Saturday/Birthday Revue

 Good Saturday Afternoon dear friends! I'm sorry I've been M.I.A. today.  If you are a Facebook friend, you've already seen all the wonderful pictures from our trip yesterday to celebrate the Baptism of our niece and my birthday.  But for those of you who aren't on Facebook, I will share this wonderful day with you now.  I intended to do it first thing this morning, but alas! Last night after we got home from our long and wonderful day, I was hit with a bout of vertigo just as I was getting ready for bed. Suddenly the room felt like it was spinning around and of course, if you've ever had that, you know how that makes you feel in other ways as well. I finally took some Meclizine (Dramamine) for motion sickness/vertigo, and went to bed. I slept  quite well as long as I didn't need to get up, and then this morning I still wasn't able to get up and move around too much without dizziness.  Finally hubby made me a really good breakfast of two fried eggs, "dippy eggs", and buttered toast. I was amazed at how beautifully and perfectly he did that...I need to encourage him to do that more often...and it was exactly what I needed.  And then I went right back to bed and slept until lunch time, had a bowl of chicken noodle soup and crackers, and went back to bed again. Finally around 3:00 p.m. I felt well enough to get up and stay up for a while, and I am trying to keep moving forward one step at a time ever since. Still woozy, but sometimes it feels better to stay upright rather than lay back down. 

So here I am.  Having a cup of tea...and using two of my special birthday gifts...the little china saucer came in a fun package from one of my dearest blogging friends, and the little tea bag holder from Holland was a gift from my sister in law, who just returned from a trip to Germany and surrounding areas!  I love it! And it reminds me of my blogging sisters in the Netherlands...you know who you are...Syl and Aritha!

So I haven't been able to fully bask in the afterglow of such a wonderful day that we had yesterday. Now I am trying to make up for lost time, and I will share the pictures from what I would call a perfect day...

First things first...We had the baptism of our niece Shannon first thing because she thought she was going to have to leave right away to go to work...and then after a while she got a text from her boss telling her she didn't have to come in afterall, so we could've done things differently, but it all worked out for the best and it really couldn't have been more perfect.

I hope this works. I had to create a youtube video so I could share it on this blog, since it was too long for a traditional video.  I've never done that before, so I just learned something new.  This is the actual video of Shannon's baptism, and her words of testimony afterwards. You can tell by her excitement that this was a very special day for her in every way. We praise God for the work that He is doing in this very dear young lady.  May God continue to help her grow in faith and His love as the days go by.

On a funny note, don't you just love John's "Frog Togs" that he wore in the pool? He said that when he got in the pool, they filled up with air and he almost started floating. LOL. But they did the job they were intended to do,  and he stayed dry and warm enough. Yes, the water was cold. LOL.

And here is Shannon and my hubby, her Uncle John,  again, beaming after receiving her Baptismal Certificate. She said she can't wait to frame it and hang it on her wall!

To me, this was the highlight of the whole day...seeing how excited she was and how happy it made her to finally be baptized.  That gives me great hope for her in the future. God is with her, and He will not let her go.

So after that we had a delicious lunch. My sister in law Peggy had put together a veritable feast of bbq meats, potatoes, salads, fruits, macaroni, beans...all of the above. It was wonderful.  Then after lunch we moved into the dining room where she had set up a table for a tea party to celebrate my birthday! She knows how much I love tea parties, and I rarely get to have one with real people! Let me tell you, she thought of everything.  Here's the video of them singing Happy Birthday to me:

Just look at this cake! I've never seen such a beautiful cake before!

And everything was set so perfectly lovely...fit for a princess!

And yes! My sister Doris did bake a wonderful apple pie for me, just like our mother used to do for my birthday! It was so good and delicious and perfect in every way! Our mother would have been so proud!

Here's my plate, with pie and cake! 

And there were these beautiful cookies baked and decorated like tea cups! I couldn't eat one just then, but I brought some home for later.

Then there were gifts...Oh! look who showed up! Blackie is going to be featured in our yard for Halloween! LOL.

And guess what else I got?  A porch Goose!!!  I've seen several others who have these, and now I have one too!! And she's all dressed for the birthday party! LOL.

And here's the "silly goose" sister Doris who gave her to me! LOL.

Isn't she lovely?  I think I will name her Lucy Goosey!

There were other fun gifts too numerous to mention, but here's a sampling of the sweet things I got...

