Today is Good Friday. A day where I sit and contemplate what Christ did for me on the Cross...what He did for all of us! He paid that debt of sin so we can be redeemed and live forever with Him in heaven!
Besides that amazing blessing of grace and mercy and redemption, I'm here to share FIVE other FAVES from my week. I join in with other bloggers over at Susanne's at Living to Tell the Story. Join us and share your top blessings from the week.
FIVE FAVES
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| SoulSteps Hikers l-r: Evelyn, Mark, Tyler, Courtney, Jill (Evelyn is Ty's mom. Ty is Courtney's bf) |
- SATURDAY HIKE! On Saturday, I had scheduled a SoulSteps hike for the southern Adirondacks and I had 9 hikers signed up. One new couple dropped out (I think due to the cold temps) and the other hiker texted me that she woke up not feeling well. So that left just 6 of us to go to Willie Wildlife Marsh about 80 minutes to the northwest of us. One of the guys wanted to meet us at the trailhead and the rest of us piled into my car. We had a blast but it was COLD. It was only 18 degrees F when we arrived at 11 AM and by the time we were done with the 2.2 miles (we chose not to do the ridge which makes it a 2.5 mile hike, due to ice) it was only 28 degrees F. BRRR. As you can see in the photos, we were all wearing Winter hiking gear. We had some sun and snowflakes, mud, ice, more mud, and lots of frozen ground. All in all, it was a great outing and I'm thankful that even though 2 of us fell through what we thought was frozen mud, and Tyler literally fell through the ice on the pond (one leg), we made it back to the cars safely. I'm thankful this hike went well and that the feedback was everyone loved it! Here are some highlights in pics: (and yes, everyone in the photos has to give permission to appear on social media/blogs.the reason I'm not in the pics is I was taking them!) 😀
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| from front to back: Jill, Courtney, Evelyn this is the back side of the pond through the forest |
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| This was deceptive. Yes, we had to schlep across this mud Yes it was wet in spots. I stepped to the left that looked frozen and sank up to just above my ankles Thanking God for waterproof winter hiking boots. See the big holes? that's called Post Holing. google it. Rude people post hole..this means they needed snowshoes and didn't use them making it dangerous for us now in the early Spring. Snowshoes are needed when snow depths are 6 inches or deeper. |
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| Willie Wildlife Pond....still with thick ice |
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| Ready...set...crawl... Tyler and Mark have crawling races down the length of the pond. Yes, Tyler got too close to the edge at one point and in he went. even though us "older" folks did warn them the ice is thinner on the edge! |
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| This stream is one I've hiked over twice in years past. In Autumn. When it's just a trickle. This was high and swift flowing and we thanked God the footbridge was stable making for an easy cross. |
- RESTORED!! I had seen a product advertised on Instagram and did some investigating to make sure it was legit. It is! I bought a bottle and restored (by polishing) our hardwood oak flooring in the dining room!! No sanding needed! I loved how it came out. It's still got a couple of worn spots but over all the polish really did restore the wood!! I'm so thankful this was an inexpensive fix. You just squirt into a S pattern, use a microfiber Bono pad and voila......2 hours later.... you're floor is restored. I did a 2nd coat which requires drying period of 24 hours. I'm so thankful I took the time to do this.
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| This area was worn down to almost a white color The polish really restored it! |
- CLASS DISCUSSION: I take a class at church every Monday morning with about 35 other ladies. At the table where I usually sit there is a wide variety of us. One of the women is in choir so I know her from that. 3 of the ladies are in the SoulSteps hiking group. This past week we had such a good discussion based on Job 26 and our Redeemer and what that looks like for all of us. We all had a turn to speak about a time when we needed to feel held by God...or heard by God...it was a very powerful and deep conversation. I'm thankful for good studies like this Job one and the discussion questions that lead to some thought provoking conversations and prayer time.
- BETTER SLEEP: Ever since menopause about 12 years ago, I rarely sleep all the way through the night for 7 hours. When I was teaching, the most sleep I'd get was 6.5 just because of needing to do all the things. Now that I'm retired, I tend to go to bed around 11 pm and get up around 6:30 or 7 depending on the day. If I'm leading a hike that's going to be more than 3 miles, I tend to go to bed around 10 and get up at 5:30. At any rate, since I've upped my cardio workouts I've been tracking much better and more effective sleep! I've gotten all "High" scores on my Smartwatch this week so I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful that I'm finally seeing results from adding Magnesium Glycinate to my evening routine. This is known to help sleep and my getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom as dramatically decreased.
- MAJOR SALES! I haven't needed to shop for clothes since last Autumn but I was going through Spring clothing and realized a lot of it I had donated to the local thrift store! I had also donated quite a few "teaching clothes" (skirts, dress pants, spring shirts/blouses, and dresses) to the local Episcopal church when they were collecting for some homeless families. I rarely shop at JCP and hadn't in a while, other than to buy some baby clothes for a service project I was involved in, so I went up to our local one and discovered they were having a huge 50%-80% off sale. I bought 2 nice spring shirts/short sleeved sweaters, 2 cotton tee shirts, and a dressy top and everything came to less than $80. I had saved over 25$ according to the cashier. Then I found a bathing suit online at a store I like to do business with and that was also on sale. For Dave, I noticed he had an LLBean shirt that was very frayed and faded so I replaced it with a new one and because of our Bean Bucks, I got him a $69.99 shirt for free!! I'm thankful for good deals!!
Tonight I will be singing in a ladies vocal ensemble at our church's Good Friday service. My oldest daughter Courtney is also in the ensemble. It will be a time of some traditional hymns, reflections and Scriptures all centered around the Cross and Jesus' victory over Satan. More rejoicing in a more upbeat service will be done on Easter Sunday where we celebrate our Risen Savior-Redeemer!
However you celebrate Easter......may it be a special time of remembering Who paid the penalty for our sins.....
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