Friday's Fave Five #838

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five!  Time to take a pause and take note of the blessings in our lives from the past week with the intention of developing hearts of gratitude.  Sometimes the blessings are big and life changing but more often than not they are found in the simple joys of life.   Please join us as we share five of our favorites from the last week.  

~ bank appointment checked off the to do list ~ finances and banking is not something that comes with easy understanding for me so I finally made that appointment at the bank to ask a few questions. I'm so glad I did. The appointment went well and I surprised myself at my being able to understand quite a bit of what they were a explaining to me.  They associates were friendly and patient as I asked questions and they had to explain some things a couple of times until understanding came.  I left that appointment feeling good about what I had learned and much more comfortable making some decisions. 

~ Mother's Day ~ this Mother's Day was a hard one for me.  It was the first without my Mom.  And none of my kids were able to come for the day.  But it still turned out to be a lovely day.  Hubby did his best to make the day special and he did a wonderful job of it.  Church, a Chinese food lunch, and a little shopping together for a trellis, and an ice cream treat from my favorite shop.  I had phone calls or messages from all the kids along with gift cards from each.  The day ended with some nice relaxing and reading time.  

 

~ thoughtful business ~ when our siding was completed it took us about a day to realize that we should really just bite the bullet and get out gutters and downspouts replaced.  We've been in this house about 33 years and who knows how long before then they were put on. To say they were starting to leak is an understatement.  So we hired the same company and were told that it would be about a week before they could do the job (which would have made it sometime this week).  But last Thursday we got a call from them saying they would be there the next day because they saw rain in the forecast for this week and they knew our current downspouts were barely sitting in place because we didn't get them attached to the house as we discussed whether we should get the new ones.  I was really blessed by the thoughtfulness of this company that they would do that for us.  

  

~ dinner with our Pastors ~ it has been awhile since we were able to connect with out Pastors so it was really nice when we were finally able to lock down a date to have dinner.  They are such an encouraging couple and we always feel lifted up after spending time with them.  

~ upside down pineapple ice cream ~ one of the fun flavors of the month at my favorite local homemade ice cream shop.  Like an upside down pineapple cake, but ice cream.  So good!  

What were your favorite blessings from the week?

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful moms out there!

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston ~ Book Review

Frederick Fife is 82 and on the edge of homelessness.  Since his beloved wife died of cancer, his life has just dissipated to nothing.  Using up all their savings for her medical care, Frederick is now being evicted after not being able to meet his rent payments for months.  Though they tried, Frederick and his wife were childless so there is no one to borrow from, no one to turn to.  When out trying to figure out if he should go to a homeless shelter or where he is to sleep that night, odd circumstances cause a case of mistaken identity that Frederick tries to correct but can't seem to get anyone to listen to him.  As he finds himself all of a sudden having a roof over his head complete with meals at a nursing home, it becomes harder and harder to get anyone to listen to him.  And as he makes friends with other residents who can't believe the change in him from a grumpy old codger to a kind, caring gentleman, he begins to wonder if he can get away with borrowing the other man's life and can he live with himself doing it.  However, one of the nurses is suspicious. But with major problems in her own life she is dealing with, Dennis Simms just doesn't deal with it.  Sometimes walking on egg shells trying to sort out his new life, Frederick learns to navigate the landmines blending who he really is with the man they think he is.  But always in the back of his mind is the fact that there will be a day of reckoning.  

This book, I'm sure, is going to go down as one of my top 10 reads ever.  I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.  It's sweet and heartfelt touching upon every emotion.   There were laugh out loud moments and times where I cried.  The author actually was a social support worker in a senor home in Australia so the story was very insightful and respectful of what living in a senior home is like and I found myself hilariously thinking who in my Mom's senior home matched up with which character.  I loved the characters and their development throughout.  It touched on all the things I love in a story:  great characters, witty, real emotions, found family, forgiveness, redemption and just a feel good story all around.  I quite a few times paused in my reading just to say out loud or to my husband what a good book this was.  Kudos to the author for this great debut novel.  

I rated it a 10+/10

Friday's Fave Five #837

Happy Friday and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  We are intentionally learning to focus on the blessings God brings into our lives and developing hearts of gratitude.  It's not just a matter of "being positive".  It is working towards having hearts and minds that are aware of the touch of God in our lives whether we are in a great season or whether it's a challenging one.  It's one of actually changing our perspective of how we approach the everyday and all that it brings and being deeply thankful for all the good.  It's about coming to the point of seeing the blessings over and above whatever else is going on.  And that takes discipline and sometimes it takes work.  Here, on each and every Friday, we give opportunity to become part of a community that is supportive to each other in doing just that.  Please join in with us.

