Celebrating a Special Day

What a wonderful day!!  My birthday!! God is so good, He's so good to me! We started out the day by going to breakfast....but wait...this rose is still blooming after a week:

I couldn't believe it!  Some evenings it droops its head and looks like it is dead, but I've been snipping off the end of the stem each day a little and giving it fresh water, and it keeps reviving and blessing me every day! I first told you the story about this rose here, last week. It truly is a "heaven-sent blessing" for my birthday! In case you are wondering about this lovely green vase, that belonged to my mother, and she always kept it near her kitchen sink/windowsill, ready to receive roses from their flower garden too. This is the same kind of rose that my parents grew, "Don Juan" climbing rose, and I absolutely love it.

Okay, so back to the day.  Hubby and I took off for Palatka, the closest "big" town near us, our county seat, about 15 miles from here, (big, in that they have Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, stuff like that...) and we went downtown to their old revitalized downtown area and had breakfast at the Magnolia Cafe'

 We had a delightful table in the front windows, overlooking the street...

 Hello!

I asked for hot tea, and look at the choices!

It was a difficult decision, but I finally decided on Tazo Wild Sweet Orange.  I mean, it's my birthday...so why not be a little daring and wild?  It was very good...especially with lemon and honey.

 My breakfast was more than I should have eaten...but I did eat the whole thing...(didn't eat any lunch to make up for it...)

 Omelette with spinach, cheese, peppers, onions, sausage, and a side of bacon and home fries and toast. Wow...I was stuffed!

Then we stepped next door to the "Urban Farmhouse" vintage and farmhouse style furnishings.  Our son and his lovely wife, working as the team "Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop", create lovely tables and benches in the farmhouse style, along with refinishing vintage tables and dressers, etc., like this one below: and they sell them here on consignment...

And this one:

They didn't make this one, but actually I see one they did do on the corner of the picture and I didn't even realize it at the time:

They did build this one below:

When I told the lady who runs the store who I was, she told me that our son and daughter in law do great work and actually she had just sold two of their items the day before that they aren't even aware of as they are away on a little vacation!  So they will be excited to hear that good news...which helped pay for their vacation!!

For supper our other son, who lives here, grilled some delicious steaks for us...and that was a wonderful way to celebrate the day.  But then I decided I needed to do one more special thing "just for me"...I finally took a bath in my very own bathtub in my very own bathroom! I've been saving this little pleasure for a special day, and I figured my birthday was exactly that...so I filled up the tub, added some delightful bubble bath (lavender scented) lit a candle,  and luxuriated in the tub until the water got too cool...Such a relaxing way to end the day!

If you decide to come for a visit, you are welcome to take a bath too..."Hot Bath 25 cents, Soap and Towel Extra"....Ha ha...no you won't have to pay...it's just a fun little sign that my son painted for me some time ago...

To continue the celebration, some family and friends from out of town are coming over on Friday for lunch and to see our new house for the first time. I've still got some work to do before then, but have decided not to stress over it.  It's not perfect...but whose house is?   I know mine will never be perfect, but we are enjoying it and looking forward to sharing it with others as time goes by.

So I end this special day with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord, for His great kindness and blessing in my life for all of these years...and yes, they are getting to be "many" years...but praise God, I have been blessed with good health, and a wonderful home and family and many friends. What more can we ask for?

I like what this little devotional calendar says for today:

"Don't let the abundance of God's gifts cause you to forget the Giver."

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom 

and knowledge of God!"

Romans 11:33a NIV

Wonderful reminder. Sometimes we get so caught up in the blessings that we forget to thank the One Who made it all possible. I don't ever want to be guilty of that.  God has been so good to us...but even greater than all these "things" are the "depth of riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"...Our salvation in Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of all! Without Him...we would be nothing at all.  So I give thanks to Jesus for His love and saving grace...and for the abundance of life in Him that overflows in joy and gladness.  Praise God!

Have a blessed day tomorrow dear friends. I'm fully relaxed now and ready for bed! Tomorrow is another day to praise the Lord and serve Him with gladness!!