Weekend Thoughts and Events

Hello from Still Waters Pond and beyond!  Thought you'd like to see how our young Sand Hill Crane colts are growing! They are only about 2 & 1/2 weeks old, but they are growing like weeds!  Not sure which is which as they are pretty much matched for size, but this is either Abe Lincoln (or "Abby") ...

And this may be George Washington, (or Georgette!)  No way to tell at this point, but they sure are cute!

Look at those long legs and necks...every time we see them they seem to have grown another inch!

Every day is a new adventure for them as they explore their world here and beyond our yard and pond, always under the careful watchful eyes of their parents.  

And the Bluebird couple are busily tending to their nest and possible new babies inside...not sure yet if eggs have hatched, but the parents are constantly coming and going, so it tells me something's going on inside that house for sure!

This is Mama, checking around for possible intruders before she goes back inside the house...

After she goes inside and tends to business, she pokes her head back out to watch for Papa bird to come back, or either she's watching for other birds who keep flying around, curious about what's going on.

Truly, there's never a dull moment around here!

We also take our daily walk at our woodsy walking place, and here's a few pictures of the signs of spring currently taking place...This is actually an old deserted well or septic tank...I'm not sure, but there are blackberry bushes growing inside of it, with lots of blossoms...

This is a close up of some of the blossoms,  already forming blackberries.  We have some around our house also, but the birds get the berries before I ever get a chance to pick them...

This is the flower of a "Paw Paw" bush...  They are blooming all over the woods and along the roadsides right now.  They will grow a fruit on them that resembles a small banana or papaya. They taste a bit like a cross between a banana and a mango or papaya I think, but they have large seeds. It's probably best to just let the critters enjoy them.

And this is one of the wild plum trees that I showed you earlier in the spring that had white flowers all over it...now they are starting to develop the wild plums. They never get very large and aren't sweet, but again, the critters love them, so these are some of the ways God takes care of our wildlife around here! They actually have it quite good in this neck of the woods!!

Genesis 1:11-13, 29-31

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; 

and it was so. 

12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. 

And God saw that it was good. 

13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 

30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. 

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

In other news and events, on Thursday evening our son Scott called to tell us that his car had broken down on the highway on his way home from work in Jacksonville...a very busy and dangerous place to be on the road in any condition. Thankfully he was able to get off the road safely and had his car towed to his house.  It was not easily or quickly repairable, and he needed to find some reliable and affordable transportation to be able to get to work.  So we decided that I would drive up to Jacksonville on Friday and take him 'car shopping' for a good, affordable used vehicle.  Hopefully we would be able to find something and take care of all of the paper work, etc. within that one day so he could get back to work on Saturday morning. He works in the grounds maintenance for a golf course, and the grass grows every day...  

Anyway, long story short, I managed to find his house/condo for the first time ever, and after a quick tour of the premises and use of the "facilities", we took off to begin our search. I did actually like his place where he lives. It is an older house/duplex, and it has some old fashioned "charm".  Here's a few snapshots I took inside...

I have a "thing" about the old glass doorknobs, and I was so happy to see this one on the bathroom door, so of course I had to take a picture.

These are the knobs on the kitchen cabinets that I thought were cute...

And of course, this is a "bachelor pad", and our son has never been known for his "tidiness", but I still wanted to take pictures of this very old fashioned kitchen sink...

This is the larger view of the kitchen cabinets.  If I lived there I would definitely do some cleaning and re-grouting and general "refurbishing" of the old fashioned charm. There were also hardwood floors, tall ceilings and old woodwork/hardware and other vintage decor that had lots of potential...but guys don't always see that and when you work all the time you don't have time to do much about it.  It needs a "woman's touch".  LOL.

So after I oohed and aahed over his house we hit the road in search of the right car.  After several long minutes and miles of trying to find the right places and then realizing they didn't have what was advertised, etc., "someone" was getting a bit anxious and frustrated.  Then we stopped and prayed for God's direction (which we should have done first), and the next place we found had many good options to choose from.  After zeroing in on one vehicle that looked promising, we decided to go eat some lunch and talk it over and think about it, and pray that it would still be available when we got back.  My thought was that if it was God's will for him to have that car, it would still be available.  And sure enough, when we got back it was still there waiting for us.  So after all the wheeling and dealing was done, a couple hours later he drove away in this:

It is a 2003 Lexus...which yes, is over 20 years old, but it was still in great condition and the price was right.  He was trying to avoid having to take out a loan and just needed something reliable to get back and forth to work. This filled the bill.  Praise God!  And so he went back home and I headed back to my home a different way than the way I had come because of where we were at the car dealership.  Let's just say that traveling on a Friday afternoon in  busy city traffic is not my favorite thing to do, and I had some hair-raising and scary moments  trying to get in the correct lane to turn and finding the right route that my GPS was being very quietly mysterious about and anyway...after I had a few meltdowns because I thought I was lost...I finally made it home in one piece...a bit rattled, but I was safe and "sound"...(sort of). I had to decompress for a while after getting home...I am a country girl and I prefer country roads to interstates and busy highways...but I was very thankful that our mission was accomplished and I know God was with us both all the way.

One very sad note to our day, however...I received a call from our Pastor's wife telling me that one of our dear elderly ladies in our church had passed away.  It was very upsetting to me because I had been trying to call her throughout the week when she didn't show up at Sunday School and Church on Easter. That was very much unlike her, as she was very faithful to come to both...I called her several times but got no answer and she didn't have an answering machine. So I had even called her brother, who lives across the street from her, and did not get an answer there, nor did he have an answering machine so I couldn't leave a message for him.  After several attempts to reach her, several others said perhaps they had gone away for the holiday, but I knew it was unlike her to do that without letting someone know. Plus her brother and his wife are both in poor health and they would not be doing any traveling either. However, my thought was that if something was seriously wrong, her brother would have let someone at the church know about it as he knew how much she loved her church family, even though he attended a different church.  So anyway, it was a shock to hear that finally he did go over to her house on Friday and found her passed away. They did not know for how long.  My main thought was that she was with Jesus, and most likely she died very suddenly because she had a bad heart condition...but still...it was upsetting to think about her dying alone.  Then again...with Jesus, we are never alone, right?

Jesus said to His disciples before He died the following:

John 14:3

"3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Apparently Cathy's "place" was "prepared", and Jesus came and got her and took her "home" to be with Him forever.

This is my friend Cathy...age 87.  I took this picture of her at our ladies' Christmas fellowship this past year.  She never liked to have her picture taken, but I insisted and so she allowed me to take it...So glad I did...

Cathy was a retired nurse, and she was also the former President of our Ladies' organization at church, a former choir member, and she faithfully attended Sunday School and the Ladies' Bible Study. She was always wanting to learn more. A wonderful woman of God. 

Rest in peace, dear Cathy. You will be missed here, but we know you are happy where you are now, with Jesus, and also your dear husband and other loved ones.    And we WILL see you again some day!


And so with that I will close for today. May we always be ready to meet the Lord, for none of us know when our day will come when our "place" will be "prepared" and waiting.  Cathy was ready to go, I have no doubt.