Friday Favorites

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

It's been a great week around here, one filled with accomplishment, and that always makes it a favorite for me.  Jonah and I got a lot of painting done this week, and again, I couldn't have done all that I did without him.  I'm so thankful!  I'm also extremely grateful that the Lord helped me all day long yesterday as I painted the very tall walls in our stairwell.  I prayed the whole time I was painting, literally, and I was so happy to be finished that I could have cried.  When I say that the Lord helped me, I truly mean it.  I am not being flippant at all about those words.  Ask Noah, he heard me thanking the Lord the entire time.

That being said, here are some other favorites from throughout my week.

First up is what I saw on Instagram yesterday by Rachel Martin.  I agree wholeheartedly with all of this and am a firm believer that more can get done when you're kind to someone.  People have bad days, friends, and sometimes they just lash out.  I would guess that every single one of us has been on the receiving end of something like this.  I would also guess that we all have been the ones lashing out.  As much as it is up to you, pursue peace always, but especially this time of year.  There is a song I love by Francesca Battistelli called Heaven that talks about this.  Read the first couple of verses below.

I hear the bells, they're ringing loud and clear

You can't help but love this time of year

It's Christmastime, there's something in the air

There's a little bit of heaven everywhere

Somehow there's a little more of love

And maybe there's a little less of us

Or maybe we're just slightly more aware

There's a little bit of heaven everywhere

Is that not true?  There should always be a lot less of us.  The world doesn't revolve around us, after all, and there no more perfect time of year than now to extend the love, mercy, and grace that Jesus so willingly and lovingly bestows.  We are to be lights that reflect Him, because He is the light of the world.

Speaking of music, Christmas music is my favorite right now.  I have a few artists on repeat that I love right now: Francesca Battistelli that I mentioned, Matt Redman and his album These Christmas Lights, The Tenors, Pentatonix, Chris Tomlin and his album Adore, The Carpenters, to name just a few.  My favorite is worship music, and there are no better than Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, in my humble opinion. 

Actually, worship music in general is pretty much all I listen to.  Have y'all seen that year at a glance thing that Spotify offers?  All of my artists and albums are worship music. 

I also saw this image yesterday from a friend's Facebook post, and I laughed ridiculously hard. 

#truestory

I'm laughing as I read it again, and I share that in jest. 

I wrote and published my very favorite kind of blog post this week, my Christmas house tour.  Probably all of three people actually care about this, but I look forward to doing this post every single year.  I love to look back and see how my tastes have changed over the last couple of decades, and I love to do the actual decorating.  It's fun to me, and I love to do it all year long and am forever moving things around and cleaning out, and repurposing what we already have.  (Repurposing is a fancy word for shopping my house.)

I love for things to be clean, orderly, clutter free, and pretty.  The pretty part is what is so different for me than a lot of people, but all of Mom's girls are like me on this, and they all have beautifully decorated homes.  I love seeing all the differing tastes, and I think it's all so pretty.

Judging from the number of views that little post received, it's also a favorite of other people.

I spent Tuesday with my sweet mommy, and we ended our day with my favorite Christmas cups from Starbucks.  My favorite drink to get there all year long is the Chai Tea Latte.  It tastes like Christmas in a cup.  It's really warm and slightly spicy, with undertones of cinnamon and (believe it or not) black pepper.  I realize that sounds so strange, but I've made believers out of several people.  Try it for yourself, but I'd get the smallest size, in case you don't like the flavors.

Some of my favorite people tore down our deck Wednesday afternoon, in preparation for us to get new siding on the house.  It's supposed to be started today, but it's raining, so maybe they'll get started on Monday now.  When it gets built back, it'll be built low to the ground, with steps going out from this door down to the flooring.

Also, today is the birthday of one of my favorite people ever pictured above: my wonderful stepdad, Bill.  If your'e reading this, Bill, happy birthday!  I love you and look forward to celebrating you Monday night. 

Crash was lamenting over his days of running out of that door for the unforeseeable future.

Here is a portion of what I painted yesterday in my house, and it wasn't my favorite.  But it's done! 

This was Chip's favorite day of the week.  He hopped up into Todd's spot in our bed, and he was living his best life.

Ignore my torn up cuticles from decorating and fluffing Christmas trees and painting, but this is my favorite time of year to get my nails done.  The brighter and sparklier, the better.  I didn't look at the name, but it's that dip powder I've been getting on my nails, and it's my favorite ever. 

(Just because it's pretty.)

I'll end with one last thing.

If you're local to me, I'd love for you to join us for my favorite night of worship all year long, our Christmas night of praise and worship.  It's this Sunday night, at six o'clock, in the sanctuary of our church, Collierville First Baptist Church. 

Well, I need to dust a little downstairs, and vacuum and get started on laundry before my dad gets here.  Thanks for reading my blog!  Love to all.