April Fave Fives #2

I can hardly believe it is Friday already....actually I am writing this on Thursday late afternoon about 5:45 pm while waiting for dinner to cook.  I never have time before work on Friday mornings to blog, so I write on Thursdays and set it to post the next day!  I love that feature!

I wanted to display 5 favorite pictures from our Paris trip but I couldn't narrow it down to just that few...so....I decided to show one fave picture plus 4 things that really helped me get through this first week back from Spring Break/Europe.

Dave and I the day we rode to the top of the Eiffel Tower with the girls.  We then strolled through the Jardins de Champs de Mar (Garden of Champs de Mar which led us to the heart of the Left Bank of Paris.  Courtney captured us here in the park having a "romantic" moment....the Eiffel Tower in the background makes it perfect!  This was our last full day in "the most romantic city of the world"

• A homemade breakfast made by my father-in-law on Sunday morning.  Dave, the girls, and I arrived at Logan Airport in Boston at about 6 pm our time.  Unfortunately, we didn't really sleep on the plane so our bodies felt like it was midnight in Paris....which it was....we just weren't there!  So....once we got to my in-laws in their hometown south of Boston, we crashed.....and then I was awake at 4 a.m. because my body felt like it was mid-morning! I did some reading, and played a card game with Claire who awoke at 4:30 a.m.!  My father-in-law (W) got up about 7 a.m. and made cranberry/blueberry muffins, cheddar-veggie omelets, orange juice, coffee, and oatmeal (for Courtney because she doesn't do eggs).  I surely didn't need such a huge breakfast since in France I became accustomed to a real French breakfast (will post about that later) but wow....that omelet and muffin sure tasted good! And it gave us the fuel we needed to get moving towards our trip home to NYS.

Coming home on Sunday evening and seeing that my yellow tulips had bloomed!  My favorite flowers are tulips and lilacs...and my favorite color tulips are yellow and white.  I have no white ones left as we think Mr. Bunny ate the bulbs last autumn....but....my yellow ones are open and today my orange and pink ones opened up.  Tulips will always make my fave five list!  And in the capital city of NYS, Albany, (which is a few miles south of us), we have something called Tulip Festival, the first weekend of May.  I love strolling among the thousands of tulips in the large park in downtown Albany.

• The assurance from the Lord that He is in control.  He is in control over all things....from our sump pump dying (Dave replaced it last night after a long day at work....and we still haven't adjusted very well to NY time...for some reason we had an easier time adjusting from NY to France but on the return trip it has been more difficult), to wondering how we are going to help our daughters stay organized for the next month with all their school work (they both have MAJOR projects to complete...although Courtney being an 11th grader is pretty much on her own), to knowing just what we need to do to begin the college search with Courtney, to re-evaluating ministries we are involved in and getting involved in new ones.  God spoke to my heart very clearly this week, a couple of different times. I  have kept a prayer journal of things from the past year and I was able to go back and read portions of it to remind my self of what He had spoken through prayer and meditation...and the reading of His Word.  Don't you just love the Word of God? And I also re-read notes from someone who, at the time, was very encouraging and uplifting....God reminded me to cling to the good and dismiss the "bad". And He spoke to me about how my marriage has been re-energized....that is the only word I can think of right now....this Paris trip kind of rekindled some of that "romance" we had in our newlywed stage (for us that newlywed stage was about 3 years...before Courtney was born!).  We have always been close, emotionally, but this trip somehow brought us even closer than ever!  And part of that was the Hand of God.  And some issues I had been struggling with have just kind of blown away (again, for lack of a better way to describe it).  GOD IS GOOD!  He truly gives us what we need, when we need it!  This week, it was His assurance that HE is in control!

Lunch with one of my closest friends!  Erin and I have been friends since my oldest daughter was born.....or just after that....at least 15 years anyways.  We used to attend the same church but now we are both in different ones after leaving the one where we met. We hardly ever get together due to our busy schedules...she works full time and my children are still young so....we stay in touch mainly through texting (alot!),  phone calls, and emails.  Meeting for lunch on Thursday was wonderful!  This restaurant is in downtown Albany and I hadn't been downtown in quite some time....and it had been a LONG time since I had been down there for lunch.  This is a fairly new restaurant and the lunch menu is superb!  We ordered the following salad (it was HUGE!) :

Chopped Salad 

Organic Field Greens,

Spicy Almonds, Vegetable Confetti

Fire Roasted Lavash, AJ’s Indu Vinaigrette with added chicken 

 We added a bottle of Pellegrino....I drank alot of this mineral water while in Paris and am now hooked on it.  We got caught up on our lives, the children, stuff happening in the families, etc.  Erin is a dear friend and I have always admired her for being a full time working, single mom!  Plus, she is a dedicated Christian and we have heard each other's "stuff" for years.....and pray for each other......definitely makes my fave five list!

What about you?

Do you have a favorite moment from this past week??  feel free to share!

And then link up at Susanne's, our wonderful host for this fun meme each Friday.  You can find her at Living to Tell the Story!