Sunday This and That

Hello Peeps!  Now there's a nice spring picture if there ever was one...a flock of sweet baby chicks, waiting to become someone's favorite little egg layers!  No, I did NOT buy any of these baby chicks...but I couldn't resist their sweet little faces when they came up to the front of the cage to say hello to me as I walked by at our local Ace Hardware...

Peep! Peep! Peep!  Won't you take us home with you?

They certainly are cute, but I'm not quite into that much "farming" just yet...

And when it comes to raising chickens, I probably never will be. I had a bad experience with a big old mean rooster when I was about 4 years old, and I've been a bit shy when it comes to getting too close to chickens ever since.  For those of you who can do it, more power to you! We have a "chicken lady" at our church who brings us the nicest fresh eggs quite often.  I appreciate her kindness and generosity and courage.  But it's definitely not something I am going to try to do! LOL.

But they definitely are cute at this stage of life.

This is the most animal life I am going to get close to...

Yes, you, Blackie. I'm talking about you!! 

And yes, we will be taking him to the vet tomorrow morning, so again I ask that you say a little prayer for us. Getting him into that carrier is going to be challenging enough!  I just pray they can help him get over this constant itching and pulling out his hair.  I think he's actually been better today, but that doesn't mean it's over by any means. 

Oh, how many of you watched the Kentucky Derby yesterday? This is as close as I got to it. We actually don't have that network on our current TV programming that we pay for. We tried to get it, but didn't want to pay extra money just to watch the race.  However, every year I like to dress up with a hat to watch the Kentucky Derby, so even though I didn't see the actual race, here I am all ready for the  Derby party. LOL.  It's all in good fun.

I just realized that I look a lot like the Peacock Princess at Pamela's Victorian Cottage...

In case you weren't around when The Peacock Princess came to live at Pamela's Victorian Cottage, HERE IS A LINK to that story. (and so much more)!

Here's the rest of the family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage today....There's always something "brewing" there...mostly tea parties I think. LOL.  Yes, they stay active all year long...not just at Christmas. They keep me entertained. LOL.

I don't really have a lot to say today I guess. We had a good day at church. Here's the recording of our choir song and the Pastor's message from James chapter 3, which was entitled "The Power of the Tongue".  Some good things to think about...even for us here in Blogland. We may not be "speaking" out loud with our voices, but we are writing words that also have the power to build up or tear down...bless or curse.  Here are some verses from James chapter 3 that are probably the most well known:

"9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."

May we always strive to write and say words here that will lift up our sisters and brothers and that will raise them to a place of peace and joy. There's already too much of the other kind of communication going on in the world.   Psalm 19:14 has always been my theme verse and prayer for this blog:

 "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."  Amen.

3:09

Here are the lyrics to the song that the choir sang today. They include part of the familiar "Because He Lives" song, but there is more...

"Because He Lives/Amen"

I believe in the Son

I believe in the risen One

I believe, I overcome

By the power of His blood

Amen, Amen

I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives

Amen, Amen

Let my song join the One that never ends

Because He lives

I was dead in the grave

I was covered in sin and shame

I heard mercy call my name

He rolled the stone away

Amen, Amen

I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives

Amen, Amen

Let my song join the One that never ends

Because He lives (He lives)

I can face tomorrow

Because He lives (He lives)

Every fear is gone

I know (I know)

He holds (He holds)

My life (my life)

My future in His hands

Amen, Amen

I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives

Amen, Amen

Let my song join the one that never ends

Amen, Amen

I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives

Amen, Amen

Let my song join the one that never ends

Because He lives

Because He lives

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jason Ingram / Chris Tomlin / Matt Maher / Daniel Carson / William J. Gaither / Edmond Martin Cash / Gloria L. Gaither

So with that I think I will close for tonight. This week is looking like it's going to be a bit busy. so my communication here may be kind of hit and miss, but I will try my best to keep up with you all. Thank you for your faithful friendship!  Good Night.

