Friday Foto Friends: It's Spring Finally!

 Happy Friday everyone! And Happy First Day of Spring!!! I bet many of you thought it would never get here...and you may still be wondering if it really is spring!  Here in Florida where we live, although it has been quite cool for us this week, it has now warmed up nicely and it definitely feels like spring! Hooray!!

And so today I finally got my veggies planted in the new planter boxes that Benton built for me!

Here's Benton and hubby just after they dumped all the bags of potting soil in the planters for me:

Next was my job...to plant the veggies that were starting to grow out of control in the kitchen:

I may still have the plants too close together. I really don't know what I'm doing.  There's zucchini on the left, and yellow summer squash on the right. (above). There are six plants of each.

And these (above) are the four beefsteak tomato plants.  Hopefully the cages will help them grow big and strong and tall.  Those of you who are experienced gardeners may say that these are all too close together. Time will tell. If I have to get more planters and spread them out more, I know just who to call!

Some of you may remember my dil Rose's sister Sherrie, who came down from Minnesota several years ago and stayed with Rose and Benton for several months. We sort of adopted her into our family as another daughter. Anyway, she's back down for a week's vacation visit, and today she really wanted to go visit a dear friend from our church who is currently spending some time in rehab following a serious illness.  So here we all are, l to r: Sherrie, Opal, yours truly, and my sweet dil Rose.

Opal was our pianist at our church for many years,  until she had a stroke last January (2025), and she has been recuperating ever since.  This old baby grand piano bookshelf (below) is in the lobby of the rehab center where she is staying. It used to be the piano in the lobby, but it didn't work anymore, so they "repurposed" it into this lovely bookshelf/shadow box.  If you notice in the picture above, there is another piano in the background, and Opal has been actually playing that one again as a part of her physical therapy. I was hoping we could get her to play today, but she really just wanted to visit, which was fine with us.

I love it when things that are no longer able to be used for their original purpose can be repurposed/rehabilitated into something lovely and useful once again. I'm glad when God does that with us as well.  

Sweet Sherrie made this pot holder for me...because she remembered that my "One Word" for 2024 was "Strength". I love this very thoughtful gift, and I will treasure it, as well as the message, and the messenger always!

Hubby and I went for a walk last evening past this old palm tree that is covered with so many vines of so many different kinds of flowers, which each take their turn to bloom in the spring. Right now it is more lovely wisteria...

Who would think anything so beautiful could come out of this mess of tangled up vines on an old dead tree?

There's also some of this beautiful purple lantana growing on the same tree...must be time for the purple spring flowers to bloom!

What a beautiful transformation!!

Further down the walkway is this old oak tree, which has this interesting "burl", or fungus in the trunk.

I've shared this tree before HERE, but I noticed that it is continuing to change as the days go by. 

It now looks like it is opening up more to the inside of the tree trunk, and it would be a great hiding place for some gnomes or hobbits. I wonder????

I do see a strange kind of face looking out at me there below...LOL.

As I said before in the other post about these "deformities" or "Burls" in the tree, they can actually be recreated into magnificent bowls with the skillful hands of a talented woodworker and a good working knowledge of a lathe.

Isaiah 42:16

I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;

I will lead them in paths they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them,

And crooked places straight.

These things I will do for them,

And not forsake them.

Springtime is a time for renewal and change and repurposing or recreating not just things, but our own bodies and minds and spirits, as we yield ourselves to the transforming power of God's Holy Spirit in our lives. 

Here's an old song that some of you may remember. It's interesting, hubby started singing this song this morning and we were trying to remember all the verses.  You just don't get to sing these great old hymns much anymore...so you may want to sing along...

Higher Ground

By: Johnson Oatman, Jr. 1898

1. I'm pressing on the upward way,

New heights I'm gaining every day;

Still praying as I onward bound,

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Refrain:

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,

By faith, on Heaven's table land;

A higher plane than I have found;

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

2. My heart has no desire to stay

Where doubts arise and fears dismay;

Tho' some may dwell where these abound,

My pray'r, my aim is higher ground.

(Refrain)

3. I want to live above the world,

Though Satan's darts at me are hurled;

For faith has caught the joyful sound,

The song of saints on higher ground.

