Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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’d get to a FFF today – it has been a busy day, plus at first I just couldn’t think of anything to mention that I haven’t mentioned before. But it is ok to be thankful for things again/still. 🙂 This is where the value of an exercise like this manifests itself: after just a few concentrated minutes of thinking it over, I found that there were more than five, as usually happens. So here they are:

1. Another ladies’ newsletter completed. Some months I pretty much know what I am going to include in it, so it is just a matter of getting it down and formatted. Some months I have no idea, and this was one of those. But after praying for the Lord to direct me in what to put in, it’s so neat to have different things come to mind and then see it all come together.

2. Cake pops. I was craving something caky, but I don’t dare make a whole cake for just three of us. I was in Wal-Mart and remembered these (that’s the only place I have ever seen them):

Fit the bill perfectly!

3. Face Time with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. We don’t see Jason and Mittu as much as we used to since they have a new baby in the house and their own washer and dryer now. 🙂 And we got so used to seeing Timothy several days a week while he was in the hospital, that to go a couple of weeks without seeing him seems like half of forever. I was craving a visit and texted to ask if they wanted to Face Time, and we did. It was nice to catch up and fun to see him almost in person, though I enjoy pictures, too. It was nice, too, to talk to him a bit – don’t want him to forget Grandma and Grandpa’s voice! 🙂

4. An appointment deferred, or actually not deferred, but I thought I had an appointment for my physical Thursday but was relieved to find it was actually scheduled for next Monday. It was just a busy week, and though I could’ve worked around it, it was nice to discover I didn’t have to after all.

5. Take-out a couple of times this week. My husband brought home Chinese food Saturday night, and then one night when he had to be out of town Jesse and I got take-out from Ruby Tuesday’s.

Other little blessings: I’ve enjoyed our hummingbird visitor coming more frequently, bringing his mate, and getting a little less skittish about seeing us through the window, plus seeing a baby rabbit in the back yard (we’ve seen adults plenty of times but this is the first baby we’ve seen). I’ve also made some more progress on my stitching during the evenings and my new project last weekend. Here is a sneak peek:

A major blessing this week has been your gracious comments on my 8th blogiversary post. Thanks so much – you’re all very kind. 🙂

Friday’s Fave Fives

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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, it’s hard to believe we’re so near the end of July! Here are some of the favorite parts of the past week or so:

1. Jason’s birthday. As new parents, they’re not getting out much, so it was a joy not only to celebrate his birthday but just to get together.

2. Getting to hold this little guy again:

3. Taking up my stitching again. I think I put it aside at Christmastime. I don’t know why it took me so long to take it back up.

4. Vacation Bible School. We don’t have children young enough to be in it and can’t participate except through small contribution and prayers, but the coordinator has been sending e-mail updates after each night’s events. It has been wonderful to hear of the gospel going out, the children being responsive, a few of them coming to know the Lord, and a number of behind-the-scenes ministries.

5. Getting started on a new project, one I have been contemplating for a long time. It takes me nearly forever to decide what I want to do on things like this, and I have a tendency to make it more complicated, but I finally have an idea in mind and have started on it. I hope to be, if not finished, at least far enough along to show a picture next week.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are some of the favorite parts of the past week or so:

1. Online registries. We’ve had a lot of bridal showers, weddings, and baby showers at church the last few months. I love registries so that I can get the person something they want rather than providing their first yard sale fodder. I especially like that most store registries can be accessed online now. It helps a lot to be able to look them over and pick out a couple of ideas beforehand instead of roaming all over the store first.

2. Hummingbirds. We just put a feeder put a few weeks ago and hadn’t had any visitors. But just recently we saw that the level of nectar had gone down, and more recently we’ve seen a little visitor. They are so amazing to watch.

3. A new cell phone. My phone had been having trouble making or keeping a charge, so my husband took it in, and evidently it had a lot of dust in it – more than they could clean out by their usual methods. 😦 But it was under warranty, so they gave me a new one, and now I am trying to take special care to keep dust out of it. I usually keep it in my pocket, which seems to produce a lot of very fine lint. Just saw online recently some silicone plugs for the various ports in a phone, so may look into those. Anyone tried them?

