Thursday Thankfulness and More

 Where has this week gone? I can't believe it is Thursday already! And it's almost over as I am just starting to write at 8:15 p.m. I may have to finish this post tomorrow. We'll see how far I get!

So, let's start out with some pictures to get our attention...

You may wonder what this picture is all about...well, I saw this while we were taking a walk the other morning and I had to take a closer look...

At first I thought it was just another tall skinny tree growing up in the middle of that oak tree and palm tree...

But upon closer inspection I realized it had climbing spikes in the sides of it...

And it wasn't a tree at all! It was an old telephone pole that was surrounded by two trees that grew up around it!  This is on one of those vacant lots where the old houses used to stand before the highway came through and they tore them down (or moved them) to make room for the highway...

No telling how long it has been there...long enough for those trees to grow all around it!  I just thought that was pretty amazing!  Sometimes when you open your eyes and observe things around you, you see all kinds of things you never noticed before. I bet I've walked by that pole at least 50 times and this was the first time I noticed it! LOL.

So here's some other pictures of  "do you see what I see?"

If you look closely, you will notice that the Sand Hill Crane family is standing out in the yard, right beside the back porch where Sunshine and Blackie are sitting and very quietly observing them.

The cats did not move a muscle while the birds were up close to them, because they didn't want Mama or Papa Crane to get all excited and start jumping up and down and flapping their wings at them to scare them away.   It was actually kind of a stare down for a little while, with the cranes staring straight at the cats, and the cats nonchalantly trying to ignore them, but also very aware of their presence.

Finally the Cranes started to move away, although they still kept a close watch on the cats, but Sunshine and Blackie finally felt comfortable enough to move and reassure each other that they had won the contest.  There's always something to watch around here!! Never a dull moment!

And speaking of "never a dull moment"...son Benton sent me these pictures a while ago.  They are in the process of doing a "kitchen refresh", as he called it.  

Rose took off some vacation time this week so they could do a lot of projects around their house, mainly this kitchen redo.  They are going to paint the cabinet doors and walls and brighten up the whole place! Plus they will be getting new countertops!

Here Rose is putting on the primer over the paneling, and then they are going to paint it.  As you can see by the amount of paneling, they have a big job to do, plus painting all of the cabinets!

Whew! I'm glad they are young and full of energy!  It makes me tired just thinking about all of this work!  But I know they will be happy when it's done and it will look so much brighter and prettier!

I am thankful for their talents and also their willingness to do these kinds of things together. They are a very special couple and we are very proud of them and thankful that God brought them together. (and that they live nearby so we can enjoy having them around!)

So now, I know some of you may be wondering how hubby is doing. He seems to be doing fairly well this week, but still dealing with so much fatigue.  Yesterday we met with our Primary Care doctor, and we were thankful for his listening ear and thoughtful approach to what we were sharing with him. After  going over every thing that has been happening, he did order a lot of lab work to be done. We had to go back this morning to get that done, and we will have to wait for the results to meet again, which will actually be in a couple of weeks because we wanted to be sure to get this same doctor. Our clinic has rotating doctors and you don't always get to see the same person every time, but we wanted to make sure that we would see  him again, so we are willing to wait until he is available. I'm sure if there was anything glaringly wrong in the results they would call us back in before then, but we are trusting that won't be necessary.

Actually yesterday, after leaving that office, hubby also had an eye appointment...so we headed there and once that was done it was lunch time so we decided to stop at Captain D's and eat. It's fairly new and we've never been there before. I was afraid that all they would have would be fried fish/seafood. But surprisingly they do have grilled dinners and several choices of healthy sides, etc., so we were pleasantly surprised and had a good lunch. I actually had enough to take home and have leftovers for supper.

Then this morning after hubby had to do fasting labs, we went to one of our local diners for breakfast! We haven't been out to eat two times in a row in a LONG time! I felt like we must be on vacation or something! LOL.  

I am thankful that things are under way regarding finding out what is going on with hubby. We are praying that it will be something that is reasonably "fixed" with proper medication or diet or some other treatment...but we are placing these things in God's hands and trusting Him to work it out. We take comfort in this promise from God's Word:

Psalm 55:22 NIV

"Cast your cares on the Lord

and He will sustain you;

He will never let

the righteous be shaken."

And also from 1 Peter 5:6-7

"6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, 

that he may lift you up in due time. 

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts and prayers. I will keep you updated as we learn things, but for now we are just trying to take things one day at a time and trusting God to work it out.

I hope you have a pleasant rest of your week!  I'm trying to get around and visit with you as I can. You are all very special and dear to me.  Good night for now.