Friday Favorites {edition eleven}

Happy Friday, Friends! 

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

WHAT A CRAZY WEEK. 

The world has lost its mind, it seems, and I'm officially over it all.  I've banned myself from watching the news, getting on Facebook too often (mainly, I'm checking notifications because I'm selling some books), and talking about it too much at home.  I'm not scared and fearful like most of the people the media keeps talking about, but hearing about all the panic and seeing how bare the shelves are at grocery stores is actually causing me anxiety.  Anxiety cannot be helped, let me remind you, and it's something I have no control over.  The weirdest things set it off in me, and apparently, the panic in others is one of the things. 

Drew has an extra week of spring break and his classes will be online until mid-April, so this virus might be his favorite thing ever. 

Here is a look back at the week of crazy that we've had here, what with the three birthdays we've had in our house. 

The Revive Our Hearts ministries app is my current favorite thing.  I've been listening to the podcasts for these two topics for the second full week in a row, and they are all so good.  If you don't, you should download the free app and start listening.  It's easy to navigate, and who doesn't love Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth?  The app is Revive Our Hearts.

These cuties turned seventeen on Tuesday!  They're definitely a couple of my favorites.  I love celebrating their birthdays, even if the things they get are much more boring than they used to be.  Jonah wanted money, and Noah wanted a nice bottle of cologne.  (Who knew that stuff was so expensive?!)  My pastor's wife helped me with this, because she's an expert in this department.  He tried what she suggested, and that's what he wanted.  I was glad that she gave me the suggestion.

Then, on Wednesday, my oldest favorite son turned 21.  We celebrated at home Monday night with a really good dinner (steak and baked potatoes), then had the family over for the three of them on Tuesday night.  So on Wednesday, since we didn't have plans, he went to his friend's house to help him with something on his truck, then he and a couple of guys went out and celebrated last night.  I cannot BELIEVE he is 21.

I listened to this on Audible this week, and was reminded of why she is my favorite author and blogger.  She narrated the book, which made it even more funny.

I started reading in one of my favorite books of the Bible yesterday.  I'm reading along in chronological order this year, and that's when we started here. 

Bookshelves are my favorite pieces of furniture.  For two years now, this set of shelves has been arranged in rainbow color order, and I'd had enough as of yesterday.  Basically I did this so that I can bury my nose in books for the next few weeks, and I needed to find all my favorites.  I pulled off every book and dusted it, and arranged them according to genre (fiction/nonfiction) and author.  I have a whole shelf of Karen Kingsbury, almsot a whole shelf of Robin Jones Gunn, and the same for Neta Jackson.  I decided to re-read all of my favorite books of all time, which is the Sisterchicks series by Robin Jones Gunn.  And then, I may just go ahead and read them all again, starting with the Christy Miller series. 

Yesterday, Todd came home early from work to meet with someone about treating our yard, and just stayed home the rest of the day.  We proceeded to watch The Lion King and Aladdin (the remake) together and had a little home version of a date night.  All the boys were gone so it was the two of us for hours on end, and we ate and enjoyed quality time together as we watched those movies and a couple of other shows.  It was a good night, and helped soothe my anxious soul. 

All I can say is about all of this paranoia right now is one thing: do you know Jesus?  When you know Him and walk with Him, He is the giver of peace.  I'm not anxious about this virus, it's like any other virus and will eventually run its course.  We should take some precaution as we usually do, like washing our hands often and staying home if we're sick, but I'm not freaking out about this.  But I cannot imagine walking through these crazy times without Jesus.  If you don't know Him, reach out to me or to anyone you know and trust, and make today the day of your salvation.  You will never regret living a life with Jesus as your Savior. 

Thanks for reading, friends.  Love to all.