A Very Special Day!

 

Here's some words of Wisdom from God's Word for today:

Psalm 33, NKJV

"The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History"

"1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!

For praise from the upright is beautiful.

2 Praise the Lord with the harp;

Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.

3 Sing to Him a new song;

Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

4 For the word of the Lord is right,

And all His work is done in truth.

5 He loves righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;

He lays up the deep in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

9 For He spoke, and it was done;

He commanded, and it stood fast.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,

The plans of His heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

13 The Lord looks from heaven;

He sees all the sons of men.

14 From the place of His dwelling He looks

On all the inhabitants of the earth;

15 He fashions their hearts individually;

He considers all their works.

16 No king is saved by the multitude of an army;

A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

17 A horse is a vain hope for safety;

Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His mercy,

19 To deliver their soul from death,

And to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in His holy name.

22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You."

Amen!

Oh Wow! Today is going to be a busy day in our nation!  It's Inauguration Day!!! And it's also a holiday, Martin Luther King Day, so I think it's wonderful that schools are closed and so are many businesses and government offices, so that everyone can watch the Inauguration!  I'm thankful to hear that they have moved it to an indoor space because of the severely cold weather, but also I believe it is for security. Sadly, what should be a great day of celebration could easily turn into something terrible, so I pray for the peaceful transition of power and a day of joyful celebration for everyone. I also pray for our new President and his family and his cabinet and staff, that God will protect them and guide them in every way. Amen.

So, how are you going to spend this day? Will you be able to watch the Inauguration?  I hope to be able to, and if not LIVE, then later on YouTube.  Today is also our Bible Study day, which starts at 1:00, which would probably make it hard for me to watch it live. However, I am most likely not going to go to Bible Study today because I'm not really feeling quite up to par. Yesterday I had a difficult day with some "tummy issues", and had to stay home from church, and today, although that situation is mostly resolved, the aftermath has still left me feeling not too "stable" in that department, without going into details, and so I'm thinking it would probably be best for me to just stay home and let my body recover quietly.  

I wanted to thank everyone again for your prayers for my brother in law Art and my sister Doris. I did talk to them the other day, and although Art is very sore from that crazy and unexpected accident, he is very thankful not to have been injured much worse. He's almost 81 years old and already has back and heart issues, so it could have ended much differently.  So we give thanks to the Lord for His mercy and grace and protection.  And Doris is getting over her bout with pneumonia day by day, praise God!

Also, in my last post I shared with you about getting a new camera. Here's a picture of Lily Grace and me, both decked out with our cameras and ready to go taking pictures of anything and everything!  However, I have decided to return the camera and get my money back.  After trying to take pictures of all things great and small, I've determined it doesn't work the way I want it too and it doesn't have the same quality as my old camera.  And after changing the batteries in the old camera it seems to be working better, so I've decided to just stick with the old one for now, and if it dies on me I will replace it with another refurbished one just like it for about $25.00 bucks on eBay, and save ourselves a bunch of money. That's where I got that particular camera in the first place, which replaced the original refurbished one just like it that was given to my by my brother (who worked for Kodak), because he felt sorry for me for being the only person left on the planet who was still using a camera with real film and not a digital one! LOL.  So anyway, I have 30 days to return the new camera to Walmart, and so I've decided to do that and be thankful that my old one decided to resurrect itself with the new batteries! (It's very particular about the kind of batteries I use, apparently!)

Now, I must apologize for so many pictures of me...I hope you will indulge me for this next part of this post. On Saturday I received another special package! It was a total surprise, totally unexpected...this beautiful sweater was hand knitted by one of our very special blogging friends, who will remain unnamed but she knows who she is.  

When this package arrived in the mail I suddenly realized what it was going to be as this person had casually mentioned in one of her posts that she was knitting a sweater for someone as a surprise...and I never dreamed it could be for me!

In case you can't tell, my eyes were very teary eyed in these photos that I asked hubby to take so I could share them with this dear friend, so she'd know it arrived and how surprised I am to receive it.

