Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends. Here are five favorite parts of the last week:

It’s been another good but busy week. Here are some of its highlights:

1. Improvement for my little grandson in the NICU. He is gaining weight and had his first bath this week. ๐Ÿ™‚ His heart rate still drops from time to time, but not as much as at first.

2. NICU support. Though the NICU probably wouldn’t be any parents’ preferred first stop for their child, the staff there have been very supportive and informative, plus it has been nice to have nurses at hand to ask questions and guide them through how to bathe and change him, etc. I remember with my firstborn that even though my youngest sister had been born when I was 17, and I had been the chief babysitter for her and for some other of my mom’s friends, I felt surprisingly nervous and unsure about taking care of my own baby. It would have been nice to have someone at hand to ask some of those new parent questions.

3. Preemie clothes. He should be able to start wearing them soon. They are so cute! All of my babies were over 9 lbs., so all these teeny tiny things seem even smaller to me.

4. Delivered meals. The ladies at church are preparing meals for my son and daughter-in-law, a great help as they are spending time at the hospital and she is still recovering.

5. New blooms. My brand new hibiscus plant that we just bought and planted lost all its blooms and its leaves look shriveled after an unexpected late frost, but it is putting out new blooms this week.

Bonus: I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention Easter. That seems like so long ago now! ๐Ÿ™‚ But we enjoyed a meaningful church service and then time with family over Easter dinner. Though we think of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and its meaning for us often throughout the year, it is a special blessing to have this focus on it.

Hope you’ve had a great week!

Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends. Here are five favorite parts of the last week:

It has been quite the week here! My #1 favorite below will likely be the favorite part of this year!

1. The birth of my first grandson. Though he is very premature, and we would’ve liked for him to have waited a little while til his body was more ready to meet the world, it has been nice to be able to see him and touch him. Everything is going well so far, though he will probably be in the NICU for a couple of months yet. My latest update is here.

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2. An in-house dinner date. My youngest was out last Friday night, so I called my husband and he brought home take-out from Red Lobster. Good stuff.

3. Working on a project together. My husband and I went together last Saturday to pick out plants to replace some bushes he took out as well as some for hanging pots and for a row in front of the rose bushes. Then we came home and worked on the hanging pots together, then he planted the rest. Often we have to “divide and conquer” to get things done, so it was fun to do this together.

4. Replacement bush. Some of you may remember a “fave five” from several weeks ago where I mentioned finally getting rid of a bush by the front door that I never liked. We replaced it with a hibiscus and added another planter. I like it much better! I was going to take a before and after picture, but we had some unexpected frost this week that is making the hibiscus look a little shriveled. I hope it can bounce back.

5. Pizza from a place that I love but my husband doesn’t care for. I was craving it on the way back from the hospital earlier today and sprang for one. ๐Ÿ™‚

Hope you have a great weekend and a wonderful time reflecting on the meaning of this Easter season, that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;ย And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4.)

Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends. Here are five favorite parts of the last week:

1. Safe travels for my son and daughter-in-law as they went to OK to visit her mom and attend a couple of baby showers folks were throwing for them. They had a little accident when someone scraped their car passing in a parking lot, but thankfully it wasn’t major and didn’t jolt the car enough to hurt anyone.

2. Baby things. It has been fun perusing my daughter-in-law’s baby registries and seeing all the cute things. I am looking forward to seeing what they got for their showers! I enjoyed receiving a video from my son showing us their new stroller/car seat combo – it was fun to see how excited he was about it. ๐Ÿ™‚

3. Nice temperatures. When I’ve been out and about this week, the weather has been sunny and the temperatures a little on the cool side but not so much as to need a sweater – my favorite.

4. New schedule working out well. We had to cut back my mother-in-law’s caregiver’s hours so as to manage my mother-in-law’s finances better, and also because there was not enough for the caregiver to do to justify paying for 9 hours a day. That means those hours the caregiver is no longer working fall to me. I’m having to watch the clock a bit to try to get my errands done while she’s here, and in some ways I feel a little more tied down, but I’ve been surprised at how nice it feels to have the house to myself more.

5. Losing 6 lbs. over the last few months. Woot! I’ve just been changing one thing at a time (beginning exercising regularly, cutting back on sweets), and there are many more measures I need to take, but it has been encouraging to see some results just from what I have done so far.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™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 a little late to the party – it has been a busy week! Here are some of my favorite parts of it:

1. Springy days. The weather has been just perfect this week, not too hot or too cold. It’s been rainy and windy today, but I accept that it’s gotta do that some times. ๐Ÿ™‚

2. Longer days – or more sunlight to the day, at least. It’s rejuvenating.

3. A productive week. I won’t bore with with the to-do list, but I got some things done I needed to and some things I wanted to. Some weeks I’m not sure where the time goes, but I don’t seem to have much to show for them, so it is nice to get some things accomplished.

