Fave Fives for April

It's Friday!!  The last one of April.  This month just flew by.  We have only about 8 weeks of school left and then my oldest daughter will be graduating from high school!  I most likely will not be on here all that much for the next 2 months...at least not with anything substantial like devotionals.....I'll try to post some pics of "end of the year" events, etc and I'll still write the book reviews and participate in this weekly endeavor, hosted by Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.  This is a great time to think back on the week and choose 5 things that God blessed us with, and that made our week special.....favorites!  I'm listing 7 because I missed last week and just couldn't choose 5 from this group!

•  BAGELS AND COFFEE....in BED!  Over the weekend, my husband was up first, and he brought me a bagel and coffee in bed....we shared the bagel and had our mugs of coffee and just chatted.  I love those kind of leisurely mornings when we can do this. 

• POWER WALKING!  On Monday evening, I was finally able to resume my power walking.  I was so happy to be able to get out for a half hour about an hour after dinner and just walk for fitness!!  Although I had to carry an umbrella cause it looked like it was about to rain, I ended up not needing it and enjoyed a great start to my new routine. Over this weekend I'll add my weights back to the Wii workout and start the Shred....this time I will follow my doctor's orders and follow the slower girl...lol!!!

• REIMBURSEMENT CHECK!  Yesterday in the mail, my daughter had a reimbursement check for half of the cost of the wisdom teeth removal!!  GLORY TO GOD!!  I was told not to expect much back, if anything.  What a wonderful blessing and surprise.  We now have a good chunk for her to open up her first bank account. And...our town has a branch of the bank the college uses!  We thought it was just a MA bank, but we found out our town has one, too!!  A double blessing as now she won't be charged any ATM fees!!  Thank-You, Jesus!!

Courtney & Claire
at Circus Cafe, Saratoga Springs
Easter Sunday 2011

• EASTER!  Easter is my fave holiday.....my Redeemer liveth!!!  And....one of my fave traditions is going out to Easter Sunday dinner with my husband, 2 girls and my sister Joy and her son Luke.  Last year we couldn't get together due to the Paris trip and Joy and I really wanted this Easter to be special since next year, Courtney and Luke will be in college! So...we chose Circus Cafe (mainly because we waited too long to make a reservation at finer dining establishments, but also because all 3 kids love it there).  We had a great meal, great conversation, and the girls especially enjoyed the huge plate of cotton candy!

• SPECIAL WORDS FROM A SPECIAL 6 YEAR OLD!  P------, an autistic & ADHD boy I work closely with every day at the school, leaned over during morning writing work yesterday morning and muttered "P----give Mrs T--- a hug please, yes?" (he is Croatian and he tends to put the "yes" on the end of questions as many Europeans do) (what he meant was:  Can Mrs T--- give P--- a hug please? and I believe it was because Claire was visiting the classroom for "Take your Daughter to Work" day and was sitting very near by, observing; I really think he sensed that things were different).  This made my week, friends!  Most autistic children have much difficulty expressing emotion, or at least, positive emotions.  They also don't often want to be touched. It was just precious and even though he didn't make eye contact with me, he actually asked a question!!  It was just a great moment and if you know about autistic children, you'll know why this is huge to me as a teacher.  

• LUNCH WITH MY YOUNGEST!  I took Claire to one of our fave lunch places in town after she spent the morning with me at work for "Take Your Daughter/Son to Work" day.  She has decided she definitely does NOT want to be a special education teacher though :) We had a fun day and she was happy to get the added bonus of a lunch out!

Shaker High School Music Department Symbol

• THE GOLD!!  Once again, for the second year in a row and only the 2nd time performing at the NYSSMA MAJORS, the high school orchestra that my oldest daughter performs in, won a Gold placement.  They performed at 11:30 yesterday morning in front of a panel of judges from across the state, and placed in the Gold category.  This makes my fave list because 1. my daughter texted me with the news during her lunch period, shortly after the competition, and 2. it is her last MAJORS competition.  All of the parents of orchestra members are very proud of this orchestra and we are blessed to have the teacher we do.  He is a Christian and very dedicated to the music students at the high school. 

So those are some things that blessed me this past week.

We have a fairly busy weekend.  The teenager and I are going dress shopping for upcoming events, and then she has a photo shoot in the large park in Albany for her senior pictures.  The weather forecast says sunny and warm of 65 degrees...let's hope that's correct!  On Sunday, after the early service as a family, the preteen and I are going on the first hike of the year to a nature preserve outside of Albany, with some good friends of ours.  Again, it's supposed to be a good day......

What are your plans for the weekend?  And do you have a favorite thing from the past week?  Leave a comment or link up at Susanne's!  I love to hear from readers......

PRAY!!  and before you head out the door to enjoy a spring weekend, let's remember to keep the southern states and families affected by the recent tornadoes and storms in our prayers.  The south has seen a lot of devastation.....

Have a blessed weekend.....