Saturday Evening on Still Waters Pond

I had some visitors in the garden this afternoon...

They saw me putting some bird seed in the bird feeder, so they came right up to clean up whatever fell on the ground...I don't purposely feed the Sand Hill Cranes, as it is actually against the law. But if they want to "clean up the crumbs from under the Master's table...", (Reference to Matthew 15:21-28) then I can't stop them, can I?

And so they pecked away at the leftover seeds in the grass, and then they wandered over to where I was sitting on the swing in the Memorial Garden and waited to see if I would give them anything else to eat...

I told them I was sorry, but that I was not allowed to feed them, however I welcomed their company and was so glad to visit with them.

Mama Crane turned her back on me and flapped her wings at her now grown children, (Pat and Val), as if to say, "Come along children...nothing to see here...this lady isn't going to feed us anything more..."

I wasn't sure if I should be insulted by her actions or feel honored that they would stay and visit so long.

I just kept talking to them and thanked them for spending this past year with us and being such good "entertainment" for us.  I know the young "colts", Pat and Val, will soon be heading out on their own as they are almost  10 months old, and that is about the length of time they stay with the parents.  I don't know if Mom and Dad Crane will establish a new nest or not this winter...time will tell.

But I took this opportunity to let them know that I appreciated them.  I sang this little song to them that came to my mind as I sat there talking to them: (based on Philippians 1:6)

"He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you"

As I finished singing they all turned away and headed back to Still Waters Pond.  Not sure if it was my singing, or just that they needed to get a move on to the next thing on their agenda for the day. 

Here's the complete song, sung by Steve Green:

I hope you'll listen to this special song, and perhaps apply it to your own life.  This song has wonderful meaning and gives us hope when we aren't sure if God is still working in our lives or not...

"He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you

If the struggle you're facing

Is slowly replacing

Your hope with despair

Or the process is long

And you're losing your song

In the night

You can be sure

That the Lord has His hand on you

Safe and secure

He will never abandon you

You are His treasure

And He finds His pleasure in you

He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you"

Maybe I'm silly for singing it to a family of Sand Hill Cranes, but hey! It's what came to my mind, and I believe it was a message meant for me as well...and for anyone reading this post who needs  to know that God is always there for you.

Yesterday was a lovely day...it was kind of chilly and cloudy all day, but there was no rain in the forecast. Then all of a sudden it started raining, and we had a great rain shower for over an hour, which we really needed.  I was so happy that I stood out on the back porch and took lots of pictures:

Still Waters Pond was "singing in the rain"....

The "Secret/Memorial Garden" was enjoying the gentle rain as well.

This little Wren was sitting on the porch railing, watching the rain...or was he merely just obeying the "Porch Rules"?...

"Take a Nap...Feel the Breezes"   LOL.

Today was sunny and beautiful again...still a little cooler...just gorgeous Fall weather for us here in Florida.  I was happy that hubby felt up to taking a little ride and we went to the local flea market for a little while.  I picked up a couple of little things, but I am not going to share them now because they are  Christmas decorations, and I promise not to show any thing Christmassy until after Thanksgiving...so you will have to wait! (I hope I don't forget about them by then! LOL)

While I was writing this I kept looking out my window here in "My Room With a View", and I couldn't help but notice the evening skies over Still Waters Pond. I hope you don't tire of me sharing these pictures with you...I just believe that God gives us such beauty to enjoy and also to give Him praise for the masterpieces He creates for us because He loves us.

The skies were such a brilliant shade of blue today, and then those puffy white clouds just really set off the gorgeous blue...

And then a few minutes later, this is how it looked:

Psalm 8:1-4

1 "Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens.

2 Through the praise of children and infants

you have established a stronghold against your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?"

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little visit with us here at Still Waters Pond.  Praying you have had a good day...oh! And don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour tonight!!!

And remember...

"6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"

Philippians 1:6

Amen.

 

Monday Monday, Birds, People, and Blessings!

