Five for Friday

This summer is flying by!  Every time I think about sitting down to blog it seems that something else takes priority.  Not in a bad way...it has just been busy.  After seeing Mrs. T over at Across My Table, do a few Five for Friday posts, over the years; I thought it would be fun to do one here.  

 

 

1) DEVOTIONAL: 

What do we do with those hard things that seem to always keep coming up?  Two things recently have helped me think about this differently. One is a line from JJ Heller's song God Is Still Here.  

"What if the thorn deep in my 

side is only there to help me see

That though I never ask for it 

the desert is God's gift to me?"

 

This summer I've been having Maisie read to me to keep up with, and improve, her reading skills.  She will sometimes say "mom, can't you just read it to me", "I hate reading" or will continually stumble over a word she's read before.  In talking to a teacher friend, she mentioned that some kids see a word once or twice and get it while others need to see it up to 20 times before they remember it.  

 

I continually encourage her that while it is hard and may take a lot of practice, the reward of being able to read well will be worth it.  The world will open up in amazing and exciting ways.  All her future learning will be so much easier. 

 

I thought, how like us is that.  God could just do it for us,  but often we will face the same challenge over and over because he knows that we need to learn.  That once we can learn the lessons of the struggle, the reward will be so much better.  Those lessons will equip us for the future purposes He has for us. 

2) COOKING: 

 

We have been enjoying a lot of salads this summer.  One of our favorites is this Israeli Pearl Couscous Salad from No Spoon Necessary , Someday I'm hoping to do a salad round-up post with many of the recipes we have enjoyed. 

 

 

(Image from NoSpoonNecessary site)

 

3) FAMILY:

 

This summer has been filled with highs and lows.  The beginning of the summer included some deaths in the family, hospitalization of another family member, and some other really hard challenges revealed for another family member.  Through it all we have also seen God's hand and grace over and over.  These hard things have given us opportunities to reconnect with some family members and rekindle really precious connections.  This summer has also allowed for many great memories to be made.  Having all the kids home has been fun and we've enjoyed hikes, trips to the beach, friends visiting and of course road trips for delicious seafood.  More fun plans are still to come as we squeeze every bit of fun family time in while our college kiddos are home. 

 

4) READING: 

I'm happy to say that I hit my Goodreads reading challenge for this year.  Last year I had a hard time reading 15 books so I left that as my goal for this year.  Currently I'm studying through the book On Bended Knee by Crickett Keeth, a study of prayers in the Bible.    For "fun" reading I'm reading The Book of Charlie by David Von Drehle, the story of his neighbor who lived to be 109 years old.  Both are wonderful reads. 

 

5) CHALLENGE: 

 

I recently saw a challenge on Instagram (can't remember who posted it); where women were challenged to pray for other women.  The challenge was to choose 12 women and match them up with a month, then spend a month praying for that "month's" woman.  The challenge mentioned not to let them know.  I love this idea.  While I obviously pray for men in my life also, I think the unique challenges that we have as women can help us to pray in a very special/understanding way for other women.  So, I sat down the other day and as God brought someone to mind I jotted down their name next to a month.  There are two months still without names.  I have many women in my life but want to seek God's leading for this challenge and at this time He has only impressed 10 women on my heart.  I fully trust that He will bring to mind those two women as those months get closer.  So, will you join me in this?  As a further challenge, maybe choose some women who are "sandpaper people" to you.   

I hope you enjoyed this quick post and the pictures from some of our summer adventures.