Fridays keep coming faster than ever! I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started this weekly practice of pausing to count blessings.

1. A ladies’ event at church. Our church has a “Girl Talk” event periodically, with the most recent one occurring last Saturday. The topic this time was self-concept and how the Bible tells us to think about ourselves. One woman spoke about the topic, with some opportunities to ask and answer questions. Then a lunch was catered. I had a few really good conversations with different ladies afterward–not on this topic, but on others. All in all, a good morning.

2. Voting and another good conversation. Our state and local primaries this week garnered a longer line that I have ever seen at our polling place for a non-presidential election. About half-way through a line that snaked around and across a high school gym, I found out the lady behind me taught at a school where I knew a teacher. “Do you know so-and-so?” led to a conversation that was not only enjoyable, but helped the waiting time fly by.

3. Good numbers. I had a six-month appointment with my primary care doctor to discuss my lab work. I was concerned about my blood sugar, because my own readings at home had been high. But my A1C was better than last time, just a hair above “normal.” And my thyroid level is back in normal range after being too low last time.

4. Going the extra miles(s). Ladies at church were asked to make food for a back-to-school breakfast to honor teachers at our Christian school. When I signed up to bring pigs-in-a-blanket, I asked Jim if he could take them over for me, as I would have had some difficulties getting them there. He agreed to, but had forgotten he had another obligation that morning. Mittu was contributing food as well, and had also been asked to help serve, so I asked Jason, and he graciously agreed to swing by and pick them up for me.

5. An evening with Timothy and a dinner I didn’t make. Jason and Mittu had a meeting one night this week and asked if Timothy could stay with us. They offered to bring dinner as well. We just hung out in the family room and talked most of the night. Timothy played some videos of when he was little–his voice was so cute and high!

Bonus: We went to lunch with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy at our favorite food court for the first time in a long time. I tried a new Asian place which, sadly, was a disappointment. But I love a bakery there which makes “cronuts”–a cross between croissants and donuts. The regular ones are about four or five inches square, but they also make mini ones, about two by two inches. I like the smaller ones because I like all their flavors–chocolate glazed, glazed, and cinnamon and sugar–and this way I can get more than one. And, more importantly, we enjoyed catching up with the kids.

How was your week?

I’m pausing as always on Friday to savor some of the week’s happening before they fly out of memory. I’m thankful that Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts this weekly exercise in gratefulness.

1. Time with Timothy. We watched him Saturday night when his parents had a meeting. After dinner, we watched A Bug’s Life. I think he enjoyed it. 🙂 As I was putting it away, I looked over the DVDs and videos in our cabinet, most from when the boys were younger, and thought we really need to have more movie nights.

2. My blog’s 20th birthday! To celebrate, I am hosting a giveaway on my blog birthday post. God has taught me so much through it, and I am so grateful for the friendships that have arisen through it.

3. Family celebration. Jim told me he wanted to take the family out to a favorite restaurant to celebrate my blog birthday. That seemed maybe a little odd, but I won’t turn down a dinner out. 🙂 Then I heard talk that Mittu was making a cake for it, and Jim asked the restaurant if it was ok to bring it in. And then, as we walked in, Jim grabbed a gift bag from the car. This was going to be a bigger deal than I thought. 🙂 I was a little self-conscious, but I appreciated their love and thoughtfulness. We even Face-Timed with Jeremy at the restaurant for a little bit. Jim had put together a summary of what was going on in the world at the time I started my blog and how old we all were at the time, and then he had printed off my first and tenth blog birthday posts and read them out loud.

One of his gifts was taking the picture from the header of my blog and having it put on a coffee mug. He also added an “extra” in front of the “ordinary” of my tag line. 🙂

Mittu made this beautiful Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake, and Jason 3-D printed the “blog anniversary” decoration.

4. An excellent waiter.He was not only generally good, but he offered to being clean plates and forks when we cut the cake and take-home boxes so we could divide the remnants of it among ourselves.

5. A funny moment. Someone with the restaurant–not a waitress, but maybe the manager–saw the cake on our table and asked what we were celebrating. When we told her, she came over to me and asked me about my blog. As I was telling her, she told another server who came by, “This lady has had a blog for 20 years called Stray Cats.” 🙂

Bonus: Lunch with my friend Melanie yesterday at Red Lobster.

