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 try to keep a running list during the week for things to possibly include for the Friday’s Fave Five, and it’s a good thing, because sometimes on Friday when I sit down at the computer, I can’t even remember what happened yesterday, much less since last week. That’s one of many reasons why I love the FFF: it reminds me of my blessings and reminds me to be thankful for them. Here are a few from this week:

1. A baby shower for a lady at church. I love brunch showers and all the breakfasty things, the time to fellowship with other ladies, and watching all the cute little baby things being unwrapped. (Something that amused me for this shower: usually when I wrap a baby gift, I’ll write “Baby…” and the last name on the card: Baby Smith, Baby Jones, etc. This family’s last name was Bottoms, and it didn’t strike me until I started to address the card that it would be to Baby Bottoms. 🙂 Got a good chuckle out of that.)

2. A hairdresser who makes house calls. One thing we had to iron out when Great-Grandma came to live with us was haircuts. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to get her to a salon, but then we’d have no way to get her in one of their chairs, and her Broda chair is too high in the back for someone to reach around to cut her hair while she’s in it. Her former caregiver used to do it: it was above her job description, but she offered to give it a try, and it worked out well. When she left last December, we weren’t sure what we were going to do. I tried it once but wasn’t pleased with it (I have no hair-cutting skills!) Our current caregiver said that she knew a lady who came out to the home of her last patient, so we arranged for her to come out this week. Everything worked out well and she charged us less than what we were expecting. She cut her hair while she was in bed, and she was leaning forward enough for her to be able to reach. She had one of those hairdresser capes that caught most of the hair, but it was done right before her shower, so we were able to change her and the sheets afterward.

3. Kyle eating. A man from our church had a lung transplant over a year ago (it may have been a double lung transplant – I can’t remember for sure.) They’re still dealing with issues related to that and working on his healing. He has had trouble with his esophagus for some time – not sure whether it is connected to the lung issue or a separate issue, but it caused him to aspirate some food into his lungs: not good when you have lung issues in the first place. So he has not been able to eat or drink by mouth for months now. I just cannot imagine – what I can imagine isn’t pleasant! But just this week he passed a swallowing test and was able to eat real food again. That just made my day, maybe my whole week, when I heard.

4. Ground beef on sale. That might sound silly to include, but the price of lean ground beef has been so high for months that I just haven’t bought any. We use ground turkey for most things anyway, but I have a few recipes where ground beef works best. I was going to splurge and buy some for the little heart-shaped meat loaves I often make for Valentine’s Day, and lo and behold, they were marked down. Still too high in my opinion, but I figured I wasn’t going to see that price again any time soon, so I bought 4 packs in order to be able to make some of those other recipes later on as well. I was delighted.

5. Button decorations. I finished off the last of my Christmas gift card to Hobby Lobby with these cute button decorations for my sewing/craft room. They’re each 7 1/2″ across. Honestly, I thought they were way overpriced, but I got one with my 40% off coupon one week, and when I went to do the same another week, they were on sale 1/2 price, so that made them fairly reasonable. Now I have to decide where to hang them.

Sorry for so many lengthy explanations. 🙂 Hope you’re having a good week, and Happy Valentine’s Eve! 🙂

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

Another week flown by already! Once again we did not get snow that was forecast (yay!). But I had a 2 hour long dentist appointment to do the first part of getting a bridge put in (boo! I was so wrung out when it was over!). Most weeks are like that – a mixture of highs and lows. Here are some favorite parts of this week:

1. Timothy being excited to see us. He has smiled for months, but for the last couple of weeks, when he sees us, he smiles and gurgles and bounces and kicks and waves his arms. So sweet and fun!

2. Eating in and out. Friday night Jim brought Red Lobster home, and Saturday Jason and Mittu invited us out to a breakfast/brunch restaurant they found called The Egg & I. It was a fun excursion and good food.

