Thursday Thankfulness

Hello Friends! It's Thursday afternoon, and a good time to express some thankfulness to God for the good things He has been doing...Of course, He's always doing good things, but this is for current things...like these rain clouds in the sky!  We just had a very brief passing shower, but there is much more rain in the forecast for the next three days, so we are very hopeful that the rains will finally put out the fires that continue to burn in the region once and for all! 

And of course, we hope it will begin to refill our still very dry Still Waters Pond as well...but that may take quite a bit more rain than just one weekend. Still, we are thankful for whatever rain we get...every drop is precious to us.

Thankfully, the lack of rain has not kept the magnolias from blooming in the area...we saw this tree on our walking path this morning, and although this blossom was a bit too high for me to reach with my camera, you get the idea...it's still beautiful!

There are still many buds waiting to open, so to me that is all a part of God's amazing provision for His creation, even when the rains don't fall...the trees still blossom!

Isaiah 35:1-2

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

And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

(This rosebush has been blooming profusely, but I have to cut and bring the flowers inside because they die pretty quickly in the bright sunshine. So we enjoy them inside where they will live longer and their fragrance is so delightful).

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.

Even the wild "Spiderwort" is blooming

And I rejoice every time I go out to our little garden patches and see things actually developing...like these tomatoes!

They keep surprising me because they like to hide under the leaves and I don't even see them until all of a sudden, there they are!! 

And this patch of wildflower seeds that I planted a week ago are sprouting up more and more every day. Now I see that I really should have spread them out more, as they are all jumbled up together in places. I do hope they will still develop and bloom in spite of my ineptitude in gardening prowess! Time will tell.

I wanted to share with you some things that brought tears of joy to my eyes this past Sunday at church. I don't have any pictures to show you, so you'll have to read the word pictures.  There were several things that just blessed me so much I really had a difficult time to keep from either crying or shouting Hallelujah! Actually, either would've been fine, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself and spoil the moments...

1. In the beginning of the service, while announcements were being made, etc., it was noted by our worship leader that we had three babies in our service!  And there was literally a cheer and applause for such a joyous occasion! All three babies are under a year old, and are special blessings...One sweet baby has been coming practically since the day she came home from the hospital. Her story is uniquely special because not long after she was born, her father decided that he really didn't want to be married (they were practically newlyweds still) or take care of a child, and so he left his wife and baby before the darling little girl was even two months old. Thankfully the mother had strong family support and also our church family rallied around them both and that sweet little girl has been such a delight in the church services...often being passed around from Mom to Grandma to friends who just want to hold her. This past Sunday however was really special, in that the baby's Great-Grandfather was there, and he is battling stage 4 cancer and is on oxygen, but he wants to come to church as much as he can. I looked out (from the choir loft where I can see everything going on!) and saw him holding that precious little girl, (who is quite an active little 7 month old nowadays), and she was looking up at him with such adoring eyes, but then she pulled on  his beard and oxygen tube, and so he had to pass her back to her mother...but for just a few moments it was such a precious sight, so you know why I was in tears. 

2.  The second baby is very young, maybe just a couple of months old, and she was there with her grandmother. I really don't know much about this child or its family, but I know we've been praying for her mother as she is a friend of one of our church members.  So, even though I don't know anything about her, just the fact that the grandmother came and brought her to church...and she was a perfect little angel the whole way through the service, was another amazing blessing. 

3. The third baby is a very BIG 7 month old baby boy, and this was his 2nd time to come to church.  (oh, BTW, we don't have a formal nursery for babies, but we do have a special room where Moms or Dads can take the baby to change them or feed them as needed, but until now, we've never needed a real nursery in our mostly retired congregation!)   Now, this one really got to me.  First of all, I know the mother had a really rough time with his delivery (because he was SO big and they should've done a C-section, but waited too long, so you know how hard that was for her), but anyway, she had a long recuperation. But here's the rest of the story...when it came time for Communion (our church serves Communion every Sunday at the close of the service), the Mother and Dad and Grandpa (actually he's the great- grandpa) all came forward, with the Grandpa carrying the baby. As I watched this dear man holding that very big child, I almost lost it. First of all, the Grandpa has Parkinson's Disease, and I couldn't believe that he could even carry that child and stand there with him that long, but he did, and that sweet little boy kept watching his Grandpa as he received Communion and he didn't miss a thing, nor did he fuss or squirm. It was a beautiful sight.  But second of all is the real part of the story I don't want you to miss.  This family has suffered some real sorrow over the past couple of years...first, the girl's mother (and the daughter of this man) passed away rather suddenly a couple years ago.  Then the man's father in law, who was also a beloved member of our church, died from liver cancer after a short battle.  Not very long after that, this man's wife, who was working as an active nurse, died from a stroke very suddenly.  So within a couple of years this family lost three family members, and they were still grieving those losses when this precious baby boy came along...and it was obvious to me that God brought this sweet baby into their lives:

 "To give them beauty for ashes,The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;"

Isaiah 61:3

and...

"Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning."

Psalm 30:5b

I will finish this story up with this verse:

Matthew 19:14  NIV

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Do you understand why I wanted to shout hallelujah and cry tears of joy???

Okay, I have to wrap this up. I hope you appreciated and understood that rather long story. My heart was overwhelmed with the enormity of all that was happening in those lives and in the lives of those precious children.

So here's my current baby in my old rocking chair that I literally used to rock my babies in...

He has tried every chair in the house literally. I never know where I'll find him next.

And here was Blackie waiting for us to come home with the groceries the other day...

I think he's saying it's about time we got home, or maybe he's wondering if we brought him anything?

Either way, he was soon in the house helping us put the groceries away...LOL.

Okay, friends, that's all. I have to go fix supper. I am thankful for YOU, and for your friendship and patience as I share these long stories! I hope they blessed you too.

 

Tuesday 4~ Your Jobs

That does look a lot like me back in the day

 Your Jobs

Annie says: "Hello! It's time again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 and I am happy you stopped by to join in.
This week's idea for questions came from Pamela Steiner and it's all about your occupation and work.
I think that's a great idea, so here are questions for you to ponder."


1.What did/do you do for work and how long did you work in that position?

You can see the full list in question #4, but my last job, which also was the longest one in one location and the place from which I finally retired, was as the Financial Administrator for a large church. My position entailed full responsibility for all bookeeping/accounting for the church, payroll, human resources, and supervision of other office and custodial staff. I worked there for almost six years before retiring.  It was a very involved and detailed position, and I prayed daily for God's wisdom and guidance and assistance in managing all of the responsibilities appropriately.  There were some days I literally went home wondering "Why Me, Lord?" when things got very complicated and I often felt like I was overwhelmed with the tasks before me.  But God always got me through it and gave me strength to keep going when I really wanted to quit.

  

One verse that sustained me was Philippians 4:13, NKJV,

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

2. Of the jobs you've had throughout life, which was your favorite? If no favorite,which was the worst? Tell us why you loved/hated your job.

My most favorite "job" was being wife to my hubby and Mom to my three sons. I was very thankful that during the early years when our boys were small we managed somehow for me to not have to work outside of the home.  Oh, also remember, my hubby was a pastor for many years, and so one of my main "jobs" was being a "Pastor's Wife". That, in itself, can be a full time job, and sometimes it becomes difficult to balance home-wife with Pastor's Wife. Especially when members of the church have their own ideas of what a "Pastor's Wife" ought to be. I had to learn when to say yes, and when to say no. Not always easy.

My "Favorite Job"

As you can see, this was a full time job with many rewards and benefits!

My worst job?  Hmmm, Probably when I worked in the Testing Department of the county school board. We had moved back to Florida to be near our aging parents, and I needed to 'get my foot in the door' with the county schools, so I took the job of sorting, filing, packing and delivering test booklets for all the schools in the district. I was younger then than I am now, and was in pretty good condition, but not for the repetitive motion and lifting of all that testing material, especially when they decided to move the whole department to a new location and I had to pack, unpack, rearrange, move, lift, over and over again...I ended up with a major case of very painful carpal tunnel and could not work, so I filed a worker's comp claim. Thankfully, I got better once the hard physical labor stopped, and I was able to transfer to a much better job as a school bookkeeper! So all's well that ends well.

3. What did your job entail? Did it require a special education?

Most of the jobs I did were learned "on the job".  However, when I worked as a "para-professional" in the school system, I did have to have so many hours of college credits and take a state "para-professinal" exam. Thankfully I passed.  Although I never received a degree, I did take a lot of college courses throughout the years, some online.

4. List all the jobs/occupations you have had.

How far back shall I go?  

Well, let's see...the summer I was almost 15 my cousin Becky and I got jobs at Zellwood Farms, sorting green peppers. We stood at a conveyor belt and watched hundreds of green peppers come bouncing along toward us all day while we quickly sorted them for size and whether or not they were good or bad, etc.  I remember dreaming about green peppers, like Martians, marching after me all night long! LOL. We did that for about a week and probably made about $40.00, and we thought we were so rich! LOL.  The only other thing I remember about that was there were a lot of Spanish speaking migrants working there, and one man asked me if I could help him learn to speak English because I was taking Spanish in high school.  We had several conversations with me trying to use what little Spanish I knew. It was an interesting experience.  However, I was thankful that I didn't have to do that job for the rest of my life!  

