Monday Monday...Stormy Skies and Pleasant Days

Stormy Skies!  These photos were actually taken yesterday evening. We thought we'd go take a walk, but didn't realize how stormy the skies were until we got to our walking place.  So we hurried up and walked fast and got back in the car just before the lightning and thunder started and then the rains came.

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the storm clouds from a distance:

Aren't they amazing?  Now today, we are actually having a lot of rain again. 

Here's the view on Still Waters Pond:

Not too long ago it was very dry where all those tall grasses are now.

But the waters have come back up quite nicely with all the rain we've been having.

The pond looks quite healthy again. Of course, there are still too many lily pads, but not much I can do about that. It's still beautiful in its own way.

And guess who came to visit us today?  Yes!  The whole Sand Hill Crane family came back for a nice little visit!

We had not seen the whole family in about a month, and I was beginning to worry about them, but today they all showed up and stayed awhile. They must like whatever is growing there in the tall, wet grasses along the shore of the pond.

Look how big Pat and Val have gotten!  They still don't have their red caps on their heads yet, but it won't be long, I'm sure.

And the Bluebirds seem to be coming and going these days. I hadn't seen them for a couple of days and so I was beginning to think they had given up on nesting again, perhaps because it had been so hot.

But they showed up again this morning and checked everything out and acted like they were still building the nest...but this fella doesn't really look very happy:

What do you think? LOL.

And then there is the "battle of the hummingbirds" going on! Oh my goodness, I wish you could watch them in action!

These are just two of them, but there are at least four, and they are constantly fighting for first place at the bird feeder.  They zoom in and out like fighter jets, chasing each other out of the way...

But then they call "truce" for a few seconds and give each other a chance to get a drink, before zooming away again, only to return in another few minutes.  It's quite a show!

Speaking of "quite a show"...we bought a couple of new rugs for our two sweet grandpuppies, and put their little toy balls on the rugs to see what they would do. They immediately ran to the rugs and started playing

And then they wrestled over the rugs and had them all bunched up and rolled up in them and had a good old time.

But finally settled down and just relaxed and enjoyed having a new rug to lay on. Yes, one rug is smaller than the other because they came in a set like that, but they really didn't care. They were happy.

Someone said last week that I should let Sugar and Spice have their own blog to tell about their adventures. Well...that might be pushing it a bit. We'll just share their fun whenever we can. I should talk my son or DIL into writing a blog for them. They are the ones who get to see their adventures the most. I mean, they just took a big trip across the country and back and had all kinds of fun, while we sat here and sweltered in the sunny south. LOL. 

But anyway, moving right along...

Yesterday, (Sunday), was an interesting day. Saturday afternoon we received a call from our Pastor's wife asking if my hubby would be able to preach on Sunday, as the Pastor was sick with a tummy virus. Hubby was more than happy to be able to do that for him.  As a retired preacher, he has lots of sermons still floating around in his head, and with the help of the Holy Spirit he was able to preach a wonderful message yesterday morning. It was such a blessing to see that even at our "great age", God is still able to use us for His honor and glory as needed. 

I remember these words were preached at my husband's ordination service, about 45 years ago:

2 Timothy 4:1-5

1 "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

This picture was taken of us at his ordination service, as these men of God laid hands on us and prayed and anointed my husband for service in the ministry.  45 years ago is a long time, and we've been a lot of places and he's preached many a sermon, but God's blessing and gift is still there, alive and well. Praise God!! So very thankful to God for His blessings.

Well, dear friends, I need to wrap this up. Monday is almost over and soon it will be time for the Tuesday 4 'meme', which I hope to participate in tomorrow, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise!" If it keeps raining, I may have to think about that old saying. I see where some places up north are really and truly having serious flooding issues. I don't know if any of our blogging friends live in those places, but if so, you are in our thoughts and prayers. Praying you are safe and "high and dry".  

Good Night!!