Friday's Fave Five #564

Hi and welcome once again to Friday's Fave Five.  I can hardly believe it the last weekend before Christmas.  I still feel like I'm 10 steps behind but it is what it is and I'm just going to go with the flow.  I am going to choose not to stress about what is not done and just be in the moment and enjoy what is getting done.  I'm going to choose to intentionally enjoy the moments of wrapping and preparation instead of freaking out.  Really the only ones who know what exactly is not done is me, and I sure will keep it to myself.  LOL.  Are you ready to hit the pause button in the busyness and look for blessings in the week?  Yes?  Great then just join in with us in sharing five of your favorites.

~  Treated to lunch out ~  We have been trying for weeks to get together with some friends of ours but things just don't seem to work out.  But this Sunday after church we finally connected and we enjoyed a nice meal out.  It was fun to catch up and exchange gifts and just relax in each other's company.

~ haircut ~ my hair is still recovering from the straightener gone rogue incident so it was nice to get another trim and get more of the damaged hair trimmed off.

~ extra night to get things done ~  as much as I absolutely love my ladies small group, I was very thankful that we have wrapped up for the year and I had that extra evening this week to get some more things knocked off the Christmas to do list.

~ Christmas shopping finished ~ well except for one minor thing.  It is good to get that out of the way and just knowing I don't have to fight the crowds this weekend is a relief.  I'll run out and get that last thing tonight.  The dinner items still need to be purchased but I'll do that sometime on the weekend.  We don't even know what we are doing yet as everyone is getting here so staggered this year.  But I'm just going to take it as it comes and not stress about it.  I'm off Christmas Eve so if I have to make a quick run I'll do it then.

~ Picture Christmas cards ~  I absolutely love them.  A dayhome family who hasn't been with me for years still sends me a picture card every year and I always look forward to getting that in the mail.  It's fun to see how much the kids have grown.  And I got an extra special one from a blogging friend this year, you know who you are, and I'm here to say I was absolutely thrilled to receive it!  Everytime I glance at these cards I say a pray for those pictured on it.

Well that is my five for this week.  It is short and sweet but looking for blessings doesn't always mean they are going to be obvious or big.  Sometimes they are simple, or very quiet and can quickly be passed by.  But they are still there and as we take note and are thankful to God for them, His love and hand in our lives becomes more evident.  Thanks for joining me in this intentional exercise of becoming more grateful people.

What were your blessings this week?

Friay's Fave Five #563

Good morning everyone!  It's Friday, time to take a pause on the busyness of the week, and just look for blessings from the last week that may have passed us by.  It's good to take that time especially in the busyness (and sometimes stress) of the season and remember all that is good in our lives.  Please join me in sharing 5 of them.

1.  Movie set snow.  I know this is a funny kind of one but I love the big, fluffy, light as a feather flake, gentle kind of snow falling, you know...the magical Christmas Eve movie kind.  And I woke up to that this morning.  It so cozy and beautiful with the city lights reflecting off of it.

2.  Seeing Mom's joy.  Sunday we had Mom for lunch and when it was time to take her home we made a little detour to a Garden Center that at this time of year is decked out in all things Christmas.  While I went out back to get my fresh greenery for my porch pot, she was able to browse around and found a couple of gifts.  She was so excited because she can't get out and about all that much anymore and shopping around exhausts her.  She was so happy I had convinced her to go.  It was fun to watch.

3.  Christmas Eve service preparations.  I love the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.  It's so pretty and meaningful.  Tuesday our small group helped prepare by getting all the candles ready.  It was a fun, relaxed evening with snacks and visiting while also helping out.

4.  Tree is finally up!  I usually do all the decorating the 1st weekend of December but the 1st fell on the weekend we were in Calgary with Operation Christmas Child.   Finally this weekend the tree and decorations went up.  Now it feels more like Christmas and that I'm on track.  I love sitting in the morning when I first get up with just the tree lights on.  It's so peaceful and pretty.

