Friday Fave Five

 Welcome to FFF!  Hosted by Susanne!

I cannot believe it has been two weeks since my last post! Time flies, yet not that much has happened!  I have tolook at my planner to remember.. but that refers to events not blessings.  The Lord blesses me everyday!

The events have been far and few between because I have really been hit hard by my allergies.  We live in a very allergy prone area surrounded by mountains and the pollen hovers everywhere! It isn’t as if I don’t try.  I’ve been on weekly allergy shots for years. I get two shots every Wednesday. I, also, take Allegra every day!  But the  problem is  I do not manifest visible allergic symptoms, very little sneezing or nose blowing.  Mine is swollen head, tons of pressure, stuffy ears, with loud ringing!  Swollen, itchy eyes, and generally feel terrible.   I go to church, but when I get up to sing I get extremely dizzy and often feel very queasy. So I haven’t gone many places or special events except Bible Study and prayer group. The Lord gets me through those things as if I have nothing going on! Praise Him, because those two events are my most important  during the week! 

The other events of my week , well, for the last 7  weeks are physicalTherapy visits! I have strength and balance issues and I am on my second round of monthly visits. They really do help me, but they are pretty tough.  I am sore for a few days following.. so sore the idea of practicing  my exercises daily  is  very difficult, so I usually wait a few days before jumping in again.  The sessions  are  hard too, so by therapy time I am dreading it so badly.  But God is with me. I am always so surprised how faithful He is  to provide in me the strength and desire to push hard each week.  I aim to make as much improvement each time as I can  so that if I require another round,  my therapist will consider me someone who will work through it! I give God all the glory for pushing me for my well being, for I am weak of heart otherwise!

Over a week ago Lynn and I spent  a lovely spring morning purchasing our spring bedding plants! We didn’t get them planted until this past week! 

I am afraid the deer  have been messing around in this pot..     Lynn addressed  the problem this afternoon.

The geraniums are  potted on our porch!

The dragon wing begonia    is planted each year..   here  by the sunroom.  It  always promises to  be a glorious  planting for our  back yard!

These perennials  are  looking  beautiful!

I  was watching a Youtube video   of the Daily Connoisseur  this week and I learned about keeping  a Commonplace Book.  Now I journal,  but this is different and I love it!  I talked to my daughter and she told me she just started one, as well, so   they  are really catching on,  even though it is a very old  way of keeping special   writings  close to your heart. In my Commonplace Book,  I  keep it with me when I do my daily Bible reading and scriptures that mean a lot to me, or that I need to memorize.  I write in the book,  I am trying to  write  beautifully and decorate the page a bit as I go.  The Commonplace Book is  meant to be a life long  book  to pass down  through the family if  anyone  then is interested.

  The Lord blessed me   the last few days    in  inspiring me to   use  my new found energy due to the exercise,  to  do more cooking than usual. We have really enjoyed some home cooked meals... four in a row now,  that  tasted so good and  were a real blessing to us.  We had,  over  time, gotten into   eating well,  but   not  full blown  home cooking,    and  it has been  an act of God  that I have been so inspired  after a long while of  just basic meal   planning and   preparing!

  Well,  I hope your week adds been heaven blessed and  that you    are looking forward to a marvelous  weekend  and Mother's Day . God bless you all !!!

Friday fave five

host, Susanne,

Good morning and welcome to the Friday Fave Fives.  I am so glad FFF isn't coming to an end ,  only  is the last one for February!!!  Whew!!  Thanks  for  helping me on that one, everyone!!!!

** This week  has  had its ups and downs, but I will really try to focus  on the ups! One very  integral  up  was Sunday when Lynn and I   joined our new church.

We absolutely  love  our new fellowship.  The staff  is  amazing and the  people as we get to know them are  just so sweet and   welcoming.As we get more involved in our Core Group and our  Sunday night class on Bibiology I am  so pleased to see how devoted  the people are to learning and applying God's truth! 

