Good Friday Fave Fives!

It's Friday again! And the beginning of Spring Break for many of us with school aged children! A huge Thank You to Susanne of Living to Tell the Story for hosting this fun meme each week. Head to her site to read more or to play along. Here are the 5 things that are my favorites this week:

This pic is supposed to represent a variety of musical instruments that often make up a Symphonic Orchestra. The reason I have it up here is because one of my fave devotional readings this past week was from the book "Fresh Grounded Faith" by Jennifer Rothschild. I was reading from it on Sunday a.m. before church and the entry I was reading was entitled "Sing to the Orchestra". It was about how her home church orchestra does such an amazing job of leading the body in worship each week and how one time the worship pastor wanted to say "thank you" in a special way to the musicians who serve. So a soloist and pianist sang/played the Ray Boltz song "Thank You". This song is gorgeous! It is about thanking others for giving to the Lord. For service. Ms. Rothchild's point tho was about thinking of the "orchestras" in our own lives. There are people who serve in the church and don't get noticed sometimes. I immediately thought of the people who serve in our cafe, our Kids Celebration workers (Sunday School), our Awana leaders and helpers, our baby huggers (nursery workers). our seamstress for HizKidz Praise shows, the people who work on the sets, the people who make sure all the technical/digital stuff is done. The church receptionist and the various secretaries. The list can go on and on. Even people at our secular jobs who might work "under" us or for us. It made me realize that we need to sing to our orchestra, too! Anyway, I could do a whole post on this but.....it made my fave 5 because of the message this tiny devotional brought to my life.

This CD! Our family loves Casting Crowns. They are awesome! This was given to me by the director of HizKidzPraise ministry, at our cast party. (Thank you, Candace and Gail!) She hands out little gifts to the parent volunteers which is sooooo very nice of her but we would volunteer no matter what! We do not need a gift! Since we already own this cd and my husband and teen have it on their I-pods, I plan on "paying it forward" and giving it away to a friend. For those of us who have "gifts" as our love language tho, this certainly filled our love tank for the week! It is an excellent CD with powerful songs/lyrics. Oh, and speaking of love languages...don't forget to vote on my sidebar...you might have to scroll down a bit to cast your vote!

This pic makes my fave 5 list because the girls just look so happy! They are in one of the high school classrooms, at their after school LIFE club meeting. LIFE club is a Youth for Christ club right at our public high school! One of the former youth group workers from our church (Grace Fellowship) began this club. (Thank you Timbo!!) Courtney is here with 2 teens who do not attend our church, but who do attend the Life Club. I can't remember where they attend church but....it is wonderful for this mom to know that our daughter has such good, Christian friends who are a part of her school experience.

Definitely makes my fave 5 list this week! I saw this pic on my teen daughter's Facebook page. She took it with her new camera on the black and white setting.
Claire is giving one of her famous hugs! Their smiles are infectious! I am so thankful that they are sisters who get along and are actually friends. Even tho they are 5 years apart, which can be really difficult at times, they love each other.
I cannot imagine my life with out these 2 precious daughters! (and as you can see....the braces were well worth the price for Courtney. And as you can see, Claire doesn't have hers. yet!)



This pic. I saw this on Photobucket site and love it. It goes well with some of my favorite Scriptures for this most holy day, Good Friday. This is the day where Believers remember the suffering that Christ did on the Cross for us. He died so that we can live! It doesn't matter if you are Protestant or Catholic; in a denomination or a non-denominational church. Jesus died for ALL of us. Accept His free gift of Salvation!

"....He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death---
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him
to the highest place
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord...."
Philippians 2:8b-11a

I hope everyone has a very Blessed Easter Sunday as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Most Blessed Redeemer and Savior!

HAPPY EASTER!