How was your last week of July?

I’m pausing in the midst of life’s busyness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to remember and share the blessings of the week.

1. Jason’s birthday. It’s always a joy to celebrate his special day.

Mittu made this adorable cake:

2. Timothy’s end of school year party. He actually finished a few weeks ago, but this was our first chance to celebrate. He didn’t just finish the school year–he finished the sixth grade! Thus Jason 3-D printed this topper for the chocolate cheesecake Timothy requested–not only for the change in grade level, but for whatever the “sixes and sevens” thing is all about. :).

Mittu made this cheesecake as well. She’s batting 1,000!

3. My heroes. I was on my way to a ladies’ potluck dinner and prayer meeting at church when this happened:

My GPS was sending me a way I don’t normally go. I almost went the usual way, but there was not a lot of time to decide whether to take my usual exit or not. I decided to go with the GPS, but it took me on some back roads, where I must have hit something that put a hole in the tire. I called Jim, and he drove out to where I was and talked with me via cell phone the whole time. Then he called a tow truck. We waited half an hour or so, then we got a text that the tow was going to be an hour.

Jason was a couple of miles away at the church and had asked if there was anything he could do to help. So at that point I asked if it would be too much to ask for him to swing by and pick me up and take me home. So he and Timothy came. But it was just about time to pick up Mittu from the ladies’ prayer meeting, so we went to the church first.

By that time, I was getting a little light-headed and then headachy because I hadn’t eaten yet. So Jason went in and made up a plate from the potluck leftovers and brought them out to the car for me. Afterwards, I realized I could have gone in and done that. But I was still a little rattled.

When Mittu came out, they took me home and shared some of the leftover cake from the potluck with us, and I shared some of the broccoli salad that I had made for it with them.

Then Jim texted and said the tow truck was now expected to come at 11 p.m–we had first called them around 6:45. Poor guy!

I’m thankful for everyone going out of their way to help.

4. Warranties. We had just gotten those tires recently, so the repair and the tow were covered.

5. Friends who pray. A decision came up unexpectedly this week, and I was thankful that I could email a couple of friends and ask for prayer about it.

How was your week?

I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to pause, share, and be thankful for the blessings of the week.

1. Camp leftovers. Jim had some burgers, potato salad, and baked beans leftover from the guys’ camping trip last week, so we enjoyed those for lunches. Then he also had some teriyaki chicken leftover that he grilled for dinner one night.

2. A light cooking week. Besides the camp leftovers, Jim was away Wednesday night for a men’s get-together at church, so I didn’t have to make dinner. Then another night, I was tired at dinner time and asked if we could get something out.

3. Getting shower curtains and liners cleaned. I saw some time ago either from Martha Stewart or Hints from Heloise (remember her?) that you could wash plastic (or vinyl?) shower curtain liners in the washing machine with towels, and the towels help scrub them plus keep them from bunching up. I usually use rags rather than towels so I can use bleach without messing anything up. We have hard water here with lots of minerals which leaves a white residue on things that’s hard to get off. The spray cleaners only go so far. So every now and then I’ll toss the curtain liners in the wash, and then wash the shower curtains in a separate load. Two of my shower curtains need to be ironed. So all of that, plus stretching to get them all off their hooks and back on again, took a chunk of time. But it was satisfying to get it done.

4. Killing a bug on the first try. That may sound silly. 🙂 But I do count it as a blessing! When I walked into my bedroom last night, I saw a centipede scurrying across the floor. They move really fast, so I didn’t know if I’d have time to grab some tissues and then smash him. I thought about just letting him go, but then I’d wonder where he was and when he was going to come back out. Jim is usually the designated bug killer (it’s a subdivision in our marriage vows under “love and cherish” 🙂 ). But he was asleep. For some reason, the centipede just stopped as I walked past him. So I got a couple of tissues and aimed for him, thinking he’d take off before I reached him (which is what usually happens). But I got him on the first try.