** Today and Tuesday were devoted to painting and   finishing up  not only the living room but the dining room. The piano was picked up and taken to its new home.  I was sad to see it go as it represented years of  love of playing for me,  but I hadn't  played in several years   because I cant really see well enough to play well.   So  now it is gone  the living room seems so much bigger.  We did have to buy a larger rug   which comes next week!!

There you can see Lynn sitting in the dining room reading his Bible.   The  room all lit up   shows off  the lovely light   shade of our color!  Whereas, the living room in late afternoon light  shows a much moodier tint!

There you can see   how I am  forcing some forsythia to bloom.   It finally is   beginning to show!!

**Wednesday, I got to go to my physical therapy and meet one of my  therapists and she was  so cute..      very  instructive and  encouraging.  Im so glad  I got her now because if I had to wait a bit  she  would  be having her first baby!!. So far  therapy Is

   really great  and something I really need!!

** We were so blessed  this week.  One of our dear friends   who  just  loves to stay busy and loves to help others  came over and helped  paint the dining room. That is how we got it done so quickly. He cut out around  the trim and  Lynn  used the   roller.  It was all done in a couple of hours. By the afternoon it was all set up  and everything back in its place!

**I know everyone is just so  undone  by the terrible news this week.  It is hard to  think about our blessings  when so many are in such turmoil, panic, and fear  because their lives have been jerked out from under them.  And I must say  it is hard to feel  happy  when you feel like  your own government  should stop playing politics and do something. I don't mean send troops,  but  there are things that should be done about  the pipeline.   I won't go into detail  but  this business does keep me in a tailspin  ..  I am so thankful that I do have  an outlet   to take this and other matters  before the throne of grace.. not only  privately,  but also corporately.  Prayer is a powerful tool in our arsenal of weapons.  And  I think  corporate prayer is  magnified in times of great need! Praise God!!

Friday Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne!

💗There is so much for which to be thankful this week ....  where to begin.

**I have been looking forward to  updating  our first floor  for  such a long time.  I started  decluttering last year and things were  looking so much  better but it was making the tired paint in the room  just scream, "It's time!" This week  we  finally decided our paint palette and  actually bought the paint for the living room and dining room! 

You can see the  new color painted over on the wall.  I cannot wait!

                                                                      **Here are the paint colors:

                                                                   Living room/dining room  Behr Era

Kitchen

Cabinets    Rolling Pebble

walls    Bleached Linen

Den

Walls   Bleached linen

  

Wall of bookcases     Winter in Paris

When I see the palette strung out like this  it  blows my mind.

**Back when I was 17  and  coming of age, I was asked to be a bride's maid  and I wore a  blushing cream satin blouse  with a lace trimmed  ascot ,  a coffee with cream colored satin  calf length dirndl skirt, with a vibrant  turquoise satin sash.  I felt like  a princess: I know  the description doesn't begin to   tell how gorgeous  the  outfit was,  but it truly  vibrated with  beauty that fall evening of 1967. These colors are so much like the night I danced and felt  like  a fairy princess. I will remember that every time I flit from room to room!

**When we looked at  our furniture I knew that our red and navy chairs would look horrid.  I started telling Lynn we 'd have to get new chairs.. Our usual go to is to upholstery,  but  during covid the upholstery industry here has  basically died. One has to travel  far to find  the fabric and  the one  upholsterer  does  designer jobs only.The  furniture stores have  an upholsterer , but I mean, we would be waiting months for  our job.  so we decided to purchase two chairs. We can use one  of our old chairs in the den and we took one to Good will this morning.  We bought the most  wonderful   chairs at Better Sofas.   I  am so thankful  because even Lynn saw the benefit  in it  and was very malleable!

** Praise upon praise, the chairs were just delivered and  the two young men could see our home was  topsy turvy with furniture everywhere.Jack asked  could they help move anything out. We just sort of laughed and  said sure, but  you wouldn't want to move a bear out of the den.  He went in and saw., YOU mean that huge sofa.   UH,  yeah,  but  it was  a terror to get it in here… the door and trim had to come off. Well, in thirty minutes  they had the door  apart,   the sofa in the back of  Lynn’s truck and the door put back together. We had been worrying how in the world would we ever get that sofa out of there!  I know God sent them to us!  To God be the glory!