 

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

Hello Everyone! Happy Thursday!

Morning's Sunrise

My current view out the window in "My Room with a View"

Sunshine and Blackie relaxing at the end of the day.

These signs were seen on the walls at our local "Nanna's Country Cafe" today. (more about that later).

 I wanted to thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments on my last post HERE.  It seems like we've all had some experiences with negative commenters/spammers, anonymous and unknowns in the past.  The important thing is to always remember to be kind ourselves and be careful to always put our brain in gear before we put our mouth in motion!  Here is a Scripture verse from Psalms that is a good reminder:

Psalm 141:3 NKJV

"3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips."

That, along with my "life verse" from Psalm 19:14:

Psalm 19:14 NKJV

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

If I could always remember to abide by these guidelines from God's Word, I know I would keep myself out of hot water with my tongue much better.  I've often had difficulty with "foot and mouth disease"...putting my foot in my mouth...and it is definitely something I've had to work on.  That's one reason I prefer to write instead of speak publicly.  I can edit and delete what I've written before publishing, but once the words leave my mouth there's no way to grab them back.  Sometimes I don't take time to proofread what I've written, and as soon as I hit "publish" I see my mistakes and then have to go back and fix it and pray no one was sitting right there ready to read it that quickly!   So yes, I know it can be difficult to always say the right thing and do the right thing, but spending time here in our blogging community has helped. You are all so kind and thoughtful and helpful...and that is a blessing to me every day! Thank you so much.

From Nanna's Country Cafe'

It's been a bit more of a quiet week. Today is actually our son's birthday, but we already celebrated with him over the weekend. Today he and his sweet wife had plans to go over and walk on the beach and then go into St. Augustine for lunch at a favorite seafood place. However, she woke up with a bit of a sick headache, and they got about half way there and decided to just stop at a local place and eat breakfast and then come back home.  Sometimes you just gotta listen to your body and do what is best. Thankfully our son is a sweet and thoughtful fella and he totally understood. He said he had plenty of things that needed to get done anyway in his workshop today, so he did that while she rested.  Hopefully Rose will be feeling better soon and they will have other opportunities to go do the things they had planned today.

From Nanna's Country Cafe'

Hubby and I decided to go into "town" this morning and do a little shopping. We went to Beall's Outlet and I actually found a a couple of fall tops at a very reasonable price. 

Perhaps my most favorite thing I decided to purchase were these hangers that have a kind of felt covering on them, so that silky tops and dresses won't slide off the hanger! I've been wanting these for a while, and so today was the day!! Now I just need to clean out some things in  my closet and rearrange stuff and use these on the things that need them most.

After we got back into our own little town from our shopping spree in "the big city", we decided to go out to lunch at our local "Nanna's Country Cafe'".  She's been telling us on Facebook that she's done some renovations and new decorations inside, so we decided to go check it out.  I thought this was the best "decoration" they had:

LOL.  I love this sign too:

Mooooove over...I want to see what she's eating!

I love the positive vibes they have going on in there. It made for a very "mooooving" experience. LOL. 

Well, as I was sitting here typing this post, I kept noticing that the skies were changing outside, and it just seemed like a good time to go outside and enjoy the cooler evening breeze before hopefully we get a thunderstorm.   I haven't been getting any good sunset photos yet because the sun is still setting a littler too far to the north west, plus Still Waters Pond is so dry that there's not enough water in it for any good reflections! But still the skies were looking interesting so I decided to go out and have a look. Here's what I saw and what happened next:

We had the grass cut the other day down along the shore, and because it is so dry, it just laid there in the sun and turned brown like hay.  Hay! Maybe it IS hay! Maybe we need one of those cows up there above to come eat some hay! LOL.

You can see that the pond is just a big mud hole basically right now. Pretty Ugly. (oxymoron!)

But if you look at the sun setting down behind the trees and focus on that and the beautiful clouds in the sky, it's still a lovely sight to behold!

