It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

I’m not sure how long we’ve been practicing social distancing and isolation now, but we continue to plug away. Counting the good things is a way to express thanksgiving to God as well as help our mental health.

1. Spring and Easter decorations. I usually have them up before now. I wasn’t sure I was even going to bother this year. But then I reminded myself I never decorate just for show or for when people come over: I do it because I like celebrating the different seasons and holidays. So I pushed out of my malaise and set most everything out last Saturday. They do brighten up the place, break up the monotony, and cheer my heart.

2. Meat. My son and daughter-in-law subscribe to a meat delivery service. They had a bit more than they could use a few weeks ago, so they asked if we could do a food swap: they’d bring over some meat for us and then raid our freezer for some gluten-free items I keep on hand for them (my d-i-l and grandson are gluten-intolerant). They brought some cuts of beef we don’t often buy. Then my husband saw a note on a local Facebook group that a nearby wholesale meat processing plant was selling some of their wares to the general public for a few hours. Their ground beef was much cheaper than the grocery store’s and they had meatloaf frozen and already seasoned and ready to cook. So not only was the gift and sale appreciated, but the variety of new things to try was exciting.

3. My husband’s grilling. A while back, my husband used the sous vide cooker my oldest son made to make his teriyaki chicken, finishing them off on the grill. Last Saturday he did the same with hamburgers. Good stuff.

4. Stump removal. Longtime friends may remember our saga of 50 diseased trees a few years ago. The people who cut them down didn’t get them cut as close to the ground as we would have liked. We checked on businesses that do stump removal, and that would have been expensive, especially for that many. We checked on different processes to remove them ourselves, but they were all either complicated or time-consuming. So we covered them up with a layer of dirt and mulch. But with erosion, they’re popping back up again. My husband was poking around them recently and discovered they are rotted and dried out enough that he could dig some of them out with a crowbar as a lever over a piece of wood. For the rest, he built a contraption that helped him get them out. He worked on them mostly bit by bit in the evenings and finished them when he took Thursday off. As soon as we’re able, we’ll fill the holes with dirt. It will be so nice to spend time on the patio or look out the window without seeing stumps. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to start planting there. I appreciate all his hard work.

Before: most of these were sticking several inches up from the ground.

After: He’s going to gather them up and burn them today.

5. Another distanced visit. My son texted one afternoon to ask if they could come over and just hang out with us outside for a bit. So they sat in the grass about twelve feet away while we sat on the patio and Timothy ran around. It was good to see each other in person again. I miss our hugs and head bonks and dinners and outings together—but hopefully we can resume those soon.

Bonus: Good Friday and Easter. Yesterday I shared some of my favorite songs about Christ’s death on the cross for us. Our Easter this year will be different, maybe more subdued than usual. But I’m wondering if that will cause us to think about the first Easter and what it means a little more. We have cause for immense joy no matter the outward circumstances.

That’s our week! How was yours? Happy Easter!