Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals and her friends, for this blog post.

I'm posting things in no random order, of my favorites from this past week.

Being on a book launch team is one of my very favorite things.  I'm currently on TWO, which is odd, because I'll go months or even a year, with not being on any.  These were two that I randomly came across and applied for, and was accepted within a week.  I always feel honored, because a lot of people apply for these things, and usually they'll only accept a few hundred, or a thousand.  (When I was on Jen Hatmaker's book launch team for her last book, over ten thousand women applied, just to give you an idea.)

The first book in the picture is Melanie Shankle's newest book that will release October 3.  I'm almost done with it, and I promise you, that you are going to want to read it for yourself.  These are memoir type books that she writes of days gone by.  Her other three books are about being married, being a parent, being a friend, and this one has relics from her childhood days.  I don't ever know what to expect her to write about next, but with each book, she gets better and better.  This one is laugh out loud funny, and I had headphones on while reading it on the plane, and had to stop myself from being obnoxious.  The overall theme of the book is being faithful in the small things, and watching how God so often works in our lives through all the small things and details we experience.

This second picture you see is me taking a personality test earlier in the week (an enneagram test), thanks to the second book launch team I'm on, for Reading People, by Anne Bogel, or Modern Mrs. Darcy.  I haven't started this one yet, but as soon as I'm done with Church of the Small Things, I'll read this.  I know from the review I read online that this book is about people, and all their different personalities.  I've already heard people talking online about how much it's helping them understand their family members more.  I am really excited about this one, too, because I love learning about people, and what makes them, them.

I cannot believe that it is almost August, and that in a little over a week, Drew will begin his senior year, and Jonah and Noah, their freshman year.  Time flies.  A new month means a new plan for Scripture writing.  You know this is one of my favorite parts of my morning quiet time routine.  I also love her new design.  I love checking things off a list!

One of my favorite parts of this summer has been spending time with this sweet friend of mine, and honorary Goodwin family member, Marissa.  She was here as a youth summer intern, and is moving back to her hometown in the morning.  (She lives near Gulf Port, MS.)  When Todd has worked nights over the course of the last few weeks, she has come over and kept me company.  She's eaten dinner with us, she's sat and watched me while I cleaned and put my house back together after having a worker here all day, she's listened to me, she's bounced Mom-type questions off of me, and she's poured her heart out to me.

I will miss her immensely.

My only respite from being really sad is that she will visit often, and hopefully we will visit her, and prayerfully, she will move here for good after she finishes school and looks for a permanent job.

It is so hard to believe that I've only known her for a little over a year.  We met on the Navajo mission trip my family went on last summer.

In my quiet time one day this week, I was looking for something and came across this in the back of my bible.  I had forgotten that I'd written this here, and decided to share about it on social media and my blog.  Things like this are my favorite things to see on social media, and I thought someone else might feel the same.  This was passed down to me, so I shared it in hopes of passing it along.  There are a lot of teenagers that follow me on Instagram, so I try to post things like this for them.

Books are one of my favorite things and hobbies.  I got majorly side tracked yesterday during the day and spent two hours unloading every book from this shelf, dusting if off, then making piles of what to keep and what not to keep.  This was the finished product.  I love having little trinkets from my past displayed with all my books, and I love having a totally cleaned off shelf.

I do acknowledge that I have a book problem.

As for the books I don't want anymore, I passed them along to Marissa last night when she came over.  I'll be donating the rest to our local library.

And speaking of books and libraries, how about this lovely room at The Broadmoor I visited last Sunday in Colorado Springs?!  This is pretty much my dream room.

I told you, books are my favorite.  This room screams at me to come, pick a book off the shelf, and curl up on the cozy little couch to read.

Speaking of favorites, this love ranks right up at the top of my list.  My niece Erika has been my little tag-a-long ever since she was born, pretty much.  She was like my real life little doll that I always wanted with me, and watching her mature and grow up, get married, and now being a twin mom has been one of the most rewarding things of my entire life.  I love her so very much and enjoyed every single second I spent with her when I was in Colorado this past week.

Also, while we were together one afternoon at the pool at our hotel in Breckenridge, and sat talking, it dawned on me AGAIN how much alike we are.  And how cool that we both have twins?!

This might have been my favorite thing from the entire week.  Getting Kinsley (left) and Kylie to sleep on me last Friday night was wonderful and heart wrenching all at the same time.  I was trying to soak all of them up that I could while I had the chance.

Sisters!  I loved spending time with them the past week.  Our times together are few and far between, and I love having this picture to document our time spent with each other.

I am so glad I was able to go for a visit!

Garden of the Gods was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  It was definitely a favorite moment from the trip.  Also another beautiful thing are the Colorado skies.  There was not a filter on any of my pictures from the trip, it's just always that bright and clear.

It has been a week!  From traveling to major house repair to some other things, I am glad the weekend is here and that we have some days to be together ahead of us.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.