Tuesday 4 on Wednesday: Book Worms

 This is this week's Tuesday 4, and I didn't get around to participating until today,  Wednesday. Yesterday was a busy day, and I honestly didn't think I had anything to contribute to this dialogue, so I thought I would just let it pass for this week. However, then the *Library called me and said they had all the books I had ordered online waiting for me to come pick up...and I said to myself, "Self, you may have something to say here afterall...so go ahead and give it a whirl."  Better late than never...So here we go, and thank you to Annie for faithfully coming up with these discussions each week.  Perhaps you are also late to the "party", and maybe you would like to add your thoughts about this topic. The link up is still available at Tuesday 4 if you still want to join...or go visit the others who participated on time, unlike yours truly. LOL.  So here we go:

Book Worms

Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we try and challenge you to think , discover and make new friends through blogging.


1. Did any book besides the Bible have an impact on your life or beliefs?  I would be hard pressed to come up with any other book that has had such an impact on my life as the Bible.  It is the book that tells the story of my very existence...and yours too!  It tells us all about our beginning and also our 'end'.    Other books that I appreciated in my life were varied and diverse.  I remember having as required reading in our senior year of high school the book 1984, by George Orwell.  I remember how we all discussed the predictions made in that book,  and this was in 1968...55 years ago.  The book itself was written in 1949, and what is amazing to me to think about now is how George Orwell thought up all the ideas he presented in his book...and even though he may have been off by a few years, I'm thinking we are seeing much of what he wrote about coming true now in this day and time.  What's interesting now to me is what my father's reaction was when I brought home that book to read. He picked it up and looked at it and threw it in the trash because it had some inappropriate language in it and he didn't want his daughter reading that trash!  I had to go fish it back out of the trash to take back to school, explaining to him that the book belonged to the school and I had to make a report on it or I would get a bad grade.  He was very upset about it and said he would talk to my English teacher and ask her why she was requiring us to read such garbage!  Bless his heart, he meant well...but I am thankful that he is not around today to see the garbage that our children and grandchildren are being  exposed to in our schools today.  I have a difficult time with it and if I had kids in school today, I think I might be reacting much like my father did 55 years ago.  Sadly, "Big Brother is watching you" is no longer a fantasy idea...


2. What books influenced you as a young person.?

To be honest, except for the book I just told you about above, I cannot remember what books I read when I was a young person.  I don't recall reading all the usual books that many have mentioned...I do remember reading "Little Women", and also loved the movie version with Katherine Hepburn as Jo.  

One book that my hubby and I used on a regular basis in our early years was "Streams in the Desert", 

a daily devotional book by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.  It was always so amazing to us to see how the daily devotional always seemed to speak to whatever was going on in our lives at that time, and even when we would read it again the next year, it always seemed to fit our situation.  Here is a link to today's reading.  I was happy to see it hasn't changed.  The copy we have was published in 1950. The Copyright is 1925.    Here is an excerpt from today's reading: (July 19):

"The present circumstance, which presses so hard against you (if surrendered to Christ), is the best shaped tool in the Father's hand to chisel you for eternity. Trust Him, then. Do not push away the instrument lest you lose its work.

Strange and difficult indeed

We may find it,

But the blessing that we need

Is behind it.

The school of suffering graduates rare scholars."

3. Do you continue educating yourself by reading books or listening to podcasts or lectures?

I think it would be safe to say that the majority of my reading today, besides the Bible and a daily devotional, would be primarily for my relaxation and enjoyment.  I do not do well "listening to podcasts or lectures". I am too easily distracted to focus on audio type learning at this point in time. I am a hands-on, let me hold it in my hand and see it up close kind of reader. I do not use a Kindle or other electronic type of reader.  However, that being said, my eyesight is getting to a point where I cannot read for long periods of time anymore, so I have to read in smaller increments than before.  

