Category Archives: Fave Five on Friday

Wrapped in Love…

It’s that time of year when the signs are all around us. This week for Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five I’m concentrating on love. Some deep thoughts and some not so deep.

1. I love Jesus who gives me hope for today and my future.

2. I love fresh flowers and how they brighten up a room.

3. I love my family and friends.

4. My palate loves chocolate, especially mixed with nuts!

5. I love to watch for birds flying to the feeder. This is especially enjoyable in the sunshine!

And for the record I don’t think that “love is all you need”.

Hope you have opportunities to show love to those around you this week.

The 1st of February!

Today is a great day to reflect on the good things in our lives. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

1. Being able to read and study. Currently we are studying the gospel of John in our Women’s Bible Study and it has really been good. I’m reading a biography on Bonhoeffer that is teaching me a lot about Germany in the 30’s – 40’s and Bonhoeffer’s growth in faith and what that meant for him in Natzi Germany. I’m also reading several different travel guides for Milan and the Lakes in Italy to prepare for our trip in March.

2. Family and Friends to support and enrich our lives. The rich heritage I enjoy and having a family and friends that support me in so many ways can never be taken for granted.

3. Ingredients in abundance that we can buy and put together to make a satisfying dish. It’s great to have taste buds that are willing to try something new. I’m enjoying the adventure of cooking. Sharing what I’ve cooked with others is the cherry on top!

4. Products that make life easier. A few of these many products have gotten enough wear and tear around this old house that they are giving up on us. There are those that we don’t hesitate to replace because we just aren’t willing to live without them. One of those items was my wireless mouse! I’m still attached to a mouse even with my laptop. My fingers just don’t want to do the scrolling on the pad…

5. Shows that entertain us and even teach us something new. I enjoy period pieces like Downton Abbey where you are entertained while getting a picture of what life was like during different periods in history. I also watch shows like Biggest Loser and find it rewarding to see the progress of the contestants. Sometimes I’m inspired to add some healthy alternatives to my life.

What good things are you thankful for today?

The Five…

Today is Friday and I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for her Friday’s Fave Five. It’s good to think back over the past week and see the good things in life that God has blessed you with to enjoy.

1. Vareniki have become traditional for my family to prepare together before Christmas and then to serve on Christmas Eve for dessert. My mom’s version are larger and fancier than these but when I don’t get my mom’s these are the next best thing. I can buy them at a European Deli not too far form my home. They call them perogies but the Russian on the upper left translates to Vareniki with cheese. After they are formed, filled with cheese and sealed they are boiled cooled and frozen. We like to serve them hot out of the oven after they are cooked from their frozen state with butter and 1/2 and 1/2. Then we plop some sour cream on top and cover them with good maple syrup. Delicious! We had these for breakfast last Saturday before we started in on cleaning out the garage loft.

2. When we crave a good meatball sandwich we drive to a pizza joint in Lynnwood. We’ve tried to find a good one closer to us but they always disappoint. These were delicious as usual. I brought half of mine home for another day. All my favorites aren’t about food but it seems the freezing snap we’ve had since last Friday made us seek out some of our favorite comfort foods.

3. Our favorite sons both have birthdays this week. We are so thankful that God blessed us with them. Each one is unique and appreciated!

4. I’m thankful for the local library where I can put books on hold and then check out to enjoy without spending lots of money. The book in the middle is co-authored by our friend Lela Gilbert. Lela has a new book out that I’ve ordered from Amazon called, Saturday People, Sunday People. I’ll share more about it after it arrives. Without Reservations was recommended to me by Susan in Switzerland after she read about our upcoming trip to Milan. The Unofficial Downton Abbey cookbook is just for fun.

5. We are excited about finally sending our chairs out to be reupholstered. They were in sorry shape after 36 years or so of wear and tear. We are looking forward to their new look and feel.

In the meantime the table is very lonely.

