Friday Foto Friends: Being Renewed Day by Day

(Keep reading to find out what this picture is all about)

Hello Friday Foto Friends!  I hope you have all had a wonderful week and that you have managed to stay warm and healthy!  It has been a bit warmer here the past few days...I had to peel out of my sweatpants and flannels and dig out the short sleeves and capris again...but not for long. I hear cooler weather is coming back...Not like your cooler weather if you live north of the "Mason-Dixon Line", but cooler for us Floridians...Here's a few pictures of some of our little friends "cooling off" and peeking out to see if it's spring yet...

This little lizard poked his head out of the pipe he likes to hide in to say hello:

 This male Cardinal had quite a fun time taking a bath...he dunked himself under the water several times and just kept thrashing around in the water having a good old time:

These Robins have stopped over in their travels to rest up and get a drink and bath here in the bear pool...

 The camera caught this one in flight...(these were taken by the outdoor wildlife camera)

The wildlife camera also captured this young deer passing through the yard one afternoon...

But these are not the pictures I wanted to show you today...can you stay a little longer and visit a spell?

"Come into my kitchen and chat with me 

while I prepare a pot of tea..."  

(That needlepoint below was done many years ago by my paternal grandmother, and I just love it...)

You will notice in the picture above several pictures...the one in the middle is what I want to tell you about today:

This painting, painted years ago by my husband's Aunt Dorothy, tells quite a story.  Now, please don't be too critical of the artwork...it may not be perfect  in perspective and shape...but this picture is very special.  This little pink house belonged to my husband's maternal grandparents.  His granddaddy Martin (his mother's father) built this little house for their retirement home not long before my husband was born.  The tall magnolia tree you see in the front was actually planted by my husband's grandmother and  his mother not very long before my husband was born.  It grew to be very tall and beautiful, but sadly was struck by lightning about forty years later and had to be cut down.  My husband's family home was next door to this house, so he spent many childhood days in this house with his grandparents. Sadly, his beloved granddaddy tragically died as the result of an automobile accident when my hubby was just six years old.  His grandmother continued to live there until the day she died many years later.

The little brown doggy you see "climbing the tree" was our own dog, "Dusty", that we had gotten as a puppy.  Because we had moved frequently in our early years of preparing for the ministry, it became difficult for us to keep Dusty, so he went to live with "Nanny Martin" (hubby's grandmother) and he kept her company until she passed away.  Dusty was a very talented doggy.  He loved to chase squirrels, and when we would let him out of the house we would always say, "Go get the squirrels, Dusty!" and he would literally climb up the tree about six feet from the ground to chase whatever squirrel might happen to be (or not to be...he loved to climb the tree regardless!)  He did this at any house where we had lived as well as at this particular house.  Even up to his old age he would still try to climb the tree, but just couldn't quite get as high as before.

Nanny Martin with Dusty, the brown dog in front, plus other dogs Chita and Ringo

The reason I am showing you this painting now is because I just got it back.  Back, I say, because it had left our house for a while, and now it has come back to me.  Originally the painting was given to my mother in law by her sister Dorothy. Then one year my mother in law gave the picture to me for a Christmas present.  I was happy to have it because it helped me to tell the story about my husband's grandparents home and all of the things that we have from their home now residing in our home.  Anyway, several years after giving me this picture, my mother in law, during her time of progressing dementia, decided that she wanted it back and took it back to her house.  When she was no longer able to stay in her own home, she wanted the picture with her at her other son's home to remind her of "home".  Now that she is living in a nursing home, my brother in law graciously brought the picture back to me, (just this week!) and hence this story today.  My brother in law didn't really understand why I wanted it so badly...but I explained to him that this picture tells the story of where all these "things" my hubby and I have either inherited or purchased from his grandparent's home came from...so here are a few pictures of some of the furnishings that all came from inside that little pink house;


This China Cabinet and most of the dishes inside belonged to "Nanny Martin".