(Refrain)

4. I want to scale the utmost height,

And catch a gleam of glory bright;

But still I'll pray till Heav'n I've found,

Lord, lead me on to higher ground.

(Refrain)

I hope you enjoyed singing along with that old hymn, and perhaps that will be a prayer for you as we begin this spring season of renewal and transformation!  

Have a blessed and wonderful Spring time!!!

Moments of Grace: Renewal and Restoration - Revisited for Lent 3-17-2019

Original post written 3/4/2016, so some things have changed, but not God's Grace! It is always there, ready for us to experience and and be blessed.

Have a blessed and beautiful day today...

"Create in me a clean heart,

O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by your generous Spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

and sinners shall be converted to you."

Psalm 51:10-13 NKJV

We are in the middle of the Lenten Season...and although I didn't make any particular commitments to "give up" anything for Lent, it has been on my mind anyway~ not so much the "giving up", but the commitment to make this time count for some positive growth in my spiritual life.  

Looking at the picture above of the geranium plant growing in the teapot is an example of the renewal and restoration process that God wants to work in our hearts.  You see, that teapot was once my everyday teapot for making my morning cup of hot tea as well as steeping the tea for our family's pitcher of iced tea each day.  One day I noticed a hairline crack had developed where the handle attaches to the pot, and it became necessary to retire this teapot from its regular use, lest the handle should  break off and spill the boiling hot contents on an unsuspecting person.  Removing this teapot from service made me feel a little sad because it still looked so pretty and it seemed such a shame to just throw it away.

(This was when I originally put the broken cutting in water. It did okay
for a little while, but soon became weak and pale and no longer produced flowers.)

Then I remembered that I had been rooting a broken off piece of my geranium plant in a jar of water on the kitchen windowsill for several months...but it was starting to look a little pale and weak trying to survive in just water.  Perhaps it would grow better in some potting soil in...yes! The cracked teapot!

After replanting the rooted cutting in the nourishing potting soil and setting it in a sunnier window, the plant began to put out more foliage and eventually a new flower shot up as seen in the first picture above.

What a lovely example of the grace of God as seen in Psalm 51:10-13.  That cracked teapot and broken geranium is a lot like our souls when we have sin in our lives.  We became broken and fractured by the wind and storms and cares of this life, and rather than casting us away, Jesus came along and picked us up, put us in the soil of His Holy Spirit and watered us with His love so that we could be renewed and restored to new life.

  

Kind of like having a brand new "clean heart"and restored joy!

What are some examples of God's renewal and restoration that you have seen in your life?

Work With What You Have...

You may be asking yourself, "What is THAT?"

Well, it's called, when you need a centerpiece for the table, "work with what you have".  We had some guests for dinner the other evening, and I needed a centerpiece. I do not like to use artificial arrangements unless I am desperate...and since moving to the forest I have been determined not to be that desperate and to make do with whatever the Lord provides.  This may not be that artistically and aesthetically perfect....but it made me happy because the Lord provided...Look closer, you will see a magnolia blossom not quite opened, and on either side of that are two magnolia seeds, from blossoms already past their prime.  The beautiful green, waxy magnolia leaves are freshly opened after the old leaves dropped away leaving these new ones...a part of the beauty of a magnolia tree as it renews itself each year.

 That little wisp of purple on the underside is a lonely wisteria blossom that just happened to be blooming when I was out foraging for things to add to this lovely bouquet.

This is how the arrangement looked the next day, after the magnolia blossom fully opened. It didn't stay pretty for long as it dropped its feathery covering of the seed and then the petals began to turn brown. However, I wish you could have smelled its delightful lemony fragrance as if an extravagant perfume bottle had been opened and spilled out.  This lovely flower arrangement served its purpose for the time it was needed, and I give thanks to the Lord for providing such beauty for us to enjoy.

Something to think about:

II Corinthians 2:14-16

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,

and through us diffuses the fragrance of His 

knowledge in every place.

For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are 

being saved and among those who are perishing.

To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death,

and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

And who is sufficient for these things?"

Some questions to ponder:

What are some examples of ways that you have had to "work with what you have"?

What kind of fragrance am I? Are you?

How can we use what we have to be a blessing to someone today?

Click HERE for another similar post

And here is another...

Come and See!