4. Timely arrivals. I had ordered something for Jim’s mom’s weekday caregiver’s birthday and paid a little extra for it to get here today. By mid-afternoon I realized that “today” might not mean before she left at 5. I prayed it would get here before she left but was mentally preparing myself that I’d just have to give it to her Monday after her birthday. But it came today at 4!

5. Forty years of being a Christian. It just hit me last night that this year is the 40th year since I believed on Jesus Christ as my Savior. Unfortunately I didn’t write down the exact day and I don’t remember what time of year it was, but I do know how old I was. What a blessing to have known Him and His forgiveness, love, and care for so long. My testimony is here. I encourage you, if you don’t know Him, or you’re not sure, take time to find out more about it. This link explains more about becoming a Christian.

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” I John 5:12

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

Jesus said to him, โ€œI am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Here are some of my favorite moments from this week:

1. An Irish Tenors concert! We first saw them on a PBS special years ago and have been listening to their music ever since. I was surprised to see in Sunday’s paper that they were going to be in town, in the beautiful Tennessee Theatre to boot. Tickets were a little pricy, but Jim found a Groupon deal to get them half price. His mom’s weekday caregiver was willing to come Saturday night, so everything worked out nicely. All in all it was a wonderful evening.

2. Stopping by the Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt afterwards. They have a dairy-free orange flavor that is really good. I hope they expand their dairy-free options!

3. Having the Will Galkin Evangelistic Team at our church this week. We weren’t able to go to all the services since we don’t have a caregiver for Jim’s mom in the evenings, but we did enjoy the ones we were able to go to.

4. Seeing a couple of young people from our old church in SC. One is my middle son’s age and is on the Galkin team. He’s probably my favorite person to hear sing. Then his sister was able to travel in to see him Sunday morning, and we got to visit with her a while, too.

5. Seeing Frozen with the family. I think we may be among the last people in the country to see it, but we enjoyed it. Now I finally know what that song is about that I keep seeing parodies of, LOL!

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Some weeks you have to really search for five favorite things: some weeks you have enough to do a couple of “fave fives!” Here are some highlights from my week:

1. Getting a haircut. Nothing radical, but I had either been unable or unmotivated to get to it for weeks and was way overdue. My hair cooperates much better at a certain length. And I was able to snip at a couple of areas I didn’t like as well and have it all turn out ok – that doesn’t always happen. ๐Ÿ˜€

2. Putting winter clothes away even though we’re still having some cold days. I do still have sweaters and jackets in the hall closet. ๐Ÿ™‚ Those dark, heavier things that are so cozy in the fall and winter just seemed oppressive to me now. Love the look of my closet with springy colors! I used to work in a fabric store and loved the transformation when we got the store ready for spring and put away the wools and darker fabrics.

3. The first day of spring! I had thought, for some reason, that it was Sunday, so I was delightedly surprised when I went on Facebook and say people heralding the first day of spring yesterday.

4. Job offers for my youngest son. He’s about to finish up his associate’s degree in May. In one of his classes different groups are doing projects for businesses in town, and in a meeting the man they are working with, he told Jesse he’d like for him to send him his resume. Of course, that might not lead to anything, but it was encouraging! Then his school held a job fair this week, and Jesse visited booths and passed out resumes. One in particular seemed to hold some promise.

5. Getting rid of a bush I’ve always disliked that was right by the front door. I don’t know what variety it was, but it looked like a fir tree collapsed in on itself. I’ve never liked it and asked about getting it removed, but my husband wanted to keep it there. It’s been dying out (no, I didn’t help it along ๐Ÿ™‚ ), and he finally removed it last Saturday. Now we get to decide what to replace it with!

Bonus: Not getting the snow that was forecast one day this week. Right now my weather apps are showing that we might get some next week – hopefully it will pass us by then, too.

Hope you’re having a great week!

Friday’s Fave Five

FFF birds on a wire

ย Itโ€™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 so sorry I missed last week – it was just a whirlwind kind of week with not as much time at the computer. But I am glad to be back this week! Here are some of my “faves” from the last week or so.

1. Celebrating my husband’s birthday.

2. Spring break. Even though my youngest is in college and I’m not as directly involved in his schooling, and even though he only has a couple of early mornings this semester anyway, the week of spring break still has more of a relaxed feel to it for me (as well as for him!)

3. Springlike weather. It turned cold again the last couple of days, but the weather was just glorious there for a while.

4. The first daffodils are popping up in the neighborhood. While they’re not my favorite flowers overall, I do love that they’re a sure sign that spring is indeed coming!

