Friday Foto Friends, Praise, Prayer, and Answers Already!

Here it is Friday morning already, and I really don't have much new to share with you.

However, I thought it was nice of this Great Blue Heron to show up last evening to our Still Waters Pond for supper...

Now you see why I like this t-shirt so much that I already told you about.  The Herons come and go here frequently...and it is always a treat to watch them as they silently stalk their prey.

Before I go any further, I would like to request prayer for our niece Shannon. She is having some surgery today to remove the rod that was placed in her hip/pelvis last year after she had a serious car accident that crushed her pelvis and hip area.  The rod seems to be causing some pain and the doctor felt she should be healed well enough to remove it, but it is still a very risky surgery as nerves and arteries could be affected...so any prayers and good thoughts for her are greatly appreciated. I will let you know when we are updated with her condition. Thank you.

I've enjoyed the full moon this week, when I was up at a good time to see it.  This was yesterday morning around 6 a.m.  I was happy to see it as it was slipping down behind the trees on Still Waters Pond.

And at the same time, in the front yard, the sun was rising up over the horizon. The beginning of another beautiful day.

Here's some comforting thoughts for today:

Psalm 121

1 "I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore."

Amen.

So, as this morning has progressed, we took a little ride over to see how things are going for our kids, who have taken today off from working at their current store in St. Augustine so they can get some things done here to help get ready for their grand opening of the new store here. Thankfully they have some helpers to cover the store over there for them.  

They've printed up some fliers to be placed around town wherever there are public bulletin boards...and that's a little job that hubby and I are going to try to help with over the next week.

Our son gave us the grand tour of their home workshop operation that is going on today to help get more items ready for the new store:

Here's Ben in the storage building where they store the items that are ready to be painted and/or just freshly painted:

They obtain good used furniture and refurbish/repurpose/paint it so that it is ready for today's market and style of furnishings...whether it be coastal,  farmhouse, or traditional...it all takes a lot of work to get it just right:

Some items need repairs before they can be painted...

Some just have to wait their turn...

And here's our sweet DIL Rose, painting some of the many shelving units that they also create and sell in their online Etsy business: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BRCoastalRusticDecor .  This is in addition to their Dixie Cottage store business and also keeps them quite busy...

Next stop in the tour is the actual woodworking shop:

And today they have some more wonderful helpers...Rose's sister Tina and her son Charles are becoming a very valuable addition to the team...Here they are painting one of the many custom tables that Ben builds to sell at Dixie Cottage:

Always something being either built,  painted or made ready for sale...

And these are the two supervisors, Sugar and Spice, our beloved grand-puppies.  They keep everyone on their toes, and if you don't get it with the program, they will bark out their orders and let you know about it! LOL.

So that's the tour of some behind the scenes work going on getting ready for the big Grand Opening that is coming sooner than we realize!

Thank you for coming along on the tour!

Oh, perfect timing, I just got a text message from Shannon's mother, and

Shannon is out of surgery in recovery and is doing well!

Praise God!! He's already answered our prayers before you even knew about it.

God is good, and we are so very very thankful.  However, your prayers are still needed as she does recover and resumes her active life of an 18 year old getting ready for college.