Friday Foto Friends

Good Friday Morning, Friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful post-Easter week.

When I think of the week following Easter morning, I always think about the story of the men on the Road to Emmaus.

You can read the full story HERE from Luke 24:13-35

But here are the first few verses to set the stage for the story:

"13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him."

I love this picture of Jesus walking with the two men...and also I love this cut glass "rock" with the cross in the center. I think of that as the empty tomb, and the cross in the distance, to remind us of what Jesus did for us on Calvary...and how He is no longer in that tomb...and as He walked with the men on the road to Emmaus, they did not recognize Him until later when He gave thanks and broke the bread with them at suppertime, and then He vanished out of their sight. It makes me wonder just how often Jesus has come very near to us in this life, and we were too burdened down with our grief or cares of this world and we did not recognize Him until after He blessed us and then "vanished" from our sight...and in hindsight we realize we had actually been in the Presence of the Lord and did not know it...just something to ponder on this Friday morning after Easter.

But now on to my pictures for the week.  I really didn't have a lot except for what "Lily Grace" shared with you so excitedly last night.  But  here are a few other highlights from our week. Nothing quite as exciting as that was...

I am sure you recognize this picture from my header above. You may even be tired of seeing that same picture there every day. I don't change my header often because I feel like it is a kind of identity photo for the theme of my blog, and sitting there looking out at Still Waters Pond is such a joy and blessing to me that I want to share it with you as well.

Well, anyway, why am I showing you this picture again when it is already up there, you may ask?

Well, because those chairs are what I wanted to show you.  You can't really tell it from the picture above, but the Adirondack chairs, which I brought with us from our former home, were becoming very faded and dried out and needed a new coat of stain to preserve them. I've had the paint for a while, but was just waiting for the right weather and time to embark on such a venture.

I had some lovely "before and during and after" pictures to share with you, but somehow when I was transferring my pictures from my phone to the computer, I accidentally deleted them. My hubby had so graciously taken pictures of me with my stained paint shirt on, holding my paintbrush, and working so hard on these chairs, and I wanted you to see me hard at work so you don't think I just sit around lounging in these chairs all day looking at the pond (even though I would Love to do just that). But they are gone into never never land never to be recalled...so all we have are these pictures of the chairs almost completely done.

I still have to finish staining the bottoms so they will be completely covered and preserved...

But I am so sore from all the stooping and bending and moving that I had to give myself a couple of days to recuperate before I tackled the final finishing touches. Maybe today...

Meanwhile, I've been enjoyed watching "Father Goose", and sometimes "Mother Goose" as they come and dine in our yard on the birdseeds that fall to the ground under the birdfeeder.

But mostly "Mother Goose" sits on her nest over on the island. I don't know if she really has any eggs yet or not, as from what I read, they never leave the nest once they start incubating the eggs...but she does come over to the shore at least once a day for a seed snack, while Father Goose stands by on guard.

Last night I went outside to take those pictures of the chairs so I would have something to share with you today, and I didn't even notice Father Goose right there in front of me.  He actually lowered his head and started to hiss at me as I was a bit too close, but then I very carefully, all the while talking softly to him, went over to the bird feeder and shook a few more seeds out on the ground for him.  He backed away for a minute until I was gone, all the while with his head lowered and sticking out his tongue at me...and I hurried away before he decided to attack...but he just went right to the seeds as soon as I was past and seemed very grateful for the treat. He didn't even look up when I came back by on my way back in the house. Whew! That was a close one!

This funny Father Goose was standing across the street from our house when we came home from the store yesterday...not sure why he was over there, but as soon as we got home he flew right over my head as I was going into the house and flew over the house and landed back in the pond.

This is where he likes to spend much of the day...right there along our shore, nibbling at grasses and coming up on shore to eat the seeds.  I do hope "Mother Goose" is going to surprise us with some babies this time!