5. A game night with the family playingย carrom, new to us since Mittu’s birthday, and Settlers of Catan.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

FFF birds on a wire

ย Itโ€™s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends. Here are some of mine:

1. The Olympic Skater’s Gala, when some of the figure skater’s perform something of an encore. I had actually forgotten about it and thought the skating was all done, so I was pleasantly surprised that there was one more event. It’s especially fun because there is no judging and therefore less pressure.

2. A cute little spring dish towel, bought with a gift card on my shopping excursion last week.

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3. Getting these done:

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I’ve been taking the multitude of loose recipes I had stacked up from many years of tearing them out of magazines and putting them in scrapbook-like notebooks, working on it in the evenings. I didn’t get at all fancy with it, because then it would have taken me twice as long. I still need to work on some of the inside labeling, but they are already easier to use. Plus since they are in page-protectors, they won’t get splattered.

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4. Exercise DVDs – which is ironic for me to say, because I approach exercise with gritted teeth and grim determination, though I always feel better afterward and am glad I did it. But I’ve accumulated a few of them over the years, so I can vary the workouts and not get bored, plus they allow me to be able to exercise in my own home. My favorites are “The Biggest Loser Power Walk” and Leslie Sansone’s “Five Mega Miles,” because each is divided up into 15 minute segments which are supposed to cover a mile each, yet they also include some exercises for arms with weights or a stretch band, so I usually do a couple of segments a day. Having some variety is important for me.

5. Throw blankets. I know I have mentioned them before, but they’re just so cozy for cool evenings. I even use one on my bed at night over my bedspread, and it’s just enough. I don’t know what they’re made out of, but they have just the right degree of coziness – not too hot or cool.

Hope you’ve had a great week as well!

Friday’s Fave Five

FFF birds on a wire

ย 

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

1. Lovely weather. We had a little cold, some rain, some thunderstorms, but overall it has been really nice weather with sunshine most days and temperatures in the 70s some days. Felt so good after the old snap the last couple of weeks.

2. My daughter-in-law’s birthday yesterday, a fun family time.

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Thought this picture of when we were singing Happy Birthday was sweet. ๐Ÿ™‚

3. Cake pops.

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Last Christmas Jason and Mittu bought me a cake pop maker, but I hadn’t used it yet. Mittu requested them for her birthday, and it was fun to get the stuff out and play. I obviously need to work on my technique so that the icing doesn’t dribble down the stick. ๐Ÿ™‚ By the way, the Betty Crocker gluten free devil’s food cake mix was really good. Some other gluten-free cakes we’ve had were very heavy, but this tasted just like regular cake.

4. A day out. Normally I prefer staying at home and ordering online, but one item I needed for Mittu’s birthday was cheaper in town. I had a couple of gift cards for places nearby as well, so I took the better part of an afternoon doing some shopping and finding some things I needed. It was one of those gorgeous, just-right days I mentioned earlier. I had felt cooped up for a while between weather and Jim’s mom’s aide not being able to come in due a few days due to weather, so it felt really good to get out and about.

5. Jesse’s internship plans finalized. My youngest son is required to do an internship this semester, and had tried several leads, but nothing had worked out yet. His director had found another possibility, and things were looking really good for this one, but it wasn’t completely finalized until this morning when he had an interview. That is SUCH a relief!

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

friday fave five 12

Welcome to Fridayโ€™s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week,ย  wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanneโ€™s to read othersโ€™ faves and link up your own.

The last three weeks have had something abnormal about them. Maybe this is becoming the new normal! :0 I hope not! But there are good things in any week, and here are five from this one:

1. The Olympics. I’ve been mainly watching the figure skating, but have also seen a bit of several other competitions.

2. Valentine’s Day! One of my favorite holidays!

3. Take-out from Ruby Tuesday’s. Love their Smoky Mountain Chicken. My husband graciously got me dinner from there when I was craving it even though he doesn’t really like anything he has tried from there.

4. Take-out from Wok Chow, an Asian place, as its name implies. Jason and Mittu were coming over one night and offered to bring some food from there when they came over. I’m pretty much always open to having someone bring me dinner. ๐Ÿ™‚

5. Snow. I haven’t been a big fan of snow in my old middle age. I can’t get out in it due to a balance problem, and I tend to mainly see it as bringing potential for traffic problems and power outages. But we got 6″ on Wednesday, and it was hard not to get excited about it. We didn’t have any problems with it (except Jim’s mom’s aide didn’t make it in) and much of it was melted away by Thursday. Jim and Jesse even got out and played in it for just a little while.

But personally…I’m about done with winter and ready for spring, groundhog or no groundhog. ๐Ÿ™‚

Hope you’ve had some blessings this week, too.