We are supposed to be getting a thunderstorm right now, but so far I don't see or hear anything. It's been all around us this afternoon, but just seems to avoid us for some reason.

I love it when this happens...Sunshine decided to come join me on my little walkabout the yard...

Hello sweet Sunshine!!

I checked on the Zinnias, and there's still a few blooming, even though it's been so dry and I haven't been watering as much as I should...

We walked around to the front yard and could see the storm clouds forming in the east.  

By now hubby had come out to join me and then Sunshine decided to follow him back toward the house...

Blackie did not want to be left out, so he had also joined in our little walk, and then decided to take off and run and get ahead of everyone...I wish you could see how fast he was running in this picture!  It was like he was shot out of a cannon!  Sunshine is looking back to see if I'm still coming... I'm trying, Sunshine. I'm a little slow these days, but I'm coming!

Blackie beat everyone up the steps and then Sunshine ran up there to join him:

Then they did their usual checking each other over and making sure everyone is okay...and that was that. They are laying down out there now resting from their strenuous walk with us...and we are doing the same...resting in our chairs and thanking the Lord for a good day and so many blessings we can't count them.  The only thing that could make this day better would be some rain.

Oh, one more thing that made us happy this week...

I saw this picture of our grandson Noah and his mother Nicole on Facebook. They were on a "Mother/Son Day Trip" to Acadia National Park in Maine.

Since they live so far away from us we don't get to see them very often, so anytime there's a picture I'm claiming it! LOL.  And better yet, Noah sent us a nice long message bringing us up to date on his activities and happenings. It was really really good to hear from him and to know that both he and his mother are doing fine. That is an answer to many prayers.

Well, I guess that about sums up our week.  Here's a final thought, as we think about the horrific events in Minneapolis this week...we don't always understand why these things happen. There's so much sorrow, mental illness and hate in the world.  Our prayers are with those dear families who have lost sweet and precious children as well those who have been injured and hurt in their hearts because of this terrible event. May God be their comforter and healer. We can only put our trust in Him that He will be there for those dear ones and I pray that they will take refuge in Him. 

Amen.

Tuesday 4 ~ A Little Tea Party

A Little Tea Party

 

Welcome back to another of Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

For my southern friends.. I pray the weather lightens up on you all. I know it's been a very rough summer heat wise. Let's pray together for a solution.

This week could we talk about your personal thoughts?

1. Do you find yourself day dreaming about your situation and things you would love to do if only...?

Sometimes...but I try not to think about the "if only" part so much, because I've learned in life that it is best to live in the present and do the very best you can with what you have. Day dreaming about what you would do "if only" can lead to wishing you could change your situation and sometimes that can get you into trouble.  I mean, it is okay to have dreams and goals that are positive and uplifting, but the best thing to do is make the best of what you have and be thankful.  Sometimes we have to be careful that we might get what we wish for and find out that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but not necessarily as wonderful as what you already have.

2. If you are having tea/coffee, a little break in the day does your mind wander off to other thoughts and meditations.

I think it is good to allow yourself to take little breaks during the day and rest from whatever you have been doing and let your body totally relax and be refreshed. Our minds and bodies need times of pure calm and restoration, and then our meditations will be sweeter than if we are always stressed out over things.  These are times when I find God speaking to me the most, if I will only pay attention.  

I used to make it a practice to go to my "Secret Garden" and just sit and meditate on God's Word, and perhaps find an old hymn from the hymnbook and let the words speak to me.  Here is an example of that from the Secret Garden Chronicles.  I really need to get back into that habit.

3. Do you find yourself meditating or revisiting in your mind a scripture, verse from a book you've read and it's impact on you?

My life verse: 

Psalm 19:14 NKJV
14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

HERE is a post I wrote about how I discovered this verse. You may find it an interesting and happy little post.

4. Do you find yourself sometimes replaying conversations with others? Are there books or movies that stay vivid in your mind?

