These are a few of my (most) favorite things....

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things"

I totally realized that I haven't done one of these posts in awhile! I used to do them a lot more earlier on in my blog but forgot that I even did it! :) In the past couple weeks I have found things through friends and the internet that have become some of my favorite things!

1. First I will start with the one that is closet to my heart - My Family

I absolutely adore my family...just everything about them! They are what keep me going and one of the greatest inspirations to me! The family that I would like to highlight in this post are my beautiful cousins. One of my best memories of my entire life is the whole Barlow family gathering together for our big tradition.....a hootenanny.... whatever that means! As many of the 14 kids, 12 spouses, 2 grandparents, 36 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren as we could get together would all gather around with guitars in hand to sing the oldies - James Taylor, the Beatles, John Denver, etc. I could listen to it for forever! And now I can as my cousins gathered together in Nashville to record their new Christmas album and flew in some of my other cousins to reunite in their old harmony singing days! This will MOST DEFINITELY be sung by them at my wedding someday... whenever that will be:)

2. Second would be the music of my friend - Adlan Cruz

An INCREDIBLE pianist....I just found his music on itunes and I've been trying to find it for years and it's finally online! YAY! My absolute favorite song of his is called "Colors of Many Nations" check out his Myspace to hear it!! He came to our church several times to perform and is unreal in his amazing gift and the way that he directs the other musicians! So incredible!

3. Would be books....I used to be severely slow in reading books but lately have finished 3 in the past couple weeks which for me is pretty amazing! They all have a interesting theme too: LOVE. Completely unplanned though as they were all given to me to read! The first book is Redeeming Love, which is an alegory about the story in the bible on Hosea and his wife. It is actually a fiction which I definitely never read fiction, but everyone told me to read this so I did and in a day and a half I couldn't put it down! It's so beautiful! The second book was one I started reading years ago with my mom but just never actually finished and just met the author, Heather Paulsen, several months ago so I decided I had to read it! It's called Emotional Purity and it completely revolutionized the way I think about relationships! Everyone seriously needs to read this book! I wish I had read it earlier in life and applied it! But thankfully it's never to late! The third called Passion and Purity which was written by Elizabeth Elliot the wife of the missionary Jim Elliot who was killed by Indians years ago. The book is all about their love story and how Jim thought he might stay single his whole life... but told Elizabeth that if he ever got married it would be to her! 5 years later after much pain and waiting they got married!! Incredible story!
Check these out!! :)

4. The fourth would be my latest favorite: Kris Vallotton 

He is an associate pastor at Bethel Church out of Redding, California and has his own podcast that I've been listening to! OMG!! I can't stop listening to it! It's like listening to someone telling me my vision and purpose on every new message! Unreal! Check out his podcast!! And website!

5. Last but certainly not least is my new favorite thing to drink...I'm completely a water person...every place I go, "Water wth lemon" is the request... until I toured with my cousins a month ago and they turned me onto a runner up to water in the liquid area...an Arnold Palmer. A lot of people don't know what I'm asking for when I ask for it but it's basically just lemonade and ice tea mixed together in one glass of heaven! I love it so much!! You MUST try it sometime!! Trader Joe's sells it now but it's just called ice tea and lemonade check it out! It will change your life!! :)
Along with all of the things listed above!! I think this might just be a book! LOL!
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things