Friday's Fave Five #859

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian friends.  And while we celebrate this special weekend here in Canada I'm thankful I have all you wonderful people who join me on the regular to make being thankful an intentional way to live our lives everyday not just on a holiday once a year.  If you've never joined in, now is the time!  Guidelines are linked in the sidebar and then just jump on in.

~ lunch with a friend ~ after several attempts to get together we were finally able to pull off getting together on Saturday.  It was a couple hours of catching up, encouragement, tears and laughter.  And the food was delicious too!

~ playground days ~ the weather has been gorgeous this week which has been a life saver.  There is a teacher's strike going on here so that means no school.  Which means I have 2 kids who normally would come 3 days a week now coming 5 days a week.  But it also means with no school I have 2 playgrounds available!  We been going to one or the other everyday!  So thankful we can get out and burn off energy in the fresh air everyday!

~ river bottom walk ~ I love taking walks down in the river bottom park.  Sunday was cool and crisp but the fall leaves made it a lovely walk.  Even saw a couple of young deer munching away on some vegetation.  So nice having access to all sorts of trails in lovely areas.

~ speaking of deer ~ twice this week there have been deer in our neighborhood.  This guy was playing pick a side of the street with us when we went for a walk.  We kept crossing the street away from him so it would freak out Tux.  Then yesterday morning the kids spotted a family of dear in the schoolyard across the street.  When they finally came out the gate, funny enough they crossed the street right in the crosswalk.  Would have been fun to get a picture of that.  I never get tired of seeing deer in the neighborhood.

~ hanging in there ~ though I've started to clear out some of the planters as mentioned last week, I haven't touch my front porch flowers because they are still gorgeous and I just don't have the heart to pull them when they still look so lovely.  I'll enjoy every minute I can get out of them.

Very simple blessings for me this last week.  But things that lifted me up nonetheless.  How about you?  What were the blessings you saw in your life this last week?

Friday's Fave Five #858

Happy October!  And welcome to Friday's Fave Five!  It's definitely feeling fallish here with weather cooling off and the leaves turning and being blown by the winds.  

~ fall clean up started ~ usually I put off with emptying planters and flower beds because I want to enjoy the flowers as long as possible but then I usually get caught with the weather changing drastically quickly and then I'm stuck trying to pull flowers out of very cold and hard dirt or have to wait for the first snow dump to melt and it's a mess.  This year I told myself that wouldn't happen so I've been slowing pulling out the flowers a little at a time starting with the saddest.  Hopefully I will get to them all before we have a freak snow storm.  My front porch planters are all still so pretty it breaks my heart but it's gotta get done and I know in the long run I'll be glad.

~ friend tradition ~ every year we can my friend and I go and tour the show homes together.  Saturday was our day.  As per tradition, we grab a coffee shop coffee and head out.  This year we started with the biggest and most expensive but ended on what both of us felt was the best one.  It had a library at the top of the stairs.  How can that not be my favorite?!We both enjoy it and it's fun to spend time together.

~ autumn clean up at church ~ at our church every fall on a Wednesday night, all the bible studies get together along with anyone else who wants to come and we scour the church from top to bottom.  When I got there it looked like a busy bee hive with everyone busy with buckets and brooms.  This year there were so many people it took just over an hour!  And the time goes fast as you get to visit while you work.  I was home before a regular night of bible study would have even been over.  Hmmm maybe we should all do each other's houses, one a week!  LOL.

~ bible study leader ~  I'm really thankful for a wonderful bible study leader.  She has a heart for the Lord and the ladies in her study.  She is empathetic yet challenges you.  She lets people talk and knows when to move on.  She has a wonderful sense of humor.  And she is sensitive and quick to pray.  Very thankful for my group as a whole.

~ fall hand soaps ~  I love the scents of fall, even in the hand soaps.  So I loaded up on some new ones and some old faves.  With the dayhome kids I go through tons of hand soap and they are so funny when they get so excited to see a new bottle on the counter.  I have to admit I like starting a new one too.

What have been your favorite blessings from this last week?

  

And as per my question last week,  if you want to share in the comments how do you think you can intentionally be a blessing to someone else this week?

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon ~ Book Review

Nancy Wake is an Australian expat living in 1936 Paris.  She works for Hearst newspapers as a journalist, a job she bluffed her way into, but is finding frustrated as the newspaper doesn't give credit to their female journalists.  Nancy is not looking for love when she meets a wealthy industrialist named Henri Fiocca but his pursuit of her finally wins her heart and they are married.  Then Germany invades France and Nancy finds herself drawn to help the Resistance where she can.  Always independent, Nancy finds courage and resolve even she didn't know she had as her involvement deepens in the fight against Nazi occupation.  Her solid foundation however, is at home with her beloved Henri.  But will this war shatter what they have built together?

