Friday Faves: May 3

From Amy:
#1 Battle of the Books
Battle, as the cool kids call it, is a reading incentive program for students in 3rd grade and up.    A team assembles, coached by a librarian, to read a core list of books and answer questions as a team.    If your team answers the question correctly, you earn a point.   If your team answers the question wrong, no point.   It's always fun to see how different teams work together, since only one answer is allowed per team.    My sweeties are too little to participate.    But I have some readers that will love being a part of this team in a few years.   Each school, with eligible students,  in our district has a Battle team.    We have a competition and district champ each spring.

#2 May Day Surprise
In old tradition, you would fill a basket with homemade goodies or flowers from your garden on the first day of May.    You would leave the basket on a favorite neighbor's porch, ring the doorbell and run.   If the recipient is quick enough to catch you, a kiss is exchanged.    Well, my principal got into the May Day spirit by giving a gift to her favorite teachers.   Two words created a smile-a-thon across the hallways today, Jeans Month!    That's right, in May we can wear jeans any day that ends in -y for the month of May.     Did anyone else get a May Day Surprise?

From Laura:

#1: Something happened. I'm having difficulty getting past it. It doesn't consume all my thoughts, but I get small reminders of it about once a week, and my feelings start exploding all over again. Someone else mentioned forgiveness, not in relation to my "it" but theirs, and I realized that's my problem. I haven't forgiven because I haven't gotten the resolution I want. My wonderful counselor husband reminded me that forgiveness is separate from reconciliation. He shared a chapter from Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them by John Ortberg. It has made a huge difference in my life. Forgiveness is unconditional. I can't say, "I'll forgive if...". It has to be, "I forgive".

Here is the sentence I'm focusing on now:

Forgiving is required when excusing or condoning or tolerating or accepting are not big enough to do the job.

#2: On a happier note, my son had a great time at prom!

From Lisa:
Friday Fave #1 - Tawanda!

 For those of you who LOVE the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, you know exactly what a Tawanda moment is. I definitely have had my share of Tawanda moments and think of the movie every time. :)

Friday Fave #2 - Pedicures
My brother is getting married this weekend, and my mom and I have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off. After baking 1,300 cookies, I'm ready for a pedi!