Wednesday Hodgepodge on Thursday...I'm Late! I'm Late!

 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 644
I'm late! I'm late! To a very important date! But as they say, "better late than never!"  I kept reading everyone else's answers to these questions and was thinking, I should do this, but I got too busy and ran out of time yesterday...and so I noticed that others were still posting today, so I decided, "why not?"  So here we go...

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here Wednesday (March 11th) to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

I think I am a naturally trusting person...but I've learned over the years through trial and error that not everyone can be trusted, even those who come with sweet words and tell you they "want to be your best friend".  After many years in the ministry as a Pastor's Wife, I am sad to say that there were those who pretended to be my best friend who ended up being much like the one in our theme..."Et tu, Brute?" ...Brutus, who betrayed and assassinated Julius Caesar.  I'm afraid it has made me a bit more cautious about the friends I pick.  However, yes, people do deserve a 2nd chance, if they are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness...

 We probably all know "The Lord's Prayer", but I wonder how many know the verses immediately following it... Matthew 6 :14-15

"9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 

your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,

 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses"

 So, yes, I do believe people deserve a 2nd chance, unless the offense is something truly grievous. We can forgive, but that doesn't necessarily mean we let them come back to hurt us again.


2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to Rome?

No, I've never been to Rome. And yes, we read MacBeth in our 12th grade English class. I remember it well, because I got to read the part of Lady MacBeth, and I read out loud her famous quote, "Out, damned spot!"  And because curse words were forbidden to say in our school, I got a lot of  "Ooooh, Pam, you said a bad word!" kind of comments from the rest of the class, until the teacher had to tell them to hush, since I was just reading the assigned passage after all!! LOL.

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favorite salad dressing?

Caesar salads are okay, if that's the only choice. But I prefer a garden/house salad, no anchovies, and at a restaurant I usually get honey mustard, unless they have an interesting house dressing. At home I use Marie's Cole Slaw dressing on my salads. It is a creamy kind of sweet and sour dressing with celery seeds in it, and it's great on regular salads as well as coleslaw.  

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

If you've known me long, you know that my designated office space is my "Room With A View", which I talk about frequently. Rather than talk about it, let me show you some pictures from this room where I work at my desk with a desktop computer.

These are some photographs I took at our last home in the Ocala National Forest:

And this is the "sign" that started the theme of my blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows".

This is the little tea towel that gave me the name for my room, "Room With a View", and it was actually a gift from one of my blogging friends when she and her husband visited our home for the first time!

Moving clockwise around the room, this is my little bookshelf with all kinds of gift books, devotionals, miscellaneous cookbooks, Audubon bird books, etc., and a picture on top of "My Three Sons", when they were much younger and before they all went their separate ways in life...

The china cabinet belonged to my husband's grandmother, and the rocking chair was a gift from a friend, who said she found it alongside the road put out for trash!

This china hutch was built by our son Benton, and the bottom section holds a lot of office supplies and other miscellaneous stuff, like games.

The Hoosier cupboard also belonged to my husband's grandmother,  and I restored it to the original wood after stripping a multitude of layers of paint off of it... A true labor or love!

One my favorite little tea towels...A gift from my sister...

And this is my 2nd childhood corner...Pamela's Victorian Cottage, which you've most likely heard about already...and the shelf unit above was built by my son Benton. The Buster Brown Tea Set belonged to my Aunt Margie, and then to my mother, and then to me! The little white tea set belonged to my paternal grandmother.

So there you have the whole room...my "designated office space", which is so much more, as you can see. It's my favorite room of the house.

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favorite early Spring flower?

I'm sure I would love them all, but they don't grow here in Florida. I wish daffodils did, because my sister's 80th birthday is coming up on April 5th, and the family tradition started by my mother when we lived in Pennsylvania was to put a little vase of daffodils in the center hole of an angel food cake for my sister's birthday cake. We've always tried to find live daffodils for her cake every year, but it's not always easy to do, so I often have to resort to using artificial ones. I am on the look out for a pot of real ones now, but they have to last until her birthday! (no easy feat, trust me!). OH, it's also her husband's birthday on the same day! This picture was 10 years ago, when I actually found some real daffodils:

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is Blackie, our indoor/outdoor porch kitty. This is what he was doing while I was working on this post this morning...he found a little box to sit in, and he was quite happy for a few minutes.

