November Sunday Morn

November! The month we set aside to celebrate about all that we are thankful for! Of course, we should be doing that all year long, and I know the majority of us do, but November is Thanksgiving month...and so our focus is more upon the many blessings God has bestowed upon us.

This hymn is traditionally sung on Thanksgiving, but it really has more to do with overcoming our spiritual battles than it does with harvest time and physical blessings, so it is appropriately sung at any time!

We Gather Together

1 We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to His name, He forgets not His own.

2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

so from the beginning the fight we were winning:

the Lord was at our side- the glory be Thine!

3 We all do extol Thee, Thou leader triumphant,

and pray that Thou still our defender wilt be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

The following are the notes from Hymnary regarding the history of this hymn:

"This hymn was originally a Dutch patriotic song, written around 1600 to celebrate the freedom of the Netherlands from Spanish rule. However, God's kingdom transcends national and ethnic boundaries. When the Church sings this hymn, she is reminded of the words of the apostle Paul: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). The day will come when God will overthrow the devil and all evil. Even now, we can say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). In singing this hymn, the people of God seek His help and thank Him for His presence in the pursuit of victory over evil, for we know that God “forgets not His own.”     Amen!!

However, here on the homefront, November brings out the turkeys and the pilgrims and all the thankful people!

1 Come, ye thankful people, come,

raise the song of harvest home;

all is safely gathered in,

ere the winter storms begin.

God our Maker doth provide

for our wants to be supplied;

come to God's own temple, come,

raise the song of harvest home.

2 All the world is God's own field,

fruit as praise to God we yield;

wheat and tares together sown

are to joy or sorrow grown;

first the blade and then the ear,

then the full corn shall appear;

Lord of harvest, grant that we

wholesome grain and pure may be.

3 For the Lord our God shall come,

and shall take the harvest home;

from the field shall in that day

all offenses purge away,

giving angels charge at last

in the fire the tares to cast;

but the fruitful ears to store

in the garner evermore.

4 Even so, Lord, quickly come,

bring thy final harvest home;

gather thou thy people in,

free from sorrow, free from sin,

there, forever purified,

in thy presence to abide;

come, with all thine angels, come,

raise the glorious harvest home.

Happy November! Happy month of Thanksgiving! May your heart and home be blessed in this season of harvest and thankfulness!! Amen!

And Just Like That, It's November!

 

"Evening at Autumn Lake" , by Thomas Kinkade

Happy 1st Day of November morning to you!  I hope you didn't stay up too late chasing hobgoblins and little fairy princesses!  Or, were they chasing you? LOL.  We had a fun evening here, but there weren't nearly as many little Trick or Treaters as there was candy in my bowl to give them! Now I have to find a good place to donate the leftovers because we definitely don't need it here!  So here's the highlights from the past couple of days...

Here I am, busily stuffing little ziploc bags full of candy and also the Scripture Verse cards that I actually found at the Dollar Tree throughout the year and stocked up on them so I'd have enough...

Each bag had a variety of candy...

And one of these cards...each one was a different verse.  My prayer is that the parents will read them to the children, or vice versa, and may God bless each family with His love and peace...

Here's the finished product...I think I did about 70-75 bags...but sadly not even half of them were given out!  I don't know why there were fewer children this year...I know there were a lot of other activities going on in the community, so maybe they just didn't make it around to the neighborhoods...but now I've got to figure out what to do with them all.

I hope I didn't scare them away with my costume!  LOL.  I debated all day long whether or not to dress up. Actually, I was a bit under the weather all day, with dizziness and tummy issues, but after a good afternoon nap I finally felt better and decided that 'the show must go on' !!  So here I am:

In my mind, I was the Biblical Queen Esther...but someone (aka "Sparky", one of our blogging friends who hasn't been blogging for awhile) saw me on Facebook and played the song "Walk Like an Egyptian"...and I thought, yeah, that's probably a better description... LOL...

Here I am on my royal throne ready to hand out the royal candy:

Someone said they thought I was a Fortune Teller! Well, no thank you! I'd rather be "Queen for a Day".  (How many remember that TV show?  The grand prize would be a new washing machine and/or dryer, or a refrigerator, or some lovely thing that the poor woman needed so badly, and there would be tears of joy over receiving such wonderful prizes, and everyone would clap and cry at the same time...it really was a lovely program)

Note that I am holding my Royal Scepter!  It was a fun time, even if not so many children came, and I'm glad I persevered and did what I was determined to do.

