Friday Foto Friends~Winter in Florida!

"Season's Greetings from Still Waters Pond"

Some special friends have flown in for a visit:

Oh wait! I think The Canada Geese brought some other folks with them from way up north...the Ring Necked Ducks have arrived for the winter:

At first I thought there was just a couple of females and one male

But then the next day there appeared to be a crowd...

They must be multiplying already! LOL!

I could watch these little ducks all day. They just swim around and round in a circle and then when they are ready they dive down in the water and find food to eat and then pop back up again...kind of like they are playing a game:

It's so much fun to see what winter visitors, or "Snow Birds" we will have come back each year.

I wanted to thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my hubby and me this week as we were a little under the weather.  We both ended up going to the Doctor earlier in the week, and he gave my hubby a big old shot in the "gluteus maximus", along with some pills to take. Gave me some too, to help ward off whatever was trying to catch me. It seemed to work and thankfully we are both feeling much much better now. We are now pretty much back on schedule for all things Christmas...finished up our shopping and got most of the wrapping done today. Tomorrow we will make sure it's all done and maybe think about doing a little baking. However, I am hoping our son Scott will come prepared to do his annual cookie baking when he comes on Sunday. He's the best cookie baker in the family and loves to do it as a gift for the family. But we shall see what he is able to do. He's been working practically 7 days a week and he may just want to "crash" when he gets here. Either way, we are thankful to be ready for Christmas as much as possible.  Sunday will be a busy day, with Sunday School and church in the morning, including the performance of our choir's Christmas Cantata, "The Christmas Story", and then we will go back in the evening for a candlelight Christmas Eve service. I love that this will set the tone for experiencing the true meaning of Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Savior!

These nativities are in the foyer of our church.

Because we had been feeling kind of cooped up all week we decided to take a little ride down to the Kenwood Boat Ramp again, to see how it looks now in "winter", as opposed to the way it looked a few weeks ago in "autumn".  This will help people who are not from here in Florida to see that yes, we do have a change in seasons...maybe not as pronounced as it is up north, but changes do take place, none the less.

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now...you can really see the tannins in the water from the decaying of the cypress trees in winter, plus also after that big rain storm we had last week...

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

I think there is a certain kind of beauty in every season, don't you? Kind of like life...many of us are perhaps entering the winter season of our lives...maybe some are still in the autumn or summer...I don't think there are too many of us still in the spring of our lives...when we were probably most productive, raising our babies or starting our careers, new beginnings...but regardless of what season of life we are currently living, as long as we have breath...we need to make the most of it...enjoy whatever God has given us to the fullest.  Perhaps all some can do is sit in a chair or maybe even a bed, and read or write...but if that is what we can do...we can share our thoughts with each other and encourage one another in our journey of life. We can pray for one another and help lift up the weary.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says it best:

"24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

As we approach the end of another year, we aren't too sure what may lie ahead for each of us.  But one thing we can do is look for ways to encourage one another and try to do our very best to be a friend to others who may need a friend.  If you are looking for a gift to give here at Christmas time...perhaps that is the best present of all...your "presence", in whatever way that is possible for you.  I appreciate each and every one of you and your gifts of thoughtfulness and kindness and words of wisdom and yes, even your gifts of laughter and funny memes to make us laugh and smile on what might be a dreary day. You are each one unique and special. Thank you for using your gifts here in blogland. You are a blessing to us!

If I don't get back again before Christmas,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!

 

 

Thursday Thankfulness

 Well, if you have read my most recent post HERE, you will know that I was expecting some special guests today at Dixie Cottage! It seems as though Dixie Cottage has become THE gathering place for blogging friends and other friends as well.  I love it!!!  People can come meet me here at the store and I don't have to clean my house to entertain them! LOL.  (Well, unless they want to come see Still Waters Pond too, lol).   Anyway, true to my word, we did have some very special guests today at the store:

Gary, Barbara, Yours Truly, and my hubby John

Yes, some of you may have already guessed it...our friend Barbara and her sweet "heartthrob" Gary, of Sweet Tea and Sandals fame.  If you follow Barbara, you will know that she and Gary are in the process of combining their households, and Barb has been clearing out much of her unneeded furnishings and decor items.  And so today they brought a car load of lovely decor items to be sold at Dixie Cottage on consignment.  If you know Barbara at all, you know she is a lady of exquisite taste and charm, and so I know that these items will be very popular and won't last long! I can't wait to go through them all myself and get first choice! LOL.  

After a fun tour of of the store, we headed over across the road to Nanna's County Cafe' for lunch. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures there.  And actually, if you wait a while, I am certain Barbara will be sharing more pictures of their adventure today when she writes her next post.  We had a lovely visit, and yes, Gary is just as dreamy as Barbara has already painted him to be in her blog. They make a very sweet and adorable couple, and we wish them  all the happiness in the world. God has truly blessed them both to have found one another.