Looking forward to coming around and seeing your favorites this week. What’s in store for your weekend? Some of us in the U.S. get a long weekend since Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Dear’s company doesn’t give him the day off. We hope to celebrate with Josh and Laura on Sunday if they are well enough. (Lousy illnesses gripping our world!) We also are plowing forward to try to  finish the clean up in the garage. Blessings!!

The Last Friday…

…of 2012!

I decided I better join in for Friday’s Fave Fives with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story since this will be the last faves this year. Oye, where did the year go?

1. We had one of the most wonderful Christmas Eve Service I’ve ever been to. From a stomp band to the candle light Silent Night it was a night of worshiping Jesus.

2. Josh and Laura came to spend the night on Christmas Eve after celebrating the evening with Laura’s family. It was so nice to spend Christmas day with them. We will be together with Josh, Laura, Dan, Katie and Andrew on Friday night and Saturday for Second Christmas.

3. Having Katie and Andrew arrive the day after Christmas. The last time we had the two of them together here was for their wedding in March.

4. Celebrating Katie’s 27th birthday on the 27th. We gave gifts and then shopped to exchange some of the gifts, :). We met Dear for lunch and then Josh and Laura joined us and brought Chinese in for dinner. We put 27 candles on the cake I baked and watched it glow as we wished Katie God’s continued blessings for her golden year.

Watch the powdered sugar fly!

Laura brought golden roses for Katie’s golden birthday!

5. When Dear and I were at the MGCC Christmas party at Judy (My Front Porch) and Elmer’s a couple Sunday’s ago we were introduced to the game of Crokinole. We had never heard of it before. We ordered a game after the party and the family has been enjoying learning how to play it. Josh, Laura, Dear and I played it on Christmas day and last night after cake and ice cream Katie and Andrew were introduced to the game.

After Josh and Laura left we waited up for Dan who drove across the mountains to join us for 2nd Christmas (his first). He arrived at 10 PM safe and sound and then I went to bed sleeping well knowing that. Fun times….

I’m hoping to get around to a few Fave Five participants but it might take a while since tonight we are 9 for dinner here and I’ll be busy making preparations for our 2nd Christmas dinner. Tomorrow morning we will open stockings, have Dear’s Swedish pancakes and Judy’s bacon wrapped smokies again. Then we will open presents and relax together and probably play some more Crokinole. Saturday night we are having a relaxed soup meal together.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

200 Fridays of Favorites…

Today Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is celebrating the 200th Friday’s Fave Five!

I picked up a book at Goodwill of Prayers by Michel Quoist. On the subject of Thankfulness he writes:

“We must know how to say, “Thank You.” Our days are filled with the gifts the Lord showers on us. If we were in the habit of taking stock of them, at night we should be like a “queen for the day,” dazzled and happy with so many blessings. We should then be grateful to God, secure because he gives us everything, joyful because we know that every day he will renew his gifts.”

Because Jesus died and rose again paying the debt for all my sin to God, I am forever His thankful child.

Here are my 5 for this week:

1. Thank you Lord, for these girls who came into my life unexpectedly and have become my true blue friends!

2. Thank you Lord, for my “Dear” who provides for me, is faithful in our marriage and is always willing to do those little and big home improvements.

3. Thank you Lord, for our children and the good relationship with have with them. Thank you that they stay in contact with us and find ways to spend time with us in person or with phone calls.

4. Thank you Lord, for all the beauty you have created for us to enjoy.

5. Thank you Lord, for our abundance of good things to eat and that we’ve never gone hungry.

What are your favorites this week?

I’m adding this link to my very first Fave post.

FFF ~ Summertime…

It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five but I’m happy to chime in this week. The next few weeks of my summer are going to be really busy so I don’t know what my Friday’s will hold in the world of blogging. So here are some of my favorites from this last week.

1. Field of Dreams fund raiser auction for Medical Teams International.  Click on the link to find out what great work this group does. Our son invited us to join their table at the event and we were so glad that we attended and found out the scope of this great organization in helping the hurting around the world and in the USA.

