Monday Monday

 Here it is Monday evening already.  So much has been going on I kind of got behind in reading and writing.  Thank you all for your kind words on my last few posts. You always know how to make me smile!  

Have any of you seen the two bright lights in the eastern skies early in the morning before dawn lately?  This was what we saw here yesterday morning...hubby woke me up to tell me about it around 5:15 a.m.  I was actually sleeping quite well, and to be honest I wasn't thrilled at first to be awakened so unexpectedly. 

I had to go out on the front porch in my nightie to take these photos.  Good thing it was dark.

Actually, he wanted me to see these lights because he thought they might be UFO's...so of course I had to look it up online to find out what they really could be...

https://www.youtube.com/live/D5LyCJAoDcg?si=UyDb8KrX0vdq_uIx is a good explanation.  It is Jupiter and Venus, and apparently tomorrow morning (August 12th) will be the final day to see them, and they will appear to be almost together (conjoined) as one.  If you have a telescope or a really good camera, set your alarm and get up and take some pictures for us, okay?  I tried to see them again this morning, but it was too cloudy to see much.

I was glad to be able to tell him they weren't UFO's.  I think he was disappointed. LOL.

Also we have had a lovely full moon this past week. I took this picture at the same time as the other pictures yesterday morning, but of course this was looking into the West, as the moon was setting over Still Waters Pond.  

So that was yesterday's big event, along with going to church, which is always a blessing.  If you want to hear the message and our choir's song, here it is. The music was recorded in February and shared again here since we are still off on our summer break from singing.  The song is "Be Thou My Vision", and the message is from John 15:1-17,"The Vine and The Branches".  It was a good message.

  So, what else is new?  Let me think...the good news is, we were able to get a copy of hubby's lab work from the tests he took last week at Quest, and from what we can tell everything looks very good.  His appointment with the neurologist isn't until next month, so I am glad we could see the results before then and know that there isn't anything terrible on it. We give thanks to the Lord for that good news. Still don't know exactly what is wrong, but hubby seems to be feeling a bit better day by day, so we will just be very thankful and trust God to take care of whatever it is.

Now, here's something you're going to probably go, What? You did What???  I'm sure most of you will remember my post not too long ago about getting a new chair/recliner. If not, here it is for your review.  We all oohed and aahed about the new chair, especially the wonderful feature of massage and heat. Yeah, I loved that part...it really was nice.  But what I never told you in subsequent posts was that the chair itself just wasn't all that comfortable.  I tried my best to make it work, but the upper part--the back of the chair, was built in such a way that it slanted back too far when in the upright position.  When I was sitting up straight I could not feel the chair on my back at all, and I had to put big pillows behind me to fill the gap. I tried my best to make it work, but except for when laying down in the reclining position, I could not get comfortable in that chair. I have back issues already, and that is why I needed the new chair in the first place. But, remember, I ordered it online, and I never actually sat in it before I got it! If I had sat in it beforehand, I would never have bought that chair!  

The good news was that I had 30 days to return the chair if it was unsatisfactory.  Of course, that meant that we had to take it to the nearest Home Depot and they would ship it back where it came from. So after a couple of weeks of trying to make it work, I finally decided that I could not live with that chair. It was causing me more problems than it was helping. I loved the massage and heat, but I couldn't stay in that position forever. So we made the decision to take it back to Home Depot and go look for another chair at a local furniture store. Thankfully our son has a truck and was willing and able to take it to the store for us.

I actually tried a couple of different furniture stores, and I literally sat in every single recliner they had...well, at least the ones in my pre-determined price range.  Sadly, neither store had any chairs with the wonderful massage feature at a price I could afford. The chair I had purchased online was a very good deal, and I soon discovered that I would not be able to replace it at that same price anywhere, so I had to pay a little more for a chair without the massage/heat feature, but one that was actually comfortable to sit in. That was the sacrifice I was willing to make in order to be comfortable.  I found the chair that was the best fit for me last week, and of course they had to actually order it instead of giving me the floor model.  Today was the day for it to arrive at the store.  We opted to pick it up ourselves rather than pay an additional $100.00 to have it delivered. Thankfully our son was willing to pick it up and brought it home and set it up for us today....and here it is:

(that's my OLD OLD green chair in the background. We haven't taken it to the thrift store yet, because we were waiting for this chair to arrive. Now it can go with my blessings!!)

This chair is very comfortable, and hugs my back in all the right places. No,  there's no massage/heat, but because the chair actually fits my body in all the right places, I don't need those features!  I am very pleased and thankful!!!  Oh, and the color of the chair is called "Recruit Fudge".  I can lay there and dream about the fudge that I'm not allowed to eat. LOL!

