Welcome to my "Open Window"...a place of hope, encouragement, and adventure as we journey down the road from "Closed Doors" to the new opportunities God places in our pathway. I hope you will take the time to go back and follow the trail of mixed blessings and fears, failures and triumphs from the past and side-trips in the present. Perhaps it will conjure up some of your own special memories, and be an invitation for you to share with others. I look forward to spending this time with you!
What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
Today is September 11, 2025. Between the horrific events of 24 years ago on this day, and then the very tragic event of yesterday, September 10, 2025, i.e., the assassination of a very fine Christian young man, Charlie Kirk, who was killed because he stood up for his beliefs and spoke the truth to a new generation and the evil ones in this world could not stand it, so they tried to stop his voice from speaking by killing him, between these two very sad events, I just wanted to withdraw from social media for a day and take some time to pray, mourn, and seek God's peace in my own heart again.
So we took a ride to one of our favorite places not too far away, Lake Swan Camp. (You can click on that link for an old post telling more about why this place is so special to us.)
Jeremiah 31:9 NKJV
"9 They shall come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble..."
It was a picture perfect morning...our early morning temperature was all the way down to 68 degrees! The sun was shining, and the skies were clear and beautiful and the lake was smooth and calm...
Isaiah 33:2 NIV
"2 Lord, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress."
When my soul is troubled, it's always a good idea to just get away from the noise and the news and the turmoil in the world and find a place of solace and peace for a little while.
I was really thankful when hubby suggested this ride. He could see that the news from yesterday was really getting to me, and I needed a break away from it all to be refreshed and restored in my mind and spirit.
The camp has this fun little putt putt golf course that we always enjoy playing, even if we don't do very well at it...it's still relaxing and fun and takes our mind off of our worries or concerns for a little while.
Don't ask who won the game. We sort of lost count of our number of strokes and decided to call it a tie.
It was a peaceful diversion that we needed today. I am thankful for God's provision in a time of need.
Psalm 16:8 NKJV
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
I don't know how you are all dealing with these double sorrows today, but I am sure it has affected most of us in similar ways.
Below is a link to the post that I wrote regarding September 11, entitled "I Didn't Want to Remember Today". I originally wrote it on September 11, 2011, on the 10 year anniversary of 9-11-2001. Then I added updates each year for several years with information that was current to each year. Rather than update it again this year, now I have this new sad event to add.
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.
Tuesday night we started back to our choir practice at church. Appropriately, the song we practiced to sing this coming Sunday is this one:
It is a medley of One Day We'll See Jesus, and Soon and Very Soon We are Going to See the King...
We didn't record our choir singing it, but this video is the song we are doing. I think you will enjoy it...we didn't know then what would happen the next day, but I feel like we are getting closer to Christ's return every single day. I know I'm ready for Christ to return anytime...I hope you are as well.
I just found this picture and message on Facebook and thought it was worth sharing... from "Beauty for Ashes, Hope and Healing in Jesus Christ" facebood page, regarding the passing of Charlie Kirk.
"Seeing what happened yesterday through spiritual eyes.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12 KJV
The devil tried to assassinate the truth, yesterday.
The devil tried to assassinate The Truth more than 2000 years ago. But the grave couldn’t hold Him! His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the way, the truth, and the life!
Because Jesus lives, you can’t kill a Christian, you can only change their address.
The martyred hero Charlie Kirk stood for the truth, he stood on the word of God.
The truth will never be silenced. What the enemy meant for evil, watch God turn it for good.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Lord, raise up a generation of young Jesus loving, God-fearing Americans by the millions to continue the work of Charlie Kirk! The gospel will go forth! In the name of Jesus.
Actually, that is in reality back at my old home where I grew up! Yes, we traveled today to meet family and friends and celebrate my hubby's birthday as well as another friend's birthday, but before we met the group at the restaurant hubby and I had some time to kill so we went down memory lane for a wonderful ride "back home".