Internet Photo

During my senior year in high school I worked part time at a Dry Cleaners for a while. That was another job that I am glad I didn't have to do for the rest of my life.  Think about cleaning out people's pockets and also handling some very dirty (and smelly!) clothes...Yuck! I didn't do that for long, thank the Lord!

The summer after I graduated high school I worked as a counselor at a church youth camp. Actually, I volunteered. But my room and board was taken care of and it was a very wonderful summer, where I fully rededicated my life to serving Christ, and made some big decisions about my future that changed the whole course of my life.

When we first got married, I worked in the accounting department of a large insurance company, while hubby finished his senior year of college, working on his Bachelor's degree in Education. That would be my first experience in accounting, and although I was never a good math student in school, I found that I liked accounting and bookkeeping, and that ended up being one of my main jobs throughout my life, in different places (mainly in schools and also at a Christian camp and a large church) as we moved about later in the ministry. 

I also worked as a "teacher's aide", a.k.a. a "para-professional in schools, which served me well while our kids were in school and I could have the same hours and school schedule as they had.

Another occupation that I found helpful during our years in the ministry and/or seminary was in sales.  I was once a Stanley Home Products representative and gave parties to demonstrate and sell home cleaning products.  Then I also sold Watkins products and became a District Manager with the Fuller Brush Company for a while. 

When we lived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in a very busy resort area, I created my own company known as T.O.P.S. =Temporary Office Personnel Services.  Basically, I offered my temporary services to a resort to help out in their busy accounting department, and ended up working there full time. That also led to working in that same resort as the supervisor of the housekeeping department, managing the busy scheduling of making sure rooms were cleaned and inspected on time each day, etc.  That also led to working with another private company as their marketing and scheduling person, which also led to working with them in another venture of scheduling horseback rides at a local Bed and Breakfast. Life was never dull. Here is a link to when I worked at the Stables at "The Farm by the River"    Here's a picture to give you a better idea of what I was doing:

This might have been one of my most favorite jobs, except for shoveling the "horse poop". LOL.

This list is not necessarily in any order, but basically an overview of the kinds of work I did throughout my adult years. Because we were in the ministry, often serving in smaller churches that did not pay very well, (and moving more frequently than I care to enumerate) I found whatever jobs I could do to help supplement our income. I also worked as the church secretary, typing bulletins, etc., in several places where my hubby was the pastor.

All in all, I am very thankful for all the creative ways that God provided for us throughout the years. When there was no job to be found, I created my own, by God's grace and wisdom.  When I was needed at home to take care of our young children, God provided for us, often miraculously, when hubby was in Seminary preparing for the ministry.  When we moved more often than was probably wise, but we felt we had no other choice at the time, God always provided a job for me somewhere, even though my resume' probably looked like a pin ball machine of hit and miss and crazy moves.  

I was looking for a Scripture that would go along with this whole long story of the changes and moves and years of so many different jobs, and these selected verses from Psalm 26 seemed to speak to what I was feeling, because sometimes people just don't understand how someone could move so many times or do so many jobs, but it has all been done in service to the Lord in one way or the other...

26 

1 "Vindicate me, O Lord,

For I have walked in my integrity.

I have also trusted in the Lord;

I shall not slip.

2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me;

Try my mind and my heart.

3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.

6 I will wash my hands in innocence;

So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,

7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,

And tell of all Your wondrous works.

8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house,

And the place where Your glory dwells.

11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;

Redeem me and be merciful to me.

12 My foot stands in an even place;

In the congregations I will bless the Lord."

And here is a song that expresses how I feel about all the ways God provided for us throughout the years..."Great is Thy Faithfulness"...

Philippians 4:19 NKJV

19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

If you want to join in the fun of telling about your life's occupation(s), you can join in HERE. Thanks, Annie, for another great week of Tuesday 4 questions!

Monday Monday

Good Monday Morning!  I have my sweet buddy "Blackie", a.k.a. "King Blackie", sitting on his royal throne right here behind me as I work, keeping a close eye on every move I make!  Every one say "Good Morning, Your Highness!", LOL.    He really has quite taken over the whole house, even though we still restrict him from entering the bedrooms (when we can get the doors shut in time), and he still spends a good portion of the day outside as well and he still sleeps outside at night, but trust me, he's working on that.  "It's only a matter of time", he meows.  LOL.   

Well, let's jump right in and talk about the weekend. Here's a recap of things we did.  Yesterday after church the "kids" came over and Scott came down from Jacksonville, so we had lunch together. Rose had made a big pot of spaghetti the night before and so she brought that, and I made a salad and picked up some Garlic Toast at the grocery store on the way home from church. "The Kids" also laughingly asked if I had any "peach cobbler"...well, of course I didn't, but the suggestion was made and I did have the ingredients on hand to make a "peach  dump cake",  (you can see the recipe on that link from a previous post a couple of years ago, and you might just want to read that whole post because it's kind of funny about a certain Black Kitty who was trying even then to become our Kitty way before we started feeding him (while the neighbor was still taking care of him).   The only difference in the recipe that I did this time was that I added some fresh blueberries along with the peaches...because...

