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

We’re at the last FFF of February already! It’s been a fairly comfortable week weather-wise. I haven’t gotten everything done that I wanted – I’ve discovered that sometimes after a very busy week, I’m not always up to par the following week. But other than that it has been a good week.  Here are the best parts of it:

1. Mittu’s birthday. Always a joy to celebrate my daughter-in-law.

2. New bird feeders. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago using Amazon gifts cards I had received for Christmas. This was part of what I spent them on. One was to replace a “squirrel resistant” kind I had gotten at W-Mart which the birds didn’t seem to like. I don’t mind if squirrels nibble a little, but they tend to drain the things every other day. So I got a bigger version of a little one I had that the birds have liked. I didn’t take a photo of it. I also got this clear one that attaches to the window with suction cups. We had a small globe-shaped one there, but it was so small that occasionally a bird would get caught in there and flap around trying to get out. This is more open, so that shouldn’t be a problem. They haven’t found it yet, but I trust they will. One sad side effect of having to cut down our backyard trees last summer is that we have fewer birds around. 😦

3. Getting out of jury duty – not me, but my mother-in-law’s caregiver. My husband wrote a letter about how much we needed her and what a problem it would be for us if she was out on jury duty, and she took it down to…wherever you go to take care of such things, and they removed her. Yay!

4. The Word Swag app. I normally only get free apps for my phone, but my son told me about this one. It costs a little bit, but I have used it so much it has more than paid for itself. You can search it for photos you want to use or upload your own, add your text, try out different fonts, filters, positions, etc. I use it often for graphics for blog posts, but earlier this week I used it for this excerpt from an Emily Dickinson poem:

5. Four years cancer free. It was four years ago this week that my husband had a cancerous kidney removed. After I realized that, memories returned of some of the Lord’s mercies at that time. We had gone in to get a CT scan and biopsy of something else the urologist was concerned about that turned out not to be a problem at all. But the CAT scan revealed a tumor in Jim’s kidney. I happened to be there because Jim had been told he wouldn’t be able to drive home. That turned out not to be the case, either, but it allowed me to be there to hear the doctor’s discovery on the CAT scan, diagnosis, prognosis, etc. This kind of cancer does not respond to chemo or radiation, so he was spared either of those treatments. The only down side of that is that if this same cancer should metastasize, chemo and radiation would not work on it, either. Thankfully this kind does not usually spread. It’s not impossible, and I don’t take for granted that it won’t (though I hope and expect it won’t), so I am thankful each year for freedom from cancer.

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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 is down for the count. Here are the best parts of mine:

1. Valentine’s Day, both the sweet expressions of love from my family and the opportunity to do some special things for them. I shared more detail about it here.

2. Temporary fixes. On Wednesday my washer stopped working right in the middle of doing laundry. It would fill and drain but wouldn’t agitate or spin. I always hate to break such news to my husband, knowing it will involve time and/or expense to fix. When he came home, he unplugged and looked at it and he and Jesse Googled the problem and the make and model, and it looks like just a less than $10 part is needed, so that’s been ordered. And somehow he got it to work enough in the meantime to do a few small loads, so I got some essentials washed, and everything else can wait til the part comes in.

And I thought of the contrast between hearts and flowers and cards and candy on Tuesday night and dealing with broken washers on Wednesday, yet they’re all expressions of love that I appreciate.

3. Timothy magnets. We had a preemie NICU photo of him on the refrigerator, and Jason and Mittu got these more recent photo magnets done through Photo Barn.

4. Chips and dip – just plain Lays chips and french onion dip. I probably need to find a healthier afternoon snack, but these have been hitting the spot recently.

5. Mammogram and bone density tests are not favorites in themselves, but it’s nice to get them done (one reason I am late posting today). And…I already got a phone call that the mammogram results are ok, an even bigger fave.

It’s been a busy few days, so I am ready to settle back with some coffee and a Valentine cupcake and visit with you! Happy Friday!

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

Wow, another week has flown by quickly. I’m thankful for an opportunity to sit down and reflect and appreciate the best parts of it.

1. Good news from Timothy’s cardiologist. When Timothy was born about ten weeks premature, he had a little hole in his heart that normally closes up before babies are born. It caused a heart murmur, and his parents have had to take him him to have it checked out occasionally. They just had an appointment this week, and the echocardiogram showed it had closed up completely. No more visits to the cardiologist or concerns about heart issues!

2. Comfort. When they tried to start the echocardiogram, Timothy got so upset that the technician went to tell the doctor that they weren’t going to be able to do it. His parents held and comforted him and gave him something to drink, and then asked him if he wanted to go to Grandma’s house later. They said that seemed to calm him down, and when the technician came back in, she was able to complete the test. Though probably all of the comfort measures contributed to calming him, it touched my heart to think that the thought of going to Grandma’s helped. I hope he will always regard Grandma’s house that way.

