Friday Favorites

I am linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for this post.

It's my favorite weekday again, and I am particularly excited that today is Friday, because tomorrow Graham and Drew come home!  Although, I am sad for them, that their mission trip is drawing to a close, and I know they're not ready for it to be over.  I remember that feeling all too well, and what it's like to leave a piece of your heart with a people God makes you fall in love with.

One.

In a really sad moment last Saturday, my friend Lori sent me this picture in a text.  I died laughing.  She shares my hatred of all things of the eight legged variety and is one of the few people who has seen me go ballistic over a spider.  In fact, she has seen me lose it over a spider not once, but twice.  Last summer when we were doing Street Reach, she witnessed me freaking out over a huge spider that was crawling towards one of the girls with us that week.  I went into protective mama mode and I might have screamed bloody murder.  The other time was (with teenagers again) at community group.  One of the boys was chasing me around with a container holding a very large wolf spider.  I almost punched the boy chasing me.  He finally stopped, when one of my girls jumped in his path.  :)  Needless to say, this picture perfectly conveys how I feel about all things creepy crawly.

Bleh.

Two.

These boys.  I am so glad that I had the thought to save Jonah's and Noah's birthday sleepover until the week Graham and Drew were gone.  I think that if not for these friends (and especially Alex), they would have been more than a little lost over their big brothers being gone all week.  This was a really fun day, and when this bottom picture happened and Cole spilled several hundred (thousand?) air soft pellets, we laughed and laughed and laughed.  I love moments of laughter.  I also had moments of frustration, though, lest you think I am saintly and have tons of patience.  I don't.  Those moments of frustration happened when they repeatedly tracked mud all over the downstairs of my house and garage and a lot of the same pellets were all over my garage floor.  I am human and I am definitely flawed.  Todd is really good for me in these situations of having to talk me down.  (Similar to calming me down.)  Because let's face it~these moments ALWAYS happen when he's nowhere near.  Keepin' it real.

Three.

I have loved getting updates from the team in Guatemala!  I've been stalking the Facebook page since last Saturday.  This picture was taken by MK Hill.  I saved a lot of the pictures to my phone so I would have them forever.  I also loved talking to Graham and Drew on Wednesday night and Thursday!  Graham is the one who loves to talk~he had lots and lots of funny stories and details.  Drew, on the other hand, though he is the loud one at home, is quite different on the phone.  He is very short and to the point and more than a little frustrating.  What I mean by that is that he kept on trying to get off the phone, and I was still talking.  He did call again last night when he had a little more time.  It's funny how different their personalities are.

Four.

I pulled out my spring nail polishes this week.  :)  This one is what I'm wearing this moment.  It's by Essie and it's called Bikini So Teeny.  I got this image from a website called Polished Cousins.  I painted my toes with a color (also by Essie) called Geranium.  I am so ready for Spring!  And speaking of that~happy first day of my second favorite season!  Fall is my first choice, followed closely by Spring.

Five.

Last night when we got home from my in-love's house, Jonah found a package on the front porch containing this!  Because I am on the launch team  for this book coming out in August, I got my advance copy in paper form.  I received it digitally last week and devoured it in two nights, but you all know that I am a paper girl and love a good smelling book to hold in my hands.  I cannot wait to tell you more about this book, but I don't have permission from Thomas Nelson publishing company yet.  So...be looking for that in a month or six weeks.  I can tell you this~this book is awesome and you won't want to put it down.  It is available for pre-order from any of the places you would normally do so, like Amazon or Christian Books.  I can't encourage you enough to do that.

Six.

Sweet Noah.  And Jonah, just to be fair.  Though I've missed the two oldest, I have so enjoyed having quality time with my youngest two this week.  It's been a great week of spring break for us, and I am thankful we've had a great time together.  Noah was the only one willing to smile for my camera this morning, but don't you love how bright and cheerful he looks?  The shorts were a birthday gift from Alex (Jonah got a matching pair) and the sweatshirts from my mom.  I love his smile and his wit and his sensitive and caring heart.

Well.  I have laundry calling my name so I had best stop here.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.