Friday's Fave Five #813

Welcome to a very frosty Friday.  I don't know what it's like where you are but winter has arrived with a bang here in my neck of the woods. Very cold and snowing.  But even though the weather isn't what I would prefer there is still lots of blessings to find and be thankful for.  Please join in as we develop the habit of noticing blessings God sends our way and pausing to be grateful, not just once a year but as a lifestyle.  

 ~ personal OCC gifts packed with love and prayer ~ I finished the last minute shopping and put together my shoebox gift finishing them off with a prayer.   I so enjoyed putting them together and memories of when I went to Costa Rica to help distribute shoebox gifts to children really spurred me on to challenge myself to do extra boxes this year.  So much fun.

~ church shoe boxes collected ~     Sunday was collection day for the shoebox gifts at my church.  The last few years we've been hovering around a total of 65 boxes packed by our church members.  This year so far the count has come in at 92!   So thankful for everyone who participated!  I know it was a sacrifice for some.

~ new bed ~ Hubby and I bit the bullet and finally went out and got a new bed.  We decided this was our Christmas present to each other.  So worth it.  And we got a decent price.  So double blessing.

~ celebrating hubby ~ Yesterday was Hubby's birthday.  The kids contacted him in various ways to wish him a Happy Birthday and sent some fun gifts.  I got him a vitamix blender he's been wanting for years and took him out for a nice dinner to a favorite Italian restaurant.  

~ tiramisu ~ one of my favorite desserts ever!  Because it was his birthday it was compliments of the restaurant.  He was gracious enough to share it with me.  Yum!!  

What have been your favorite blessings of the last week?  

Friday's Fave Five #812

It's Friday and that means we take a pause in our regularly scheduled days and look back to take note and be thankful for the blessings we have had over the course of the week.  Taking this small moment of time to just reflect on God's blessings with grateful hearts, whether big or small, helps us to realize how truly good life is even when we are going through hard things.  At times it may be hard and we have to dig deep but if we develop the habit of being grateful it helps carry us through those tougher times.  Please join in as we share five of our favorite blessings from the last week.

~ time with nothing on the agenda ~ last weekend afforded us some much needed time with nothing on the agenda or the to do list.  It seems we've been so busy lately on weekends that we were extra thankful for this down time to rest and relax.  It being a long weekend gave us that extra day so that nothing needed to be rushed or squeezed in.  Thankful for that time to rest.

~ Remembrance Day services ~ I took the time to watch the Remembrance Day service from Ottawa, our capital city.  It was very moving and I'm thankful to remember the men and women who served with courage and honor. 

~ lost earring found ~ the week before I had lost an earring.  Not usually a big deal.  But these were a pair that used to belong to my Mom.  They weren't even real gold I don't think, but they were sentimental.  I was so bummed.  I called all the places I'd been that day, hoping someone had it but no luck.   A few days later, one called back saying they had found it.  I was so thankful they took the time to set it aside and phone back.  

~ mild fall ~ the weather has been holding up on the good side so far giving us a pretty mild fall.  It's been really windy a couple of days but for mid-November it's been really good.  We've had lots of outside with the kids and I've been able to walk the dog often too.  So thankful for the nice days.

 ~ my dog ~ this week I was thinking how thankful I am for this little furball in my life.  Yes, having a pet can be expensive and they do tie you down in some ways but the trade off, for us, is worth it. He brings joy and laughter with his funny personality and quirks, just petting him relieves stress, he can keep a secret, he gets me out for walks and exercise, he always greets us with so much excitement when we come home. I'm thankful God brought him around when we had kinda decided we were not going to get another dog.  

 

What blessings are you grateful for this week?

November Reading Possibilities

I can't believe it's already almost mid-November.  Time is just racing for me and I really can't pinpoint where it has gone.  I know the time change has really knocked me for a loop and it feels like some of my reading time has been stolen by that as I get so tired so much "earlier".  Oh well.  When I do get reading time available it still has been good so that is the main point, right?  This year, I've really had to appreciate whatever time I get to do my favorite hobby, so though disappointing that I will not even be close to meeting my reading goals for the year, whatever time I have spent reading has been wonderful.  

So for November I dug into my non-fiction piles for Non-fiction November.  There was quite a few to choose from but I narrowed it down to these options and some fiction thrown in for good measure.  Some are purchased, some from Little Free Libraries, some borrowed.  My goal for the year was to read through my purchased books so I'll have to give those the priority.  I'll never get to all of these but it's nice to have choices so I can mood read which was also one of my goals for the year.  

PURCHASED BOOKS

          ~ A Woman Who Trusts God by Debbie Alsdorf

          ~ The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs (dnf at pg 59 for constant use of the Lord's name in vain)

          ~ They Turned the World Upside Down by Charles Martin

          ~ This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

          ~ When We Were Young & Brave by Hazel Gaynor

BORROWED BOOKS

          ~ Jaqueline in Paris by Ann Mah

          ~ Between a Rock and a Grace Place by Carol Kent

LITTLE FREE LIBRARY

  

          ~ Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

RE-READ

          ~ Ribbon of Years by Robin Lee Hatcher

 

AUDIOBOOKS

          ~ Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler (finished)

          ~ Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

          ~ Everybody Always by Bob Goff

Do you do Non-Fiction November?  What is your favorite non-fiction book?