Hello...Here it is Monday again!  I trust that you have had a pleasant weekend and that today is the beginning of a good week for you.  Since I retired, Mondays aren't so bad...I rather like them. It's a day to get back on track from the weekend and to begin anew for a brand new week. It's kind of nice to ease into the day without feeling any pressure to do this or that...but on the other hand, it is also a time to go back over the things we learned over the weekend...perhaps at church...and put into practice what we've been taught.  So, as a part of my "One Word" for 2018 RENEW or RENEWAL, I am trying to apply what I've heard or read in God's Word and to see where it leads me in this path to renewal.

This beautiful dogwood blossom reminds me of the Cross...
We almost cut down this dogwood tree because it appeared to be dying...
I'm so glad we didn't follow our assumptions...

I hope you don't mind my sharing my notes from the Sunday Sermon with you here. I know you all go to your own churches and have marvelous pastors and teachers too, but this is an exercise for me as well as for you...it helps me to remember what has been taught before I get too busy and put my notes aside or in the trash when I clean out my Bible or purse...There is too much valuable stuff here to lose. So here goes:

Scripture: Read John 1:43-51, but the key verse is #46:

"And Nathanael said to him, 

'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'

Philip said to him, 

"Come and see."

These azaleas and dogwood are blooming along a fence by an old house that has been sadly neglected...no one comes to care for them, and yet they bloom year after year...one might assume that nothing good could come out of there...but come and see...

They were speaking of Jesus here, early in His ministry when He was gathering His disciples together...in verse 43 He had just found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Philip was so excited and thrilled at being called by Christ that he wanted everyone he knew to follow Him as well.  He recognized that Jesus was the One "of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  But Nazareth was a small, dirty, unpopular little town, where no one of any good reputation had ever come from before. Nathanael assumed that anyone worth knowing could not have come from Nazareth.  

Oh! What a sad misconception! Thankfully, Jesus perceived Nathanael's thoughts and helped him reconsider his wrong assumptions before he missed out on the greatest opportunity of a lifetime...to follow Jesus Christ, the Messiah!

I wonder what wrong assumptions we have been guilty of in our lives? Perhaps many of us have been quick to judge others for other less thoughtful reasons...race, nationality, their appearance or clothes, the kind of car they drive or the side of town they came from...or perhaps we ourselves have been wrongly judged for the same reasons.  Maybe we've judged ourselves harshly because we feel inadequate, we lack self-confidence, have inferiority complexes because of whatever we've been taught, told, or experienced by the malicious assumptions of others.

We might assume that nothing good could come out of this very ugly, unusual, dead looking "tree trunk"

Sadly, we let these assumptions become our "hiding places"...they keep us from engaging with God at a deeper level.

We allow our assumptions to become limitations...they "close the possibility of growth, reconciliation, change..."  "No room for God to show up in our lives..."

We need to let God speak to our hearts...but in order to do that we need to be in a relationship with Him before we can grow and overcome these  false "assumptions".  "Our faith hinges on Jesus Christ being raised from the dead..."

These beautiful flowers (Carolina Jessamine) are growing and blooming out of that ugly trunk above...amazing, huh? 

"God loves you no matter who you are or where you're from..."

Christ in you..."God takes ordinary, fallible human beings and makes them do great things..."...Look at Moses, Paul, Peter...and many other examples throughout the Bible and history.

"Thankfully, God is not limited by our assumptions.  But we need to position ourselves to meet God"..."Come and See!"  

(Quotes are from Sunday's sermon, 2/25/2018 at First United Methodist Church, Interlachen, FL, Pastor A.C. Myers)

So now, what am I going to do with this information?  May God help me to apply it to my heart...and to put away those false assumptions that may be limiting my own personal spiritual growth.  Perhaps there is something here for you today as well?  

"Come and see!!"

Friday Foto Friends: Spring Time and Thirsting for God - A Time for Renewal

What a week!  I think we are all still reeling over the passing of Billy Graham...those of us who grew up during the 50's-60's remember all of the crusades on TV throughout those years, and they would televise them every night...and everyone watched.  Only Jesus knows how many people truly gave their hearts to Him during those years of Billy Graham's ministry.  I can only imagine the excitement in heaven this week...would have loved to have been there.

This week has been rather low-key otherwise...mostly catching up from last week's busy time...birthday party for hubby, etc.  I've been resting, reading, and praying.  It seems like our prayer list for friends and loved ones keeps growing. So many going through difficult times these days. Keeps us on our knees.

