Sunday Evening Musings

This was today's sunrise!  Sunday morning glory in the heavens!

My post on Facebook said, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!". (Psalm 150:6)

It was breathtaking, but I still praised the Lord with every breath that I breathed.  Such a beautiful way to start the day!

If you want to sing a happy song along with our choir, join in here below:

Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

For God is great and greatly to be praised. God is great and greatly to be praised.

O Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Another great way to start the day!!  (and now that it is evening when I am writing this,  a good way to end the day!)

Today was a lovely day...no rain for a change!  I had kind of hoped to go out to eat after church with a group of our church friends, but they had decided to go to a different place than where we normally go, and it is sometimes crowded and you have to wait in line a while, and we just didn't feel like doing that today, so we came on home. Normally our son Scott comes down on Sunday afternoon for lunch (and does his laundry), but he wasn't coming today, and Rose and Benton weren't coming either because she had to work today, so were kind of at loose ends. However, actually in some ways that was best.  We've had a busy week and frankly I was tired.  

Yesterday we had our church monthly pot-luck "Agape'" luncheon, and I had made my "Taco Lasagna" casserole.  It was good, and I still had a little left over, but I didn't feel like eating that either.  It's not really something that my tummy can handle two days in a row! LOL.  So I made a salad with some ham and cheese on top of the lettuce, etc., and that was plenty good enough. Then we took a nice long nap.

After we woke up hubby said that he wished I'd either bake a cake or make some cookies or something.  Well, at first I kind of balked because I normally don't do stuff like that on Sunday...it's just too busy of a day and I am usually tired. But since we didn't go out to eat and we had such a nice nap, I decided to go ahead and bake some Snickerdoodles!  (Do you know what they are?) I was hungry for something with cinnamon in it, and since hubby wanted cookies that he could snack on throughout the week, that was a good idea.  But I needed some help. Guess who helped me?

Yes, Lily Grace (click that link for a previous time of baking with  Lily Grace)  said she would love to help make Snickerdoodles!  She's trying to earn her cooking badge for the Brownie Scouts, so she needed some experience baking cookies. LOL.  

She especially loved rolling the balls of dough in the cinnamon and sugar!

It's great to have a little helper!

She even helped get them off the cookie sheets when they were done baking!  They sure smelled good!

Snickerdoodles...My Mother's Recipe

Well, of course baking cookies always means they have to be tasted while they are fresh and warm out of the oven.  So it also became an occasion for Lily Grace and Bailey her dog to have a little party:

So I got down the Buster Brown Tea set for them to use:

It's perfect for a tea party with your favorite doggy!    This set belonged to my mother, and she got it from her older sister, my Aunt Margie.  It is dated on the bottom 1910, which is when Aunt Margie might have gotten it when she was a little girl.  My mother remembers playing with it when she was a little girl. My mother is 11 years younger than her sister.  

Anyway,  it is a special family heirloom, so Lily Grace and Bailey had to be very careful.

Then Lily Grace got the idea that she wanted to invite her friend Anne of Green Gables over to have a tea party and share some snickerdoodles with her.  Anne was delighted of course and came right over. We know how much Anne of Green Gables loves tea parties!  Thankfully there was no "Raspberry Cordial" involved in this tea party. If you've read Anne's story, you know about that event! HERE is a link to a previous post about Anne's tea party.

Thankfully they left us some snickerdoodles to enjoy later!

And so that is how I ended up spending my Sunday afternoon.  

Nice little thought for today.  A good reminder, no matter how big or small our "place", we should tend and guard it with care, because it isn't our own place, but "his Who set you there."  And that would be God.  He placed us in our homes and gave us a special place to guard and care for. When you think about your home that way, it takes on a whole new perspective. 

Here's another thought about the home:

"Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain."

Psalm 127:1

And so I think it is time to end this post for tonight. I hope you enjoyed this little tea party time with Lily Grace (and Bailey too!) and also Anne of Green Gables. I know this is a departure from my usual Sunday activities, but sometimes you just need to "play" after a busy week. We had a good time, except I might have eaten too many warm cookies fresh out of the oven, and so I didn't want much for supper! LOL.  I finally ended up eating two stalks of celery with peanut butter on it, and later some yogurt and granola.  That should make up for my lapse in good judgment. LOL.  

