April Faves

 

April is here and the weather in our area has been typical for Spring:  up and down, sunny and warm, sunny and cold, damp and rainy, rainy and warm. And it's just the first week! 

I'm finding the blessings in the Spring days though and want to share FIVE of them that stood out to me and made me smile, thus making my FAVES list. We look for the blessings in the every day moments and then link up at Susanne's blog who has been graciously hosting this weekly discipline for many years now. 

SoulSteps Hike #3:  Big Bay Nature Preserve
from l-r:  Jessica, Karen, Geoff, me, Kathy and kneeling is Joan
photo used with permission

• HIKING!  I had a good group of SoulSteps members sign up for our third hike of the Spring semester last Friday.  We welcomed 4 brand new members (Kathy, Jessica,  Karen (Jessica's aunt!!) and Geoff) and had such a great time fellowshipping and hiking together. We all took lots of photos and I'm sharing a few of my faves. We were hiking in a brand new trail system just south of Lake George so not quite in the Adirondack Mountains but on the edge.  The trail was a wonderful carpet of pine needles and sand very indicative of being close to the Lake George/Corinth area. I'm thankful, that although it was a bit chilly that morning, the sun came out and there were more sunny moments than cloudy moments. The loop was just a little over 2 miles. I'm so thankful I have a good group of hiking members!

pine forest at the Big Bay preserve

Our destination:  Big Bay on the Hudson River 
Corinth NY area and about half way around the loop

image courtesy of Pra*seCharts website

• CHOIR REHEARSAL:  My husband, oldest daughter and I auditioned for our church choir for Easter and we've had rehearsals every other Sunday since the beginning of January, from 1:30-3:30 pm. Starting last weekend, we now have rehearsals every weekend until Easter including one middle of the week dress rehearsal. Our services are broadcast online and people from all over the world tune in.  We've had a few people who have had to drop out for one reason or another so this past weekend, I and one other alto, had to carry the alto part. Thankfully we are both strong singers and know how to read music. We had an excellent rehearsal and are thankful everything is coming together. When everyone is there, there are 9 sopranos, 5 altos, 8 tenors and 2 basses. My husband is one of the basses. We used to have about 8 in each section.  But despite our lower numbers for this choir, we are close knit and have been told the music is sounding great. I'm so thankful I get to do this ministry!

image courtesy of Am*zon

• EASY FIX!  Our upstairs bathroom sink was leaking from the supply line on Sunday, dripping down the side wall to basement.  Thankfully we discovered it before too much damage occured. We called our plumber (he's been here numerous times for the washer, toilets, kitchen sink, downstairs bathroom sink and shower...we have hard water and it's horrible for plumbing) who happens to go to our church. He came Monday afternoon and within 5 minutes saw the problem, went out and bought the new pipelines and had the entire thing fixed within an hour. Thankfully this was an easy, inexpensive (less than $90!)  fix.  I'm so thankful for our plumber and his excellent work. 

image courtesy of my opthamologist's website

• GOOD REPORT:  I was very thankful after having my annual eye exam yesterday morning, that when the opthamologist came in to view the computer images, he said I have absolutely no major eye diseases or issues and that I have just the beginning of cataracts and there's no need for surgery yet and probably not for another 5-10 years!  Glory to God. They do cataract surgery there with no blades...all lasers....so when it does happen, if it needs to, he said the process is super easy. I'm thankful for cutting edge technology at this eye center because I have had to wear glasses since I was 7 years old and in my 30s my astigmatism became worse as did my sister's. Now I need glasses all the time, not just to drive. I'm also thankful my prescription for the lenses only changed slightly and that I don't need new ones unless I want them. 

image courtesy of MLBsh*p

• BOSTON DAY! I'm thankful my husband was invited by the head of his company to go to the first home game of the season at our fave Boston venue today! He left early this morning and the boss even said he would drive. Dave has worked hard all month with only 1 day off plus he's had some issues at work with some of the employees who work in India and gets very frustrated. He's so excited to be going to the first home game and will enjoy the 3.5 hour car ride with his new boss. The company is even paying for the tickets!! I'm thankful he gets to do this. 

Those are just 5 blessings from the week but there were many more such as our youngest daughter texting me that on her third chem test she got a 94. (the semester is almost over for her and then she'll have to take another course on her journey of becoming a licensed optician). She has said it's kind of weird being the only one in the class with a BS degree and most of the students in this class are only 18-19 vs her 26.  I'm thankful she's doing well along with working full time. I was also blessed to have a quick visit with oldest daughter at her office yesterday as I needed to bring something to her. Another good blessing was a good chat with my neighbor down the street who lost her 36 yr old daughter to cancer last spring. I was able to pray for her and give her a hug and just be there on her porch to listen to her. I also was blessed to see her two grandchildren and her son- in -law as they all came out on the porch to say Hello. 

There are always so many blessings!  God is good.

HAPPY WEEKEND!!