Friday Favorites

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

This has been a really great week.  I've been moderately busy (as in, I had somewhere to be almost everyday), but not so much so that I'm tired from it. 

Monday was the only day I actually stayed home all day.  I caught up on the mountains of laundry that I had neglected all weekend, I vacuumed the floors, I read my bible plan from Sunday and then also from that day, I cleaned a bit, and I can't remember what all else.  I felt like it was a productive day, though, the kind that I most love. 

Also on that day, I started memorizing Romans 12, one of my favorite chapters in the bible.  I love to memorize scripture, and it's been a couple of years and I really feel the need to sharpen my brain again by stretching it.  That just means that this no longer comes easily for me, so I have to work at it.  I made notecards, one per verse, so that I can grab them and go if I am going to somewhere that I might have a wait.  This verse stopped me in my tracks on that day.  It was after a particularly discouraging conversation I'd had about my sister in love that is still in Vanderbilt because of a heart transplant.

I needed to read that so much on that day.  I know that the Lord had me read that.  He is so good to me, and always so kind.  I texted this to someone I thought could also use the encouragement.

I love to do that, by the way, encourage people along the way.  I know that not everyone is made like that, but sometimes I think we should all make the effort more than we do.  It takes less than two minutes to do something like that.  I am all about affirming people, and I try to do this a few times a week.

 I got to attend a music reading this week at a local church.  I love being in choir, and I LOVE music.  Some of my favorite music is put out by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  This is their newest release, and it was awesome getting to hear it and sing it.  I went to this with some friends from choir, and our worship pastor. 

Also, last night, I watched the live stream of the Brooklyn Tabernacle singers debuting this at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.  It was over an hour, but all my family was gone, and what better way to spend an hour and a half on a Thursday night than worshiping the Lord?  It was so good.

You can listen to some of their songs on YouTube.

Psalm 23 is one of my favorites.

Unfortunately, later this day, I started feeling so sick.  My throat felt like it was on fire, so rather than cook, we had pizza for dinner, and I went to bed early. 

It's official.  All my boys are drivers now.  Noah got his permit on Wednesday!  I'm so proud of him.

Also, on this day, I started a prayer wall under this sign in my kitchen, and these are the family members whose pictures I already had printed.  I'm working on the rest of them. 

This will end up being my favorite spot in the house, I'm sure.

Later that day, Missy and Rachel came over for bible study. 

I also made two lasagnas- one to give away and one for us to enjoy.  They both ate with me that night.

This is one of my very favorite memories!  It was five years ago when we went on a field trip with Big Daddy to Shiloh.  It was so much fun, and we made so many memories. 

This is my favorite neighborhood in all of The Ville.  And it just so happens to be where one of my best friends lives, so at a stop sign on my way to her house yesterday, I took this picture.  It was gorgeous outside, so rather than pray in a room inside, we sat in rocking chairs on her front porch and talked and prayed together. 

My favorite new shoes that kill my feet.  Actually it's just the left one that hurts so bad.  I broke that foot three years ago, and it never healed right, so the strap around my ankle makes it throb by the end of the time that I wear these.  I honestly don't care that they hurt, because LOOK how adorable.  I love them. 

I am so glad it's Friday for a few reasons.  I get to see my dad, and I'm making one of his favorite things to eat- egg and olive salad.  It's Drew's and Noah's favorite as well. 

I am getting my hair cut!  I can't wait.  I'm going to try something a little different that we talked about when I saw my hairstylist friend a couple of weeks ago.  She thought it would work really well for my hair, so I'm excited to see the end result. 

And, finally, I get to see ALL of my family all weekend.  Graham is so busy these days, between work and classes he's been taking at night since January, so I love when I can see him for days in a row. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.