Have a restful night my friends, and I'll be stopping by to visit with you in the next few days.  Tomorrow (Monday) is another busy day as we have our Ladies' Bible Study in the afternoon, and hubby has his men's Bible Study.  But I will try to catch up with as soon as I can.  Love to all of you! "Good Night, sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite!"  LOL.

 

Saturday Thoughts

In case you missed this post on my Facebook page last night, I wanted to share it with you today as it was really special.  Here's what I wrote and the pictures that followed:

"My sweet Daughter in law Rose and I went out to watch the sunset together. It was a special time of enjoying God’s majesty in the skies while we talked about life together. I am very thankful God sent us a daughter in love to love our son and who also enjoys spending time with his family. We are truly blessed. And the skies were beautiful too. Thank You Lord for both blessings today."

These are the pictures I took as we stood out there beside Still Waters Pond, watching, waiting for the sun to go down, and talking about life.  The pictures here are not exactly in order of appearance, but it really doesn't matter. It was just such a lovely time.

The mosquitoes were biting my legs and arms, but I didn't want to spoil the moment by suggesting we go back inside. It was such a special time with my dear daughter in love. I don't have a daughter of my own, and so God, in His mercy and great love, provided Rose for me to love and enjoy. I am eternally grateful.

Rose's own mother passed away from a long illness not long after Rose and Benton got married, and so I kind of became her "mother" by default.  Thankfully, God arranged for us to live in a fairly close proximity, and so we are able to get together often as a family and enjoy a really sweet relationship.

Last evening the "kids" came over around 3:00 and Rose brought a pork loin roast to cook. We put it in the oven and peeled potatoes for mashed potatoes and made a salad. Then we just sat and visited until the roast was cooked and then we mashed the potatoes and made gravy and put it all on the table and sat down and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  Afterwards we played that "Deer in the Headlights" card game again for awhile, until time to go out and watch for the sunset.

The skies never did get very colorful like they sometimes do at sunset, but the clouds against the blue skies and the reflections on the water and silhouettes of the trees was still quite beautiful and interesting. And we both enjoyed the time together so much. 

I know it looks like I'm just showing you a lot of pictures of clouds and trees, etc., but to me this display just represents so much more.

I can't really put it all into words, but if you knew the whole "back story", you would understand. But that is not really my story to tell, just to appreciate and be thankful for how God works all things together for good...

Romans 8:28 NKJV

"28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Psalm 113

"1  Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord

From this time forth and forevermore!

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high,

6 Who humbles Himself to behold

The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

7 He raises the poor out of the dust,

And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,

8 That He may seat him with princes—

With the princes of His people.

9 He grants the barren woman a home,

Like a joyful mother of children.

Praise the Lord!"

Amen.

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

Tonight I am feeling such a sense of thankfulness and blessing.  Just a lot of little things, but they add up to big blessings.  Today it was a cloudy and kind of drizzly day, but it was peaceful and restful and pleasant, so what more could one ask for? 

This morning we rode into town to Walmart to do a little bit of shopping and mostly to get some exercise since we couldn't take our regular walk in the rain.  That worked out good.  When we came home I took these pictures on Still Waters Pond, around noon:

Even though it was a gray kind of day, it was still beautiful outside, and very peaceful.

A few days ago "Your Friend From Florida" Terri D'Orsaneo, shared a portion of the lyrics of this hymn in her closing thoughts. I had to go look it up to find out which hymn it was because I didn't recognize just that short portion of it, but I found it and said in my comment that I may have to use that hymn in one of my blogs. I'm sure Terri doesn't mind that I borrowed that idea from her since the hymn is very old and in the public domain, but still I wanted to give her credit for making me remember it and share it here with you.

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

1 I sing the mighty power of God

that made the mountains rise,

That spread the flowing seas abroad,

and built the lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained

the sun to rule the day;

The moon shines full at God's command,

and all the stars obey.

Tonight God blessed us with this beautiful sunset, even though it was still drizzling rain!

2 I sing the goodness of our God

that filled the earth with food;

God formed the creatures with a word,

and then pronounced them good.