Oh, here's my "little princess", a.k.a. Lily Grace...and her best doggy friend Bailey.  She looks more like a Rock Star than a Princess, but that's how it goes in these modern day kingdoms...LOL.

And now for the rest of the November Calendars...OH so pretty!!

Here's John Sloane's Country Seasons picture for November:

And the Tea Pot Calendar for November:

And speaking of tea time...this is the Susan Branch calendar:

Oh yes! Isn't that the truth?

And here's some words of thanksgiving from 1 Thessalonians 1:2...and yes, this is the truth also:

I do give thanks to God always for you all, and yes, I do make mention of you in my prayers often!

You are a beautiful group of people, and I truly do thank God for each and every one of you!

I pray that your November month will be filled with many blessings and true Thanksgiving!

Happy 1st Day of November!

Thursday Thankfulness

 Good Thursday Morning! I hope this day finds you all feeling '"fine as frog's hair" and warm and cozy wherever you are.  Not sure where that particular saying came from...some old country friend of mine used to say it, and it just seems to fit this morning. LOL.   (Do frogs have hair??? If they do, it must be very fine indeed! LOL)  🐸

It's currently 51 degrees here at 6:30 a.m., and our high is only expected to reacy 69 today, with clear skies and a wind chill that currently makes it feel like 47 degrees! That's a little chilly for us Floridians on a late October morning, but I'm not complaining. It feels like fall!!  And because there's a bit of a nip in the air, last night we had our first pot of chili for the season!  It was a communal effort...Rose and Benton and the grandpups came over, and we put our ingredients together and made some delicious chili!

This is my bowl, with shredded cheese, sour cream and fritos added for extra good yumminess!

Hubby was loving his bowl of chili too...and he says to thank you all for your prayers for his bout with the shingles...thankfully we did definitely catch it in time, and after the week of what he called taking the "big nasty" pill 3xday, he's completely well with no issues at all! Well, no shingles issues, that is! LOL.  We all have SOME kind of issues, don't we??? LOL.

Here's me with my bowl:

Sweet Rose with hers:

And sweet Benton with his bowl....now can we all eat please before it gets cold?

And guess what else we had?  I baked the first pumpkin pie of the season! Forgot to take a picture before we cut it...

Here's my piece of the pie!  It was yummy delicious too!

Now, another reason to be thankful...one of the reasons the kids came over for supper last night was because Benton had been busy building something special for our porch kitties...I heard yesterday was National Cat Day, and so it was fitting that something special should be done for them...

With the colder weather coming, I've been concerned about them having a warmer place to snuggle up and stay warm.  So Benton built these two "cat cribs"... and Blackie was right there ready to inspect and check them out as soon as we put them on the porch:

He jumped right inside and had a looksy...

He sniffed it all over and then jumped back out and went on his way.    

I put some little rugs in the bottom and a blanket, and although I couldn't get Blackie to go back inside it while we were there, I am hoping with the colder weather he and Sunshine will both be curious enough to try them out.

I am thankful for our kids, who do so many wonderful things for us, as well as just being here and being good "kids".  We are blessed to have them close by, and that is a blessing I don't take lightly!

It's hard to believe it's already the end of October and tomorrow is Halloween. I know many of you don't "celebrate Halloween", and I really don't celebrate it either. But I do participate in one way that I think is meaningful.  Our neighborhood actually gets a lot of trick or treaters, and to me, I think it's a good way to show some love and appreciation for the children of our community.  We've never had any unpleasant things happen on Halloween here, just a lot of little children with their parents, walking through the neighborhood dressed in their fun and pretty and interesting costumes, "begging for candy".  I love to welcome them and make over their costumes, and give them lots of smiles.  Last year I started a new tradition of including a card with a scripture verse written on it with their little ziploc bag of candy.  It is my hope and prayer that the parents will take the time to read the verse to their children (or the child read it for themselves), and that it will raise a question as to what it means or where did it come from.  I call it "planting a seed of faith".  We just never know how that little verse of God's Word might take root and bloom in the heart and life of the child and/or the parents.  This might be the only opportunity we have to share the love of Christ with these little ones.  

