5 Friday Favorites: April 10, 2026
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.
Hello, Friends.
I spent most of this week fighting a cold and losing. I am terrible at admitting I might be a little sick, but since my calendar was not as busy this week as usual, I decided to lean all the way into it and spent a lot of time listening to an audio book, watching tv and sleeping. Here are some favorite things from the week other than Nyquil and Kleenex.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
I listened to this book by Marie Bostwick and I really enjoyed it. It’s set in the 1960s and follows four friends as they navigate the limited opportunities for women during that period and the changes that were on the horizon. I love historical fiction and I really loved the friendship between these four very different women.
2. Eye Serenity Steam Eye Masks
I purchased these self-heating eye masks last year because I heard they were helpful for dry, puffy eyes. Turns out they’re also helpful when you have a wicked cold and a massive headache and want to sleep the entire day away. I have the unscented ones, but I’m thinking of getting the chamomile or lavender ones next.
3.Medicube Vitamin C Pads
Here is the newest product I’ve added to my overflowing bathroom drawer of hopes and dreams for my skin. I suppose since I was sick I should have been ingesting Vitamin C rather than putting it on my face, but I am who I am. As far as this goes, I don’t know if it’s the fountain of youth or snake oil yet, but I’ve seen a lot of people on the Internet rave about these Vitamin C pads. Come to think of it, people on the Internet say a lot of stuff, so who can be sure? It is 41% off today, so maybe it’s worth a shot? Godspeed.
4. Christ be Magnified
I heard this song by Cody Carnes for the first time this week. Love it.
5.A Quote from Barbara Brown Taylor
This week the complete first draft of my book has gone to what’s called “content review” so I took a break and didn’t work on much of it at all. That turned out to be great timing based on how crummy I felt.
As we get closer to the final draft, I’ll be talking about it in this space more. Perhaps more than anyone will want to hear. ;-) I’ve been trying to come up with the most succinct way to describe it - what it is, who it’s meant to serve and what the exact message is that God has put in my heart. This week, I came across a quote I had written down many years ago by Barbara Brown Taylor and it turns out, she kinda read my mind and gets the gist of what I’ve been writing for years.
“What is saving my life right now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life right now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life, in the real world.”
This is the core of what I’ve wanted to say since I first sat down at this laptop over 15 years ago to write about all the minutiae and marvel that I encountered in my extraordinary, ordinary days while raising my family. I’ve always wanted to share the truth that while I love my church and my Bible study groups and find them personally to be vital to my relationship with God, I will always contend that there is no magic place to find Him. There is no distinction between the mountain top and the mudroom. He is here. At the pharmacy where I stood in line with my Advil and my multi-pack of tissues, in the family room where the dog puked, and in the grocery store parking lot where that woman in the Honda Mini-van stole my spot. He’s not hiding. He’s here. In this real life. In this real world. He is here.
I simply can’t stop shouting about it.
I hope this weekend you will “engage the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention”. I plan to do the same. Thanks for stopping by.
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