Okay, now here's something you don't see every day...a lizard who is shedding his skin:

Yes, that is what they thin white stuff is around his neck. At first I thought he had some kind of paper or plastic stuck on him, but then I realized he was just shedding, as all reptiles do!

I had some really cool pictures of a big tree frog, who I accidentally put my hand on when I was opening up the umbrella on our front porch one morning. 

He was sleeping up under the umbrella and when I reached in to crank it open, I put my hand right on him. I screamed and he jumped, and then when I recovered my wits enough I got my camera and took some great photos of him as he was stuck on the wall of the house recovering from his shock...but those pictures were also with the ones I accidentally deleted.  And they were so good!

So I just went outside now to take those pictures of the umbrella above so you would know what I was talking about, and decided to end this post with a picture of the sun rising in the east and our American Flag flying on the front of the house as it does every day, weather permitting.

I hope and pray that you and yours will have a blessed and wonderful weekend.

And don't forget to watch for those possible encounters with Jesus as you 

"walk on the road to Emmaus" in your daily living. You may be surprised to find that He is walking with you when you least expect Him.

 

It's Easter Monday Morning

It's Easter Monday Morning...the day after Easter. The day after Mary and the Disciples learned that Jesus was alive and no longer in the tomb! I was reading in the Gospels the different accounts of all that happened on Resurrection Day, and the activities of Jesus as He revealed Himself to His disciples,  and then also to the men on the Road to Emmaus, (Luke 24:13-32),

and still on that same day He came and had fish and honeycomb with the Disciples (Luke 24:33-43), and also came back especially to show Himself to Thomas, so that he would also believe and not doubt...(John 20:19-29).  Jesus was quite active on that first day!

Jesus continued to show Himself to His disciples for forty more days, teaching them more about love being the only proper motive for service (John 21:15-17),  and there were "many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." John 21:25.

And then at the end of these forty days Jesus gave them (and us) His Great Commission:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20

And after sharing these things with them and giving them this commandment, 

"He blessed them...

He was parted from them and carried up into heaven."

Luke 24:51

And Acts 1:9-11 tells us:

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up,

and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, 

behold two men stood by them in white apparel,

who also said,

"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,

will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

So, here we are, the day after Christ's Resurrection, and we have work to do! We can't just keep standing here gazing up into heaven. We've been given a Great Commission to go out and share this Good News with the world, and then to prepare our hearts for His, I believe, soon return.  

I trust that you all had a blessed and pleasant Easter. Yes, it was different for everyone, without being able to attend our regular Easter Sunday worship services, singing the songs we love so much that are special especially on that day.  I don't know about you, but I sang them anyway.  We awoke early and waited for the sunrise to go outside into our front yard, to rejoice to see the day of Christ's Resurrection.

I stood there at the cross and sang several of my favorites..."He Arose", "Christ The Lord is Risen Today, Alleluia!", and "He Lives".  The neighborhood was quiet and calm. No one else was stirring except for a distant rooster crowing. I thought about Peter when I heard it crow, and was thankful that Peter's denial of Christ did not stop him from repenting of that and being forgiven by Christ...and then going forward to begin what we know as the Church today! How awful it would have been if Peter had quit after denying Christ...we would not even know about Jesus today, nor have any reason to celebrate! So thankful Christ gave Peter another chance when He told him to "Feed My Sheep" in John 21:15-17. 

After singing and waiting on the sunrise in our own yard, we decided to jump in the car and take a short ride to the boat ramp where we hoped we could get a better view of the sunrise:

 It really wasn't much better as it was very overcast, but it did not deter me from continuing my praise and worship of the Risen Christ. Again, I was moved to sing the above mentioned songs and added what I could remember of one of my favorites, "Was it a Morning Like This?"

"Did the grass sing? Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?"

"Over and over like a trumpet underground, did the earth seem to pound He is Risen?, 

Over and over in a never ending round, He is Risen, Alleluia "

Was it a morning like this, when my Lord looked out on Jerusalem? He is Risen, Alleluia...Alleluia...Alleluia!"

