Share 4 Somethings: the June 2024 edition

 

Hello, sweet friends! I hope you're having a great weekend!

Today we're talking about the things we loved or disliked, accomplished, improved upon/needs improvement, and noticed this month. I'll jump in!

Loved/Disliked

I loved the pool days and the beach day that I've had this month! I'm in Destin at the beach, as I write.

 

I disliked some of the emotions the month brought. 

Accomplished

I accomplished some more cleaning out! On Monday of this week, I tackled some more spaces in my bedroom; I cleaned out my lingerie chest, my nightstand, and some paper clutter downstairs.

Improved upon/Needs improvement

I improved upon my morning routine again, and it's seriously the best part of my day every morning. I'm so thankful for my Jesus! Do you know Him? If not, what are you waiting for? If you ever want to talk more, comment here or email me at allboys@gmail.com. Life isn't ever perfect or easy, my friends, but even in the darkest of times, He makes it easier. Like I always say, life is hard, even with Jesus; without Him, it'd be impossible.

Noticed

I noticed, once again, that I am strong and I can do hard things. I've noticed, once again, that my family and friends are everything right now. I'm so grateful for them! 

I am so glad you're here to link up with me today, and will get around to reading your posts when I'm back on my blog regularly. For now, I'm having to let something go, and this was the first thing that came to mind; though I'm not going away entirely. I still plan on being here for all the monthly link-ups, and you'll see me from time to time, including this coming Wednesday July 3rd for the Currently link-up. (In July we're talking about what we're currently loving, looking forward to, savoring, celebrating, and remembering.)I will eventually get back to posting regularly, but my life is a bit of a mess right now, so I'd love your prayers and lots of grace. Thank you for being here and for always encouraging me, friends. Love to all.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

a few things

 

Hello, friends!

Because I write here everyday, I wanted to share with you that I won't be posting here everyday for a bit. I have some scheduled blog posts that have already been written and are scheduled to post, and I'll still be here to host the link parties that are coming up soon, and I may pop in here and there, but it's not anything that will be scheduled. I'll still be reading your blogs, though, so you'll see me there most days! 

I wanted to give you some good news about my dad! He seemed to kind of "come out of it" last night and woke up at 9:30 p.m. craving strawberry shortcake; you'd better believe Sandy had some on hand waiting for when he wanted that particular favorite treat. Thank you for your prayers for him; will you continue to pray for all of us?  This isn't for the faint of heart, and I'm on the struggle bus about it all on most days. I don't know if this "awakening" will last, or if he'll return to his old self, but I'm here for whatever time I have left with him, whatever that looks like. 

Because this wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't add something like this, I wanted to share a few things that I'm thankful for right now:

I'm thankful that Dad is hanging on.

I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my church family, and for my job that I'm excited to go to this morning.

I'm thankful that I got to float in the pool one last time last night before the neighbors come home today. 

I'm thankful for worship music! 

I'm thankful for the love of Jesus; do you know Him?
I'm thankful for you, your kindness and encouragement, and that you pray for us. 

I will be continuing on with Thankful Thursday posts, but I'm skipping this week since I'll be traveling Thursday; I don't know if I'll continue with the link party, though. I'll let you know closer to time or on that day. Share 4 Somethings happens this Saturday the 27th; we'll be talking about the things we loved or disliked, accomplished, improved upon/needs improvement, and noticed this month. On Wednesday July 3rd, the Currently link party will take place; we'll be talking about what we're currently loving, looking forward to, savoring, celebrating, and remembering. I'll announce the August prompts for Currently on that blog post on the day it publishes. I'll schedule both link parties to open at midnight on the dates listed and will keep them each open for about two weeks. I hope you join in with both parties! I'll also be around to participate in Share Your Shelf, the link party I co-host with Joanne, Marilyn, and Tanya; mine is already written and scheduled to post! That will take place on Thursday July 4th. Here are some graphics, in case you need to use them for your post. I hope you join me or us for all of these! 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends! I always appreciate your kind words of encouragement, and the way that so many of you feel like my in-real-life friends; and honestly, you are. I will always be grateful for this sweet little community, so I won't be gone long and will see you on your own blogs some days. Love to all! 

Jenn 🖤 

Hello, Monday 6/24/2024

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was really nice, filled with lots of things that I love. 

This was me on Friday morning; cheers to the weekend! I slept in a little that morning and didn't come downstairs until five. Do you love this first cup of coffee of the day as much as I do? No matter how hard you try, the others during the day don't taste nearly as good as this first one. Also, speaking of coffee, I love this mug that I use every morning; it's one I got from HomeGoods several years ago and I've never found another one. I don't ever put it in the dishwasher, but hand wash it after every use. I love an insulated mug with a lid, but I rarely use the lid unless I'm taking it with me somewhere in the morning. 

But back to the weekend...

After I fed the neighbors' dogs, I came home and took the sourdough starter out of the refrigerator in preparation for baking the next day. Saturdays are for baking now! And then I ended up misunderstanding the recipe, but it still turned out okay. 

I had my quiet time and got to linger over it that morning, which is my favorite, and then in between that, I was texting Marilyn about the bread confusion. I even called her once, but we ended up texting and then talking one more time.

This was me waiting on it to start rising and taking a peek.