5.  Unexpected Daughter Drop ins.  The other day I came home from small group to find my daughter sitting at the table having some supper.  It was an unexpected visit and totally made my day.  I love that she just comes over whenever she feels like it.

What have been your favorite blessings from the week?

Friday's Fave Five #562 featuring Operation Christmas Child warehouse

OOPs!  Hi everyone!  I am so sorry.  I am totally mixed up in my days and didn't put up a FFF post, thinking it was a day behind the day it really is.  I'll put the link up so you can connect and I'll have to join in when I can.

Well what a week this is. I totally didn't even realize it was "Friday" until way after I woke up today.  Since the calendar turned to December I feel like I'm 10 steps behind and playing catch up, never quite grabbing ahold of the thing in front of me.  Whew.  Perfect time to stop and pause and look for some blessings lest they elude me in the craziness.  Please join in!

1.  OCC warehouse volunteering.  Oh my.  What fun it was.  Hubby and I were blessed with an opportunity to go and help process the Operation Christmas Child boxes coming in at the warehouse in Calgary.  It was a really fun day.  Over 300 volunteers per shift that Saturday processed about 8000 boxes.  That's 8000 boxes going out to bless children around the world with joy and hope.

And for those that wonder.  It is emphasized that the integrity of the boxes as they are packed by the giver remain.  Meaning that what you pack in a box is what goes to the child.  They do NOT remove items from a box unless it is a contraband item such as candy, toothpaste, items or toys that relate to war, liquids, playing cards.  (For a full list of things that can't go you can check out Samaritan's Purse websites.)  They do not take items out of a full box and put it in one with less.  They have "filler items" for those boxes.  The box as you pray and pack it remains.  They very much believe that the perfect box will go to the right child letting them know that God knows and loves them.

(Look at all those cases of boxes ready to go in the bottom right)

One thing that I loved was that they encouraged us to take our time with each box, that it wasn't a race, and to repack after inspection with love knowing that a child would be opening it, a child who may never have received a gift before.  They also encouraged us to pray a little pray over each box and the child it would go to as we handled it and sent it down the track to be packed into a case.

Do I look happy?  I sure was.  It has brought my own personal shoebox journey full circle being involved in every step short of loading it into an airplane or being a leader on a connect team (which you bet I am praying about).  What an incredible ministry.  If you have a chance to be involved in any way, I encourage you to do so.

2.  Whew, made it to #2.  Hotel credit.  We stayed overnight in Calgary on our OCC day as we thought  we would just be too tired to drive back home. I had a hotel credit from when I went with OCC to Costa Rica when our plane was so delayed that I no longer needed the room.  My hotel was gracious enough to credit me as long as I used it by the end of the year.  Others on the team were not so lucky with their hotels.  Thank you Applause Hotel.  So thankful to have not had to come up with $ for this stay!  And it was a lovely hotel and room and all the staff from front desk to cleaning staff were super friendly and helpful!  And we got breakfast vouchers to the onsite restaurant to boot!

3.  Birthay Dinner.  Hubby's birthday was in November but he had a huge work order the day of his birthday  and was just too tired to go out.  So I cooked him his favorite meal and instead told him I'd take him out when we were in Calgary to Spaghetti Factory which is a favorite stop of his.  Alas, it was way across the city from our hotel and it was already 7 o'clock by the time we got back to the hotel from our shift at OCC so we just opted to go to the hotel onsite restaurant.  What a great fortuitous blessing that turned out to be.  The food was excellent, our steaks were cooked perfectly.   The service way above, our server was super friendly and right on top of things.  So glad we found Tonic Kitchen and Bar and will definitely go there again.  If you're ever in Calgary I'd recommend both the hotel and the restaurant.

4.  Shopping.  While in Calgary Hubby indulged me with a little shopping in a couple of favorite stores.  It was nice to just relax and look around and I found a couple Christmas gifts.