Friday's Fave Five #811

Happy Friday everyone!  Welcome to Friday's Fave Five where we are pursuing a life lived in gratitude for the blessings God gives us.  Choosing to set our focus onto the blessings in our lives changes our perspective.  Instead of seeing lack, we start to see all that we have.  Being thankful and grateful opens our hearts and goes against the cultural norm of always wanting more.  Gratitude recognizes that the source of blessing comes not from within ourselves but lies with God, the giver of all that is good. Please join in as we intentionally take a moment to find the blessing in our lives.

~ supper with neighbors ~  we have neighbors a few doors down with whom we have been friends for many years.  Our main connection is our faith and our kids.  Just like us they had an older daughter, a middle son and a younger daughter and the kids ages were all just a year behind our kids. As life moved on and the kids became adults and went their separate ways to different cities with their careers and families, us parents also kind of lost touch.  We'd chat a few minutes as we ran into each other outside but never really had a chance to visit.  But we remedied that last week and spent an enjoyable evening over dinner catching up.  

~ OCC packing party ~  on Saturday I joined in with a larger church in our city who does a packing party for Operation Christmas Child.  It was fun to join in and spend a couple of hours with about 20 others as we walked from table to table filled with school supplies, gifts and toys, clothes and personals filling boxes to the brim for children in hard circumstances around the world.  We packed about 350 boxes!  

~ feather quilt ~ it's that time of year when the feather quilt made it out of storage and onto the bed. I love that quilt.  It's so comfortable and cozy and I usually can't wait for the nights to get cold enough to bring it out.

~ lunch with out pastors ~ we were treated to lunch by our pastors on Sunday and it was a lovely time of catching up with them personally and hearing where the church is heading.  We haven't had time with them in a while so it was really nice to be with them.  

~ winter tires on ~ I'm thankful for a hubby who takes care of everything to do with my car including switching out the tires. Around here you never know when that first winter storm will hit.  Sometimes it's the very beginning of October and sometimes not until well into November but I'm thankful he got the job done before hand.  

What have been blessings you are grateful for this last week?

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh ~ Book Review

Isadora Bentley is facing her thirtieth birthday alone by choice.  Deciding she will celebrate with a good feed of junk food she heads to the grocery store.  While at the till, she sees a magazine featuring an article entitled "Thirty One Ways to Be Happy".  Being decidedly unhappy, on a whim Isadora tosses the magazine onto the pile.  After all maybe, just maybe, her quiet, organized, lonely life might need a boost.  After reading the article and being quite skeptical of both the author and the suggestions, the university researcher in Isadora decides to make a secret research project out of the whole thing to prove both the article and it's author false.  As she takes on the different steps outlined in the article and it brings her into contact with a host of characters that seem to have the happiness that eludes her and want to prove her wrong,  Isadora finds that maybe there may be something to this ridiculous list after all, if only she could open herself to it.  

I loved this story.  I was immediately caught up into Isadora's world where she had built a wall around herself to protect her heart both professionally and personally as she was previously very hurt in both areas of her life.  Her determination to prove it all wrong leads to some really hilarious and heartfelt moments throughout the story.  I found myself laughing and shedding tears for her throughout.  Her character caused me as the reader to have someone to really root for hoping she would find happiness somewhere out of the list. The author did a good job of moving the story along and letting the reader into all the confusing emotions Isadora was going through in her journey.   The humor is witty and yet there were many deep  and smart moments that causes the reader to pause and think.  It was a sweet, enlightening and fun read.

Rating:  10/10

Friday's Fave Five #810

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It's already the 1st day of November!  Where did October go?   It's now time to take a moment and look back over your week and find some blessings to take note of that God has brought into your life.  Please join us as we intentionally develop a life of gratitude.  

~ Yummy Treat ~  people were really talking this up on my local C0stco fb group.  It piqued my curiosity so I nabbed a bag.  Worth it.

Hawaiian Host

Strawberries & Cream White Chocolate Macadamia Nuts

~ great study and discussion ~ in our ladies bible study group we are each taking a turn in leading the evening.  We can pick the topic and do it how we want.  All that to say that this week's leader really nailed it with what I needed reminding of.  It was such a good lesson and discussion afterwards.  I got a lot out of that evening.  

~ quieter day today ~ after a busy day with toddlers and preschoolers yesterday, and kids wound up with Hall*ween, I'm thankful today I will only have half the kids here today.  I'm looking forward to a group of 3 arriving soon that get along well and a day toned down a bit.  

~ laugh until you cry ~ my neighbor, who also has a home based childcare, and I had a good belly laugh over the fence this week.  It's a blessing to have someone who knows exactly what you are going through  and can totally relate.  In telling her about the stress of having one's hubby trying to take a group picture with myself and  6 kids under the age of 5, in costumes no less and one child who hates getting his picture taken,  she already knew exactly what I was talking about.  As I showed her the 50 shots he took (I'm not even kidding.  He was snapping away hoping one would turn out).  We were laughing till we cried at the ones where I was trying to direct the shot while being in the shot and the face of frustration and tense smiles on my face in some of them.  And after that many pics were there any where every child was looking at the camera and actually smiling?  Of course not.  So now I have 50 pics to try and decide which to keep and which to dump.  And well, that in itself stress me out.  But I'm definitely going to keep the ones we were  laughing till we cried over.  It wasn't funny at the time it was happening but looking at the pics it's absolutely hilarious.  

~ horchata ~ the Mexican drink made from rice, sugar, milk and cinnamon is a favorite treat.  The Mexican restaurant we love makes the best and it's a lovely treat to have once in awhile.  I really need to learn to make it myself.  Anyone ever try to make it?

What were you're favorite blessings this week?

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?