But I've been enjoying the beauty of the beginnings of springtime here, so I thought I would share a few special moments and views with you for Friday Foto Friends:

This was the view on the pond early this morning when I went to check on our Sand Hill Crane mother in waiting...  she is over there, but you can't see her in this picture.

See that white lump in the middle? That is her...

This was taken this evening (Thursday)...no, she hasn't had her baby yet...and she faithfully sits day after day...I will definitely let you know when the blessed event occurs.

This tree is covered with Carolina Jessamine...it looks so pretty in the morning sunlight

 A closer look at the flowers.

Azaleas and camellias are blooming in the Secret Garden...I planted the azaleas last year and they are just starting to really bloom...

 Also the ferns that were killed by the frost/freeze are starting to come back in the Secret Garden.

This is the Memorial Garden, where I also planted some azaleas last year:

And this picture is especially for my friend Deb at Breathing in Grace, our hostess for Friday Foto Friends.  I know that Deb is particularly fond of owls, and a friend of mine gave me another little owl mug (front and center) this past week, so I decided to have a little tea time with the owlies one afternoon.  Debbie, I was definitely thinking about you when I did this. Wish you weren't so far away...wouldn't we have had fun? Thank you for being our hostess here each week.

And speaking of tea parties, earlier this month I found this lovely little February tea cup and saucer at our local flea market.  I bought it to give to a friend for her birthday, which is later  this month. However, we won't be getting together to celebrate her birthday until March 2nd, so I thought I should at least christen this cup with a little tea party while it is still February....I know she wouldn't mind my using it....and perhaps she and I will have a tea party when she does receive this gift....(I hope she isn't reading this...she'll know what she's getting for her birthday! )

So I set up this little tea time on the front porch this afternoon, however, the sun was really too bright to get very good pictures. It was also a little too hot to sit out there and drink hot tea!

So I moved the tea party to the Secret Garden, which is in the back yard, and much shadier.    I took a big risk in carrying this tray laden with china tea cups and tea pot and hot tea all around and through the house and yard...opening doors with one hand and holding the tray in the other...it's a miracle nothing was broken...and my friend's birthday gift is still intact!

By the way, the little book I was reading is entitled "Gifts from my Front Porch", "Inspirational Thoughts, Insights, & Reflections" ...no particular author, published by Popular Publishing Co.  I mention this little book because my friend who is having the birthday next week gave this little book to me for Christmas a few years ago.  I wonder if she will be reading this post...I hope not until after her birthday...I wouldn't want to spoil her surprise gift (the tea cup). Shhhh, don't tell her, okay?

After all of that activity...I should just go sit in my rocking chair and relax...

Someone needs to move those pansies first...

On second thought, I think I'll just go back inside where it is cool and write this post while it is fresh on my mind...it was 86 degrees on that porch!! And it isn't even officially spring yet!!!

A Psalm for this beautiful  (albeit, warm) day:

Psalm 63: 1-5

1.  "O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You; 

My flesh longs for You

in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

2.  So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

3.  Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

4.  Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5.  My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips."

I hope you will have a blessed and glorious day and time of seeking and thirsting for God each day. 

What a joyous way to find renewal for our souls!

Now let's all run over to Deb's place at Breathing in Grace and check out what our other Friday Foto Friends are talking about!

Being Renewed-Recharged! Day by Day - RENEWED!!

This was written last year about this time, and I was surprised to see that it fits right in with my One Word, RENEW, for this year.  Last year's word was "REST".  God was preparing me for a lot of things by teaching me to REST in Him, and this year He is continuing that process by helping me to become renewed day by day.  Sometimes I have to go back and see where He was leading me last year to help me understand better where I am going today...so here is a "renewed" message from the past that I hope will be a blessing to you as well:

Original Post written 1/5/2017:

"Therefore we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing,

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day."

2 Corinthians 4:16

"Being Renewed Day by Day...."   Yes...that is what I long for, groan for, earnestly desire...to be renewed by God's Holy Spirit day by day...even though my outward woman...my body...is perishing...my inward woman is being renewed, strengthened, helped, restored day by day...

How can I make this happen?