Psalm 89:1-2

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

Tuesday 4~ How?

This is a cute house...no, it's not the
house I live in, but I really love it. It has a lot
of character!

How?

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...continued in Toni Taddeo's memory.

Let's jump right in...

"King" Blackie, making himself right at home.

1. How did you end up in the place where you are living?

Long story, but after our son got married and moved to this town, we started coming here to go to church on Sunday at the sweet little church where they were married. We fell in love with the church, the people, the small town and its affordability. We were living about 30 minutes away, in the middle of the Ocala National Forest, and far from "civilization", so to speak. The now much too large house was suddenly empty and there was nothing to hold us there, so we put our house up for sale and started looking in this town where we now live. It took about 9 months to sell our house and move here, and we are very thankful for how the Lord put it all together perfectly for us.
HERE is a link to a post I wrote just after moving into our current home.

Sunrise Monday morning...

Closer view of the sunrise through those trees...it was golden bright, for certain!

2. How did you end up with the job you have/had?

I'll go with the last job I held until I retired. Due to some unpleasant circumstances at a previous job, I had left there when things got beyond what I could "live with", and then unfortunately I was unemployed for about nine months before I could find another job that was right for me. After many interviews and even some second interviews for jobs that I thought would be good, nothing seemed to be working out. Then one day I intereviewed for an office position at a large church, which I thought with my background in churches and church offices I would be a "shoo-in", but unfortunately I was not chosen for that position. I was getting very discouraged, when about 3 weeks later the office manager from that church called me and asked if I was still available, and if I would be interested in a different position in that church office. I asked what position, and she said "Mine".  She was leaving to go somewhere else, and her position as the Financial Administrator for the church was open and she and the Pastor of the church both thought I would be a good fit for it. It was a much bigger and better paying position than the one I had previously interviewed for. Of course I said yes that I would be interested, and so not long after I was hired and began my work there. I had no idea what a mess I was stepping into. The woman who was leaving the position had not done a very good job of bookkeeping, and there were a LOT of big messes to clean up in every aspect of that job. I honestly thought I had made a huge mistake once I saw the magnitude of what I was going to have to do. But God was with me, and He guided me through it one step at a time, and eventually everything that needed to be "fixed" was fixed and things worked out very well from then on. It was still an extremely challenging position, but I thank God for His guidance and constant support throughout my 6 years there until I was able to retire.

Click HERE for a link to the day I retired.

3. How did you end up with your life partner?

This picture was taken after we were engaged.

Long story short...We met while attending a community college near my home. We were introduced by a fellow whom I had dated briefly, but we were just good friends and had graduated high school together. He introduced me to my future hubby at lunch one day in the college dining room, and from then on we became inseperable...and we got married about 10 months later...and we've been together ever since...it will be 57 years of marriage this coming August!  I believe it was definitely a "God-thing"...a "match made in heaven".  Not saying everything has been perfect all these years...no, that would definitely not be true, but God had a plan for our lives, and He has been the glue that has held us together in spite of sorrows and trials and tribulations and many many moves.  Without Jesus Christ at the center of our home and marriage, I don't know if we could've survived.  And that's the honest truth! But I am VERY thankful for the life we have had together, and I wouldn't have wanted it to be any other way.  Well,  maybe less trials and tribulations...but those things helped us to grow stronger.

Ecclesiastes 4:11-13 NKJV

11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;

But how can one be warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Link to when we were engaged ,   And another link about our marriage

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Leaving for our honeymoon right after our wedding. My dress sure was short! LOL.

I picked some of our azaleas and my little favorite "fairy flowers" this morning.

And I picked one of the roses on the new rosebush that we planted over the weekend. 

It smells SO good!!!