4. Have you ever sat in a coffee shop/restaurant/cafe reading a book? What is your preferred place to read?

I do not like to sit anywhere in public reading, except while in a waiting room in a Doctor's office or something like that.  My preferred place to read is in my recliner, in the living room, next to my hubby, who is in his recliner usually watching something like sports on TV.  I like to be in the same room with him even though I am not watching what he is watching.  

*Now, on that note, this is what I am currently reading:

Yes, a stack of Amish Fiction books.  I may have read some of these before years ago, but long enough ago that I've forgotten the stories so I am enjoying them once again.  This is the stack I just picked up at the Library.

And I think these cozy Amish stories are having an influence on me.  If you have read any of those kinds of books, you know how they are always baking or cooking something...Shoo Fly pies, Whoopie Pies or noodles and meatballs or something else equally fattening but hearty and delicious.  The women spend a good bit of their time in the kitchen, rising up early to prepare a big breakfast for their hardworking men folk.  This morning I felt like an Amish woman as I rose up early and started baking right away...here's what I made...our favorite Blueberry Bran Muffins:

Click HERE for the recipe.

Here they are, fresh and hot out of the oven, bursting with delicious blueberries that I had put up in the freezer earlier this summer when they were fresh picked from the blueberry farm here in our town:

(I didn't pick them...they had some already picked that were fresh, and saved me the trouble! If I were a true Amish woman, I would have grown them and picked them myself LOL).

This reminded me of passage found in Proverbs 31:

"14 She is like the merchant ships,

She brings her food from afar.

15 She also rises while it is yet night,

And provides food for her household,

And a portion for her maidservants."

I didn't exactly provide a portion for my "maidservants", because I don't have any maidservants. Neither do the Amish women.  They have to work without the benefit of electricity or other modern conveniences.  I do admire them, but not enough to want to be one.  They have hardships we do not fully understand or appreciate, and even though I believe they have a true faith in God and Jesus Christ, they live with rules that I don't believe Christ ever intended for us to have to endure.  However, the way things are going in our world today, we might be wise to take some lessons from the Amish about how to survive without modern conveniences...

Okay, that's all I will say for today. I hope you enjoyed this little visit. I wish you could come and have a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin with me. Just let me know when you are coming and I will put the kettle on!    God bless you all and have a wonderful rest of your day!

Friday Foto Friends Better Late than Never...

 Here it is the Friday before Christmas, (which is on Sunday this year, just for future reference), and people are scurrying everywhere doing their last minute shopping for food, gifts, and also in preparation for the very cold frigid weather we are going to be getting, starting tonight and lasting for several days. I know many of you are already experiencing blizzard conditions and sub zero wind chills. I am sure many may have had to change their travel plans for Christmas due to the weather. The most important thing is to stay safe and warm. Praying for those without power already. May God watch over our friends and loved ones and keep them safe in this winter storm. 

We are all cozy and cuddly and ready for winter here...(as long as the power doesn't go out!)

And here's the extent of my baking so far:

My favorite Blueberry Bran muffins for breakfast this morning...(Recipe can be found on this post HERE)

I am really not planning to do a lot of baking for Christmas. My DIL is baking an apple pie, and we have one guest coming to join us on Christmas day (a single friend from our church), and she is bringing a Chocolate Cream Pie and maybe a Cherry Cheesecake pie, and if our son Scott gets here on time tomorrow he may bake some cookies, and some people have given us some gifts of peanut butter fudge and a few cookies already, so why do I need to bake???? I mean, how many sweets can one eat? However, we never turn any away if they arrive on our doorstep or table. LOL. 

But if I do decide to do any extra baking or cooking, this little cookbook that I just got has lots of great ideas for Christmas yummies:

I first learned about this cookbook on Mrs. T's Christmas Kitchen Blog, when she did a book review of this particular cookbook.  Mrs. T. loves the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and refers to them often in this blog and also on her other blog Across My Kitchen Table. It looked interesting to me so I ordered it online through a used book site since it was printed in 2013. It has lots of great recipes and ideas for fun family times especially for the holidays. I am looking forward to trying some of the recipes in the near future.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts regarding my shopping woes, etc.  I am happy to say my shopping is done, and everything will be wrapped in time for Christmas...I did have a little scare the other day while shopping that I am only sharing because I want to give thanks to God for His protection over me, and also as a bit of a warning to others to always be aware when shopping or out alone.  