I called my friend to tell her how surprised and thankful I was.  I really do not feel worthy of such a special gift. There's nothing that I've done to deserve such a wonderful blessing.  But you know, isn't that just like Jesus?  

Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us:

"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 

9 not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Our Pastor has often used this little acronym to explain GRACE to us:

There's nothing we can do to earn God's salvation...it is a FREE gift, the unmerited favor of God. Why? Because He loves us...it's that simple. Christ died for us so that we could have eternal life...we can't earn our way to heaven...there aren't enough good works in the world that will ever make us good enough to cover our sins and make us pure and holy and righteous...Only a Pure and Holy and fully Righteous Savior can do that for us.  All we have to do is accept this gift and believe that Christ died for us, and we will be saved.

I am wearing this beautiful sweater right now, because it is only about 37 degrees here in Florida today, and it's going to be a very cold week!  Somehow my friend, who lives far away in a much colder climate, knew this, and wanted me to have this sweater in time for the cold weather! Wow! Isn't that just like our Lord? He knows what we are going to need even before we know it and He sends it to us with so much love.  I am still trying to get my head around this.  All I can do is say Thank you, to my friend, and Thank YOU, to my Lord.

While I was feeling so punky yesterday I drank a special cup of an herbal tea that was meant to help my situation, and I noticed this little tag line:

That kind of goes along with this verse from Luke 6:43-45~

"For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

And this was another tagline that was on a previous cup of tea, but it got a tea stain on it, so I apologize, but it spoke to my heart as well...

Friendship is like a sheltering tree...something that covers us and gives us shade from the heat of the day, and gives us comfort.

I thank the Lord for this special friend (whom I've never met in person), and for so many others who bless me every day with your posts and your kind words and comments and the love that you show for others as well. Thank you for being such a loving and caring community of friends. I am blown away by the love I've received through this community over the years.  Wow!

Okay, dear ones, it's time to go watch the Inauguration activities...A very special and historic day.  

God bless America!!

Happy Valentine's Day! Tuesday 4 and More

Sorry it's taken me all day to get this written, but it is still Valentine's Day, so here we go...

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day!  There's so much happening around here that I don't know where to begin.   So I guess I'll start with our weekly Tuesday 4, which today is about, guess what?  Valentine's Day! Of Course!  So hold on tight because I intend to go way beyond the four questions for today and share some other interesting and fun things. Be sure to stay around for the whole story! But first things first:

Hi and welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Happy Valentine's Day!    

$24 billion dollars are spent on Valentines Day gifts! 145 million cards are sent out and the average spent on gifts is $197.50 per person.

1. As a kid did you exchange Valentines at school with the other children?

Oh yes, I can remember making the little Valentine's shoe boxes, all decorated with paper hearts and with an opening cut in the lid to receive the valentines from our classmates.  It was always so much fun to read the clever things the others would write.  Seems like I remember one of the boys (This was in elementary school, remember), writing something like, "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. Sugar is scarce and I wish you were too!"  Yes, that's exactly what was written. I guess it must have traumatized me so much that I can still remember it over 60 years later! LOL. Actually, I thought it was funny and I probably wrote something equally saucy back to him. Those were fun times and happy memories. Not everyone wrote something that "mean".  But we were kids and we all grew up together and made lots of fun memories over the 12 years of our school days. I learned early on not to take everything kids said to me seriously, or I would have been a very unhappy child. You see, I was  a redhead with freckles, and that alone was enough to make other kids come up with things to say like "I'd rather be dead than red on the head".,  or they'd call me "Carrot Top", or "Freckle Face".  My response was usually something like "You're just jealous because you don' t have red hair!"  My red hair did give me a bit of a temper, which actually probably made me stronger as I fought back instead of being a crybaby.  It's a good thing I calmed down as I matured...LOL. (probably ought to ask my sister or my hubby about that. LOL.)  And now people can't even tell that I used to be a redhead. (Well, at least not by the hair color!)