 

Friday Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne!

Time to recount our blessings and so here goes!

💗💗 I have been so fortunate the last few months to  have  my gastroenterologist, assigned to me form my time in the emergency room back in October. He has been in my corner every step of the way.  I know  folks are tired of hearing about the ordeal, but  suffice to say I had  a huge stone that required 4 total endoscopies since October and I  have been hoping that this last one on Wednesday would  be the end of it.  The stone is gone,  the stents removed.  but because my gall bladder  is  so  tired looking  dear doctor  added a new stent to help  the healing process along so I can hopefully keep this gall bladder  the rest of my life. So  I am so thankful for such a thorough and caring doctor!!!  I just hope all my hair does not fall out with all these anesthesia trips!💗💗

💛💛We are very excited about our new church.  We have filled out paperwork  to join and sent in a photo of us  that pastor will circulate  so  folks can recognize us..  It wasn't the best of me but it sure was  cute of Lynn so   I submitted.it..  I  seldom see such a big smile on my sweetie!!   I look  sort of frazzled,  but    the trade off is worth it!!!💛💛

💙💙 I am  thankful we did not get  anything from  this week's storm..  Goodness our last snow from 3 weeks ago finally   melted away last night.  The temp here at 6am today was 59 degrees.  I have been wondering if that snow was hanging around for another one.,  but no,  there is no snow in our forecast for  at least the next week!!  Fair weather!!  Yaya!!💙💙

💜💜Plans for our  Scottish trip are  moving along swimmingly!  Not that we hope to swim there,  Not at all.  We are flying  Icelandair and  got  amazingly low  priced tickets.  Around $1,000 each round trip. to Scotland via Iceland.  The cool part is   I get to check Iceland off of my visited map!💜💜

💚💚I am super thankful that  this coming week here is going to be mild and    no semblance of winter.. I  hope to get my paint colors for the  downs stairs  picked out, purchased , and plans for painting    on the docket!!  This is a year for transformation around here.  We are lightening up  in many areas  and it is  very invigorating!!!💚💚

Friday Fave Five

 

Hosted by Susanne

On the 7 th day since it snowed!

I love snow but I  have learned from the error of my ways.. at our age, I really cannot enjoy snow days like I did when I was teaching we did get 8-10 inches of super powdery snow , and that following day I told Lynn to let the sunny day help it get going, as you could tell it was actually settling not starting to melt,  and it created a icy layer on top. Well, by the second day, our driveway was pretty difficult to shovel.  I felt very guilty, but Lynn persevered and got it done. The worse part was the ridge of snowy ice the plow had pushed on the street and partially blocked our drive.   I kept wishing a band of young men, teens, would come by offering to help a 72 year old shoveler, but I do not think they exist any more.  

Well, Lynn wouldn’t see reason and went ahead and shoveled our pretty long front walk! I can not tell you how many times I stood at the door praying God’s blessing on him. And feeling guilty for enjoying all that snow come down.  Times have changed for us,  we aren’t the same people we were 20 years ago when snow days were welcome  and prayed for.   But, God is  still in His heaven and He supplied Lynn with the knowledge he needed to take breaks when needed, and the strength to take care of business.  God is so faithful and we are learning that we can rely on His goodness and mercy in all things!

I have so much for which to be thankful.  I have to say in my flesh, I am very tired of this gall bladder ordeal that started back in mid October.

I was horribly ill  for a couple of weeks, and went to the Urgert Care twice, but they were treating me in error, based on their best information.  In truth I had pancreatitis from a huge ping pong ball sized stone blocking a duct. But I never exhibited gall bladder trouble, per se. .  No attacks as is the usual  onset.When I went to the emergency room I was jaundiced and very sick.  Photo taken end of October in triage.

