It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
And another week is nearly down for the count. Time passes so quickly, I enjoy slowing it down for just a bit by pausing to remember some of the best parts of the previous week.
1. A successful new recipe. This was actually from the previous week, but I forgot to mention it. I wanted to make something different for a church potluck, searched online, and tried Crockpot Honey Teriyaki Meatballs. I used frozen gluten-free meatballs, as we have a number of gluten-intolerant folks. I only used half the sugar called for and used canola oil instead of sesame oil (the latter was expensive, and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle for one teaspoon). It tasted great and was easy to put together. There were only half a dozen meatballs left, so I consider it a success. I’m looking forward to making it again some time.
2. Valentine’s Day. One of my favorite holidays.
3. My husband making a return. I just hate taking things back to stores. My husband had errands to run in the vicinity of a store I needed to make a return to, and I asked him if he’d mind taking care of it for me. He gladly did so. As much as I LOVE the cards, flowers, candy, balloons, gifts, and expressions of love on Valentine’s Day, these kinds of things show love to me even more. In addition, Friday I walked into the laundry room to discover an odor like something burning. To me it smelled like rubber or a belt with too much friction. Thankfully my husband was working from home that day and came over to investigate. He spent Saturday morning taking the dryer apart, checking out all its parts, vacuuming out the lint.
4. Sleeping in Saturday. I woke up about 2:30 a.m. Saturday with a raging headache. Once I finally got back to sleep, I didn’t wake up til after 7. That’s rare for me: I’m usually up between 5 and 6 even without an alarm clock. I stayed in my pjs til mid-morning and basically took it easy. It took all day for the headache to abate. The only downside was missing our every-other-month ladies’ Bible study. Thankfully I had gotten a lot done earlier in the week, so I could rest up without feeling I needed to take care of other things.
5. Christian music and programming. Thursday I woke up around 4:10 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. I had a good time of prayer, but later in the morning was in a funk—unusual for me. I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Everyone else was out, so I couldn’t blame another person. I usually listen to an audiobook while getting ready in the morning, but decided to finish the last of the Revive Our Hearts podcast series with Valerie Elliot Shephard, Elisabeth Elliot’s daughter. I turned on the Christian radio station while peeling potatoes for the crockpot. I came across this post in my Feedly account talking about the use of music in our quiet time. I clicked on several of my favorites and a couple that were new to me. All of that worked together to tenderize my heart and change my perspective. Later in the afternoon I got a bit of a nap in and felt much better, so lack of sleep was probably a major factor. But I was still thankful for the variety of means available to minister to my spirit.
Bonus: My daughter-in-law’s birthday! Actually, as I am writing on Thursday afternoon, we haven’t celebrated yet. So this is an anticipatory fave. Their family is coming over tonight for dinner and cake, if the “wintry mix” we received today doesn’t cause problems. Then we have some special plans over the weekend that I look forward to telling you about next week.
Update: the snow and slush did melt and we were able to get together. Always a joy to celebrate Mittu’s special day. Timothy, as you can see, is at the age of mugging for the camera. 🙂
And that’s my week. How was yours?
Stray Thoughts 
LOVE the family picture! 🙂 Sounds like you had a very blessed week! I always enjoy a day I can spend at home. 🙂
Sounds like a great new recipe!! Happy Valentine’s Day (Belated!)! And happy birthday to your precious daughter in law. –Ann
Cute photo; happy birthday to your daughter in law! I wish we lived closer; I *did* buy a bottle of sesame oil months ago for one recipe and I always see it now, sitting in the pantry 🙂 Anyway, glad the new recipe was a winner. Oooh, I would love one of your Valentine brownie cupcakes? right about now!
These are precious gifts indeed. Your early mornings sound exhausting to me! And makes the gifts that followed especially good. If you find more recipes with sesame oil, check out Walmart’s offerings—it’s not too pricy there and sesame adds a unique flavor now easily duplicated.
Your daughter in law is very pretty and it just boggles my mind how fast Timothy is growing!!
I had a day like you mentioned this week….i was out of sorts, only one home as my daughter and hubby were at work ( I’m on Winter Break from teaching). I spent some time in the Word and worship and it greatly improved my mood although i still have had the headache on and off. I’m guessing it’s sinuses as this happens every Feb/March.
I buy my sesame oil from Target or the Dollar store cause it’s so much cheaper there than at the grocery store. The valentines treats all look great!
Have a blessed weekend!
Happy Birthday to your daughter-in-law. So glad you are feeling better and got over your headache. Looks like you had a great Valentine’s Day. So glad your husband was home and could help you get your dryer fixed. Hope you have a good week next week. Have a great weekend.
Timothy’s mugging is the best! 🙂
I always love getting a peek into my blogging friends’ lives 😁. I’m glad your headache went away, and that you were able to celebrate your daughter-in-law’s birthday.
Ah glad you got to have your family time and belated birthday wishes to your DIL. Hope you’ve caught up on your sleep now and are feeling ok.
Hello Melanie,
I enjoyed reading about your blessings from the week. Timothy is growing up so fast…I remember when he was born. Mittu is such a beautiful young woman and I know she and your son are great parents. Have you read Elisabeth Elliot’s book, “Suffering is Never for Nothing” ? Such a great book, if you haven’t. And I also just realized that Valerie has shared the letters, etc. from her parents courtship and relationship in a book. I definitely want to get that one, too.
That recipe does sound delicious! You Valentine’s looks like it was celebrated well and I totally agree that all that stuff is wonderful and fun but the acts of service by my Hubby really do speak love to me. That headache sounds like it was a doozy. Glad you were able to get a sleep in and restful day to recuperate. Happy Birthday to Mittu!
I like what you said about FFF helping slow things down a bit. The days go so fast, and much of the time I can’t remember what I spent my time doing. This sure helps. Enjoy your week, Barbara!
Hurray for being able to sleep in and to be refreshed by that and by music. Sometimes, the “ordinary” things make a big difference.
Your meatball recipe looks delish. I put that on my recipe to-do list.
Your Timothy continues to be a darling and a delight.
Happy belated birthday wishes to your daughter-in-law.
Blessings from Susan at fruitfulwords.wordpress.com