2. Do you have special traditions for the day or does it pass on without much hoopla?

Nothing extremely special. Hubby and I usually exchange cards.  We don't spend a lot of money for Valentine's Day.  However I did buy some ribeye steaks the other day because they were on sale at a very good price, and we went ahead and ate them that night because I didn't want to wait until today and have to freeze them and then thaw them, etc.  And besides I thought I was going to have to go to choir practice tonight, but it was cancelled because there are a lot of people sick and battling colds, allergies, etc. like I had last week. 'Tis the season, with pollen filling the air and covering our cars and outdoor furniture.  Thankfully we had a good rain over the weekend, washing the air clean again, so hopefully people will stop sneezing and coughing and start feeling better.  Thankfully I do feel better now, praise God!  Anyway, the steak dinner was our Valentine treat to each other.

3 Today is the number one top day for flower and candy gifts. The only other holidays that approach it are Christmas and Chanukah. Do you ever receive candy , jewelry or flowers for the day? Which is your favorite?

None really that I can remember, except I buy the little boxes of sweetheart candies for fun. I can't eat chocolate and I'd rather have flowering plants than cut flowers so I can plant them and see them grow and bloom again and again...and I've never been much of a jewelry person. I buy what I like when I want something, but that's not very often.  

Here's Lily Grace and her friends, having a Valentine Tea Party.

She was going to mail out these valentines to her friends, but my being sick last week kind of slowed things down and it just didn't get done.  I'm sure her friends will understand...

But we did scatter little hearts here and there and things do look festive for the day...

And even the family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage had a sweet little Valentine's Tea party.

They invited all of their little fairy friends to come and join them...

And I think it is safe to say they had a "Fairy Good Time".  LOL.

4. Zoos and Pet rescues will name cockroaches or unpleasant animals after your ex and issue you a certificate. They will even write your ex's name in cat litter for you. What do you think of this "tradition"?

Sounds pretty dumb to me.  Thankfully I don't have any "ex's" to write about.  And even if I did, I can't imagine doing such a silly thing. It's best to let bygones be bygones and be thankful they are "bygones".  Even old boyfriends from high school I can't imagine doing anything that crazy.  Not even the boy who wished I was as scarce as sugar back in elementary school. LOL. 

Here's some thoughts about LOVE from the "love chapter" in the Bible, I Corinthians 13: 4-13

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; 

but the greatest of these is love.

So that's the end of the Tuesday 4 meme for today. Hope you enjoyed it. You can check out what others wrote about HERE.  I wonder if any others would do what question #4 suggests???

Now moving on to the other things that I promised to share that have happened today...

The very best and most exciting thing is this:

Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane have laid an egg!!!!!  Early this morning, before it was fully bright enough to really see and get a good picture, we could tell something unusual was going on over on the little marsh island where the Cranes spend a lot of time. The camera just can't get a really good picture while it is still such low morning light, but after looking through the binoculars and then zooming in the best I could with the camera, we could definitely see that there is an egg on top of a pile of brush, and they are building up the nest more around it!!!

The both kept tending to it, adding more grass and sticks...

And a little later, when the sun was brighter I could get some better pictures...

And there you see Mrs. Crane sitting on her nest, keeping the egg nice and warm and protected from any predators...

She has been there all day long, and Mr. Crane isn't far away, keeping a close watch over  her while he forages for food. They do take turns, and sometimes she gets up to stretch her legs and walk around a bit and eat.  But it appears that she stays right there most of the time.

So this will be fun to watch. I'm so excited that they are in plain view where we can watch!! Don't worry, I will keep you posted.

And when the new little "colt" is born, I think he or she shall be called Valentine, since we first discovered the egg today!  I am assuming there is only one egg as that is all I can see, but there could be more. Time will tell. Stay tuned for further developments!

And while all that activity was going on out on the island, closer up on our shore there were more interesting events...

Mr. Cardinal came for tea...

And Mr. Bluebird was busily guarding their nest in the birdhouse by chasing away any other birds who came into his territory to feed at the birdfeeder...This is him taking a moment to scratch that itch...