5. Some productive afternoons. I had gotten discouraged after a few days of not getting things done that I needed to. One or two of those days, I was sleepy and took a longer nap than I wanted. But I had several productive spurts this week and got most of my to-do list crossed off.

How was your week?

Another week has gone by in a blur, but I like to pause for a few minutes to remember God’s blessings of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Independence Day. We always enjoy having the family over for grilled burgers and hot dogs on the 4th of July. Jason and Mittu bring over some “pop-its” (they make a popping sound when you throw them to the ground) and some little devices that shoot confetti in the air when you pull a string. We’re not supposed to have fireworks where we live, so these are a fun substitute. I saw just a little of the coverage on TV about some of the big doings for America’s 250th birthday in New York.

2. Guys’ camping trip. Jim thought he was taking advantage of cooler temperatures this week to go camping, but the weather ended up being really humid. I think they had a good time anyway. When he first booked the camp site, the weather apps showed little rain. When the time came closer, the apps showed rain every day. But I don’t think they got any.

3. Good sleep. I often wake up after three to four hours of sleep, and then it takes me a while to get back to sleep. But I had several nights this week of sleeping five hours straight. It’s amazing what a difference that makes.

4. Air conditioning and ceiling fans. We were under a “heat dome” last week, and then, as I mentioned, it’s been really humid this week even though the temperatures have been a little lower.

5. Gas company relighting. The gas company was doing some work in our area and said when they were done, they would put a lock on our connection, and we needed to make an appointment so they could turn it back on and come in to relight whatever we had that used gas. I was envisioning not having hot water or being able to use the stove for a day or so. But the gas was only off briefly while they came out. And the relighting was more a matter of turning on the appliances til the air bubble in the lines seeped out. The guy said the hot water heater would relight itself, and it didn’t. Jim was miffed at that, especially since he had driven in from the camp site to be here when the utility guy was here. He called the gas company to ask them to send someone back out. But in the meantime, he found the manual for the water heater and restarted it, and that took care of the problem. But even with that, the whole thing was much less of an ordeal than I thought it would be.

I hope you’re staying cool in this muggy weather! Any special blessings this week?

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.)

It’s the first official Friday’s Fave Five of summer–though in my mind, it’s been summer all month. And it’s the last FFF of June. I pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share the blessings of the week.

1. Father’s Day. We enjoyed having the family over, one of them via FaceTime.

2. July 4th decorations. I love my country and my flag, but I don’t usually have any special decorations for Independence Day–mainly because I don’t like red, white, and blue as a decorating scheme. But I went to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and found some I liked. They were 40% off, plus I had a gift card to spend.

3. Impromptu date. We went out to Olive Garden, anticipating that they might be busy on a Saturday night. But we were seated right away in a small area with just four or five tables. We really like the smaller seating areas there rather than the restaurant being one big, open, noisy room.

4. Having Tim over while his mom had a doctor’s appointment. After lunch, we just hung out together in the family room. I wondered later whether I should plan something special to do when he’s here. But I think we all enjoy just relaxing together at times, too.

5. Good conversations, one with a friend, one with the folks around our table at our Wednesday evening get-together at church.

How was your week?

Here we are more than halfway through June. I pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to intentionally look at at the blessings of the week. Those blessings often pass us by almost unnoticed unless we make a habit to intentionally look for them and express gratitude for them.

1. A thoughtful gesture. We discovered a little bird’s nest in the planter on our porch.

Jim put photos on our family text thread, commenting that he’d have to be careful about watering that planter. Then the next time we saw Jason, he gave us a little device he 3D-printed to help water the planter without disturbing the bird’s nest.

2. Productive days. Every day this week has not been as productive as I had hoped, but I did get a few good days in. I enjoyed getting a number of little odd jobs done.

3. VBS video. I forgot to mention this last week, but the Sunday after VBS, the director gives a report and shows a video from VBS week. It’s so neat to see and hear a bit about how God worked in and through people.

4. Sleep. I don’t seem to be able to sleep more than about four hours at a time. Whenever I wake up, I almost always have to get up to use the bathroom. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, sometimes not until a nap later in the day. But sometimes I conk out arounf 9 p.m. on the couch. And even though I wake up in a couple of hours and have to get ready for bed, I can usually get back to sleep easily and feel so much more rested in the morning.

