5 Friday Favorites: August 22, 2025

It's time for my Friday link up with A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals. 

On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.

Good morning, Friends. The first order of business today is to apologize that there was no newsletter last week. I know there was mass confusion and alarm across the nation when my rambling mess of words failed to appear in your inboxes.

PS. This is sarcasm.

I was in Texas all last week. I had a very special opportunity to speak at my sorority house at the University of Texas to some precious college girls getting ready for sorority rush and a new school year. This is a particularly difficult time for so many of them in the wake of the horrific events that happened due to the flooding in the Texas Hill Country. I was honored to have a chance to offer some comfort and hope to these hurting young women.

Some of my own pledge sisters graciously showed up for me and I could not have been more thankful for their smiling faces while I was speaking. They are truly the most loyal and supportive friends and I was so happy they were there. After I spoke, we got to spend the afternoon together eating, shopping and laughing which are my three favorite things. They even made sure to bring a McDonald’s Diet Coke to the house for me to have before I spoke. When your girls know you, your girls know you.

Straight from Austin, I drove to my hometown of Rockwall, outside of Dallas, to visit with my dad and help get his house cleared out as it has sold. Steve and my sister, Jill met me there to help.

While the moving, packing and cleaning wasn’t fun, being with my two very best friends during the process guaranteed we would find some laughs along the way. Plus we ate some good Tex-Mex during the week which is the best way to reward yourself for your hard work. We also were able to spend some time with my Aunt Marilyn who was my mom’s very best friend and is one of my favorite humans on the planet.

As soon as we got back to Virginia, we had to take Drew back to school to move him into a house with three of his baseball teammates for his junior year of college. You might recall that two weeks ago we helped Kyle move into a new place in Nashville.

Basically, what I’m saying is that this is a true depiction of the season of life Steve and I find ourselves in:

Let’s get to some favorites from this week that do not include shoving furniture into trucks, cars, vans or stairwells.

1. My Friends by Fredrik Backman

We just read this wonderful book in our book club. I adore Fredrik Backman’s novels. He creates the sweetest characters and his sense of humor is totally in my wheelhouse. This is a delightful story.

2. Leanne on Netflix

I know it seems like I can’t stop talking about Leanne Morgan, but I love everything she does. I’m not sure if it’s just because I relate to every single thing she says since we are at similar stages of life or that she’s just that funny and charming and adorable. I think it’s all of those. I just know she’s good people and I want good things for good people.

Her new show, Leanne, was one of my favorite things this week. This show does not contain a single curse word. There are no fights over land or cattle or whatnot. No drug busts. No blood and guts. Not that I’m above that type of content, but Leanne is easy, breezy and hilarious. It’s like an old school sitcom and I loved every second. Y’all, there’s a laugh track! It made my 80s heart burst open.

3. Odette Jumpsuit

When I was in Dallas last week, I went to Northpark Mall which I haven’t been to in a gazillion years, but which is the best shopping mall in all the land. I happened on the Sundance store which was having a going out of business sale. I’ve seen the Sundance catalog and online store for years and have always loved their clothes, but never had bought anything. I found this Odette jumpsuit by Cloth & Stone for 60% off and snatched it right up in the Endless Sea color. The fabric is so soft, it feels like I’m wearing pjs. It is on sale online along with one other color. It appears that the store is closing online as well and there are some great deals on all kinds of clothing and accessories.

4. Chicme Women’s Built-in Bra Tank Top

I have not purchased this tank with a built-in bra yet, but I’m told it’s great. It comes in a bunch of colors and is 10% off today.

5. Trusting God in the After

As I mentioned, I spent some time in Texas this week. One of my pledge sisters who is a chapter advisor at our sorority called me soon after the flooding happened and asked if I might be willing to speak to the girls as they were returning to campus after such a heartbreaking summer. Many of the current members and alumni of my sorority - as well as, of course, numerous Texans across the state - lost friends or family members to the devastation that hit the Hill Country in the early hours of July 4th.

It occurred to me that there are events that can happen that come along and suddenly split our lives into before and after. For many of those precious girls and their friends and families there will forever be before July 4, 2025 and after July 4, 2025. So I set out to encourage them as they walked into a very unwelcome “after”. This was a practically impossible task and I’m not sure I accomplished it. The brutal truth is that there is no perfect answer or foolproof strategy for moving into the next chapter of our lives when it looks so very different than we expected and when everything in us wants to go back to the before.

The only way that I can look at both the triumphs and the tragedies of life is through the lens of my faith in Jesus. Even when I’m spitting angry. Even when I feel He has completely dropped the ball. Even when I want to turn away. There is simply no place else to go, but to the God who has remained unchanged for my entire life. So I talked to the girls about a number of things, but in the end I told them that getting “real Jesus-y” with them was the only thing I knew to do.

I won’t share everything I shared with them here, but I know that whether or not the floods in Texas affected you personally or not, the message is the same for all of us. If you haven’t experienced an event that splits your life in two, I’m sorry to tell you that it will come at some point.

We have to remember the goodness of the before, knowing that tragedy does not define the loved ones we lost and that the grief does not define us, no matter how different we might feel in this after. We have to acknowledge and accept the ways we have changed in this unrecognizable now, both the good that might come with a renewed perspective on the value of life and the bad which can mean that on many days we feel like this life is a big ol’ crapshow. Most importantly, we have to trust that the Lord has plans for goodness, joy and laughter in our “nexts”. Often we have to fight for that trust. Maybe some of you reading now are having a hard time moving into the next. Maybe this after seems impossible.

There are a number of verses that I focus on when the world is so dark that there doesn’t seem to be any hope for joy and laughter on this side of heaven. Both are from Psalms. In Psalm 27:13 David says, “I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” We know as believers that when we get to heaven there will be rejoicing and celebration, but this verse assures us that we don’t have to wait. God promises to reveal His goodness to us in our next here on Earth. In our today and in our tomorrow.

Another verse that I shared with the girls is from Psalm 30:5. We are told that “weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” God won’t leave us in our pain and sadness, but promises us joy in our next. Our challenge is to fight to believe this with everything we have.

Perhaps the night has lasted a long time for you, but maybe you could open your eyes and heart to believe that the morning that delivers healing has arrived. Take the joy He offers today. Allow yourself laughter that makes your cheeks ache and tears stream down your face and Diet Coke come spewing out of your nose. Maybe this is the morning He promised.

Have a great weekend.

Disclosure: The View From Behind Home Plate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn small fees by linking to amazon.com. Post might contain other affiliate links as well.