Okay, guys I never thought I’d share this and if anyone asks about It I will unequivocally deny any knowledge about it.  But after a cat scan showing a large mass , I had every oncologist on call that night stop in my triage room to tell me I had pancreatic cancer.   One at a time.  But I absolutely would not receive that and told them unequivocally that I did not, that Satan had been after me all year and he will not win.  I do not have cancer.  Satan wants to take me out because I am a prayer warrior and I have his minions on the run. 

Well, I’ve had 84,000 dollars worth of tests and 3 endoscopies since this with a wonderful doctor who has unequivocally told me I do not have cancer, he has done everything in his power and opportunity to prove this to that team of specialists, but they apparently demanded this last cat scan now that the stone is finally gone, and truth to tell. I am cancer free! Praise God for good insurance!

I am feeling so much better and was able to go to Boston in November for two weeks to celebrate with our daughters family, and was able to celebrate a wonderful Christmas here at home even entertaining my charcuterie dinner party knowing that the end of January I would continue the quest for hopefully finalizing this journey I’ve been on.so the c scan is over, next week, I see my doctor, and following soon I will have what I pray will be my last endoscopy to remove stents, so,  thereafter the only thing on the table is the question about my gall bladder.  I’m praying it is so good the doctors will agree no surgery! Again, God has been so very good to me.  He has brought me through each step of this long process and I think it is all for my good …to teach me more about Him,, maybe for a new purpose in my life.  I only know , I love my Lord and am ever willing to be led by His Spirit into whatever  assignment He has for me! praise His holy name!

I am so thankful for leftovers.  Last weekend I did a lot of really great cooking. It was as if something came over me that I hadn’t felt in a long time and I cooked a wonderful dish for every meal.  Maybe it was the snowfall, but I made a delicious soup, a fantastical Chinese chicken stir fry and rice,  a fabulous pan seared steak, baked potato, salad dinner.   Well, because we haven’t done that much this week, and at our age we just do not eat like we used to, we have lived off of those delicious leftovers all week. Tonight is the first time I have to cook again and I’m sure we will have left overs again.  I’m making homemade tacos with all the trimmings.  

On the world stage…I am so thankful for what is happening with Roe vs. Wade..as a prayer warrior in prayer groups for many years we have prayed about this atrocity that has twisted our culture into a culture of death..  It has affected crime, health, well, everything related to life because of the groundswell of evil that abortion opened the door to for our nation.  I am  only expressing my right of free speech here but it is sprinkled with the truth of heaven as I know that we cannot kill over 2000 children ever day and not have God’s hand lifted off of our nation.  But praise God truth is finally streaming throughout the land. Young people have taken the gauntlet and were in huge numbers at the March for Life rally today.  Judges are coming around realizing how much more technology we have today than in the 60’s when people actually thought abortion was ridding the body of an unwanted mass.  Today in just a few weeks of gestation, we know the child is formed and fully able to feel what happens during abortions.   We have good reason to believe judges will be ruling to dismiss Roe vs, Wade and turning the matter over to the states which it’s a giant step toward godliness in our nation.

 And for #  5.  I am just full of  thanksgiving today!  It is a day when everywhere I look .I see God’s Hand supporting me and extending grace and supply for all our needs.  Praising God the king of the Universe!  The photo taken in Boston the week of Thanksgiving.

555

Hosted by Susanne!

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  

These were my  favorite blessings this week?

* So July finally showed up...I love July, it is my birthday month, and even though  the temperature is absolutely not to my liking, at least I am enjoying the rain showers  that do give a bit of respite! To begin,  even though we did not  actually go out to see fireworks for the  Fourth celebration,   we could  definitely hear and      booms  from the town center      and I always enjoy just knowing that    people are reveling and enjoying the  Fourth celebration.  Certainly, now  when there are those who a re trying to  destroy our  history and  diminish anything related to  our  country.  Plus, we did have  more than usual  neighborhood revelry and  fireworks aplenty right  here on our street.    And I was full of  smiles!!!  

