I was sorry to miss Friday’s Fave Five last week. I haven’t missed many of them since I first started. I love this practice with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. It’s easy to come up with five good things some weeks. Others take thought and digging. But there are always blessings along the way, whether a week is good, bad, or mediocre.

I usually write my FFF post on Thursday afternoon. But Thursday of last week, I was in atrial fibrillation most of the day. Some of you will remember I had an ablation for that a few years ago. It’s not often that I have a full-blown episode any more, but it does still happen occasionally. I took an extra dose of my heart rhythm medication and rested at home, per the doctor’s instructions. I couldn’t do much more than rest, anyway. I tried not to get frustrated with the situation, but just take it in stride. Finally everything went back to normal in the evening.

Then Friday was busy through the afternoon, so I gave up on trying to post that day.

But I am happy to be back and to catch up with the last couple of weeks!

1. A visit. A couple of Jim’s friends from church came over to visit one morning. We haven’t been back to church yet since his surgery three weeks ago. He’s still dealing with pain and fatigue. We’ve been watching the “Facebook Live” broadcast from church on Sunday mornings, but it was good to see and fellowship with people in person.

2. “Hanging out” with the kids. We had not seen Jason, Mittu, and Timothy (son, daughter-in-law, and grandson) for two weeks because Timothy was sick with a bad cold. We were all being a little extra-cautious with exposing Jim with something so soon after his surgery. Finally, Saturday of last week, they texted to ask if we wanted to hang out, and they brought pizza, salad, and a very long churro from Costco.

3. Kids pitching in. We don’t have county garbage and recycling pick-up in our neighborhood. But the center to take all of that is not far, so Jim usually takes all our “stuff” out on Saturday mornings. Jesse has been doing that since Jim’s surgery.

Then, the morning after my heart rhythm issues, Jim had two doctor appointments, one very early. We had made arrangements with Jason to take him, in case my heart rhythm was still acting up. When it went back to normal, I asked if we should cancel plans with Jason. Jim felt I should probably just take it easy and not have to bustle around getting ready early in the morning. Jason also moved some things around Jim wasn’t supposed to pick up yet and brought a case of water from the car that I couldn’t carry.

The day of the heart situation, Mittu made two meals and cupcakes for us. She had already made five for the week after Jim got home from the hospital.

We appreciate all they’ve done for us!

4. A day of rest. When I first started having these heart rhythm issues several years ago, I was told I had SVTs (supra-ventricular tachycardia). I was instructed to try to regulate them at home for an hour or so, and if that didn’t work, to go to the ER. Then they tried to do an ablation for SVTs, only to discover I had atrial fibrillation instead. That required a different procedure, which was done a year or so later. But I was still in the mindset that I needed to go to the hospital when this happened. My cardiologist will answer direct questions, but he’s not good at proactively explaining things. Finally, after several times in the hospital, I understood that I didn’t have to come to the hospital for afib unless it lasted more than a day. I was on a blood thinner for the clots that afib could trigger, which is the main concern.

I found that being at home was actually more restful than going to the ER and being hooked up to an IV and electrocardiogram, along with people coming in and out. I spent most of the day in my desk chair, catching up on my blog reading and dozing. So it ended up being a day of rest.

5. Frozen grilled vegetables. I saw these in the grocery store and decided to give them a try. They could be cooked on the grill or in the oven. I tossed them in the oven one day alongside some baked chicken. Everything turned out great, and it was nice to just put the veggies in from the freezer without peeling and chopping. The next time I went to the store, I got a couple of their other veggie combinations.

Bonus: Panda Express delivery. Jim an I will often pick up Panda Express after the Sunday morning church service. I was craving Panda Express Sunday morning as we watched church from home and was trying to decide if I wanted it enough to go get it. We had plenty of leftovers we could heat up.

When church got over, Jim suggested we have a Panda Express order delivered, not knowing I wanted food from there. So we splurged and did that.

I hope you’ve had a good week filled with God’s fingerprints.