Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  This whole day and weekend are JAM PACKED, and I am going to write this and then I'll basically be running through the rest of my day.  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, for this post. 

It's been a really good week.  It's gone by fast, which shouldn't surprise me anymore, but it still does.  I haven't seen a ton of my husband, because he's been working at our church every night, to prepare for this weekend, but more about that in a minute.

Here are some of my favorites from the week.

I was standing at the stove cooking dinner on Monday night, when I took this.  This little corner in my kitchen is my favorite, with a bunch of other favorite things.  I got that lamp for my birthday, and I love how it brightens up what was a dark corner in the kitchen.  Those cook books you see?  They're my favorite, especially the one on top.  I love my little frame with a favorite passage out of Isaiah, and just a couple of months ago, I bought that utensil jar from HomeGoods.  The Dutch oven lid you see is my favorite pot that I own.  My mom bought it for me as a gift while I was recovering from surgery a few years ago, and I use it almost every single day. 

I also love that on this night, my sister Trish came and had dinner with us. 

On Tuesday, I went to my favorite place in town (and my happy place, the local library) and got a pretty good collection of books.  I've already read one of them.  It was SO GOOD!  It reminded me a bit of the Mitford books.

After I took this, I ran to Kroger, then I went to my friend Eileen's house.  We meet every couple of weeks and get all caught up on life and such, and on this day, we sat at her table and just talked about what the Lord was showing us in our lives through our bible reading.

I love this woman so much, and I've not even known her that long.  She had THREE bibles laying open on her kitchen table that day, and I laughed later on, because last week, I had three on my table one morning as I did my bible reading and bible study homework.  We're a lot alike.

Avocados for lunch are my favorite.  So are bible study days, for that matter, and this was what I ate on Wednesday. 

I came home that day and had two cards waiting for me in the mail!  I feel so fortunate.  This one was from my dad, and I teared up when I read what he had written.

And this one was from my best friend.  Cards in the mail are one of my very favorite things ever!

I also got candy from my mom, and she and my sister made some goodies for the boys (brownies and cupcakes), and then last night we ate dinner with my in-love's, so it was a great day.

I used to always cuddle my kids, but now I do this with my animals.  If I sit down, this kitty is in my lap.  Here we were yesterday afternoon, while I was trying to read my book.

But then later on, I got this picture, without her.  I finished a really good book yesterday, and I read most of it yesterday, in between doing things around the house.  I'll share about this more next week, when I do my February book review.

I love days like yesterday.  I had nowhere to be until after six, most of my house things were done early on in the day, I caught up on laundry again (I always fall behind on Wednesday), the weather was nice outside, it was just a quiet, peaceful day.  Those are always my favorite.

This weekend is crazy because it's D-Now weekend for three of my boys.  Graham is a leader again, and Jonah and Noah are participating.  This weekend is like a weekend long retreat, but it's in town and at host homes in our area.  (Except that Jonah's and Noah's grade boys are staying at the church, which they're so excited about.)  There's always a preacher they get to come speak, a band that leads worship, and they'll have activities tonight and tomorrow morning and afternoon.  Lunch and dinner will be eaten at church tomorrow, and breakfast on Sunday, then after morning church, they'll be dismissed to come home again.  There is a special service that night that will officially end the weekend. 

This year is bittersweet for me, because for the first time in a long time, I will not be a leader.  I'm not really involved in youth anymore, and while I'm excited for the boys, I'm a little sad for me.  It works better this way, though, because it's hard to have our animals be alone all day.  This way I am free to come home and take care of them, and then I'll also be hanging out at church with them.  Tonight I'm doing registration and tomorrow night I'm helping serve dinner. 

(Todd is always part of the tech team, so he is there as well.  Drew isn't going at all this year, he's no longer in youth, and he didn't want to be a leader.  Which is good, because for half a day tomorrow, he has to go through a CPR course for his work.)

It'll be a busy weekend, but a fun one.  Speaking of, I had better get moving.  I have a list waiting on me!  Thanks for reading, I hope yours is great.  Love to all!