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!!!