5. Intersections. Lately, what I’ve heard from the sermon and podcast from Ecclesiastes has intersected with the book on God’s attributes that I am going through with a friend. Mainly things like the limitations of being human, our lack of control over much of what happen in our lives, the need to trust God and rest in Him. I love when that happens.

That’s our week! How was yours? I hope you have a good time honoring your fathers on Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to any dads reading here.

Another Friday (already!), another opportunity to stop and count the week’s blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Vintage Market Days. This is where a number of vendors from all over come and display, and try to sell, vintage-looking items. There were a lot of clothes, craft items, furniture, and more. Jim and I went with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. It seemed the best of these kinds of events that we attended.

Here’s my haul:

I didn’t intentionally look for a bird theme, but that seems to be what I found! Along with a giant chocolate chip cookie and a slice of banana bread. It was a fun outing.

2. My oldest son’s new job. My oldest son got a call from a recruiter from a resume he had posted online ten years ago. As they talked and then my son went for an interview, all the boxes seemed to tick favorably, so he decided to go with the new job opportunity. I don’t want to say much more than that, because it’s not my story to tell. But we prayed for him through the decision-making and are happy for him. It seemed the hand of the Lord was obvious in a number of factors.

3. Timely books. Just as I’ve been pondering over a particular issue for the last few months, I discovered a book written on the subject by someone I know of and have reason to trust.

4. New Wednesday night church activities. Over the summer, instead of our usual Bible studies, the church has smaller prayer meetings. They’re attempting to do something different this year–still having prayer time, but also food and other activities, sometimes meeting all together, sometimes just men or women. We had the first such meeting last night with food catered by Salsarita’s (I’m not sure, but I don’t think it will be catered every week). We really enjoyed the conversation around our table and the prayer time together.

5. Moderate weather. Once again, the forecast showed rain and thunderstorms most of the week. We got a little rain, but not as much as projected, and no thunderstorms. Seven of the next eight days show a forecast of rain and thunderstorms again, so I hope that forecast is as inaccurate as the last week’s 🙂 I don’t mind some rain, of course. But, living in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, where there are hills, there are also low spots which flood when we get as much rain as was in the forecast. Then when the ground gets that soaked, sometimes tree roots loosen and trees fall over. And thunderstorms and lightning can cause fallen tree limbs and power outages. So it’s a blessing when rain is mild and limited.

How was your week?

We’re almost a week into June already. I’m pausing with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, where she hosts an opportunity for folks to share some highlights or blessings of their week.

1. Winning an Amazon gift card from Susan for a drawing she was hosting. I used it to buy this mini sewing room kit. It doesn’t look as easy as the Lego bookish sets I did! We’ll see how it goes.

2. Lunch with Melanie. I enjoyed the conversation as well as the food at Cracker Barrel with the gift cards my family gave me.

3. An impromptu dinner date. Jim and I went out to Olive Garden one night this week. It’s a little further away than most of the places where we eat, so we don’t get there often. But we both love that this one was divided into smaller areas instead of being one big room. The noise level at some restaurants takes away from the enjoyment of them, but Olive Garden didn’t have that problem.

4. A “retirement” schedule. I joke that even though my husband is retired, I don’t get to retire. 🙂 Someone still has to cook and clean and do laundry. 🙂 Not that I mind. The load for that kind of thing is a little lighter now, though. And Jim does help with cleaning and dishes sometimes, and he does the grocery shopping now. But what I most appreciate about our more relaxed schedule this week is that, most of the time, if I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep, I can take a nap as needed. I’d rather get all my sleeping done at the designated time and place. But when that doesn’t happen, I can make up for it.

5. VBS (Vacation Bible School) for our church is this week. We donated some supplies for the crafts and decorations, but we’re not able to be there every night to help. Mittu is helping, though, and Timothy is a helper this year instead of attending as a kid. Our VBS director has more love and enthusiasm for this ministry than anyone I’ve ever known. It’s been fun to see the decorations going up, and we look forward to hearing how it all went. They’re using Answers in Genesis Emerald Crossing curriculum based on Psalm 23 this year.

That was our week. How was yours?