3. Spending gift cards. I had received a couple of gift cards to Amazon for Christmas and enjoyed spending them this week. A couple of items had been in the back of my mind for a while, and it suddenly clicked that I could use the cards for them.

4. Two nights off from cooking. Jason and Mittu brought take-out Mexican food over on Friday night. Then Saturday, Jim was over at their house and saw that while they were working on painting their kitchen cabinets, everything in the cabinets was out on the counters and table. It’s hard to cook while a project like that is going on, so he offered for them to come over and he went out to get take-out Chinese food.

5. Unexpected words of encouragement. A friend send me a sweet note this week that was a big encouragement to me.

6. Bonus: Acetaminophen. I’ve been having some muscle spasms in my back this week, and I am glad that helps.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a good weekend and stay warm!

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

Here we are at the end of another week and several days into February already. Some highlights of the last week:

1. Going back to the gym is not so much a favorite in itself…I go because I know it’s good for me and I do feel better when I am going regularly. But I had been out for six weeks with a broken toe, and I was afraid I had lost all the conditioning I had built up and would have to start from scratch. But thankfully I was able to do all the things I normally do.

2. Talking to Timothy. My son told me that one day Timothy wanted to say Hi to me, so Jason texted, “Timothy says Hi.” Then Timothy asked him, “See her face?” So we FaceTimed after that. My grandmother’s heart melted. 🙂 I’m so glad we have the technology to talk to each other face to face whenever we want, and that he wants to talk to me. ♥

3. Snuggling and watching videos. I didn’t know until recently that there is a kid’s channel on YouTube and a way to set parental controls so that the child can’t go anywhere but the kid’s channels. My son and daughter-in-law kept an old phone when they upgraded so that Timothy could use it for his videos, and he likes to watch them snuggled up with somebody. I got to be the snugglee when they were here last, and it was fun to have him show me his favorite videos (anyone else know the Excavator song? 🙂 ) and see him get excited about red Play Doh and Blue Play Doh getting mixed together to make purple.

4. Answered prayer. I had something I needed to work on this week, and I’d had trouble getting time, quiet, solitude, and clear thinking all together at the same time. I prayed for that specifically Thursday morning, started my task, thinking it would take me most of the day – and I was pretty much done by noon. That was such a blessing to me. Then before I wrapped it up this morning, God sent me an idea that finished it off perfectly.

5. A pretty iPhone case. One of my Christmas presents was a new phone, and my old phone case wouldn’t fit it. I like the rubbery kind because they help me not to drop it. I was delighted to find this one inexpensively on Amazon and purchased it with a gift card, another present.

Happy Friday!

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

Wow, this week seems to have just flown. Well, they all seem to these days, but this one faster than most for some reason. I enjoy the time to stop and reflect over the good things God has allowed the last week or so.

1. Saying good-bye to the “boot” I had to wear after breaking my toe. I am grateful for its protection but glad to be done with it. It’s taken me a couple of days to regain my equilibrium since the boot made my gait uneven, but I am getting there.

2. Reading with Timothy.

Mr. Cool with his sunglasses on. 🙂

3. Plastic spoons in a variety of sizes. I’ve been adding to my non-stick cookware with some Christmas gift cards, and I’ve been determined to seek out some plastic or silicon utensils to use with it (just used metal before – which is probably why my previous non-stick cookware didn’t last…). I don’t like the thickness of wooden utensils. Always before I could only find small or really big plastic spoons, but last week I found an inexpensive pack of three in different and more manageable sizes.

4. Hairdresser house calls. The hairdresser of the helper we have for my mother-in-law in the mornings goes to some nursing homes and such to cut hair there, and she (our helper) asked her (the hairdresser friend) if she would mind coming to our house to cut my mother-in-law’s. She’s been doing that for some time now, most recently yesterday. It’s such a big help. My m-i-l’s hair grows fast and then keeps falling in her face. It would be hard to take her in somewhere to get it cut, then we wouldn’t be able to get her into one of their chairs, and she couldn’t sit up even if we could. I could snip at it, but it wouldn’t look very good. So, all told, it’s a big blessing that she can come and do that for us.

5. Yum.

Happy Friday!

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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 a rather bleak week outside, but a good one inside. Here are some highlights:

1. One bright, sunshiny day with blue skies in the midst of a grey, overcast week.

2. Hambone and Potato Soup. This was actually from a week or so ago, and I forgot to mention it. The only thing I had ever done with a hambone from our Christmas ham was put it into a pot of beans, but my family doesn’t like beans, so I usually throw it away. My husband encouraged me to look for another dish or soup that I could use it in, and I found this one. It used items I had on hand and was delicious. This may become an after-Christmas tradition like Turkey Bone Soup is after Thanksgiving.