We had been to the Blueberry farm on Saturday and picked up some fresh blueberries. (already picked).

There I am, clutching my precious bag of blueberries:

There's hubby, trying to get away before I saw something else I wanted to buy...lol.

On Thursday (or was it Friday? I forget now), anyway, one of those days, we went out to lunch...

This is at the "NEW" "Hog Wild Country Cafe" here in town.  

I say "NEW", because the "OLD" one that we loved so much had a fire about a year or so ago, and so the owners purchased the "OLD" "True Grits" Restaurant here in our town and made it the "NEW" Hog Wild.

This was the "OLD" Hog Wild.

Now we are waiting for the new owners of the "OLD" Hog Wild BUILDING to finish all the restoration of that building and open up a new restaurant there. I hear it's going to be a "new" Backwoods Country Cafe', or something like that, and that they will also serve NY style pizza and calzones in addition to sandwiches, etc.  They've been busy working on that old building for a while now, and hopefully they will be open this summer. I hope they've left some of the "OLD" country charm that we loved so much, because the "NEW" Hog Wild restaurant, although the food is good, is sadly lacking the atmosphere we loved so much at the OLD building.  I hope I haven't confused you with all of the "NEW" and "OLD" stuff! LOL.

However, as I said, the food was good...we both had shrimp...mine was grilled and hubby's was fried. I also had fried okra and coleslaw and cornbread.  It really was good, but I miss the "OLD" place.

Let's see, what else is "NEW"?  Well, this isn't exactly new, but one afternoon I was sitting out on the garden bench and this Northern Parula came for a drink at the bird bath again. I always love it when birds come visiting!

Also on Saturday we had gone to the Farm Swap at Deep Creek and I bought these marigolds to put near my vegetable garden to help keep the bugs away from my plants:

This is how they are all placed now...I hope the marigolds are close enough. 

Also, in my other little planter the coreopsis is finally blooming that I planted a while ago...

With more to come...

AND...since we had that wonderful rain last week (and MORE On Sunday morning while we were in church praising God for the rain!), that little garden space where I planted all those wildflower seeds last week is just popping up with tiny little sprouts!  Even after Blackie had trampled all over it! Maybe he DID pack them down good after all! LOL.

Something else that is blooming is that rose bush!  Look at all these lovely roses!

It is now afternoon and I still haven't gotten this post published. To be honest, I haven't felt really great today. I woke up with a sore throat , and although I am HOPING it is just from allergies, it has bothered me enough that I decided to forego the ladies' Bible Study today rather than risk passing germs along to others. I just took a good nap and am having a cup of hot tea with lemon in it, and that's helping me to perk up and hopefully chase this thing away.  

However, I hated to miss Bible Study today, as we are beginning a new study entitled "Jesus & Women in the First Century and Now."  Here's the description from the back of the study guide:

This study will also have some videos to go along with the study guide, and thankfully I can access them online so I could go ahead and watch the first one so I won't be behind the rest of the class.  However, we seldom have ever completed any Bible study in the number of sessions that the guide recommends.  We only meet for one hour each week, and we spend a lot of time "discussing" things as we go, so our lessons usually take much longer to get through than what they say in the book. That's okay...we are there to learn and encourage one another in our walk with Jesus, and sometimes things just take longer than what other people think they should.  Bible studies should never be rushed through...there's a lot of good information there to unpack and digest.

Matthew 9:22 NIV

"Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment."

Now that sounds like some very good news!

Okay, friends, I have to go for now, but tomorrow is Tuesday, and don't forget to go over and join in the Tuesday 4 if you can! It should be very interesting this week! We're going to be talking about our "jobs" that we have done in our lives...

See you there!

Friday Night Celebration! It's Raining!!!

1 Kings 18:41-42 

The Drought Ends

"41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees..."

Be sure to turn on your sound so you can hear the "abundance of rain" !!!

Hallelujah!! I feel like dancing in the rain!

 

Looking out the front windows...

Puddles!!!!!

And then....A RAINBOW!!!  I kept watching and waiting, and pretty soon I was blessed with this beautiful rainbow!!! Praise the Lord for His promises to us!

Genesis 9:12-17

12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 

13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 

14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 

15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 

16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 

17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

And that's all I wanted to share with you tonight, because I know you've been praying that we'd get rain!  I don't know if the areas that have had the fires got any of this rain or not, but we can keep praying! I believe there's more coming Sunday and several days next week, so just maybe the drought is being broken!! We will claim it by faith!

Thank you all for your prayers!!! Please keep them coming!!!