Think about your electronic devices...your phone in particular...something that everyone seems to becoming more and more dependent upon for just about everything and anything...from appointments to travel directions, shopping, bill paying, all communication...think what happens when you forget to recharge your phone...it dies, shuts off, becomes useless until recharged.  So, what do you do religiously every day?  Yes, you plug it in to recharge...you set aside a special place in your home or car or wherever you are...and make sure that the phone(s) all get recharged or you know you won't be able to function.

And so it is and should be with our inner person, our soul and mind and spirit...if we don't stay plugged in, recharged, renewed daily by a steady diet of communing with God, we will soon find ourselves unable to function.   As I yield my heart and mind to Christ each day...as I allow myself to REST in Him, by setting aside time and space specifically for this purpose each day, I am being renewed, restored...recharged for service.

That is why I believe God is encouraging me (maybe even pushing me) to set aside this special place for daily recharging...you've already heard me talking about it for the past few days..."The Secret Garden".  A quiet place away from the distractions of the world, the things going on inside the house, the TV, the Computer, the news, the housework...a place where I can "plug in"  and meditate upon God's Word, allowing His Holy Spirit to recharge my spirit as I relax and revive, surrounded by the beauty of His creation.

Now don't get me wrong...I can still commune with God and meditate on His Word in my recliner in my living room, or in the rocking chair on the front porch or in the dining room or sitting on my bed in the bedroom...or standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes...I don't HAVE to have a "Secret Garden" to do this...but for some reason it just seems like this is what I am supposed to do right now...and even the thought of creating this lovely space has energized me in a way that I've not experienced in a while.

Perhaps God just knew that I needed an extra push to get serious about communing with Him...and that I also needed to truly learn how to REST in Him. Whatever the reason...I am grateful to the Lord for taking the time to teach me and show me His abiding love and grace.

I wonder if you may also be feeling the need to be recharged, renewed, restored in your relationship with God?  You don't have to have a Secret Garden to do this...but I would recommend that you find a place that is special for you...a quiet place free from distractions of the world...and get plugged in to the Lord.

Some recommended reading about meditating on Jesus and preparing a secret place to do so is a little book I am currently reading by one of my new Facebook friends:  Live Free ~ The Inner Journey to Healing by Gayle Belanger.  You can also learn more about Gayle's "Live Free Healing Ministry" at  http://www.livefreeministry.org/.

A New Year Dawns With Grace And Hope

What a wonderful way to start the New Year at church today!  

Here is a song that we sang together as a hymn. I had never heard this before, although the tune is the same as "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna", so that is familiar.

The reason this song spoke to me today was because it was all about renewal...Renew is my "One Word" for 2018, and I believe I heard this word several times this morning in the worship service and the sermon.  This was God's confirmation that this word will become a very big part of my life in this New Year.  I pray that it will be used to bring honor and glory to God, my King.

"A New Year Dawns with Grace and Hope"

by Jon Paige and Jonathan Martin

Chorus:

"Rejoice, sing alleluia!

Break forth in joyful song.

Rejoice, sing alleluia!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Rejoice!

"A new year dawns with grace and hope,

A chance to start again.

The past has sung its weary song,

fresh music now begins.

Revived, we stand to face the sun,

We rise at its command,

to work, to serve, to find our place

in God's creative plan.

The morning breaks with golden plans,

awake, the night is through!

The sorrows of the night have passed,

our joy has been renewed.

The winter's sad and lonesome cry

surrenders to new life.

New journeys wait and we must go and dance into the LIGHT.

A new year dawns, let earth be glad,

creation, lift your voice.

Give thanks to God for old and new,

let every heart rejoice.

The valleys that have challenged us,

the undiscovered lands.

And everything is possible when you are in God's hands!"

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by 

so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every weight, 

and the sin which so easily ensnares us, 

and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,

despising the shame, 

and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.."

Amen!

Friday Foto Friends:Daily Renewal

"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  

And in Your book they all were written, 

the days fashioned for me, 

when as yet there were none of them."  

Psalm 139:16

What have you been doing this week? Did you ever stop to think that God already knew what your days would be, long before you ever were born?  According to this passage, He had already written about you and me in His book, and He was preparing a place for us to be before we were even a twinkle in our parents' eyes!  This is a thought that is perhaps too big for any of us to fathom.  But it should cause us to treasure our days here and realize that we are precious in God's eyes...and that every day has a purpose.  