5.  Arriving home safely.  About 2/3 of the way home we hit horrendous highway conditions.  The area is notorious for high wind and they even have signs posted stating that to warn semi truck drivers.  There have been lots of semi's that don't have heavy or full loads overturned along that stretch of highway when the winds decide they are going to go full force.  The winds hit the highway perpendicular sometimes gusting to over 100 km/hr (60mph) so are super dangerous.  Add a farmer's field fullof snow and all of a sudden you have drifting snow blasting straight across the highway.  Add the dark of night and that is what we faced driving home and I happened to be driving at the time. It was absolutely frightening.  At times I could not see the road at all due to the drifting snow.  At intersecting roads the drift tended to pile and at one point all of a sudden there were cars starting to hit the ditch as the frost was coming out of the ashphalt and coupled with the drift being driven over produced black ice patches.  At some points we were slowed right down to city speeds.  Praise God we got home safe and sound and most people were driving to the conditions.  Very thankful to have turned into our garage that night!

What were your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #561

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.   A very Happy Thanksgiving for all our American friends.  I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday with family and friends.  And thank you for popping by and joining us for another week of being intentional of looking for our blessings week in and week out, rather than just one day a year.

My 5 favorite blessings for the week are:

~4 wheel drive vehicle~ Wednesday we were hit with yet another winter storm and this was another doozy.  So. much. snow!  And the city doesn't seem to be too on top of clearing snow this year so far.  Mind you we have had quite a few good snowfalls this year.  And then it melts once the cold front passes by. So maybe they are counting on that for now.  But at any rate I am very thankful for my higher vehicle and 4 wheel drive as it's getting me through all that snow.  At least until it will probably all melt next week.

~warm, heated home~ so thankful for that during these storms.  It may be dumping a ton of snow outside and the wind may be blustery but inside it's nice and cozy.  While I love a nice fireplace as much as anyone, I wouldn't want to rely on that being our only source of heat for a whole house.  Very grateful for heating systems that keep the whole home warm

~heated car seats~ totally a spoiled thing here, but the vehicle came with heated front seats and now I am very spoiled with them, especially on these colder, snowy days.

~Christmas dinner~ Dad's senior residence had a Christmas dinner for their resident's and guest of their choice.  It was nice to sit and have this dinner with Dad and step mom in their new home.  It is their first Christmas there and though I know he really misses his own home, it was nice to see the kind interactions of all the staff with our loved ones.

~creme brulee~  the dessert was creme brulee and I'd forgotten how much I like it.  Hubby used to make it quite often but since he hasn't eaten sweets for a couple of years now, he doesn't make it anymore.  I totally indulged.  Cool and creamy vanilla custard topped with a crunchy candy topping it topped off the dinner wonderfully.

Photo and recipe

found at 

Live Well Bake Often

Well these are quite simple, everyday blessings.  But they are what blessed me and uplifted me this week.  What were your best blessings ?

Friday's Fave Five #560

Hi everyone.  Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It's all about being intentional in looking for blessings during the last week no matter how the week went.   When we become intentional in doing this it shifts our focus from everything that goes wrong or may not be to our expectations or our liking to one of realizing the hand of God in our everyday and how many good things are there if we just look.  When we develop our ability to truly become grateful our hearts become full instead of always chasing after the next thing we think will fill the hole.  Please join us as we endeavor to build grateful hearts.




~fresh haircut and foils~  I am usually happy whenever this happens in my life but this time around I was especially thankful.  Funny story, though not really, but I fried my hair about 6 weeks ago.   I was doing my usual morning routine using the flat iron on my hair, when I noticed what I thought was steam coming from the strand of hair that I was working on.  I didn't think anything of it except that I hadn't dried my hair properly and when the iron hit it it created a bit of steam and I continued on.  Then all of a sudden my hubby is at the bathroom door asking me if I was perming my hair.  And I'm like "Say what?"  And he says he can smell burning hair.  Well, what do you know it was smoke and not steam!  My flat iron must have broken it's thermostat and now a whole lot of my hair was a dry, fried  mess.  I lived with it dry like that for 6 weeks but finally it was time for my appointment and I was never so glad to have a trim to get rid of all that.  My stylist was really sweet and also put a super conditioner on it for 10 minutes and now it's almost back to normal.  Needless to say that flat iron hit the garbage and I had to go looking for a new one.  Praise God for Marshalls that has good brand name ones for a decent price.

