Tuesday 4~ How?

This is a cute house...no, it's not the
house I live in, but I really love it. It has a lot
of character!

How?

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...continued in Toni Taddeo's memory.

Let's jump right in...

"King" Blackie, making himself right at home.

1. How did you end up in the place where you are living?

Long story, but after our son got married and moved to this town, we started coming here to go to church on Sunday at the sweet little church where they were married. We fell in love with the church, the people, the small town and its affordability. We were living about 30 minutes away, in the middle of the Ocala National Forest, and far from "civilization", so to speak. The now much too large house was suddenly empty and there was nothing to hold us there, so we put our house up for sale and started looking in this town where we now live. It took about 9 months to sell our house and move here, and we are very thankful for how the Lord put it all together perfectly for us.
HERE is a link to a post I wrote just after moving into our current home.

Sunrise Monday morning...

Closer view of the sunrise through those trees...it was golden bright, for certain!

2. How did you end up with the job you have/had?

I'll go with the last job I held until I retired. Due to some unpleasant circumstances at a previous job, I had left there when things got beyond what I could "live with", and then unfortunately I was unemployed for about nine months before I could find another job that was right for me. After many interviews and even some second interviews for jobs that I thought would be good, nothing seemed to be working out. Then one day I intereviewed for an office position at a large church, which I thought with my background in churches and church offices I would be a "shoo-in", but unfortunately I was not chosen for that position. I was getting very discouraged, when about 3 weeks later the office manager from that church called me and asked if I was still available, and if I would be interested in a different position in that church office. I asked what position, and she said "Mine".  She was leaving to go somewhere else, and her position as the Financial Administrator for the church was open and she and the Pastor of the church both thought I would be a good fit for it. It was a much bigger and better paying position than the one I had previously interviewed for. Of course I said yes that I would be interested, and so not long after I was hired and began my work there. I had no idea what a mess I was stepping into. The woman who was leaving the position had not done a very good job of bookkeeping, and there were a LOT of big messes to clean up in every aspect of that job. I honestly thought I had made a huge mistake once I saw the magnitude of what I was going to have to do. But God was with me, and He guided me through it one step at a time, and eventually everything that needed to be "fixed" was fixed and things worked out very well from then on. It was still an extremely challenging position, but I thank God for His guidance and constant support throughout my 6 years there until I was able to retire.

Click HERE for a link to the day I retired.

3. How did you end up with your life partner?

This picture was taken after we were engaged.

Long story short...We met while attending a community college near my home. We were introduced by a fellow whom I had dated briefly, but we were just good friends and had graduated high school together. He introduced me to my future hubby at lunch one day in the college dining room, and from then on we became inseperable...and we got married about 10 months later...and we've been together ever since...it will be 57 years of marriage this coming August!  I believe it was definitely a "God-thing"...a "match made in heaven".  Not saying everything has been perfect all these years...no, that would definitely not be true, but God had a plan for our lives, and He has been the glue that has held us together in spite of sorrows and trials and tribulations and many many moves.  Without Jesus Christ at the center of our home and marriage, I don't know if we could've survived.  And that's the honest truth! But I am VERY thankful for the life we have had together, and I wouldn't have wanted it to be any other way.  Well,  maybe less trials and tribulations...but those things helped us to grow stronger.

Ecclesiastes 4:11-13 NKJV

11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;

But how can one be warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Link to when we were engaged ,   And another link about our marriage

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Leaving for our honeymoon right after our wedding. My dress sure was short! LOL.

I picked some of our azaleas and my little favorite "fairy flowers" this morning.

And I picked one of the roses on the new rosebush that we planted over the weekend. 

It smells SO good!!!

4. How did your weekend go and how is the week ahead looking?

This past weekend was great. You can read more about that in the last post I wrote. The week ahead...well, I guess I need to look at one of my many calendars...actually we don't have too much planned, but that's always subject to change! I had Ladies' Bible Study on Monday afternoon, and I will have choir practice Tuesday night. We are practicing for our Easter Cantata, and it's sounding pretty good so far!  Other than that, the rest of the week is kind of "up for grabs". Somehow the days always manage to get filled up.

Thank you, Annie, for being our hostess each week here on Tuesday 4.  If you'd like to join in the fun, click HERE to add your post and/or read other posts.

 To end this post, I wanted to share this song "My Tribute" by Andre' Crouch.  It kind of answers all the questions about "HOW".  

"How can I say thanks

For all the things You've done for me?

Things so undeserved

Yet You gave to prove Your love to me

The voices of a million angels

Could not express my gratitude

All that I am

And ever hope to be

I owe it all to Thee

To God...

Be the glory

To God...

Be the glory

To God...

Be the glory

For the things He has done.

