Happy Monday After Mother's Day!

 Good Morning! I hope this Monday morning after Mother's Day finds you all feeling refreshed and ready for a new week! Regardless of whether or not you were overwhelmed with joy, or underwhelmed with not much of any kind of special activity over the weekend, today is the beginning of a new week! Each new day brings hope and new possibilties for blessings and also for being a blessing to someone else who may be struggling to find her joy.  So I thought I would start out this morning with some special little extra blessings, and hopefully some things that will bring smiles to your faces as well...

#1   Praise the Lord! We've been getting some much needed rain over the past several days, and the promise of more to come in the next few days! That is such a joy to my heart and to our land and pond! No, there still isn't any noticeable water in the pond, but it is like a big old sponge that is soaking up all the moisture it can, and one of these days it is going to overflow with pools of water once again!

And just look at how our garden is growing!!  Little squashes are developing!

And the tomatoes are getting bigger every day...

And some are even turning red!  Those of you who are experienced gardeners, should I pick it now, or let it get bigger and more red before I pick it?  And what are those lines on the leaves? Some kind of insect or worm?  The tomatoes appear to be healthy, but I don't know what these lines are on the leaves...I don't want to use any chemical pesticides...

Anyway, it gives me great joy to see these little gardens growing:

And my wildflower garden is sprouting up really well...probably too well as the seeds were all sown quite on top of each other...so time will tell what develops...plue I need to do some serious weeding around it and keep the grass out.

#2: And look what else sprouted up in my garden yesterday!  Son Scott showed up for Mother's Day afterall!

We had already agreed last Sunday that he didn't need to drive 2 hours back again this week since we weren't going to be having any big Mother's Day dinner because the other kids weren't going to be available and we were going to do something else with them during the week...which I already wrote about Here:Link to earlier post about my Mother's Day celebration at the Beach (in case you missed it).    But he decided he wanted to come on down anyway (he had more laundry to do! LOL) and so I went ahead and put some country style ribs in the crock pot and got some corn on the cob  at the farm market on Saturday, and we ended up having a really nice dinner together.  I was  thrilled, of course!  

We enjoyed a nice afternoon of just visiting and relaxing before he had to head back to Jacksonville...

Of course, he wasn't our only "guest"...Lily Grace wanted to get in the act and wore her "I'm Mom's Favorite" t-shirt.  This was a standing joke, when Scott and Benton each were gifted a similar t-shirt from their Aunt Peggy one year for Christmas, and so a friend of mine created this shirt for Lily Grace.  

(If you still don't know who Lily Grace is, you can check out her blog HERE, although it is sadly out of date) 

A certain Kitty named "Blackie" was surprised to see Lily standing there on HIS chair, and I also think he was surprised to see her t-shirt, because I'm certain that he thinks that he's Mom's favorite!

You will note that he immediately took possession of Lily...

I almost literally had to pry her out of his grasp...we probably won't try that again...Lily was a little nervous...

And then I think Blackie was a little nervous (look at those eyes!) when I took a selfie of the two of us!

The camera really isn't his favorite thing, but you'd think he'd be getting used to it by now...

So that was the excitement for Mother's Day!   Oh, but wait, it wasn't over yet!!  We did get a really nice rain...and guess who else showed up for a visit?

#3: If you are a Facebook friend, you may already have seen these...but for the rest of you, I hope you'll enjoy this Mother's Day visit from the Bluebird family! We never got to see the babies when they left the nest, so it was nice of them to come back for a visit, even if it was in the rain!  They were such fun to watch:

Daddy bluebird is checking to make sure the coast is clear and that it's safe to let the youngsters come over here to "visit".

Mr. Cardinal kept flying in, trying to get to the bird feeder, but Daddy Bluebird kept chasing him away...

Here Daddy is having a chat with one of the "kids"... 

And this "child" is hanging on to the trellis, waiting for someone to bring some more food... The parents do still bring some food to the babies, but they are also learning to hunt for food for themselves...

Here this one is waiting on the roof, trying to keep from slipping off...

Baby on top says, "Hey, Mom, I'm up here!!"

Here are two very hungry youngsters on the roof, telling Daddy to hurry up with dinner..."We're getting wet and cold up here on this roof!"

I think this is one of the babies flying off...

And this one is hanging on to a small branch on the tree...very well camouflaged...

PLEASE come feed me! I'm getting really wet here!!!

And I'm out on a very small limb here! 

I think I've been forgotten!

Hey! It's cooler and safer here in the shade of this tree!!

Hmmm, maybe my brother had the best idea...it sure is slippery and wet and cold here...

I'm hanging on for dear life...

Daddy, are you up there? Are you bringing me any food????

Calm down, child! You know I won't forget you! Just be patient and wait and I will take care of you...

Son, don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you...

I wish you Bluebirds would hurry up and go away so I can get back to my bird feeder! I'm hungry too!

Son,  I'm  still talking to you! Turn around and look at me!

And so it went, until they decided it was time to move on and they flew away to the tree tops where they spend the nights in safety and away from the predators.  

