Monday Monday! "O Sing Unto the Lord a New Song!"

 Happy Monday Morning Friends! I hope this day finds you rested up from your weekend and ready to begin a new week!  Looking ahead this week, hubby is having is 2nd cataract surgery on Thursday. So that will be the "highlight" of this week! The place where we go for the surgery is about an hour's drive away, and then we have to go back again for "post-op" early Friday morning, and of course I will be driving, so no time for pictures or anything fun. LOL. Praying all goes well with his surgery.  Thankfully my eye doctor said I could still wait another year unless I start having more symptoms...and did I mention that in a previous appointment he thought I could have the beginnings of glaucoma, but at this more recent appointment he said, "No glaucoma!" I just have some weird looking nerves in the back of my eye that sometimes indicates glaucoma, but he said my pressures are good and there is no evidence of it, so praise God!!!!

Well, while I was sitting here at my computer trying to write and sip my morning cup of tea, this happened:

Good Morning, Blackie! So nice of you to come and visit while I am trying to "work". 

From the desktop to my lap...

Hi Mom! Just thought I'd come say hello to you and all your friends...and get some early morning lovin'.

So after a few minutes of him squirming around on my lap trying to find just the right spot, and me trying to pet him but he'd try to "bite" me  (they say they are love bites, but don't you believe it...! LOL), he finally decided to jump down and go visit Daddy for a while. So now maybe I can get this thing written! LOL!

Life with "King Blackie" is never dull!

So yesterday was the day that hubby and I sang our duet at church. Some of you expressed interest in hearing it, and so Benton and Rose both recorded it on their phones. So here you go...this is the one Benton recorded. I like it because at the end of the song we asked the congregation to join us on the last chorus, and you can actually hear Benton singing along.  The one that Rose recorded is a little longer and I'm having trouble uploading it, but I can also hear her sweet voice singing at the end. I told them that next time we sing we are going to do a family quartet!!  They have never done anything like that before, so they said, "We'll see...". LOL.  Anyway, without further adieu, here is the song, "What a Day That Will Be."  Remember, we are old and a bit rusty, but we are singing for the glory of the Lord...

After church we came home and Scott had arrived in time to grill some hamburgers for our lunch before the rain started. And yes, it did rain most of the afternoon, which was really nice. We are supposed to get rain most of today too and all this week, so here's hoping and praying that Still Waters Pond will finally reach a saturation point and begin to look like a pond again!

I know these birds will be happy to see that day!  Mr. Cardinal and Mr. Bluebird were having a "conversation" the other day, probably over territorial rights, but perhaps they were both just happy to have their place on God's green earth to sing their praises to their Creator!  And the other photos were just taken right now this morning as the sun is breaking through the clouds!  Let's "sing unto the Lord a new song" together with them!

Psalm 96  KJV

 "1 O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, 

and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.

12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."

Amen!

I hope you have a lovely and joy-filled day!!

Friday Foto Friends and the Final Photo A Day Challenge for July

Happy Last Day of July!! Another Glorious way to start the day!!

 

When I see the sunbeams reaching out from the sun into the skies, I think of these verses from Psalm 19:

Psalm 19:1-6

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

2 Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language

Where their voice is not heard.

4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,

5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.

6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,

And its circuit to the other end;

And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

It's definitely going to be another hot day, but we were refreshed with some good rains yesterday evening, and there is the promise of more tonight and throughout next week. I sure hope they are right.

So I have come to the end of the July photo-a-day challenge, and today's challenge is to "choose your own theme."  That shouldn't be too difficult for me! I am always choosing my own theme even when I'm supposed to do other stuff. LOL.

I woke up with a few ideas in my head, and then some things got kind of rearranged as the morning progressed.  So now it is a kind of mixed bag of thoughts and ideas. So please come along for the ride and enjoy the journey through time and space with me, okay?

I think I'll start out with the most recent photos, just taken a few minutes ago after we took a little ride down a dirt road (no pictures of that), and after last night's rain, we ran through a few mud puddles, so we had to make a special detour on the way home...can you guess where?

Yes, if you guessed the car wash, you would be correct. I just thought the patterns of water on the windshield looked pretty cool. (And I am thankful my hubby can still steer the car into the carwash correctly so that I don't have to do that!!)

This made me think about this Bible verse... (1 Corinthians 13:12)

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Right now in our lives we can't really see very far beyond this moment. We think we know what's coming up, or we have plans for what we hope will happen, but we truly can't see beyond this very minute, and things could change "in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye..." (1 Corinthians 15:52). Therefore we should always be ready to meet Jesus at any moment.

That reminds me of these verses in the book of James:

James 4:13-15 NKJV

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

One thing hubby and I did this week was practice a song that we are planning to sing  (Lord willing!!) this Sunday morning at church. Here's the song being sung by the man who actually wrote the song, Jim Hill. (although he didn't sing the first verse in this version, but we will sing the whole song on Sunday).

1. There is coming a day

When no heartaches shall come,

No more clouds in the sky,

No more tears to dim the eye;

All is peace forevermore

On that happy golden shore,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

When I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

Then He’ll take me by the hand,

And lead me through the Promised Land,

Oh, what a day, glorious day that will be.

