Welcome to Friday - 6.5.15

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.  3 John 1:2

Welcome to Friday!

What and excellent week!  How are you doing?  How was your week in your neck of the woods?  What was it like for you this week, okay, good, great, or unbelievable?  What event, activity, or occasion brought the biggest smile to your face this week?  I hope you had one of those moments that made you beam with pride, joy, and delight.  Tell me about your week.  

I sincerely hope that you had an outstanding week filled with joy, delight, hope, fun, and love.  I hope that you were able to accomplish what needed to be done, with the type of energy and passion you desired.  I hope that you are feeling well and as the scripture says, "that your soul is getting along well!"  

This has been a very fast paced week with a lot of joy and excitement.  We have been so blessed this week to have enjoyed a number of great moments, events, and occasions.  We were blessed with:

• The end of the school year
• Sydney's 5th grade graduation ceremony
• Graduations of friends and youth from church
• My niece's graduation from 8th grade
• The end of the school year (yep!  It deserves two mentions or more)
• All A's for the younger two, and good grades for the older two (w/ exception in Math)
• Final exams were completed
• Ava's birthday and the bright eyed, childlike joy and wonder that she embraced all day
• Ava's doctor's appointment went well
• she is in the 90th percentile for her height
• New ideas on getting her to eat better (i.e. more of the right stuff, more often, and with less arguing)
• Fun at work
• Another day off to enjoy the girls and time with the family
• Free coffee and free pretzel (the last birthday freebie)
• Winning a bet for another free coffee w/ Trish
• Spending time w/ the girls and riding around Irmo
• Sydney having both grandma's at her celebration
• Safe travel during the week
• Date night with Trish
• Working in the yard (minus the appearance of a snake)
• safely eliminating the snake from the yard
• Working in the garden
• Picking 3 large fresh zucchinis from the garden
• Enjoying my own vine ripened tomato
• Ava helping me on Saturday
• She supervised the yard work
• Helped clean off the back porch
• Kept me company getting supplies
• Birthday cake and ice cream

This was a week that seemed to fly by.  On top of the yard work on Saturday, Trish and I had a late lunch at a local San Jose restaurant.  Once the porch was clear, several of us made time to enjoy the breeze before the storm, and soak in the joy of a beautiful rainbow in the sky.  Paige and I also spent some time talking to our neighbor and looking at their massive Great Danes.

Sunday was a great day, and we had a wonderful family brunch together.  I was inspired by the pastor, and by some friends to not give up on that "Old Sunday Dinner" tradition.  So, I fixed some things for dinner, and we picked the rest up from Publix.  Trish kept the girls from zoning out to their usual post church spots, and we sat down together.  The food was good, but the fellowship, jokes, laughter, conversation, and time was great.  We need more of that. 

Tuesday was an adventure.  During the storm we never lost power, but we lost clean water.  Something happened and the water in the house turned murky and the color of clay.  We weren't the only ones reporting it, which was good and bad.  Good because a solution was already under way and it was outside of the house.  Bad because the other places reporting it were places we planned to go to get ice cream.  Instead of ice cream we headed out to get some clean drinking water.  It was a blast.  Emma was chatting away and making a lot of funny sounds.  When I thought it was Ava, she emphatically told me "This is Emma!"  It was so cute.

Wednesday was a full and special day.  Ava celebrated a birthday and Sydney celebrated the end of her elementary days.  She graduated from the 5th grade.  She was also selected to be one of the honor graduate speakers.  She spoke about leaving her impact and leaving a legacy.  It was a great moment for her and for us.  Ava also enjoyed every moment of her day.  She loved having extra people over, and as expected she was thrilled with the cake and ice cream.  We had breakfast together and shared lunch at the house before wishing her a happy birthday.  She was so excited.  It was so refreshing to watch and be there for her.  When she started opening her present she was so excited - "It's a bike," she thought.  We were a little worried, but in the end when she saw the toy Minnie and Daisy, all was well.  

Yesterday was the first day out of school for everyone.  It was quite interesting, according to Trish.  I know Ava and Emma were thrilled.  The teens are already trying to sleep in, and Sydney and Paige are already settling in to their routine.  For dinner we had a nice sit down meal and a lot of conversation.  We talked about the school year, the summer plans, ideas for fun, and jokes from earlier in the week.

This was truly a great week.  Wednesday's festivities brought the biggest smile to my face, and I wish I had taken some pictures of it all.  I guess I was too busy enjoying the moments, the smiles, and the radiant joy to pull out my phone.  I hope that you have had a really great week as well.  I pray all of God's love pour out on you throughout the day, and all of God's goodness and grace be with you to recharge and renew you in the weekend.  May the fullness of His love bless you today and as always...

Welcome to Friday

The grace of God be magnificent and flow freely towards you in an abundance.


With love (& in triumph),
Cassius