Here are some verses that came to mind as I was writing this...like the little bluebirds, we sometimes get frightened in the storms of life, or we worry that we will be forgotten by those that we love ...or even by God Himself...But God has promised us that He will always be there for us, through all the storms and times of anxiety or worries about the future...

[Isaiah 41:10]: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand".

[Isaiah 43:2]: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you...".

[Joshua 1:9]: "...Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go".

[Matthew 28:20]: "...And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age".

[Deuteronomy 31:8]: "The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged".

[Hebrews 13:5]: "...for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'". 

And then there  precious words of Christ, reminding us not to worry about food or clothing or anything...

Matthew 6:25-27, 31-34 NKJV

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Yes, if we will "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added to you."  He will provide all that we need, and even more...blessings upon blessings.   That is what I believe and have found to be true in my own life. I pray it is something that you are learning as well. 

I hope you enjoyed this little Monday after Mother's Day "celebration" with me!! Praying that your week ahead will be filled with little joys along the way. Watch for them! God wants to bless you with His love and care every day!!

Mother's Day Memories

Happy Mother's Day today, as we remember our mothers and those who were "mothers" to us throughout out lives in one way or another.  This post is going to be a cut and paste from some previous posts that I've done in the past... This is probably my most favorite Mother's Day picture...back in 1980 when we lived in Nova, Ohio, while hubby was attending seminary at Ashland Theological Seminary. We are standing in front of a lilac bush that was just beginning to bloom.  Click HERE for the full story of this picture.  Me with my three sons: Matthew in the space helmet, Benton in the suit, and Scotty picking a flower...sweet memories...

 This picture below was taken in February, 2014, just a few months before our #2 son Matthew passed away from cancer.  These are all the Steiner "men" in my life:

 L to R: Hubby, #1 son Benton #1 (and only) grandson Noah, #2 son Matthew, and #3 son Scott.  I am blessed to have been known as Wifey, Mom, and Grandma by this crew of handsome men. 

Here is my mother....

My mother at age 70. In my mind, she was still this beautiful when she passed away almost 20 years later.
Dorothea Tedlie Mursch
1917-2006

This is a picture (below) of me with my mother, way back in the late 80's I think.  This was taken on a very special day that we spent rambling around an old abandoned house in north Georgia. There just happened to be some lilacs blooming on that property, and since that was my mother's most favorite flower ever, my Dad took this picture of us enjoying the lilacs together.  Such a beautiful memory of a wonderful day together.

Click here for THE STORY of that special day.

And then of course I want to remember my dear mother in law too. There are many stories about her scattered throughout this blog, as she spent a good bit of her last several years of life with us in our home.  If you want some interesting stories about life with "Nanny", go to the right sidebar here on the blog and under "Some Special Topics", click on the first one "Caregiver", and you will be able to live through some of our adventures together.  She was a very special woman, one whom I will never forget. I was blessed to be her "daughter-in-love".

Vivian Martin Steiner, "Nanny"
1923-2018

You can also CLICK HERE for a "Tribute to My Mother-in-Law, updated  for Mother's Day, a few months after she had passed away.

In closing, I want to thank the Lord for the wonderful women He placed in my life. My own dear mother, and also my dear mother-in-law. Not to mention the many other women of influence throughout the years, many who were like "spiritual mothers" to me during my years of serving alongside my husband in the ministry.  I needed a lot of wise counsel during those years, and God always seemed to bring just the right women along at the right time to help lead me in the right direction. I am not sure I would have made it without their kindness and Christian love.

Praying that you have also had a blessed and beautiful day today. I know for many this has not been a great day, due to distance away from loved ones, and perhaps some have not felt like this was a day they could celebrate for one reason or another.

I believe that Mother's Day really should be a day of tribute to all women, regardless of whether or not they are mothers.  Many women, who may not have been mothers in the physical sense, have been more like mothers to other people's children than perhaps those other's own mothers were. I like these words from the famous Proverbs 31 "A Portrait of a Virtuous Woman"

"25.  Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

26.  She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and on her tongue is the law of kindness.

27.  She watches over the ways of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness."

29.  "Many daughters have done well,

but you excel them all."

30.  "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.

but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

31. "Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her own works praise her in the gates."

That is the kind of woman that we should each aspire to be, regardless of whether or not we are married, have children, or live alone. Our worth comes from the Lord, first of all...not from our marital or familial status.  

"A woman who fears the Lord....She shall be praised."

That is the most important quality in a woman ever.

Amen?

May your day be filled with blessings and peace today. 

Friday Foto Friends

 Oh my goodness! Friday is almost over and here I am just sitting down to try to write something to you. I might have mentioned a few days ago that this week was going to be busy, and so I didn't know how much I'd be able to communicate here throughout the week...and I was right about that! It has been busy, but all in such wonderful ways!  If you're a Facebook friend, you may have already seen some of these pictures I'm going to share with you, but there are also some new ones from today that are brand new.  So you might want to get a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and pull up a comfortable rocking chair and let's visit a while, shall we?

