Friday Favorites, 12.10.21

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for this weekly blog post, where a bunch of bloggers talk about all their favorites from the week. This can be a circumstance, a picture or funny meme or an actual product. 

I saw this on another blog or on social media, I can't remember, but it's one of my favorite things from this week. I don't care how goofy I look or what people think about me—I LOVE dressing in Christmas colors for this season. I wear bright earrings like these everyday.

I drink out of festive cups like this one below and I read #alltheChristmasbooks also pictured below.

Just call me Mrs. Christmas. My birthday is in December, did I really have any choice in this? I think not.

My favorite shoes at this moment are these:

I treated myself to an early birthday present—these Puma slides from Academy. They were half price, so that made them around $15, but my knee has been bothering me lately and somehow these shoes are helping. 

My favorite early morning activity when I have nowhere pressing to be:

I love to drink coffee and read my book when the sun hasn't even shown up yet. I'm up at four something almost every morning. Yesterday I as up at 4:50, but the day before I was up at 4:00. I actually love this, so don't feel bad for me. I'm very productive in the early morning hours! It's my favorite time of day.

My favorite night of the week was when we celebrated Bill (Big Daddy) on his birthday Monday night. It was not my favorite when he fell in our garage and hurt his hand, side and head. 

Low quality picture, high quality man and sons. I love this man so much! I felt terrible about him falling and am just thankful he's okay and not any worse than what I mentioned. It could have been very different! I think he just got tripped up over the last step...maybe the depth of it or something? Bless him!

Another favorite night this week was Wednesday night at our choir rehearsal. We're having our Christmas worships program this Sunday night and it was so much fun! I love being able to participate in something like this and I am very thankful for our worship pastor Joshua, his assistant Laura and our amazing technical director Jeremy and all his team. A lot of hard work and preparation goes into this and my husband has been there several nights in the last two weeks. Joshua is one of the kindest men I've ever had the honor of singing for. I've sang for several over the course of my life and he is the nicest by far. Things were stressful at one point, but his voice was calm, he remained kind and did not seem to get frazzled in anyway. I've never been so thankful for those attributes in a worship leader.

Look how little Chip was in this picture below!

I called him Christmas Chip, because we got him Thanksgiving week, four years ago. I wish they'd stay so little like this! 

Speaking of favorites...

My oldest son Graham made this bed for himself last weekend! He bought the lumber, cut all the pieces to the size he needed and put this all together in about three hours last Saturday. He then attached some LED lights that come in a strip to the underside and they make it look like it's floating. Jonah has this as well, with the lights but with a different bed and it's my favorite! Look at Graham's baby dog Oakley sitting so pretty on his bed. She's so sweet.

Jonah and Noah at this age were my favorite!

That is the only thing Noah wanted for Christmas about two years before this picture was taken—a Santa suit. My amazingly talented mom whipped this thing up in no time, it seemed like and she delivered for us that year. I was so grateful for her sewing abilities! I loved that he wore this to a school function at Barnes and Noble that year and didn't care what anyone thought. He is actually still like this today. 

Another favorite thing from the week was when Mom, Trish and I went shopping in our favorite Memphis (local) shops on Saturday. This is one of my favorite traditions each year!

You can read about that day here. 

Another favorite thing from this week was having something I wrote being published this week. You  can read about that on this post. And Here is my latest submission for WHEN—a branch of the Hosanna Revival Publishing. Another recent publication that I wrote is this one for Tirzah Online Magazine for women. You can read that post by clicking on this link. 

Lastly, my final favorite from the week was when Dad and I had the honor of sitting together at The Jingle Bell Jam at my church last Sunday night. He and Sandy, and my in-love's Phyllis and Wiley all came and sat with me at the table where my friend Casey and I were sitting. It was the most fun night and the music was incredible.

Like I said—it was such a fun night! 

Speaking of Dad, he is coming over today to kick off the start of the weekend, and this is always a favorite for both of us. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. ❤

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! Rebecca Jo, Leslie and I are back with another week of our weekly link party, where we share about all the things we have to be thankful for. 

This week there are two big things that stand out to me that I am so very thankful for. The first is the God's word. Lately I've been having some of the best times with Him as I sit with Him each morning and read the bible. Most of you know that our sons are all adults now and working full time, so once they leave home for work in the mornings, I am alone for the rest of the day. It has taken some getting used to, but now that I'm used to this, I love my time alone each day and spend most of the day talking to Jesus. I read His word, I pray, I pray, I read His word. 

