Friday’s Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne!

 A possible snow day or two:   As  we contemplate our blessings...  it is  interesting how  as  Susanne, our host, welcomes the  exit of cold and dreary weather,  in my heart, I look forward to that same air mass  coming our way.. Ok,  my husband  isn't  too  welcoming  of the 12-18 inches of white stuff  predicted,  but the kid and  teacher in me  quietly yells,  bring it on.. Yes, even though I have been retired  for almost two decades,  I still look forward to a good snow day, two, or 5.   I  know this  is  not what  a lot of people want,    but  I think there are about half the folks who do, especially, us kids!   We haven't had a good snowfall here in several years. And it is good for the water table.    We have been  rather dry  the past few seasons!  But really,  the snow is so much better than ice,   and  actually,   it should be  nearly gone by mid next week,  when I need to be somewhere. I do pray  for those in the wake of  ice and  possible outages of electricity and  treacherous roads.  I have  precious family in North Carolina and my prayers are with them. I will leave it all own the hands of our Lord!  But if I get snow,  I'll be smiling!

Our scales keep smiling at me:  I am so thankful for this physical change in my body.. I mean I don't  find myself  eating  a ton of  holiday food,  but yes,  since  December we have  had our fair share of left over cookies, and   cocoa,   But  praise God,  the scales haven't  moved up..  and I do believe that  my  desire to eat a lot  is changing... I do not  actually think about it.  I  am going to  blame that  dastardly gall stone that has been accumulating over decades,  (so said  my doctor)  on my  over eating problem.  hehehe..   but truly now that it is out,  I  am not eating nearly as much as I used to!   Thank you, Lord!!!

One thing I will miss this weekend:  Last Sunday we started a membership  class  with our new pastor  ...  we are so fortunate  to have found this church  and    this  fabulous  teaching team. At first  I was daunted by  what we    thought was the lack of any other  good churches in our valley.  Sad to say, after being involved in 5 great churches,  but for various reasons over my life we  left, I was praying to the Lord, please let there be another  good church  for us.. to be clear, at our age,  we just  do not like   loud,  rock and roll  praise teams  which have virtually taken over this community and is the main reason we left   three of the churches that we left.. Much too loud, and you couldn't hear the voices at all.  That kind of worship is not for us.  But praise God we did find a wonderful church...  it is on the other side of town,  but  we do pass by some great restaurants on the way home so that a  makes it not so bad, right?? I  hate to miss Sunday, but I know we won't be leaving home..  Lynn despises driving in bad weather,  and  probably,  the church will  close, but put a message online!.. 

I am so thankful for friends at this stage of life:  The whole time I was working,  teaching third grade  I didnt have  a lot  of friends,  might I say, during my career, the only friends , true friends, I had time for were my co- workers.  I mean I had some acquaintances from church but never really spent enough time with them to become bosom pals.  My bosom pals were my teacher friends. But then I retired and suddenly those bosom pals essentially disappeared, so it was like starting all over again.  Church replaced career, but I didn’t  really have any bosom pals at church,  just acquaintances. At the same time I retired our daughter started college, so she was essentially gone.  That first year of retirement was a year of redefinition and coming to grips with myself at age 53.  But it was all good.  I knew basically, I wanted and needed to become a much more dedicated Christian, so I dove into ministry and there I found new friends but not based on the shared  trials of vocation but based on personal relationship building which was new to me.  Anyway, now  after 19 years of retirement and 3 churches later,  here I am starting over in a new rather large church, and I basically have no new friends again.  Praise God 2 very special friends left and came to this church about the same time as us, and in fact, we just shared the best luncheon together! So I suppose you are realizing I really have a very short list of true blue buddies.  And I do.. I can count them on one hand, although I have left many wonderful friends behind me in the Five churches we have served in during our lives.  And we are still prayer friends, and love to see and  speak to them, but not bosom pals like buddies!   I am thankful that God has led us through this journey and for the many experiences and friends we have made,  but All this to say, it is daunting to start over , building relationships with women who you see once a week, and covid keeps people from being too friendly.  Maybe this is the season of life that having three very special ladies in my life is God’s plan for our life.  And I am super thankful for these connections.  But it is like standing  on a precipice wondering where to find my footing to step out of my comfort zone in making that first new friend at our new church.  Now at an age when I have to write down in my journal every name I meet or else I’d never remember it!  Through it all, God is good.. and I am thankful for whatever happens in His timing and by His power.. I will wait to see that open door of fellowship that He will provide!  But not this Sunday… 18 inch snowfall coming this Sunday! 

Can I really say I’m thankful to get to drink this contrast: Okay,  so I am having a cat scan next week and had to stop by today to pick up my contrast to drink prior to the scan. To be honest I dread it. The good news .. the container is maybe a little more than a pint.  So that isn’t to bad. I’ve had a good friend reassure that it wasn’t completely ghastly to drink.   But it is a thin substance called a berry smoothie.  Right! I will get it down and chalk it up to one more life experience that proves I am still alive.  Things do come upon us who are living ….and some are pleasurable and some are , well,  I’d say something to dread.  But I am still thankful.   This cat scan will be helpful to my situation. My endoscopy doctor will be able to be assured there is no cancer, that  my gall bladder is looking good.,  that he will be able to remove it laparoscopically  if he does need to remove it..  so yes, I am thankful that science has provided this technology to help me and improve my life.