Thursday Thankfulness

So thankful for tonight's sunset, because it was a portent of some much needed rain.

Sure enough, not even 10 minutes after I had taken these pictures I heard the wonderful sound of rain hitting on our metal roof...

This was the first rain here since the hurricane passed through a couple of weeks ago, and you wouldn't think it could be so dry after a hurricane, but it was very dry. It was like the hurricane just sucked up all the moisture in the air and took it with it as it moved up the coast to deposit it in other places.

So we were very thankful tonight to get a nice rain shower for a few minutes.

We do continue to pray for those in south Florida who are still suffering and recovering from the hurricane. In our thoughts of thankfulness for the blessing of rain here, we never want to forget what they are still enduring there. So very thankful for all those who have extended much comfort and care and assistance to so many.  May God bless them and continue to give them strength for the task that still must be completed.

Now, I know you probably don't want to hear Dixie Cottage news all the time, but this is a good story.

A few weeks ago we sold a very nice dining room table and chairs set and china closet to an older couple, and in return they wanted the store to take their old table and chairs and china closet, and give them some money for it.  Our son sometimes has a soft spot in his heart before he looks the situation over really good...and in this case he offered the couple a certain price for their old furniture before he really got it outside in the light to look it over really well.  Well, let's just say when he got a better look at the furniture he'd just purchased he felt like he'd gotten taken a bit.  It was formica and particle board and a set from the 1970's.  Not the usual style of furniture that we like to sell at Dixie Cottage, and because it was formica we really couldn't paint it and make it look pretty.  When I first saw it I told our son that he ought to just donate it to a thrift store and call it a done deal. I didn't want it taking up space in our store!!!

This is the china cabinet below. It really wasn't too bad, but again, just not the same quality that we try to have in the store. However, a deal is a deal, and so we cleaned it up (it needed it!) and set it up "AS IS" for sale.  The table and six chairs and china cabinet have sat there without much notice from customers until this morning, when my hubby and I were there alone in the store.

This older couple came in and walked right over to the table and chairs and said they'd take it, and then they noticed the china cabinet and said they'd take that too!

We helped them load up the table and chairs in their truck before they could change their minds and they said they'd be back later for the china cabinet. Thankfully they came back after our son was there to help load it.   We all did a happy dance after that furniture was totally gone from the store! And we thanked the Lord, because lately the sales have been a bit slow and it's been a little discouraging...so I feel like God has blessed our son for doing a good deed for one couple, and then this other couple seemed just tickled pink to find this set and said it was just what they needed!

Meanwhile, another answer to prayer was this beautiful hutch has also sold...this is one that has been painted and renewed and will also make another family happy...

And this lovely armoire also sold without us having to do anything to it. The couple wanted it "as is".

So we are very thankful for these blessings over the past couple of days.  When you run a small business, every sale is a blessing!

I also thank the Lord that I am feeling a lot better this evening than I was yesterday. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and get out of the way for a little while and rest. That's what I did, and thankfully today was a good day. Oh, and our sweet daughter in love baked a chicken pot pie and sent over some for us for our supper tonight! Now that was a blessing...and a good one too!

Now for something strange and funny...I was sitting here at my computer working, and I looked over to my left and noticed something very strange:

The lights were on in Pamela's Victorian Cottage!!  For those of you who are newbies to my blog you may not know about Pamela's Victorian Cottage because I haven't written about it in quite a while...and nor have I played with it (a dollhouse) in quite a while, and I most certainly have NOT turned on the lights inside of it in several months!  So you can imagine my consternation and surprise to see those lights burning!

Even the little Mother looks quite perplexed and worried about whatever could be going on!

The children are all looking at each other rather sheepishly as if to say, "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!"

And our little boy upstairs is kneeling by his bedside and saying his prayers. The other children are looking around and trying to figure out what's going on.

I have no answer for this mystery. I checked the battery pack for the lights and it is in the "off" position! So I just turned it back to the on position and the lights went off, and now I can't get them back on again. 'Tis a mystery!  Probably needs new batteries...but it sure got my attention!

Maybe I need to pay my little friends some more attention...

"Here's to being a child again.

To laughing without a reason,

smiling so that others will do

the same and believing the

best is all around us."

"But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, 

and do not forbid them; 

for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:14

Good Night dear friends.

Remember to count your blessings!