2. HomeGoods grand opening was a long awaited event for me. I grew to enjoy the shopping experience at this store when we lived in California and was hoping they’d make their way to Washington State. Their grand opening was this past Sunday and I made my first shopping trip on Monday morning. On my initial trip I bought some goodies for the yard, a bird bath and some iron wall decorations. I’ll share a photo when they are mounted properly, too.

3. Spending time in person and talking with our adult kids on the phone. It’s always so good to hear their voices and to get up to date on what’s going on in their worlds…

4. Starting my first Christmas project. A first for me trying this German traditional treat. I found some little jars at HomeGoods for my Christmas gifting of the end result, too. Of course instead of calling it Rumptopf I might have to change the name to Vodkatopf or Smirntopf.

5. Enjoying a new mystery writer to me. I’ve started the Inspector Monk murder mystery series by Anne Perry staged in Victorian England with all the manners and tensions and history of this period. It’s been a good escape for me.

My sister Kathy sent my family the text of Psalm 145 this week and it was such a great Psalm to read and consider. I’ll leave you with just 2 of the verses.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

Psalm 145:8-9

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and to our Canadian friends a very happy Canada Day weekend to you!

FFF ~ Fresno, Food, Fields

I was in Fresno last Friday with 3 of the Mennonite Girls so I didn’t participate in Friday’s Fave Five but I’m joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story this week with my favorites.

1. Traveling to my first MCC Relief Sale and spending time with generous people who donate their time, services, and goods for others.

2. When Dear picked me up at the airport on Sunday morning we decided to head up north for lunch in La Conner at a favorite restaurant of ours called Nell Thorn. The food was delicious and the drive gave us the opportunity to get caught up with news about each of our days apart.

3. After lunch we headed to the tulip fields and enjoyed a tiptoe through the tulips walk about the tulip fields. We don’t take for granted this amazing opportunity to visit these fields of wonder just an hour up the road. I’ll be sharing lots of tulip photos this next week.

4. We are getting a new roof  and rain gutters installed this week. It’s good to know we’ll be set for many years when the job is done.

5. To get away from the pounding noise I went out on a shopping adventure to find green and lavender dishes and accessories. It was a successful trip. I found plates and napkins at Goodwill and more plates and small cups at Crate and Barrel. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time on a shopping trip like this. Having a chicken in the crock pot made the adventure quite relaxing since I didn’t have to be home early to make dinner.

I’ll leave you with another tulip photo. I hope to get around soon and see what y’all have been up to.

FFF ~ Never a Dull Moment…

Another week with the chance to pause and look back and remember the good things in our lives. Thank you to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for hosting this event every Friday. My days have again been full.

We had a sermon on gratitude a couple Sundays ago and the pastor shared 2 Killers of gratitude. One killer is complaining and the other killer is comparing. I’ve been on the lookout for these two killers in my heart and mind.

Now to my 5 favorites…

1. Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine! When the sun shines in the Seattle area we enjoy it to the fullest. On Friday morning I walked the Sammamish River trail with a friend and we enjoyed the extra shot of Vitamin D!

2. Friday night I met up with Josh and Laura and we traveled to the Seattle Sounders Soccer game via Kerry Park where there are great views of Seattle. We were showing Flat Stanley what makes Seattle special. Have you experienced Flat Stanley? We took Flat Stanley to the game and we were so happy they won and it was a fun game.

3. Saturday I packed my Mennonite Girls Can Cook Apron and headed north to the Blaine Library for a presentation of our book and story. Lovella did a wonderful job of sharing our story. My friend Cindy who works in the children’s area of the library and her boss Debby baked goodies from our cookbook to serve to the participants at the seminar. It was a great time and we all had lunch together at the Blackberry Cafe after our time at the library.

4. On Monday I finally took the leap and joined the 21st century with a new phone and I’m in a new learning curve. I was even able to text my son. I laughed because it took me about 2 full minutes to type out 2 sentences and send them on their way. OYE!

5. Homemade spaghetti sauce. We had a lot of tomatoes leftover from our wedding weekend so I decided to make homemade tomato sauce. When it was finished I added some mild Italian sausage to the sauce and served it with pasta and some fresh basil. It was delicious.