I am doing this study on Hebrews with my friend Bri and I am loving reading this rich book. The Lord has been so sweet to show me truths out of His word so often lately. Things I usually struggle with haven't been popping up as much in my heart because I'm spending more time focused on the truth that is His word. I'll give you an example—I have struggled with anxiety since I was an older teenager. Fairly often, I struggle with this. But lately as I've started to feel that anxious feeling arise within me, I pray immediately. I pray scripture to the Lord. One favorite passage to use for this is out of Ephesians 6:10-18. I might say something like this:

"Lord, thank you for reminding me of the truth of your word. Thank you for reminding me that I can fight this battle with your word and thank you for reminding me to put on my spiritual armor so I can stand against the schemes of the devil. I know that my struggle isn't against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers of this dark world and I know that this battle is a spiritual one. Help me to stand strengthened in the armor you give me, Lord."

All of that is taken from Ephesians 6:10-18.

Friends, this has been life changing. When I am having a moment and I feel myself about to get irritated or snarky with someone, I pray quietly to myself and ask the Lord to help me extend patience and kindness to the person I'm getting irritated with. His word is living and effective, we're told in Hebrews 4:12, and I am so thankful I have it at my fingertips.

(This picture above is the study I'm doing on the book of Hebrews with Bri. It's been SO GOOD! We're long distance friends, so I'm looking forward to a phone call with her tomorrow to discuss what we've done so far since we began the weekend after Thanksgiving.)

The other thing I'm thankful for this week is for the opportunities that the Lord gives me. He's been giving me opportunities to write lately, and I joined in with a team of other writers for WHEN, a branch of Hosanna Revival Publishing. They published an article I submitted to them several weeks ago called, When the Holidays are Hard. I'd love for you to read it and be encouraged. (Click on that link to read.)

He's given me opportunities to write more for Tirzah magazine for women. Here is the latest article that was published a few weeks ago. I am working on the next writing project with my friends from church that will be ready to take in the fall of 2022 and I the Lord recently gave me an entire outline for a book I want to write. I couldn't sleep one morning in the earliest of hours, so I got up and had to make a note on my phone so that I would remember. I don't have a title or anything, but I have the theme/topic, target audience and each chapter outlined. I have two other ideas for books as well, one that I'm working on and one that I need to make notes about so that I will remember.

The Lord is faithful, my friends and I want to make sure and give Him the praise for allowing me to write. He is so gracious to give me opportunities to write for Him and that's what I want to do—I want to point everyone to Him. I am ready and willing for Him to use and I am grateful for any chance He gives me to share His name and His love with those who are hurting.

It's your turn now! What's one thing you're thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. ❤

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Let's Look- favorite traditions

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Shay and Erika today for this fun link party. Today everyone is talking about favorite traditions. 

I loved all the fun things we did when our sons were little during Christmas, but we had one tradition that really stands out and it was so very simple. We all loaded up into the Suburban in our pajamas and at least one (sometimes two) dog and some blankets and we would go look at Christmas lights. We would fold the seats down on this one night and they would pile into the back with the dog(s) and their blankets, we would go get coffee or hot chocolate from Starbucks, and we would drive around looking at Christmas lights.

We would do that until they all started arguing, then we'd call it a night and head home.

Now that they're older, my new favorite thing to do is to be together on my birthday or on Todd's birthday. Mine is next Tuesday the fourteenth and all I want to do is eat together as a family, I want a picture of all of them with me and I want to drive around and look at lights afterward. I don't care about gifts, but I'd love a card or five (words mean the world to me) and I want quality time with them. Here was my birthday last year.

I'd love my bonus son Alex to be with us as well. The other thing I really enjoy is spending time with Mom on my actual birthday. I love to go to lunch and do a couple other fun things. I am all about quality time. 

Your turn! I'd love to hear about your favorite traditions. What is one thing you love at this time of year?

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. ❤

Prime Purchases, December edition and everything Christmas!

Good morning! I'm linking up with Tanya for this monthly blog post on all the things I purchased from Amazon Prime lately. I'm not going to share everything though, don't worry. It's a lot.

First up is something for me! I love using this and ran out recently. I take remove my makeup each night with coconut oil and a nubby wash cloth with cool water. I have super dry skin and the oil puts some back into my skin. I like to use this to remove any that the coconut oil and wash cloth missed and I like that it doesn't dry my skin out, because it's alcohol free. (Click on the picture below and you'll be redirected to Amazon.)

I bought these comforters for three of our sons for part of their Christmas gifts and have been so impressed by them! They're soft and plush and wash/dry wonderfully. (Link in pictures below- click on the image.)