4. A husband who deals with issues like phone troubles. 🙂 Dealing with the “genius bar” is not one of his favorite things, but I appreciate his going there for me.

5. A volunteer. We had made plans to go to Jason and Mittu’s tomorrow for his birthday (which is actually today), but got word that Great-Grandma’s weekend caregiver would not be available this weekend. Her weekday caregiver volunteered to come on Saturday since she knew we had plans. Much appreciated!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are some of the favorite parts of the past week:

1. A three day weekend. It was so nice that Independence Day fell on a Friday this year – it was like having two Saturdays in a row.

2. A neighborhood potluck. A few of the neighbors organized a community get-together for the 4th. I met some I didn’t know and renewed acquaintances with others. We took Great-Grandma out in her wheelchair, and she really enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure how she would react – she’s never liked crowds and having a lot of activity around her, but she was smiling and waving. Many people came up to say hello to her.

3. A special Sunday. Since my Pastor’s announcement about his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer, we’ve had some guest speakers come in – mostly some who have had a long connection with our ministry and wanted to be here to support him and our church, but it has also helped him to be able to rest during some part of the regular Sunday services while others spoke. This last Sunday he was unable to make it to Sunday School, and we had a time of sharing and praying for him during that time. It did my heart a lot of good to have that time together. Then our former youth and music pastor had flown in and spoke to us during the Sunday morning service and sang Sunday night. The message was just what many of us felt we needed, and it meant a lot to have this young man, who means so much to so many of us, here. I recommend the message to you, especially if you’re going through any kind of hard time or think you might in the future 🙂 : Everything Beautiful In God’s Time from Ecclesiastes 3:1-14.

4. A much more relaxed week than the last several have been. I haven’t gotten all the things done that I had been wanting to get to when I couldn’t. 🙂 But I did get caught up on the housecleaning.

5. A crossed-off list. I keep a running list of things I need to do and remember for the week on my desk, and usually whenever I change it for a new one, I have to transfer one or two items from it to the next list. It felt good this week to have every item crossed off. That doesn’t mean everything was done that could possibly need doing – I keep a longer list on my electronic devices of projects to get to when there is time. But having those items crossed off for that brief moment of time felt good. 🙂

Bonus: I just tried today (Thursday) a Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap from Chick-Fil-A. Wow! Why have I waited so long to try this?! Because I thought I wouldn’t like it (some restaurant grilled chicken tastes rubbery to me), and because I like their regular sandwiches so much. It’s nice to have a lighter alternative, especially during the summer.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are some highlights of my week:

1. Finally getting a haircut. Nothing new or different – I just tend to wait way beyond the time it needs to be shaped up to the point that it cooperates even less than it does normally. It just tends to continually be a low priority in my schedule. But I am glad I made time to get it done.

2. A fun wedding. We have three weddings scheduled at our church this summer. The first one was last weekend, between two of my son’s closest friends. I know fun isn’t a word one usually uses with weddings, but this one was, beginning with the groom and groomsmen all wearing matching tennis shoes. 🙂 There were, of course, appropriate moments of solemnity as well.

3. Great-Grandma’s 86th birthday was Wednesday. It was pretty low-key – she can’t do much. But she enjoyed it, especially Jim reading her cards to her, singing along as we sang “Happy Birthday,” and Face-timing with little Timothy.

4. Independence Day. America is far from perfect, but I love it and am happy to celebrate its birthday! Plus it’s really nice that it falls on a Friday this year. One neighbor has organized a neighborhood potluck, so I am looking forward to that. We might even try to get Great-Grandma into her wheelchair to come to it for a while.

5. Timothy’s “Welcome Home” video. I mentioned last week that my little grandson was finally able to come home after 10 and 1/2 weeks in the NICU. My son, Jason, made a little video to announce it. So sweet – I’ve watched it several times.