We'll start out with yesterday (Thursday), which was just so very special.  Since our "kids" are unable to spend Mother's Day with me due to work schedules, etc., Benton and Rose said they would like to take us over to the beach and then out to lunch yesterday.  So we left fairly early in the day, which, BTW, was a very HOT 93+ day, but thankfully there was a nice breeze.  We arrived at Crescent Beach around 10:00 a.m., which is just south of St. Augustine a little ways, and about an hour's drive from where we live. I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Our first view of the ocean:

Flowers and grasses along the way on the sand dunes, all a necessary part of the protection from beach erosion...

My first step into the "cool" ocean waters....it really did feel wonderful!

Turn on your sound for a little "beach therapy"....

No, I wasn't wearing long pants...they were capris, but I ended up having to roll them up when the tide started coming in while we were walking in the water.

The "Three Musketeers" LOL.   All in serious need of some suntan! LOL.  (That's why you can't see my legs above!)

Oh, here's some cuties:

And this doggy was enjoying playing frisbee in the surf...

More birds:

And finally I managed to get some birds diving into the surf:

And no trip to the beach would be complete without seeing "Jaws"!  Thankfully not the real deal!

After we finished our walk on the beach it was getting time for lunch, so we headed down A1A highway, which skirts along the coastline through sleepy little communities along the way...well...I take that back...there's NOTHING sleepy along the beach anymore...except for these houses out on the shoreline, who are actually abandoned since the last hurricane that came through here. The beach erosion was so bad that it washed away their property, and the houses now stand empty and will be torn down because there's no way to fix the problem:

And there's actually no road left to get to them, so that's the bigger issue. It was all washed away.

Finally we arrived in what used to be a sleepy little beach town, "Flagler Beach", but no more. There are houses, condos, RV parks, hotels, cottages, etc., EVERYWHERE.  

These pictures are actually at the Flager Beach pier, which was washed away in the hurricane. They are still trying to repair it...but guess what...hurricane season starts again next month! I'm not so sure it's worth all the money they are spending to try and replace it...

But it is historical...actually I remember this pier and little beach front communityfrom over 60 years ago, when one of my school friends invited me and another friend to spend the weekend with her and her mother at their family's beach cottage! We were about 14, and we had the time of our lives! Oh, not to mention the cute boys who showed up with surf boards and tried to teach us to surf! Can't say that we learned all that much in the short time we were there, but it was fun trying...and did I say the boys were cute? When you're 14, even 14 year old boys look cute to you! LOL. 

I tried to figure out where the family cottage was, but the place has grown up so much since then there's no way I could figure it out. I just know it was within walking distance of this pier.

Finally we reached our destination of a place to eat. They were very few and far between, but this one sounded promising:

And it was in this hotel building where that porch is:

And this was the view across the street:

And THIS was my best view:

And next to me was my sweet daughter in love Rose:

And across from us her sweet hubby and my son Benton:

And here I was...as you can tell, I was quite windblown! Did I mention it was breezy? But that breeze felt wonderful since it was in the 90's.

Our food was really good...I had the grilled salmon and cole slaw...

And some seafood/clam chowder, which was really tasty:

It was a perfect way to spend an early Mother's Day!

Oh, we saw this BBQ place on the way over to the beach, and thought the sign was pretty funny:

And the party wasn't over yet. Last evening after we got home and (we took a nap, hence the bed head look), the kids came over and brought me this lovely planter that Benton made. It has some marigolds and a vinca plant in it, and I'm going to put it outside near my vegetable garden to help ward off the bugs.

Speaking of which, I didn't tell you that it has been raining this evening! Here's the current look at Still Waters Pond, which is damp on the top, but still has a LONG way to go before it will actually have water in it. However, there's rain predicted all weekend, so we are hoping and praying that it really gets down to business!

My vegetable garden is happy:

So now for Part 2 of the current activities going on.  Today was our church Ladies' May Fellowship Luncheon, where we invite ladies from other churches in our community and have a guest speaker and a nice luncheon.  It was really a lovely day, with about 65 women in attendance, which is a LOT for our little church. We had a soup and salad buffet, and it was really good.

Here's a smattering of pictures from the day:

Here's the table where I was sitting...(can you find me? LOL)

LOTS Of FOOD!!

Our ladies in worship and praise...

Our two youngest ladies!

A beautiful cake!

Our theme song was "Shine Jesus, Shine".

Here are the lyrics:

"Lord, the light of your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness, shining

Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us

Set us free by the truth you now bring us

Shine on me, shine on me

Chorus:

Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light

Lord, I come to your awesome presence

From the shadows into your radiance

By the blood I may enter your brightness

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

As we gaze on your kingly brightness

So our faces display your likeness

Ever changing from glory to glory

Mirrored here may our lives tell your story

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

Graham Kendrick

Copyright © 1987 Make Way Music,

www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

All in all it was a beautiful day, filled with the JOY of the Lord. The theme of the program was "Wildflowers of Joy, Growing in the Spirit".   We are the "wildflowers", planted by God  and filled with His Joy, as He leads us day by day in our walk with the Lord and as we "grow in the Spirit".  What a blessing to spend that time with our sisters in Christ!

Okay friends, I guess that should cover the past couple of days! Now I hope I can get caught up with the rest of you and see what you've been up to. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to spend some time visiting with you.  Until then, 

"Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light"

Amen!