I got dressed and went to Dad's house for our weekly Friday date. He napped after lunch, so I was looking at their bookshelves and saw some really cool things there, but this Ben Carson drawing and autograph stood out to me. I love him and recently watched his story on Netflix; have you seen that? It's called Gifted Hands. It's really interesting, and he's played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. 

I also looked through their photo album from their trip to Israel fifteen years ago. I love this picture of Dad on a camel!

That night for dinner, I had roasted tomatoes, cucumber salad, a piece of sourdough bread, and (not pictured) a few over-easy eggs. I wasn't full from my vegetarian dinner, and figured I needed some protein, hence the eggs. 

I love the show Reba on Netflix and have been watching it the last few weeks. This new show comes out this fall, and I'm excited to watch it; I love Reba as an actress!

I was up early, and baking by six thirty on Saturday morning. I had plans that morning, so I needed to get a move on!

While the bread was finishing in the oven, I went out to do a little bit of weeding, and I trimmed off the faded/browned blooms of my hydrangeas. From what I've read, when they turn like that, you need to trim the blooms off right above the next set of healthy leaves. Supposedly this will make them bloom vibrantly again. Fingers crossed! 

My big plan for the day was to meet my sister to swim again! And we swam again yesterday, too. It's so hot here that it's basically all you can do, other than sitting inside the air conditioned house. 

When we were finished for the day, I came in to shower and wash my hair, because we went out for dinner Saturday night. I started listening to a book that day on Audible, so I did that while I let my hair air dry and the puppies napped. I lit some candles, and had music playing in the background. It was so nice that it lulled me to sleep for ten minutes! 🤣

I said I was done buy clothes for the summer, but this is my last thing. Maybe. Isn't this dress cute? I found it on Amazon, and I love that it's similar to a peasant blouse. Those have always been one of my favorite things to wear! I did have to size up one in this, and the fabric looks like gauze, but it's thicker than that. It doesn't stretch at all, which is why I sized up one. I wore it out that night with these favorite Amazon sandals. 

What did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

Friday Favorites, 6.21.2024.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's favorite blog post of the week. How has your week been? I hope you can say that it's been a great one! I've had lots of favorites from this week, so I'll get started!

Being in the water when it's a hundred degrees out is my favorite! I'll be in here later this morning, maybe tonight, and most of tomorrow. Don't mind me!

This picture of Dad is my favorite. Will you do me a favor and pray for him? He seems to have taken some steps that are leading downhill, and it's hard to see him like he's been this week. For the unforeseeable future, I'll be going to his house on Fridays. I don't know how long this will last, honestly, or if it will continue at all like it has in the past. We're relying on God for each day, and asking Him for wisdom and insight to trust in His perfect plan. God is always, always good, and I'm grateful for all the moments I've had with Dad on Fridays over the years. I'd also really love for you to pray for my stepmom, Sandy. She is such an amazing caretaker and wife to him! Her fortitude is unlike anything else I've ever seen. I'm so glad we've had some great weeks the past few months, and I'll always cling to this one magical Friday when we took that fun road trip.

I'd love for you to pray for all of us in this. Thank you in advance! 

The father's day all men's choir at church on that holiday is always my favorite!

Hydrangeas are my favorite! Mom gave me the idea to dry some for an arrangement, so I've had these hanging in my laundry room all week long. I'll keep you posted on how these turn out! 

This picture of Jonah and Noah is one of my favorites; I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was the last baseball game of the season for Graham and Drew; we'd been swimming, and brought a picnic dinner for the baseball field. They ate, and ran around playing with the little siblings of some of the other players. Those were the days!

Patella arthritis in my knee is not my favorite. I visited my orthopedic doctor this week for x-rays and medicine to help with the inflammation.

Jonah's room is my favorite! He painted it "Agreeable Gray" by Sherwin Williams the night we left for Dallas with Noah. Didn't it turn out great? Also, Chloe watching TV will forever be the greatest thing ever. Another thing having to do with these pictures is the fact that I talked to all my boys this week; that's always a favorite! 

Homegrown cucumbers are my favorite and so is the salad I made with them along with this dressing.

The Dipladenia hanging baskets we have on our deck are my favorite; this one is starting to have a trailing vine, which I'm excited about. 

Vintage literature from Better Homes and Gardens is my favorite! Hopefully what I read and implemented will help my hydrangea blooms come back to life. 

This is my favorite product that I have! It's what I clean my face with every night. I get this huge tub from Costco and then refill a smaller container for my bathroom. I just had to refill the one in my bathroom this week. Did you know that this is one of the greatest things you can do for your skin? I've not had even one break out since I've been using this as a facial cleaner. 

Chalk art is my favorite...

... and so is this new nail color, Alpine Snow. 

Our house in the early morning light is my favorite.

And as usual, spending time in God's word each morning is my favorite! I love reading along with The Bible Recap community. 

Did you catch my other blog posts this week? I'll list them below.

Monday was Hello Monday.

Tuesday was Unpopular Opinions: the Summer Edition.

Wednesday was a double post day with Things I'm Loving Right Now (https://www.joyfuljenn.com/2024/06/things-im-loving-at-this-moment.html) and the Hodgepodge post. 

Lastly, yesterday was Thankful Thursday. 

What was a favorite for you this week? I'd love to hear from you! If you're new around here, make sure to come back often; I've been writing a lot lately! Thank you for reading my blog today and always, friends. Love to all!