Monday Monday! It's Spring!

 

Azaleas and bumblebee in my garden Sunday Afternoon!

Good Morning and Happy 1st Monday of Spring!  Yes, it is definitely springtime here where we are in Florida, although some may think we jumped right over spring and landed in summer already, as it has been quite warm in the higher 80's in the afternoons, but it cools down nicely in the evenings and early mornings, so if you have things you want to do outside, just do them early in the morning or later in the evening and you'll be just fine!  The only bad thing is we still aren't getting any significant rains and everything is extremely dry, so much so that we were under a "Red Flag Warning" yesterday due to the dry winds, lower humidity, and bright warm sunshine.  Not a good time for fire pits or burning leaves/trash.    

Thankfully, our birthday celebration for our son Scott yesterday was all cooked indoors, even though we had BBQ pulled pork.  I forgot to take pictures of the food...but it was all good.  I put the Boston Butt roast in the crock pot on Saturday night when I was ready for bed. It cooked on low all night long, and by morning it was all cooked and falling off the bone and ready to be "pulled"/shredded.  It turned out really good!  

In case you are interested in how I cooked it, this is what I did: 

The Boston Butt was about 6 lbs., bone in.  I added 1 regular can of low sodium chicken broth, 1/2 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar, and about a cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce, in addition to rubbing the meat with some garlic powder, salt and pepper and a little chili powder.  I placed all ingredients in the crock pot and set it on low for 10 hours. Perfecto!!!

Yes, we also had some Bush's Country Style Baked Beans, a Tossed salad, and Rose brought her delicious deviled eggs. Oh, and we used some "sweet Hawaiian style" hamburger rolls for the pulled pork sandwiches, per Scott's request. I also baked the cake Scott requested...it was a vanilla cake with fudge icing.

Here's the pictures we DID take, during the birthday party time after lunch:

The most important picture! Blowing out the candles! It's a family tradition!

Then came the gift time, and these are just a few of the things he received...

And then the family pictures around the table...

Of course Benton and Rose were there...

And Rose's sister Sherrie was also with us...she's still visiting from Minnesota,  but will be heading back to the freezing north on Tuesday. 

Here's "Daddy"....a.k.a. my hubby, a.k.a. John:

And your's truly with hubby...

And here's the whole gang, thanks to Scott's expertise with setting the timer on the cellphone camera and then jumping back into the picture before it starts snapping the photo:

After we finished the cake, etc., some of us went outside to walk around the yard...

Yes, our grandpuppies Sugar and Spice were there for the big occasion...

And here's the sisters Sherrie and Rose...two lovely flowers in my garden:

And we were surprised to find these two lovely flowers blooming again:

"Hippeastrum, click on this link for more information and a previous post I wrote about discovering these for the first time"

The come up every year and surprise me!  I didn't plant them. I think they "traveled" over to our yard from some plants in my neighbor's yard! What a lovely "gift"!

Oh, remember back when our son built a couple of "cat beds"  for our porch kitties? Well they never used them as such, so I decided to "repurpose" them into planters to add to my Butterfly Garden...

I planted some butterfly type flowers in them, and hopefullly they will start growing and blossoming soon...

There's Coreopsis flowers

And a "Scorpions Tail Plant" and some Native Florida Milkweed.

Hopefully they will attract lots of butterflies to our garden!

Well, that's about it for yesterday's excitement. Not sure what's on tap for today...well, yes, there will be the Ladies' Bible Study this afternoon, and the usual stuff this morning. I need to get a move on. The sun is almost rising and Hubby just put Blackie back outside after his breakfast. Oh, yes, he was around yesterday too, but we had to keep him in a separate place away from the doggies...they almost "got into it" when the doggies first arrived and Blackie came to greet them...but not very nicely and it was utter chaos for a second or two...thankfully the doggies were on their leashes and Benton had them well in hand or they would've been high on the chase to get Blackie...but Blackie was back up in his favorite tree pretty quickly.  Whew! That was a close one!!!  I don't think they are ready to be best friends just yet! LOL.

Oh, yes, the Bluebirds have been quite busy in their "nest" lately. I do hope we will see some Baby Bluebirds before too long....

"For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers are springing up and the time of the singing of birds has come. Yes, spring is here." Song of Solomon 2:11-12 TLB

"Father, please give me ears to hear the music of the wakening world around me. Amen."

Amen!!!

Wednesday Blessings!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I hope your day has been extra special for you! I know mine has...and here's one of the reasons why:

This smiling group of people you may recognize, at least some of them...yes, we are blogging friends and we brought along some of our favorite subjects for our blogs...hubbies!