With all of that in mind, here are some pictures from my past week...some not so exciting, and some just random events...but apparently important enough that God has already written about them in His book...that is mind boggling...would He really care about all of this?  I often think that God has quite the sense of humor if He really wrote about all my days...

For instance:  We celebrated our new flannel sheets last night when the temperatures dipped down to the 20's here in our neck of the woods in Florida...

Aren't these little owls the cutest?  They make me smile...

We also received a very nice Christmas gift of this new bear bedspread ensemble.  I believe it was intended for our master bedroom, but our guest bedroom was already designated as the "Bear Crossing B&B", so it just seemed to fit here much better.  I hope the gift giver won't mind...

 This inspired me to get busy and clean out the closet in this guest room (long overdue), and I discovered this brown furry/and buffalo plaid  flannel lined blanket that my mother had actually made for our youngest son many years ago...and it truly completed this bed perfectly. Now it is really ready for company!  I wish my mother was here to see this. I'm missing her this week especially as her birthday is coming up on Saturday, January 6th.  She would have been 101 years old!!  Maybe she is smiling from heaven...

Another Christmas gift was the sign below "Christmas At The Cabin...where memories are made"

Our son (Ben's Wood Signs) made this for us to replace the original one that he had made and sold! 

I like to display the sign under the little log cabin replica that he made. (Click Here for the original story about that)

Our home isn't really a cabin, but I like to pretend that it is sometimes...

Another great Christmas gift was this jigsaw puzzle, entitled "Time Away"  (looks like my dream cabin...)

 And here I am puzzling over this puzzle...a great chilly, rainy day activity...

This morning we woke up to frost everywhere... (outside my kitchen window)

 Yes, that is frost on the ground...

And we braved the cold to take a walk to the neighborhood pond just in time to see that Blue Heron fly away...

 And to see all those little ducks (some kind of wild water ducks) land on the pond way over there on the other side...can you see them?

I took down the Christmas tree, but just can't quite put away the Nativity Scene just yet...after all Epiphany isn't until January 6th, when we celebrate the day the Wise Men came...

Here is another new Christmas sign from my son:

This is just a sampling of the week...there was much, much more...interaction with special people, visitors here, visits to others, a trip to the library, a haircut...

(oops, you caught me in my pj's!)

Yes,  God has also been busy at my daily renewal...(that will continue to be a work in progress...not just this year, but all the rest of my days that God has already written about...)

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

and see if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm 139:23-24

Amen.

So, I still wonder how all of you have been this week?  Let's skip over to Deb's place at Breathing in Grace and see what our other Friday Foto Friends have been doing.  I pray you have a blessed and wonderful weekend...and just think about how God has already written about your days...kind of makes you want to do something special, huh?  

Here is the new image for Friday Foto Friends from Deb!  Isn't it cute?  We love Owlies!!!

P.S.  Here is a link to some info on "Epiphany", in response to one of my reader's comments:https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/epiphany

I should probably not have inferred that I celebrate Epiphany...it is more of a recognition of this event.  Many churches, mostly the more liturgical churches do recognize Epiphany, or "Twelfth Night".  In my home growing up we never took down our Christmas tree until Jan. 6th, which was also my mother's birthday.  I always assumed it was because that was her birthday, and that is what they did in her home as she was growing up.  It wasn't until later years that I understood that Jan. 6th was "Epiphany", and many traditional churches recognize the visit of the Magi (The Wise Men) on that day. That doesn't necessarily mean that was the date they actually visited the baby Jesus. There are many discussions on that, mostly that it was anywhere from several months up to a year or more before the Wise Men actually arrived to present their gifts.  We just know that it wasn't on Christmas day.  They had followed the Star from their lands starting on the day Christ was born, and it led them to the Christ Child (read Matthew chapter 2).  So whether or not you or your particular church recognize Epiphany as an actual event is not the most important aspect of this.  It's just another beautiful way to close out the Christmas/Advent season and recognize the significance of the gifts of the Magi...Gifts that actually may have helped the "Holy Family" to make their escape to Egypt when King Herod ordered all the baby boys two years old and younger to be slaughtered...just some things to ponder as you put away your Christmas things and your Nativity Scene...