Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  This has been a great week around these parts, and has gone by really fast.  I know the weekend will be the same, because it is JAM PACKED.  And time?  Can you slow down again?

I'm linking up with Momfessionals for this post.

I have had a lot of favorite moments from this week, and I even have a new favorite PRODUCT!  I usually don't talk about things, but moments.  Here are some of those, in no particular order.

One.

On Mother's Day, we celebrated these two beautiful moms after church.  On the left is my mom, and on the right is my mom-in-love (law).  We met at the McAllister's out here in The Ville after church and had a really good lunch together.  I love this day when we celebrate moms.  My husband and kids do a phenomenal job of making me feel very loved and appreciated.  Actually, they do that every other day too, but on THIS day, I get happy's!

However, I know this day brings sadness for some moms.  My prayers are always with those who are single moms or moms who have lost babies and also those who are spending maybe a first Mother's Day without their beloved moms.  It's a really sweet, but emotional day.

But my moms?  They're all my favorites.

Two.

This was my favorite thing that happened this week!  A picnic in the park by our neighborhood, with friends on the night of Mother's Day.  The weather was GLORIOUS and as the moms sat and visited and caught up, the dads and the kids all played football nearby.  I love my friends and I thank God for them.  And I LOVE seeing all the dads bond and have fun over a friendly game of football.

Three.

Flowers are my favorite.  However, if you have seen my house, you know that we have almost zero room in our flower beds in the front of our house.  Because of the height and raised foundation of our house, we have boxwoods in the front, and that's all that can fit in the little flower beds.  A landscaping company near my husband's work was throwing away all of these plans, and he stopped and asked if he could have them.  So he had the boys bring them all home and we are going to plan them all in planters on the front sidewalk and on our front stoop.  I love color!  You also know that about me if you've been inside of my house.

Four.

This new Fitbit Alta that my hubby and boys gave me for mom's day is my new favorite accessory.  It tracks the time, my steps, calories burned, active minutes and sleep patterns.  Every day this week (not Sunday), I have met my goal of ten thousand steps a day.  Well, at least that much.  Some days have gone over that.  I am walking a minimum of three miles everyday (mostly on the treadmill), but some days when I go to bed, this thing says that I've walked closer to five miles.

Five.

Ever since January, we've been having choir practices on Sunday afternoons.  At first I didn't much care for it, but now that we're on month five of this, I love it because it frees up my time on Wednesday nights.  My favorite thing to do on that night is to be in youth!  I love these kids so much, and I love seeing them midweek.  I get hugs, some will pull me away for quick talks, I get to worship and pray alongside them, and I think it's good to be seen by them in their worship service.  This week was precious...I took this picture as they were praying over the outgoing seniors.

The current senior girls were my first group of girls to be with, and I was with them for two years.  And for those two years, I was with the current eleventh grade girls in community group on Sunday night.  This year was the year of change for all of that, though, and I was no longer with those senior girls.  I am so thankful that we still kept up with one another, though, and I love that they still come to me for advice or prayer or just a listening ear.  I cannot believe that today is their last day of high school!

Tears.

One of the best decisions I ever made was getting involved with youth.  I am so thankful for my friend Erin that sought me out three years ago at kids camp to ask me about leading a group and I am so thankful to God for placing a love for these teenagers into the very depths of my heart.  I have laughed with them and cried with them, I have heard a lot of their stories, I have shared my story and we have had some wonderfully sweet moments of connection and fellowship.  I will forever be changed by all of them and I pray that long after they've left the youth ministry, that they remember my most important piece of advice: love God the most (and people), pray continually and READ THE WORD OF GOD.

That's what I tell them all.  Because truly, none of the other stuff matters if you do those things.

I love youth ministry.  It's my favorite thing that I have ever done inside of a church setting, and I pray that as long as God would have me there, that I would be effective for His kingdom.  I always pray and ask Him to examine my motives for doing this, and that if I ever have wrong motives, that He would remove me.  I don't ever want to be a stumbling block for any of these teenagers, and I certainly never want to be there for myself.

I'm extra sentimental today I suppose, because I've been praying about next year and what God would have me do.  I have no clear answer yet, but I do know that this love I have for these girls is not going to go away.  I love them so much, and it's an honor to be even a tiny part of their lives.

Six.

I have been reading the book of James in the bible this week.  James is one of my favorite New Testament books and I am soaking up all the words.  Today's chapter was really good.  I read James chapter three, and he talks about our tongues and how evil they are and how both blessings and curses come from the same part.  Then he talks about wisdom from above and he lists what that is.  I'll just write it out for you.  It's James 3: 16-18.

"For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace."

I think this is one of my favorite passages because he talks about peace several times.  We are to be a peace loving type of people...not quarrelsome.  We are to sow peace and cultivate peace.  That means we are to scatter peace wherever we go and then we are to acquire or develop it.  I don't know about you, but in this crazy world, that is hard!  Peace is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it's the fruit that speaks the most to me, because I crave it in my life.  Without peace is disorder and evil and God is NOT a God of disorder, but a God of peace.

See where I'm going with all this?

I just gleaned a lot from my quiet time this morning.

Well, thanks for reading my blog!  I pray that your day and weekend are both wonderful.  Love to all.