What you learn when you are not looking~

Blessings of Belonging to Relief Society: In keeping with the Relief Society’s motto, “Charity never faileth,” each sister is encouraged to develop and exercise the pure love of Christ in all aspects of her life. She is also encouraged to nurture and care for those in her family, her ward, and her community.


While I was called as the enrichment councilor in Relief Society, our bishop encouraged me to look outside of our traditional Relief Society meetings to encompass the true meaning of Charity Never Faileth. As I fasted and prayed about this task, an idea played out in my mind. The previous year we had made dinners for a local women's shelter, why not redecorate this same Women's Centre?
So in true Adrienne fashion I made it bigger then it had to be~ My original idea was to have two teams, and create a type of trading spaces year long theme. Each team would have a room to completely transform. They would have a head designer and access to a carpenter and a seamstress, they would also have a limited budget. The sisters would have the opportunity to learn several skills in mini classes we would hold throughout the months, including refinishing furniture, sewing,quilting,woodwork, reupolstering old finds from Sally Annes or Goodwill. Oh my mind was a buzz with the endless possibilities.
 After contacting the shelter and explaining to them our idea of redecorating a couple of their rooms (they were thrilled).We invited the Human resources Director of the Shelter to come and explain the history of this particular shelter. The evening started with a beautiful dinner that my friends Tasha and Shannon helped me create. The tables were decorated with white table clothes and diamond shape pieces of cloth in the middle with large bird houses. The colours were spring-like and uplifting.
As the project went on it became clear to me the importance of downsizing this idea.
In the end we had two evenings with a small group of beautiful women, who gathered together and created memories, shared their talents, laughed, ate and learned a few things in the process.(A big thank you to all the sisters who helped in any way,shape or form for this project)
I hope you enjoy these pictures a friend of mine took...

                                                            the book shelf before
                                                

                                                                  the book shelf after

                                 
         the computer room ~this ended up being the shelters favourite change, you can not really tell  by the angle of the shots but the room size looked like it doubled

                                           The Living room before

              Thank you Sister Smith ~the living room after ~ the toy box was also taken out and
                                               the excess toys donated to Goodwill

                                       Thank you Shannon and Kathy,Tasha and Jill
                                             the scalloped valences turned out great

                  The women kept saying how the shelter looked like a home and the women who
                 worked there said they could not believe what a transformation had taken place.

 These were so much fun to make ~Thank you Cassandra and Ang. ~the women at the shelter loved them and I taught them how to make their own ~their names in BOLD with positive descriptive words surrounding it. Our family actually did this for FHE to go along with the confrence talk What Have You Done with My Name?- Mervyn B. Arnold  We discussed with each of our children how we had chosen their names how they had been named after great men and women ~people we respected and honoured, people we had grown to love and who we hoped they too would emulate. We then discussed the name we shared PUDDICOMBE  and what we have tried to do to honour that name. We then came up with words that they thought would describe what Puddicombe stands for,words like hardworking,grateful,kind,faithful and compassionate

                                             




I found this quote and (just now) realized what Heavenly Father was trying to teach me throughout this experience.....sometimes traditional "charity" is NOT the obvious lesson we think we are being taught.

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended. … Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other” (“The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 18–19).

I am grateful for this lesson and for a loving Heavenly Father who knows how to stretch me in ways I could not see before!