This book is based on the real story of Nancy Wake, one of WWII's most decorated and courageous women.  Nancy was known by several names, "Noncee" to her beloved husband, Mandame Andree - the fighter, Lucienne Carlier - the smuggler, Helene - the spy, The White Mouse - the target that the Germans were searching for.  Nancy's fight for the Resistance began while working for Hearst newspapers when she witnessed horrific brutality by the Germans towards Jews in Vienna.  She could not stand by as they took over France.  Eventually she became trained by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in Britain where she was assigned back into France to equip and train the men there to fight the German occupation.  But according to the author's notes, the novel she wrote was mainly about marriage. At the heart, she wrote a novel about a woman and her husband and the sacrifices made by both of them.  I, for the most part, found this book about this incredibly courageous woman worth the read.  Admittedly, it was hard to read the more brutal parts of her story and there are many.  But that cannot be brushed from history.   I did find the story confusing at times in the way it jumped back and forth between time lines.  Because there was not a lot of years between the timelines, it started to get mixed up sometimes for me.  There is swearing in the book.  Nancy in real life swore.  A lot.  She used it as a way of gaining dominance and respect with the fighters in the Resistance.  As she did with drinking.  There is a lot of drinking in the story.  Negotiations for supplies and ammunition were always done over a bottle and the men tried to use it as a tactic to take advantage of her but she always turned the technique against them. It is all a part of the true story of Nancy Wake Fiocca.  There is also s*xual descriptions in the book that I felt didn't need to be in there and I did some skimming through those.  And there is also some horrific &  detailed violence that was very hard to read.   But the story of this courageous woman and others like her should not be lost and it was worth the read to learn about her and remember all she accomplished to save the lives of thousands.

I rated this book 8/10

Friday's Fave Five #857

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  The last one for the month of September?  Whaaat?  How did that happen?  The days are getting shorter.  I'm now getting up in the dark, which for this night owl is tough.  But there are so many things to be thankful for this week, maybe just not the getting up in the dark stuff.  I joke.  Every day I wake up, whether it is light out or dark,  is a gift I am thankful to God for!  Please join us as we pause to remember and be thankful for all the blessings God has gifted us with this week while we share five of them.

~ Leaves have started falling ~  I love fall.  The colors, the scents, the cozy sweaters.  I love the leaves falling, and the raking of them.  I love when we go for walks there are piles of leaves to crunch through.  Silly but it is a major de-stressor for me to do that.  I love watching the kids jumping in the leaves and throwing them up in the air yelling "Happy Fall Day!" and giggling as it falls all over their heads.  It's a blessing to live in a place where we get to experience all the seasons in dramatic fashion and I'm very thankful for that.  

~ bible study challenge ~ at the ladies study group I attend, the leader challenged us to write down three things we are thankful for and 3 ways in the coming week we would intentionally be a blessing to someone else.  Well thanks to years of intentionally looking for our blessings every Friday here at FFF it took me no time whatsoever to jot down three blessings.  So thankful for this group for taking this journey with me.  The second part was a little harder.  I'd never paused to intentionally think of how I could be a blessing.  Hmmm, maybe we should add that to our Fridays's Fave Five.  Name one way you intentionally intend to be a blessing to someone this week.  What do you guys think?

~ free bookshelf & computer chair ~ my sister's place of work was bought out by another company and they will be merging their office with the new company.  The staff were offered certain items to take and my sis asked if I could have a chair and a bookshelf.  They said yes so now I have a very comfy computer chair in my home office and a smaller bookshelf.  My unread books have found a new home.  So thankful that I was blessed with two items I really wanted for free.  

~ meeting new people ~ last week at study our challenge was to find and talk to someone at church we had never met before.  That wasn't too hard for me.  Meeting new people is not intimidating to me but I know it's really hard for some.  It was nice to hear some good reports this week even from those who balked a bit at the challenge but did it anyways and found it wasn't quite as hard once they took the steps.  

~ laughter ~ this week laughter has been on my mind.  I read a statement that said that children laugh on average 300 times a day and adults only a few.  That really gave me pause.  As we grow older and the weight of responsibilities is heavy we lose the ability to find humor in our everyday.  Wow.  Though I tend to be more on the serious side, I do love to laugh.  There were some wonderful moments of shared laughter throughout the week with the dayhome kids, my hubby, at study group.  It was refreshing.  I think I need to make a point of looking for laughter in my life.  Laughter is a blessing.

What blessings are you thankful for this week?

I Have Questions

Okay all my techy or Blogger knowledgeable friends.  I have a question.  If I change my email in the settings of my blogger account will it mess things up?  Or will it just be business as usual?

Friday's Fave Five #856

Hello everyone! Thanks for joining us again for Friday's Fave Five. It's such a good habit to be developed, that of looking for and noticing one's blessings in life. And then top it off with being grateful to God for them. If we take the time to train ourselves to look for those things, big and small, that God blesses us with on a daily basis during the good times then when we have our difficult days, because the practice is already developed then we can also be grateful and see blessings in the tough times. If you are new to Friday's Fave Five, the guidelines are linked in the sidebar.

