Thursday Thankfulness and More

 

A Foggy Sunrise morning

Good Morning Everyone!  This week is flying by in some ways, and creeping along in others.  For those of you who have followed things recently here, you may have wondered if my hubby had his scheduled appointment with our PCP yesterday (Wednesday).  Well, no, he didn't. They called us on Tuesday to reschedule it for Thursday, today, at 11:00.  That was frustrating, after waiting for two weeks to get the results of his lab work, and also to see the doctor (actually a PA) that we had met with previously. He wasn't available for the Wednesday appointment, and wouldn't be available the rest of the week, so we will be meeting with another member of the staff, (again, a PA), today, instead.  I am taking time to get this post started now before we leave for the appointment, and will update it when we get back home.  

Meanwhile, on Sunday we went to church, and it was wonderful to be there with our family and friends. Our kids (Benton and Rose) were there sitting in the pew with us, and they also actually participated in serving Communion, and it was such a blessing to my heart to see them both standing there administering the bread and the cup to each person as they came forth to receive it. I wanted to take their picture, but thought it might be irreverent to do so, so I refrained.  But I think every parent understands what a blessing it is to see our adult children taking part in the worship service in any way, whether it be singing, ushering or taking up the offering, reading the Scriptures or lighting the candles during the Advent season, or just showing up! That is a comfort and joy to our hearts for certain.  We are very thankful for the precious, godly adults they have become.

And speaking of our church, our new church sign installation is finally complete and made its "debut" to the community last night:

"Sunday Service 10am"

I haven't actually been there to see it working in person yet, so I'm not sure how quickly these messages scroll by.  My thought would be that you'd have to be driving rather slowly to see/read them all as they scroll, but hopefully people will notice and get the message that they are welcome at our church!

Just a note...I believe the plan now is also to add some flowers or other plants around the base of the sign so it doesn't look so bare.

And then I guess it ends up with the current time. I wonder if it has the temperature too? I will have to check that out!

Anyway, it is our prayer that this sign will help people who are looking for a place to worship to take notice of our little church and come and visit and maybe decide they feel welcome enough to want to stay!  They will definitely find a warm welcome there and will hear the Word of God being taught and preached. That's what it's all about.

This morning I noticed something red over in the "Secret/Memorial Garden".

As you all know, if you've been with me for a while, I get excited when I see something blooming there...

Yes! The Memorial Rose bush is blooming again!  This rosebush has a "history", and lately it only seems to bloom a couple of times a year, so it is always a cause for celebration when it does!

Of course I cut the rosebud and brought it inside where I can enjoy watching it open and bloom. I added it to the vase with the other roses from the beautiful rosebush our dil Rose gave me for Mother's Day. It's the little things like this that brighten our days and give us a reason to "stop and smell the roses" and be thankful for what God has given us.

Here's a couple of other reasons to smile each day...

Sunshine and Blackie had a little visitor come outside to help me feed them this morning...

Yes, that's Lily Grace, and you can see that at least Blackie was happy to see her! Sunshine was more interested in his food to acknowledge her presence, but Lily Grace was just happy to be able to see them and enjoyed watching them eat.

On a fun note, yesterday I was enjoying reading many of our friends' blogging posts, and one in particular made me giggle and think about what I guess, others like me, tend to do during the day...

If you didn't read our friend Myra's "Respice, Prospice, A Cheerful Herald" post yesterday, then you can click on that link and read it so you'll know what I'm talking about.  I'm going to take the liberty of copying the internet photo she shared  here, because it just made me chuckle out loud when I saw it...

Why? Well, because it's just so true! LOL.  Especially this week.  Myra asked at the end of her post, "What interactions, if any, do you enjoy with your neighbors?"   Well, Myra, it's not so much the "interactions", but the actions of things going on outside our windows...It seems like this week I've been checking the windows frequently to see what's been going on out there. 

 

For one, the house next door to us that has been for sale for so long has finally been sold, and early last week we saw a few people coming and going to check out the house most likely after they had their closing.  We saw vehicles coming and going and I kept running to the windows to try and get a glimpse of what kind of people they were.  I'd already been told by the person who sold the house that it was "an elderly man and his son and grandson" who bought the house. No mention of any wife or mother or woman. Natually I was a little disappointed by that news since I'd been hoping for some nice neighbor to get acquainted with and perhaps become friends.  I really couldn't tell by who I saw coming and going just who was who, but it does look like that's the case...an older man, a middle aged man and a younger boy.  Of course I've been watching every day for them to pull up with U-Haul truck and move in, but so far that hasn't happend.  I did see someone with a pick up truck and some lumber in the back yard, which looks like they may be going to put up a deck or porch, *so that's nice.  Time will tell as to what kind of neighbors they will be, but for now I am still praying that they will be friendly and pleasant and that WE will be good neighbors to them. *I just took another look, and it appears they are putting up a fence in the backyard, so most likely they have a dog. Praying it's a friendly, non-barking dog! LOL.

Meanwhile, across the street there is another little house for sale, and this week there has been some activity over there every day. 

You can't tell it from that picture above, but there have been guys over there every day building that new porch railing. I felt rather sorry for them, because just when they'd get going real good, it would start to rain really hard and they would have to pack up and leave and come back the next day and try to get it finished. I think it took them three days to get it done finally. I told my hubby that I hoped they weren't being paid by the hour, because this was the slowest porch railing job I've ever seen! LOL.

And in the middle of that going on, one day the county road department sent out a truck load of prisoners from the state prison to do tree trimming up an down the streets.  They were cutting back tree limbs that hang over the right of way alongside the road, and they left little piles of branches in everyone's yards for the trash men to come pick up sometime.  Hopefully they won't wait too long so that they blow away and get scattered.  Anyway, you can imagine me standing at the windows peeking through the blinds and trying not to be too noticeable while the prisoners were in our yard trimming our big oak trees!  We are thankful for the work being done, and I'm glad we didn't have to pay for it!  

And now for the news we've all been waiting for...yes, we went to the doctor's office this morning as expected.  The P.A. very carefully went over the report of the blood work that had been done on hubby, and he read through every category rather quickly, saying,  "this one's good, that one's good, this is good, that's good, that's good, this one is good, that one is good," etc., etc. etc., all the way down the list of all the tests that had been performed. There was only one test that showed any numbers out of line to what they should've been, and that was for a virus, but he said that was something that could've been there for years and will always show up when tested, and not something to be too concerned about.

So after all these weeks/months of waiting for results of MRI, blood work, etc., we want to give thanks to the Lord for this news. I am praying that hubby will start feeling better  and want to do more now that he knows he's not in any major danger. You know, when you get to be our age, every little thing can become a much bigger thing in our minds, and it is easy to become fearful of what "could be".  

Philippians 4:6-7 says the following:

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

And now this is what I say:

Psalm 34:1-7

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to Him and were radiant,

And their faces were not ashamed.

6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,

And delivers them."

Amen.

I pray each of you has a blessed and beautiful rest of your week, and may God be with you always!!!