Left to right there is Mari Bruins, a.k.a. My Little Corner of the World and her hubby Bob, who traveled all the way from western Michigan to visit Your Friend From Florida, Terri D'Orsaneo, and she instigated this little get together with your's truly and my hubby John on the back row, and we met up at the Cracker Barrel in Ocala with Barbara Mims and her hubby Gary, a.k.a. Journal Memories.  We had such a great visit!  One thing I have discovered since joining this "blogging family", is that bloggers are a wonderful group of people to know!  It sure would be fun to meet ALL of you someday too!!   Thank you. Terri, for being the one with the true gift of hospitality to help bring us all together! What a blessing!!  Oh, and speaking of blessings... Mari brought us each a jar of these wonderful "Cherry Berry" Jam preserves, straight from her part of western Michigan, where the best kind of tart cherries are grown...the kind that make the best cherry pies.  I can't wait to try this on a fresh hot biscuit!  Thank you, Mari!!!

Today is another special day, because it is also the birthday of our "baby" son, Scott! However, because he is working and living a couple of hours away, we will not be celebrating together until Sunday afternoon.  Still, we called and sang Happy Birthday to  him this morning before he went to work.  I just can't believe my "baby" is 49 years old already!!!

Speaking of "babies"...our current "baby" Blackie was helping me in my office/Room with a View" early this morning...He likes to check out the waste basket to see if I threw anything important away...

I think he was actually trying to climb inside and sit a while, but he soon gave up and moved on to other things. It really is a lot like having a toddler in the house again...gotta watch every move they make! LOL.

Speaking of "children", here's my "Big Baby Boy"...the oldest, a.k.a Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop...

and these are two of the planters he has made for me to grow my new vegetable garden.  I will use these for the zucchini and yellow (summer) squash plants.  He's still making one for my tomato plants.

He also picked up some dirt for me so I can get started...but since we were busy today in addition to the fact that there was a frost this morning, I decided to wait until possibly tomorrow afternoon to do the planting. I have an my annual eye appointment in the morning, so we'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Meanwhile, I have all these things growing in my kitchen that need to get planted before they get too big!

Meanwhile,  I took these pictures Sunday morning next to our church parking lot. The purple wisteria vine is growing profusely and blooming beautifully, although I think it might even do better if it had been pruned a bit before it started blooming. Still, it is quite lovely,  and I will close this post with these thoughts tonight from John's Gospel:

John 15:1-10

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 

10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Amen.

Good Night my friends! I hope you have a blessed and glorious rest of your week.

 

Happy Birthday to my Hubby

Well, today is the big day...Hubby turns 78 today...but we celebrated with the family yesterday...

It's a family tradition that you must have your picture taken blowing out your candles...

The cake was a peach/blueberry "dump cake"...what he wanted, and it was very good and moist!

Here's the family, thanks to Scott's technological skills of setting up the timer on my cell phone and then jumping back into the picture before it snaps!

I love our family...

Oh, the kids also got their Valentine's Cards...Here's Scott with his...

And here's sweet Rose and Benton, but I guess their cards aren't in the picture.

We had a delicious lunch of bbq chicken thighs, thanks to Scott's expertise in grilling, even in the high winds that rolled in for the afternoon. Thankfully we got the dinner cooked before the rains rolled in...YES! We did get some lovely rain and a real genuine thunderstorm!  I don't believe the pond is filled back up yet, but at least it's a start! (Thank you, Jesus!)  Anyway, back to the food! (Sorry about going down that little rabbit hole!)  We also had Rose's delicious potato salad, Bush's Country Baked Beans, Pam's deviled eggs, and Pam's tossed salad.

There's a story here...

I found this birthday card that said to " the King of my Heart!", and it reminded me of something we've had hiding away in a storage tote for many years...

These boxer shorts that say "To My King of Hearts"...

Well, here's the story.  Many years ago, about 37 to be exact, we were pastoring a church in Dayton, Ohio. Every Christmas our Sunday School class would have a party and we would do a "White Elephant Gift Exchange". Well, these boxer shorts kept getting passed around year after year, and it became quite the joke.  So when we were ready to move from that church to another, our class gave us these boxer shorts with that little message on it, and they were actually framed in a very nice frame to hang on the wall.  "A "Brief" Reminder from your friends in Dayton".  We actually did hang it on a wall in our bedroom for a while, but over the years and subsequent many moves, they got removed from the picture frame (I think I needed it for some other picture!), and they were relegated to a bottom drawer and finally into a storage tote of Valentine's Decorations.  Anyway, when I found that birthday card that said "To My King of Hearts", I knew it was time to resurrect the boxer shorts to go along with it.  It made for a good laugh and our kids were kind of like, "What??? Really??? You got those at church???" LOL.  Yes, we used to have a lot of fun with our church class parties. Who says being a Christian can't be fun???