While I was loading my purchases into the back of my vehicle in the Walmart parking lot, I was suddenly startled to see a young Hispanic man standing very close to me when I turned around from my shopping cart to put a bag in the car. I never heard him approach and was really caught off guard. His appearance was rather strange as he had some kind of  red and peeling blotches of skin all over his face.  He spoke very broken English and held up his cell phone and asked if I could charge his phone for him because he needed to make a phone call to someone in Atlanta, or something like that. I couldn't quite figure out the whole gist of what he was asking except that he wanted me to charge his phone.  All the while I am thinking of what to do and realizing that my purse was sitting out in the cart, very accessible, and that also I was parked quite a ways out from the store due to the large crowds of shoppers that day. I tried to be very kind but I told him that I could not charge his phone as that would take too long and I really had to be getting back home. (not to mention the fact that in order to charge his phone the engine would have to be running)  He then backed away from me and asked, "You cannot help me?" And I said that I was sorry I could not, but I suggested that perhaps someone in the store would be able to help him. My mind was racing and my eyes were searching around me to make sure there weren't others with him who might be coming up from behind.  I was quite relieved when he then turned and just walked away and I hurried up and got inside my car and locked it and left as quickly as I could. I then called my husband and told him what had happened and the realization hit me of how close I might have been to something really terrible happening...but God was with me and protected me.  I don't know if that young man meant to do me any harm, but something about the way he backed away from me made me think there was an Angel standing between us at that very moment, and if he had intended any harm, his plans were changed. I actually prayed for the young man, that God would take care of his request if he were truly in need, but I also thanked and praised God for His protection over me.  I actually cried  and prayed and rejoiced all the way home. 

Lesson learned...always be aware of your surroundings when in a parking lot. Never leave your purse unattended in your shopping cart...and pray for wisdom quickly in any such situation. God is always ready to help us...and I do believe He sends His angels to guard and protect us.

Moving right along...since I really didn't have any interesting new pictures to share today, I took a few photos this morning of the different Christmas books I have sitting on the coffee table and in the kitchen and other places...Thought you'd enjoy seeing them. Maybe you have some of these or others that are special Christmas books that you like...

Who doesn't love Thomas Kinkade paintings? So lovey and nostalgic!

Remember the Christmas Ideals (and other Ideals books?)  And Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", and Max Lucado , "In the Manger",

Some special Christmas tea books...

And another special book with pictures to go along with the words to "O Holy Night".

I know some of you are fans of Jan Karon's Mitford series...I did have the whole series but have shared them with others...I still have these two little Christmas books that are special...

That snowman above actually goes along with the Mitford Snowmen story.

And the other one, "Esther's Gift", tells about the Mitford character Esther Bolick, who always made her famous and scrumptious orange marmalade cakes for every special occasion in Mitford.  Over the years she had given away hundreds of these very rich and sweet cakes to many dear people.

But this year she thought she should figure out just how much money it took to bake these cakes, and when her hubby helped her tally up the cost of everything that went into the cakes, including her time for baking it, the cakes were worth over $40.00 a piece...and here she was going to give away at least 6 or 7 cakes to different people in town for Christmas.  Well, she started thinking she couldn't afford to do that anymore and kind of lost her Christmas spirit of giving when she realized how much money she was spending.

But then she heard some Christmas music playing and started thinking about the smiles on the faces of the different ones to whom she had planned to give the cakes, and how happy it would make them, and suddenly she had a change of heart and went ahead and baked the cakes and cheerfully delivered them to the special people in town who really appreciated the gift so much.