4. How did your weekend go and how is the week ahead looking?

This past weekend was great. You can read more about that in the last post I wrote. The week ahead...well, I guess I need to look at one of my many calendars...actually we don't have too much planned, but that's always subject to change! I had Ladies' Bible Study on Monday afternoon, and I will have choir practice Tuesday night. We are practicing for our Easter Cantata, and it's sounding pretty good so far!  Other than that, the rest of the week is kind of "up for grabs". Somehow the days always manage to get filled up.

Thank you, Annie, for being our hostess each week here on Tuesday 4.  If you'd like to join in the fun, click HERE to add your post and/or read other posts.

 To end this post, I wanted to share this song "My Tribute" by Andre' Crouch.  It kind of answers all the questions about "HOW".  

"How can I say thanks

For all the things You've done for me?

Things so undeserved

Yet You gave to prove Your love to me

The voices of a million angels

Could not express my gratitude

All that I am

And ever hope to be

I owe it all to Thee

To God...

Be the glory

To God...

Be the glory

To God...

Be the glory

For the things He has done.

With His Blood

 He has saved me

 with His power

 He has raised me

 to God

 be the glory

For the things He has done

Just let me live my life

And let it pleasing, Lord to Thee

And should I gain any praise

Let it go to Calvary

With His Blood

 He has saved me

with His power

He has raised me

To God

 glory

For the things He has done"

Source: Musixmatch

Amen.

Springing Ahead!

 Happy Sunday!  So, did you remember to "spring ahead" last night?  Time change always throws me for a loop for about a week, while my body time clock adjusts to losing an hour of sleep, but gaining an hour of daylight...which is nice, but I really do wish they'd just leave it one way or the other once and for all! That's my 2 cents worth, for all it's worth! LOL. 2 cents isn't worth much these days, but I guess if you kept adding them up over time they would be worth something! Now that they've quit minting new pennies, I wonder if our old pennies will go up in value?  I have a nice stash of them just in case. LOL.

So, let's move along to some springing sensations from this past week. Or at least things you haven't already seen this week.  

The following pictures were taken today, when our son Scott was here...and he did some planting for me, which is always such a blessing!  The rosebush is a replacement for the one Rose and Benton had given me last year I think for Mother's Day...and I loved it so much, but alas! It did not get enough water and it died before I ever was able to get it properly planted.  So I purchased another one to replace it this week, and Scott planted it for me in one of the planter boxes that Benton builds.  This way, if it doesn't seem to be getting enough sunlight (or too much) where it is, I can move it until we find the perfect spot for it...and I promise to keep it well watered!

Isaiah 35:1-4, 10

The Future Glory of Zion

 1 "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,

And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

Isn't it beautiful?

2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,

Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

The excellency of our God.

I also asked Scott to plant this Cassia bush before it also died in its pot. It's been waiting all winter to be planted, and thankfully it did not freeze in the cold weather we had!

3 Strengthen the weak hands,

And make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted,

“Be strong, do not fear!

Behold, your God will come with vengeance,

With the recompense of God;

He will come and save you.”

10  And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

Yes, in spite of the drought we are still having, many things are starting to bloom around here.  The Carolina  Jessamine continues to blossom and flourish along the fences and in the trees all around here...

I love seeing these pretty yellow flowers blossoming forth from the winter's dryness...giving us hope for the future that the rains will come and everything will continue to thrive and bring us much joy.

They shall obtain joy and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The azaleas are also blooming!

And the bluebirds are singing and I think they are building a nest this time! I sure hope so!!

Couldn't resist this pretty garden flag when I was a Ollies' this past week. Also the one up above.

Yesterday we went to the Garden/Farmer's Market where our son was selling his planter boxes, and there was a lady there who makes these beautiful bags! She had a lot of different styles and sizes and colors, but this one just stood out to me and seemed to be begging me to take it home!  I couldn't resist! It was the only one like it, and it probably cost more than I should've spent, but I just loved the bright cheerful spring flowers and also the size and style of the bag...so I splurged...

It's very well made, and has pockets on the outside and the inside...and it zips shut. It is big enough to carry my Bible and little notebook, along with all my other essential purse stuff for church and Bible Study.  I love it!

