Holy Week Favorites

Hello and welcome again to Friday's Fave Five where I link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, and other blogging friends to look at the good in the last week. 

 

Easter - Easter has special meaning for Christians around the world.  It is the day we remember the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His victory over the grave. 

This most important event is certainly one thing I am grateful for every week.

Prayer - First and foremost this week, I am grateful for the power of prayer. Today I am participating in Non-Denominational World Wide Day of Fast and Prayer for relief from this COVID-19 pandemic.  Thousands of people from around the world are praying that the present pandemic may be controlled, that caregivers can be protected, the economy strengthened and life normalized.  I completely believe in the power of prayer, so if any of my blogging friends would like to join us, please do.

Working  - While I admit to sometimes getting tired and frustrated with my job (who doesn't)  I have always been glad and overall grateful that I became a teacher.  During this uncertain time, when so many are out of work, I am especially grateful for my job, (and Charly's) and our ability to work from home, keeping our income coming and some semblance of normalcy for our students. Last week, I had to go into the high school one morning (here I am in front of the school) to get some things from my classroom.  It was a little eery to be in a huge high school  almost all by myself, except for three or four other people down in the main office.  

Sewing Skills  - I am not by any stretch of the imagination a talented seamstress, but this last week I have been grateful the basic sewing sewing skills I learned in my teen years.  I made these masks for Charly and I, using fabric from my sewing stash.  We now wear them whenever we go out. 

I watched several DIY Youtube videos and so far have made five masks using three different patterns. 

I have a small fabric stash but I did not have any elastic, so I got creative and used ponytail holders for the ear pieces.  I plan to make more masks this weekend.  The more I practice, the better I get at it. 

Spring Flowers - The tulip bulbs I planted just outside my front door have come up and are now out in bloom.  I love looking out my front window, or going out my front door and seeing these lovely blooms. 

Rain and Rainbows  - We have had some rain this week, which I am grateful for, because, after all, "April showers bring May flowers."  A couple of days ago,when Charly and I were out walking, we saw this beautiful rainbow.  It reminded me of this current storm of life we are going through with COVID-19.  I know we will get through it and the rainbow reminds me that there are better days ahead.

Supplies - We went out just a few times this week, and I am grateful we found some things that we were looking for, including hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes and toilet paper. 

Today, I had to go to the Dollar Store to get some birthday cards for two of my grandsons.  We went to the  Big Lots store next door, and found some anti-bacterial hand soap, which we were getting low on because we are washing out hands so much.

Cleaning - We have been trying to keep our home even cleaner and more sanitized than we normally do during this pandemic.  I clean surfaces and floors ofen, but I still do a complete cleaning of the house, usually on Thursday. Charly and I worked together today to get everything deep cleaned and sanitized.  I am grateful to have the supplies and help (from Charly) I need to get the house thoroughly cleaned. 

Time - On a Thursday night, under normal circumstances, I would come home tired, take a walk with Charly, then figure out the quickest thing I could fix for dinner.  However, times are not normal, and I now have time to do more things I would really like to, like cook dinner for my family.  Tonight, inspired by my blog friend Mari's Cooking Thursday post, I fixed fried potatoes and onions and steak.

It was delicious - comfort food that I have enjoyed from my youth, but seldom have time to fix on a weeknight. 

Palm Sunday Weekend

This is my new "going out in public attire" which I started wearing on Friday when we went grocery shopping.  No, I am not taking needed masks from health-care professionals. The other day while looking for a new tooth brush in downstairs storage room, I happened upon a small box of surgical masks I had completely forgotten about. I still can remember when I bought them, but there they were, and now I am using those when I go out.  I may even try my hand and sewing some cloth masks this week. 

We brought our groceries home and put all the bags out on the back patio, then took everything out and wiped each item off with disinfectant wipes before bringing the items into the house and putting them away.

Friday, in addition to grocery shopping, we needed to go to Home Depot for some more cleaner for our hardwood floors. Customers were lined up outside, socially distanced and only a few a time were allowed in the store. 

Later, we took both of our cars in to this repair shop for oil changes. 

Later in the afternoon, after grading and emailing students, I indexed some Minnesota death records from 1935.  