3. Closet reorganization. We’re blessed with four closets near the front entry. One holds coats and jackets, and another has games. I spent the better part of a day with the other two to carve out some space for Timothy’s toys, which had been in a corner of the family room, but his collection was growing. I was able to fill one box from the closet to give away, three more to put in the attic, and consolidate everything else into one so we could use the other for Timothy. Not only does the family room look neater, but I was glad to get reacquainted with what I had in there and pulled out a few items for use around the house.

4. Feeling better after both Jim and I had colds he last couple of weeks. We thought his mom might be catching it from us, which would have been a more serious problem in her condition, but thankfully she just had sniffles for a few days.

5. Library time with Timothy. His parents took him to the library for the first time, and I was glad to hear he loved it, as that had been a favorite activity when my kids were little. He called it the book house. 🙂 Then I had to stop at the library one day to pick up a book I placed on hold, and remembered on my way that they had been planning to take Timothy that day to a kid’s reading session there. So after checking out my book, I wandered over to the children’s section, and they were still there. It’s such a joy to my heart when he is delighted to see me. I got to sit with them for a few minutes and read a few books with him and see him point out and talk about the big rug with the bunnies on it. ♥

Happy Friday!

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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 has been….not the best week I’ve had in a long time. I caught my husband’s cold last weekend, started feeling better Tuesday, then felt worse on Wednesday. I hadn’t had one in a while and had forgotten just how much they can take out of you. But sometimes when the week isn’t all sunshine and roses, it’s even more important to stop and look for the blessings in it. Here are a few from last week:

1. Restoring order. I always have mixed emotions about putting the Christmas decorations away. I hate to see them go, especially the lights, but do like getting everything back in order again. I’m thankful my husband and youngest son help with this – otherwise it would take me days rather than taking us together a morning. Then I’ve been able to declutter a bit here and there the piles that accumulate when life is busy and some paperwork from last year.

2. Snow day! We got maybe an inch or two last Friday, which for us Southerners is a really big deal. 🙂 Thankfully the roads weren’t too bad at all this time. Jason and his family came over on Saturday so Timothy could sled down a little hill in the back. There was such a difference from last year – when he was frowning and not quite sure what to make of it, to this year, when he loved it.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of him smiling and laughing on the sled – those are all on video, and I can’t upload personal videos here without paying extra for the privilege. But it was a fun day. 🙂

3. The bath aide came in the snow. That might sound like an odd one, but in the past, if we’ve had any kind of snow or ice on the ground, no one from hospice comes out, though I guess they would in an emergency. I can’t blame them – those of us who aren’t used to driving in the snow get kind of anxious about it, plus our roads aren’t treated as much as they are up North where snow is a regular occurrence. On my mother-in-law’s usual bath day, I was thinking I would probably have to do it, which I wasn’t looking forward to with both a broken toe and a cold. But we’ve had a different aide for the last several weeks, and she did come, just a little later than usual.

4. Brownie mixes when you want something sweet but not terribly involved.

5. A slight schedule change for my mother-in-law’s afternoon routine has made a big difference for the better in how I can arrange my time and tasks.

Bonus: Cough drops and tissues with lotion in them. 🙂 And I’m thankful that my m-i-l hasn’t caught anything from either of us.

I think we’ve turned a corner with our colds, so I’m looking forward to a more productive week ahead. Hope you have a good one, too.

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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 the first FFF of the New Year! And a great way to start off. Here are a few highlights from the last week:

1. The last weekend of vacation. My oldest son was here through the weekend, and everyone else was off, so we had some great family times together. In addition to some of the activities listed below, we went to an Indian restaurant and my oldest son made Chocolate Pretzel Pie. Normally I am not a big pretzel fan, but this had the right combination of saltiness and crunchiness without tasting too pretzely. He had tried it for a gathering of his friends around Thanksgiving that they cal Piesgiving, where everyone brings some kind of food in a pie, and it was a hit there, so he made it again for us.

Timothy likes to help in the kitchen. 🙂

Normally he makes duck soup, but this time he tried duck shakes. 🙂

We’ve had that child’s Tupperware set since our boys were little, and it’s one of the things we kept for when other children came over. I love that our grandchild can use it now.

2. Playing games is one of my favorite things to do when we are all together. We generally play at least one round of Settlers of Catan, and this was the closest I ever remember it being: three of us were within one point of winning and had in hand what we needed to win on our next turn. We also like to play Telestrations. Then we played some Jackbox games through the TV connected to my son’s Steam account ( a game-playing site, though these games are also available for the Apple TV, Firestick, Xbox, and other venues). They had a family-friendly venue (I think for some of the games you have to set it for that option). We played Drawful, Fibbage, and one other that involved sound effects. People play by logging into the Jackbox TV site on their phones, and people play on their phones, but the game play shows up on the TV. I don’t know if this is making sense – but it was a lot of fun!