And of course you are all so kind to have been so concerned about our sweet Blackie this week when he disappeared for a day. Thankfully he was back home in time for supper.  Well, today he had new another adventure.  Apparently when we were leaving for church this morning we were a bit distracted in getting out the door as I had some extra things I was taking and hubby went out one door and brought the car around to the front door for me...and I loaded up my stuff and away we went.  When we got home and opened up the door, who comes out of our bedroom but that rascal Blackie!!!!  Apparently he had managed to slip by one or the other of us as we were leaving, and so he was in the house by himself for a couple of hours. That has never happened before, so it was a new experience for him and for us. Nothing was amiss, except my hubby noticed that one of the clothes baskets in our closet was turned over and clothes were spilling out onto the floor.  Apparently he had decided to take a nap in our closet in the clothes basket!  The little scamp!  

Well, later, after lunch and after Scott left to go back home, we needed a nap. (remember we lost an hour of sleep last night, right?)  Anyway, Blackie was still in the house (he'd been in and out during the afternoon, but now was in)  and where did he go but right back to our bedroom closet, and jumped in the clothesbasket again!!  Here's Mr. Innocent King Blackie now:

I let him stay there while I tried to take a nap. In about five minutes, when I was almost sound asleep, he came and tried to spring up on our bed with us, but no, we are not ready for that experience just yet, so I picked him up and took him back outside for now. 

So that's our "springing ahead" post for today!  What exciting things are you doing to get ready for spring? 

Time to go...May God be with you in every season of your life.  Amen.

Thursday Thankfulness on Friday Morning! MAJOR UPDATE!!!

 UPDATE:  AT 2:30 P.M. BLACKIE FINALLY CAME HOME!! The little stinker didn't have one word to say about where he'd been or what he'd been doing. He just nonchalantly jumped up on the back porch when I called him (for the hundredth time today), and came inside and said "What's for dinner? I'm starved!"  So of course I fed him the whole can instead of just half (but he only ate half!) and now he is sitting in one of his favorite chairs (they are ALL his favorite, and he thinks he owns ALL of the chairs in the house), and it looks like he's going to take a nap!!  

King Blackie on his throne.  I said to him, 

"Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?

I've been up to London to visit the Queen.

Pussycat pussycat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair

MEOWW!"

Thanks for caring and praying for him! All's well that ends well!!

Original Post this morning:

I don't think I've done a Thursday Thankfulness post in a while. Certainly not because I haven't been thankful! Probably more because I've either been busy or preoccupied with other things  and just haven't taken the time to "count my blessings" on a Thursday! But I do count them all the time, I just don't always write about it on Thursday!  And guess what?  I started this post on Thursday evening, but I was too tired and preoccupied to keep writing, and now here it is Friday morning, so I guess this will be a "Thursday Thankfulness post on Friday!"  LOL.  I am thankful that I am awake and alive and well enough to sit here and write to you this morning!

Lamentations 3:22-26

"22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I hope in Him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord."

This was the view from our back porch this morning (above)

And here's the view from the front porch before the sun came up:

I was out on the porches early because I was calling for Blackie.  He did not appear at the back door for breakfast as per his usual routine at 5:30 a.m. (sometimes earlier).  It is now 6:30 a.m., and he still has not appeared.  I think I know why.  We have these "Blink" cameras strategically placed around our property, and they showed an unusual amount of loose dog activity in the neighborhood during the night...with several dogs running through our yard.  Whenever that happens, Blackie goes into hiding and won't reappear until he feels safe enough to come back out.  I've been calling him and calling him (I'm sure the neighbors love hearing me calling in the early morning hours), but there's still no sign of him. Hubby says not to worry...he will show up when the sun comes up and he feels safe enough to come out of his hiding place.

I am thankful for the cameras, because they do give us an extra layer of "security" as we are able to see whatever is happening on our property even when we are not at home. 