3. The end of road construction. They’ve been working on adding a stretch of road and an overpass and repaving part of the old road for what seems like ages, and it was finally completed this week. So nice to have all lanes open and the orange and white barrels taken up! I think I was one of the first people to drive on the new part: it was still closed when I passed by running errands, but open on my way back, so I gave it a test drive. 🙂

4. Time alone. When my kids were in high school, I had seven hours a week day to myself, and thought that pattern would continue on as they got older and left home. That hasn’t been the case, especially with Great-grandma and her helper here and Jesse working evenings. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to complain and I love my family, but like any introvert, I operate best with some alone time to “hear myself think,” as my mom used to say. I’ve learned not to go around and lament about it or insist on it, but just to trust that God will provide it when He knows I need it, and this week He did. It was delicious. 🙂

5. Reaching out. At the risk of sounding antisocial with my last two here…I had noticed that I could spend a whole morning at church without really saying much to anyone but a surface, “Hi, how are you, fine, thanks.” And church is for more fellowship than that. So I’ve been trying to remember to pray on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings that God would help me not to be so closed in but to be open and friendly and to interact more with people, and He has. I share that partly as an encourage to others who feel the same way: we may not be comfortable as “greeters” shaking hands with everyone who comes in the door, but God can lead us to interact with others in quieter, one on one ways.

Happy Friday!

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

Can you believe we’re almost through January and almost 1/12 of the way through 2015 already?

I am running late today – had some things to take care of this morning. Here are some of the favorite parts of this week:

1. Not getting predicted bad weather. We did get a little snow one day, but not enough to affect the roads much at all. On the other hand, my oldest son in RI got about 2 feet of snow! But they’re much more equipped to deal with it, and he was able to go back to work the day after. I’m thankful for his safety and the fact that he didn’t lose power – and the fact that we didn’t get that much. 🙂

2. This chocolate pie:

I had been craving chocolate pie for a week or so. Jason and Mittu were coming over for dinner one night and asked if there was anything they could pick up for us on the way over. 🙂 So I took them up on their offer and asked them to get one of these. This is probably my favorite chocolate pie. I don’t get it often, lest I end up twice the size I am, but I love it for an occasional treat.

3. A balanced week or two. The past couple of weeks have had a good balance between getting things done but having some time to relax as well. Sometimes when I have something I have to do in a given week, I can feel more pressured than I should by it and have to constantly try to keep the proper perspective (there are always things that need to be done or that I could be doing, but deadlines or events or appointments can be stressful). God helping me, I was able to get the required things done this week with a minimum of stress.

4. Baked chicken chimichangas. I think I’ve mentioned them a time or three before. 🙂 Our Mexican food restaurant closed, and we haven’t scouted out any new ones yet. I was looking at the online menus of a couple of them nearby, and then of course I was craving it. Thankfully I had all the ingredients on hand – even the white queso sauce I love to top it with!

5. Hearts and Valentine’s ideas. I love hearts, and Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, so I am enjoying some of the Valentine’s ideas that are popping up on blogs and Pinterest. I just spent an enjoyable time looking through one blog’s Pinterest boards for Valentine’s Day. I’ll never be able to do all those ideas in a lifetime – but I love to look at them and be inspired. And I did get an idea or two I might use this year.

Happy Friday – what’s left of it! 🙂

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

Thankfully this week has been a very normal one, compared to last week. Everyone is pretty much well from the various things we had going on, and feeling immensely better. Here are some highlights of the week:

1. Jason’s promotion. I mentioned at the end of last week’s post some good news that wasn’t public just yet. My middle son, Jason, was promoted to manager at his place of business and given a raise in salary that was just about what he felt he needed. He really enjoys his job but wasn’t making quite enough to support a family, so I am glad that all worked out and pleased that his gifts and skills are being recognized as well.

2. A refurbished computer. I had been having a number of problems with my desktop, and and mentioned for Christmas hoping for a way to get it running back up to par. My oldest son commented once that it was the oldest computer in the house. I had thought maybe over Christmas there would be some time while he was here to look at it, but we didn’t get to. Then my husband received some boxes in the mail and put them in Jesse’s room, and when I asked Jesse what they were, he said they were parts for my computer. Oh! I hadn’t known they were doing anything like that! Jesse had asked for some new components for his computer for Christmas, so they used some of his old ones plus a couple of new ones to update mine. Jim and Jesse put it together and then they and Jeremy set up programs and moved files over, all of them spending a good deal of time on it. I have quite a bit more memory in it now, which is helpful as well. It’s running much more quickly and smoothly. I am so glad they all know how to do that kind of thing. Thanks, guys! 🙂

3. New calendars. I meant to mention this last week, but forgot. One of my favorite things is getting out the new calendars the first week of the year and filling in the family birthdays and anniversaries. It’s so nice to look through all those fresh, clean pages and to flip through last year’s calendar at all the happenings of the year as well.