Happy Friday, and Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are five highlights:

1. Timothy is home! My little grandson finally got to come home from the NICU yesterday! That will probably be one of the fave fives for the year! 🙂 I was able to go over last night and hold him for a little while – so sweet.

2. Take-out two nights. I asked my husband if he’d bring something home for dinner Friday night, and then he offered to get something on Saturday night, too. It was nice to have a couple of nights “off.”

3. Not having a spider bite. 🙂 I’ve had a red spot with blisters on one leg for the last couple of days and probably would have just waited to see if it went away, but with it being Friday I was antsy about letting it go over the weekend. I was thinking it was some kind of bug bite, but the doctor said it looked like contact dermatitis, possibly poison ivy. It’s on part of my leg that doesn’t have full sensation due to transverse myelitis, so it doesn’t itch or hurt. 🙂 But he did prescribe a cream for it. I was glad they were able to see me today.

4. Antibiotics. My husband had been feeling pretty terrible with a sinus infection, but the antibiotics have started kicking in and he s been feeling a little better.

5. Our doctor’s office for getting me in today and for seeing my husband after hours one night this week.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 a difficult week, primarily processing the totally unexpected news that our pastor has cancer and a prognosis of 6-12 months to live.

We were also hoping that my grandson, Timothy, might be able to come home from the NICU after going almost a full week with no bradycardia episodes – but then he has had a few more this week, so that means a longer waiting time: they want him to go 5-7 days without one before they release him. One doctor had said he should outgrow them around 37 weeks (gestational age), but that came and went. Otherwise he’s doing great, so it’s just a matter of waiting for his system to mature enough. He’s been in the hospital over 9 weeks so far.

With grief on the one hand and disappointment in a couple of areas on the other, it has been a teary, weary week. Yet it is a good exercise to look for blessings large and small whether the week has seemed good, bad, or mediocre.

1. An outpouring of love and support. After our pastor’s news was made public, his Facebook page plus our church’s was flooded with promises of prayer and expressions of love. Plus it has been a blessing to see the different verses, hymns, or thoughts different church members have shared trough the week that have been a help to them.

2. My pastor’s message where he announced the news of his cancer. It might sound strange to list that as a favorite of the week. The news was not a favorite, no, but the message was one of the best I’ve ever heard and just what we needed. If you can make the time, I’d encourage you to listen to it. It’s real and raw emotionally and hard in some ways, but it was a model in how to deal with devastating news spiritually.

3. A thoughtful gift. One of my blog friends sent a little gift for Timothy this week. I neglected to ask her if she minded if I mentioned her or showed a picture, so I’ll refrain for now, but her thoughtfulness was a bright spot in the week.

4. Hydrangeas. I planted a small hydrangea bush two years ago and I think this is the first time I have seen blooms on it except maybe a few small ones. I didn’t get a picture because they’re on the back of the plant facing the wall – but hopefully this is a sign there are more to come!

5. Surgery avoided. One of my sisters in TX had to go to the hospital yesterday with extreme pain due to what they think is a bulging disk in her back. They thought she might need surgery but decided to try IV steroids first.

Favorites this and every week are the bedrock truths that no matter what happens, God is real, He loves us, His promises are true, His will is good.

I hope however your week has gone that you’ll be able to trace God’s hand of blessing in it.

(P.S. I can’t believe I forgot to mention Father’s Day completely until I saw it on another FFF list! It seems like much longer ago than this week! But we always enjoy getting to shower my husband with a few tokens of our love and to have the whole family together [one via FaceTime] for a visit.)

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are a few of mine:

1. No “events” since Sunday – meaning baby Timothy hasn’t had any bradycardia episodes since then. The heart rate drops are the main thing that’s keeping him from coming home, and it is just a matter of his system maturing enough for them to stop, so hopefully he’ll be stable enough to come home soon.

2. An infant CPR class. I’ve never had a CPR class of any kind, but the NICU was offering this for free, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take it. I hope I never have to actually use it, but hearing the instruction and actually practicing makes me feel a lot better than trying to figure it out from a book.