Thankfully no one came outside of their homes to tell me to be quiet...but my thoughts were like what Jesus told the Pharisees:

Luke 19:39-40 (NKJV)

"39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Finally, I felt satisfied that Jesus knew my heart...and that the angels and saints above were all rejoicing along with me...and it was time to go back to our home and begin the preparations for the day of Easter celebration with our immediate family. I say immediate, meaning our adult son who lives with us, and our other adult son and his wife, who live nearby. We have been appreciating their help over the past month especially since my surgery, and they have been in and out of our home frequently, so we felt safe that we could spend this day together, within reason. No holding hands to say grace, no welcoming hugs, which we miss, but still sharing time together in a reasonable way. I feel badly for those who could not spend time with any family members due to having younger children or other restrictions.  These are difficult times for all, and we pray this "season of social distancing" will soon be a thing of the past and people will be able to get back to work and resume their lives with loved ones once again.

That being said, I thought I'd share a few pictures with you from our Easter family celebration. If you are a Facebook friend, you have probably already seen most of these, but bear with me. There may be some surprises still.

 Many of you already know about my interesting cake...My son asked why I put "stove top stuffing" on top of the cake. That quip took the cake,  so to speak! Actually, I was trying to have a lovely pastel hued multi colored coconut topping, but it just didn't turn out that way. It still tasted good. Next time I will just stick to using green food coloring to look like grass. No one turned down a piece of cake, btw.

Yes, we still have Easter Baskets for our adult children. The trick is, they have to find them first. The Easter Bunny had a difficult time finding good spots in this new house to hide the baskets, but after many hints to the searchers of "hot, cold, luke warm, red hot"...they each finally found their baskets...

If you recall THIS POST a couple of weeks ago, you will remember that we ladies were supposed to display our lovely "Easter Dresses" for at home Easter celebration wear. I'm probably the only one brave (or silly enough) to actually do this.  If you did, please show us your outfit!! I don't want to be the only crazy one in the bunch!

My hubby was getting anxious for the shenanigans to get over with so he could have some lunch:

And lunch we did have, actually, this was "Dinner"...Baked Ham with pineapple and glaze baked by my daughter in law perfectly, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot medley (fresh, not frozen), rolls, and of course deviled eggs!

We even used my good china. I was planning to put them in the dishwasher, but someone grabbed them and washed them first because they didn't want to possibly ruin them in the DW.  That was very thoughtful, but so much for my great plans for saving us some work! LOL.

I know this is picture overload, but I never got around to posting my Easter decorations before Easter, and so I thought I'd better go ahead before we get totally out of the season and you won't be interested in seeing Easter Bunnies and such anymore.

 This is my "Margie Doll", so named for my Aunt Margie, who gave her to me for my 7th birthday many many years ago. She is all dressed up for Easter in a lovely dress that my mother made for her many years ago also.

These next few pictures are just some of the Easter Bunnies that are sitting around...

Or, should I say "hanging around"?  LOL...

Or perhaps swinging in to wish us a Happy Easter...

The green china bunny on the far left was given to me by my maternal Grandma Tedlie when I was a very young child. It is a special treasure.  Some of the ceramic bunnies sitting on the table were given to our boys when they were little by my mother.

And we must not forget Baby Elva,  who is all dressed up for Easter in a dress that I actually wore when I was an infant, so you KNOW that's old!

 With that, I will close this montage of Easter pictures. I hope that you have enjoyed this visit as much as I have enjoyed spending this time with you. I hope to get around to visit your stories in the next few days to see how you have celebrated this special time.

Now let us be like the disciples and go out tell everyone that "Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!" Hallelujah!! Because He lives, we shall live too!!!  The Good News is that because Christ is risen, death does not have the victory!! 

 "Death is swallowed up in victory.

O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?"

I Corinthians 15:54-55

Praise God!!