Re-reading this little story today kind of also changed my spirit about giving gifts... I know I grumble about shopping and wrapping and all of that, but when it comes right down to it...to see the joy on people's faces, to hear the laughter and/or the sincere thankfulness upon opening a special gift...well, that makes it worth it all. It also makes me want to try a little harder next year to plan a bit better and further ahead.  You can see below how happy all the friends and family in Pamela's Victorian Cottage are when their lovely "Auntie" from the city comes to visit for Christmas and always brings such special gifts for them.   (you can click on that link for another story about this!)

I kind of feel like I've had a "Scrooge" experience, with the scare in the Walmart parking lot, and then reading this little story, and my heart is overflowing with thankfulness to God for His mercy and grace and so much love...and to think, He sent Jesus, His ONLY begotten Son down to earth, for me!! (and for YOU).  

That's a pretty amazing gift.

I am in awe.

Thank You, God!

Amen.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wednesday Treasures

Good Wednesday Morning Everyone!! I hope you are having a lovely morning wherever you may be!

It's a crisp 45 degrees here in north central Florida this morning! Time to put on the flannel shirts and light up the fire...

Bake a batch of Blueberry Bran Muffins (or whatever other kind you might like...probably pumpkin would be better this time of year, but this is what I have...so I hope you enjoy it)

I am grateful for the delightful aroma of fresh baked muffins...

And for a hot cup of tea while I write to you...

This should be about Tuesday's treasures...Yesterday morning we had to leave early to go to the doctor's office for my hubby to have fasting lab work done before breakfast...I could see a beautiful sunrise appearing in my side view mirror of the car, and I hoped it would still be there when I could get out and see it for real instead of in reverse...

Sure enough, when we got to the Doctor's office parking lot...there it was in all its beauty and glory:

We were early for the appointment...the office hadn't even opened their doors yet, so I just stood outside and enjoyed God's glory in the heavens...

Even the clouds couldn't mar its beauty:

Looks like Mr.Vulture (Buzzard) was enjoying the view with me...see him on top of the light post?

After the lab work was done we headed over to Nanna's Country Cafe' for breakfast before going to Dixie Cottage for the morning.  I didn't take any pictures of our breakfast...I guess I was too busy enjoying eating it! But that was yesterday...

So now here it is Wednesday afternoon and I still haven't finished this post! I got interrupted this morning by the clock ticking the time away.  We ate our blueberry bran muffins after reading our morning devotions. Then we got ready and headed over to Dixie Cottage again for the morning. That is our "normal" routine these days for most weekdays.  We try to get there before 9:30 a.m. to get things ready to open the store at 10:00 a.m.  Then we stay until usually around 11:30-12:00, when our son comes in to take over for the afternoon. That works out perfectly for us. We can come home, get some lunch, take a nap, and then finish whatever else needs to be done...like this POST that I started writing at 6:30 a.m. today when it was 45 degrees. Now it is up to 62 degrees at 3:00 p.m.!!  A very chilly fall day for us here in this part of the country! Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder in the morning! I know for most of you who live north of us this is nothing...but consider where we are and remember that for us this would be more like one of our winter days!

So what else is new?  Let's see...Oh, I'll share a couple of Dixie Cottage pictures with you to keep you up to date on what's happening there:

Several months ago we found this game table at the local flea market, and picked it up for Benton. It needed to be refinished as it was kind of old and beat up looking, but it was still functional.  So this past week he finally got around to pulling it out of his storage shed and decided to bring it to the store to sell. I am sorry we didn't take any "before" pictures of the table.  It was a typical light golden oak color. These four chairs are not the ones that came with it, but these were some he had that needed to be sold. I suggested that he paint the table something "fun" instead of a traditional table color.  So after some discussion we decided on this pretty kind of a colonial blue color.  

The checkerboard piece fits on top of the backgammon piece, and can also be turned  over for a solid colored side and be used as a regular table. I forgot to get a picture of that.

Anyway, he barely got finished putting the second coat of paint on this table before a lady walked in and said she wanted it!

So that was a happy ending to that story!