(Click on any picture above to see them on Amazon.) They're reversible! I love them. I love the price even more! Their lights that you see also came from Amazon. Here is a link for some that do not change colors and do fancy things. Jonah recommends the kind that flash or do other cool things.

I can't find a picture, but here are the sheets I bought for the two new queen sized beds Jonah and Noah each got for Christmas. They're so soft! I was impressed by how well they wash and dry.

And lastly, I've ordered a few pairs of these pants. I can't find a picture, so click on this link. I bought Noah two pairs of these a while back and he loves them. He works outside a lot, so he needed something warmer and soft. 

And of course I borrowed books from Kindle Unlimited through Amazon and I bought a few inexpensive ones I know I'd love.

There is lots more that I ordered, but I can't share because of Christmas. What was your favorite thing that you purchased there lately? I'd love to hear! Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all. 

the goodness of God

 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans [15.13]

I love this verse- a few things stood out to me as I read it yesterday.

First, God is a God of hope! If you know Jesus, you have hope and things are NOT hopeless.

Secondly, if you trust and believe in God, He will fill you with joy and peace! True joy can only occur when we have the hope that Jesus offers to us. Everything else is a counterfeit disguised as temporary joy! Peace is what comes when we trust in Him. If we trust in ourselves or our circumstances (jobs, relationships), we will be let down time and again.

Lastly, He fills us with joy and peace so that we can extend that to others as we come across their paths. Whatever we are overflowing with is what is going to come out and that is what the world around us sees!

I'll give you an example of this- someone I know just told me how they were standing in a long line at the grocery store the other day and an elderly lady cut in front of her. She cleared her throat to get the attention of the lady to let her know she had been in line and was instantly convicted of that. The lady turned and said she was sorry, that she didn't see her and to go on first. My friend gave her a genuine smile and said that it was okay, she only had a few things and she should go on ahead. The Lord used His word to show my friend in that moment the example of walking humbly and my friend had just asked the Lord to help her to be humble that very morning! That is how God works, my friends. His Holy Spirit nudges those of us who know Him at just the right moment when we need to display the love and grace that Jesus offers.

I say all this to ask two things and I am asking myself: one, do you know Jesus? And two, if you do know Jesus, what do people who don't know Him see in you when you're out in public? Do they see someone who is impatient and rude to the server at your favorite restaurant or do they see someone who smiles and offers grace to those who mess up your order? It's something to think about! God is so good to reveal these truths to me as I read His word. How has He been good to you lately? I'd love to hear your God story.

I pray these words encourage you. Love to all. ❤

weekending-- everything Christmas and someone we love has a birthday today edition

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I'm so curious to hear what your weather is like, wherever you live. Today it's cold and clear where I live, but up until today it's been unseasonably warm. It's been nice as I have been out in that weather, but I prefer cold weather when the weather is supposed to be cold. The cold helps it seem more like Christmas, as least to me. It hardly ever snows here in west Tennessee, but you never know from one year to next. At the beginning of this year (in January or February), it snowed an astonishing amount and lasted for almost a solid week! I was so claustrophobic and ready for it to be gone by the time it all melted.

I had a lovely weekend. I stayed home Friday night and watched a Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel. I had a yummy and comforting dinner and enjoyed the night. Two of my sons left Friday afternoon for Tuscaloosa, Alabama to go spend the weekend with a couple of their friends. This was Drew and Noah. I think it's funny and ironic that on the weekend they went there together, this came up on my memories on Facebook.

This was Drew and Noah (right) six years ago. As a homeschooling family, we would often get the work finished and would do things like going to Costco for a few things and lunch. I distinctly remember this day and just thought about it the other day! I was on the coffee aisle and turned around to grab a bag of our favorite kind and turned back around to find them doing this. They'd stepped into the refrigerated area and stood just like that for a couple of minutes. 🤣

I couldn't take them anywhere. Who am I kidding? I still can't take them anywhere. I have loved being a mom to boys and was made for the job.

Back to my weekend, so Noah was gone and it was just Graham and Jonah here at home. They went to our annual Christmas parade with friends that night, but I stayed home because Todd worked and I don't love a large crowd anymore. I would have gone if someone had wanted me to and I offered to go with them, but they were with friends and I was happy to skip it and stay home. It worked out well, because I was so tired! I had been up since four a.m. that morning and it caught up with me at 7:30 that night.