 Happy Monday morning everyone!  I hope you have had a peaceful and blessed weekend.  Ours was somewhat busy, but all good. I'll start out with a few pictures from Still Waters Pond of a Brown Thrasher that landed in a tree and visited for a few minutes. We don't get to see them very often, and normally they are on the ground, "thrashing about" in the bushes and weeds, looking for a good meal. But this one decided to land in a tree to say hello, so here he is:

The Brown Thrasher

The weekend started out with one incident that wasn't so great.  We went over to our son and DIL's house to check on things since they are on vacation, and as we stepped out the front door a very long black snake slithered across the step just as my hubby was about to step down on the step. When he saw the snake he leaped across the step and almost knocked me down as I was in front of him headed for the gate. This all happened very fast, as you can imagine, and left us both a bit breathless at being taken by surprise.  We recovered from the "shock" and headed on home.  It wasn't until a day later that my hubby realized that he must have either pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in his lower back when he made that giant leap.  And so for the rest of the weekend he was pretty much in pain, using ice packs and/or the heating pad and taking anti-inflammatory meds.  Thankfully today as I write this he is starting to feel better, but still hasn't totally recovered. We are just very thankful that he didn't fall or actually knock me down in the process either. It could have been much worse.  We are very thankful.

On Saturday I had the privilege of attending and helping out at a baby shower at our church.  This was actually a kind of a "mission project", as this dear sweet family does not attend our church, but they are the neighbors of one of our members, and she wanted to help them out.  They are a blended family and between them already have 8 children, and this baby will make #9!  

I know...they look so young to have so many children...but I must tell you they are the sweetest couple, and the three youngest children, all boys, came along with them, and they were so well behaved and precious.  The new baby is a girl, and she is expected to make her arrival in a couple of weeks.  

Some of our thoughtful ladies also brought gifts for these children to help entertain them while Mommie opened her presents.  That was a very smart idea!

I was very pleased so see that there were many wonderful gifts, including this adorable Care Bear Tricycle, made with diapers, bottles, booties, onesies, and various other necessities for a new baby. 

It was nice that we already knew the baby was a girl, so gift buying was much easier!

I hope we get to see the baby dressed in this precious little blue dress!!

This is my friend Norma, who planned the shower and is always looking for ways to reach out to our community and help children and families.  She is a blessing to all of us.

Here's a picture that hubby took of me before I left for the shower. I don't get to wear my flowered summer skirt very often, but felt like a baby shower was a perfect opportunity!

On Sunday morning hubby made it to Sunday School to teach our Adult Sunday School class, but was hurting so bad in his back that he really wanted to go home as he knew trying to sit still in a pew for an hour was going to be very painful. So we came back home and took it easy the rest of the day.

Thankfully, our son Scott came home to visit (and do his laundry, LOL), and he grilled some hamburgers for lunch. That was a real treat!

Scott's grilled hamburgers (or anything he grills) are always the best!!

This is little out of the sequence of events, but on Friday our "kids" Noah and Dawn came back from Maine after being up there for a couple of weeks.  They had originally planned to come back down here to work, but after a lot of consideration they have realized that they are better off back in Maine where they have more connections and opportunities.  We are going to miss them, but are so very thankful for the time we had together while they were here.

I would appreciate your prayers for them as they begin a new chapter in their lives. 

Their time here was hopefully a new beginning in many deeper aspects, and this verse from 

Philippians 1:6 really speaks to that hope and promise:

I found this song by Steve Green that also speaks to that promise.

I am dedicating this song to Noah and Dawn with a prayer for their future:

Lyrics

He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you

If the struggle you're facing

Is slowly replacing

Your hope with despair

Or the process is long

And you're losing your song

In the night

You can be sure

That the Lord has His hand on you

Safe and secure

He will never abandon you

You are His treasure

And He finds His pleasure in you

He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you

He who began a good work in you

He who began a good work in you

Will be faithful to complete it

He'll be faithful to complete it

He who started the work

Will be faithful to complete it in you

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jon Mohr

Well, that's about it for today. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. 

Numbers 6:24-26

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.” 

Amen.

More Than Meets the Eye

You know they always say there is more to life than what meets the eye.  I've also heard it said that :

There are usually more layers to every story than you will ever truly understand, unless you've been there and have walked with someone through the valleys and the mountains...the storms and the calm...

And so it is also true about our journey this past weekend to see our grandson graduate from high school....a very happy and monumental moment for him and for all of us who love and know him.

And I certainly don't want to take away from his wonderful accomplishment and well earned celebration.  It was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for all of us.

A proud moment for his Mama....











And a proud moment for his other grandmother...his "Nana"

A very happy young man....

 But for my hubby and me there was so much more going on behind the scenes of these cheers and accolades...You see, we were there not only to represent ourselves and our pride in our one and only grandchild...but we were also there to represent his sweet father, our son,  whom I am certain was viewing this amazing event from heaven's portals if that is possible.  Somehow I think he was present in spirit, rejoicing with the rest of us that his son made it to this great milestone...and I can imagine he was telling all the other saints around him..."That's my boy!!"

