Fave Fives #4 for 2010

I am writing this on Thursday afternoon, watching some snow fall down, and waiting for the dryer to stop...then I have to get my youngest daughter settled with her homework, and take my oldest daughter to a required Parent/Student Driver Training Orientation at the high school. And all before cooking dinner.....sigh....so....I decided to get my Friday Fave Five list up and running since I never have time before work on Fridays!  

Many thanks to Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.  If you want to jump in and "play", head over here. 

This pic of my oldest daughter (2nd from left) and some friends from church.  They had attended EXCEL, which is put on by Youth for Christ every January during the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, at a large convention center in a city a little north of us. I found this picture on her Facebook site and she is giving me permission to post it! :) The young man next to Courtney is  actually a freshman in college this year and one of our favorite young men!!

Unwinding with this tea in the evening.

I am not really a tea drinker but this herbal tea is delicious!

It is African Honeybush which is popular in South Africa.

It has a hint of 2 citrus flavors:  mandarin and orange.

I like it steaming hot.

The reason it makes my fave five?

Because when I sit and sip this,

 it often leads to my husband & I talking

or watching a TV show together

 and both girls are either in bed or on their way!

I enjoy winter evenings at home,

 curled up on the couch

 next to my honey.

This composer's piano sonatas!  

I have been enjoying some time at the piano this week.

Very rare for me! 

Yes, I was a piano major (Music Education/Piano) and a voice minor in my undergraduate work.  I don't often play piano anymore, especially the music I most enjoy (Baroque and Classical). So I started playing again recently and this week I began a sonata I had played for my senior recital at Roberts Wesleyan College.  WOW...was I ever "rusty" on the ivories!!! It's been way too long!!

But...I have been enjoying fooling around again with the music of Scarlatti.  

These "fuzzy socks" 

(my oldest had received several pairs for xmas from her grandma

and from me so she gave me a couple of pair...she is sweet!)

I LOVE warm, fuzzy socks although I despise wearing socks.

I much prefer my barefeet.

But...winter temps call for warm feet.

Once I am home for the evening,

 I like to get into a pair of fleece lounge pants,

a sweater or hoodie and these warm socks!

Combine this with my herbal tea 

and I can deal with Winter!!

This portion of Scripture: "Oh Lord, You are my God.  I will exalt you.  I will praise Your Name, for You have done  wonderful things;  Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."  Isaiah 25:1

Now, when I first read that this week, it was because it was the first Scripture on the Prayer Sheet for my moms in touch group.  I lead a group of women who have children in the school district where we all live.  It is open to any mom with a child in any of our 7 elementary schools, our junior high, and our high school. It is also open to moms who have a child at the private Christian and Catholic schools in our district.  Today is actually our first meeting since last May! Each meeting centers around an attribute of God.  That is the focus for praying for our children. For this month, I chose Master Planner and this verse from Isaiah was the first one.  I meditated on it a bit and then read a devotional in my Bible, written by Lynda Hunter-Bjorklund.  Here is my favorite part:

"sometimes when life hurts, and it seems we won't find our way through, we have to cling tenaciously to the faithfulness and truth of God's Word.  Circumstances change and winters come, but His faithfulness and truth show up in the middle of nowhere to bring the hope we need to go on."

 And before this, she shared about how when she was a little girl, she found a clump of flowers clinging to a bare branch in the middle of winter...and years later, she caught the whiff of those flowers when she was going through a bleak time in her life...she happened to be at a stoplight and rolled down her window and saw the tree with the flowers on it.  She says it was like God telling her that He was giving her something during this bleak time in her life.

How wonderful!  So....as I pray in my living room or around my dining room table, with the other women who make up the Moms in Touch group, I pray that our children will be guided by the Lord in their future and that they would come to know His faithfulness and arm themselves with His Truth!  I know it is something I am clinging to!!

And that definitely makes my fave five list!!

How about you?  Do you have at least one thing you are thankful for this week or that is a "favorite"??