Friday's Fave Five #517

Hi everyone.  My sweet Mom has passed into the arms of Jesus.  And while I am heart broken that on this earth I will not get to hug her again and will miss her greatly, I rejoice knowing that because of Jesus I will see her again.  It was not a forever goodbye.  So once again I am putting Mr. Linky here for you all and will not be joining due to time constraints of not only Christmas but now planning a funeral in the middle of it all.  I have lots to be grateful for even in the midst of the pain but not the time to do up posts.  But please go ahead and leave your FFF link in the Mr. Linky.  I wish you and your families all a very Merry Christmas.  Love on them an extra bit and hug them tight.

I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas song this year, the one has been on repeat for me as we've gone through the last couple of weeks.  It's from a powerful and beautiful Christmas concert you can watch the whole of here:  The Birth of a King: Live in Concert.  But meanwhile here is Noel.  

Friday's Fave Five #816

Hi everyone!  Welcome again to Friday's Fave Five.  Once again I will be leaving Mr. Linky for you and I will not be able to join in.  Thank you for your continued prayers for my family as we face saying goodbye on this side of heaven to my precious Mom.

Friday's Fave Five #815

Hello and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  I am putting Mr. Linky up for you all.  My Mom is in hospital and all my spare time has been spent with her.  I don't know if I will be able to join in this week but I will try.  Please enjoy each other's posts of thankfulness!

A Cup Overflowing

What a wonderful weekend it was.  I took the day off on Friday so that we could head up to the big city, not to shop Black Friday deals, but to work a shift at the Operation Christmas Child processing facility.  It was a cold and foggy morning when we got up, had been for a couple of days.  So as we drove this is the stunning scenery we were soaking in:

And it was no less incredibly beautiful within the city.

We all would comment over and over how we couldn't believe how thick the hoar frost was. 

Saturday we headed to the Processing Center. So much fun getting all those precious boxes inspected and taped and packed for shipping to all the wonderful children around the world.  They announced that the day before they had processed 28,825 boxes.  We were ready to add more!  The process boxes 6 days a week, about 11 hours a day for about a month!  That is an amazing amount of Canadian packed shoeboxes!  And that is not even the ones done online!  

It is such a blessing being able to be involved in so many steps of those shoeboxes reaching their final destinations and being placed into the hands of excited children!   We sadly gave up our table after our 4 hour shift was done. 

Waiting for me at the doors was my friend who I have not seen or given a hug to in 10 years.  We had made a point of setting this time aside while I was there to have a coffee together.  She had moved to another province and eventually made her way back.  What a thrill it was being together again.  As good friends do, we picked up as if we had never been apart. Then it was on to a nice birthday meal (#3) for Hubby at his favorite restaurant to go to in Calgary, The Spaghetti Factory!  A great meal was had by all as we headed home to just relax and and be together.  

 

My cup was filled to overflowing this weekend!   How was your weekend, a holiday one for my U.S. friends?  Did you brave the malls for a deal?

Friday's Fave Five #814

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogging friends in the U.S.  I hope you had a lovely holiday yesterday!  Thanksgiving is a holiday that both U.S. and Canada observe, albiet Canada's already happened over a month ago.  But thanksgiving is not just a one day affair.  Daily Thanksgiving is a goal, a way of life and heart attitude.  It's meant to be done daily, thanking God for all the good things.  Even when life is hard, even when things don't go our way, there is still things in our lives to be grateful for.  Thanks for joining in with me week after week developing this in our own individual lives.  

- dinner with Hubby's sis and brother in law ~ it is our tradition between us four to go out for supper for each of our birthdays.  It's a way we've found to stay connected as our families have grown and life is busy.  Because it was Hubby's birthday they treated us at Hubby's choice of restaurant which happens to be a favorite of all of ours.  I'm thankful we have this time together each year with them.  

~ a warm home ~ with the weather getting very cold I'm so thankful for a nice warm home.  I never want to take that for granted.

~ crockpot meals ~ and with the weather getting cold, crockpot meals start to become a staple around here.  I'm thankful for this little appliance and the comfort foods that it cooks up for us.  It's so easy to just put everything in it in the morning or early afternoon and have dinner ready and waiting after a long day of work.

