Friday Fave Five - March 19th

Well, I haven't been doing this for awhile - but I'm back!  Take a moment to look back over the last week and name five of your best moments, favorite things, or ways you have been blessed - and share them over at Susanne's blog, Living To Tell the Story!

Here are mine:

1.  Saturday night we had an early St. Patty's dinner at our house with my family.  SO GOOD!  Bacon and cabbage, potatoes, Irish cheeses, tomato chutney, brown bread, "black and tan" brownies, and Irish coffees!  So fun!

2.  Sunday we went over to our God-daughter, Elly's house to visit.  We got to eat dinner with the family, play with Elly, and then after she went to bed - they brought out the Wii.  Love it!  The hubby and I don't have a Wii, so we love the opportunity to go play at someone else's house.  It turns out I'm ok at sword dueling, canoeing, slalom sking, and hula-hooping!  Who knew?!  I got to play with the Wii-fit too.  I had heard horrible things from several people about how mean it was about your Wii-fit "age."  But when I did it, it was almost accurate - even nice!  (I will admit, my arms were REALLY sore for two days after...  But so fun.)  Thanks Em and Jeremy!

3.  Tuesday, I was surprised when I got to work with a Birthday Party!  Surprised, because my birthday is next week - and because apparently so many people at church knew this was going on, and I had no idea.  I walked into my office, decorated with balloons, a big poster of me (!) and post-it note greetings from several church members, a big cake, gifts and cards.  People stopped by throughout the day for visits and cake...  It was very nice.  Thanks, Diane, for making me feel special!

4.  Tuesday night, the hubby and I went to my youngest sister's "epic" choir concert.  She had been telling us all week how great this concert was going to be... so we went.  It was great.  It was the concert choir, wind ensemble, and string orchestra.  Beautiful.  The Choir even sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" - head banging and all.  But the best part was the last piece.  One of the kids had decided he wanted to do the theme song to the video game "Civilization."  It's the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, I think.  He contacted the composer through Facebook, collected money from the other kids to buy the score, convinced the choir teacher to buy the choral part, and made this thing happen!  He got to direct the choir, wind ensemble and string orchestra as they played the piece - which was amazing!  He even got a standing ovation at the end.  I was all choked up.  Talk about a big night for him!  The choir director introduced him by telling this story and ending with "lots of people have big ideas and big dreams.  But it takes a special few to make them happen.  Here is one of them."  Great job, Jonathon!

5.  Today.  I'm packing, doing laundry, and cleaning out the fridge.  Doesn't soud that great, huh?  Well it is.  We're leaving for Europe tomorrow!  Amsterdam, Belgium, and Paris - here we come!

Things I am thankful for today:

1.  A lazy morning.
2.  The book, "Be The Surprise" by Terry Esau.
3.  Packing...  So ready to go!
4.  Little travel sized containers.  They make me smile.
5.  Taking only one small suitcase and a purse.  Love it.
6.  Doing the basketball brackets with my family.  They're crazy.
7.  Doing errands and stopping at "Smashburger" - it was good!
8.  Root beer.
9.  Ziploc baggies.  Make packing so easy.
10.  We're leaving TOMORROW!