This week has been a rather busy week, but in a good way.  Our Ladies' Bible Study started back on Monday, and we will be studying the Twelve Disciples.  Here's a picture of the book we are using:

Sounds like it will be a very interesting study, and I am thankful for the group of ladies who participate. We cover a lot of stuff in that one hour session each week...applying the Bible study to our personal lives and encouraging one another in the process. 

That was on Monday. On Tuesday evening we started back to Choir Practice for the year.  We always take off for the summer. And we had a couple of new people join the choir. Our choir is still small and we are certainly not professional, but we "make a joyful noise unto the Lord", and that's what really matters. I am thankful for our Choir Director, who puts a lot of thought into planning what we will sing...and our pianist and our sound man and well, just everyone who participates to make it all come together for the glory of God.

On Wednesday morning we had our monthly United Women in Faith meeting, which also is growing! It was so nice to have 21 ladies attending. Lately our little church is showing signs of growth, which is another blessing in itself, and it is carrying over into our women's groups, men's groups, Sunday School, and even the choir.  I am thankful for each of these ministries and how they are a blessing not only to our church family, but also as an outreach to our community.

So that brings us back to today, and you already know what a joy and blessing we had today!

Tomorrow, Friday, is a "normal day"...and we will be helping out at Dixie Cottage again in the morning.

Saturday morning is our church's monthly Community Breakfast, which is open to the public for a small fee. It is always well attended and they give us lots of good food. From there we will go to Dixie Cottage again until noon.  Then that takes us back to Sunday...which is another wonderful day, spent with our church family in Sunday School and church and usually we go out to lunch with several people as well.

Whew! It's been a rather busy week! But all good stuff and we are blessed and thankful

Oh, when we were at Nanna's for lunch, I saw this flyer on the counter and picked one up:

It also listed the cost and contact info, and if you are interested, I will be happy to share that with you. I would LOVE to go to this and hope I can talk some others to go with me. I think it would be so much fun. I just don't know if I can come up with any "period dress" to wear. I might be able to create a hat and gloves, but I don't have any "old dresses" from 1880's laying around. Do you? I wonder where I could find one. My birthday is the week before this, and I told my husband this would be a lovely birthday present to me, what do you think?  We'll see what develops.

On another note, also on my last post here again, I talked about wanting to go to Pennsylvania to take care of my parents' final wishes and burial.  Many of you encouraged me to pursue that, and I thank you for your kind words and thoughts about this.  Well, one of my nieces also reads my blog and she saw that and contacted me privately and said that she would love to see that happen as well. And actually my son and sweet DIL have already been talking about it and trying to make it happen...and so now the younger generation of cousins are all talking and making plans about how to bring this all together sometime next year. It may not be in May because there are already too many other conflicts on people's schedules then, but no matter the date...we just need to make it happen sooner rather than later.  I am thankful for these "kids" of the next generation taking the reins in hand and making things happen.  I pray it will all come together as we hope. I know my parents would be so proud to see their grandchildren actually being the ones to take on this project to honor their memory.  God is good.

Amen.

Still Processing Christmas...Day One

Technically, Christmas is over...at least the day we celebrate Christmas is over. But Christmas itself is not over!  It's still lingering in our minds and hearts and spirits...and probably still lingering in our homes in the decorations, leftovers in the fridge, gift wrap and packaging in the trash, cookies and pies and candies still lurking around tempting us to keep nibbling away at things we shouldn't...and hopefully in our memories...sweet memories especially...

Welcome to Christmas memories from our house and my heart...

Christmas morning started out with a lovely sunrise...

Which was only preceded by a magnificent sunset on Christmas Eve as we traveled to church for the Christmas Eve service:

And as we lit each of the Advent candles, it was so wonderful to sing the familiar Christmas carols and hear the Christmas story once again as we lit the candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, and then we lit the center Christ Candle to remind us that the Light of the world was born this night. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined." Isaiah 9:2 "You, O Lord, have multiplied the nation, You have increased its joy. For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:3, 6) And we were once again reminded that Jesus is also called Emmanuel, for in Him God is with us.  This is what Christmas is really all about...and I am so thankful that we started out our Christmas Eve and Day with these special reminders of why we are celebrating.

As I sat in the choir loft singing a

(this video was actually from our church last year, but same song)

Celtic Silent night with our choir, the congregation was passing along the "light of Christ" to their neighbors

Such a beautiful and peaceful way to usher in Christmas...

On our way home we drove around our neighborhood to see if there were any Christmas lights shining, and we were surprised to find quite a few. Our neighborhood is a rather modest community of mostly manufactured homes.  There were no elaborate displays like one would expect in larger communities, but this one above touched my heart.  There in the middle of their Christmas candy cane lights and hanging icicle lights, was a beautifully lit cross, reminding us of why Jesus came to earth in the first place...to save us all from our sins. We must never forget the price He paid for our redemption.