I know not everyone has a lot of children come into their neighborhoods anymore, and a lot of places don't even do door to door trick or treating.  But if your community does, maybe think about the opportunity you could have to share some words of hope and love and faith with others before you turn off your porch light.  Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 ~

... “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

This might be the only opportunity these little ones have to hear any positive things about God.  Just a thought to ponder...

Okay...enough said...I hope everyone has a beautiful rest of your October days. And don't forget to "fall back" with your clock this weekend!!! 

Tuesday 4~ Weathering the Storm

 Weathering the Storm

It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. After Toni passed into Paradise, I wanted to keep her memory and her meme alive.
When thunder and lightning happen, cats, dogs, squirrels like to be in a small, safe , enclosure. Inside animals will hide under beds, outside they are appreciative of a box or little house to hide in. People are no different it seems.


1. Do storms frighten you or make you cautious?
Certainly if there are big bad storms I am cautious and nervous about it. Especially if we know a hurricane is coming...we always have concerns and take a lot of precautions to get things ready so we will be safe and have everything we need on hand in case the power goes off.  Thankfully we have never had to evacuate because of any storms where we live. We are far enough inland that we don't get the worst of the storms, but we usually get a lot of wind and rain and the danger is always that trees could fall on the house or roads.

2. What is the worst weather you can remember?

I honestly don't remember the names of the storms, but we've been through some pretty scary hurricanes in our life time of living in Florida.  We've also been through some snowstorms and ice storms when we lived in the north, but we were never snowed in for any length of time, thankfully.


3.Are you in a personal storm right now and do you need our prayers to help you through it? I think many bloggers are prayer warriors indeed.

Thankfully, nothing major right now. We've been there before, and were so very thankful for all the prayers we could get during those times. Prayer really does help, even from people we may not know personally...but just to know that people are out there praying on our behalf is always a great comfort. And yes, I am very thankful for our blogger prayer warriors. You are all a beautiful and wonderful family. Thank you for the times you prayed for me and my family. And I consider it a privlege to be able to pray for you as well.  


4. What is the best advice you can give to others about weathering storms of any kind.

Click HERE for a link to a list of scripture verses from the Bible about weathering the storms of life.   It is printable if you wish to print a copy and keep it in your Bible or in a place where you can see it when life is getting "stormy".   Here's a few of the verses that are listed that I find helpful...

Psalm 91:1-16

English Standard Version

My Refuge and My Fortress

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—

the Most High, who is my refuge—

10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12 On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 34:17-20  English Standard Version

"17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones;

not one of them is broken."

Isaiah 43:1-2  English Standard Version

"1 But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you."

The best advice I can give is to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, because He has already led the way for us. He knows our sorrows and trials, because He also suffered for our sakes. He will not fail us nor forsake us. Cling to Him, and He will carry you through whatever trials come your way.

Hebrews 12:2

Good News Translation

"2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne."

Here's a few pictures of our skies before and after some "storms", although we did not actually get much of a storm here, just a little bit of rain that didn't amount to much. Some places about an hour south of us received about 20 inches of rain in about 5 hours time and experienced a lot of flooding and severely damaged roads and washouts. And right now the people of Jamaica are experiencing a horrific hurricane. My heart goes out to them as I know there will be serious casualties and destruction there.

God's beautiful rainbow, sent to us to remind us of His promise to never destroy the earth by flood again, and to remind us also that He is always with us, even until the end of the age.  (Genesis 5-9)

Lovely sunset over our still very dry Still Waters Pond last evening...but every drop of rain that falls is a blessing, and we will praise the Lord for His refreshing rains and be thankful for no terrible storms here.

Have a blessed day my friends, and may God be with you in whatever kind of storm you may be enduring right now.  

Click HERE to join in the fun. Thank you Annie, for being our hostess each week!

Come Saturday Morning...

It's Saturday morning, and this song popped into my head. I wonder how many of you remember this song by The Sandpipers, from late 1968-69?  Hubby and I actually had this album when we were newlyweds, and it was a favorite of ours back in the "olden days". 

"Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day, just I and my friend

Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning"

Wasn't that a pleasant way to start our Saturday morning? I hope you enjoyed that little blast from the past.

