Blueberry lemon drizzle cupcakes, a Notebook & a Teatowel

I was up early this morning so decided to bake a batch of delicious blueberry and lemon drizzle cupcakes for my wonderful friends in my Wednesday Mum's Prayer group at Church.

I love baking for my Church friends as they are always so appreciative.  These little cakes certainly seemed to be a big hit which was nice as they were a bit of an experiment.

I have a fairly equal number of baking disasters to baking successes so it is always a boost when my experiments go well for a change!

This morning at mums prayer we were talking about thing that have made us smile this week and then we studied Philippians 4:4-9,

"Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanks giving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think ahout such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."

We had a really great chat in small groups about how we can trust in God even through the difficult times and the low times and it was a really encouraging morning.

I was then really touched when my friend (little 'P''s mother) gave me a gift. In her native culture when a family member dies it is customary for the family to give gifts to those who come to mourn and celebrate that person's life, as a means of remembrance.  My friend and her siblings had made some notebooks with their father's photo, name and funeral date on the front cover, and a message and more photos on the back cover.  Each page has a watermark picture of her Dad and her father's name at the bottom and there is another double sided page of photos in the middle of the book.  It was such a lovely idea and I was really grateful that she gave me this.  What a lovely way to remember a loved one.

Together with the notebook was a teatowel with a printed message "Call to Glory of our Daddy", his name and years of life were printed and then "May his Soul Rest in Peace"  I have never heard of this idea of giving remembrance gifts to funeral guests but I think it is a really lovely idea and was delighted to have this thoughtful gift extended to me by my friend.

It was also lovely to see little 'P' again.  He gave me a really big hug and both Nat and he seemed really pleased to see each other again.