I wanted to thank you all for your kind comments about the new chair for hubby's birthday present.  Some seemed to think it was a leather chair...well, no it isn't...it's a kind of polyester material that looks like leather, but even with all our combined family resources we couldn't have afforded a real leather chair.  However, this one is very comfortable and the price was right...and that's the one he wanted. We just weren't thinking about how the cat's claws might affect that material...but so far so good.  Oh, and yes, the old recliner did get picked up off the curb by someone and taken to its new home! Hopefully whoever got it will enjoy it for as long as it lasts! It was still functional...just getting a bit worn and probably could use some new padding in the seat.

So today we are going to be heading to Gainesville (about an hour away) for hubby to have a PET Scan. We are praying that it will rule out any serious issues...Prayers are always appreciated. It's going to be a long day.

Here are some verses from Psalm 62 that bring comfort for today:

"1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;

my salvation comes from Him.

2 Truly He is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

my hope comes from Him.

6 Truly He is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;

He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

8 Trust in him at all times, you people;

pour out your hearts to Him,

for God is our refuge."

Amen.

I will check back with you all later. Have a blessed and wonderful day! Hey! It's a holiday! President's Day! 

 

Three Quarters of a Century!

 Wow! Today marks the day that I turned 3/4 of century old! I still can't believe that it could be possible that I've actually lived that long! They say time sure flies when you're having fun! Well, I can't truly say that all these years have always been that much "fun", but they have been certainly blessed.

(some of my birthday gifts!)

So  many lovely cards! 

And Yes! "There is always something to be thankful for!"

To finish up my birthday celebration today, we traveled an hour + to meet my hubby's brother Billy and wife Peggy and their son Nicholaus for lunch.

We arrived a little early, and parked under this beautiful old oak tree so our car would be in the shade. 

I had said on the way over as we drove through the Ocala National Forest that I hoped I would see a bear...Well, I did, but not exactly the kind I was looking for, but this one is much kinder and gentler...

He even let me stand next to him and "pet him".   Such a nice bear.

Anyway, that's how we "killed time" until our family arrived, and here we are actually after we were finished eating and ready to go back home:

Here's the "Steiner Bros"...

And our nephew Nicholaus finally gave me a wonderful smile for a picture. He said it was his birthday gift to me.  That earned him a big hug!!! He has such a great smile and is such a great guy.

On our way back home the clouds began to roll in as we traveled through the Ocala National Forest again.  

They actually were the beginnings of a bit of a rainstorm, for which we were most thankful!

I was hoping that the rain would follow us all the way back home...

But sadly by the time we got to our house, the rain had pretty much stopped and scooted around our neighborhood...again!!! Although, I must say that last night we did get a pretty good rainshower about the time we went to bed, so we are counting our blessings for that!

This was last night's sunset.  Sunshine came out to watch it with me. He seems to enjoy watching the sunset, maybe because his name is "Sunshine". But also last night he was lonely because his buddy Blackie had been AWOL again all day long and the night before..., but thankfully he showed up this afternoon at "supper time".  I don't know where he goes for his little jaunts, but he sure makes Sunshine and me a little sad while he's gone.   

I didn't get any pictures of Blackie tonight, but I gave him a good talking to about staying away so long and making me worry!  He basically just acted like nothing was wrong and headed straight for his food as if nothing had been amiss.  I'm now calling him "the little stinker!"

Anyway, as you can see by these photos, Still Waters Pond is VERY still indeed...no water at all practically!  If we don't get some rain soon it will be The Still Waters Desert!

However, you have to admit the sunset was glorious!

I did post these sunset pictures on Facebook last night, along with these verses. So some of you may have already seen these.  I love the autumn sunsets that we get here. I just miss the reflection on the waters of the pond.

Psalm 19:1-6 NKJV

"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."

Well, if you liked last night's sunset, God provided another one for us tonight!  I just love to see His glory in the heavens, don't you?  

Wow!!!  This is better than Fireworks on the 4th of July, if you ask me!

These are God's very own "fireworks display".  

And I appreciate that He put on this beautiful show for my 75th birthday!  It is a fitting ending to a wonderful birthday week!  I've been so blessed by family and friends and God Himself.  I just want to give Him thanks for all the things He has done!

Deuteronomy 4:39 

"Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."

To sum up this big event called my 3/4 Century birthday, let me close by thanking God for His "part" in my creation...He IS my Creator God...there is no other! How I praise Him and thank Him for being with me from the very beginning...and He will be with me until the very end of this life, and then on into eternity!

Psalm 139: 13-18

"13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

Then...

and Now...

Isaiah 46:4  NKJV

"4 Even to your old age, I am He,

And even to gray hairs I will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you."

Praise God and Amen!!

Psalm 139:23-24

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Amen.