This Hoosier Cupboard, which stood in her kitchen and was a very useful part of her kitchen cabinetry: (Click HERE for more about this Hoosier Cupboard) (Also that little white chair came from her house, and our boys loved to see who could sit on it first at the table. It was a little higher than the regular chairs, so was perfect for young boys to sit on)

These are some of her cookbooks, tea towels, and the blue pitcher on the left was also hers. Oh, and that meat grinder on the right as well...

 This antique "secretary" desk was in their dining room,

and my husband can remember watching his grandfather open it up and sit and pay the bills from this...

These are pictures of his grandparents when they were very young...

This old Singer Sewing (treadle) machine, that she used to make many dresses for her four daughters. She also made many quilts to sell as well as to give away to family members... (but those she made by hand)  (To learn more about the history of these items go to The page "A Few Of My Favorite Things")

This Dining table (the original chairs are long gone)...but oh! The stories this table could tell if it could talk....

And this buffet, which held her table linens, silverware and various other items (and it still does that for me, except for the silverware...I mostly store a lot of candles, table decor, napkins, etc. in there, and because I can't fit it in our current dining room, it serves as the welcome center in our foyer, where I ask our guests to be sure and sign the guestbook before leaving!)

So, now can you see why I enjoy having that painting of that sweet little pink house?  I wish I had pictures of the inside of that home before it was sold and totally renovated.  It was so special.  Hubby's grandfather built the house from materials he received from tearing down a very large old drug store building downtown Apopka, FL. (Sheppard's Drug Store).  He used the antique beadboard walls, antique doors with glass doorknobs, heart of pine floors, and it even had a claw-foot bathtub. It was a very unique little house, and it really was too bad that the new owners tore all of that out to create a new "modern" house to lease out to people, who have since pretty much destroyed the house...

However...These things are just that...things...and as I reflect on all these memories and mementos of the past, I am reminded that all these things are temporary...just like that little house, it no longer is the same as it was when family lived there and love reigned within those humble walls.  The dear grandparents who lived and loved inside are no longer there...they have gone on to their eternal reward...where their worn out, ravaged bodies have been exchanged and renewed for new.  Someday all these furnishings will fall apart and eventually end up on the trash heap...but we have a far better future...

My One Word for the year is "Renew"...and this verse sums it all up:

"Therefore, we do not lose heart.  

Even though our outward man is perishing,

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

is working for us a far more exceeding 

and eternal weight of glory, 

while we do not look at the things which are seen, 

but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, 

but the things which are not seen are eternal.

For we know that if our earthly house, 

this tent, is destroyed, 

we have a building from God, 

a house not made with hands, 

eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, 

earnestly desiring to be clothed 

with our habitation which is from heaven,

if indeed, having been clothed, 

we shall not be found naked..."

II Corinthians 4:16-5:3

I apologize for this being such a long post.  I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the family "museum",  as I lovingly call our home...but more importantly, I pray that you (and I) also are building your treasures in heaven,

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..."

Matthew 6:20-21

Have a blessed and glorious day, dear friends.

Now, let us all travel over to Deb's place  at Breathing in Grace, and see what "treasures" in photos our friends are sharing!

Just a quick postscript: (I'm always thinking of other things I meant to say after publishing!) I was going to say that each of those pieces of furniture from my hubby's grandparents' home has gone through its own kind of being "renewed day by day"... trust me, most of these pieces did not look like they look today when first received...they needed refinishing, cleaning from years of standing in one little house, stripping of many layers of paint (the Hoosier), and general refurbishing.  God isn't finished with us yet, either. We are also in need of being renewed, refinished, cleaned up from years of standing in one place..stripped of the many layers of years of neglect, not taking good care of ourselves, or whatever the issue/sin may be...and only Jesus can do all of that!  When He takes us on as His special project, He washes us white as snow with His own blood, and gives us a new heart, and renewed spirit and eventually even a new body!!  That's all very good news, amen??