EASTER WEEK FAVES

 

End of April almost!  

I am sharing five fave blessings from the past week but I know there were more than 5 blessings  God brought.  One blessing every morning is that we wake up!   I find that looking back on my week during this time of chronic back pain, helps me to stay focused on the One who brings the good into our lives. It is good to give thanks to God! 

I'm linking up with Susanne to share FIVE of my FAVEs. Join in!

• MORNING MEDITATIONS: I've been loving the slower pace of the last week. I've had some good quiet times with a steaming mug of coffee and time in the Scriptures each morning and I'm so thankful for the slower mornings when the sun is just becoming full in the sky. 

• GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE:  Dave and I went to our Good Friday service last Friday night and it was the best one I've ever attended.  I had to go all the time as a child and teen and then as a young married couple we were in a church that didn't really have Good Friday services every year.  There may have been 1-2 while we were there.  The church we are in now does a Good Friday servcie every year, either at our main site where we go, or to the 2 sites to the north of us. The mood was somber and the art work shown on the screens to match the music was perfect. We sang all the traditional Good Friday hymns and it was just beautiful.  In between songs, our site pastor (Mat) and our Spiritual Formations Director (Paolino) read various Scriptures regarding Christ's death on the cross.  It was powerful.  We saw our daughter afterwards and she said she loved it as well.  I'm thankful we went!  

Easter Sunday evening
the bunny decides to visit 

beautiful restaurant decor

Pineapple  and Mai tai cocktails

Easter afternoon after singing in all 3 services
Courtney (our oldest), me, Dave

• EASTER!  I was so thankful we all made it to church by 7 AM for the sound check for the first service at 8:30.  Our church was maxed out for 2 of the 3 services (meaning all 846 seats were filled in the sanctuary and the overflow room/gym had maybe 15-20 people for the 10 and 11:30 AM services). The 8:30 AM service was full too but not every seat was filled.  Praise God for a great Easter worship and sermon time!  Our youngest daughter watched us and Pastor Rex online and we all met at our fave Japanese restaurant for Easter dinner. Then the girls popped over to our house for a little while as I had treat bags for them.  I love surprising them with their favorite chocolates (and peeps for the oldest).  For the oldest, I had a locally made "sweet grass" soap with horses on it and for the youngest I had a cat mug for her coffee. It was such a wonderful day and I thank God for the time with my precious church family as well as my own family. 

• OLD FRIENDS:  There's just something about running into old friends on Easter Sunday morning that makes my heart happy. We saw a couple and their children heading into the sanctuary as we were lining up in the hallway to get onstage and  they used to be our small group co-leaders over 20 years ago in our former church. We transitioned to our current church in 2005 and they followed shortly after. I hadn't seen her since mid-Winter so it was great to give her a hug and say Happy Easter and catch up briefly. I'm thankful for lasting friendships. 

steep stone steps up from the parking lot....
this is actually the steepest part of the mountain!

The summit approach up Swede Mountain
Hague, eastern Adirondacks
elevation is 1900'

heading to the summit proper
in front:  Anita and behind her: Joan
to the right:  me and directly in front of tower is Kathy
photo compliments of Karen 

the Central and High Peaks regions of the Adirondacks
as seen from the top of the fire tower on Swede Mt
(the mountain to the left of the photo is one I have hiked;
the one that looks like a bump to the left of center is Snowy Mt
which I have also hiked in 2015. You can just see Gore Mt Ski area
with snow to the right of center. 

on top of the fire tower: the whole gang! 
Karen, Kathy, Faith, Anita, Joan
Swede Mt

• FIRST MOUNTAIN HIKE of 2025!  On Wednesday I had 7 women who had signed up for hiking a small, easy mountain. Two had to drop out the night before due to family issues. That left 5 of us. This was Anita's first time ever climbing a mountain and Kathy's first time climbing a fire tower! None of us had climbed a mountain yet in 2025.  I've hiked this mountain solo in 2023 when I had minimal back pain so this past week was tougher for me but I went slow and no one minded because most of them were slow too. Hiking in one's 60s is vastly different than in our 30s for sure. After we climbed the fire tower, we had lunch at the base of the tower in the glorious spring sunshine and we started losing our layers as the temps went from 57 to 63 very quickly.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for being in the mountains. I'm thankful I had people who signed up....this group all happens to go to the same church so we had lots to talk about! Kathy shared her testimony of how and why she and her husband adopted 2 Romanian  children in the early 1990s and it was such a blessing to hear how God moved in their lives. I'm so thankful I get to do life with these ladies. And we are hoping  even more people sign up from the group when we hike the next mountain.  

Those are the top blessings from the week!

I also am thankful we have had beautiful Spring weather this week with blue skies, temps in the 60s/70s;  my pear tree has blossomed along with a few tulips;  emails, texts and marco polos from friends near and far; and a good phone chat with my childhood best friend. 

Have a great weekend,everyone!