It’s the first Friday of July, and I’m pausing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to appreciate the week’s blessings.

1. Good medical news. My oldest son received some great news from a medical scan this week.

2. Dinner with the family. Jason and Mittu had a family over to their house for Sunday lunch. They had enough leftovers that they offered to bring them to our house for Sunday dinner. Plus they stayed and ate with us.

3. Dinner when I wasn’t feeling well. I struggled with vertigo for several hours one day (it usually only lasts a few minutes) and then had a persistent headache for a couple of days. Jim got takeout for dinner the first night and then grilled fish and made a salad and potatoes the next night. It was a big help not to have to deal with dinner during that time.

4. Easy treatment for vertigo. When I first started having trouble with vertigo some years ago, I was sent to a physical therapist who took me through exercises to help with it, which I could then do at home. I had not done them in ages since the vertigo episodes didn’t usually last long. But they’re happening more often and getting more severe. Then this week, the room-spinning feeling persisted. The exercises are a little disconcerting, because at first they bring on vertigo. As I was getting into position, I was borderline grousing to myself about having to take time out of the day to do them. But then I thought–it’s nice to have a fix to a medical problem that doesn’t take long, isn’t strenuous, and doesn’t involve medicine or an office visit or a medical procedure.

5. A Great Awakening film. I mentioned in my end-of-June recap the new film A Great Awakening about the friendship between Ben Franklin and preacher George Whitefield. We rented it from Amazon Prime. At first, I wasn’t conscious of the proximity to the 4th of July, but then realized the film was probably scheduled to release near that date on purpose. We thought it was very good.

Belated Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends! And to those of us in the USA, have a happy and safe Independence Day tomorrow!

(Graphic courtesy of Julie at Less-than-Perfect Life of Bliss.)