Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday, and I'm thankful! I don't join in the "link up" for the official "Thankful Thursday",  NOTE: I DID LINK UP HERE with Rebecca at "Knit by God's Hand"...so go over and visit her after you read this and see what others are thankful for!  It just seems like a good day to think about what I am thankful for...this could be a LONG post! Never fear, I will just try to pick some highlights of things I am happy about/thankful for from the recent past:

 Life here on "Still Waters Pond" is always a delight every single day...

 We were blessed to see this beautiful White Egret fly onto the pond this past week. The Egrets and Herons have been "MIA" for a while.  I don't know if they fly further south for the winter, or if they just didn't want to intrude on the ducks and geese while they were enjoying their winter haven. But I was happy to see this beautiful bird come and stay a little while. A Great Blue Heron also showed up one day, but I wasn't able to get a good picture as it was still a little dark.

Our fun to watch little "Ring-Necked Ducks" have been so entertaining this past month or so, but now I think they must have started their journey back up north as we have not seen them in several days.  They were so much fun because they are "diving ducks", and they remind us of kids playing in the water, as they all gather around in a circle and it's like they say, "One, Two, Three, Dive!" and they all go under water.  Then one by one they pop back up again, and start the process all over again.

I understand they breed and spend their summers in Canada. I do hope they will find their way back to our little tiny pond again next winter!

Likewise, our Canadian Geese "couple" have spent most of the winter here. They come flying in early in the morning with a lot of honking to let us know they've arrived. Their flight pattern goes right over top of our house and we can't help but hear their grand entrance! They stay around and enjoy eating and swimming on the pond most of the morning hours, and then they fly out again to go who knows where?  I don't know when they will start their journey back up north, but we have certainly enjoyed watching them as well. They seem to get along just fine with the ducks, although they do honk at them if they swim too close.

I am thankful for the beautiful sunsets that we have here over the pond...

 Some nights it just looks like the woods are on fire...

And actually, the next morning we woke up to the smell of smoke, and this is smoke on the pond, not mist!

 Our sunrise was clouded with smokey clouds....Thankfully there was just some "prescribed burns" going on in the area, and not a real forest fire.  We are thankful that our forestry department does do the prescribed burns to help keep the forest clear of unnecessary underbrush and fuel for fires.  However, we are thankful that today the air is clear and we can go outside and breathe again!

I am thankful for a delicious brunch with my hubby at a nearby cafe' on our way home from a neighboring city where I endured some grueling medical exams.  I had a special kind of MRI, that involved a lot of different kinds of "actions", the details of which I will spare you.

 I only share this with you to let you know that I will be having some necessary surgery in a few weeks, nothing life-threatening, but some "repair" work on this old body that hopefully will improve my current "quality of life".  Let's just say that when you are getting up there in age, and you had several very large babies earlier in life, "things" start to "break down" and repairs must be made. 'Nuf said.'  Just keep me in your prayers over the next few weeks and the weeks that follow the surgery. I may not be posting as much at that time.

So it was nice to have this friendly, happy Valentine's atmosphere to relax and enjoy our brunch on our way home.


Another huge thing to be thankful for...this "lovely black truck" (seen below) has a history of its own. It belonged to our son, well, sort of...he used it, but we had actually purchased it for him when he was between vehicles and jobs and needed transportation. Then this truck broke down, and it was too expensive to repair. (Too bad they don't have "Medicare" for old trucks like they do for old bodies! Ha )  So it sat in our yard (this is an old picture from our previous home) for quite a while, and then our son was in a better position to take care of his own transportation, so the truck still just sat. Well, one day a "miracle" happened, and the truck started working again...it was unexplainable, but just one of those little blessings.  However, at this point we really didn't need it anymore.  We moved it with us when we moved to our new house, but it just sat in the yard and we did use it occasionally but it really wasn't reliable enough to use all the time.

(our son with this truck when he first got it)

 Hubby and I had decided that we really needed to get rid of it, but didn't know how to go about selling it and hated the hassle of trying to sell it.  But God overheard us talking about it apparently, and one day this past week a young man came and knocked on our door and wanted to know if we wanted to sell this truck. He is a mechanic and wasn't afraid of the "issues" it might have. He wanted to buy it to work on and eventually it would become his teenage son's truck.  He quoted us a price that was better than we ever hoped to get for the truck, and, long story short, within the hour he came back with cash in hand and the truck became his!!!!

We consider this a true miracle and a blessing from God. With my impending surgery, we expect there will be added expenses like co-pays, etc., that we really don't have the extra money for, so this "gift" is truly an answer to prayer at just the right time.  I love how God knows our needs, and even when we didn't know how to go searching for answers, He provided.

Recently in our little church we have been singing the chorus, "You Are My Hiding Place" (above)

This is based on the verse in Psalms:

"You are my hiding place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah."

Psalm 32:7

When I was in the middle of the MRI test the other day, I started singing this song and other songs about Jesus, and they gave me such comfort, and helped me tune out the loud pinging of the MRI machine. (If you've ever had an MRI, you will know what I mean about the noise).

I love how God provides all that we need just when we need it most.  Beauty to look at that brings us such joy. Protection from fires, A comfortable place to sit with a loved one and enjoy some peace and good food after a grueling test, a miraculous provision of funds when we need it most, and songs of deliverance whenever we might feel a little afraid or concerned.  I also am thankful that the results of my MRI showed that I would not need quite as extensive surgery as originally thought by the surgeon. It will be "enough" as it is, but so thankful it will not need to be more. Praise God!

I hope that you are also counting your blessings today. When we stop and take the time to look around us, we can see many ways that God has blessed us, often without our even asking. 

Thank you for being one of those blessings!! You are, you know!

Have a blessed and beautiful and thankful day.