5 Friday Favorites: October 17, 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.

Happy Friday!

Well, would you look at that? Saturday’s football game was a delight. I was busting with happiness.

Here are some other favorites from this week.

1. Abercrombie Vegan Suede Jacket

Kyle’s girlfriend, Merrill wore this great cropped vegan suede jacket on Saturday and I love it. It comes in a bunch of colors without the stud details, but she had the dark coffee with the silver studs and it was perfect.

2. Stick of Butter Rice

This is the easiest, best side dish for any meal, courtesy of my friend, Lori. Even your pickiest eaters will like it. We had it with steak on Friday night and loved it.

3. Amber Wine Glasses

I think these Amber colored wine glasses would be so pretty on a Thanksgiving table.

4. Green Corduroy Mini Dress

I ordered a green corduroy shirt dress from Tuckernuck last year that was very similar to this and the fit was horrendous on me. Since I’m a girl who has no quit in her, I’m now eyeing this one. I think it will pair perfectly with the Amber wine glasses at Thanksgiving. It also comes in other colors including a very pretty deep red.

5. Let’s Hear it for the Boys

As I mentioned last week, there has been some pretty sad and scary news in the the past few weeks both for our family and our friends. So it was God’s perfect timing when we were able to have all the boys together to celebrate my niece’s wedding in Philadelphia this week.

My experience over the past week has me compelled to jump on a soapbox today for the young men I know. I’m talking specifically about the 20-somethings - not just my own - because obviously a person who would lie down in traffic for her children cannot be trusted to make accurate judgments about their character. This week in addition to spending time with my own young adult sons, I also had a chance to observe a group of college-aged guys who rallied in the most moving way to be present for a friend in need.

In the past several years there has been a lot of noise about men in this age bracket. They’ve been called spoiled, unmotivated, toxic, entitled, angry and even dangerous. Certainly the media can find lots of evidence of that and they love to highlight it.

If this is the perception you have of young men, I beg you to take another look.

Lots of testosterone has come in and out of this house over the years. And not a darn one of the guys I have watched grow up is perfect. They make mistakes. They say the wrong things. They can be foolish and impulsive. To top it off, for many years my basement smelled like a barn full of farm animals.

But let me tell you the words I would use to describe them after watching them this week: compassionate, emotional, loyal, earnest, engaged, steadfast and strong.

Also, maybe most important for me? OH MY GOSH ARE THEY FUNNY. In the case of my three boys, there is no one - NO ONE - that makes me laugh harder. In one moment I think that they are so ridiculously sarcastic and inappropriate that they cannot be trusted in polite society and in the next I am marveling at their genuine kindness, charm and maturity.

Listen. I’m all for Girl Power. I adore the women in my life - my sisters, sisters-in-law and nieces, my friends and their daughters. In fact, I am particularly grateful for Merrill who joined us this weekend at the wedding and brings so much fun and joy to our clan. (She also brings dry shampoo which I borrowed when I forgot to bring mine.) Bless her.

As much as I love and champion girls and women, I suppose that I will sing the praises of boys and and defend their goodness for the rest of my live-long life. It might even be one of the reasons God put me on this earth. Because sometimes it seems to me that the culture has decided that to sing one song, we have to silence another. And I’m not playing that game.

I have to say that I didn’t know that this was how it was going to go. I’m not saying that I thought they’d all turn into a bunch of macho jerks. It’s just that I didn’t know how enjoyable they would be as young men. I didn’t know how unique they would be. I didn’t know how much they would teach me about how to be a good human.

Every time I am with these guys, I learn more and more about the people God made them to be. And about the way God is using them. My three little boys and their friends who raced in and out of this house in a cloud of dirt and sweat day after day and year after year have grown into men of humor and warmth and selflessness. What a delightfully surprising gift. They are an absolute wonder to me.

Have a great weekend, Friends.

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