~shoebox gifts loaded and ready to deliver to the collection center~ Sunday was what we call Bring 'em Back Sunday at church.  It's always such a thrilling time seeing everyone carrying in their full boxes and praying over them as a church before we send them off.

~ relaxed work week~ last week and this week there have been several families on vacation or taking extra days off.  While I love it most when all the kids are at dayhome, once in awhile it's nice to have a bit of a break too.  This week has been more relaxed, more easy going and a wee bit quieter with only 3 or 4 attending each day.  I've been enjoying it.

~ quiet celebration for Hubby's birthday~ Hubby is just not a partier and prefers just a nice dinner with family.  Yesterday for his birthday he was especially busy with work so he didn't even really feel like  going out for dinner.  So I made him his absolute favorite dish and our daughter who still lives in the city joined us for a nice, quiet dinner at home.  I enjoy cooking him his favorite foods and he was just as happy with that as with an expensive restaurant dinner.

~supportive leadership~ I am very grateful for supportive leaders at my church.  This last week I had to discuss something with the small groups leadership that had occurred within our small group and that I wasn't sure how to handle.   They were so supportive and had some great suggestions.  I left the meeting feeling like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders.  


What have been your favorite five blessings of the week?

Friday's Fave Five #559

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five!

1.  Long weekend.  This past weekend was a long weekend here in Canada, Monday being Remembrance Day where we remember our veterans who have fought to keep our country free.  Both Hubby and I had not been feeling a hundred percent so we took Sunday off of church and pretty much stayed home the whole weekend.  Saturday I forced myself to get a few chores done that couldn't be ignored but Sunday was just for resting up.  I'm grateful for the long weekend, for pausing to remember and honor those who have served or are serving now and being thankful for their sacrifice and I'm also thankful for the extra rest it provided.

2.  Sweet words from a child.  One of my dayhome families went on vacation this week but before they left their sweet little one so genuinely asked me to come on the airplane and boat too with them!  It was such a precious moment and just warmed me from the inside out.  Love my dayhome kids.

3.  New floor being installed.  We decided to replace our kitchen flooring.   With the heavy traffic and extra punishment it takes with so many little ones all the time,  the laminate we had just was not holding up well.  I'm very thankful for a hubby who knows about all sorts of aspects of renovating so he is installing the new floor himself.  It's a lot of hard work and it always takes longer than what we first imagine but it's coming along great and we both love it and him doing all the labor is saving us lots of money.  It's going to hold up way better than what was there before.

4.  Co-leader.  This year I am sharing the lead of my ladies small group at church.  The lady who is co-leading with me is a friend and I've known her for many years.  It was a learning curve at first but boy I do appreciate her insight and strength.  She has a huge heart filled with compassion and we mesh well together.  Where I have a weakness she is stronger and visa versa so we compliment each other well.  It has been a huge blessing to me this year.

5.  Hubby who keeps my gas tank filled.  I am super blessed that I have a hubby who keeps his eye on my gas tank and fills it up when he notices it getting down.  Very rarely does it ever get near empty.  I was reminded of the fact of how spoiled I am in this regard, when my gas warning bell actually went off last night.  He has not been feeling well all week and has been super busy trying to get the floor finished and he wasn't in my car to drive to church on the weekend so he didn't see it was getting low.  I must remember to thank him more for doing this for me.

I saw this picture on FB and thought it very much reflected my FFF post this week.  Nothing huge or extraordinary, but just things that were right in front of me, that I needed to intentionally notice.  Practicing gratitude helps me to notice the hand of God in the little things in my life.