And then we went home to prepare for what would come in the morning:

Son Scott, who had gotten home too late from work to go with us to church, was busily preparing one of his Christmas gifts for our family, a batch of my grandmother's Sand Tart cookies! (recipe can be found on that link to a much older post from past.)

I was amazed that he had these all baked and the kitchen cleaned up by the time we got home. What a great guy!!

And next, Santa Claus had to slip in and distribute the gifts for the "kids" who would be arriving in the morning for Christmas day...

Lily Grace and Baby Elva had fun watching Santa at work...

Oh, look who got a stocking hung by the chimney with care:

Next morning, the "kids" and Grandpuppies arrived, ready for fun:

Sugar and Spice saying hello to "Uncle Scott"...

And then discovering that they had a special stocking filled with new toys just for them, which kept them occupied and happy for the rest of the morning:

Sweet Daughter in Love Rose and Son Benton, opening their gifts...

And son Scott and Daddy  sharing a good laugh over a very "interesting" fun gift sent from a relative..."Pooh Ping Pong"...there's always gotta be a silly gift somewhere in the bunch...and this was the silliest ever...

Thankfully Lily Grace's gifts were much better...

She got a couple of new outfits sent from her Auntie Peggy and Uncle Billy, among other things...

Yes, I know, our family is a bit "touched in the head" sometimes, but we do have fun...

And we do love to eat.  While opening our gifts, the hamloaf was baking in the oven with the scalloped potatoes, and butternut squash, green beans, rolls...

And oh, I almost forgot, Rose also made some deviled eggs! It was a delicious and simple dinner, and I "believe" everyone was happy and quite satisfied!

We ate off of my "good Wedding China", on a plastic Christmas tablecloth, but I did use red cloth napkins...LOL.  Tried to keep things simple but still special.

Speaking of special, our sweet daughter in law, (with a little help from her hubby the carpenter) created some wonderful signs for us.  She asked us for a special verse or saying that was meaningful...and the above picture is exactly what my hubby said.

And then she looked on my blog somewhere and found this verse below and created this sign for me:

And also this one I mentioned particularly, because of course, we live "beside the still waters" (pond).

Another sweet gift was this set of jigsaw puzzles:

I said this is where I want to live someday:

Well, maybe not with the snow. LOL. Actually, I feel like we are pretty close to living there already.

Oh, one more very special thing that happened on Christmas day. For some time we have not had much communication with our grandson Noah, who is our only grandchild, and also the son of our son Matthew who passed away from cancer in 2014.  So staying in touch with him is especially meaningful to us. But he is 22 years old and a typical young man living his life and not really realizing just how much it means to us to hear from him.  And the fact that he lives in Maine makes it a bit more difficult to just run up and visit anytime.  So anyway, long story short...recently Noah and some friends have embarked on an adventure of a lifetime.  I told my hubby they are like the pioneers of old, searching for new lands to "conquer" and begin a new life.  Two couples have set out across the country in campers, working their way along as they head south to warmer and hopefully more economically productive locations. And recently he decided to start responding to my texts, by sending me a few pictures of the sunsets as he travels:

Ah, he's a young man after my own heart!! He loves the sunsets just like I do!

And better yet, on Christmas day he called us and talked and talked and talked, and excitedly told us all about their journey and their hopes and dreams and plans and schemes...and told us about his girlfriend that we realized we had actually met at his graduation party 3 years ago...and well, even though some things may not be exactly ideal about this trip, it is a new beginning and he is happy and full of the joy of the adventure...and you know what?  I believe God will take care of the rest of the details...I don't need to worry or "preach"...I just need to pray for their safety and that God will guide them and keep them on the right path as they seek their new adventures.  My hubby and I both agree that keeping the communication going with him is the most important thing we can do right now. And I have to tell you, this truly made my Christmas day complete.

After the hubbub died down and the "kids" went back to their house, our son Scott went to work on his next gift for the next Christmas family gathering that was arriving on Sunday afternoon...yes, you heard that right...

These cookies are my mother's famous "orange cookies", (click that link for the rest of that story) and she would bake these anytime the family was coming home.  Now not only Scott, but at least one of my nieces that I know of, carries on this same tradition in memory of my mom. And so he wanted to have them ready for my sister and her hubby and their daughter and her hubby when they arrived Sunday after church.

Oh, these pillows are a gift from our kids too.  And they say what I want to say right now...

"Merry Christmas to all...to all a good night"

Stay tuned for "Still Processing Christmas-Day Two" coming up in a day or two, as I continue to process everything. It's been a very beautiful and meaningful Christmas here.

I hope it has been for you as well. I look forward to hearing your stories.

So, until next time, 

Amen!