Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

This week hasn’t been quite as busy as the last few, thank the Lord. Here are some of the best parts of it:

1. Unexpected guests. I have to admit, to my shame, when the possibility first came up, my first thoughts were about how much work it would take to get ready for them and the uncomfortableness of having strangers in my home all weekend. But I Peter 1:9 kept running through my mind: “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” We looked at our schedules and obligations for the weekend, and there was really no reason we couldn’t host these guys. As I mentioned last week, I had done a bunch of cleaning already, so there wasn’t that much to prepare for, and with teen guys, they don’t really care so much. 🙂 There was a youth group from another church coming through on their way to camp, their youth pastor had interned here a few years ago (before our time), and he wanted his teens to get together with our teens. So they went tubing and had Nerf gun wars. 🙂 One of the guys we had hit it off with Jesse immediately, and the other is a fairly new Christian with a unique situation: I think Jim and I were able to encourage him a bit, and we’ve been burdened to pray for him since. All in all it was a very good experience and I’m so glad God prompted us to have them.

2. Magnetic curtain rods helped us cover some windows on two metal doors. I’d thought about getting them off and on for months. They don’t have them in any store I looked at in town, but I found them online.

3. Air conditioning and ceiling fans. I know I have said that before, and I will probably say it again. Temperatures here were in the 100s this week (104 yesterday). The AC has been extremely helpful but had trouble keeping up yesterday, so the fans helped, too.

4. Work for Jesse. He hasn’t found a regular summer job yet. but a man in our church with his own business had some work for him this week.

5. New clothes. I have a hard time finding things I like that fit well that don’t cost a mint, but a couple of my everyday dresses were so worn they had torn. Thankfully I found a few things online.

Hope you’ve had a great week, too.

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Another busy week…I was wishing we could have a week, or even two in a row, with nothing at all scheduled. Looks like it might be a few weeks before that’s a possibility! But they haven’t been bad weeks for all that. Here are some of the highlights of the last week:

1. Father’s Day. It’s nice to have a time set aside to honor Dads, even though of course we honor them in our hearts all year. The family pitched in to make dinner: Jason and Mittu grilled hamburgers instead of Dad doing so, and Jesse shucked corn and set the table. I try to give one or two fun “nerdy” gifts as well as practical ones, and found some good ones this year (a little tank controlled by an iPhone and a caliper pen) that he liked. We got to FaceTime with Jeremy during the present opening. Grandma was in rare form (though somehow she thought it was her hundredth birthday — she turns 84 next month). All in all it was a good day.

2. The passing of the longest day of the year. The Summer Equinox was Wednesday, I believe. Even though I like having more daylight much better than all the darkness during winter, it has been staying light so late that it’s hard to wind down and get ready to go to sleep at an appropriate time.

3. An inspiration to clean earlier in the week….when I didn’t know I’d be having unexpected company over the weekend. It helped a lot to have a great portion of the cleaning already done.

4. Completing my Spring Reading Thing Goals. I haven’t checked to see how often that has happened, but I think I’ve missed it more often than not.

5. A new CD: By Faith by the Galkin Evangelistic Team. I’ve been wearing it out, especially the song “The Perfect Wisdom.”

Bonus: My Mother’s Day roses are flourishing!

Happy Friday! Have a good weekend!

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

OK, so what happened to the slower, lazy, laid-back days of summer? 🙂 They seem to be too fast and too busy, but here are some of the highlights of the last week:

1. A replaced gift card. Almost two years ago when we moved one week and then went back to SC to help Jeremy move, I had a birthday in there, and my main gift was a sizable gift card. Somewhere in all the shuffling, it got lost. I knew I had put it back in the birthday card and assumed I’d find it as I continued unpacking, but didn’t. After some months I told my husband about it. We still had the receipt, so he was going to see if they would replace it. But here that store isn’t near us, so we just kept forgetting about it. We had to go somewhere the week before last that was near that place and finally took care of it, and after taking the information and checking their records, they sent us a replacement. They didn’t even take any off the balance — Jim said it was illegal to do so now. So that’s a relief, and now I can plan a shopping excursion. 🙂

2. Touring a local community college. They seemed really on top of things, everyone was very helpful,  and we were impressed.They have ties with several universities, so after getting a two-year associates degree he can go on to a university and have his credits transfer. And he gets plunged into his major courses right away, so he can find out early on whether the major he is interested in in one that he likes and can handle.