3. Rain. We finally got some good, soaking rain this week instead of the occasional short shower.

4. Good parking spaces. This may sound silly, but sometimes I pray that I’ll find a good parking space when I go up to see Timothy. I don’t mind walking when I have the time, but sometimes my available time to visit is short before I have to get back for Great-Grandma’s caregiver to leave, and I don’t want to be circling 5 levels of the parking garage or walking half a mile (seemingly) when my visiting time is limited. There is a small parking lot near the entrance I go in, but it is pretty busy in the daytime. It is neat to see God answer that prayer on those days with a space in that lot.

5. Back to normal. Both the weekend and weekday caregivers for Great-Grandma were on vacation last week, and we had a good substitute, but it is a relief to have the regulars back.

I almost skipped the FFF this week, partly because of busyness but partly because I could only come up with one item at first. It hasn’t been a bad week, but nothing really stood out initially. I’m glad God brought these things to mind.

Friday’s Fave Fives

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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 are a few of mine:

1. Continued progress for my grandson Timothy. I had mentioned a bit of a setback last week, but he’s off the oxygen cannula and doing well this week. He’s almost 7 lbs. now and just having a few drops in heart rate and breathing a day. He’s at the stage where his system should be maturing enough that those will stop pretty soon, which means coming home is ever closer!

2. Getting to hold Timothy again, and he was awake for it this time! I love to watch his different expressions.

3. Visitors for great-grandma. A couple of ladies from church came over to visit her this week, and she really enjoyed it.

4. Able help. Both the weekend and weekday caregivers for Great-Grandma were on vacation this week and we were a little antsy about having someone new come in, but she worked out fine.

5. Flowers. My rose bushes are full of blooms and my two planters out front are filling out nicely.

Bonus faves: We got some much needed rain this week but not the predicted thunderstorms, and Jesse has received a couple of responses from places he has sent his resume to. One is out of state, and I am not quite sure I am ready for that yet! but we’re praying for the right job for him and will see how these work out.

Happy Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Barbara Harper

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

Since this is where I’ve been sharing updates about my little grandson, Timothy, I’ll go ahead and share this here. He had a bit of a setback this week with a higher number of heart-rate drops (bradycardia) and apnea than before, and some pretty deep ones (requiring more than just jostling him to bring it back up to normal), so they put the oxygen cannula back on. He had a couple of tests earlier in the week and those may have tired him out too much. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll have to have the oxygen. The doctors have said that usually by 36 or 37 weeks from conception the heart rate drops will start to fade out as his system matures, and we just passed the 36 week mark. Then he’ll have to go for 5-7 days without one (we’ve heard different numbers from different doctors) before he can go home. The first neonatal doctor we talked to told us this would be a journey of ups and downs rather than steady upward progress, but the downs are still discouraging. But — hopefully he’ll be ready to come home soon. Every day is one step closer. 🙂

1. Stability. After everything else this week, Timothy is holding steady now, and we hope he can come off the oxygen soon.

2. This:

I got to hold him for the first time. 🙂 I thought I couldn’t until he got out of the NICU, but when they offered, I said yes!

3. Paying it forward. When I stopped to get my weekly pass for the hospital parking lot, the attendant told me someone had “paid forward” a weekly pass for the next person who needed one. That’s the first time anything like that has ever happened to me, and it was a blessing.

4. Pitching in. Last weekend Jason and Mittu were expecting company and needed a few little things done around the house before they came. Their guest bed had broken when they moved plus they’d ordered the crib but hadn’t had a chance to put it together, plus with recovering from childbirth and then spending time at the hospital, they were understandably behind on some things. Jim, Jesse, and I went over last Saturday morning so they could help put things together and I could help with whatever else needed to be done. I had originally thought I wouldn’t be able to go because Grandma’s (I guess I should say Great-Grandma now!) caregiver was going out of town, but that turned out to be the next weekend. It was fun to be able to help in a concrete way and to do it all together. Plus they ordered pizza when we were done. 🙂

5. A four day weekend. Monday was Memorial Day and Jim took Friday off, too.

Hope you have a great weekend!