Mid-April and still rather chilly around here in eastern NY but so many of my spring flowers have bloomed and look so pretty against the finally green grass!
Let's pause on this Friday and share FIVE of our FAVE blessings from the past week. I participate with Susanne and other bloggers in looking for the things in the past week that made us smile or say "Thank You, God". Won't you join us? Click here to learn more!
- EASTER! Not exactly what we all had in mind.....not being in the church building with other believers on our most sacred and celebrated day. But the coffee brought to me in bed by my husband who woke up before me and made fresh brewed coffee made me smile. He made it perfectly and even remembered I no longer use sugar, but raw honey. It was so nice to linger in bed with our coffee and just talk. I'm thankful too that we were able to hear our pastor's sermon online later that morning. I made a nice dinner of chicken (vegan "chicken" for the ballerina) and potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and a wonderful Reisling from one of our fave vineyards; and in the evening, Dave and I harmonized together while I played all of our fave hymns on the piano. It had been a very long time since we've done that. I'm thankful it was a special Easter.
- PERSONAL DAY: I took a personal day from work on Monday as I didn't want to lose it (they don't carry over from one quarter to the next like I thought and I lost TWO last school year!). It was nice to sleep in, not rush to an online work meeting, not travel to the site, etc. I did some reading, some meditation time,wrote some encouraging notes to small group members, and spring cleaned the family room. I'm thankful for days like that.
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- MEDITATION BOOK! My dear long- time- from when- we -were- in- junior -high-youth-group- friend Ann (who now lives and runs a Methodist retreat center in Michigan) sent me this book at the start of the quarantine and I just started reading it. I read a selection every couple of days. It starts out in Summer season and apparently the author was literally making a trail while she wrote this book. At any rate, this book is perfect for me (Ann was SO right) as it has a Scripture, a reading, and a prayer to meditate on before going out in nature/walking. I'm thankful for long time friends and special gifts.
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| The Colonie-Niskayuna Bike Path and Part of the Empire State Trail 14 April 2020 the sky started to get cloudy |
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| Empire State Trail North Colonie, NY 14 April 2020 |
- AFTER WORK FITNESS WALK: I really needed to get my heart rate elevated after work yesterday as I was on site at the school all day and basically sat preparing lesson materials for 5 hours. I had worn sneakers to work so it was easy to hop in my car, drive back to my town and get on the bike path. It was a chilly 52 degrees but so nice and sunny! Little did I know there's a new section in this area of the town bike path (which actually extends through our town and into the next town west of us and then continues to another town west of that...we used to bike it when the girls were younger)...anyways....there's a new section that the state has made part of the Empire State Trail...it veers off to the side and goes around a housing development and over to the Mohawk River. It's beautifully paved so is easy to do a power walk on. Instead of turning around at the road it intersects like most people do, I continued onto the side road which then wraps around the river on the left and the woods on the right. This gave me just under 2 miles of brisk walking and it felt so good! Part of the end was all uphill and my fitbit said I had 47 minutes of active heart rate so I felt thankful I was able to get this work out in.
- LAUGHTER: Since all 4 of us are home every.single.night. for dinner, we have had some good conversation and some great laughs. Wednesday evening was especially poignant for me as Claire and Courtney were reminiscing with me (Dave had already left the table) about our former church and some of the issues we encountered there. (they were 6 and 12 when we left that church). It was great to get their young adult perspective on the not so good events that took place there and both girls reiterated to me that they were thankful we made the transition to Grace Fellowship where things are more Biblically based and where grace is extended much more freely. It's also much more diverse and my girls are all about that! I'm so thankful we can look back and now laugh at situations that at the time, were very painful. Laughter is good medicine!
That wraps up my faves list.
I hope you all can find ways to engage in some self-care as this quarantine is now continuing into May. Yikes.
Stay well and safe!
9 comments:
Even though Easter was more subdued this year, I'm thankful God is just as present in our quieter moments as in the bigger celebrations. How nice to have a personal day! Sounds like some good activity. It's so neat you all have this time together before the girls go out on their own. My youngest has sorely been wanting to move out on his own, but we're so thankful that didn't happen before this quarantine. I'd hate to think of him all alone. My oldest lives alone, but thank God, had just gotten a long-wanted cat before all this happened.
Hi Faith. So great you are getting some exercise after work. I am trying to keep moving every day as well. Some days it is easier than others. Sounds like you have some great trails to walk very close to where you live. We have many trails too, but they got so over crowded during that the governor has issued directives for people not to go to hiking trails because they were too crowded. We are also enjoying some good conversations with Josh during this time that we are together so much. So glad you have your entire family back in the nest with you - at least for a while. Have a great week!
You are more industrious with the exercise than I am. Good to have good family discussions. I think my family needs to have one of those. :-) --Ann
Good that you are able to keep up your exercise and spending time with family is a good thing too. Nice to be able to take that personal day as well to get things done. Enjoy your weekend and stay well.
How fortunate that you are able to have your daughters home with you during the quarantine. I love being able to look back with my daughters and re-discover memories from their perspectives.
It sounds like you had a really nice week, Faith. Easter Day was quiet here, as well, but I still enjoyed the day. It's nice when someone finds a book for us that hits the spot! Nice for you to have a day off work, especially as stressful as these times are. Enjoy your weekend!
I love talking about family memories with my kids! It's kind of a tradition in my family because my dad loved to have us linger over dinner while he told all kinds of stories. My only regret is I didn't write them down.
You are so blessed to have so many great hiking places near you. Your area looks so pretty!
That walking trail sounds lovely. We've been doing lots of walking everyday, some trails harder than others. So it's been a nice mix. I finally forced myself to do some workouts at home, I am so not an at home exerciser, and I tell ya I could hardly move for a couple of days. LOL.
How nice that you were able to get the girl's perspective on a hard decision from your lives and even enjoy some laughter. Having that open communication with your adult children is a very special blessing, indeed.
Your personal day sounds like a nice day of rest for you. And that book looks like it totally was meant for you. What a thoughtful gift from your friend.
Such good FFFs this week from you. I miss being together on Sundays but I appreciate not having the rush to get to church on time :) And coffee--always a fave, too.
I'll have to look up that book.
Hurray for great conversations with your girls!
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