~ work Christmas party ~ I usually dread these things and since both Hubby and I are self-employed we haven't had to attend one in at least 10 years or more.  Well this year the agency I contract with decided they were having one for their educators only.  At first I didn't want to go but it turned out to be a fun evening and I came home with a nice raffle prize.  

~ popcorn and movie ~ after running around and doing my usual Saturday chores and visiting my mom, I came home to find Hubby had made a big batch of his popcorn.  His popcorn is the absolute best.  We settled down with big bowls to watch a movie and just had a much needed restful evening at home.  

What have been your favorite blessings this week?

Jaqueline in Paris by Ann Mah ~ Book Review

After WWII, Jacqueline Bouvier sets off to spend her Junior year in Paris along with a group of girls from Vassar College.   After a failed engagement her mother wants her to stay behind and find a suitable, prestigious and wealthy match for herself.  But in spite of her mother's pressures Jacqueline leaves for her year abroad.  What she finds is both exhilarating and confusing.  On the one hand is the parties, the cafes, the learning of the French language, the theatres and her studies of the arts and literature.  On the other hand is a France still trying to rebuild from the war, with homes with no heat, people still very much traumatized by the war and an undercurrent of suspicion of a Communist movement trying to gain a foothold.  The family she is living with embraces her and the other girls into their home but there are secrets being held amongst the family members.  Who in Jacqueline's circles can be trusted and who plays their part well?  As a naive Jacqueline tries to navigate this new world, she will cultivate a deep love for France, it's culture, the arts and it's people and will learn lessons that will carry her into her future as the 1st Lady of America.  

This historical fiction is based on the real lives of Jacqueline Bouvier, John Marquard Jr., the de Rentry family and others in post war France.  The author describes a Jacqueline that is ready to experience every part of her year there including side trips into Vienna and Germany.  Before her fame as the first lady, was a young woman with hopes and dreams of her own, hoping to find her own love rather than the stilted marriage of prestige that her mother's society in New York was expecting for her.  Paris helped change, mature and prepare her for her future.  The descriptions were detailed of both sides of the Paris Jacqueline found and the story was captivating with intrigue thrown in through the spies and Communism.  Though if one is expecting a fast paced, action packed tale this is not that.  It is slower paced with following the main character's steps through the society and with the characters she met along the way which shaped who she became.  I enjoyed the story for the most part, knowing some of it was probably very fictionalized.  

I rated it an 8.5/10

Friday's Fave Five #813

Welcome to a very frosty Friday.  I don't know what it's like where you are but winter has arrived with a bang here in my neck of the woods. Very cold and snowing.  But even though the weather isn't what I would prefer there is still lots of blessings to find and be thankful for.  Please join in as we develop the habit of noticing blessings God sends our way and pausing to be grateful, not just once a year but as a lifestyle.  

 ~ personal OCC gifts packed with love and prayer ~ I finished the last minute shopping and put together my shoebox gift finishing them off with a prayer.   I so enjoyed putting them together and memories of when I went to Costa Rica to help distribute shoebox gifts to children really spurred me on to challenge myself to do extra boxes this year.  So much fun.

~ church shoe boxes collected ~     Sunday was collection day for the shoebox gifts at my church.  The last few years we've been hovering around a total of 65 boxes packed by our church members.  This year so far the count has come in at 92!   So thankful for everyone who participated!  I know it was a sacrifice for some.

~ new bed ~ Hubby and I bit the bullet and finally went out and got a new bed.  We decided this was our Christmas present to each other.  So worth it.  And we got a decent price.  So double blessing.

~ celebrating hubby ~ Yesterday was Hubby's birthday.  The kids contacted him in various ways to wish him a Happy Birthday and sent some fun gifts.  I got him a vitamix blender he's been wanting for years and took him out for a nice dinner to a favorite Italian restaurant.  

~ tiramisu ~ one of my favorite desserts ever!  Because it was his birthday it was compliments of the restaurant.  He was gracious enough to share it with me.  Yum!!  

What have been your favorite blessings of the last week?