Friday Fave Five - January 8

TGIF!!! I'm so excited it's Friday, although I'm not sure why... I've worked from home most of the week, and since I'm leading worship this weekend, I still have a lot to do over the weekend! I guess it's just a mental roadblock - Fridays are always appreciated!Here's my Fave Five of the past week. If you want, you can join us in looking back at your week and noticing the good things. Feel free to link up to Susanne's blog to share!

1. Since, I didn't write last week's fave five, I'll include New Year's Eve today. We were at my husband's mom's house with two of his sisters and their families. We had a nice dinner, opened Christmas presents, played games, and welcomed in the New Year with hugs and champagne (even the little ones had sparkling grape juice). It was such a nice night - so fun.

2. Coming home on Saturday was lovely! For over two weeks we either had company or were at someone else's house - which while fun, wears me out! So, Saturday night, walking into our home was a dream. Sleeping in my own bed, taking a long hot shower in my shower, and cuddling up on our magic couch... Perfect.

3. Sunday, our church had a special "Blessing" service to kick off the New Year. During the service, our Pastor "set" the Communion Table as if setting it for a fancy meal, explaining how special this moment is, and invited people to come forward when they were ready, and take communion themselves. Then, two pastors and I had the privilege of blessing people as they came to us for a blessing or with prayer requests for their new year... It was really a beautiful way to start the new year and such a gift to be one of the people to pray with others.

4. Internet and phone service. I've spent most of the week working from home. I haven't been feeling well, and have been having a lot of discomfort - so I've been pretty reliant on my heating pad... I feel very lucky to be able to work from home, and to have a wonderful administrative assistant that has kept me in the loop and helped out so much! Thanks, Diane!

5. Last night I got to start my new small group at church. We'll have 5-6 people who haven't been too involved in small groups in the past and I'm really excited to get to know them a little more! Our discussion was really neat last night as we got to know each other and spent some time talking about the "journey" of faith and what that means to each of us. I'm really looking forward to the next 6 weeks!

Happy Friday!

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Stopping by work - good to see some friends today!

2. Resting.

3. Getting ready for friends visiting tonight.

4. A delicious menu - cedar-plank salmon, cedar-plank mashed potatoes (both on the grill!), tomatoes stuffed with ricotta cheese and herbs, and tirimisu for dessert. Mmmm....

5. Getting more Christmas gifts put away.

6. Unfortunately, our guests couldn't come... But we had a lovely dinner of just the two of us!

7. Chillin' by the fireplace.

8. Good conversation with the hubby,

9. Realizing again and again... that I have a great life.

10. A good night of rest.