Oh, how your wonders are displayed,

where'er I turn my eye:

If I survey the ground I tread,

or gaze upon the sky!

I enjoyed a walk around the yard and garden this afternoon in between rain showers:

The Butterfly Garden...Yes, I'm "needin' to be weedin'"  Anyone interested in helping?? And I still haven't gotten those plants planted in the ground. I need a hole digger to come help me. At least all this good rain is keeping them alive.

How about just some tea time in the garden instead?

Milkweed flowers blooming

These are what the Monarch Butterflies love. Haven't seen any yet, however.

Cape Honeysuckle

Pentas

I am not sure of the name of these wildflowers that grow along the shores of the pond, but they are growing and blooming all around:

And with all of the rain we've had lately, the little "fairy toadstools" are popping up again. This ruffled one was especially pretty:

3 On earth there's not a plant or flower

but makes your glories known.

The clouds arise and spread their showers

by order from your throne.

All life is but a gift from you

and ever in your care;

Wherever people gather, you,

O God, are present there.

This was the sunrise this morning...can barely see it behind the trees.  But even so, there was great beauty in the clouds as they brought us this gray cloudy rainy day that inspired me so much.

After all of that walking around the yard this afternoon I came back inside and had a cup of tea, since I couldn't have tea time in the garden, I had it inside the house:

Say Hello to Rocky and Bullwinkle again:

I used this tea set because it says that it is the teacup and saucer for September!

And I've been enjoying this "Soothing Turmeric" tea by Twinings. It is an herbal tea that says it supports healthy digestion. It also contains Orange and Star Anise. It's actually quite good, and hey! If it can help my digestion, then bring it on! LOL.

Speaking of "digestion", we actually went out to eat tonight, but not to a restaurant. We were invited to come to the Senior Community Center for a pot luck dinner and also a "dance".  Actually, we were invited because one of our very special church members is turning 91 tomorrow, and so we were going to surprise her.  Funny thing is, she sure surprised us by being one of the most active people there!

This is our "Dottie".  If you ever visit our church,  you will be greeted and hugged by Dottie. No matter who you are, you will be hugged by Dottie. She is one of the most beautiful and Spirit filled women I've ever known, and she is such a blessing and joy to us all.

And yes, it was a dance!  And here's our Dottie dancing (with permission) with one of  our dear friends. His wife didn't mind at all, as Dottie is like a dear Mother to all of us.

We had never been to this community center before, and really didn't know what to expect, but apparently they have this Senior pot luck dinner and dance once a month and there's a fellow who does the singing/karaoke for all the music (who is also a member of our church).  It was so much fun. We mostly just watched all the action, but finally my favorite dance partner asked me to dance with him, and I was in 7th heaven:

I can't tell you how long it has been since we slow danced like this, but my hip joints will probably remind me in the morning!  LOL.  We really need to do this more often, as it was good exercise and a lot of fun.

Oh, did I mention that Benton and Rose were there too? I know, they aren't "seniors", but they were invited to come along, and they had a good time too.

Dancing isn't one of their areas of expertise either, but they finally got up and enjoyed a sweet dance together.

Here's Rose with Dottie, while Dottie was opening some gifts. Rose crochets (or is it knits? I'm not sure which) those nice washcloths, and she gave Dottie a lovely set of them. 

Oh, we weren't the only ones there from our church. That's our Pastor and wife on the end, and in the front is another "nonagenarian", who also will have a birthday at the end of this month and he will be 94! He's another amazing person who doesn't show his age!

And here's a few more of our church family.  I didn't get pictures of everyone that was there, but our church probably made up half of the whole group that was there tonight.  It was a lot of good clean fun, and when we were leaving, these nonagenarians and some octogenarians along with a few other "youngsters" were all in a circle doing something called the "chicken dance".  

I was sad we were leaving. It looked like so much fun!  Maybe next time! IF I can talk hubby into going again. I think it would be a great way to get some exercise...they do a lot of line dancing, which is great for the heart! So we shall see what next month brings. I won't hold my breath, but who knows? Who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick or two? LOL.

Hubby, trying to relax and have a good time. LOL. 

The scripture verse I shared earlier today on Facebook was this:

John 8:12 

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Amen and Good Night.