3. Good talks. If Jesse goes to the above college, which seems likely at this point, he’ll be the first of my children not to go to a Christian college. That makes me both sad and apprehensive, but we had a good talk about ways to handle that. A couple of kids from his high school are going there, he’ll be living at home and going to the same church, so hopefully he will stay grounded. Of course, ultimately, whether in a Christian or secular place, one’s own relationship with the Lord needs to be maintained and one needs to walk closely with Him.

4. Mexican food! We went to a Mexican food place for lunch after the tour Monday and then had enchiladas last night.

5. Finishing books. Books are always a favorite. but I was bogged down in a long one for a while, so it was nice to complete that and get on to some others.

I keep thinking the next week will be slower and less busy, but it hasn’t happened so far. Maybe this will be the week that comes true! 🙂

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

The weeks just keep a-flyin’. I don’t know when the laid-back part of summer will get here! But here are some favorite parts of the last week:

1. A graduation — no, not Jesse’s, but the class he had been a part of from K-5 through 10th grade in SC. Since he has many good friends in that class, we went down to see their graduation and stay for the reception afterward. I thought I would feel very emotional — sometimes when we’d see on Facebook that this class had done certain things (senior trip, Junior-Senior banquet,etc.), I’d feel pangs about Jesse not being a part of it. It’s not that I don’t feel our move wasn’t God’s will, but there was still sadness that he’d had to pull up stakes. But this time, it was all right: I felt assured that this wasn’t home any more, though there are folks we’ll always love and I hope always be friends with there, and he’s had many good experiences and developed many friendships here as well.

2. Catching up with old friends both at the graduation above and a dear friend’s daughter’s graduation party the next day.

3. A contract on our old house. We combined the visiting portion of the trip with a few tasks on the old house that needed to be done before the final inspection. We hope to close on it soon!

4. A new iPhone case. A belated Mother’s Day present just arrived in the mail this week. Isn’t it cute?

5. Memorial Day with the family. I’m not sure how Memorial Day came to be associated with grilling, but I loved my husband’s grilled burgers, hot dogs, and sausages! Plus time with the family and a three-day weekend — and the ability to celebrate these things and our freedoms because of those who fought for them. It was especially nice having Monday off after our busy weekend trip.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

This week has flown by. Here are some of the favorites from it:

1. Youngest son Jesse’s graduation. More on graduation weekend and its activities and photos here.

2. Oldest son Jeremy being able to come down for graduation plus a few days.

3. Family time with Jeremy, Jesse, and middle son Jason and daughter-in-law Mittu (and husband Jim, of course. 🙂 ) Skype and Facetime are great and help, but it’s just not the same as actually being all together.

4. Playing games while all the family was here.

5. Having the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team at our church Sunday morning.

Bonus: Graduations cards and gifts. Even those are not for me, it still touches my heart. When my children are blessed, I am blessed.

I think after this week life will slow down into something like normal….at least for a while. 🙂

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been another busy week! Next week will be as well, and then things should slow down a bit. Here are some of the highlights from this week:

1. No more early classes. Jesse had one MWF class this year that met at 7:30, and that’s done now.

2. A special dinner. We had been wanting to have our youth and music pastor and his family over almost ever since we moved here, and finally did last Friday. We had a great time.

3. A celebration. Our assistant pastors planned a covert celebration for our senior pastor’s 50th birthday and 10th year with the church (we later found out this year is also his 25th in the ministry.) It took place this last Sunday with lots of special things going on throughout the day. Somehow even with everyone else in the church knowing about it, including his wife, we managed to keep it from him and surprise him. Several men attired like Secret Service people with their dark suits, sunglasses, and ear pieces greeted him in the parking lot and escorted him to the auditorium, where someone played “Hail to the Chief” and we all clapped while he was escorted, open-mouthed, to the stage. There were some fun things — pictures of his childhood and his “80s hair” — and some poignant things as well, ending with an after-church fellowship that evening. A great day overall.

4. Finding a box I had been missing. There was one particular box I hadn’t been able to find since we moved, and it had some of the kids’ school portraits through the years as well as a cross stitch kit someone had given me. I’d been wanting to work on the cross stitch, but I especially wanted those pictures since I want to work on a scrapbook for Jesse’s graduation. I was pleased to find the box this week (in my sewing room — that’s the one room that’s still not quite set up yet. Maybe this summer!)