We also have this "Ring" doorbell/camera at the front door, which not only shows us "who's there", but we can talk to them even when we aren't at home! I am thankful for this new technology and also for our "kids" Benton and Rose, who ordered them and set them up for us. It really helps to have smart and talented kids.

Now, you may wonder why I said I was too preoccupied and tired earlier in this post.  Well, it has to do with all this wonderful technology that we have and are indeed thankful for.  On Monday morning hubby and I had made a decision to change our WiFi provider to a different company, because they were offering a deal that we really couldn't pass up...a price for  WiFi service at less than half the cost of our current service, and that price was guaranteed for FIVE YEARS!  We were excited to discover that the new company had recently extended their fiber optic cables into our neighborhood so it was now available to us.

I don't know if any of you have ever gone through the process of changing from one system to another, which also included changing our cell phone provider to the new company, but if you have, you know that it is a time consuming (on the phone with technicians) process,  and not for the faint of heart or for those who are not too savvy when it comes to modern technology.  And you better not have anything else planned for a day or two, because there are so many details involved in this process that you won't be able to leave your phone or your house until everything is figured out!

New Modem

Let's just sum it all up by saying that I am thankful that it is now done...but let me tell you...it can be a real learning curve for those of us who are older and somewhat behind in the latest technology. I was shocked to discover that I would have to figure out how to switch from the old provider to the new on every piece of technological equipment we own:  Desktop computer, Laptop Computer, Smart TV, Printer, Cell Phones, and yes, also those wonderful Blink Cameras and also the Ring Doorbell Camera! Without physically going through the steps on each device, they would not work! Trust me, it was an ordeal, and I was on the phone with the technicians more than once while they walked me through it (especially for the cell phones, because hubby's phone is an older model and it required a new "SIM Card", which they mailed to us next day mail, and I had to figure out how to install that as well as make all the necessary transfers.)

Hubby sent this picture to me this morning from Facebook, because he said this was a good picture of how I looked this week! LOL!!!

I am very thankful that all of my "work" this week will be well worth the savings we are getting on our WiFi and Cell Phone systems.  When I figure it up for the five year period, we will be saving over $4000.!!!  I'd say that's worth all my trouble, wouldn't you?  And that doesn't account for the possibility that our old WiFi company might have continued to raise their rates each year, as they have done pretty consistently over the past few years.  They weren't happy with me when I called them to cancel the service, and they tried to offer me all kinds of discounts...but I told them they were too late! They should've offered them BEFORE I felt frustrated with their rising prices so much that I looked elsewhere.  

Well, friends, it's time to get a move on. Blackie still hasn't come home, but I expect he will show up when he gets hungry enough.

This is Blackie's favorite place to be.

Oh, and I got a slip cover for the new recliner this week at Ollie's (where you can buy "Good Stuff Cheap!")  That works better than all the other things we were trying to keep Blackie's sharp claws off the chair...

And since that cover was blue (the only one we could find that would fit), I decided to get a blue cover for the couch as well...

Okay, folks...Thank you for being here. I appreciate each and every one of you and your sweet comments.  I thank the Lord for this place where we can meet and visit throughout the week!  You are all very special friends!

Have a blessed and wonderful day and weekend. Don't forget to "spring ahead" on your clocks Saturday night!!  

Tuesday 4~Simple Questions

 Simple Questions

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. I hope you are enjoying these questions. Let me know if they can be improved and if you have any ideas for subjects!
Here are just 4 simple questions for you this week...

1. Do you have any superstitious beliefs?

That's easy to answer: NO!

2. How often do you check the weather? Where do you get your weather reports?

We check our weather app on my phone every morning. Actually, hubby and I play a little guessing game every morning. He doesn't look at the weather app,  and I ask him to guess what the current temperature is, and he has to get it within one degree to get a point. Then I ask him what the high will be for the day, and then what the conditions are/or will be all day, such as sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, rainy, or FOGGY, like it was this morning:

 then the wind speeds, percentage of actual precipitation for the day, and the percentage of humidity.  Again, all answers have to be within 1 degree or 1 percent of the actual answer. There is no prize...just a good test of his mental acuity in the morning while drinking his coffee.  Some days he does pretty good and gets most all of them right...but when the weather is so changeable like it has been lately, it's been a bit more challenging.  I'm glad he's the one doing the guessing and I hold the answers on my phone! LOL.  For me, I guess the weather by whether or not my joints are extra stiff in the morning or not. LOL.  We do also check the weather on the TV when there's a question about any serious weather conditions (like hurricanes or tornadoes, or this winter...freeze warnings have been rather frequent for us, more so than usual for this part of the country.)

