortableness of having strangers in my home all weekend. But I Peter 1:9 kept running through my mind: “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” We looked at our schedules and obligations for the weekend, and there was really no reason we couldn’t host these guys. As I mentioned last week, I had done a bunch of cleaning already, so there wasn’t that much to prepare for, and with teen guys, they don’t really care so much. 🙂 There was a youth group from another church coming through on their way to camp, their youth pastor had interned here a few years ago (before our time), and he wanted his teens to get together with our teens. So they went tubing and had Nerf gun wars. 🙂 One of the guys we had hit it off with Jesse immediately, and the other is a fairly new Christian with a unique situation: I think Jim and I were able to encourage him a bit, and we’ve been burdened to pray for him since. All in all it was a very good experience and I’m so glad God prompted us to have them.
2. Magnetic curtain rods helped us cover some windows on two metal doors. I’d thought about getting them off and on for months. They don’t have them in any store I looked at in town, but I found them online.
3. Air conditioning and ceiling fans. I know I have said that before, and I will probably say it again. Temperatures here were in the 100s this week (104 yesterday). The AC has been extremely helpful but had trouble keeping up yesterday, so the fans helped, too.
4. Work for Jesse. He hasn’t found a regular summer job yet. but a man in our church with his own business had some work for him this week.
5. New clothes. I have a hard time finding things I like that fit well that don’t cost a mint, but a couple of my everyday dresses were so worn they had torn. Thankfully I found a few things online.
Hope you’ve had a great week, too.
Stray Thoughts 
I tend to have those unwelcome thoughts too, but, like you, I’m always glad I make the effort. I end up being the one who’s blessed.
Oh my dear your temperatures are high! I don’t think I’d move out of the air-conditioning. I have too much northern blood in me 🙂
I wish I could order more things online – we don’t have that many online choices up here in Canada and if I order from the States, the postage is unreasonable. So I do most of my shopping in stores.
Glad your boy has some work! And I hope he’s able to find regular summer job soon.
Happy weekend!
I like the fact that you reflect back and find the good in the past week – that is what keeps us on track isn’t it – I think I will give it a try
I’m like you…..I don’t mind at all when I am the one who has planned the guests but sometimes I do get that grudging attitude when the unexpected happens. It sounds like you handled it with a lot of grace! here in eastern NY we ‘ve had cool weather..until last nite…supposed to be in the 90s all weekend but hubby and I are escaping to the mountains for a weekend getaway. Told the girls to leave the AC on all weekend 🙂 My oldest doesn’t have a summer job yet either..times are tough i guess, less places are hiring. She has a couple of leads for over the weekend so we’ll see. Meanwhile she is helping at home 🙂
My daughter hasn’t found work either. It’s stressful, isn’t it. I’ll pray that Jesse continues to find work and would appreciate your prayers that she will also.
I have felt the same way when the need for host families is mentioned in church…although, I enjoy having people over and hospitality is one of my gifts, the thought of strangers and teens to boot, is a little daunting…bless you for opening your home…..I went out for a bit yesterday and dropped by Kohl’s to browse….I do not like the short sleeves available now which only cover the top of the arm and I don’t like sleeveless tops either…that seems to be all that is available. I usually buy 3/4 sleeves and wear them year round…..I have a few dresses with shorter sleeves and wanted to get a shrug to wear with them but didn’t find anything I liked….I don’t know what site you found but I like Northstyle. It is a mixture of items from several catalogs.
Stay cool,
Mama Bear
Barbara,
So encouraged to read about #1. Have a blessed weekend.
I’ve heard about your heat back east and I’m glad you got your A.C. and a fan! Yikes. On line purchases can really be a bargain and so helpful at times. Good for you for extending hospitality. Blessings on your weekend.
How wonderful to hear the blessing that came to those young guys, and to you, as you opened your home in obedience! Love that!
We’ve been unseasonably cold here so your temps sound really hot!
Shopping online… curtain rods, clothes… who’d a thought even 10 years ago?! Yeah for your finds!
It sounds like you were blessed having your guests. Unexpected guests always throw me for a loop but you seemed to have handled it really well.
Glad you found your curtain rods. I need to get some curtains over a door too. I never think to go online.
I’m with you on being thankful for a/c and fans. Ours are all going at top speed 24/7. I felt so sorry to hear about those on the east coast with no power and triple digit temps.
I do quite a bit of online shopping because I never have time to get to the stores. Some places will ship free to the stores, I like doing that if at all possible.
The internet is a great spot to find deals and difficult to buy items.
Your company sounds like they were a huge blessing to you and were also blessed by you.
Pray for us as we travel to central Ohio to visit our daughter and grandson–they were hard hit by the storm and will have no electricity until July 8th!
That’s so terrific that God blessed your hospitality. So glad Jesse could find some work at least for a while. With family in the same situation, I can sympathize with the joy of finding any kind of work. Roomie just came back from D.C. where the record temp was 104F in very high humidity (and, as you probably heard, with power outages). But it sounds like 104F isn’t too uncommon for your part of the world. Glad indeed for AC!
Yay for hosting unexpected guests. (Despite the fact that I like having people over, I have a tremendously hard time with strangers. That’s a struggle for me! But hearing about people’s success stories certainly bolsters my courage levels!)
And I’m also very glad that Jesse has found a bit of work this summer. If he wanted to fly out here, we have a retaining wall we’re buildling. 😛 (Not very fun but we need some boys willing to work!)
I hope things went well with your unexpected guests. I always cringe when that happens but I find that in the end I’ve usually enjoyed my time with them. Good for you that you got all that cleaning done “pre guests”. I’d go nuts trying to get the house in order and then really resent the unexpectedness of the whole thing. I tend to be way more Martha than Mary and no matter how hard I try to break that habit, I struggle every time.
I love on line shopping. I find so many things that I just can’t get in the stores. Or ideas on how to make things myself. I don’t know how I survived without it for so many years.
I hope Jesse finds a steady job soon. But in the meantime, what a blessing to have your fellow church goer help him out.
It’s been close to 100 degrees here the last several days. Our air conditioning is such a blessing. I can’t imagine being 8 months pregnant in this heat and not having it.