FFF-09.09.12

Another week has come and gone, and it is time to reflect on our blessings.

1.  The Power of Family:  this week, my extended family lost a loved one.  A young man of only 34 years died in his sleep.  As sad as this is, the blessing part is seeing all the family and friends come together to offer comfort.  I just finished reading the guest book where some of my cousins expressed their love and longing for this one who had passed.  It really touches my heart.  As we all know, death must come.  It is inevitable.  How blessed are we when we have someone to help us through our time of bereavement! We are abundantly blessed when we know the Savior when our time comes!

2.  Roots: This week, instead of posting, I somehow got sidetracked into doing some genealogy research.  I don't know if it was because of the death in my family, but I had a longing to know more about my roots.  I wish all my ancestors had left diaries so we could know more about their lives ... and then I realized my humble FFF entries each week are sort of like a cyber-diary recording the events of my life.  Perhaps someday a descendant will be online searching and run across my blog and feel as though he has come across the answers to things he wants to know!

3.  Challenges:  We know that every week of our lives will not be filled with fun events; some weeks are great, some are terrible, and most weeks may be considered hum-drum with little to reflect upon.  This week was more on the hum-drum side, yet it is interesting to me that ideas often pop-up during the boring times.  Could it be that sometimes we just need to slow down in order to give a little space for inspiration to show up?  My challenge is to start putting some of those ideas into action.

4.  On that note, I wanted to share a tiny little project that I have recently done.  I had been reading forever about finding candlesticks and interesting plates and turning them into cake stands or tiered trays.  During my yard sale trips, I had found various candlesticks that I'd been hoarding for these kinds of projects.  I also had a couple of  "spring" plates that I had once run across on clearance at Target.

I decided to finally do something with my stash:

Raw materials:  2 thrifted candlesticks, two "clearance plates," E-6000 glue, Krylon spray paint

My original intention was to make a tiered tray:

I changed my mind ... the top photo shows my new cake plate.

The bottom photo copies an idea off Pinterest:

A stand to hold my dishwashing supplies near my sink.

It's the little things that bring me joy ...

5.  As always, I find joy and inspiration reading posts from the various blog parties I visit.  Today, I wanted to share one that brought back many memories in my own life.  A wonderful writer named May has a blog called "Achieving Clarity."  I loved her post recalling the day she found out she was having a baby, Day One from My Book of Days.

I am challenged by the idea of writing 15 minutes every day.  I'm thinking of joining May in that endeavor.

How about you?

Thus ends a rather ordinary week in the journey of Jerralea.  Please share what the highlights of your week were. You can do that by linking up at Susanne's blog, "Living to Tell the Story."