With His Blood

 He has saved me

 with His power

 He has raised me

 to God

 be the glory

For the things He has done

Just let me live my life

And let it pleasing, Lord to Thee

And should I gain any praise

Let it go to Calvary

With His Blood

 He has saved me

with His power

He has raised me

To God

 glory

For the things He has done"

Source: Musixmatch

Amen.

Friday Foto Friends Ducks and Birds and Miscellaneous Stuff!

The Ring Necked Ducks are back! I first told you about them three years ago HERE and again HERE,  and as I went back and re-read those posts from exactly three years ago, I was amazed to see that all of the same things are happening again right now just like they did then! All of these pictures are current, but if you go back and read the previous linked 3 year old posts you will see what I mean!

These fun little diving ducks haven't been back over the past couple of years, except for maybe one or two of them by themselves.  And now here they are again, in a big group, males and females...all having so much fun swimming round and round in circles and diving down and up for their food. It's like they are playing "marco polo" in a pool.  Please forgive so many photos...I just can't stop watching them!

We are so thankful for our Still Waters Pond and all the beauty that God provides for us to enjoy.

Psalm 27:7-8 NKJV

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Psalm 28:6-7 NKJV

6 Blessed be the Lord,

Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

And with my song I will praise Him.

And the next surprise was to see Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird make an appearance!  They were checking out the birdhouse...I'm not sure if they are ready to start building a nest yet, but time will tell.

Spring must be in the air, even though it is still technically winter!

And again, here are the wild plum blossoms. I went back to check on them since we had a little freeze the other morning, and they look just fine. 

And yes, when you look back at those early posts, you will see they were blooming at the same time then as now. So I guess everything is right on time and in it's season...

Song of Songs 2:10-13 NIV

"10 My beloved spoke and said to me,

“Arise, my darling,

my beautiful one, come with me.

11 See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;

the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one, come with me.”

Switching gears a bit...Yesterday hubby said he would like some kind of oatmeal bars to snack on...some kind of "healthy snack".  So I looked up some recipes and this is what I came up with:

Easy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars Recipe 

I like that they are no-bake bars! They should be kept in the refrigerator, however, because the peanut butter and honey mixture might become too soft if left out at room temperature. They are very good. I added some raisins and lightly salted peanuts to the recipe to give them more texture and flavor. The recipe also called for drizzled melted chocolate over them, but I didn't do that as I really don't eat chocolate and to me that would take away the "healthy part". LOL.  They would kind of remind you of those chocolate peanut butter no bake oatmeal cookies we used to get at school, but without the chocolate.  (Remember those?) I think this qualifies as a healthy snack. Oatmeal, honey, peanut butter, cinnamon, raisins and peanuts! Fiber and protein and no cholesterol! 

Today was a long day, and that is why I didn't post earlier. We had to go to St. Augustine for a Dr. appt. (hubby), and that took longer than we expected. I had hoped to do a little bit of sight-seeing along the way, but there was no time by the time we got out of there and it was time for a late lunch already. So we tried a new to us place for lunch on the way home: Culver's.

  It's basically a fast food hamburger place, but they make the burgers fresh, never frozen, and the other stuff is fresh and good too. We both decided to get the fried jumbo shrimp instead of burgers (I was shocked! Hubby always wants a burger when they are supposed to be good ones! LOL).

I like the cup:

The food was good and I would go back...but I still prefer a place to sit down and be waited on as opposed to fast food style. They did bring our food to us after we ordered and sat down.

I guess they are based in Wisconsin. Hey, our blogging friend Nana Diana Takes a Break was just writing about the fact that she lives in Wisconsin and she listed some things that are special about her state. She didn't mention Culver's, however, so Diana, maybe you need to check this out if it is near you!

So on our way home I was thinking I needed some real photos for today's post, but hubby was anxious to get home. So I just snapped a few pictures as we drove through the city of Palatka after making a wrong turn because of road work and having to detour around the town...and this was a much better view than the way he was going anyway...That's a quick glimpse of the St. John's River at the riverfront park downtown.

Here's one of the big very old homes near the riverfront, and hey! It's for sale! Any takers?

And those of you who have driven through the old part of Palatka will recognize this walkthrough "tunnel" under the railroad tracks:

Well folks, that's all for today. It's dark out there now. I did have some beautiful sunset pictures that I took a few minutes ago, but somehow I lost them when I was trying to post them into my computer from my phone. You'll just have to take my word for it, it was a very beautiful sunset tonight! I am hoping the pink/red skies will mean that we are going to get some rain tomorrow, because it is getting very dry and smoky out there. Must be some woods burning somewhere nearby, which is always a concern this time of year.

Some final words of wisdom for today:

Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV

3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, 

and show you great and mighty things, 

which you do not know.’

My "One Word", Listen, doesn't just apply to me listening, but also to the wonderful promise that God also listens to us when we call upon Him...and not only that, but He will answer us when we call, and show us "great and mighty things, which you do not know."  Oh, how great is our God! Amen? Amen.

Good Night dear friends.