Meanwhile Mr. Goldfinch flew in and had a  quick snack before he was chased away...

And then I saw a flash of bright orange in the tree...and Mr. Bluebird was in hot pursuit...but then the flash of orange landed in another tree nearby and stayed there for a minute or two, long enough for me to focus my camera and try to follow his movements from branch to branch:

He was hard to see, but I saw enough to know that it was a Baltimore Oriole! That is a bird that we do not see in these parts very often...he must be traveling through on his way back to Baltimore or wherever he goes...

I hope he hangs around a day or two and I can see him again, but at lease I was able to see this much, and it was a treat!

Here is a Link to info about the Baltimore Oriole if you want to know more about this beautiful bird.

Now, I am going to switch gears again.  I mentioned earlier that I prefer to buy or receive as gifts potted plants that I can plant in our yard and watch them grow and bloom over and over again as opposed to cut fresh flowers that are only good for a few days and then you throw them away.  For those of you who have followed me here for a long time, you will perhaps remember when we moved to our previous home in the Ocala National Forest, where all the bears and deer were...if not, just go back to my posts from the year 2012 through early 2019, and you will see where we lived and will understand the next group of pictures I am going to share.

When we moved to that house in the woods, it did not have any flowers or landscaping at all, except for a few very old azalea bushes, and well, now that I think about it, it did have a lot of wisteria, confederate jasmine, honeysuckle, holly trees, etc....things that just keep growing and growing and growing. It was beautiful in the spring.  But when we moved there I wanted to try and add some other flowering bushes and some trees, and we were blessed to have a friend who would bring potted plants from a nursery farther away and sell them at the flea market each week,,,and she kept me happy with lots of different kinds of plants coming my direction.  I think I made her happy too, because I became her best customer.  I planted a lot more azalea bushes and camellias.  But we moved away before they really took hold and grew very much, and I never really got to see them blooming as much as they would as they matured. 

Anyway, long story short, the other day our son and DIL took a ride down to see that house. It has recently come up for sale again. The people who bought it from us sold it last year to someone who apparently is a house flipper, and they totally redid the inside of the house and put it back up for sale at a much higher price. But they haven't done much maintenance of the outside or the grounds and things are really getting overgrown looking unkempt.  The house is empty, and so it isn't getting any "love".  The kids took some pictures around the yard and shared them with me:

Of course, since it is winter, a lot of the trees in front of the house are bare, but those will come back in the spring and summer and it will look a lot greener there.  Here's Benton with the sign he made when we lived there that says "Bear Crossing". He's holding the little bear on because it had fallen off. We put that sign there because that is exactly what it was...a Bear Crossing. The bears crossed over our yard day and night. It was their ancient trail long before that house was ever built, and they didn't change their routine just because humans decided to build a house in the middle of their territory. Many of you will remember that we had a little kiddie pool over there by those woods that the bears would stop at for a drink or to bathe. We had a night camera there so we could see who all came for a drink and a bath. Bears, both big and small, deer, raccoons, bobcats and coyotes were our frequent visitors.

In the back yard I had planted some very small cedar trees that I pulled up from alongside the road.  Now you can see how tall they are getting.

This is the arbor that Benton built in memory of our son Matthew. This was the original Memorial Garden. We had a little fountain there and it was a lovely place to sit and pray and remember our son. I planted those azaleas that are blooming. And behind it are the crepe myrtle trees that were already there, and the fence was covered with wisteria and confederate jasmine. It is all over grown and needs to be pruned really badly. It used to be so beautiful.

These are camellia bushes that I planted, and they had barely ever bloomed when we lived there, and now it looks like they are loaded with blooms. I found myself wishing they could have pulled up those plants and brought them home to me here, but that would be stealing, so I guess it's a good thing they didn't do it. I guess. LOL. The temptation is real...

More of the azaleas I planted. this area was the original Secret Garden, if you remember when I wrote about that.

Another look at the camellias...