This cute little teapot and teacup salt and pepper shaker was a fun gift...

Here's that wonderful tea bag holder and also some wooden shoes from Holland:

And this is one of the cut paper bouquets that are all the rage now...I love this one in a little teacup...

Such amazing detail! They look so real!

Today I had the last piece of the apple pie on that beautiful little saucer that was a gift from a dear blogging friend, along with the pumpkin and kitty face placemat, the Birthday Badge (which I wore on my birthday), and those two little geese salt and pepper shakers that must be babies to my new Lucy Goosey! LOL.

We finished off the evening with this beautiful Full Harvest Moon...

Also, when we got home, there was a bouquet on the front porch, with no card!  However, I checked our "Ring Camera" and figured out who had delivered them, and then also found a text message that I had not seen from a dear friend from our church, who had brought them by in the afternoon...such a blessing! She recently lost her father, and now she is taking care of her mother, who has a lot of "emotional issues", and it is very challenging...and yet she took the time to bring ME flowers!  I honestly don't get it...I should be taking HER flowers! Some gifts are just very very humbling and really make me stop and think about what I should be doing for others.  

All of this was just so amazingly beautiful and special and very surprising. I was not expecting any kind of big to-do party like that, and the Tea Party was just something overwhelming to me. I am truly grateful to the Lord for these dear people who are in my life.

I feel badly that we didn't get any pictures of all the guys that were also there...you can see my hubby with his head cut off in this picture, and his brother Bill in the background, and my dear two sisters here ...Peggy cutting the pie, my sister in "love",  and Doris on the right, my sweet "little big sister", as I call her, because she is littler than I am, but still is my big sister.  Her hubby was also there, as was our son Benton, who drove us.  Rose had to work so sadly she had to miss this.  And also Nicholaus, Shannon's brother, (our nephew) was also there, and you can catch a glimpse of him in the pool at the baptism.

I was happy that Benton and Rose  ("Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop") created this fun "FALL" decoration for Peggy, as a hostess gift. 

Here's where she put it...and it goes perfectly in that spot!

So all in all it was a day filled with such amazing blessings and surprises and joy. I thank the Lord for every moment of the day, from beginning to end, even though I did end up with vertigo! I am better now, praise God, and actually I probably needed that extra rest today.  God knows.

I hope you enjoyed this long post...I couldn't leave anything out...it was all so wonderful!

In closing, a couple of passages from the Psalms that are a fitting kind of prayer to finish this day...

Psalm 18:1-2

1 "I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

Psalm 90:16-17

16 "Let Your work appear to Your servants,

And Your glory to their children.

17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,

And establish the work of our hands for us;

Yes, establish the work of our hands."

Now you better go outside and look at that full Harvest Moon while it lasts! This is right now in our front yard:

Good Night, and God bless you everyone!!

Friday Foto Friends: What Do You See?

Hello Friday Foto Friends! Another week has come and gone! Wow! Can you believe this is the last weekend in October? Halloween, End of Daylight Savings time! (Fall back), the last weekend before the election? (Don't worry, not going to talk about that) and a Full Moon!

Right now as I write (Thursday night)

So as I started to put this post together, sorting through the pictures I've taken this past week, I kind of discovered a recurring theme...each picture is kind of like a mystery photo...different shapes, items, shadows, things...so I thought instead of me telling you what the pictures are, I'd let you see whatever you see in the pictures and you can tell me in your comments. I may have some connecting thoughts throughout the page, but I really hope that you will use your imagination and tell me what you see or don't see or think you see. There is no exact answer...I just want us to use our imaginations and tell us what you see.

This first one is pretty obvious...it's kind of a selfie, but actually it was totally by accident. I was trying to take a picture of that old mirror hanging on the wall in the church Thrift store garage when I went to visit again the other day. I never even realized I was taking a picture of myself when I snapped this photo, so this was a surprise to me.  Might have been a surprise to someone else too...I wasn't the only one in the picture. LOL.

This is a picture of a picture in the thrift store. Do you see what I see?

Can you guess why I wanted to take a picture of this picture?

