Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 I am combining the two days because most likely it will be tonight (Yes! It is 12 hours later than when I started!) before I get this finished and published and then it will be too late to have a Friday Foto post too...but we shall see.  It's been a busy week settling back in after our long trip! Catching up on laundry and other household chores and helping out at Dixie Cottage so our son could get caught up with his custom orders and working on painting projects.  It's a never ending cycle when you have a family owned and operated store! We are thankful for their friend who kept the shop open through the weekend so we could all get away at the same time. 

So back to our trip and the main reason we went to Ellijay, GA. in the first place.  As many of you know we went to a "celebration of life" and 80th birthday celebration for my husband's cousin "Sonny", who passed away in November. He had told his wife Joy to have his 80th birthday celebration whether or not he was able to be there, since she had already made plans and had ordered decorations, etc.  And so she went ahead with the party as planned. I am sure Sonny was smiling down at us from heaven and enjoying the party "from a distance".  Well, we don't know exactly how that works, but we feel sure Sonny would have been pleased at the large group of friends and family who showed up, many from a long distance like us!  Here are a few pictures from the party:

This is a more recent photo of "Sonny"...

The cake was beautiful, but to be honest, no one wanted to eat the part that had the picture on it. Just saying...maybe the cake decorator should have made it so that the picture could be removed before cutting the cake? Just a thought for cake decorators to consider...

Beautiful white roses...

And delicious "80" sugar cookies...which followed a wonderful dinner of bbq brisket, chicken, potato salad, coleslaw and beans and corn...it was a feast that Sonny would have loved...

Here's our table...our son Benton, hubby John, Sonny's oldest son "Chuck", and my hubby's brother Billy...

Here's our sweet DIL Rose and Benton:

Billy and his wife Peggy:

Then Sonny's wife Joy came over and visited with us:

We also visited with Sonny's other son Brennan along with Chuck. It was good to spend some time with them as it has been a long time since we had been together:

This is Joy again, leading the "program" and introducing people. She is an amazingly strong Christian woman, and with the help of her family and church friends, she carried out this "celebration" with grace and much love.

There were a LOT of people there!

And then Sonny's grandson Duncan led us in a time of worship and praise. He's been serving as a worship leader in churches for a while, and is a gifted singer for sure.  

I wish I had recorded him singing...I just didn't think of it soon enough.

All during the evening there were several TV screens with photos of Sonny and his family. I wanted this picture in particular, because while Duncan was singing, this picture of both his Grandfather Sonny and Sonny's daughter, who is Duncan's mother, showed up on the screen. Very sadly, Duncan (and he has a brother Dustin also) lost their mother very tragically when they were very young. I know she would have been very proud of her sons, and especially I know she would have loved hearing Duncan leading the time of worship this evening. I told him so afterwards. She was a beautiful young woman who left this world much too soon...

After dinner and the time of worship and sharing memories, the families started lining up for pictures.

This is Sonny's immediate family...his sons and their families and grandchildren and one of their uncles.

Brothers and Cousins:

And our side of the family tree. My hubby and his brother are Sonny's 1st cousins, and then our son and his wife , and Sonny's two sons and two of his grandsons on the far left, Duncan and Dustin. 

It was a beautiful evening filled with much love and comfort for one another. I know Sonny would have been very pleased to see us all gathered together in his honor and memory. We are very glad that we made the trip to be there.

And now another chapter to this story happened today...Yes, that is Joy...and she is standing with our son Benton in his store, Dixie Cottage! I told you she was an amazing woman.  She had promised her husband Sonny that she would take care of several of his wishes as soon as possible. One has to do with the scattering of his ashes in several places...his parents' graves and his daughter's grave.  Long story, but anyway she is following through with his wishes, which required a trip from Georgia to Florida for one part...(thankfully her brother and sister in law and a nephew came along with her for company)

And while here in the area she wanted to come visit Dixie Cottage and see it for herself, because she had always been involved in the marketing of these kinds of businesses throughout her career and she was very interested in how Benton and Rose are doing here...Plus...she had promised to continue the relationship with Sonny's "sister" Jane, (another long story but a good one), who lives in Florida and so she came down to see her and take care of these other requests at the same time.

And here is my hubby with our "cousin Jane".  Believe it or not, my hubby was the ring-bearer at Jane's wedding when he was only about 5 or 6 years old! So our families do go a long way back! It was wonderful to see Jane, who is about 92 years old and can barely hear and hardly see and has other physical issues...but she was thrilled to take a ride up to see us today with Joy. She actually lives about two hours from here, so it was a long ride!

Jane wasn't about to leave without buying something from Dixie Cottage, so she purchased a lovely silver ring and bracelet from one of our vendors who repurposes vintage silverware into beautiful jewelry. She's amazing. Said she doesn't need anything anymore at her age, but she does love to have pretty jewelry to wear to church!

And Joy was also enamored with the silver bracelets, so needed to get one for herself as well...

It was a lovely visit and we were so thankful to have this time to actually really visit with Joy a little more closely as the party the other evening was just too filled with other people to have much time to talk. 

So now I think I can close this chapter of this story. We are so thankful to be home again, but also very thankful God enabled us to make that trip.

We are also thankful to be back at our own Still Waters Pond...and it has not disappointed us...here's a few pictures from the past few days:

Mr. Great Blue Heron was perched and ready for his breakfast one morning...

Mrs. Blue Heron (maybe?) was across the pond fishing for her breakfast...

You can see how far apart they really were above

So beautiful and graceful to watch them both.  

And then this morning Mr. Cardinal showed up for his breakfast at the pretty birdfeeder!

I haven't been able to see very many birds land on that feeder as I have to just put Safflower seed on it to keep the squirrels from getting on it...and not every bird likes the safflower seeds so I am always thrilled when I see one on there...

He also flew over to the little tea cup...but I think it is empty. I don't put seeds in it because they will get wet, but sometimes there is water in it for the more dainty "tea cup drinkers"....

Such a lovely visitor to our garden...

And not to be forgotten or left out, the Canada geese continue to come and go to the pond as well. 

This was just a pair of geese. Usually we have seen larger flocks, but maybe these are thinking about mating and building a nest here? I would love to see that!

Time will tell.

Oh, these verses popped up for today's morning devotions...and I was reminding of my One Word for 2023, "Listen"...and I have been indeed listening for God's voice in all of the above activities and thoughts and ideas...not sure of the message just yet, but I believe there is something beautiful in all of this.

Psalm 95:6-9

6 "Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

7 For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you will hear His voice:

8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 When your fathers tested Me;

They tried Me, though they saw My work."

Oh Lord, may I hear Your voice, and may I never allow my heart to be  hardened or rebellious. 

I have seen Your works, and stand amazed in Your Presence. 

Thank You, Lord, for your love and mercy and grace.

Amen.

I came home to find this amaryllis plant ready to bloom! I just planted it before we left!

God's Amazing Grace blooming all around us.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends. Thank you for hanging in there with me through all of these photos from our trip and beyond. I am trying to get around to visit each of you and am trying to get caught up, but being away for several days really put me behind. I look forward to visiting with you all as I can.  God bless you each and every one.