Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

It's raining! It's pouring! The Old Man is snoring! LOL.  Yes, we are currently having a humdinger of a thunderstorm and LOTS of good old pond soaking rain! Hooray!  So that is my #1 thing to say I am thankful for today!

2. We are SO thankful the "kids" made it home safely and we had them come over for supper last night. It was SO wonderful to have them and the puppies back home again after almost a month of being away visiting Rose's family in Minnesota.  I didn't take any pictures of them last night, but they still look the same.  LOL.  They did bring us a few little gifties from their journey:

Zucchini fresh from her father's garden...still has the Minnesota dirt on it! LOL.  I am thinking I'll be making some Zucchini bread very soon with that big one!!

These are either hot pads or dish cloths, or washcloths...whatever you wish, made by Rose's sister Sherrie, using the fabric from a terrycloth bathrobe!  

(They are all reversible to the hot pink side).  Really soft and neat! I love things like this, don't you? Especially when someone has taken the time to make them and recycle something that otherwise might have been discarded or given away.  Thank you, Sherrie!! I love them!

And then Benton and Rose brought us this magnificent bear/deer figure...it is so intricately created using a laser cutter. They know we love bears and deer, and this is perfect for us!

I'm still figuring out a perfect place to put it.

Oh, and last, but not least, Rose brought me this bottle of :

It smells so good! She said it is especially good for making a garlic bread...maybe even put some in a homemade loaf of bread?  I may have to try that!

Don't you just love it when people are so thoughtful to bring you something from their trip? I never expected anything, and that's what makes it even sweeter!! But most of all, we are thankful they are back home safely. It's amazing how much better WE feel just knowing they are back home safe and sound and only a mile away from us instead of a three day drive!

3.  In a recent post HERE, I told you that we had received a text from our Grandson Noah, with a wonderful picture of him and his new car.  (Here it is again in case you missed it. It's always nice to see his smiling face again).  He said in his text that he would be calling us soon, and yes, he was true to his word!

He did in fact call us the next day as promised, and we had such a wonderful long conversation with him! That was such a blessing to us!  And yes, this is a "new" car (not brand new, but new enough!). He purchased it after having a run in with a deer on the highway which pretty well totaled his old car, but thankfully he himself was not hurt. (The deer was not so fortunate...but if you've ever driven country roads at night in deer country, you know how easily this can happen!) Where Noah lives in Maine, he is fortunate it was a deer and not a moose! Now that can really do some severe damage!  Anyway, we are very thankful that Noah was fine and that he was able to purchase this pretty new red car.  He has had a good job for the past year since he went back up there last summer, and he is very thankful that he's been able to save some money and also makes enough to afford the payments and the insurance...which, since he will not be 25 until October is considerable.   Also he has received a kind of promotion in his job that has been very beneficial for him as well.  So he is really doing well and sounds SO good.  And he LOOKS so good too! Yes, he has put on a little weight since we saw him last, which he needed to do actually. For those of you who do not know him, he is 6'4" tall and has plenty of room to fill up.  Also, hubby and I had a little 'bet" going on before he called.  From the picture we weren't too sure if he had cut his formerly long and curly hair or if he just had it pulled back really tight.  I voted for the haircut, hubby wasn't so sure.  Of course, being a grandma who asks all kinds of questions, I asked him if he'd cut it, and he said yes he did as it had gotten too hot and too much to take care of.

Here is a picture of Noah with our two sons Scott and Benton, a little over a year ago when he was last here with us.  You can see what he means about his hair being too hot and too much to take care of. It is very naturally curly and when it is that long, well, you can imagine...  

We had a very interesting and positive conversation about current world events and his thoughts on all of that, which we were very pleasantly surprised to hear that he shares much the same views that we have about all of what's going on, both politically and from a spiritual sense. That was refreshing and comforting to us to hear.  You never know what the younger generation is going to think or profess in these turbulent times.  God has been hearing and answering our prayers in this regard as well, and we are very very thankful.  

Psalm 40:1-3 NKJV

1 "I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord."

Oh, now here's some fun photos from last evening while the "kids" were still here. Rose and I took a little walk over to the lot next door because we had noticed something running across the pond and around the back of the island (the pond has some very dry marsh areas making it possible for something to "run" across the pond in places).  We wanted to see if it was coming out over there where we could see it... And sure enough, if you have really sharp eyes and look pretty much in the middle of this photo below, you will see a raccoon running along the edge of the pond. From there he went into the woods and we couldn't see him anymore.

But what we DID see was something really funny...there are still some big piles of dirt on that lot waiting to be spread out for the pad/foundation for the new home that will be arriving soon.  The Sand Hill Crane family seem to be having some fun playing on top of the mounds of dirt. Maybe they are thinking about making this their new home???

After a little while they decided to head back toward the pond...

And from there they actually went around and ended up in our yard.

I told them that I was still a bit upset with them for destroying my pot of Purslane/Portulaca the other day.  (If you missed it, you can read all about it HERE)

But I had to forgive them because even after them pulling all of the plant out of the pot, I stuck it all back in the pot, and the next day it was blooming again. I did put it on the front porch where it will get plenty of sun (per Sandra of MadSnapper, who is a kind of expert on Purslane. )  And so far it seems to be doing just fine.  

See?  So, yes, this is another thing for which I am thankful!  I don't have a green thumb, so it is very comforting to me to know that I can do this much. I know, it really is all glory to God! He is the Master Gardener!

To close this out I must show you the beautiful sunrise we had this morning:

If you look really close in this one, which is a close up of the one above, you will see the Sand Hill Crane family flying over above the tree tops. They flew right over top of me while I was standing out there on the porch taking pictures, and I almost missed them! 

It was truly a glorious morning!

And I especially wanted to include the American Flag, which we wave proudly from our home every day.  

America, the Beautiful

"O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!"

Amen.

I guess this sums it all up.  We are very thankful for our family, our country, and for all that God has done for us and is doing today. We must all continue to pray for our country in these turbulent times, however. There is so much at stake.  I am not going to get into political issues, but prayer is the most important thing we can do. Amen.