Hope you all had a good week. Waiting to see if my friend and I can fit a walk in today between rain showers…

FFF ~ Mucho Gusto!

A week filled with much pleasure.

It’s time to link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and share your favorites from this past week!

Just so y’all know there were things that happened this week that did not bring pleasure at all but the good far outweighed the bad.

1. I walked twice last week. On Friday with two gals from my Bible Study group and on Saturday with my great walking buddy Jan and my sister Lana. When I got home from my Saturday walk Dear was ready with his level and hammer to put the artwork on the wall of our new guestroom (formerly Katie’s room) We accomplished a lot of little things that made a big difference.

2. While we were working I emptied out some things in the freezer and added them to chicken broth to make a “what’s in your freezer soup”. It was tasty and used up things that needed to be used before they got freezer burn. It was a great no fuss meal for the two of us while we were working on the house projects.

3. After church on Sunday (which was fabulous) we met Josh and Laura at a new BBQ restaurant. The food was really good and we really enjoyed the owners of the restaurant. We took our time eating and getting caught up with Josh and Laura. You don’t have to take our word for it…anyone that knows Josh and Laura would tell you that they are a gift from God to their friends and family.

4. After Valentine’s Day sales of candy and other goodies! How great is it that I could buy a dozen roses for $5.00 instead of $24.99. I bought those sweet little cupcakes for $1.49 and they were fresh and yummy. We served them to our small group that meets at our house on Thursday nights.

5. Small Group: A group of people who get together regularly to encourage each other and grow and learn with each other. Our small group is composed of 10 very different individuals. A group of people we would never have hand picked to be in a group with but a group that surprises us in how much we have come together in a short amount of time. It really can only be explained by the fact that God brought us together and we see how God is working in each life and how he has drawn us together with care and love for each other. God is good.

Just had to share the yucky thing that happened this past week, too. On Monday night I was running around all afternoon so I decided to bring Chinese take out home for dinner. Unfortunately I got food poisoning and had a really rough time for part of the night. What a relief when the pain stopped and I could go to sleep again. I was thankful it wasn’t the stomach flu and when the poisoned food left me so did all the symptoms.

Hope you all had a good week.

23 Days till the Wedding!!

FFF ~ Food, Friends, Fun

Friday is here and it’s time to join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share our favorites from this past week.

Uno ~ Oh my what is it about clean windows that make me happy. Makes me want to stop and sing “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…” Dear washed the windows in our new spare room (formerly Katie’s room). I want to sing every time I walk in there. Since it is the new office, too, and I was going to see the Tax man this week, I had a lot of time in there enjoying the clear views.

Dos ~ A good long walk with one of my walking buddies. We had a stretch of beautiful dry days up here in the Pacific Northwest and that made the walk even more pleasant.

Tres ~ Experimenting with foccacia bread to make a pizza sandwich. It was interesting flipping it to get both sides of the bread nicely baked. Even though the experiment isn’t something I’d be too keen on trying again it was real tasty and satisfying as a meal! The thing we didn’t like was how hard it was to eat without all the innerds squirting out.

Cuatro ~ On Sunday and the reason for all my Spanish numbering this week we were invited to a party by our favorite waitress at the Mexican restaurant we frequent. We were honored that she’d even think to invite us and more honored when we got to the party and we were the only fluent English speaking people there except for her 20 year old son. Everyone made sure we were comfortable and had enough to eat and drink. Her son kept us in the loop explaining who everyone was. Her parents are visiting from Mexico for 2 months and one of her nieces was being baptized that day so this was a party in honor of that occasion. A Mariachi band came later and that’s when all the dancing and singing started. Such suave dancing with twirls and steps and turns with smooth transitions. It was kind of like watching dancing with the stars.

Cinco ~ Decorating a little for Valentine’s Day and  Chocolate Fondue! If you’d like to see the recipe hop over to Mennontie Girls Can Cook! It’s a good treat to serve for Valentine’s Day!

Our weekend looks pretty free and laid back. Hope your weekend is relaxing and rejuvenating!