What were your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #558

Hi everyone.  Welcome to Friday and Friday's Fave Five.  Time to pause and look for blessings from the last week.  What lifted your spirits, made you smile, made your day, helped you to keep going or just plain blessed you?  What are you thankful for from the last week?

1.  A word in season.  Sunday in church, a lady who is an acquaintance came to say hello.  In chatting with her and sharing something that was going on in my life, she started to just encourage me in that area.  It was like words right from the Lord.  It was exactly what I needed to hear and totally lifted me up and gave me hope.  I'm thankful for her boldness and her compassion towards me.  I left church feeling totally encouraged.

2.  An answer to prayer.  Something that I'd been praying about for awhile and it didn't look like I was going to get the answer that I had my heart set on but in the 11th hour God answered in a amazing way.  When I finally released the thing and let it go, the answer finally came.

3.  Great time of visiting and getting to know a family better.  I love when there is an opportunity to get to know another family.  This family has been coming to our church for a long time and we chat at church but never really had opportunity to spend quality time with them and get to really know them better.  Sunday we finally made a point of it.  It was spur of the moment and it was a wonderful time.

4.  An absolutely gorgeous hoar frost morning.  The other day it snowed all day long and the next morning we woke up to a foggy kind of morning.  When darkness lifted we were left with an absolutely gorgeous hoar frost and blue skies.  While I'm so sad that autumn has basically passed us by this was a visual feast and blessing.

So pretty.  God is truly an artist!


5.  Warm mugs of tea.  Come fall and winter we tend to kick into tea mode in the evenings.  Nothing like a nice cup of hot tea to warm one up and relax.

What have been your favorite blessings this past week?

Friday's Fave Five #557

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It's a time to pause in our everyday and look for the blessings God has brought into our lives in the past week and take a moment to be grateful for them.  Won't you join us?

This was a really busy week for me so it's especially important for me to take this time to look for blessings.  During busy weeks the chaos and frenzy scream loudly and those moments of blessing can sometimes slip quietly by without being noticed and then I wonder why I am frazzled and grumpy.  Being intentional in looking for blessings and being thankful for them refocuses me and centers my soul.  Instead of being a whirling dervish, it brings calm.  I need this!

1.  BookOutlet order savings of $89! Every year BookOutlet (Canada)   (U.S.) has a great sale in October.  All in stock books, brand new books, are already deeply discounted and then they put them on sale for another 15% off.  Then if you're order is $45 or more (in Canada, not sure what it is in the U.S.) you get free shipping.  Then on top of that I had a $5 off coupon from my last order!  I always order the books I give the dayhome kids for Christmas at this time along with any other books I'm planning on giving for gifts.  I even splurged on this series because I got the whole series for the price I would have paid for one book at my local Chapt*rs/Indig* store.  All in all my savings came in at $89!  That is amazing and I'm so very thankful to have found this online discount store!

2.  Treated to Sunday lunch.  My mom treated us to lunch on Sunday and left the choice to us so we took her to a favorite Sunday brunch buffet place.  There is something delicious for everyone there.  Hubby does different things for her and shovels her walks for her in the winter.  He won't take the payment she wants to give him so she takes us to lunch once in awhile.   A really nice treat.

3.  Texts or phone calls from my kids that ask how I made this or that dish that they loved when they lived at home. It's so nice to know that they are now making for themselves and their loved ones.

4.  Fall scented hand soaps.  With a dayhome for kids we go through TONS of hand soap.  I always stock up on the foaming hand soaps at Bath and Body Works when they go on a great sale.  I especially like the fall scents and have been enjoying them all.

5.  Warm, comfy sweaters.  I'm a sweater and cardigan kind of gal so I'm loving fall when I can unpack them and start wearing them.  Comfy and cozy is the way to go.