I am  amazed that it has done so well with so little care...

And many of you will remember that when we lived there we added this front porch, and Benton used to paint signs for a living (he still does, just not as many signs anymore as furniture).  Anyway, this is one of the signs he made, and we fastened it up on the porch and left it there because it was covering a seam where two sections of the porch were joined together and it looked better to keep it covered. He was surprised to see that it was still there...

But the thing we couldn't quite get over is how stark and empty the house itself looked. They had actually painted it white and the shutters and front door are now a plain old brown instead of the pretty green they once were.  It's as if the house itself has no soul anymore. The new owners stripped a lot of the character out of the interior when they renovated it...and everything is just white and gray and cold.

Someone will come along and buy it and hopefully bring life back into it, but it sure brings to mind how much a house is just a house when there is no love inside. It takes the love of a family and the blessing of God to make a house feel warm and welcoming and happy again.

If you want to check out the listing, you can CLICK HERE. The price is extremely overpriced for the area, but then again, everything is overpriced these days of inflation.  However, I will say that it was a wonderful home for us while we were there. We made lots of happy memories there during the few years we lived there. It was the last home where our whole family was together before our son passed away. We hated to leave  behind the memorial trees and bushes that we had planted in his memory, but we took some with us at that time (the rose bush and Rose of Sharon bush that you've seen in stories/pictures here at our new Memorial Garden).

Time marches on. Lives change...we move on. And God continues to bless us wherever we are.

We carry the blessing of God with us, because He lives within our hearts and souls.  Unlike that house that is now empty and void of spirit and life, we continue to live and breathe and have joy and peace within because we have Christ living in us. He goes with us and never leaves us nor forsakes us.

Some thoughts to ponder as we close out this message and Valentine's Day post...

Hebrews 13:1,2 and 5-6

1 Let brotherly love continue. 

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. 

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 6 So we may boldly say:

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?”

Hope you've had a blessed and beautiful day! Thank you for hanging in with me all the way to the end of this post! 

Good night!

Sunday GRACE

 Good Sunday Morning! (It is actually after NOON now, but I started out trying to write this morning, but ran out of time!  That time change messes me up every time!  Hopefully everyone set their clocks ahead last night and you made it to church on time!  We did, but my body time clock is all messed up and it takes a while to adjust.  It's 12:09 DLS time, but my body tells me it is still 11:09 a.m.   (and after several interruptions, it is now 3:06 pm before this is published!)

Anywho...We had a good service at church today. Only one dear soul walked in at the closing, having forgotten to set her clocks...but she was heartily welcomed as soon as the pastor gave the benediction! She was laughing, and we were all just glad to see her, no matter what time she arrived!

Our choir sang a beautiful song this morning, entitled "Grace". I hope you will enjoy listening to it, and reading along with the words. They are so meaningful. I am giving you two options for listening...this first video is from the internet, and it is so beautifully done, with the lyrics on the screen as as it is being sung.

Grace, by Carolyn Hamlin

"Lord, as I seek your guidance for the day,

I find my thoughts unyielding; confusion crowds my way;

But then when I bow to you, the challenges you guide me through.

Your promises are ever new, I claim them for today.

 

Your will cannot lead me where your grace will not keep me.

Your hand will protect me, I rest in your care.

Your eyes will watch over me, your love will forgive me,

And when I am faltering, I still will find you there.

 

Each new day’s design is charted by your hand,

and graciously revealed as I seek your Master plan.

Keep my footsteps faithful when from you I go.

Return me to the joy that your blessings can bestow.

 

Your will cannot lead me where your grace will not keep me.

Your hand will protect me, I rest in your care.

Your eyes will watch over me, your love will forgive me,

And when I am faltering, I still will find you there.

 

Your eyes will watch over me, your love will forgive me,

And when I am faltering, I still will find you there."