* I received an invitation   to attend a meet and greet of Virginia's nominated candidate for governor,  Glenn Youngkin's wife. The event would be an Afternoon with Suzanne Youngkin  at Rockledge.  Rockledge happens to be the  gorgeous  home  of   a good friend at our church... What a treat to   enjoy an afternoon on the mountain with  many friends and others who supporting  a great  candidate for the new Governor of Virginia

  Because it was a bit rainy I did capture this  one photo!  

Maybe you can  piece the puzzle together to see how  wonderful this place  is!

How marvelous to  enjoy  the view of our city from   this magnificent   home.  What a treat on my birthday!

* Then that evening we  dined out  at  Montanos.  I can't believe I forgot to take photos..  but I had  Veal  Saltimbocca  which was absolutely divine and Lynn enjoyed his favorite   Fried  Oysters    with all the trimmings!We then  split a slice of French Silk Chocolate Pie!

Yum, sooo delish!!!!

*Today I finally made connection with  the  Director our our local Straight Street.  Our church has been collecting diapers  for the  participants of SS to use  while in attendance.. Several  of the young women bring their  babies with them  to meetings.So it is our pleasure to aide them as one  of our Mission projects.

It was quite a haul   to get  them there!

*  Tonight we go to Intercessors for America to pray  for our nation. We  enjoy meeting with these prayer warriors so much!!!  There are  usually about  10 of us who   worship  before  our God, and  lift the nation up  before the Throne of Grace   in many areas of concern.. it seems the list of petitions grows  every week! You can click here  to  see how you can start a prayer group in your  home.

Friday Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne!

• I  hate to bring this up yet again,  but  this entire   quarantine time    has  been a real drain on me..  one health issue after another,  but this week..  I am  beginning to feel like my old self.. I can walk  with little pain,  I can stand up straighter,,  and my energy level is much better
• One thing that  I am  so thankful for is  our wonderful daughter and her  precious  girls..

who live 7 states away and we haven't seen since Christmas... did something very special  yesterday.

I found a flower box on our porch and it contained not one, but two   bouquets, one from  each  of our  precious granddaughters..  

    And I was feeling so great today I reworked   the dining room  decor    and  have a brand new mindset  for    moving  through this last month of  spring!

             

           

Yesterday,  being the first day I really  was  feeling a spurt of energy,  one chore had been on my mind for  a long time.  I have a  large tub on the floor of my closet where I store  out of season clothing. I needed desperately to    change out my clothing..  but since I  have lost  a bit of weight and  dropped a size   I wanted to get rid of  quite a bit of  clothing that I just never ever wear.. But the thought of it was  grueling!

 Yesterday I persevered and got it all  done..  the tub, the drawers  of  3 dressers and  two closets..  I know it sounds like a lot of clothes,  and it was but I filled two huge  leaf bags  with  items for the good will!  YAYAYAYA!

• Another  means of getting  rid of    a lot of stuff here in our home  is  to prepare for a huge yard sale  to help fund a project at our church. I have been going through linen closets , drawers,  cabinets,  finding lots of  nice things to   share... The next really huge step will be for me to go down in the basement  with a bull dozer..  oh, we need to get really rout it out down there!!!  We had planned on having the sale  earlier this month,  now  it  will be September ,  if things work out!!
• I cannot wait for  two    orders I've made  to  arrive.  It is  so much fun   buying clothes  knowing it is a size smaller   and I know I will be able to wear these things at least through the season.. then we will think on winter  clothes... as I plan to be down another  20 or more by then .. I am expecting  an order from J Jill...  Love the style  of  J Jill.

                                                    

I ordered  2  pair of   summer weight leggings, in navy and white  to wear under  short  dresses   and  will  this great  cardi. I have some cute dresses  but too short..  I  do not like my knees!

And I ordered a great book I cannot wait to read!!! 

                                            

"By exploring ten characteristics of who God is―holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise―this book helps us understand who God intends for us to be. Through Christ, the perfect reflection of the image of God, we will discover how God’s own attributes impact how we live, leading to freedom and purpose as we follow his will and are conformed to his image."