2. There’ll be no sorrow there,

No more burdens to bear,

No more sickness, no pain,

No more parting over there;

And forever I will be

With the One who died for me,

Oh, what a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus (Twice)

It's been a while since we have sung a duet in church, so I pray that God will be with us and help us both to have a strong voice to sing, and that this song will be a blessing to those who hear it, and that the Lord will be glorified with this music.

Now these next pictures have a story.  Those of you who know me know that I am not really a fan of roosters (or "free-range chickens" either, for that matter).  When I was about 4 years old and living on our farm in Pennsylvania, we had chickens and roosters. One day I wandered down to the 'corn crib' to get some corn to feed the cows. I don't know why I was out there by myself, but somehow I was. Anyway, when I got down there away from the house, all of a sudden this big old mean rooster came running out at me with his ugly and dangerous "spurs" and started to attack me.  I started screaming bloody murder, and I guess my mother heard me and came running with a broom and shooed that big old mean rooster away from me. I understand that we had stewed rooster for supper that night, but that he was rather tough. LOL.   Anyway, to this day I am not one to get very close to chickens and especially not roosters.  

So, the other day we were with our "kids", and we had a reason to visit this place, not knowing there would be free range chickens and roosters running around.  Thankfully they were "friendly" and did not attack us.  I am quite proud of myself for not going into a panic when I stepped out of the car and this fellow came running around the house to greet me.

There were actually two of them...double trouble!

I am thankful they had no interest in me whatsoever! Praise God!

I'm not going to say that now I am ready to go out and start raising chickens, but at least I survived that moment!

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, (or woman!) I put away childish things.  (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Well, friends, I think this is probably enough for today. I had some other ideas for pictures, but decided to wait for another time and not overburden you with too much stuff.  It's taken me all day just to get this done! LOL.  

Tomorrow begins a new month, and brings us closer to those blessed cooler autumn days, even though for us here in North Central Florida, it will be late October before we begin to really feel a bit cooler. Still, it's encouraging to know we are getting closer! 

 

I hope that you will have a blessed and wonderful weekend. 

Celebrating My Mom~Updated 2026

Hello Friends...I know most of you have already seen this post last year, but as today is the 20th anniversary of the day my mother left her earthly home to be welcomed into her heavenly home, I wanted to share it again. I can't really think of anything new to add to it, except that every year that passes I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to the day that we will be reunited in heaven, and what a joyous day that will be, when I am certain she will be waiting there at heaven's gates to welcome me home, along with JESUS, and then of course my father and our son Matthew and all those who have gone on before us.  What a day that will be!

Here's a song that expresses how I feel about that day..."What a Day That Will be..."

"(1) There is coming a day

When no heartache shall come

No more clouds in the sky

No more tears to dim the eye

All is peace forever more

On that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus:

What a day that will be

When my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon His face

The One who saved my by His grace

When He takes me by the hand

And leads me through the Promised Land

What a day, glorious day that will be

(2) There'll be no sorrow there

No more burdens to bear

No more sickness, no pain

No more parting over there

And forever I will be

With the One who died for me

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus:

What a day that will be

When my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon His face

The One who saved my by His grace

When He takes me by the hand

And leads me through the Promised Land

What a day, glorious day that will be"

Here's the original post written last year on this day...

Today is May 7, 2025, and it is also the 19th year since my mother passed away on this day in 2006.  I know I originally wrote this post for her birthday, but I just felt like sharing it again today to remember her on the day she entered heaven's gates, and also because Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, and so she's really on my mind!

 It's hard to believe she's been gone 19 years already, and I still find myself wishing I could call her up and just talk, or go visit her and enjoy one of her delicious apple pies (or coconut cream), or sit down at the table with her and my daddy and enjoy being back in my childhood home again with them.  But that will never be possible again on earth, but perhaps there's apple pie or coconut cream pie in heaven? If so, my mother is baking it!  

 On January 6, 2025 it would have been her 108th birthday!  I am updating this post from when I originally wrote it on January 6, 2021, so there may be some things edited and some new things added.  

This picture was only given to me recently   (back in 2020) by my cousin, and it has quickly become  my favorite picture of my mother. Here she is, driving the tractor on our farm in Pennsylvania  back in the early 50's or late 40's. We left there to move to Florida in 1956, so it had to be before then. She was so happy as a farmer's wife.  It's what she always wanted to be. My Dad was a great farmer, but in the 50's it became too costly to remain in farming unless you had lots of financial help. And so, with four hungry children to feed and clothe, they decided to sell the farm and move to Florida.  My mother was not a real happy camper about moving away from the farm and especially not to Florida, so far away from the beautiful farm country she loved and her aging parents in Ohio, but she loved her husband and followed him wherever he felt he needed to go.  And God took good care of us in Florida. She adapted...but to her dying day she still missed living on the farm.

These pictures have been added to my collection more recently, so I wanted to include them here for my own reference...our family on the farm, around 1952.  My brother Clifford, Russell, our dog Laddie, Mom, Doris, Daddy and me!