~ great Sunday service ~  Sunday morning church was a huge blessing all around.  I got there early and was able to talk to some friends I haven't seen in awhile.  Our church has gone to two morning services so I've missed seeing some people who attend the service I don't.  The worship was wonderful and the Pastor has started a series entitled "Fear Not" with the first session being "We are no longer slaves to fear".  It was so good and many parts of it seemed like it was specifically for me. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

~ Ladies study ~ Wednesday was a smaller group, only 5 of us which is about half of whom normally attend.  But the smaller group made it so that we could really delve into the questions and points from the Sunday sermon.  I really enjoy when the church runs the bible studies this way for a time as it allows questions to be asked and deep dives being taken into what was taught over the pulpit and then in turn, looking at ways to apply it to every day life.  It's a blessing to belong to a group where questions and conversation is encouraged but emphasis remains on biblical truth.

~ special crafts ~ I love doing crafts with the kids for special occasions and this Sunday is, of course, Mother's Day.  So this week we've been busy, busy, busy.  I find it especially fun to see how excited they are and find it amusing how some just can't wait to let the cat out of the bag before the gifts are ready to go home.  And I love how they so excitedly show off all their hard work to their parents.

~ stunning views with memories ~ I was looking for something in my camera roll and came across this picture of a gorgeous walk on an equally gorgeous day that I forgot I had taken.  It was from a couple of weekends ago but it blessed me seeing the picture because of the good memory of the day that it evoked.  Everything was perfect that day:  the temperature was warm but not uncomfortably hot, the sky was a beautiful blue, no wind and when we took the bridge over the river on our walk the water was just this stunning color which is rare.  It's usually clear to a muddy bottom or running muddy depending on how swift it's running.  It made for a beautiful picture with the train bridge in the background.  

~ recipes that make me think of Mom ~ my Mom was such a good Hungarian cook though she always thought she was just average.  I love when I make a Hungarian dish and it takes me right back to my childhood and memories of her in the kitchen always making us a good meal for supper.  This week I made Gulyas Leves, a traditional Hungarian soup consisting of Stew Beef, potatoes, onions, carrots and lots of sweet Hungarian paprika.  Sometimes parsnips are added.  And sometimes caraway seeds, though never in my house.  I can't stand caraway seeds.  The beef is slow simmered until super tender and then the rest of the ingredients and cooked until the veggies are cooked.  Served with bread or buns and butter it evokes warm  childhood memories for me. 

What are your blessings from the last week that you are thankful for?

   

Friday's Fave Five #836

Welcome Friday and to Friday's Fave Five.  The week has been busy, it seems to have flown by and here we are at Friday once again.  Time to take a breath, slow down and take the focus off the busy and put it onto remembering my blessings over the past week and taking the time to be grateful to God.  Please join with us in developing lives of thankfulness.

~ siding finished ~ the new siding was finished on Wednesday and I'm so pleased.  The crew worked fast finishing the job in 5 consecutive working days.  That in itself was a blessing since some quotes we had gave us a timeline of 2 months!  I love the color we chose and I'm so glad we no longer have to paint the exterior of this house. 

~ generous neighbor ~ my wonderful neighbor, who also has a childcare, graciously offered to have my dayhome come and play at her house daily this week for our outside time.  The kids had a great time playing with her kids.  It also got us out of the noise for awhile and got us outside into the beautiful weather.  I'm so grateful for her generosity.

~ mini egg ice cream ~ we enjoyed a yummy treat from our favorite ice cream shop, Mini Egg Ice Cream.  They make it for Easter month so we made sure we secured a pint or two as last year we missed out.  It's so good.

~ Sister support ~ I'm super thankful to have a sister whom I can talk things over with and bounce ideas off of.  She lives in my city so she's close by and I don't take for granted the blessing that is.  We don't always see eye to eye and we're very different from each other but I'm so glad we have each other.

~ time spent with friends ~ the last week I've been able to spend a little time with a friend, talk with another friend through texts, and have a supper date planned for this week with another friend.  Friends hold a special place and I'm grateful for the times I have with them sharing conversation and laughter.

What were the blessings in your life this last week?

Friday's Fave Five #835

Welcome everyone!  It's Friday once again and that means taking that pause in our busy days and taking note of the good things that God has blessed us with over the past week.  It's been a very busy past few days, as I'm sure it was for you too with the Easter holiday so that makes being intentional in taking that thankfulness pause that much more important.  Busyness can be such a distractor that causes us to miss or overlook all that God blesses us with over our days and weeks.  We can be so caught up in just trying to accomplish what we need to get done that those good things slip right past us and we miss the chance to be thankful.  Join us as we develop intention in our gratitude.