This second video is from our church choir, followed by our Pastor's sermon from James 4:13-5:12, which was excellent.  I wanted to include both videos, because the first one has the lyrics so you can fully appreciate the song as you hear it. Also, our choir was missing several members when we practiced and recorded the song this past week,  including me. I was not feeling well that evening, so I missed choir rehearsal. But even without several members, our choir still did a lovely job of singing it. I hope you will enjoy the words as well as the melody.

I recently learned a wonderful acrostic from our Pastor for remembering the true meaning of the word GRACE:

God's

 Riches

 At

 Christ's

 Expense

Christ paid for our salvation with His own blood, and gave us eternal life as a free gift. That is GRACE. We cannot earn it nor did we deserve it. It is totally a gift from God. It is up to us to accept it, however. You know, no gift, no matter how wonderful, will do us any good if we don't accept it.  Something to think about!

Now, on another note, I think our Bluebird family has flown the coop, or birdhouse, that is.  This is what we discovered early this morning:

It looks like the nest is being pulled out of the hole, and there are no birds in sight.

I asked Mr. and Mrs. Canada Goose if they had seen or heard anything unusual,

but they just turned their heads and ignored me and kept eating their breakfast, acting as if nothing was different at all. 

Yesterday morning Mr. Bluebird sat in the tree nearby and let me take his picture:

Isn't he beautiful? 

 I am thinking he was sitting there to watch the nest, and didn't even seem to mind that I was right nearby. Maybe because he knew the babies were getting ready to come out and he couldn't take his eyes off the nest.

But I must admit to being a bit disappointed. I had hoped to get to see the babies before they left.

But when I got home from church today, this is how the nest looked...

No sign of any activity around it. Could the babies have flown that soon? Or do the parents move them to somewhere else to teach them to fly? I need to do some reading about the activities of Bluebirds, I guess.  I hope a predator didn't invade the nest and make them move away prematurely.  I have a lot to learn, I guess. I'm kind of thinking something happened, because it seems like we should have seen the babies before they left. Hmmm...

Some thoughts come to mind from the book of

  I Peter 5:5-9

"5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 

7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 

9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."

Perhaps Mr. Bluebird was watching for any predators that might be lurking about...I know he chased off some Blue Jays several times. I don't know, but I hope Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are safe somewhere and that they will be steadfast in their "faith" and keep persevering.    

I believe we should take heart...God notices and takes care of the "sparrows" (and bluebirds) of life, and if so, He will also take care of us.   

Luke 12:6-7

6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 

7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Back to refrain in the song, "Grace":

"Your will cannot lead me where your grace will not keep me.

Your hand will protect me, I rest in your care.

Your eyes will watch over me, your love will forgive me,

And when I am faltering, I still will find you there."

That is a beautiful thought to close this post. Let's leave it right there.

Amen.

An "Unmerited Favor"

 NEWS UPDATE:  Please see on the sidebar of my blog that there is link to "The Adventures of Lily Grace".  Lily is going to have her own blog and will be sharing her adventures with us as she writes letters to her "Aunt Debbi and Identical Cousin Tracie".  If you enjoyed this, I think you will enjoy Lily's blog. The first episode is pretty much the same as this post, but it will be changing with new excitement and fun with every post. I hope you will come visit Lily Grace at her own new blog! (which is still under construction, so bear with me...)

The other day I mentioned that a blogging friend was sending me an unexpected gift (HERE), and I promised to share it with you when it arrived.

Here she is! I know you are probably wondering why someone would send me such a sweet doll in the mail!  Well, I wondered the same thing at first when my friend said she had found this doll and was going to send it to me.  You see, this dear friend loves dolls much like I do...and she had shared a picture of her doll just like this on her blog. (I am not going to share her name because I wouldn't want to put her on the spot...but she is a very thoughtful and giving person).  I happened to mention that I loved her doll and thought she was so very cute and sweet and fun.  And the next thing I knew, she had found one for me and was sending it! Oh my! I was so surprised and somewhat amazed.  I certainly never intended for her to go out and buy this doll for me...but she wanted to "bless me" with this doll...she said it gave her joy to do so.  And you know what? It gave me such joy to just think about the fact that this cute little doll was on her way to me that I felt much like an expectant mother waiting for her baby to be born! 

