Thankful Thursday!

I wasn't sure if I would have time to write tonight, but as the evening hours wore on I kept reflecting on how wonderful our day was today, and I just felt like it was something that needed to be remembered.  Many of us who blog do so to remember special moments in our lives...and to share them with you, our friends. Why do we do this? To give thanks to the Lord for the good things He is doing in our lives, and also to encourage one another in our daily walk.  When we see and hear about the good things that others are doing to bless other folks, it encourages us to want to pass that blessing on to others...at least that's how I feel about it.

Today was a lovely day.  I mentioned last night in my post:

"Tomorrow will be another busy and wonderful day. Having some other friends/neighbors from our old neighborhood coming to visit, and they are also bringing lunch! Wow!!! We sure are blessed with friends "old and new". I think we are having an early St. Patrick's Day meal: Corned Beef and Cabbage, and all the trimmings! Should be wonderful! "

Well, today was that day, and it certainly met up to all expectations and even beyond!  Wow! God is so good to bring such special people into our lives...and then to allow us to continue that friendship even after we have moved away! What's neat is, the two couples in this group of neighbors are snowbirds, so they only come down south for a while during the winter months and then they are gone back to their northern homes for the rest of the year.  But their winter homes were in our neighborhood at our previous home, and so we became friends! The other gentleman of the group was our next door neighbor right behind us, a very unique and kind man who loves to cook and also loves to give gifts.  I just realized that I last wrote about this particular group of neighbors almost exactly one year ago HERE, when they visited in our previous home for a lasagna dinner!

This year they insisted on bringing the main course and dessert and the delicious home-made cornbread. I provided the salad(s).  Here's a few pictures from our day:

Actually, this picture is from the internet, because I forgot to take a picture of the corned beef and cabbage, red potatoes and carrots that our former neighbor who loves to cook brought. He cooked this whole meal in his pressure cooker, and it was so tender and delicious...we all wanted seconds!

My friend Dee made this delicious cornbread...the perfect bread to compliment the main course, slathered in fresh creamy butter...


I made a tossed green salad, served in this pretty new bowl that I got from "The Pioneer Woman". I love her dishes!!

And here is what's left of my dish of Lime Jello Cottage Cheese & Pineapple salad, also known as "Aunt Marion's Lime Jello".  We usually had this wonderful concoction at Christmas, but I made this today per my hubby's special request. Here is a link to a recipe I found online that is pretty much exactly the same:  https://homecookingmemories.com/lime-green-jello-salad-recipe-cottage-cheese-pineapple/

For dessert we had this wonderful pecan upside down cake, baked by my friend Joy:

I don't have the exact measurements for this recipe, but basically she mixed maybe two cups of pecan halves with brown sugar, tablespoon of water and melted butter, and put that in the bottom of a 9 x 13" baking pan. She then mixed up a yellow cake mix as per directions on the box, and pour the mixture over the pecan mixture, and baked it probably however long the recipe for the cake mix called for. I may need to contact my friend for more explicit directions, but there are some recipes out there on the internet that sound about the same. Click HERE: This one sounds about the same for the topping, but she used a cake mix for the cake, and didn't do the confectioner's sugar on top.
She served it with cool whip on top.  It was DELICIOUS!!!

Here's these two lovely ladies now...you can tell they are a lot of fun! They were chuckling before they went into the kitchen and washed and dried all the dishes! (Laughing at me telling them NOT to wash the dishes) And they were still chuckling even afterwards! What a blessing!

And here's the guys who came along.  We were also celebrating the man on the left's 80th birthday!! But we forgot to put the candles on the dessert, so we sang Happy Birthday to him after the fact...

While he tried to mix up the numbers so they didn't say "80"....nice try!

 Oh yes, my hubby was there too.  He said we've celebrated his birthday enough for one year, so we didn't sing to him again...

I forgot to take a picture when the table was all set, but I wanted to get a picture of these lovely crystal candle holders again.  If you looked at the post from last year, you'll see that I featured them then as well. They are certainly worth mentioning. Our friend was pleased to see that I was still using them.

Yes, it was a wonderful day...such a blessing to have such dear friends want to travel all the way to our new home and even brought most of the food just so that we could all be together again! That truly humbled and touched our hearts. They know that I am getting ready for surgery, and they wanted to do something special without me having to do so much work. God is so good...and we are very thankful for these dear friends.

Here's some more thoughts from the Scriptures about neighbors and friends:

1 Corinthians 10:24 (ESV)

24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

Luke 6:38 (ESV)

38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

1 Thessalonians 3:12  (NKJV)

12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,

John 13:34-35 (ESV)

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I hope that you are encouraged by these verses as well as by the example of these dear ones who showed such love today. I know it is an encouragement to me, and an inspiration to be more willing to go the extra mile to bless someone else along life's pathway.  It doesn't have to be a full course meal, but even just sending a card, or calling a person on the phone to chat who may be lonely, or stopping by for a visit and taking a little gift of some kind...a plate of cookies or a little cake or nut bread or something you've made by hand. (or not! we aren't all that crafty...so it doesn't have to be home-made).  I know I often have "good intentions", but then I get busy and I never get around to doing what I had thought to do.  I'm not a big fan of Nike, but I do like their slogan..."Just do it!"   Don't keep making up excuses or wasting time and energy on things that are not worthwhile.  Look for ways to bless someone else along the way.  (I'm talking to myself here!)  

Very thankful for these blessings today.  How about you? How has God blessed you today?