Then this morning while we were there a gentleman called on the phone and asked if we still had that little Secretary desk that he saw on our Facebook Page.  I told him yes, and he asked for dimensions and more information, and then said he'd be right down to get it!

Sure enough, after we left for lunch, he showed up and purchased the desk as promised!

He also wanted to buy this antique oak dresser, but alas!  The lady who purchased the game table also bought this dresser and was on her way to pick it up! So sometimes it pays to speak up quickly, because if you "snooze, you lose!"  

Meanwhile, some other interesting things going on...

A couple of weeks ago a very interesting lady came into the store looking around and ended up buying several of our more inspirational items and signs.  She said she had just moved to our community and was establishing a small "chapel" on her property...a "House of Prayer", for those in need of a place to pray and be prayed for.

She saw that our son creates custom signs and asked if he could make a couple of signs for her to put in her special chapel.  These (above and below) are the signs she wanted, and she came to pick them up today, but sadly we had already left for the day so I missed seeing her again. I would love to have seen her because when she was there before we had such a beautiful time talking to each other. She is of Puerto Rican descent and wanted to pray for us. She prayed a most wonderful prayer in Spanish.  I couldn't understand all that she was saying, but I know God understood her perfectly, and it was a time of blessing and joy for us to meet together. I hope I will get to see her again sometime.

I think this is a good place to stop for today.  I hope to be a little more punctual in writing and reading your posts as the days go by, but it seems as though we are being kept very busy,  which is actually a very good thing.  I do enjoy your comments so much and read every one, even if I don't always reply.

We are very thankful for the ways in which God is blessing us and also our family's store. I would ask you to pray, however, because the small store space next to us is now vacant. It was a beauty/barber shop, but they have moved on.  Our landlady is looking for new tenants for the space and there are many people who want to lease it. We are praying that God will lead just the right kind of people there, and that our landlady will not allow "greed" to cause her to put someone in there who may be able to pay her more money in rent, but not be something that will be good for our community....there is such a possibility on the table, and we are very concerned about what her decision will be. Please pray for this situation. It has been causing us a little bit of tension, but we are placing it in God's hands and trusting Him to work it out for the best for all concerned.  He knows our needs and we are trusting Him to work it out...but more prayers can't hurt...

Matthew 21:12-13

12 And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Isaiah 56:7

7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,

And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

Will be accepted on My altar;

For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Thank you again for being such special friends!

God bless you all, and have a wonderful rest of your week.

 

Thankful Thursday~ Blessings and God's Mercy

It's Thursday, and I am thankful today for many things.  I've been trying to sort out a lot of thoughts and feelings today to figure out a way to share a story with you.  I haven't quite got it all together yet, so let's see how it unfolds as we go through these pictures...

After all, according to my Lipton tea bag, "Inspiration is just a sip away"

And even my dishes are inspiring me to "Believe",  and write to you today...

The tea mug says:

"The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things."

Hans Christian Anderson

I know you are probably wondering how I can drink a cup of hot tea when the temperature is rising every moment as we speak... this was the temperature this morning at 10:47 a.m., in the shade:

But I just checked again now at 1:36 p.m., and it is 93 degrees and still rising.  So I am inside the cool house, very thankful that our repaired air conditioner is still working just fine. In case you missed THAT STORY, you can go back and read about it HERE.  And believe it or not, this cup of hot tea is very soothing to me right now.  I'll explain more about that as we move along.

How many of you have noticed the beautiful full moon the past couple of nights?

I have heard someone say this is called the "Strawberry Moon".  According to what I read on Google,

"A strawberry moon refers the full moon for the month of June. In 2022, June's strawberry moon qualified as a super moon because it occurred while the moon's orbit was especially close to the Earth – giving an appearance of an even larger and brighter full moon." 

 

I'm glad I didn't miss it. That picture was taken early yesterday morning before it descended over Still Waters Pond.  I saw it again late late last night, actually around 12:30 this morning, but I didn't take a picture of it then. I wish I had. But I had other things on my mind.