So here it is Saturday morning, and I thought I'd start this off with a little 5 second video from last night, which was taken on our back porch by our little Blink Camera right after we'd gone to bed.  If you look closely, past the dangling spider web that is hanging down in front of the camera, you will see Blackie the fearless running off a raccoon from the back porch...well, Blackie is actually jumping up into his favorite blue chair and the raccoon is running, and then stopped and watched for a minute to make sure no one else was following him because the big motion detector spotlight came on and put him in the spotlight. By the time I got out of bed and ran to the door to see what was going on, he was gone, but we have this little video to tell us that the "Masked Bandit" was here.  He apparently had cleaned up all the remaining crumbs of catfood and washed his dirty hands in the water dish and took off like the bandit he is.  I must remember to remove those food dishes from now on once the cats have had their fill of food.

Upon a closer look, I believe I see another cat under the table. I don't know if that is Sunshine or another neighborhood stray, but it looks like they were having a party there! 

And especially we need to keep the cat food cleaned up because look who else showed up the other evening:

This is a MALE Muscovy Duck...

Some may think he's handsome, but I do not!

Here he is with his mate, or at least one of them. I don't know if they are monogamus or not, and probably not, because I know there was another female way across the pond waiting for them on that fallen tree where they like to perch and watch and see when there might be food over here on our porch.

 

And our "guard kitty", Blackie, just sits and watches them clean up bird seed under the feeder. He doesn't even try to shoo them away.  No, I do NOT want Muscovy ducks laying eggs and breeding here in my yard! Some say the eggs are very good to eat, but these ducks tend to be very messy, dirty, and they think they own the place! I really do NOT want them here in our yard.  

They weren't the only ones who showed up...Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane came over and were looking for some bird seed too. I guess because the pond is so dry they are all looking for extra food...and you can see just interested Blackie is in their activities! Ha!

Yes, the pond is very dry, and I should not begrudge any wild creatures food, but I do draw the line when it comes to those Muscovy Ducks. If you've ever had any around you, you will understand what I mean.  I've already contacted my friends who tried to capture them and remove them last year. We'll see if they can do any better this year.

Meanwhile, let's enjoy this lovely sunset over the very dry Still Waters Pond:

And lest you think I am cruel and heartless, here's a picture of Blackie in his new little soft, cozy and warm bed on the back porch:

We bought two of them, one for Blackie, and one for Sunshine. But so far only Blackie has shown any interest in it. At least it's perhaps making him want to stay closer to home for now! Also, the temperatures are starting to drop down in the low 50's at night, so this is a way to help them stay a little warmer. When the temps drop further we will figure out a better kind of warm "shelter" for them on the porch. 

Peek a boo! I see you!

So, yes, it's Saturday morning, and it's time for the Deep Creek Farmer's Market and Fall Festival. We went over to see Benton at his booth...he's starting to display/sell the Christmas stuff he's been making:

As well as some of the other planters and fun stuff he makes:

Lots of great stuff!  

Cute guys too!  Sorry, They're not for sale! LOL.

You never know what you might see at a Farmer's Market! LOL.

And don't tell Rose, but I bought this beautiful orchid for her, because it's name is "Melinda Rose".

I know she will take good care of it and keep it alive, whereas I am not so sure that I would...

They have an anniversary coming up, so this will be a little surprise for Rose. She loves plants and flowers!

We've been reading through Proverbs this month, because there are 31 chapters, one for each day. However, we missed a few while we were on vacation and I am trying to get caught up.  Here is a portion of Proverbs chapter 25, verses 11-12:

 

"11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold

In settings of silver.

12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold

Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear."

Some wise words of advice when you think about things to say in response to others, perhaps on Facebook. 

And this was on the daily devotional calendar words for the day: 

These two different quotes seem to go hand in hand...a good reminder to be "slow to rebuke or discourage" others...and in this case, to be a wise counselor/mentor for a younger person is something to think about...be "sympathetic, encouraging, eager to develop, and slow to rebuke or discourage".  I don't have too many children or younger people in my life right now, but I pray that if I should  have one come my way that I would be this kind of friend to them. I know I am thankful for the older, wise counselors that I had in my life when I was younger.  They knew how to speak the right words at the right time to encourage me in the right direction. Most of them are long gone on to heaven now, but I thank the Lord for them and remember them fondly.  May the Lord help me to be that kind of person always. Amen.

Have a blessed and beautiful day, my friends.  I hope you are enjoying this "Saturday Morning".