Friday Foto Friends From Still Waters Pond and Beyond...

This "Wild iris, or African Iris, or "fortnight lily", was growing outside of the eye doctor's office.

I thought, how appropriate that there is an "iris" planted beside an eye doctor's office. 

This was at the eye doctor in St. Augustine where I went with my hubby yesterday to see about whether or not he is going to have to have cataract surgery. Well, according to this doctor, not yet. His real issue is not cataracts, but something to do with the cornea...so there will be some further tests and possibly a referral to a cornea specialist. Right now he will be using some special eye drops to hopefully help the situation.  So we pray for a reasonable solution and healing.

These big beautiful trees are growing next to Still Waters Pond, near the little canal around "Goose Island".

I thought these verses went well with this picture...

Psalm 1:1-3

"1 Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper."

Speaking of Goose Island, if you recall I told you HERE the other day that I was not sure what exactly was going on with the geese. 

Well, later that same day I saw Father and Mother Goose out on the little marsh island that was the Sand Hill Crane's nesting place, and they were both just sitting there.

Mother Goose kept tucking her head into her feathers, and I thought perhaps there were babies tucked inside there, although I wasn't sure how they got from the nesting site over to this site  so quickly.  I assume they spent the night out there, but they weren't there in the morning, so I went back around to check their nest on Goose Island.

The nest appeared to be abandoned...

And then I saw this down in the water just below the nest...it appears to be a cracked egg shell...

And this, which appears to be a lot of downy feathers scattered from the nest...

And this, which appears to be a whole egg, floating in the water...

Another close up of that cracked egg shell...

And very sadly there was no sign of Mother or Father Goose around, and no sign of any baby geese.  I have had to assume that either something destroyed their nest, or the eggs were not viable and they abandoned the nest...we haven't seen either of them since that last evening.  So, I am feeling kind of sad about all of that. Apparently this just wasn't their time to bring some new baby goslings into the world. King Solomon, with all of this wisdom, seems to address this subject very well for all of humanity, and perhaps, in a way,  it applies to the realm of nature as well...all God's Creation...

Ecclesiastes 3

1 To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

3 A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break down,

And a time to build up;

4 A time to weep,

And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones,

And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,

And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to gain,

And a time to lose;

A time to keep,

And a time to throw away;

7 A time to tear,

And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence,

And a time to speak;

8 A time to love,

And a time to hate;

A time of war,

And a time of peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

And so we move on to the next event...I can't linger here for long as I have to just trust that the God of all creation knows best in every situation, and we have to trust Him, even for the lives of the geese, the bluebirds, the Sand Hill Cranes, and everything else that wanders into our pathway.

Today was actually a happy day.  Our church ladies' group, "Women in Faith", held their annual May Fellowship Day, where we invite ladies from all the neighborhood churches and beyond to come for a luncheon and a little program and just a time of fellowship and sharing God's love with one another.  It was very well attended, with almost 70 ladies!  Here are the pictures I took...later I realized that I didn't manage to get into any of these pictures, but you know what I look like anyway! LOL. 

I will not attempt to identify everyone in these photos, because I don't know many of these ladies myself, since many were from different churches.  But for those that I think you will find significant, I will identify them.

I am sure you will appreciate this picture below, because many of you will recognize Lily Grace.  The lady who is holding her is the sweet lady who made her Easter dress for her...and this was the first time she had actually gotten to "meet" Lily Grace in person! This is Ellen, and she is one of our snow-birds, and will be heading back home to NY state tomorrow, so this was a special time for them to meet:

This was my table, and you will recognize my sweet DIL Rose on the left. I was so happy she could make it for the luncheon, because she had to get up at 3:00 am to get ready to be at work by 5 a.m.  She works at Home Depot, and she worked from 5-9 a.m. this morning, and then came straight here to the church.  Such a sweetheart!

These sweet ladies below are each over 90 years old, but they remain very active in church and would not miss this fellowship for anything. Actually the lady on the left recently moved away from here with her son and daughter in law, but they came back to be with us today.

This is her daughter in law.  We sure miss both of them and wish they hadn't moved away, but that's just how life is sometimes...It was really great to see them both today.

We call this happy lady "Mary Sunshine". She's just a very special lady...and "Sunshine" fits her fun personality...

This was our speaker for the day, who is also a member of our church, and our Pastor's wife in the middle, and Norma, our group President. They were testing the sound system to get ready for her presentation, which was a monologue in the person of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, from His birth to His death and resurrection. Very powerful message.

Norma, our President, and a lady who just knows how to get things done. I've talked about Norma before...she's just really, really special...

Our speaker Barbara again:

The food table...it was all so good!

Everything was so nicely decorated...

This is my plate, and there's Lily Grace again. She enjoyed the "party" so much! And everyone just loved having her there. They may have thought I was a little bit crazy, but what else is new???

The dessert table:

I guess that's a good place to stop for the night!  

Here are a few verses to ponder from Proverbs 31, talking about a "virtuous wife", a role model for women everywhere...

"25 Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,

And on her tongue is the law of kindness."

"30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,

And let her own works praise her in the gates."

 Good night my friends. I hope you have had a wonderful day and that your weekend will be filled with joy and blessings.

Mother's Day Blessings

Well, another Mother's Day has come and gone.  Well almost...it's 7:30 p.m., and I'm sure most "celebrations" are winding down by now, if you were able to have one at all.  I didn't think that we would be able to do anything today due to some other conflicts, but God and family intervened, and it turned out to be a very nice day.

