Friday, July 24, 2020

Friday's Fave Five # 594




Welcome Friday and welcome to all those of you who are joining in with Friday's Fave Five.  Thank you for joining me in developing a keen heart to discover the blessings in our everyday no matter what we are facing or going through in our lives.  Finding those blessings and then developing a grateful and thankful heart changes our perspective.  It makes us more joyful.  And I'm not talking about the fleeting happiness that is dependent upon our circumstances, but a deep, abiding sense of gratefulness for the hand of God in our lives and the gifts, big and small that He gives to us.  If you are new you can click on the guidelines in the sidebar and then just join in.

~Sunday church service~  Sunday was the first time we had been in church since March. We are allowed to have services as long as the restrictions and guidelines are followed.  We missed the first couple of weeks because we just weren't sure we were ready but decided last minute this last Sunday to attend.  It was nice actually being in a live service instead of online and seeing other members we haven't seen in so long.  It was organized and social distanced well.   I don't know if we'll go every week but glad that option is open again.

~ sprinkler and water fun with kids ~ when I grew up neighborhood waterfights were a thing, a very fun thing.  So playing with water with the dayhome kids never gets old for me.  It's been super hot here this week, well relatively speaking, hot for us, not so much for some of you folks.  But that means we've had water play every single day.  I love hearing the shrieks and laughter and challenges that come from this kind of outdoor play.  Susanne and hose for the win against kids with pool noodles.





~ funny text conversation ~ today I had a text conversation with one of my dayhome parents that ended up taking a really funny turn.  It made me laugh out loud and made my day.  I love when that happens.

~ air conditioning ~ because this week has been hot we've been running the a/c.  I'm very thankful on these kinds of weeks for the a/c.  I'm also thankful for it on those nights when young people decide that playing basketball on the school court across the street is the thing to do in the middle of the night and we can shut the windows and run the air.

~ road trip to one of my happy places ~ Saturday the Hubby and I took a road trip to one of my favorite places, Waterton Lakes.  It's so beautiful there and we always go at least once or twice a year.  Getting away was fun and the road trip great.  But it was very, very crowded and hard to find parking.  I think people are getting "covid fatigue" and just want to get out.  It was a bit stressful because there was a real lack of social distancing and hardly any people were wearing masks in the crowded situations.  We ended up not doing much of what we usually do when we are there but it was fun to watch our dog do his favorite thing which is fetch sticks in the lake.  We enjoyed the gorgeous day and the beautiful mountain views and spent time together away from our usual everyday.  Which made it a great day in spite of the crowds.  Thankful we have such a nice place fairly close to home that we can escape to.



What were your favorite blessings from the last week?









8 comments:

Deb J. in Utah said...

Hi Susanne. So glad you could take a little road trip. Yes, a lot of us need those road trips and days away for our mental health. Glad everything is going well with your day home. Looks like all the children had fun last week. We still haven't gone back to church and our congregation has not resumed in-person services, so we are still worshipping at home. Big spikes of the virus around here are the reason. Hopefully the trend for virus infections is down. Thanks for providing a forum for gratitude every week. Have a great weekend.

Barbara Harper said...

Our church has been meeting the last few weeks, but they've kept the Zoom option open for those who aren't comfortable meeting yet. So far we're still using Zoom. I'd almost be ok with going in, but cases are rising dramatically in our area. Because of that, we're still only doing what we have to do out of necessity.

Sprinklers are great fun in the summer! I'm thankful for AC, too.

Glad you got to go on a road trip, though it was crowded. I agree about people getting covid fatigue. Some attractions are opening up now with limited numbers of people allowed.

Gattina said...

What a nice idea to let the kids play with water ! Here it was very hot too but our new apartment is quite cool even withouth airconditioning. I am still busy with the move, but our appartment is ready just a few things to put in place !

Jerralea said...

Anyone who knows me in real life knows I am in love with air conditioning and road trips!

Enjoy!

ellen b. said...

Glad you could enjoy an in person service again. Too bad about the crowds at one of your favorite getaways. We really haven't ventured out anywhere except for our favorite Mexican Restaurant. We have had visitors and that has been nice. We are so thankful for our A/C, too. Hope you have a good weekend.

Karen said...

It's nice to see the view of 'your' Rockies. They look higher and more rugged than down here! It's nice to be close enough to do day trips. We are planning one for next week, hoping it won't be as crowded on a weekday.

The water play looks like fun! I was thankful for our water toys when the grandkids were here and we couldn't go many places. It sure kept them busy.

Our church opened about a month ago, and we have to sign up to reserve a spot for mass. I was able to attend earlier this week. On Sundays, they are doing outdoor mass, but it's still limited to a number of attendees.

Have a great weekend!

Willow said...

I love that statement at the end--perception is a key component to gratitude. So true.
Your get away place does look beautiful. Even the drive to get there is restful. I know it is hard to find unpopulated places on the weekend. We just won't go to the beach on Saturday or Sunday--too many people.
Your day care kids are so lucky to have you! Water games! You're so much fun!
Have a good weekend!

Wendy said...

How nice to have the water play and AC to deal with the heat. Our week has been much cooler that we'd expect for this time of year. Lovely to get away from things too despite the lack of distancing etc. Enjoy your weekend.