5. A timely arrival. We ordered something online Tuesday (more on what it is next week…), and the confirmation e-mail said it would get here Monday. That was bad, because we needed it Friday, and I had even paid a little extra for expedited shipping. We decided if it wasn’t here Friday morning we’d have to run around town looking for an alternative that afternoon. I prayed it might get here Thursday just so we’d know it was taken care of — and I was astonished when it did! “Oh me of little faith.” It was very nice to have that taken care of and not to have to think about what to do about it if it didn’t get here in time.

Have a great weekend!

(By the way, WordPress has changed its default settings so that the option to get notifications of further comments on this post by e-mail is automatically clicked, and you have to “unclick” it if you don’t want e-mails. I apologize: I can’t reset it from my end. I have complained about it to the powers that be. Also, some WP users may have to “log in” to comment. 😦 I hope WP gets back to its former user-friendliness soon.)

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been another busy week! Here are some of the highlights:

1. Sundays. The last two Sundays at church have just been especially good: a visiting drama team one day, Skyping with a missionary one evening, other missionaries here another day, a rousing and heartfelt and heart-stirring rendition of “No More Night” from one of our members.

2. Mondays. I know a lot of people don’t like Mondays, but for me it’s a time after a busy weekend to enjoy the quiet and stillness and regroup and figure out what I need to do for the week ahead.

3. A call from an old family friend. One of my mother-in-law’s oldest and dearest friends called this week to see how she was doing (my m-i-l doesn’t hear much at all on the phone, so she can’t call her directly any more). It was good to hear from her and catch up a bit and then to tell my m-i-l about her call.

4. Finding an old keepsake. I was looking through a box in the garage where we keep packing materials, and discovered some things I hadn’t unpacked from our last move down in the bottom. One item was a small cedar chest — maybe 8 ” long by 4″ high and wide. I’ve had it ever since I could remember, and it used to hold childhood treasures. I don’t know where it came from: perhaps it was a bonus when my mom got hers. I had been sad that I lost track of it, so I was joyful to find it again. There’s no time to take and upload a photo of it now — it’s fairly plain and the value is sentimental more than decorative.

5. Dinner with friends. Our last “dinner for six” with our current group turned into a dinner for nine, and it was quite lively and fun and ended up with a rousing game of Balderdash. I was even winning until the last couple of turns. 🙂

I have a busy day ahead, but I’ll look forward to catching up with the FFF crowd and Google Reader later tonight or this weekend. Have a good one!

Welcome to Friday’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, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Whew! It’s been a busy week! Here are some of the highlights:

1. Getting graduation announcements done. What I thought would take an afternoon took about three days, including running short by about ten, shopping a number of places for the kind you can run through the computer and not finding any I liked, making my own on the computer, having things that look perfectly aligned on screen come out off-center….so yes, I am very glad to have them all completed, addressed, stamped, and ready to mail now!

2. Scanners. Our printer is a scanner as well, and while I used it this week I was remembering the days of having to go to the library to copy things. It’s so nice to have one right here, both to copy things and to scan them into the computer. We’ve had it for a while, but my appreciation for it was renewed this week.

3. A pretty pen.

4. Sentimental notes. For Jesse’s upcoming Junior-Senior banquet, parents are supposed to write notes to their Seniors which are given to them at the banquet. I’m not sure how this custom began and would probably wait to write such a note for graduation and give it privately. But, at any rate, not wanting to buck tradition and leave him noteless at a time when everyone else is getting a note, I made a card and Jim and I wrote notes in it, sentimentally looking at how fast the last eighteen years have gone and hopes for the future, appreciation of him as our son, etc. I especially enjoyed reading Jim’s. Sniff, sniff…

5. Not losing power. I know I’ve said that before when we’ve had severe weather, but we seemed to lose power a lot our first year here, so now every storm has that additional tension with it of the possibility of the electricity going out. In addition, yesterday’s thunder, lightening, driving rain, and hail occurred just between Jim’s and Jesse’s leaving, so neither of them had to drive in it. The rain had cleared to a drizzle by the time Jesse left for school.

I’m off for another busy day. Graduation isn’t for a few weeks yet, but activities leading to it are kicking in, plus a newspaper column and newsletter are due soon, company is coming next week, dessert needs to be made for a church dinner this weekend, we’re having dinner at someone’s home tonight for which I need to make a couple of things, I have been needing a haircut for weeks…and I need to do laundry some time soon!

Have a great weekend!