You see, not only was this a proud moment for us for our grandson's accomplishments, but also because we never got to see his father walk across a stage and accept his diploma when he graduated. Oh, he graduated, praise God!  But at the time of his graduation he was recuperating from surgery for a brain tumor...(For that story click HERE to read about "God's Perfect Timing")  and so he missed out on all the festivities of graduating with his class.

This is a picture of our son Matthew receiving his diploma from the school guidance counselor after the graduation services were over.

Thankfully, Matthew miraculously recovered and was healed from the brain tumor...and was even able to attend college that fall. However, he did have some residual issues with short term memory loss which made it very difficult for him to keep up in college, and so after one year he returned home, met his sweetheart and was married about a year later.  And several years after that along came their wonderful son, Noah, our grandson, whose graduation we are celebrating now.

When our grandson was about ten years old, his daddy was diagnosed with cancer...totally unrelated to the brain tumor (which was benign).  And four years later, after a valiant battle, our dear son entered heaven's gates.  (Click here for that story)

So you see, this whole celebration has a lot of "layers" behind it...emotions that have affected each of us involved.

As a part of our journey to visit our grandson and his mother we also visited our son's grave, as we had never been able to do so prior to this.  We live far away, and to be honest, it has been very difficult emotionally for us to go back to our son's home before this.  Our grandson and his mama have come to visit us several times, but this is the first time we've come back to their home since our son passed away.  And so we wanted to see his tombstone in person.

We were pleased to see that the local fire department had placed a special flag on his grave on Memorial Day, as Matthew was a volunteer fireman, along with his wife who still serves her community this way in addition to working a very busy full time job and raising their son alone.

Seeing his grave was a peaceful moment for us...a kind of closure that perhaps we needed.  It was comforting to us to know that this little cemetery is surrounded on two sides by two different churches...

 which just seemed fitting and comforting to us...of course we know our son is not in that grave...just his ashes are there...but he is residing in heaven with Jesus...and so we know he is being well taken care of.

It was difficult for us to go to our son's home without him being there...but because it was a happy day of celebration for our grandson's graduation, it helped to take away the sting of grief and we were thankful to be able to rejoice with our grandson and his friends and family who gathered there.

            

Loved the pictures of our grandson displayed from early childhood to the present:                                                                       

His other grandparents came from Pennsylvania for the occasion...

Noah and some of his friends enjoyed playing some outdoor games

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day, lots of good food and fun...and a few poignant moments as we wandered around and thought of our son and how much he would have loved to have been there...but he was there in spirit...

The wind chime that was created in memory of Matthew for our grandson and his mama by a friend of ours, which is just like the one we have in our Memorial Garden here at our house...

The sign "Mattopia", which was created by our older son, the sign maker,  for his brother to put in his workshop (that Matthew built himself with some help from his friends) that was aptly named "Mattopia"...

 His tools....

His fishing rods...

Another special sign hanging above the door to Matthew's workshop...

And last but not least, his "Big Mouth Billy Bass"...(remember those?)

I was also happy to see this special pillow, which was created for Noah by our dear friend Sharon (who is also battling cancer now).  She sent this to Noah after his daddy died with instructions to hold and hug this pillow whenever he missed or thought of his daddy. The pillow is well worn...even has a little tear in it...so I believe it has been well used.

I don't write all these thoughts to make you sad or to feel sorry for me. No...I write them down to sort through some of our own emotions and feelings that were behind the smiling faces, under the surface, not far from our minds all of the time we were there.  Oh yes...we laughed, we rejoiced...we celebrated with our precious grandson...

 Noah is the tallest boy on the back row...this was at the end of the ceremony when they all turned their tassels to the other side and then celebrated together as a class...

And here he is running out at the close of the service...he was so excited he couldn't wait to get moving...

And we look forward to seeing just how our grandson will "get moving" on with his life...he has good plans and goals for college and beyond...he has a good heart and a good head on his shoulders...and we know he will do well.  We know his daddy would be very proud of the man his son is becoming...just as we are also very proud of him, and lift him up in our prayers every day...that God will continue the good work that He has begun in him...

Philippians 1:6

"Being confident of this very thing, 

that He who has begun a good work in you 

will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Amen.