Friday, June 24, 2022

Friday's Fave Five #687




Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Stopping to take a pause in our busy day to day and remember to look for, find and be grateful for all the blessings, big and small that God has brought into our lives.  This week has been mentally and emotionally exhausting for me so I am thankful I have this reminder to take some time to remember and enjoy and be thankful for the good things.  I find that if I don't take time for this I can feel like I'm drowning in the negative that the world keeps dishing up.  There is so much to be thankful for if we only take the time to find the blessings even in the harder weeks or days.  Please join us if you haven't already done so in developing a habit of being a thankful and grateful to God for the good things.

~ we have some blooms opening ~  the last day or so a couple of the buds on the peony bush have started to open.  I am so excited!  If you haven't been following along it's a bush I took from my childhood home before it sold last year.  My mom loved peonies, as do I, but I never had a sunny enough location for them.  Well I made a spot just for Mom's bush and I didn't expect it to bloom at all this year as last fall I basically just dug a hole in lawn and plonked the tubers in and hoped for the best.  But lo and behold it made it through the winter so I built a flower bed around it and now they are blooming!  


 
Not the best picture.  It was really windy outside and the blossom was bobbing around so it's blurry, but you get the idea. 


~ anniversary celebrations ~ Saturday was our 39th anniversary and in celebration we went for a nice dinner out to our favorite Italian restaurant.  It was so good!  To start we had Caesar salad and Crispy Lobster and Crab Ravioli bites to share, then I had a Short Rib Ragu with Polenta ( I loooove polenta) and hubby had a steak that was cooked to perfection.  And dessert was an awesome tiramisu and and italian soda float made with vanilla bourbon gelato.  Such a nice dinner to celebrate!



~ parting gift ~ a dayhome family who's last day was yesterday gifted me a lovely bouquet and gift card to a restaurant.  It was so adorable watching the little guy carry this big bouquet up the driveway to give to me.  



~ scripture reminders ~ this last week when I was feeling lots of discouragement and anxiety there seemed to be so many perfect scriptures coming through my feed on f*cebook.  It was just the encouragement and little reminders I needed to trust God with circumstances.  I love when people share scriptures on social media, you never know when it's just the right one that someone is going to need to see at the right moment.  


~ fresh cut grass ~ Hubby cut the grass in the early one morning  and it smelled so good.  Fresh cut grass is a favorite smell for me and it just brings a sense of peace and calm for me.  I just had to open up the windows and let the breeze carry it right into the house.  After a few weeks of a stuffy nose from a cold and allergies it is a blessing to be able to smell wonderful natural scents! 

What have been your favorite blessings this week?   





8 comments:

Faith said...

Happy Anniversary again and wow those veggies look amazing!! I love a good Italian restaurant.

I too love the scent of fresh cut grass.....some people don't.

I also have been encouraged with Scriptures this week regarding my discouragement, frustration and anxiety over these sinus issues. Now of course I'm dealing with the stiff neck which just adds to my frustration. But God is bigger than our physical problems...or emotional ones...and HE is the HEALER. I will keep praying for you and yes I thank you so much for keeping me in prayer. I have appreciated all of your emails and messages.

I love when students do special things....the flowers are gorgeous and yay for peonies blooming. Mine are now past prime but i sure did love them this year.
Have a restful weekend

Barbara Harper said...

Belated happy anniversary! Congratulations on your 39th year together! What a lovely dinner. That's so neat that the peonies from your childhood home are blooming. How sweet of your dayhome child to bring you a bouquet. There must be such mixed emotions when one of them moves on. It's amazing how God uses people to share His Word and encourage each other with just the right verse. Fresh cut grass makes me sneeze. :-D Even when my son would come in from cutting the grass and stop to talk to me for a second, the residue on his shoes and clothes would make my sneezy. I'm glad that doesn't happen to you since it is one of your favorite scents.

Melanie said...

I follow three different pages on FB and so often, they have a scripture or just a note of encouragement that just fits what I need! Happy Belated Anniversary. Your dinner menu sounds wonderful! I'm so glad that I began participating here each Friday. It is wonderful to share my blessings and read others. Have a blessed weekend.

Deb J. in Utah said...

Hi Susanne. Happy anniversary to you and your husband. Your celebration dinner looks like it was absolutely delicious. I love flowers too. It's wonderful that you now have flowers on the peony bush you brought over from your mom's house. That is a beautiful bouquet that the little boy you have cared for gave you. Very thoughtful. I am glad you have found encouragement in scriptures that people have shared. Hope you have a good weekend. Thanks for hosting. See you again soon!

Willow said...

Happy Anniversary to you and your husband! That dinner looks like a true celebration.
I love it when encouraging Bible verses pop up wherever--online, in emails, in books.
I can just imagine that sweet smile of the little boy who brought you those flowers. He must have been so proud and excited.
Fresh cut grass aroma is wonderful. And the earth after rain. And peonies. I love your peony photo!
Happy weekend to you!

nikkipolani said...

What a lovely shade of peony! I'm so pleased for you that it's done so well. You've got it in a great spot.

Misread your description of your anniversary dinner -- I'd read "Indian" restaurant and was really confused when you mentioned Caesar salad! Looks fantastic.

Those summer smells are inviting, aren't they?

Wendy said...

Your anniversary meal sounded delicious and how lovely that the peony survived. I can imagine the memories it conjures up. The flowers from your leaver are lovely too. Have a good weekend Susanne.

ellen b. said...

Happy Anniversary. How nice to enjoy a good meal out. I'm also glad you could find encouragement in the midst from God's word!