Postscript, Let us remember in prayer those who may be suffering loss of home or family due to the bad storms that have been passing through the south yesterday and today, as well as those who are suffering loss of income and health due to the coronavirus. I would not want my "frivolity" above to take away from those who are truly suffering at this time. They are definitely in my thoughts and prayers, as I am sure they are yours as well. 

The Secret Garden Chronicles: Are We On the Road to Emmaus?

First, let me say that I am trying to get back into the "groove" of spending time with the Lord in the Secret Garden.  It seems as though I was on a little hiatus from there for a spell...not really on purpose, but perhaps by God's design. Perhaps there are times that we have to pull back from something we want to do so badly and let God re-direct our thoughts again so that they are in line with His thoughts.  Anyway, with Easter coming and going, and all of the other activities around here (the fence, etc.), I kind of got out of the habit of sitting before the Lord each day.  Now things seem to be calming back down, and I pray that I will be more consistent.

Oh...by the way...I finally came to the end of the first little journal booklet that I was using for the Secret Garden Chronicles...and now have begun a new one.  They certainly are colorful, aren't they? (Family Dollar specials). Better than that...I love what God has asked me to write inside. That's where the real beauty is.

Earlier this past week we were reading in our devotions from Luke 24:13-35, the story of Jesus walking with the two men on the road to Emmaus.  Apparently this was the same day of Christ's resurrection from the tomb, and He had not yet appeared to all of the other disciples...only to Mary Magdalene in the garden.

(This old picture is printed on foil, and is very special to me. It didn't copy very well because of the foil, but it has an iridescent quality to it that makes it just shine. )

These two men were very sorrowful as they walked and talked together, and they did not realize that it was the Lord walking with them.  When He asked them why they were so sad, they were astonished that He didn't know about the crucifixion of Christ and the news that His body was no longer in the tomb...and that the women had seen two angels who told them that Christ was alive...but they were all confused and unsure of what to think or believe.

As they walked further along with Christ, He began to tell them all the scriptures about everything that actually pertained to Himself.  The two men still didn't realize this was Christ.  When they drew near to the village, they asked Him to abide with them for the night.  Jesus came inside and sat down with them at the table...and when He took the bread and blessed it (see verse 30), their eyes were opened and they recognized Him...and as soon as they did, He disappeared from their sight.
However, they were so excited when they realized who He was that they got right back up and hurried all the way back to Jerusalem (seven miles!) to tell the other disciples that they had seen the Lord!

I'm wondering how often we are just like those men on the road to Emmaus...we carry our sorrows and burdens on our shoulders and hearts, and are so weighed down with our cares and concerns that we fail to recognize Jesus when He comes to carry our burdens for us.  Perhaps He comes to us in the form of a friend or neighbor...a nurse or counselor...perhaps even a total stranger...and we are so caught up in our own little world of fear or doubt or distress that we can't see how God has come to meet us...possibly not until later, when the crisis is past, and we have a chance to catch our breath and pause to look up and we say,

"That was You, wasn't it Lord?

That was You...who brought me food when I was hungry...

or provided transportation when my car broke down...

or gave me a break  on a big unexpected expense so that it wasn't as much as I feared...

That was You who smiled at me and waved me ahead in line when I was so weary

and couldn't stand much longer...

That was You, Lord, wasn't it?

You calmed my fears,

met my needs,

carried my burdens,

when I was without strength to go on..."

Lord, help me to keep my eyes open to ALL of the ways and places You are already there to meet me.

I want to recognize You...

and not miss out on the blessing of knowing 

Your Presence here with me.

And then help me to be eager to tell others

about Your great love, mercy and kindness.

Let my feet be swift to go to share the Good News of Your power to save and bring healing and comfort to others.

Help my hands to be ready to show forth Your praise as I pass on Your kindness to others,

as You have done for me so many times.

Thank You, Lord,

for being with us on the Road to Emmaus today.

Amen.