Friday's Fave Five #809

UPDATE:  MR. LINKY NOW WORKING!!

Hello and welcome once again to Friday's Fave Five.  Another week of developing our hearts to look automatically for blessing in our lives no matter the circumstances swirling around us.  And then we take the next step and be thankful and grateful for them.  Please join us as we share 5 of the blessings from the last week.  

~ Operation Christmas Child kick off ~ Sunday was the big kickoff to our church participating in and packing the shoebox gifts.  I always get nervous.  I've been doing this many, many years and it's always a bit nerve wracking trying to think of a different way of saying basically the same thing.  I don't have a lot of time alloted to me to make the announcement so I feel what I say has to make an impact.  But God led and it went well.  Every single box got taken and I actually had to get more from the city's collection center to put out for this Sunday in case someone who wanted one didn't get a box.  Thankful that our church members have giving hearts and have supported this for so many years.  

~ garden winter prep ~ on the weekend the weather was nice enough that I could get outside and start prepping the flower beds for winter.  I trimmed most of the perennials back and dug out most of the annuals out of both the planters and the beds.  I only have the front step planters left and the silvia which is still beautiful in spite of it having snowed one day this week.  They will come out this weekend.  Then I'll mulch where I have to to protect some of those perennials from the cold winter.  Thankful I was able to get the bulk of that workload done and I didn't get caught with a huge fall snow storm where I wouldn't have been able to clean it up before winter.  

~ gorgeous fall walk ~ the weekend before last we went on walk to one of my favorite viewpoints  overlooking my favorite are of the city.  Though a bit breezy it was still a gorgeous day and it felt great to be out in the fresh fall air.  I'm thankful for nice walking areas in the city and a body that still gets around and for all my senses that can enjoy a beautiful walk on a beautiful day.  

~ a good night's sleep ~ for whatever reason the week before I was waking up quite a bit during the night or not falling asleep fast enough or just not getting under enough to get a good rest.  After days of this I was getting pretty tired.  But the first night that my sleep rhythm got back to normal was absolute heaven.  Thankful for good sleep so that my body and mind can repair and recharge.

~ evening with friends ~ Monday evening I met up with the two friends with whom I formally had been doing bible study with.  One of them I had been doing study with for a couple of years when we both had felt in kind of limbo because of things going on in our lives.  The other lady joined us about 9 months ago.  This summer both my friend and I had felt that come September we needed to connect back into a group at our own churches. We said at that point that we shouldn't lose touch and I'm thankful that we made a point of getting together.  Though I'm enjoying my new study and the challenges it brings, I miss these two friends and the time we spent learning the Word and having great discussions together.  

What blessings were you grateful for this week?