The day started out raining, which was actually an answer to prayer because we need it so much. Wish it would have stayed a bit longer...but at least I didn't have to water the flowers outside today!
We also were able to go meet some church friends for "brunch" at our local restaurant, which reopened this past week. Our churches still are not able to hold indoor services,  and so our pastor does an online message each week. We used to go to lunch with friends after church, so today we went to brunch instead and then we watched the service online later. (Individually at home).   Our church district leaders are saying we probably won't be able to reconvene indoor church services until at least mid-June. I am not too happy about that, but I guess there isn't anything to do but be patient and wait and trust the Lord that all will work out for the best according to His plan. I'm thankful we can at least meet with friends at a restaurant now. That helps a lot!

We originally were going to wait until tomorrow (Monday) to celebrate Mother's Day with family because of other conflicts today. But those conflicts were changed, and we were able to get together after all!

Here we are, enjoying a wonderful lasagna dinner prepared by my sweet daughter in law.  What a blessing she is in our lives.

 And here I am with two of my sons, #1 and #3.

Our #2 son (as he actually used to call himself) is helping the Lord prepare our "mansion" in heaven, where we will have a grand reunion someday.   This picture below was taken in February, 2014, just a few months before our #2 son passed away from cancer.  These are all the Steiner "men" in my life:

 L to R: Hubby, #1 son, #1 (and only) grandson, #2 son, and #3 son.  I am blessed to have been known as Wifey, Mom, and Grandma by this crew of handsome men. 

Back to today:

Here is my plate of lasagna, garlic bread , and salad. It was delicious! Thank you, dear Rose, for providing such a wonderful dinner.  BTW, I told the guys that I had set the table with the pink tablecloth in honor of us girls, so they'd better not get any lasagna spilled on it. LOL.  They did really well...they ate it up so fast it didn't have time to hit the tablecloth! LOL.

And here are some of my gifts...my kids gave me two new kinds of bird feeders. One is for hummingbirds, and goes on the window so I can see them up close. The other is a regular bird feeder, and it also goes on the window so I can see it up close too.  I can't wait to get them put up...and I look forward to lots of wonderful up close encounters with our bird world.

My number #3 son is very creative. He constructed this beautiful angel for me today out of copper wire.  She will sit/fly in a special place where I can enjoy seeing her every day.

My "daughter in love" knows how much I love a certain kind of Lavender Goat Milk Soap. It is home made by a friend from down where we used to live, and is loaded with wonderful essential oils and healthy ingredients.

 She ordered this for me as it difficult to get back down there to get it, especially since this "pandemic". These six bars should last me at least six months! I am so happy to get this as I was almost out of it.

I did bake an apple pie today.  Here is what is left of it:

Click HERE for a Mother's Day story about my mother's pies.  My mother was the expert pie baker in the family...and she always baked an apple pie for my birthday. So, in honor of her memory I baked an apple pie today. It was almost as good as Mama's...but not quite as perfect.

My mother at age 70. In my mind, she was still this beautiful when she passed away almost 20 years later.
Dorothea Tedlie Mursch
1917-2006

Here is a picture (below) of me with my mother, way back in the late 80's I think.  This was taken on a very special day that we spent rambling around an old abandoned house in north Georgia. There just happened to be some lilacs blooming on that property, and since that was my mother's most favorite flower ever, my Dad took this picture of us enjoying the lilacs together.  CLICK HERE for a story about my mother and lilacs.  Such a beautiful memory of a wonderful day together.

Click here for THE STORY of that special day.

And then of course I want to remember my dear mother in law too. There are many stories about her scattered throughout this blog, as she spent a good bit of her last several years of life with us in our home.  If you want some interesting stories about life with "Nanny", go to the right sidebar here on the blog and under "Some Special Topics", click on the first one "Caregiver", and you will be able to live through some of our adventures together.  She was a very special woman, one whom I will never forget. I was blessed to be her "daughter-in-love".

Vivian Martin Steiner, "Nanny"
1923-2018

You can also CLICK HERE for a "Tribute to My Mother-in-Law, updated last year for Mother's Day, a few months after she had passed away.

In closing, I want to thank the Lord for the wonderful women He placed in my life. My own dear mother, and also my dear mother-in-law. Not to mention the many other women of influence throughout the years, many who were like "spiritual mothers" to me during my years of serving alongside my husband in the ministry.  I needed a lot of wise counsel during those years, and God always seemed to bring just the right women along at the right time to help lead me in the right direction. I am not sure I would have made it without their kindness and Christian love.

Praying that you have also had a blessed and beautiful day today. I know for many this has not been a great day, due to distance away from loved ones, and perhaps some have not felt like this was a day they could celebrate for one reason or another.

I believe that Mother's Day really should be a day of tribute to all women, regardless of whether or not they are mothers.  Many women, who may not have been mothers in the physical sense, have been more like mothers to other people's children than perhaps those other's own mothers were. I like these words from the famous Proverbs 31 "A Portrait of a Virtuous Woman"

"25.  Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

26.  She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and on her tongue is the law of kindness.

27.  She watches over the ways of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness."

29.  "Many daughters have done well,

but you excel them all."

30.  "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.

but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

31. "Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her own works praise her in the gates."

That is the kind of woman that we should each aspire to be, regardless of whether or not we are married, have children, or live alone. Our worth comes from the Lord, first of all...not from our marital or familial status.  

"A woman who fears the Lord....She shall be praised."

That is the most important quality in a woman ever.

Amen?