3. An outing in Gatlinburg. My husband at one time had gotten tickets for three of the Ripley’s attractions in Gatlinburg, and we used one of them last summer to attend the aquarium. We wanted to try to use the second one this break, so we went to the Ripley’s Mirror Maze. I thought the maze itself would be challenging enough, but the darkness and changing lights made it more so. Normally changing lights is not my thing. But this was a lot of fun to do as a family and not too hard to get through. Timothy wasn’t frightened by it – he just stood stock still when we first went in, trying to figure out what was going on. 🙂 It’s pretty short, so we wouldn’t normally go to Gatlinburg just for that, but I’m still trying not to do too much while my broken toe heals. That and going out to eat was just the right length of an outing for this time. We discovered a new-to-us Mexican food restaurant that was great in every way -good food, quick service, knowledgeable waiter, and a good gluten-free menu for my daughter-in-law (No Way Jose’s Cantina near the aquarium).

4. New calendars. I love getting out new calendars for the year, filling in everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries, and looking at all those clean, fresh pages!

5. Gift cards. I was considering whether I wanted to invest in a certain purchase this morning, and remembered I had a gift card to a place where I could order it online. That made the decision very easy! 🙂

Hope your new year has gotten off to a great start!

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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 the last FFF of 2016! This year has seemed to pick up speed as it moved along. Here are some fave parts of the last week:

1. Christmas, of course. We had all the immediate family here, thoughtful gifts, wonderful food, and a good time together. Timothy is at a fun age for it.

2. A sticker machine. My son had gotten it for me to use in making cards, but I hadn’t used it yet because whenever I had made a card I was in a rush and didn’t feel I had the time to figure out how it worked. But I got it out for the family Christmas cards I was making, and it took no time at all to learn. It was a big help and greatly reduced the smearing that can happen with glue sticks. I’ll have to compare prices for the cartridges – I am sure glue sticks are probably cheaper. But I am excited to have this option at least for some things. He uses it in his journal to occasionally post a photo or something.

3. Vacation days. My husband is off this week and my oldest son is here. We’ve been mostly hanging out at home since the other boys are working and I’m still not back to pre-injury mobility with my broken toe. But, after getting a few things done earlier in the week, it’s been nice to just hang out together.

4. Control + z. If you hit the control button and the z button simultaneously on your computer, it undoes whatever you just did. That has saved me work and frustration many times. This week, when I was making up the list of books read this year, something I accidentally hit undid the links in a whole section. When I pressed Control and z, they were all restored except the one line I was working on. Whew!

5. A new car! (I hear that in my head as a game show announcer would say it). We’ve been considering one as we were going to have to replace our van before long, but it wasn’t urgent yet. But my husband decided to look and see if there were any good end-of-the-year deals. It turns out that the need not being urgent and being able to walk away is actually a good negotiating place. 🙂 There were various discounts and features to work through, but he eventually got it for pretty close to what he wanted to pay. I’m excited – this one has features my old one did not, so it will be a bit of a learning curve, but a fun one.

Happy end of 2016, and I hope you have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve and Day and 2017!

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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 Christmas Eve Eve! 🙂  Ready or not, here Christmas comes! Hope you’re having a good time with the things you need to do. I think we’re just about ready except for a little pie baking on Saturday. Our goal was to get done by the time my oldest son got here rather than by Christmas. In the midst of all the happy activities, I’m thankful for a few minutes to sit down and recount the blessings of the week.

1. My husband would be a favorite every week, of course, but this week I have so appreciated his pitching in to cook, wash dishes, do all the “before someone comes to visit” cleaning while I’ve had to be off my foot because of a broken toe. I hate that he’s having to spend his vacation that way, but I’m grateful he was on vacation to do so. Thankfully the cleaning is caught up so we can relax and enjoy the next few days, and I am starting to be able to hobble around a bit more.

2. Our 37th wedding anniversary was Wednesday. My husband brought me flowers, candy, a sweet card, and took me out to a very nice dinner, plus we had a little more time to talk than we normally do.

3. An anniversary dinner made by my daughter-in-law a few days before our anniversary. Plus cake!

4. Christmas cards and family newsletters. It seems like fewer people do this each year, but I love receiving them.

5. Our oldest son coming home for a much-anticipated visit. 🙂

I hope each of you has a special, meaningful Christmas. The first Christmas wasn’t “perfect” by our standards today, but it was just the way God planned it. No matter how many people are there (or not) and what’s under the tree (or not), we can celebrate the best gift of all: the Son of God who willingly came to Earth to keep God’s law perfectly in our place, to atone for our sins, and to make a way for us to be reconciled to God and experience His presence. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). God with us! In the forgiveness of our sins, in our everyday needs and fellowship. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

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