What have been your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #556

Hi everyone.  Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Join us as we take time and pause in our busy days, our mundane days, our overwhelmed days and look for the holy.  For the blessings of God in our lives.

1.  Operation Shoebox 2019 kickoff  Sunday was our church's kickoff the the 2019 campaign.  It was so much fun putting together the shoeboxes with my ladies group the Tuesday before and reminiscing a bit for them about my trip with OCC in the spring.  The kick off went well.  The video I chose was very touching and motivating, it makes me cry everytime I see it.  I've included it below.  I'm so excited to finish packing my boxes.  I can envision every distribution I was a part of and the excitement and joy of the gifts, the children's faces as they listened to the gospel story and the parents gratefulness for loving their children.   Are you packing a box this year?




2.  Voters taking boxes.  Monday was voting day in Canada.  Our church is a polling station and every time that happens I order some extra boxes so voters can take them, fill them and bring them back.  And though this year's election results were a huge disappointment to Albertans in general, the good news about the night was that voters took more than half of our boxes leaving me with about a dozen boxes.  I had to go to the Regional Logistics director and ask for more!  How exciting and what a great problem to have to solve!

3.  Spot on the team.  While talking to the Logistics Director, she offered me a few spots on the team she is taking to Calgary to volunteer at the warehouse.  This is where shoebox gifts from all across Canada will come and be processed and packaged for shipping to the countries.  This is a step in the shoebox journey I haven't done yet.  I've always wanted to but have just never got around to it and in recent years it has become a very popular thing.  You have to apply and it's really difficult to get a spot.  This invite was a huge blessing and opportunity.  I can hardly wait.  The first time I saw the warehouse, the boxes had not arrived yet from the collections week and they were just getting ready for them.  We had stopped there to pick something up for my son going on a "water filter mission trip" with Samaritan's Purse and the lady there gave me a tour of the warehouse.  As soon as I walked into that massive place, I burst into tears at just the sheer magnitude of what they do from there.  It was overwhelming.  I'm sure there will be some tears again when I go to actually work this time.  And bonus:  one of my daughters and a friend from my small group are going with me.

4.  Wonderful stories.  I love all sorts of stories but some just get me in the heart with their writing and story telling and subject matter.  I just finished a great book that I've had sitting in my pile for years.  Don't know what took me so long to get to it but I sure am glad I finally did.  Review to come.

5.  Laughter with kids.  Kids are so funny especially when they don't even try to be.  There was few times in dayhome this week that something the kids said or did had me in stitches.  Laughter with small children lifts my soul!  They are awesome.

What were your favorite blessings from the week?

Friday's Fave Five #555

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Our time to pause the busy week and take note of the blessings in our lives from the last weeks.  Please join us in our quest to lead grateful lives.

1.  Thanksgiving  Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving.  The actual holiday is the Monday but we usually have it on Sunday so that I have a day to clean and tidy and rest.  Sunday was full on cooking day for me as I made dinner for a bit of a smaller crowd this year, 8 in all.  My daughter and son in law and my son and his girlfriend both could not make it this year.  It definitely was a tad bit quieter without them down but it was still a lovely day celebrated with family.  We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted brussel sprouts, carrot/parsnip mix, ranch mushrooms, broiled yellow tomatoes and for dessert, pumpkin pie, fresh fruit tray and pear crisp.  I made everything except the pie and the fruit tray because my sis fractured her foot and couldn't help.  It was a lot of work but I love to cook.  It was enjoyed by all and we played a bit of a dance game on the wii after to work off some of the calories.  It was a wonderful time to be thankful for loved ones, good food and the blessings in our lives.  And I can't believe that I didn't get one picture of the day.

2.  Simple meal  After all the rich food on Sunday with leftovers on Monday we were ready for a simple meal.  So Tuesday I went with a vegetarian favorite:  Indian Spiced Red Lentils.  Paired with some of the leftover veggies from thanksgiving it was a nice change from all the heavier eating of the holiday.

