Friday, September 21, 2018

Friday's Fave Five #500


Well here we are at Friday's Fave Five post number 500.  Five hundred posts of intentionally looking for God's blessings, great and small, in our everyday.  Intentionally noticing and learning to develop gratefulness even in the harder times.  This has been such a remarkable journey over the years.  You'd think with all the years I've been doing this that these lists just pretty much write themselves, that I have become quite proficient and adept in being able see blessings in my everyday, no matter what.   But you know, it's still a journey.  I am, after all only human and I have my bad days, my grumpy moments where the last thing I am looking for is the good in my life.  Where I want to wallow in the feelings of disappointment, or anger or self-pity.  But the beauty of starting this Friday's Fave Five, was that there was always this wonderful group of people waiting here for me each Friday to say hello, to join up in this thing that takes discipline and effort, to share their blessings, to point me to the good, to help me recognize blessings in all sorts of forms.  And I thank you all for that.  Some of you have been with me since the beginning, you deserve a medal!  And some just for a few weeks.  I want you to know I cherish and am grateful for each and everyone of you, from the beginning until now.  Even though my blogging has waned over the last couple of years for a whole myriad of reasons, this little corner of thanks has kept on.  Thank you for coming on this journey with me!  

So this week's favorite blessings:

~ lunch with our Pastors ~ our Pastors are also our friends but because they are pastors they are soooo busy, so when we get a chance where our schedules actually coincide and we can go grab lunch after church it really is a blessing.  It was great to catch up with them and find out what they had been up to over the summer and what they learned at the leadership conference they had attended.  And they treated us to the lunch.

~ Pumpkin Spice Latte ~ yes, I like them and I had my first of the season.  I get them 1/2 sweet, which is verging on too sweet for me, but it's a once in awhile treat.  And what was even nicer is I had the company of my daughter to enjoy it with.  

~ haircut ~ I  marked my appointment wrong on the wall calendar and showed up at the salon last week only to be disappointed that I'd made a mistake.  So at my actual appointment this week I was so ready for it.  Funny how a needed haircut can just lift the countenance.  Now I'm set for another 6 weeks.   

~ back to the gym ~  after I twisted my knee just changing direction in my kitchen my knee became really painful and weak so I made the decision to take a week off the gym and let it heal and rest.  I do hate to do that because I get out of routine and it's hard to get back but I'm glad I did it.  This week I got back to it, albiet taking it easy through the movements especially ones that involved the knee, and it feels so good.  I actually miss not only the workout but the opportunity to be with other women.  When you are with little children all day long it's really nice to have adults around.  

~ small group kickoff ~ it was a great evening where all the groups came together for some fun, some yummy desserts and lots of laughs.  It was nice to connect with my own small group ladies and meet some new ones who are considering coming.  Looking forward to this fall growing in God's word with them.

What were your favorite blessings this week?









5 comments:

susan said...

Susanne - Thanks so much for leading us in these weekly times of thanksgiving. It has been great to meet ladies and to get to know them through their list of gratitudes.

How fun you got to share a meal with your pastors. I bet they really appreciate your love, friendship and prayers!

A good haircut really does lift a person's spirits. Hurray that you got one this week. I keep putting my haircut off because I need to find a new stylist and that is HARD work for me.

I like pumpkin spice latte, too. I never thought to try it half sweet I think that will agree with my taste buds much better.

Glad your knee is doing better so that you could go back to the gym. I am much more of a couch potato than a gym rat. So I couldn't relate to you missing going to the gym. I want to relate, though. ;)

Our small groups start back up on Sunday. And I am pumped.

Have a peace-filled week.

Gattina said...

Now you reminded me that I also have to go to the hairdresser ! I can imagine being with little once the whole day you need some adults around, although sometimes when I am in our group of friends we just behave like little once, lol !

Faith said...

Susanne. What a nice intro you wrote. I LOVE doing the FFF and sometimes other than book reviews it's all i blog too. Although I'm starting to blog more devotional type posts when i have some down time. Staying off FB most evenings has helped.

Yay for coffee dates, lunch dates and a knee that can handle work outs again. I haven't done my arm weights for 2 weeks due to a kink in my shoulder but it's feeling better so Sunday morning before church i will begin that work out again. Trying to build some muscle in these arms!!

Happy autumn!!!!

Barbara H. said...

Happy 500th FFF! I've been here for most of them since the beginning. There are some days blessings overflow and it's hard to narrow the list down to 5, then other times I think I have nothing to share until I sit down and think about it a while. So I am glad for this exercise either way, to acknowledge the blessings when they are abundant, to seek for them when they are not obvious, and to praise God for them all.

I know what you mean about haircuts. I don't think most people even notice when I have one, but I can tell the difference and feel so much better when I finally get in for a trim.

I am glad your knee is better and you were able to make it back to the gym. The small group kickoff sounds fun, and I am glad you were able to get together with your pastors.

Willow said...

500! What an amazing journey this has been. Thank you for managing this FFF and for keeping it going. If I don't post anything else during the week, I make sure I do FFF.

Pumpkin spice lattes! Oh yeah! I 'try' to limit myself to one a year. And I do mine with almond milk.

We are looking forward to the start of our small groups this next week!