4. Restoring order. I love the holidays and having everyone here, and I miss that, but on the other hand it does feel good to get back to a routine. I’ve enjoyed going through and sorting, organizing and putting things to rights in the house. There is always more of that kind of thing to be done, but it feels good to make progress.

5. An unexpected lunch. It’s unusual for Jim and I to be alone for Sunday dinner, but this last Sunday we were, and Jim suggested getting something for lunch on the way home from church. It was so nice not only not to have to cook, but to have no clean-up as well, and I got a nice long nap in during the afternoon.

Happy Friday!

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 didn’t think I was going to do a FFF today – it has been a busy week, and I wasn’t feeling well this afternoon. But everything has come to a stopping place, and I have half an hour before time to start dinner – so here I am. 🙂

1. Time with family. My oldest son was here until last Sunday, and my middle son and d-i-l and little grandson were here often (and of course my youngest son lives here), plus my husband has been off for two weeks. We had lots of great times together as a family.

2. Ibuprofen. I had to have a tooth pulled Wednesday – no fun at all. The doctor said the damage was worse than thought (one root was almost completely gone. He was amazed I hadn’t had any pain, but that tooth had had a root canal some years before. The only way I knew something was wrong was when is showed up on an x-ray at a routine dental cleaning). He said the surgery went “as good as it could go,” so I am thankful for that. It’s been sore ever since then, but ibuprofen is keeping it manageable.

3. Soup has been my mainstay this week. Pudding and cream of wheat helped, too, but soup was the best, especially potato soup.

4. A meal brought over. One day my son and daughter-in-law brought soup and sandwiches over and we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. Cute movie!

5. Ecclesiastes is not usually one of my favorite books to read in the Bible. It’s written kind of from a different angle than the other books. But for my birthday last year I got a John MacArthur study Bible, and his introductory remarks sounded very reminiscent of some things C. S. Lewis said, particularly his famous quote, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Since I had just finished his The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses a month or so ago, much of that was really fresh to me. I hadn’t read Ecclesiastes in that light before – there is much, Solomon said, to enjoy in this life, but ultimately nothing satisfies long-term because it isn’t meant to. Reading in that light has caused me to “get” what it is saying that much more, and I am really enjoying this reading, or rereading.

Happy Friday – what’s left of it!

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

This past week has been full to overflowing with blessings. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Our 35th anniversary. We thought we were going to my son and daughter-in-law’s place for lunch, but they surprised us with an anniversary celebration.

2. A special gift. Our kids had a special book made for our anniversary with photos and memories. This will be one of our most prized treasures.

3. A dinner date. Since Jim’s mom has lived with us, we can’t usually eat out because of the expense of hiring someone to care for her. But we did on our anniversary. I had been hankering for a steak from Outback for a while, so we went there. Yummy food and truly nice for the two of us to get away for a bit.

4. Family time. My oldest is home for the week, my husband is off for a couple of weeks, and everyone else had a couple of days off besides the weekends, so it has been nice to have some family time with everyone home.

5. Christmas could supply five faves all on its own – reading and reflecting on the Christmas story from the Bible, giving and receiving, wonderful food, afternoon naps, evening games, and spending a lot of time with our little grandson on his first Christmas.

Hope you’ve had a great week as well. It’s hard to believe that not only December, but the year is winding down to a close. Now that Christmas is over I am looking forward to a bit of down time over the next few days.

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

It has been another very busy but overall good week. Here are some of the best parts:

1. The adult Christmas program at church. For the past few years they have put together their own production rather than doing a cantata, and it is one of my favorite services of the year.

2. A new caregiver. We have someone who comes in to take care of my husband’s mother in the mornings so I can run errands or do whatever, and we have had the same weekday lady for a year and a half until last week when she resigned. Bringing a new person in can be kind of tricky, but the new lady has worked out really well.