I started getting excited when we turned the corner on this road, the road that leads "home". Back when I was growing up on this road, these houses were not there. It was mostly woods. This was actually where our bus stop was, and there was nothing here at all way back then in the olden days.
Way back then our house was the first and only house on our side of the road for a long distance. Now there are newer homes lining the road all the way there, but when we finally got to "our house", it looked pretty much the same as I remembered it, except we didn't have that green paint on the eaves, etc. And someone definitely needs to do some serious tree work to remove some moss out of these trees.
But still...it looks like home...
We were brave enough to pull in the driveway, and I decided to take the plunge and march right up to the door and knock, and knock, and knock some more...
But no one was home. I kept calling out, "Is anyone home?", but no answer, and there weren't any cars in the driveway, so I figured it was safe to walk around and have a little "looksie".
No one was watching that I knew of, except maybe this old tree guy...he's been there for quite a few years, just watching people come and go. He saw us there when we were last there...He was there watching when my parents "left this home" for the last time to go to their heavenly home...Maybe that's why he seems to look a bit sad and lonely...
Ah! there are still some grapefruit on the trees...even though the tree definitely needs to be pruned and taken care of. I wonder if the fruit is still as good as I remember? I didn't dare pick one, but it was tempting.
Very tempting...but this is not my family's home anymore.
I walked around the back yard, calling all the while..."anybody home?" But no answer. There's the old shed that I remember when my Daddy brought it home in pieces and re-built it there. He tore it down from someone's home who didn't want it anymore, and so he brought it here and built it. I remember that before my Daddy loaded it up with his "stuff", it made a great playhouse and even a "haunted house" one Halloween, complete with scary music on a tape recorder...oh! The memories around this old house...
Here in the back yard you can see back to our neighbor's cow pasture and pond. We used to go out to the fence and talk to the cows and horses he had there...Oh, I can see that my mother's clothesline is still there...do you see it? My mother always loved to hang out the clothes, especially the sheets! And I remember many a time running out there to gather them in quickly because of one of our frequent summer afternoon thunderstorms that popped up unexpectedly!
This was always so pretty back here...my daddy kept it so nice.
This is also where the guys played horseshoes every time we all came home for holidays and birthdays and just home to be together.
"Daddy the Champ!"
This was Daddy's "Carriage House" garage and workshop, with an attic upstairs filled with all kinds of interesting stuff. I remember when he built this "barn"...and my hubby helped him dig the footer, and I remember our little boys were there to make their mark in the wet cement foundation.
That's about where our family was sitting when this picture was taken of us in 2005, the last Easter we were all together before my mother went to heaven in 2006.
This is the back of the house, and it looks rather worn and tired in this picture. Again...when my parents lived there, it was kept up so nice... Did I tell you that my Daddy built this house himself? Yes, with the help of his own Dad, my Grandpa. I remember as a little seven year old girl running around the bricks and blocks and boards and nails and loving the smell of fresh cut lumber. I also remember being stung by a scorpion on the bottom of my foot because I was running around barefoot in the dark...Yes, I remember that quite well!!! You would too, if it happened to you!!! Trust me.
The window above that you can see just to the right of the screen back porch, was my sister and my bedroom. The window on the end was my two big brothers' room, and our parents' room was on the front. The window inside the screen porch was where the dining room is. And the jalousie windows is where the laundry room is. The kitchen is through the door behind the screen door across the porch.
Here's my Mother in the kitchen back in the early days. She was a great cook, and pies were her specialty.
This is the way the kitchen looked when I last saw it. I prefer to remember it this way. Homey and much loved with lots of wonderful memories.
There used to be beautiful climbing roses and other flowers climbing and growing around this pergola/trellis. It was a beautiful place inside those glass windows to sit and watch the birds.
The room on the end here below was added onto the house while I was in high school. It was originally supposed to be a garage, but the car never once sat inside it. There was a garage door on this side of the house, but it was Daddy's workshop before he built the Carriage House. And then he closed this room in and made it his "Train Room" when he retired and started collecting toy trains....Oh the delights of watching those trains go round and round. The grandchildren called him "Grandpa Choo Choo".
