It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
The last Friday of April! I love these opportunities to press “pause” and reflect on the blessings of the week. It’s too easy to let them slip by with hardly a notice. Here are some from this week:
1. A new retirement home ministry. Our church just started a once-a-month service at a local retirement home. I was surprised they were allowing services, much less random visitors—I’ve heard so much about even family members being restricted from visiting in some places. I don’t know the circumstances—maybe they’ve all been vaccinated. Anyway, this was to take place on a Sunday afternoon, when Jim and I are usually zombies until we take our afternoon naps. We talked off and on about whether we should go, and finally decided to just the night before. I’m so glad we did. After the short service, which seemed to go well, we fanned out and talked with some of the residents individually. Jim and I talked with a lady from Germany whose name sounded like Isla or Isala. At first the conversation was general introductory pleasantries, but then we felt like we got to know each other a little. I so enjoyed it. I was involved in a nursing home ministry in college, but have not done anything like that since except for the years when my husband’s mother lived in facilities nearby and then with us.
2. A free and quick lunch at the park. Our church and the retirement home were far enough away from our house that it wouldn’t be practical to come home for lunch and go back. We’re still not quite to the point of feeling comfortable eating in restaurants yet. My husband suggested we get take-out from McAlister’s Deli and take it to a nearby park. We hadn’t gotten anything from them for more than a year, so that idea was welcome. When we placed our order over the phone, they said they couldn’t offer curbside delivery: one of us would have to come in to pick it up. As I waited for Jim in the car, I wondered what was taking so long. As it turned out, they were short-handed: they only had two people working, and Sunday lunch is one of their busiest times. They gave us our lunch for free because we had such a long wait. We only had about 15 minutes to eat when we got to the park, but it was enough. We watched people setting up a massive event tent while we were there (probably for a wedding reception). They were working on the top part, and we were hoping we’d get to see how they got it up on top of the main part before we left. That didn’t happen, but we enjoyed the quick break before heading out to the home.
3. A break from cooking. I was running late getting dinner started one night, and Jim suggested bring home Arby’s Then a grocery shopping excursion ran late, and I suggested pizza delivery. Then the next night, Mittu offered to come over and make dinner Friday night. Then we got McAlister’s Sunday. Good food, and a nice break!
4. Dinner and movie night. Jason and Mittu suggested having a movie night, which was the occasion of her making dinner for us all. We streamed Scoob with the family, a remake of the old Scooby Doo cartoon. We hadn’t watched that one regularly, but we were familiar enough with it to appreciate some of the nods to it in this movie. It was cute in places, meh in other places.
5. Outfitting the RV. Jim’s desire for the RV is to have it set up so that all we need to do to use it is buy whatever food we’re bringing. I had extra sheets and a bedspread, so he made up the bed. We went out last Saturday and got a couple of towels, hot pads, some kitchen items, etc. He found a small collapsible dish drainer online. Our first excursion will probably be somewhere local as a test drive—in case we forgot something essential. 🙂
How was your week?
Stray Thoughts 
It sounds like you’ve had a very productive week! My church has a similar ministry called “Servant’s Hope” where they go and visit those in nursing homes or are home bound. They are hoping to get it going again in the next month or so. I like McAllister’s! I’m excited to hear about your RV adventures. Have a lovely day.
How exciting that you have an RV (I scrolled back to read your post). We had a travel trailer for years and some of our best memories are the trips we went on. I would love to get another one, but haven’t convinced my husband yet. Wishing you many happy miles in yours!
Funny, we were just the opposite–I was the one who needed convincing. 🙂 We hope to try it out soon.
How nice to be able to visit the retirement home. Visiting homes has been so restricted here in the UK and is still quite limited – 2 nominated visitors can now go in to homes to visit their loved ones but have to be tested first. Other visitors can visit but under strict social distancing rules i.e. with screens between them. What a good week for not cooking too! Have a good weekend.
We were required to fill out a form as we came in about whether we’d had symptoms or been in contact with someone from COVID, and then had to have our temperature taken. We were wearing masks, but the residents weren’t. Other countries seem to be a lot stricter in several requirements than here in the US. I hope the need for them will go away soon.
Nights off from cooking, free food, ahhhhh! All so good. Outfitting the RV sounds fun too! I just got back from my weekly lunch with my friend Leona (former teaching colleague). That’s always a weekly highlight.
That’s neat you can meet weekly! I have a couple of friends I meet for lunch, but it’s more like once every few months. We haven’t met in over a year but are planning to start up again soon.
Our first outing with our RV was the cross country trip. Basically, we just threw in what we would take camping. Now, this summer, we will have to be more intentional about outfitting it.
I am so glad you are getting involved in the retirement home ministry! So important!
How nice to not have to cook much all week. I kinda like weeks like that 🙂
I do, too! I don’t know if I am up for a cross-country trip yet. We hope to take a short one soon.
Having church services for those in retirement homes and care centers is so important to the residents of those facilities. I helped with a service for Alzheimer’s patients a couple of years ago and found it very spiritually rewarding. I’m with you on take out or pizza on a busy night. It helps a lot. Hope you have a good weekend!
Oh I’m so glad you decided to take the plunge and be involved in nursing home ministry. My dad is now in heaven but i LOVED when the various churches in his area would visit the residents. He loved singing the old hymns and when I was in high school, he would help lead the singing at our local nursing home and I played the piano! I just loved those days of getting to know “old folks”.
Yay for exploring new lands with an RV. I’m not an RV person although we used to have a pop up camper we used from 1990-2008 until our oldest just wasn’t into camping anymore. We sold it, saved the money to buy an upgrade in kayaks and now we rent cottages in the ADKS! I love exploring new places. Enjoy your first trip!
YAY for a break from cooking. I had a couple of those evenings this week as well….it’s always a blessing!
I’m glad that you had a fun & productive week.
I too appreciate getting a break from cooking. I love how you are setting up your rv.
Oh my, the restrictions here are crazy for supportive living homes. My Dad’s place is a bit better but where they placed my mom? My sister commented that it’s like prison. I hope it eases up soon! How fun to be setting up the rv.
That’s nice that you had a good week ! We are still in prison, but at least now we can shop in not food stores without taking an appointment !! Apparently they will open the terraces of the restaurants and cafes and the hairdressers too ! Next week !