Counting My Blessings

What a  beautiful morning  here in the Mid-Atlantic states...  the  sky is  so clear and air  rather  crisp  but  the  sun's warmth will not fail us today!  Not too many more  truly warm days it appears on the weather calendar.  we, here in  SW Virginia  are  really hoping for some of that rain from the tropical depression heading north!Today  I am wanting to share some the blessings   I  am receiving..  One just happened  this morning!!!

1.  While I  was perusing face book  a message popped up from our daughter  asking us to  visit via face time while she and  tiny grand  have their lunch!!!

Now that  the older grand is  in pre-school  it is   very  calming to visit  with  Amanda  and her wee one.. more like the tender days when  Birdie  was  not quite two and  hadn't  developed into  a precocious  4 year old ... Now  wee one has  the opportunity to be  center stage  and  we get to  spend quality time with her...  God is  so good... we treasure these times!!!

2.  Yesterday  God came on me suddenly  with  a huge answer to my prayers... I ran across this quote today and it is so true.
"God’s suddenlies are like a tsunami. You experience it suddenly, but in God it started way back." Joseph Garlington Sr

I have been trusting God  for His best for me   all along  with this  skin cancer on my nose.  But  sometimes his best comes  in  various ways and times  along with a bit of testing to see  if  we will  accept the  row boat that comes to rescue us!!  A friend contacted me on the phone and we chatted about MOHS surgery...  her story really  moved me.. I have been experiencing a long wait  .. first 11 days to get the biopsy back..  a few days to  hear about my surgery date..  which was Nov 7,  I was fortunate to call and get it moved up to Oct 18th, but  that is just for  a

consult and  knowing the  scheduling  for the surgery is  booked up  I  have been  quite anxiously  watching  my  spot on the tip of my nose  appear to  grow...My friend shared her story about calling  Charlottesville,  near  the Medical School,  and  getting much, much  quicker  attention... She actually got her  biopsy back in one day and  within 8 days  had her surgery behind her... since we both  have  squamish,  I  quickly got on the phone and called    Charlottesville and  and so thankful to say I have my pre-op scheduled for Monday... Praise you, Lord for  working all things out according to your plan..I will confess I  have another friend I see more regularly who also gets her  dermatology done  by the same Doctor in Charlottesville,  and who  had  been  pushing me to  get an appt  even  2 weeks ago,  but  it isn't in my nature to opt  for  that...  My husband  had  a very successful  MOHS here  by  our local  doctor and  I  was content...  but  yesterday,   God's sudden  move  on me  was too compelling to  resist...  OH, Lord, I hope to always  be in Your Perfect Will!!!

3.  Even though  I haven't actually been  in the  mood to  take a road trip  to enjoy the 

beauty of  the season,  yet,    the days have been so glorious  Hubs and I have spent several afternoons just sitting in the shade   and  reveling in the color and the  backyard friends  who visit us..

 Jays

 and  finches

Chipmunks 

and bunnies!!

and the sun just    makes  things explode in  its  autumnal radiance

 

 

4.  Even at this moment  I am being  so  eternally blessed...  Dearest is washing the morning dishes  while he is listening to our fall music on dvd  so we can practice our choir music at home  and he is singing his part...  while I sit here typing... it doesn't get any better than that!!!

5.  To top off my week of blessing  I am reminded that tonight is  my favorite night of the month... Every first Friday we attend  Intercessors for America...  We meet in a friend's home...  he  was my  Bible Study teacher  at  a previous church...  He and his wife  have  done missionary work in the most    dangerous  areas of the world... eastern jungles of  India,   the Sudan,  and others... the  folks who  faithfully attend  these meetings are   probably some of the most  dedicated prayer warriors in our  community..it is  such a huge blessing to  just  being the same  room with these  precious  Children of God.  The presence of God is tangible  through  the   sweet incense of  prayer and worship  that  emanates from  their home.  I love to seek out  groups  like this here in our valley... Concerned Women for America and Ladies Aglow are  a couple of others...   don't be mistaken that we are so political...  in these groups  we  seek  beyond the  political  to the  warring in the heavenlies and  do  battle in the spiritual.  So edifying to spend an hour  on your knees with  God's people!!!

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