I was so excited for Saturday. This is a day I look forward to every year, the day when Mom, Trish and I shop in Memphis. We usually don't venture out much past our little town, but this is always a fun day together as we go to adorable little home décor shops and do Christmas shopping. We had lunch first, then went to Le Fleur (pictured above). This is a shop to buy cute things and trinkets and the old building that used to be a garage or shed is what they turned into a floral shop. They were getting ready for a wedding on Saturday and it was fun to see them hustling to get it all loaded. Here's the other part of the shop that I love below.

I could spend hours in this shop. I bought a few small Christmas gifts to finish up our shopping. One year I am going to buy myself one of these beautiful houses that are decorative like these below.

After this shop, we went to another cute shop called Social.

I bought a tiny gingerbread house filled with matchsticks and a set of battery operated candy cane fairy lights (with a timer) for the bookshelf in our bathroom. After this place we went to our local candy store, Dinstuhl's. I bought some things for stockings and myself a treat to eat once I got back in the car. We went to the Williams Sonoma outlet after this and ended the day by going to another local favorite—Gibson's donuts. I bought a couple dozen donuts for my favorite guys and know they'll love having them even today. They love blueberry and cake donuts dipped in chocolate. 

We headed back to The Ville after all that and I went out to Mom's house for dinner that night. While I did all of that, the guys watched football and Graham built himself a bed for Christmas. It's a low platform type bed that is simple and modern and looks so good! He did a great job and it only took a few hours before he finished. He cut all the wood himself and did the whole thing, but Jonah and Todd helped him by talking it through with him. He added some of those LED lights that come in a strip from Amazon and put those underneath to make it look as if it's floating. He got a new comforter and new black out curtains to finish off the room. I'll share a picture this week sometime. 

We spent Sunday at church. I was there by 8:15 to do the words for our choir as they sang, then back at four for choir practice. After that I went straight to the fellowship hall at 5:30 for The Jingle Bell Jam, a jazz music night of instrumental music and worship songs. My dad and stepmom and in-love's met me there for the concert and we enjoyed coffee and desserts together as we listened. It was a great night and weekend! 

Other fun things I didn't mention are as follows:

Lots of puppy cuddles and finishing my book. 

Today is such a special day for our family! Bill, also lovingly known as Big Daddy (or Bug Daddy according to Erika's girls) is the patriarch of our family and today he turns seventy years young! Let me tell you about this wonderful man.

(This picture is from last year, since I'm writing this at 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning.) 

Bill is such a patient, kind, loving and an incredible chef. I blame him entirely for the expensive eating habits he taught all of our boys when they were young. We used to go to their house one weekend night every week and did that up until they started turning sixteen and getting more of a social life. I tell you that because he taught the boys to cook. Graham used to make the best sautéed Italian spinach, thanks to this wonderful man and he is the one who taught Drew to love good food. My favorite story about this is that when Drew was young, he was with Mom and Bill at McAlister's and Bill had ordered their French dip sandwich. Drew wanted a bite, so Bill let him have a bite and then went on eating. A few minutes later, Drew said, "Big Daddy, dip that sandwich in that sauce and give me another bite." and thus his love of good food began.

It's entirely appropriate that on this night when we're having them over to celebrate Bill, that Drew requested French dip sandwiches for dinner. 

I look forward to tonight and though tonight's dinner won't be as elaborate as some of what Bill makes, it'll be simple and delicious. More than that, the family time and conversation will be even better and I look forward to lots of laughter and reminiscing. Bill, I know you're reading this because you're my most faithful reader—I love you so much! WE love you so much and appreciate the man you are and the many countless ways in which you've been a blessing to our family. You are the master carpenter, the most talented chef, the wine connoisseur extraordinaire and the one who makes the best catfish and tartar sauce I've ever eaten. We are so very thankful for you, for your example and the integrity that you display to all and mostly, for the way you love all of us.

You are a treasure. Happy, happy birthday to you! We will see you tonight and celebrate even more. I'll leave you with some of our favorite memories to enjoy and cry over. Because I know you will, just like I am right now. 

We always loved the zoo. ❤

McAlister's, where a love for all good food started. Noah always was your cuddle buddy, remember? I think you said that he would be cuddling with you still when he was a teenager. 

Oh, all the nachos you and Drew shared! Remember the day when you discovered he was old enough to start ordering his own?? 

And then how he would get really cold after he ate every meal?

We were at the middle school for one of Graham's band concerts!

Teaching all your ways in the kitchen and it was Jonah's turn!

And my all time favorite memories ever, our trip to Eureka Springs and Drew almost falling down the mountain. I'd never seen Todd run so fast! 

If the rest of you are still around, thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. ❤