However, in honor of the "strawberry moon", I thought I would add some fresh strawberries to my salad for lunch today, along with some fresh blueberries, apple slices, spinach, swiss cheese, a few Fritos and some of my super duper "chia seeds" sprinkled over the Marie's Cole Slaw dressing that I always use.

Yes, I love the Marie's Cole Slaw dressing for my regular salad dressing because it has celery seeds in it and it is a kind of sweet and sour creamy dressing that is especially tasty with spinach. The chia seeds added a nice crunch, but I definitely needed to brush my teeth after eating to make sure I got all the seeds out of my teeth. I wouldn't want them to sprout chia seed green hair! LOL.  It was a very tasty salad.

For breakfast I had some of the blueberry bran muffins that I baked a couple of mornings ago. (along with a scrambled egg)

Recipe can be found HERE.

And for a snack with my tea I should be having one of these peanut butter cookies that I baked a couple of days ago also.  I don't do a lot of baking usually in the summer time because of the heat and our gas range really throws out a lot of heat in the kitchen, but the family loves some kind of cookie snack and the store bought kind aren't always as good.  So once in a while I get busy and do some baking to keep everyone happy. I think they are almost gone anyway. I'd better save some for the guys.

Back to nature for a few minutes while I collect my thoughts...saw this "yellow bellied slider" turtle roaming through the yard again the other morning. I don't know if she is looking for a place to lay some eggs or what is going on. She wandered off into the brushy woodsy area maybe to have some privacy.

This is a little fuzzy, but one of our blueberry bushes is finally getting some ripe berries!  Thankfully the birds haven't found them yet. I'd better keep an eye on them.

I wandered around our yard this morning before it got too hot, (well, that's when it was 89 degrees), and I was most appreciative for our big live oak trees in the front yard that help keep that part of the yard and house cooler.  They are messy trees, with TONS of acorns for the squirrels and millions of little leaves that fall in early spring that create a real big mess to rake up, but they stay pretty much covered in leaves year round so they are a constant source of shade. For that part we are very thankful.

I also wandered around to the butterfly garden area, which needs weeding really badly, but it has been much too hot even in the early morning to be doing any weeding right now. It's all I can do to keep it watered because we haven't had much rain at all. But the flowers are still blooming and growing and I enjoy looking at it even if it does need weeding.

This beautiful Gloxinia is blooming again! This is a plant that I brought with us when we moved here almost 3 years ago. It was in a little pot, and it kept blooming and blooming. I finally planted it in the Secret Memorial Garden, and this is the first time it has bloomed since it was planted in the ground. I love it's beautiful purple velvety blossom, don't you?

These little some kind of sun flowers say they are very sun tolerant, but I've had to water them constantly to keep them growing. Thankfully they are finally starting to bloom again.

I needed to sit outside in the shade of the Secret Memorial Garden this morning and spend some time praising God for His kindness and mercy once again.

This little Cuban Anole, or "Brown Anole", was keeping a close watch on me while I sat in the garden.

He kept showing off his bright orange "dewlap" while he sat there, but it was hard to get a picture of it while fully open.

He wanted me to know that he was the king of this "jungle", and I'd better mind my manners.  They tend to be very territorial.  They are fun to watch, but they are an invasive species that has pretty much driven out the cute little green gecko chameleons in Florida, and so I really wish he would just move on, but I'm afraid they are here to stay.

Mr. Bluebird was also keeping a watchful eye over me and over the birdhouse where his babies are still hiding out.  I don't know why they haven't fledged yet. It seems like it's past time...but they know when it is time to move out and I need to not interfere.  I just keep praying that big old ugly crow will stay away.

Mama and Papa Bluebird are also extremely protective and territorial, driving away any other birds that happen to fly too close to the nest or the whole back yard for that matter. My pretty red cardinals and other birds have to try to steal a seed from the bird feeder on the sly and hope the Bluebirds don't catch them.