Current view outside our front door: Full Moon tonight:.(Monday night)  This was around 7:30 p.m.  I plan to try and remember to get up and look at the lunar eclipse of the moon early Tuesday morning, and if I can get some decent pictures, I will add them before I post this.

(I don't know what that aqua blob is on the picture. Maybe a UFO. LOL.)

3.What time of your life was the happiest and why do you think that was? How could life improve for you now?

That's really hard to answer, as I've been happy in every season of my life, even though there have been some very sad and difficult times as well, but even so I have a deep down joy in my heart because of Jesus living in me.   Without Him, I would not have been able to get through some of the very difficult times. 

This was probably one of the happiest times in my life...our sweet little family...our boys were still young and happy and healthy and innocent. Hubby was the Pastor of a beautiful church and we seemed to be "sitting on top of the world" for a while.  Life definitely got more difficult as the years went by, but this was a time of joy and many blessings.  (I was just 30 years old in this picture. At the time I thought I was really getting old! LOL)

To answer the rest of the question: "How could life improve for you now?"

I think for the most part things are going pretty well for people of our age, but if anything could improve, it would be to have our strength and health renewed and restored back to a time of a bit more strength, energy, and stamina.  But truly, we are very very thankful for everything we have at this stage in life. We look around us and realize that it could always be so much worse, so we are extremely thankful to God that He is taking very good care of us.

4. What things would you ordain to make everyday life happier, kinder, more prosperous, for everyone?

Here are some verses from the Bible that summarize what I believe makes life happier, kinder, and more prosperous.  If everyone could "drink of the water that (Jesus) shall give him", he would definitely have the kind of joy that never fails, no matter what the circumstances of life.

John 4:13-14~ 

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. 

But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Isaiah 12:1-3

1 "And in that day you will say:

“O Lord, I will praise You;

Though You were angry with me,

Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.

2 Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid;

‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;

He also has become my salvation.’ ”

3 Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation."
 

Psalm 89:1-2 NKJV

1 "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;

Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

My thoughts: there really isn't anything this world has to offer that will bring lasting happiness and prosperity.  Everything here is temporary.  Here is what Jesus said on this subject:

Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 

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

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

All this "stuff" we have here to make us more comfortable and "happy" is just that, STUFF.  It's okay to make ourselves comfortable here, but don't ever think any of it is permanent. Ask someone who has had a tornado rip through their home, or a fire or a flood. They are extremely thankful when they can escape with their family intact and the clothes on their back (if they are so blessed to be able to do that).  All that STUFF is gone in a puff of wind or a torrent of water...but our souls are eternal.  That is the ONLY thing that lasts for eternity, so we best consider where we will be spending eternity while there is yet time.

2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

"2 For He (Jesus) says:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,

And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

I will try to finish this in the morning, if I can get some pictures of the "blood moon".  

Okay, here I am, 6:15 a.m. Tuesday morning.  I did go out and watch the eclipse for the first half...and I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures. I am certain many of you may have better cameras for moon shots than I do, so I expect there will be some out there with really good photos. But here's what I have, so you will know that I did what I said I would do!

I had a lot more pictures, but they really were too fuzzy to be worth showing.  So how many of you went out to watch the eclipse?  I can't wait to see your pictures!

Blackie says, "Okay, it's time to post this and get on with our day! "

He finds the most precarious spots to just lay himself down and rest a spell from his wanderings...seems like he's always right on the edge of something!  (Sometimes I feel like that too, don't you?)

Okay, my friends...be blessed and enjoy this day.  

"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!"  

Psalm 118:24