It depends on the type of conversations...sometimes I may wander into ruminating over old conversations that I probably shouldn't revisit. And then I need to refocus my thoughts on the present and get back into God's Word so I won't become distracted by things that may have hurt me in the past. It is best to keep looking upward and onward to the wonderful things God has in store for those who love Him.    

1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

And with that, I will close this post while I go have a little tea party with the fairies....

Lily Grace is already having her summertime picnic tea party with her little fairy friends.  Kind of the last hurrah of the summer before going back to school...which actually our kids in our town/county have already done yesterday!  Seems too soon to me, but maybe not for the parents or the kids LOL.

Let's go see what others are saying about this today!  Thank's Annie for a great Tuesday 4!

Tuesday 4 "What Things..."

 

What Things.....



It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.  You can join in by clicking on THIS LINK

Questions about your life...


1. What makes you tired?
What makes me tired? Physical and emotional distress will wear me down pretty quickly. Not to mention the fact that I am rapidly approaching 3/4 of a century of living...and that's enough to make anyone tired. LOL.  I wish that I had the stamina and energy that I had when I was a young mother of three very active little boys, juggling babies, housework, and outside work along with being an active Pastor's wife, participating in many church activities such as singing in the choir, teaching children/youth Sunday School, leading our women's ministries/Bible and prayer fellowship, acting as the church secretary, preparing bulletins and all other kinds of communications...yes, those were the days, my friend...and in some ways I'm glad they are over, but in other ways I wish I could go back do some of it over and maybe do a better job having the wisdom I've gained by living to be this great age. LOL.

Me with my three sons back in the early ministry days. Precious memories

2.What things do you value in life?

My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most valuable gift I've been given. My family is next...yes, next, because my relationship with Christ is eternal whether or not I have my family. My family is a gift from God, but ultimately my family belongs to God, not to me. It is a treasure that I am very thankful for and give thanks to God daily for this blessing...but I've already learned the hard way that my family, my children, are not my own. But the good news is that when we all belong to God, we will be together again eventually in heaven for eternity. So it all goes back again to that relationship with Jesus Christ.

Here's a song that expresses how I feel about this...

Lyrics: 

Lord, You are more precious than silver.

Lord, You are more costly than gold.

Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds,

And nothing I desire compares to You.

3. How do you want others to see you?

I pray that others can see Jesus living in me.  I know that I am not perfect and I often fail to do the right thing or say the best thing, but it is my prayer that God will have preeminence in all that I do and say...

My theme verse for this blog and for my life goes back to something my mother shared with me many years ago  (you can read about that HERE) in my little autograph book:

"Let the words of my mouth

And the MEDITATIONS of my heart

Be ACCEPTABLE in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

4. What things do you enjoy most and find most relaxing to do?

Well, most of you know how much I enjoy watching the birds and God's creation found in nature.  

Like watching this little baby bluebird poking his head out and waiting for his parents to come back and feed him!

That was on Saturday, and I haven't seen him or his parents since. I think the birds fledged out of the nest sometime during the night!

I enjoy watching even the "good, the bad, and the ugly" of God's Creation.  

The Bluebirds would be the good.  This below would be the bad and the ugly.

This is what is known as an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper:

If you read that link above, you will understand why they are the "bad and the ugly".

This creature was sitting on top of our flag pole, and I almost brought him inside the other evening when I brought the flag in.  Thank goodness I saw him just in time.  Can you imagine having this beast hopping around inside your house???

These critters will devour every green leaf in sight if you don't watch out. They especially love amaryllis plants and will totally defoliate them in no time.

There really is only one good kind of lubber grasshopper, but I won't tell you what it is in words.

Just know that if you see one, you really don't want it to stay around for dinner...

Okay, morning has broken and blackbird has spoken...it's time to get up and get a move on.

Thank you to Annie for these questions this week.

Again, you can join in over at the Tuesday 4 linkup each week.