~ fave police show now on Netflix ~  my all time favorite police show has just hit Netflix and I'm thrilled.  Flashpoint follows the elite and highly trained Strategic Response Unit (SRU) members in the Canadian city of Toronto as they are called out when negotiation and/or special skill sets are required in everything from hostages situations, gang related incidents, domestic stuff, weapons, etc.  I remember when I first saw Flashpoint, I'm sure I cried in every single episode.  The writing is so good.  Each episode starts with the incident and then rewinds to what led to the incident happening and how it's resolved.  It's an emotional journey as the writers had a real knack for letting the viewer in on what the SRU faced and went through but also the victims and the persons engaged in the crime.  It's been on various channels over the years but the episodes are never played in order and there are storylines for all the members that progress through the seasons so it's not quite the same as seeing it run it's course from beginning to end.  So I'm very happy Hubby and I have it to watch in the evenings now that colder weather will be setting in.  Highly recommend if you like police shows.  

~ from summer bloom to fall blooms ~  the summer blooms are starting to fade though there is a few still hanging on and giving it one last hurrah.  My planters (shown in this post) are still doing amazing but now the potted mums are starting to put on their show for the fall.  I'm soaking in the color because in these parts we've occasionally had crazy rogue snowstorms at the end of September.  

~ tomatoes ~ my neighbor gifted me with the best tasting tomatoes I've had this year.  She was blessed by someone giving her more than her family could use so she passed some on to me.  I've been enjoying toasted tomato sandwiches daily.  Yum!

~ helpful hubby ~ every way he helps out around the house on the daily is so appreciated.  From keeping the lawn cut for the dayhome kids, to scrubbing the pots and pans every night after dinner, to doing the Costco runs so I don't have to.  I'm thankful for all the little things that I don't want to let go unnoticed.

~ a good night's sleep ~ I haven't been sleeping the best the last little while so when I did get a great night's sleep it was heaven.  Hopefully I'm over that bump of restless nights and back on track for a good night's rest.

What are the blessings you are grateful for this last week?

Friday's Fave Five #855

Hi everyone and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  In what has been a shocking and sad week with the public murder of a public figure, a family man with a wife and two little girls.   I have to admit it hit me hard.  I don't know him, have never been to an event of his. While I don't necessarily agree with absolutely everything little thing he might have said, I did like his strong stance on family values and honoring God and his heart for the youth, freedom of speech and debate of ideas, willingness to talk with anyone and everyone, his passion of having people thinking critically about why they think the way they do rather than just accepting the idea of the moment.   But what I do know is he was a fellow believer, a member of the family of God, a brother in Christ and therefore I grieve for his horrific passing.  I hurt for his precious family left behind.  All because someone didn't agree with his viewpoints.  What is democracy if we can't have freedom of speech about our differing viewpoints?  It's so easy for me to get caught in the endless scrolling that can be a part of a monumental event such as this.  Therefore it is especially important for me to have Friday's Fave Five to refocus my mind and heart on what good blessings have touched my personal life this week.  

~ beautiful early fall days ~ this week has brought some absolutely gorgeous weather into my neck of the woods.  Cool evenings and mornings with warm, even hot days.  But the hot is a different kind of hot than August.  It just feels different in the fall.  We've had plenty of outside time soaking in the Vitamin D.  

~ massages ~ After not going for a massage since c*vid, I have started going once again to see if it helps with the arm issues I have been helping.  I'm thankful for the lady I am going to.  She is doing a lot of extra work and research trying to figure out what it could be and what nerves and muscles to pinpoint in a massage session.  Though right now it is painful at times as she hits trigger points I am really hoping this is going to help improve the symptoms I am experiencing.

~ quick appointment ~ I'm also very thankful for an appointment at a neurophysiology lab that was set only less than two months from the time of referral.  With healthcare the way it is in my province right now, these specialist appointments can take months and months so I am very grateful to have gotten one so quickly.  I wish I could say the same for my MRI.  That is a year away!  But I've got myself on a cancellation list so hopefully that will come sooner.

~ fresh garden produce ~ I don't have a garden so I'm always so grateful when someone with a garden shares from their efforts.  My sister has a couple of container gardens and share some delicious tomatoes, celery, green onions and parsley with me.  

~ thoughtful hubby ~ whenever hubby does a c*stco run (asterisk so I don't get people googling that store all landing on here), he brings me a little something he thinks I would like.  His last little treat was B.C. cherries which he knows I love.  Thankful that he thinks of me.

Going into this next week, I am so grateful that in spite of the evil that tries to gain the upper hand that God is still God, that He has a plan, that He is good and merciful and can bring good from every situation.   I pray you experience God's grace this week.  Hug your people and tell them you love them.  We are never guaranteed tomorrow.

What are you thankful for this week?