It's such glorious day today, a day to give praise to the Lord and be thankful for who He is and not just for what He's done, although His works are marvelous and beyond our greatest imaginations. There's just so much to be thankful for today and every day...can a I get an "amen?" Amen!
I'll start with this morning and work backwards...
Here's the choir singing "Open My Eyes That I May See, Glimpses of Truth Thou Hast for Me"...
Here's the words to the hymn if you'd like to sing along:
"Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine.
Open my ears that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest clear.
And while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine.
Open my mouth and let me bear, gladly the warm truth everywhere.
Open my heart, and let me prepare love with Thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine."
Following the song the Pastor had a powerful message from Psalm 3. If you wish to take the time to listen, I do believe you will be blessed by it.
What you can't see is our children's church kids sang a song for the congregation... This is only a part of the song because I knew if I tried to record the whole song it would be too long for this format, so this is just a "glimpse" of it, taken from behind them from where I was sitting in the choir loft:
They were so cute, as kids always are...and such a blessing to see them participating in church. We are very thankful for our children's workers as well. They are a very dedicated group of people who are making a difference in these children's lives for eternity.
The next BIG joy of this morning, if you look on the right side about 1/2 way back you will see a tall person sitting in the pew with dark curly hair. That is our grandson, and his sweet fiancee' was right beside him. 
This was the first time they have visited our church, and I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful this was for us! Not only that, but they seemed to enjoy being there and said they look forward to coming back next week as well! AND, one of the ladies of the church approached Dawn about making some more of her "prayer pillows" (that's what she's calling them now) for her to give to people. I had mentioned in Sunday School to our class about how God blessed the kids yesterday at the flea market by having several sales of these little pillows with Scripture verses on them...and so this lady said she wanted at least 15 of them...which means Dawn has her work cut out for her!
Here they are yesterday at the Deep Creek Market/Farm Swap. This was a new venture for them, and they were blessed to find a nice shady spot to settle in for the very warm day:
yes, those are baby Emus!
Apparently several were sold to brave farmers! LOL. They said that the deal was the people who bought two of the younger emu chicks also had to take a young baby chicken chick along with it as a package deal (for free), because the emus and the chick were friends, and they didn't want to separate them. Of course, eventually the emus will be much much larger than the chicken, but they say they will always be friends because they've been growing up together from the beginning! Interesting!
Here's another interesting article on raising Emus, in case you are interested. I think I will stick with our Sand Hill Cranes, who take care of themselves and need no fences. Besides, I much prefer just watching them and enjoying them as opposed to thinking of them as a farm animal or source of food.
I guess this is enough for one day. I hope your SONday has been filled with joy and peace and rest from your labors. It has been a wonderful day here on Still Waters Pond, and we continue to rejoice in what God has done...
Here's a comforting way to close for the day:
The 23rd Psalm, KJV
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Here's a few pictures of a Red Shouldered Hawk that was in our tree beside the Pond a couple of weeks ago. I see him flying about quite often, but rarely get a chance to take a picture of him. Actually there was another beside him, possibly his mate, just before I took this picture, but it flew off into the trees. Perhaps a hawk is not considered a peaceful bird to think about, but still it is one of God's amazing creatures, and so therefore I enjoy seeing it.