3. A quick answer to an urgent prayer.

4. Alternatives. Some of you know I have had trouble with SVTs (supraventricular tachycardia) for years. It has picked up lately, not in the big episodes needing the ER but in more everyday shorter bothersome happenings. There is a surgical procedure called an ablation they can do, but I have been dreading it. I went to see a cardiac electrophysiologist yesterday, thinking I was going to have to schedule the surgery, but he brought up the possibility of some medicines I had not heard of previously, so we’re going to try one or two of those and see what happens. I still may have to have the procedure, in in many ways it would be nice to have it taken care of, but I just wasn’t ready to commit to that yet. The prayer mentioned in #3 had to do with an episode that occurred Monday while I was out Christmas shopping that felt like I was going to need to go to the ER, and I was thinking of all the logistics involved with needing someone to pick me up, then having Jim and Jesse have to come back to get my car, and having to make arrangements for Grandma, etc., etc. I was just praying my heart rate would go back to normal on its own, and, thank God, after about 10-15 minutes it did.

5. Joys of the season. The glow of Christmas lights in a darkened room. Christmas carols. Packages arriving. Christmas cards and greetings. Shopping for loved ones. Advent reading. Amidst the busyness of the week, I’ve enjoyed all these aspects of Christmastime. (And see the sneaky way I crammed more than five items in my fave fives? 🙂 )

We’re looking forward to my oldest son coming in tonight and everyone else having some time off this next week. I’ve been trying to get most everything else done except the cooking this week so that next week I can just enjoy being together with everyone, so it should be a bit more relaxing for me, too!

Happy Friday! And for those whom I may not see until next week, I wish you a blessed Christmas with loved ones, remembering most of all the best gift of all, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

It’s been kind of a whirlwind week! Here are the highlights:

1. Games with the family. My oldest son was here for Thanksgiving through Monday, and last weekend the whole family played some games together, one of my favorite things. He introduced us to a new one, Telestrations. It’s kind of a combination of the old “telephone” game (where one person whispers something into another person’s ear, and they whisper the same thing to the next person, etc., until you finally hear what the message is with the last person, usually something way different from how it started) and illustrations or Pictionary. It was absolutely hilarious. So much fun.

2. Decorating for Christmas. I love that we still do this together as a family. It would probably take me all week if I had to do it by myself. I wasn’t really in “the Christmas spirit” when we started – it just didn’t seem like it was time yet – but somehow Christmas decorations and music helped get me there. Plus my oldest took some snowflake ornaments and put them on light fixtures in other parts of the house without telling us, so it has been fun to discover those.

3. Time with friends. A new friend at church and I had been talking about wanting to get together for some months now, and had to reschedule actual plans a couple of times, but we finally met for lunch this week. I haven’t done anything like that in a very long time, and enjoyed it very much. Then I had been wanting to catch up with another friend that I hadn’t been able to talk to in weeks. I had e-mailed, but I wanted to talk to her in person. Our church isn’t that big, but sometimes there are people you just don’t cross paths with if you sit in different places. This last Sunday as I was getting ready to leave, I came across her in the lobby, and she wasn’t already talking to someone else, so we got to catch up. There have been some significant events in her life in the past few months, and I had heard through the grapevine of possible plans she was making, so it was good to talk to her directly.

4. A pleasant surprise. Since our pastor’s passing, we’ve had various people preaching at church – both of our assistant pastors, various men in the church, and guest speakers – while the search committee is doing the background work to try to find a new pastoral candidate. This last Sunday I found on the church bulletin the name of an old friend that we had attended church with for the first 14 years we were married. I had known him since before he was married, loved his mom (one of the merriest-hearted Christians I have ever known before Alzheimer’s came to visit her) and wife, he was one of our Sunday School teachers, and he has done some writing since then that has truly blessed me. Besides our former pastor of the same church, there is no one whose exposition of the Word of God I would trust more. It was such a joy to hear him speak again, and to touch base just a little.

5. A new job. Some of you know that my youngest son has been looking for a job since receiving his Associate’s degree last May. He’s sent his resume in to various places and even had some interviews, but nothing had turned up yet. Jason’s company was hiring for Christmas, and he sent in Jesse’s resume – and he got hired and started yesterday! Even though it is not in his chosen field, it is still work. Since he doesn’t have any work experience except for yard work for a man at church, it will not only help his resume but will also help with various skills and experience needed in any type of job. And….the husband of the person interviewing him works at the same company where Jesse did some work for one of his classes, and he is looking for someone in Jesse’s field, so she said she would pass his interview on to him.

Happy Friday!