3.  Incredible sunset  Tuesday on my way to small group, I just had to pull over and take a picture of some pretty incredible skies as the sun was setting.  If this doesn't say God is an incredible artist I don't know what does.  It was like a small gift package handed right to me from Him.  So beautiful!

4.  Mini Reunion  I had the great pleasure of having a little mini reunion with a couple of the ladies from our Operation Christmas Child Costa Rica trip.  My friend and I (who came with me on the trip) drove and met up with a couple of the Calgary ladies for lunch at a little town about halfway between our cities.  It was great fun seeing them again and so wonderful catching up with them.  We ate a little diner, Roy's Place,  whose owner has been on the Canadian version of "Chopped" (came in second) and also on "You Gotta Eat Here" (Canadian version of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives type of show).  Of course we couldn't leave without taking home  what they are most famous for and that is a cinnamon bun about as big as my head.  I'm not even exaggerating.  People take an afternoon drive just to go and get these cinnamon buns.  A little retail therapy thrown in made for a perfect outing with the girls.  We're hoping to do it again in the spring.

Here's a pic from the show You Gotta Eat Here with the Cinnamon bun.

5.  Fun Fall Nails.  My esthetician daughter gave me gave me a lovely manicure last night.  It was a relaxing "spa" time for me and it's time to spend together as she is now living on her own.  She's pretty awesome at nail art and I'm a proud mom showing off her talents.  She really likes her job and it shows.  She free-hand paints, no stencils.  Love it.

What were your favorite 5  blessings for the last week?

Friday's Fave Five #554

Ahhh, it's Friday.  And for us in Canada, it's a long weekend.  Thanksgiving weekend to be exact.  So it's an extra incentive to look for the blessings in our lives and be thankful.  Won't you join in?

1.  Successful Move.  We finally got our youngest daughter moved across town.  It wasn't a big move, basically just her bedroom stuff but the buildup and postponing of it twice made it seem so long.  But it finally happened.  We were blessed with a really nice sunny day, albiet a bit on the windy side, but we Southern Albertans are used to that so it was all good.  She's getting all settled into her new place and suddenly our house seems a bit too large.

2.  Box of tomatoes.  I didn't grow any tomatoes this year but my neighbor blessed me with a big box of red and yellow tomatoes.  We set aside the biggest roundest ones for eating in burgers and sandwiches, shared some and I think with the rest I'm going to try to homemade pico de gallo and salsa.  I see a good feed of nachos in our very near future.

3.  Surprise workday lunch.  On Wednesday, I got a txt from Hubby asking if I'd yet eaten lunch.  I hadn't, so he brought me a bento box home from one of our fave thai style restaurants.  It was a really nice surprise on a very busy day.  And bonus is that there is so much food in these bento boxes I didn't have to cook supper that day.

4.  Turkey Deal.  We weren't sure what was happening this Thanksgiving so I didn't shop for it until last night only to find that all the utility frozen turkeys were gone and they didn't know if they were getting more at the store I usually shop at.  I was going to buy a fresh one only to almost faint dead away in the meat aisle at the price of them.  They had frozen butter infused ones but my daughter is lactose sensitive so that wouldn't do.  So off I ran to another store that I rarely shop at because they are more expensive.  Well I found a perfect sized fresh turkey for about $15 less than at the first store!  What a great deal.  I was so glad.  I was not looking forward to running around at the last minute on Saturday trying to find a turkey.

5.  Down comforter season.  Every year we really look forward to getting our down comforter onto the bed.  It requires the nights to get cold, and that they are doing, setting a cold record for last night, so I finally got the bedding changed out and we had the best sleep last night.  Love that big, puffy comforter inside a comfy duvet cover.  It's light but warm and making the bed is super simple in the mornings.

Thank you for joining me in developing the practice and habit of continually looking for our blessings and thanking the Lord for them.

And Happy Thanksgiving for my Canadian blogging friends.

What were your favorite blessings that you found this week?