The moral of this story is don't ever order a piece of furniture that you need for comfort online, unless you can find a place to actually sit in the same chair somewhere first and make sure it is comfortable!  Thankfully Home Depot's online return policy was generous and we had no problems returning it and getting our money back. But what a hassle...especially for our son who has had to do all the manual labor in this situation. He sure is a good sport!!

Here's some words of wisdom for today from James 1:2-5

"2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

4 But let patience have its perfect work, 

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, 

who gives to all liberally and without reproach, 

and it will be given to him."

Amen!

Have a blessed rest of your week!

The View from My Open Window at 4:30 a.m.

"Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years." Genesis 1:14

"He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." Psalm 147:4-5

If you happened to be awake around 4:30-5:30 a.m. this morning, and if you happened to look up at the sky, you would have seen a marvelous sight.  I happened to be awake, because our neighbor's dogs were doing their usual routine of barking and running through our back yard, chasing the bears who also happened to be crossing through our yard on their nightly route from the woods behind us to the woods beside and in front of us.  This routine changes from time to time...sometimes it is just after  we drift off to sleep that the dogs start barking when the bears roam through our yard, and we jump up and look out into the dark to see if we can see them, which we can't because it is too dark, but we are now awake and looking anyway. But lately it has mostly been in the wee hours of the morning, just before dawn, and before we really need to wake up, you know, when we are getting in those last few precious minutes of soundest sleep just before the alarm goes off?  Well, anyway, that is life in the woods.  At least, that is my life in the woods lately...but I'm not complaining. 

So back to my original story.  This morning at 4:30 a.m., when the neighbor's dogs started barking and running through our back yard chasing the bears, I noticed that the sky seemed brighter than usual.  We have a large window in our bathroom that looks into the back yard, where I usually run and try to see if I can see the bear passing by on his route that runs directly outside that window...(and I actually did see him last Sunday morning in exactly that spot at that exact time...but that's still another story).  However, this morning I didn't see the bear or the dogs, but I saw something else that caught my eye.  I looked up in the sky to see why it was so bright. I wasn't expecting it to be a full moon...that comes later this month (and actually we already had one earlier this month...this year we are having two full moons in August, and the second one later this month will be called a "blue moon".  But that's another story too.) 

What I saw was a brilliant "Crescent Moon" and many magnificent stars.  The sky was a perfect shade of midnight blue and completely unclouded.  I noticed two particular "stars" that seemed to be shining even more brightly than all the others...and one seemed especially close to us.  I thought perhaps it was the International Space Station, as I have heard that it can actually be seen from earth as it passes by. But this light was stationary...it wasn't moving as the ISS does...and it was sparkling like a colossal diamond solitare.  I finally convinced my husband to wake up and come look at it with me.  He was so appreciative. (not).  I told him it had to be the ISS because it seemed so close to us.  He thought I was so intelligent and thanked me for the information, and went back to bed and started snoring immediately.  I continued to gaze at the stars, and I wanted so badly to run outside and look up at the heavens...but the bears and dogs were still running around out there somewhere, so I thought I'd better just enjoy the heavens from inside rather than end up in heaven prematurely!

I was so enthralled with my amazing discovery that I was determined to take some pictures with my camera.  I am certain you will appreciate them, so here they are:

My Amazing Discovery

The Crescent Moon

Not sure what this is...it's supposed to be what I thought was the ISS, but I guess
I blurred it...

Now I am certain that you will want to get me a camera with a real telescoping lens so I can take some real pictures of the stars and moon.  These aren't too bad considering that it was taken through a glass window in my bathroom with a very basic camera at 4:30 a.m.

So after telling my kids and my husband that I was certain that I saw the International Space Station this morning at 4:30 a.m., and impressing all of them with my knowledge of astronomy, I decided to look it up online to see if that could have been what I really saw.  And instead, I found out that what I REALLY saw was VENUS and JUPITER!  Which is in some ways even more impressive! 

Click this link for more information about what I saw this morning in the sky. 

This is a pretty good picture of exactly what I was looking at this morning.  I don't know if you will be able to see it again tomorrow morning, but why don't you set your alarm and get up and try?  Just think what you are missing when you sleep all night long! 

I hope you have enjoyed this little lesson on stargazing.  I look forward to hearing all about what YOU can see from your open window tomorrow morning!  I know you will thank me for sharing this information with you!

Have a blessed day my friends!