What Great Weekends Are Made Of

It's been a very long time since I had a weekend out of the house and doing exactly everything that I wanted to do. I had no heads to do, the oldest kiddie was gone and the youngest had his options ( which is mostly to hang with daddy-no complaints).The highlight of my weekend was meeting author and Episcopal priest Mpho Tutu at Richmond Hill retreat located in historical Churchill. Pastor Mpho Tutu is the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, author of Made For Goodness and why this makes all the difference, but is known for so much more. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and veteran of the moral movement that ended apartheid in South Africa. I have highlighted Made For Goodness in a previous post archived under "The Book Club". I'm still reading it which will make 2 months now ( it isnt one of those books that you read through and sit on the shelf. You must study and meditate on its words) and I had no choice but to finally buy the book and have my own autographed. The library will be very happy to have their copy back. Disappointingly, I missed the discussion but was on time for the book signing. As you can see I was able to take a picture with Pastor Tutu after I embarrassingly knocked her cup of water onto the carpet of one of the Holiest buildings of Richmond cities history. She graciously laughed it off with a joke, "it'll help the carpet to grow", and smiled big for the camera. It was a great experience and glad Im didn't miss it. I'm even glad that I knocked over her water, makes for a great story one day.

The rest of my weekend was spent enjoying the company of my family at one of my favorite cousin's house warming party. I also attended Sunday morning service joined by my 14 month old son who hasn't been to service since being a newborn. He is not much of a people person and I had reservations about him acting out, but surprisingly he did an awesome job. He loves music, as he should given our family, and when the children's choir sung he was in seventh heaven singing, dancing, and clapping. My daughter had been away for a few days visiting grandparents and seeing her face in an unfamiliar environment was the icing on the cake for his new experience.

I also attended my 2nd Cash for Gold Party of the month and made some extra cash. Cash for Gold is the party that keeps on giving! At my friends party they also did a debut of her sisters hand made line of jewelry, Lucky Charm. Each piece of jewelry was individually hand crafted and with it held an emotion, a meaning, or purpose labeled with its own special tag. Absentmindedly, I threw away the tag to the bracelet that I purchased (shown below). The designer, April Anderson, is a unique individual and all of her pieces speak of her character of being a strong confident woman. I look forward for more from this young lady.

my purchase, $7.

Last but not least, I was able to fit in the summer Gospel Festival at Dogwood Dell. It was a great crown of course with even better music. During the show we did received some very disappointing news about the death of minister in music Walter Hawkins, whom lost his fight with cancer during the show. A moment of silence was given and the praises went up for we know that he is in a better place away from the pain.

This weekend, in my opinion, was set aside just for me. I give give thanks for the most minuscule of things and this is one of them. No babies, no heads, no stress, just blessed!