Friday Favorites! {weekday moments edition}

Happy Friday, my friends!  My favorite day of the week is back in full force and my list of to-do's before noon is long.  Yet here I sit, writing on my blog.  It has been a GREAT week around my house, super productive with school work and chock full of funny moments.  In this week there have also been some less than stellar moments for my family, but through it all, the good and the bad, God is infinitely good.  And He is in control.

I'm linking up with my favorite mom blogger for this post, and her post today was so sweet that I almost cried.  If you have some extra time today, go visit her blog and read all about a huge special moment for them this week.  {Momfessionals}

One.

This picture represents so many things to me.  One, the gift of my girlfriends.  I have recently (as in the last year and a half or two) gotten to know really well a sweet friend from church, and her son is the one mine is pushing around in this basket.  Not only do I love my friend, I love her kids.  And these two crazies are two peas in pod.  It's almost scary.  Another thing this picture represents to me is how thankful to God I am for my kids' friends.  They have all got such a wonderful support group of friends, and it is because of a direct answer to prayer that I can say that.  All glory to God!  The last thing this picture represents to me is our church family.  It's not required that you go to church to get into Heaven, but I so need time with my church family each and every week.  It is the fellowship with like-minded believers that is so important to me, and that I count on each week.  The best kind of week is when I get to see them multiple times throughout the seven days.  This has been one such week.  The reason I write about church is because so many times, my kids either go home with friends after church, or friends come home with us.

Two.

It has been so cold this week, and I have loved every frigid moment!  Jonah asked for a fire on this night, and Todd delivered.  Unfortunately, the boys and I left for a couple hours after I took this, but we were happy to return home and enjoy this cozy-ness before we all went to bed.  I love a good fire and so does my husband.  Truthfully, I think he just enjoys making fire, because it reminds him of camping.  And yes, that is his favorite thing about camping~keeping the fire burning.  He is a pro at it.

Three.

I don't have a picture of this one.  :/  But speaking of my husband, I have to dedicate part of this post to him.  He called me with some really exciting news this week and I have to brag on him a little!  Most of you know that he volunteers with the sheriff's department in our city, which is something he loves to do.  The sheriff's department guys have a bit of a bad reputation with law enforcement officers, because a lot of them are old or lazy.  But there are a small group of them that take it very seriously because of their love for the job.  My husband is one of those guys.  Not only does he love doing this, he's great at it.  He was selected to be a part of a very small group of people to be trained by the Coast Guard, to start protecting the citizens of Memphis in a new way.  When he usually goes in to work a shift, he rides in a vehicle that is similar to an ambulance.  After this training, he will go in to work a shift on the water.  In the summer months, they will be patrolling the Mississippi River and some big lakes around the Memphis area.  I know he's excited about this new thing and I couldn't be more proud of him.  He is the hardest working man I know.

Four.

Thursday has always been a favorite moment for us~it's our homeschool group day.  The morning time, in particular, has become a favorite moment each week because of the time I spend in prayer with the other small group leaders before we start.  This year we committed to meeting fifteen minutes early each week to pray for the day.  These ladies that I pray with are some prayer warriors.  When we pray together, the Holy Spirit moves in such a tangible way among us.  These moments are sacred and reverent and I look forward to our fifteen to thirty minutes together each week.  Yes, sometimes we go over our fifteen minute time slot, but who can put a time limit on prayer?

Five.

I posted this picture on Instagram last night, because I love all the huge smiles we have.  This was my throwback Thursday picture of the week, to the time back in September when we vacationed with my in-love's.  Last night we ate dinner with them at CiCi's in Cordova, and as we sat around the long table, I kinda felt like a Braverman.  (For all the Parenthood fanatics out there, like myself.)  We ate and we laughed and laughed over funny moments we all shared from our week.  It was a good reminder to me to remember to search for the small moments in life that bring joy.  Attitude is so important, and as believers, we are to have the joy of the Lord.  My encouragement to you today is this~look for those moments.  Even when things seem so wrong or bad or scary, take a scroll down memory lane and recall what has brought you joy and has made you laugh.  Life is too short to be so serious all the time.  I love to laugh, and last night brought much laughter.  It was probably my favorite moment, so far, of this week.

I hope you enjoyed reading through our moments this week~I have enjoyed writing about them.  Thanks for reading and love to all.