~ 4 day weekend ~ for me, a 4 day weekend is a huge blessing!  It not only gives me rest time, but removes the hectic out of having basically only one day of the weekend totally devoted to getting chores and to do list stuff done.  Easter put more things on that to do list so having that extra day before the holiday to help get things done for the arrival of family was a huge blessing.  And having Monday to clean up and just be with the family doing fun stuff is a gift before jumping back into work on the Tuesday.

~ the whole family home ~ now that the kids are grown and live out of town with jobs & responsibilities, getting everyone together at the same time is more difficult.  This Easter was the first Easter in awhile where everyone was able to be here.  It was really nice having everyone together again and I'm thankful they all had safe travels here and back to their homes.  

~ Easter dinner ~  even though it's a lot of work and sometimes stressful, I do love having everyone gathered together for special dinners.  This year we had 11 of us here for Easter dinner.  I have discovered it I cook the turkey the day before, cool it, carve it and reheat it with some chicken broth in the baking dish, makes for a whole lot less stress the day of the dinner.  The chicken broth keeps the turkey nice and moist in the reheating.  Then Sunday it was easy to just thicken the gravy and whip up some potatoes and a veggie. So much easier.   I also threw a ham in the oven because I wanted to make sure there was enough meat for that crowd.  My sis brought desserts and buns and we all shared a wonderful and delicious afternoon together.

~ gifts ~ my son bought me a really cute planter for the deck table.  He saw it in a grocery store of all places and thought of me so he bought it.  It's a huge teacup and saucer and I can't wait to go pick flowers for it next month.  My younger daughter brought with her a gift that she had ordered for Christmas for me but it didn't come in on time so she gave it to me now.  It's an ornament with the quote from the book I used to read to them all the time when they were little:  "I'll Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.  It really touched me.    

~ siding work started ~  it's been a long time coming but work started yesterday on replacing the siding on our house.  We've wanted to do it for years and years but other priorities have always put it on the back burner.  It's a lot of work for Hubby keeping up on the painting and everything else around here and as we get older we are both finding our enthusiasm and energy and even ability for certain chores is waning.  With my hand and arm issues I haven't helped with painting in many years so all the work of both inside and outside painting fell to Hubby who has his own shoulder issue.  I'm so glad that at least painting the exterior of the house will no longer be on his to do list.  

What have been your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #834

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five on this day where we reflect on the great mercy and love of God towards us in sending us His Son, Jesus, to die for us so that we can have eternal life with Him.  My prayer is your heart knows this truth.  And to quote a line from season 5 part 2 of the Chosen, even if God didn't bless us with one other thing in this life, "It would have been enough".   But He in His great love, does give us blessings and we are here to notice them and be grateful for them.  Please join us as we share 5 of them from the last week.

~ neighborhood walks ~ There has been some lovely weather so we've been taking advantage and going for some walks around the neighborhood with the dog.  I am blessed to have 5 different Little Free Libraries within walking distance of my home.  So me and the pooch rotate through them getting our fresh air and exercise.  I'm thankful for the warmer weather to get outside!

~ fun with the dayhome kids ~ holidays always mean extra activities that we usually don't do and yesterday we did our Easter egg hunt with the littles.  They love this every year.  It was a bit chilly outside during the activity but everyone was soon warmed up with all the running around.  I ended up rehiding the eggs at least 5 times.  It was so fun watching them have fun with their laughter and excitement.

~ Part 3 of the Chosen Last Supper ~ Saturday saw us back at the theatre to watch the Last Part of season 5.  Oh my,  pretty speechless over that one.  When it ended and the lights came on everyone just sat there in stunned silence, reflecting over everything we had just seen.  Yes, we know the story and we know what's going to happen but it's in how it is presented and the great writing and acting that puts it right before your eyes.  

~ gift from a dayhome parent ~ one of my dayhome Moms gifted me with a lovely Easter bouquet.  It was a lovely surprise and it was so thoughtful of her to think of me.  And now I'll have a lovely bouquet for the Easter dinner table.

~ reconnecting ~ this week through a phone call I was able to reconnect with someone who had been a huge part of my growing up years.  We lost touch many, many years ago.  It was so nice to be able to talk with her again and I recognized her voice instantly.  

What have been your favorite blessings of the week?

 

I want to wish you all a very Happy Easter!