Friday night we enjoyed the leftover takeout pizza and cheesy bread from Pier 49 for dinner. 

Saturday evening, we decided to get KFC for dinner so we went to drive through.  The store's computer crashed, so we waited in the drive through live for almost 40 minutes to get our order. I enjoy KFC's Famous Bowls, but don't know if I will go there again knowing their computer might crash.

Both Saturday and Sunday was our church's General Conference. We watch all the session on TV in our living room, and I took notes on all the messages.  It was a tremendous spiritual experience. 

I love listening to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. Of course, due to COVID-19 the choir did not actually assemble to provide music this weekend, but previously recorded hymns were played. "Heark All Ye Nations" is one that we heard Saturday evening - truly one of my favorite hymns. I find this beautiful anthem of praise so very moving.  

I am so grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ, especially during uncertain and troubled times, like we are currently living through.   

Our church leaders asked us to join together in a Worldwide Day of Fasting and Prayer this coming Friday, April 10, 2020.  We are fasting and praying that COVID-19 can be controlled, that medical caregivers will be protected, that the economy will be strengthened and that life will be normalized. I hope that you will join in prayer with us this Friday. 

After listening to General Conference on this beautiful Psalm Sunday, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. After the wonderful uplifting, hopeful messages we heard over the course of this weekend, I felt the most happy, hopeful and peaceful, I have in some time.  

Tonight, I plan to do some reading in these two books, then perhaps watch a show on PBS about World War II, World on Fire.

  

Charly, who loves history probably even more than I do, said it sounded good, so we will probably watch it. 

That's about it for this Psalm Sunday Weekend.  Please consider joining the Worldwide day of fasting and prayer for relief from COVID-19, if you can.  Not everyone can fast, but we can all pray.  I believe that God hears all our prayers.  I will leave you with this scripture from the New Testament, James 1:5.

Miracles Big and Small - Part I

It has been so long since my last post - over two and a half months.  I owe all of my blogging friends an explanation of my absence.  Several have contacted me to find out what is going on and where I disappeared to.  It's a long story, but one with an ultimately happy ending and a lot of miracles in between.   It is the story of how my sweetheart, and husband of 38 years, got up one morning feeling fine and three hours later found himself in a hospital emergency room fighting for his life.

Charly had a massive hemorrhagic stroke on Sunday morning, November 19, 2017.  

Miracle #1 - I was actually on the phone with Charly (who was still living in our house in Arizona even though I had already moved to Utah) when the stroke struck. Because our son Josh, who had been living in Arizona with Charly, had recently moved to Utah, Charly was living in the house alone, and on a Sunday morning, he likely would have been undiscovered for hours if I had not been on the phone with him when the stroke occurred. God had other plans for Charly, and I was able to make some calls to the police and friends in the area who got to our home quickly.  A few hours later, I was on a plane to Phoenix and this is how I found Charly in ICU when I got to Arizona that Sunday evening.  

Miracle #2 - Charly survived the kind of stroke (that is really more of an aneurysm), that takes the life of most people who have one.  Charly was completely healthy right up to the time of the stroke.  He had no history of high blood pressure or anything else that might be a warning sign of a stroke. When the stroke came, however, he had an amazing neurological team and started to improve quite quickly, although progress was much  slower than I  wanted it to be.  Our oldest son, Alex, came to see his dad.  It had been a while since we had seen him, and it was wonderful to have his love and support.  

Our second oldest daughter, Tiffany, also came from Utah for a few days, to help out and be with her dad.  

This is the hospital (Chandler Regional Hospital in Chandler, AZ) where Charly spent 18 days in ICU (Intensive Care Unit).  He spent three additional days in a regular room before being transferred to a rehabilitation hospital in Mesa, AZ - Health South. 

More on Charly's recovery, rehabilitation, continued progress in Part II.  

In the meantime, thanks to all of you who found out about Charly's stroke and prayed and sent messages of love and support.  Your friendship is much appreciated.  

I promise to be back with another post again soon, telling more of the miracles surrounding Charly's stroke and his recovery.  God is good.  We give Him the credit for all miracles.  :-)

April Favorites - Good Friday/Spring Road Trip Edition

Easter weekend is a wonderful time to take account of all of our blessings, and so today I join once again with Susanne of Living to Tell the Story for...

