Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  This week has been one big blur.  And I am pretty sure the weekend will, as well.  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for this post.

Family time has been my favorite thing from this week.  I've seen so much of them throughout the week, and that's unusual.  Last weekend Todd and I enjoyed time with our boys all weekend, he at drag races in Millington with them, and all of us together on Saturday night, with friends from church at a hockey game.

I love times like this.  This was a fun night, and the whole weekend was awesome.

Another reason I've seen so much family outside of my own that live in my house, is because of birthdays.

On Sunday after church, we celebrated this dear man at a pizza restaurant.  This is Todd's dad, and this picture is three or four years old.  I love this man!  He is every bit as sweet and as fun as he looks in this picture.

And then on Tuesday, we celebrated MY daddy turning 86!

Here we are back at Christmas, with my sister Trish.

Daddy might be 86, but he is in excellent health and can outlast most of us on any given day.

On Tuesday night, we had a big birthday dinner here for him, and he, my stepmom, my sister Terri (who is in town from North Carolina), my sister Trish, my nephew Devin, Alex, and my five were all here as we ate dinner, had a yuumy strawberry cake for dessert (his favorite), and gave him presents.  It was a great night.

I also have spent time with him and Sandy and Terri on Wednesday, again yesterday, and one last time today before Terri goes back home tomorrow.

Like I said, family time is my favorite.

I've been reading along in Hebrews this week, as part of my quiet time, and these verses I've underlined are some of my favorites.

This new journal is a favorite since last year, and I get excited when I start a new one.

I added something to my quiet time this week, when I'm done with reading the bible and that is this page in a regular spiral notebook.

With so much going on at this time of year, I've had more on my mind than usual of late, and writing this page out has helped me with some of that.  The brain dump part, especially.  It's almost like a mini to-do list of sorts.  I start with a trait of God to praise Him for, one usually taken from somewhere I've read that day, then I write that out with the verse I got it from.  Next I thank Him for something very specific He either answered or showed me that morning.  I pray, then I confess something I struggle with.  I read a portion of scripture yesterday that was about what happens when being prideful is left unchecked, and I really don't want to be that way.

All of this is absolutely useless, though, if I don't spend time in prayer once I'm done with it.  I actually just read aloud what I've written down, giving it all to Him, then I commit to Him my plans for that day.  I love the verse in Proverbs that says a man can make plans, but the Lord determines the steps.  That's essentially what I do, I just give my day to Him, yielding myself to Him for every little thing I do that day.

I use a regular spiral notebook that I keep with my quiet time stuff, because I also use that for making notes as I read through the book of Psalm for bible study, and it's where I keep track of the verses I'm memorizing this year.  And we all know that writing is one of my favorite things of all time.

Lastly, are these new writing plans that are my favorite.

If you want the printable versions, go to swtblessings.com.

Thanks for reading my blog!  Y'all have a great weekend.  Love to all!