Have a blessed and beautiful day!

July Already? Wow!

This changing to the new month of July crept up on me! I didn't even turn the pages on my calendars until today...and here is what I am seeing now for July:

John Sloane 2020 Country Seasons calendar

I love this Red, White, and Blue garden and country front porch with it's American Flag waving in the breeze.  Love the dog too.  Just noticed the red, white and blue ball in the walkway...perhaps the doggy is waiting for his friend to come back and play with him.  What a good doggy.  

Here is my front porch and flag, waving in the morning breeze. Just don't have the doggy.  

Although a neighborhood dog did come through our yard this morning and even came up on our back deck. Not sure where it came from, but it soon moved on, after scaring the Great Blue Heron out of the pond and onto a post.

Speaking of "Still Waters Pond",

Look at this "bi-plane"...dragonfly. I spied him from a distance, and had to come and see him up close.

Isn't he neat?

I thought you'd like that. I love that he loves to eat mosquitoes, so he is welcome to stay as long as he wishes.

Back to changing the calendars, here is my TeaTime Calendar page for July.

"Crazy for Sea Shells" tea set.  

With our current restrictions in place due to Covid 19, sadly there won't be much seashell gathering this 4th of July weekend. All the beaches are closed again to keep people from spreading the virus.

Very sad indeed.

Do you have any particular plans to celebrate the 4th of July this weekend? I guess we won't be doing anything extra special this year. No one wants to travel or gather due to the current uptick in the "virus". Normally we would have a big family gathering and make home made ice cream and have a BBQ. Maybe we will just buy our ice cream this year and grill our own hamburgers just for us. Ann over at Cottage by the Sea suggested that we should read the Declaration of Independence.  (I am sorry I missed the weekly Tuesday 4 Meme this week. You can check it out Here. ) In light of our current nation's situation, that sounds like a very good idea. It is important to remember what this day is really all about.  Sadly our younger generations have no clue what this country has been through in the past 244 years. If we don't value our freedom, we are in great danger of losing it. 

As you prepare for the Independence Day celebration this weekend, I truly hope you will take time to pray for our country, for our President, and for all of our leaders.  Also let us remember to pray for those who are affected by the Covid 19 virus that seems to have made a comeback in activity.

We just came from a meeting at our church, where we are preparing to reopen this coming Sunday. However we will be taking all necessary precautions of social distancing and mask wearing, no congregational singing or choir. We will partake of The Lord's Supper, but again with safe procedures in place. May the Lord be honored and exalted by all that we do.

This will be a day celebration as we welcome our new pastor, and as we also welcome our members back who have missed being together for the past four months. Although we will not be doing any hugging, our spirits will be soaring and reaching up to the heavens together as we pray and worship the Lord with one voice.

 

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Heir of salvation, purchase of God

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

Perfect submission, perfect delight,

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels descending, bring from above

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest

I in my Savior am happy and blessed

Watching and waiting, looking above

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love

Chorus:

This is my story, this is my song

Praising my Savior all the day long

This is my story, this is my song

Praising my Savior all the day long"

On another thought:

The following picture doesn't do justice to what I was seeing in person, but the sun was shining on this little lake like sparkling stars.  This lovely view is actually beside our local grocery store.  

Here's a better view of that old oak tree. I don't mind going to the grocery store when we can park near this lovely tree and little lake.  I just had to stop and enjoy the moment and take its picture. 

We need to do more of that these days...look for the beauty around us and take a moment to appreciate what God has provided. 

I know this post has been kind of scrambled and jumbled. I've had lots of interruptions as I've tried to write, and keep losing my train of thought, so I hope it all makes sense somehow.

I will close with this verse, which I have claimed as a life verse because my mother shared it with me many many years ago and it has helped me many times to think before I speak. Sometimes I need an extra reminder:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, 

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."  

Psalm 19:14

Amen.

Have a blessed and happy 4th of July weekend!

God Bless America!