Friday Favorites, grateful edition

Good Friday morning!  I am excited about this weekend and cannot believe it's already Friday.  I'm linking up with Momfessionals for this post.

Hands down, one of my favorite moments from this past week was seeing all these teenagers dressed up for the homecoming dance.  I love these people so much, and it is fun seeing them having fun together.

Another favorite moment with some of the same people, you will notice, was having a picnic after church on Sunday with our Bible fellowship class.  We were going to go out for lunch, but they requested a picnic at a park instead.  We are going on a girls only camping trip with them in a little over a week, and I am excited for that!  I can't wait to spend a couple of days with them in God's beautiful creation.

My heart is always so full after coming away from time with them.  I have known a lot of these girls since kindergarten, so it's been amazing to see them grow up into such a Godly young ladies.  I would be perfectly content if my oldest son marries one of them.  (Wishful thinking?)

I discovered that the blood moon was my favorite.

After community group on Sunday night, the boys and I drove to my mom's and step-dad's to see this moon, but the cloud cover was too dense.  We drove home and we could see it.  It was so cool, because at first it was totally eclipsed and almost pitch black.  Then you could see the eclipse moving and before we knew it, we could all see the redness of the moon.  A few minutes after I took this picture, it had returned to the moon we normally see.  I am continually blown away by God and His creation.  This was just another one of those favorite moments.

I loved sharing this moment with the boys.

I have gotten glimpses of future multiple dog moments that are blissfully calm.  This was one of those moments, and it's one of my favorite pictures I have of them to date.

#Crash&Callie

Aren't they adorable?  They love to play with each other.  Crash is totally being paid back for the torment he brought upon sweet, old Andy, when he was just a pup.  Crash looks at me sometimes as if he's saying, "Mom?  Can't you make her give me back my toy?"  But I know he loves having a frisky playmate.  Callie is such a good puppy.  She's only had a couple of accidents in the house, and her huge ears and paws make our hearts melt.  She is so clumsy with her giant paws, that we can't help but laugh at her.  She is constantly tripping, running into things and falling right over.

The older boys soccer games have been some of my favorite moments from this week.  Monday night was chilly (!!!) and I had fun sitting with my friends and laughing over some of their antics.

Also on the list of favorites from the week is the fact that I was able to eat lunch with two sweet friends this week.  On Tuesday I make a giant pot of homemade broccoli cheese soup and my friend Abbey came to eat with us.  On Wednesday, my friend Scottie and I had plans to eat together.  She works at our church and we love to talk (and talk and talk and talk), so to save on drive time, we just went into a side room at the church and ate lunches we brought from home.  I loved being able to spend time with these sweet friends and get all caught up.  I would love to start making that a normal thing.  I think I might start making a goal list each month and adding things like that to it.

This might be my favorite new thing.  A friend gave me this as a gift and I love it!

A group of us started a new Bible study this week with the youth ministry leaders at church, and it might be my favorite non-Precept way study of all time.  It's on Ephesians 6 and it's called The Armor of God, by Priscilla Shirer.

This was me doing the homework one day this week.  I've already done most of it, because it's that good.  I'm doing another Bible study at our homeschool group each Thursday on 1 Peter.  It's that Precept study I mentioned above.  The reason that is my favorite way of studying the Bible is because you learn to study God's word, word by word.  Have you ever read a passage in Scripture and noticed one word used a lot of times in a small amount of verses?  Well, there's usually a reason why, and I have learned to stop and look for those repeated words and to discover their original meanings, whether in the Hebrew or the Greek.  I've learned more than I've ever learned before, in studying that way.

But this Armor of God is no light study.  It's nowhere near the amount of homework, so it's easier for me to do, but I am loving it so far.

Last, but not least, my favorite moment from this week just happened last night.  My sweet friend is married to the event planner at Hope Presbyterian, a huge church in this area, and he is able to get us into concerts for free, with really good seats.  I am so grateful for my friend, and for her husband, for giving us tickets.  Even the cheap seats last night would have cost us almost $100, so you see why we don't do things like this often.  I am so thankful for their generosity!  So last night I took the boys, along with my sister Trish, to see Colson Dixon, Britt Nicole and Toby Mac.  Todd was going to go, but there was a men's event at church and then he stayed late to help a friend with some things.  When I found out Todd wasn't going, I asked my sister Trish to go with us.  We had a blast.  Here are some pictures.

Colson Dixon is my favorite.  We have loved him since he was on American Idol.  He is unabashed in his worship, and when he sings, you have no doubt that he is only there to worship God.  I love his heart.  I love Britt Nicole's voice, but I don't care for her music that much.  I couldn't really hear her singing about God, either, which is a little weird, since she sings Christian music.  Maybe that was just me not hearing, but she is definitely entertaining.  Toby Mac came last, and like Colson, he left no doubt in my mind Who he was there for.  And, can I just say here, that I have loved him since I was a teenager and he was the lead singer in D.C. Talk?!  #flashbackFriday

My sweet Noah and I snagged a quick picture with this guy before we left.  Isn't my Noah handsome?  He has the sweetest heart of any kid I have ever known, and trust me, I have known a lot.  He is precious.

It's been a great week, and the weekend is looking to play out the same.  I am excited about a few things we'll be doing.  :)

Thank you for sticking with my blog and reading all my posts.  I pray that my heart is always transparent on here, and that I never come across as braggy.  I have NOTHING to boast in, except for my sweet Jesus.  I hope you love Him, too.  Love to all.