Weekly Wrap-Up & F.F.F.

It's Friday, lovely Friday, and time to wrap-up the week here on the Journey.

First, I want to kick off this post by waving madly to the Friday's Favorite Five community saying "Hi, I missed you, and I'm glad to be back. I've not forgotten you, I was just busy doing a month-long writing challenge."

The Friday's Fave Five group is all about finding the blessings in the midst of the every day. We meet on Fridays at Susanne's place to share what we found. Sometimes we have to mine deep but those nuggets of blessing are always there.

Recent days included the first road trip of spring, a paint party, great conversations and a wonderful Sunday. (I'm taking a little liberty with the time span since it has been a month since I was a part of F.F.F.)

• One Saturday, we took a couple hours out of a very busy day to drive down to Charleston, MO, to see the azaleas. Of course, the azalea and dogwood festival, for which they are known, happened two weeks prior. That's us, always a day late and a dollar short ... But still, we saw some lovely flowers and old homes. I included some pics in my "What We Learned in April" post, but here are a few different ones for you to enjoy:

Hmmm... I learned I have quite the thing for white houses - 

they are the star of most of my photos from Charleston.

• Our ladies group had a paint party. The goal was to have fun, fellowship and create a work of art. Perhaps we are not budding artists but we did have fun. I'm moderately proud of my ability to draw squiggles ...

Mine is the one on the left - Don't you love my squiggles?
Mary, who is an awesome singer, did the one on the right. So appropriate for her!

• I've made a new young friend at church who has turned out to have so much in common with me. We've had a lot of interesting conversation via text messages all week. For once, I'm the senior member of the group, she is about 20 years younger, but we are becoming sisters of the heart all the same. Thankful for new friends - as well as my "old" ones.

• Last Sunday was just awesome. A wonderful time of discussion in class followed by a great Sunday morning crowd, a wonderful time of worship and an inspiring message. Sunday evening was more of the same. I was feasting spiritually to the full.

• I taught the twins to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and I couldn't be more proud of them! They are so proud of themselves doing the hand motions and clap heartily when they finish. For some reason, the phrase "Down came the rain and WASHED the spider out," makes them giggle crazily every time. Their little eyes just sparkle when we sing. *Happy Sigh. God just did a marvelous job creating those two.
  
  Bonus: (Remember I've been gone for a month.)

• On March 22, I started using a Fitbit.  (To the uninitiated, Fitbit keeps track of your steps and your calorie and water intake.) It takes extra effort for a ministry assistant whose passion is bible study and writing to be able to get many steps in. The most I've been able to do in a day ... 9,377. The least ... 1,629 (which was probably what it was most days before Fitbit). Still, I've managed to lose a total of 10.5 lbs.  I was really excited to pass the 10 lb. mark because I was stuck at 9.7 lbs. for THREE weeks. Today's a happy day, so we won't talk about how many more pounds need to go ...

• My rose bushes are blooming gloriously.
• Week after next:  STAYCATION!

And that's a wrap on this week's Journey. How about you? How did your week go? I'd love to hear all about it.