Now, I wonder how many of you will see what I saw in this cloud:

I must tell you the story about it.  My hubby and I went for our usual evening walk. No sooner had we stepped out of our car to begin walking when we started hearing what sounded like gunshots on the other side of the woods. We debated whether or not to keep walking or just get back in the car and leave, but we decided to keep walking. However, the gunshots kept happening, and we walked a little faster and actually held each other's hands as we walked.  Hubby moved to my right, which was between me and the direction from where we could hear the gunshots. My hero!  Now, please understand, this is a wooded area, but not wooded enough for hunters. There are homes not far away, and the shots were actually coming from the direction of where the houses were on the other side of those trees. But it was a pretty good distance away from us, and we decided someone must be doing some target practice and they weren't aiming at us. So we kept walking. But to be honest, I was nervous. Maybe even a little bit scared. By the time we got down to the other end of the road we were discussing what to do if the shots kept firing. I was praying as we walked. And I looked up in the sky and I saw this cloud above . And immediately I felt totally at peace. I knew that God had sent this angel to pray for us and that we needed not fear.

For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:11

And we walked all the way back to our car and never heard another shot.

Thank You, Jesus!

Now this cloud below wasn't so "angelic" as the other one. This was taken on another evening, through the window as we drove along the road again to go for our walk.

What do YOU see in these clouds? (Pardon the spots on the window...not sure if they were raindrops or just dirt...I didn't notice it at the time)

Now, I wonder if you can see what I see in this photo below?

You have a good eye if you can spot the spider web!

Thankfully, my "hero" spotted it before we walked right into it!

He is pointing to where it was stretched across the road,  coming down from a tree limb above us and attached to some weeds on the edge of the road.

This is what we would have walked into had he not been very observant:

Coming toward it from the other direction, which was actually the direction we were walking originally,  can you see it?  Aren't you glad my hero saw it first?

This was the morning sunshine on one of those morning walks:

I guess the pink spots were spots on my camera lens as the very bright sun shone through. Either that, or there were pink balloons being sent up into the sky...what do YOU see?

Now this is one of my favorite pictures of the week: 

Sunrise from my front porch!  Here is what I wrote on my Facebook page that morning:

"Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, 

By His name YAH, and rejoice before Him." 

Psalm 68:4

The interesting thing is, I did not see those figures "riding on the clouds" until after I posted the picture online and also not until after I selected that particular verse to go with it. Now, do you see what I see?

Revelation 3:8 NKJV

 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;

 for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 

My collection of antique doorknobs.

But what do YOU see? 

There may be a clue here for a previous post for those of you who are still trying to figure out the answer to my scavenger hunt.

But you will have to wait until Halloween for the answer.

And speaking of Halloween, which is tomorrow, by the way, 

what do YOU see in this picture below?

All in good fun, of course...

I'll be interested to hear your replies to this and all of the other questions above.

Regardless of what you see or don't see, or whether or not we all agree on things or agree to disagree, here is a passage that is on my mind going into next week:

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;

so shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

Amen

Have a wonderful weekend!

Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

Gaining Strength

 Maybe I need to do a little check up on what's been happening in the past few days. Not really anything all that much, but then again, maybe it is a lot.

One thing we do every day, weather permitting, is take a little ride to a wooded area where we can take a walk. Now that the days are getting longer, we are trying to go twice a day, morning and evening. It really helps us to feel refreshed after being cooped up so much in the house these days.  And the exercise is especially good for us.  (especially me after my surgery...it is helping me to rebuild my strength and I can really tell the difference when we don't get out and walk)

Most every morning I hear a particular bird calling as we take our walks. I look and look up in the trees but I can never see the bird...until this morning:

It is a "Rufus Sided Towhee"  , and if you want to hear him, Listen HERE.

Also, the past few days we have been passing by this Mimosa tree that is in  full bloom alongside the road. This evening I talked my hubby into pulling off the road so I could go take a picture of it. He's a good sport (most of the time) when I say, "Please pull over so I can take a picture!" 

 These trees are another kind of wild tree, some call them a "weed tree" as they can be invasive, but they are so pretty in the spring when they are blooming.  I'm not so fond of their long seed pods that come later, however.

I also talked him into doing something else we haven't done in quite a while...we pulled into the McDonald's Drive-thru (all that is open), and I got a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream on top! The girl on the order speaker asked if I wanted the whipped cream...and of course I said yes!!! If you are going to have a milkshake might as well go whole hog! It was so good. I may talk him into stopping again and get some fries and a burger to go with that milkshake next time!!! That is the only drive-thru we have here in our little town, so you gotta get what you can while you can! (And all that walking is working up an appetite! Gotta keep my strength up, right??)