• Easter

Today is a special day that we as Christians remember the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He died for us on Good Friday and then rose from the dead the following Sunday, paving the way for all of us to live again after we die. My first favorite this week is Jesus Christ and His atonement and resurrection that means death has no power.  This short video tell us how Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and the Prince of Peace can give us true lasting peace.  

• Spring Road Trip

We took a quick spring weekend road trip earlier this month. We took Friday off and left for Utah quite early in the morning. We lost an hour due to the time change, and we had a 12-13 hour drive ahead of us. 

The Arizona leg of the journey was lovely.  The weather was good and the roads clear. Traffic was not too heavy.

My favorite part was the beautiful wildflowers everywhere. We have had a wet winter and that has made the desert blossom this spring.

By the time we reached Las Vegas, we knew that the forecast for winter weather as we drove north was for real.

The worst places were right outside of Cedar City, Utah...

...and just past Beaver, Utah.  We did not enjoy driving in the snow and fog. 

We were sure glad when the weather cleared.

• Grandchildren

Our first stop in Utah was our daughter's home. We loved seeing and spending a little time with our grandchildren.  They enjoyed the fun Easter Surprises we brought them.

They love crafts and the little bird houses and paints in the special Easter surprise bag were a big hit.

It was really fun watching them be so creative.

The children got into painting the bird houses and did so well. 

 Little Paige, who is two, loves her grandpa so much. 

She didn't want to leave Charly's side the whole time we were there.

Although she didn't remember Uncle Josh as well, Paige warmed up to him.  We love all eight of our grandkids and are excited that the other four grands, who live in Maryland are expected to come for a visit to Arizona in the next few days - so we will have seen all of our grandchildren this month!

• General  Conference

My next favorite for was the main purpose of our road trip and visit to Utah, attending the Semi-Annual General Conference of our church.  There are six sessions of the conference, twice a year. The conference is broadcast over the internet, but free tickets are required to attend in person, because so many people want to go.   We had tickets to one session but Josh wanted to be there in  person to as many sessions as possible, so we decided to stand in the "stands-by" ticket line and see if we could get in.  The stand-by line was pretty long, as this picture shows, and there were even more people behind us than in front of us.

Finally, after waiting in line for a while, we were taken into the Historic Tabernacle to  wait and see if there would be room for us to get into the Conference Center where the meeting is held. The Tabernacle was built in the 1800s and is still all original, including the famous Tabernacle Organ. It is a beautiful and amazing building.

We did end up getting into the Conference Center for the Saturday Morning session of Conference.  

Our seats were high up in the balcony, but it was so cool to be in the Conference Center to hear, in person, all the inspired messages of  Conference.

It was so great to be at Conference with my son.

We really enjoyed the conference atmosphere and all of the inspirational messages...

...and just being together...

...for this special  event.

Josh said he definitely wants to come to Conference again, maybe even in October, the next session of Conference.

• Spring Flowers

I loved the beautiful spring flowers we saw in Utah.  These were on Temple Square.

I really love having the four seasons and spring is my favorite!  It was great being in Utah during the spring to experience the lovely flowers and blossoms everywhere.

• Testing Week

Back in Arizona, it was Testing Week at school last week.  My favorite thing about Testing Week is that is that is it now over. We actually have more testing Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, but no more "special testing schedules," which can ben grueling for teachers and students. Once spring testing is over, we know that the school year is almost over. 

• Temple Time

I always love time at the Temple. These pictures were taken when Josh and I were there together one evening last week. What a beautiful place of peace and inspiration.

•  New Recipes

 

Josh came back from Mexico loving bean and lentil soup. He found this recipe he wanted me to try, so  I did. Bean soup is not my all time favorite, but this recipe was decent and I will make it again.  It was very healthy too. If you are interested, you can find the recipe here.  

This is not a new recipe, but a family favorite.  Charly made his famous broccoli salad earlier today so I am looking forward to enjoying that this weekend.  It is a labor  and time intensive recipe, but oh so healthy and delicious!

I tried this one today, again at Josh's request.  It is Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Casserole and the recipe is here.  We had it for dinner.  Excellent. Give it a try!

Finally, have a wonderful Easter, and remember..

He is risen!