Before my friend put the doll in the mail, she took a series of pictures of her "seeing the sights" around her town so that she would have some adventures to tell us about when she arrived here. My friend prepared her with as much information as she knew to give her about our home and where we live  and what to expect...but of course she would have to wait until she got here to see it all for herself.

Well, when I told my hubby that we were about to have a new little member added to our family, I was afraid he might think I'd slipped a cog or something...but do you know what that sweet man said? "Well we'd better come up with a name for her!" Oh my! He was absolutely right! We couldn't name her the same thing that her identical twin was named...(whom we decided would be an identical twin cousin, much like the Patty Duke show...remember them? Well, if you don't you must be much younger (or older) than I am).   However, we both agreed that we would wait until she arrived to decide on her name...much like we did with our three sons.  We tossed different names around, but didn't make a final decision until we saw them face to face. (Of course, when they were coming along we never knew whether or not they were a boy or a girl until they were born. That's how long ago THAT was!)  And that is what we decided we would do with this new little friend. 

So today was THE day. I had actually been out to breakfast with a dear friend from church, who just happens to be named "Pamela"!! I invited her in to see our house and to visit a little more, when the mail-lady pulled up in front of our house and started honking her horn! I ran outside and saw that she had this package, and I knew then that our new little friend had arrived!

Here I am feverishly trying to extricate the sweet little dolly from her box. They sure do make packaging so difficult these days... 

Finally she was free and able to "breathe" some fresh air!  

Thankfully, my friend Pamela is a "Kindred Spirit" and totally loved the doll as much as I did. I think she would have liked to have taken her home with her...but that wasn't going to happen...

This cute little girl with her flowers in her hair and tie dyed t-shirt and long lace coat, boots and guitar with a karaoke machine and a microphone was going to stay here with us and liven this old place up a bit! LOL.

And so we started right away with trying to come up with a name...and we all agreed we would just wait a while and a name would come to us.  While we were examining all of her little special gifts and things that came with her, I heard my hubby say something from his chair where he was sitting and trying not to act like he was too interested...I heard him say, "I think her name should be "Lily".  

My friend Pamela and I looked at each other and agreed! "Lily" was a lovely name for this "flower child"!   It suited her perfectly. Also, my hubby went on to say that his paternal grandmother's name was "Lillian", and so "Lily" would be short for "Lillian".  I then added the middle name of Grace. Lillian Grace. Grace because she is an "unexpected blessing".  "Unmerited favor" is the biblical definition for "Grace".  And Lily is just that...an "unexpected gift", an undeserved favor...from a very special friend!

And so please meet the newest member of our family:

"Lily"...or "Lillian Grace".

The first thing Lily wanted to see was "the big pond".

She was pretty amazed at how big it was and hopes to see some geese or ducks tomorrow. They weren't out there this afternoon.

Next she watched me write a note to our dear friend who sent her to us, letting her know that she had arrived safely!

Then Lily wanted to meet her new "family" here, and they were all quite excited to meet her as well. They had a little tea party for her and even brought some cake. Lily played some songs on her guitar for them and they all sang together. As you can see, Lily is quite the modern young lady compared to the rest of this group. She will definitely be a fun and lively new addition to the "family".

Later in the evening our "big kids" came over for pizza:

And they were very "happy" to meet Lily.  

We decided that she kind of takes after "Aunt Sherrie" a bit. 

It's nice that our family members are all good sports and like to humor me with my dolls and toys and things...

And so that is the story of "Lily Grace"...

and it is to be continued, you can rest assured of that. I think she will be taking me out for a lot of new adventures! I don't believe she will be content to just sit at home and have tea parties!

So until next time...why not be an unexpected blessing to someone else today...

Let us be givers of "unmerited grace" to others who may be in need of a lift to their spirits.

God is teaching me a lot about this lately.

Thank You, Lord.

(And thank you to my very special friend...you know who you are!)