I just discovered that my blogging friend Gayle over at "Ventures in Photos"  posted a wonderful scripture verse, photograph, and a praise song that I've never heard before in all my years in ministry in churches... and I've never noticed this particular verse in Psalms before either:

Psalm 18:29 

"For by You I can run against a troop, 

By my God I can leap over a wall."

I highly recommend you go over to "Ventures in Photos" and check this out. I think you will enjoy the song as well as her post.

I love the imagery of that little verse...and I think we are all at that point in this social distancing/isolation/pandemic that we are about ready to go and "leap over a wall."   I probably skipped over that verse before because the ones after it are the more "popular verses" of this particular Psalm. But this just proves that we shouldn't skip around in our reading...we might miss a real gem in the process!

Psalm 18:30-33

30. "As for God, His way is perfect;

The word of the Lord is proven;

He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

31.  For who is God, except the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

32.  It is God who arms me with strength,

and makes my way perfect.

33.  He makes my feet like the feet of deer,

and sets me on my high places."

We had not one but two little deer run along the shore of the pond this morning.
Only managed to get one in the picture.

Maybe we need to be reminded that it IS GOD who arms us with strength...and He does give us the strength to run against our enemies and even leap over a wall that is in our path...but we need the Lord to guide us and we need to remember that He is that shield of protection when we put our trust in Him. Don't go leaping over walls and running against the troops without God giving us the strength and power to do so. Don't try to fight our enemies in our own strength...trust in the Lord! 

And then, He will deliver us from our enemies and lift us up above those who may rise up against us. (Psalm 18:48).

Back to the beginning of Psalm 18:1-3

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust.

My shield and the horn of my salvation, 

my stronghold.

I will call upon the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised;

So shall I be saved from my enemies."

Amen!

Friday Fotos - Awake and Sing Praise!

Psalm 108: 1-5

"O GOD, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and give praise,

even with my glory.

2.  Awake, lute and harp! 

I will awaken the dawn.

3.  I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,

And I will sing praises to You among the nations.

4.  For Your mercy is great above the heavens,

and Your truth reaches to the clouds.

5.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,

And Your glory above all the earth."

Good Morning Everyone!! Wake Up!! There was a beautiful sunrise out there. Did you see it?  We can't always see much of the sunrise because of the trees, but I was so glad we opened the front door in time to see this beauty in the skies this morning!

I was also thankful that I took the time to take pictures of the water lilies opening up on the pond this past week.  So far, I have only seen them open this one day...and then we had a bit of a rain storm in the night, and the temperatures dropped and they have not opened back up again.

So here again, the Lord blessed me as He showed me these glimpses of His beauty for the moment:

The pond is getting very low since we have not had much rain in several months. I was getting concerned that the lilies might just dry up...but no, here they are in all their glory:

I may not have Easter Lilies this year, but I do have pond lilies...and that's just fine with me!!

While I was out taking pictures of the pond lilies, I also noticed these little yellow flowers blooming along the shore on bushes that I had not noticed before! 

 They had many buds waiting to open, so I will gave to go back again and watch them.  I bet the butterflies will love them.

We've had some lovely days to sit out on the bench in the back yard...

And also on the chairs on the deck...

And our local Ace Hardware store had some plants on sale this week, so we stopped by after our morning walk and socially distanced ourselves from the people as we went to the garden area and selected a few new plants to add to our garden.  Hardware stores are considered essential so they are staying open.  I think having some pretty flowers for the garden is essential for my mental health, so there you go...

I also put out the Hummingbird Feeders this week.

I haven't seen one at this particular feeder yet, but I did see one at the one in the back yard yesterday afternoon!

He was too quick for me to get a picture, but at least I know now they are here and they have already found our feeders!! I wasn't sure if we'd have any here or not since this is our first spring in this house. But I guess they have radar when it comes to finding food! I am so happy!!

Some of these plants also attract hummingbirds and butterflies, so that is the other reason for planting them.

Well, that's it for this morning.  I pray that you and yours are enjoying some beautiful spring days wherever you are.  Even if you can't get out and about, look for the signs of spring around  your own yard and enjoy whatever the Lord has given you.  You may be surprised when you open your eyes!!

Here's a few words from our morning devotions today:

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

So shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3