Here is an old picture taken when our grandson Noah came to visit Great-Grandpa Choo Choo for the first time. He was 4 months old. You can tell he was real impressed. Our son Matthew was having the most fun watching his Grandpa show off his trains. Such happy memories from inside this old house.
Oh, this is a sad picture...This WAS the navel orange tree. This tree produced the sweetest, juiciest, best ever navel oranges ever in its day. It's so sad that it hasn't been taken care of and now it really needs to just be cut down. That did make me feel sad.
But look at this Kalanchoe plant...it just keeps on growing and growing. Daddy planted that many years ago. Nothing seems to kill it! I wish I could have taken some home with me to plant, but again...it's not my home anymore and there was no one to ask.
Back to the front of the house. The color of the shutters is the color that the trim on the gable above and the eaves used to be. I think I liked that much better than this green...but again...it's not my home anymore. My Daddy did plant all those plants along the front...
And this is Daddy's old hand plow or whatever you call it, which he cleverly made into a mailbox stand. I'm so glad they've left that there.
One last look at the front of the house...actually I'm glad no one was home. If they had invited me in I know I would have been disappointed. From what I could see through the front door window when I was knocking and knocking and knocking...the inside looks like the people are kind of, well, shall we politely say, "pack rats"? Yes, I'm glad the outside still looks pretty nice, except for the trees that need trimming...
Another look at the side yard and end of the "Carriage House". This empty lot next to the house was where I had many a campout with friends and where we played games and parked the extra cars when there were lots of people there...Oh, the memories.
Campout with my friends Sue, Carol and yours truly...
Okay, let's shift gears a bit. You know we went to celebrate birthdays today with family, right? That was the whole reason for making this trip in the first place. Well, we did do exactly that, and had such a great time.
Here's our whole gang at the restaurant.
Front row, me, our friend Paula, (the birthday girl!) my sister Doris
2nd row: my hubby's brother Billy, his wife Peggy and my sister's hubby Art.
Back row, my cousin's husband Pat, my cousin Becky, and my hubby John (the birthday boy).
Our niece Shannon was there with us also for lunch, but had to leave before the group picture was taken.
You may remember me mentioning Shannon before. She was in a serious car accident last year, and had to have a rod installed in her hip to repair the fractures. Well, we hadn't been able to see her since her accident in person until today! What a pleasure to see her radiant smile and hear her sharing her story with us.
She gave me permission to share this picture of the rod that is in her pelvis area, holding it all together.
She is going to be having surgery this summer to remove the rod, so hopefully she will be able to move forward with her scholarship for swimming at college in the fall. She is already swimming, but has limitations because of the rod. They believe it should be healed enough to remove in July. So again, please keep Shannon in your thoughts and prayers. It's been a very difficult year for her.
You may remember me sharing a picture of me with my cousin Becky recently in the Tuesday 4: My Life Story post. Well, here we are today...she and her husband Pat were down in Florida on vacation from Ohio, and were able to come join us today for the party!!
Oh, here we were...about 61 years ago...yes, that's right! We haven't change much...LOL.
And here we are again with my sister Doris in the middle:
It was so great to be together again!!
Well, it's late and I need to get to bed. Tomorrow is another wonderful day...SONday!! I am so thankful for the blessings of this day...for the memories from being "home again", even if only from the outside. It made me appreciate how wonderful our home really was when we were growing up and so thankful for the dear people who once lived there. I know our real home is in heaven, where Jesus is, and where my parents are waiting for us to join them someday. Tomorrow in church we will be singing a song called "One Day Soon" and also in medley with "Soon and Very Soon, We are going to see the King". We didn't record us singing that song, but here is a link to a audio version of it being demonstrated for you. I think you will enjoy the song as much as I do:
This video has the lyrics and music. I can't wait to sing it tomorrow. And I can hardly wait for