Again, our family, probably  1954...Russell, Clifford Daddy , Mom, Doris and me!

This is my next favorite picture of my mother, taken when she was in her 80's, on the 4th of July. Yes, my mother was always the patriot. She loved her country and was a very proud American.  Today I thanked the Lord that my mother is in heaven, far away from any world government.  She is living with the God Who rules heaven and earth, and one day He will make all things new. 

In the following pictures are some special treasures that remind me of my Mom:

This first group of pictures was taken many many years ago, when my parents came to visit us in Ohio, where my husband was pastoring a church and working on his Doctorate in Ministry. My mother and I went shopping at some interesting thrift and/or antique shops, and we came home with a couple of beautiful antique hats.  We were having fun modeling them, and my youngest son also had fun modeling for us. (He'd probably not be real happy with me for showing this picture. LOL. )

In the first top picture Mom is baking a pie for us.  Most likely apple since it was fall and I am sure we probably found some good fresh apples at an orchard nearby.  My mother was the queen of pie baking. I've written about that before: The Pie Legacy HERE  Looks like she is threatening someone with that rolling pin!  She was feisty, that's for sure! LOL.

I still have both of the hats that we bought that day:

Every time I look at these hats I remember that happy time with my mother. Those are precious memories.

This next picture is a doll that I bought for my mother for her 85th birthday. She looked like my mother must have looked as a little girl...dark brown hair and pretty green eyes.  And she's holding a birthday cake and has a sweet little teddy bear.

The pictures beneath the doll are of my sister and our mother and me, taken at Mother's Day one year, and her birthday the year she was given this doll.

Below are some beautiful dishes that came from my mother's china cabinet.  The plates and some of the teacups and saucers were her Haviland China dishes. I am not sure if these came from my grandmother's dishes, or if these were just some that my mother had purchased through the years because they reminded her of her mother's dishes. Either way, they are wonderful and I love them.  

The two Chinese designed teacups and saucers above in front were definitely my grandmother's  (my mother's mother).

I love this tea towel that is framed and hanging in my special little dining treasure room.  You can read for yourself the note my mother typed and put with the towel when she gave it to me.  The only sad part is that her signature is fading out. It was written in red ink, and now it is getting hard to read. I don't want to write over it, but I may have to so it isn't lost forever.  

My mother knew how much I loved tea things and special keepsakes. That is why I framed this so I could keep it nice and enjoy it forever! Yes, she was right..."At any rate I know you will enjoy this bit of your Mother's past!! Much Love, Mom".  

My mother knew me well.

I know I was blessed to have had such a wonderful mother. Lately I've been hearing other people discuss their relationships with their mothers, and so often they were not pleasant memories.  My mother and I certainly had our "moments", especially when I was a teenager and tended to be quite sassy. There were times I didn't understand her moodiness at all (but later I figured it out to be menopause and then she also dealt with low blood sugar issues). But one thing I knew for sure, my mother loved me and all of her children fiercely.  If she fought with us it was because she loved us so much and wanted us to be safe and sound in mind and thought...at least in the way she thought we should think. She loved a good debate, which I discovered was a hereditary trait from her father and brothers...and loved to discuss politics and religion. She was very opinionated and didn't compromise on much. But that was one thing I respected about her. She knew her mind and she stood strong on principle.  

I will finish with a passage from our morning devotions found in I John 4:7-11

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;

and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

8.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, 

that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

10.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us 

and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11.  Beloved, if God so loved us,  we also ought to love one another."

So let us love one another, regardless of our differences of opinion.

Here are a couple more pictures of my mother. 

These are her sisters Margaret and Belle, and Mom (Dorothea),  is the little one  with the cute chubby cheeks on the right.

And below, 

Margaret holding my mother (Dorothea), their brother Truman, and sister Belle

My mother around age 19:

My mother would shoot me for sharing this one of her with her new hair dryer on Christmas day:

Her family with their car back in the 1920's: Chalmer, Belle, Mom on the ground, Margaret in car, my Grandma, and Truman.  Grandpa was always taking these pictures, so he's not in them!

And one last one of her family: Margaret on ground, Belle standing, Chalmer in high chair, Truman, Mom (Dorothea), and my Grandmother. Their dog on the ground.

Here's a picture with my Grandpa Tedlie, mom's brother Chalmer home from WWII, and my mother, back in the 1940's.

Okay, that's enough family photos...but I just wanted to share a bit about my mother on this, her special day.  Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom!  (Update: and Happy Heavenly Mother's Day, as well as the remembrance of the day you entered heaven's gates, 5/7/2006)

UPDATE: If you are blessed to still have your mother, please take the time to honor her in a special way this Mother's Day.  Life is short! We don't get to keep our mothers here with us forever!

And if your mother has also already entered heaven's gates, honor her memory in some special way. Regardless of whether or not she was perfect or always did everything right. No one is perfect. But most of us try to do the best we can with what we are capable of doing. And if there are still some hurts from the past, today is a good day to forgive.

Matthew 6:9-15

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

"Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Amen.