But soon enough the babies will fledge and the family will move on to the next place, wherever that may be. So I will enjoy watching them while I can. I wonder if they will have one more brood of babies this summer again like they did last year?  Time will tell.

Okay, so I've come to the end of the pictures and I still haven't told you about what is on my mind. I mentioned that I saw the full moon last night around 12:30 a.m.   If you know me at all, you know that I am usually in bed LONG before that, and last night was no exception to that rule.  It took me a while to get to sleep,  but I am sure I was pretty much out of it before 10:30 or thereabouts.  So you can imagine my concern and dismay and shock to hear someone pounding on our front door around 12:30 a.m.   My husband and I both jumped up out of bed to run to the door without giving much thought to what we were wearing. Thankfully my gown covers the subject. But anyway, my first thought was that our son had somehow either forgotten his key or had locked himself out accidentally. He was not home when we went to bed earlier, and we had not heard him arrive home.  But he is usually home before that time as he has to get up early to drive a long distance to work each morning.

We were shocked and very concerned to see two law enforcement officers standing there.

A parent's worst nightmare.

My heart started racing as the officer said "I'm sorry to bother you at this late hour, and I don't know how to tell you this, but..."   and my mind was imagining every possible scenario as I clung to my husband's arm. I didn't want to hear the next words that I feared were going to come out of the officer's mouth. He kept kind of stammering around the subject, asking my husband where he had been and if he had been out in the car that evening, which of course he had not. He said our car had been involved in an accident...and I'm thinking what is he talking about? Our car is right there in the driveway where it belongs and it hadn't left. I'm getting very confused, and the officer keeps questioning my husband and telling him to just tell the truth. What?  I'm thinking this man is going to tell us that our son has been involved in an accident and is possibly either seriously injured or worse yet, dead. That is where my brain was at that moment, and I couldn't understand why the officer wouldn't come out with the whole story. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to me, we realized he wasn't talking about our car, but our son's truck. Our son and my husband have the same first name, and therefore the officer was also very confused.  But our son's truck was right there in the place where he usually parks it. 

And at that moment I realized:

Glory Hallelujah! My son must be at home in bed! 

And so I ran to his room and praise God, there he was, sound asleep in his bed. I woke him up and told him what was going on, and he groggily got up, got dressed and came out to talk to the officers.

Long story short, there had been an "incident", not an accident. Apparently a kind of road rage incident, and from the story I heard, not totally our son's fault, but the other party had called in his tag number to the police. No one had been hurt, and whatever really happened will now be up to the court to determine...it's a "his word against her word" kind of situation.  I wasn't there so I cannot say who was right or wrong. The judge will have to decide. And our adult son will have to abide by whatever the outcome of that decision may be.

All I can say as a mother is Praise God, my son is alive!  My worst nightmare did not come true. 

And when the officer was finally finished interrogating our son I told the officer what I thought he was going to tell us that night, and then I broke down and hugged my son so tightly and cried and cried. My son apologized for causing us such anxiety.  Finally we were able to go back to bed and after a while I was able to go back to sleep, but not before praising God again for sparing our son.

Yes, I hesitated to share this story with you because it would be an admission that our family is less than perfect.  People who know us well already knew that. That's not new news. But I decided to share it with you because to me it was a more important story of God's mercy and grace. The ending of this story could have been so much worse. It could have been a horrific tragedy. Other people's lives could have been terribly changed in a moment as well.  There could have been other lives lost, not just the possibility of our own son's life. We just never know when our loved ones go out the door if they will come back home to us again.  Last evening we actually had had a wonderful time with our son before he left to go visit a friend.  He had just been offered and had accepted a very good new job opportunity, with a nice raise in pay.  The job is in another city where his friend lives, who had already offered him a room for rent so he wouldn't have to commute back and forth to work like he's been doing now for so long. It was a real blessing and an answer to prayer for our son, as almost half of his pay has been going into gas and car expenses, not to mention the question of safety on the roads. And so to have such a joyous event spoiled by an almost tragic ending would have been even more heart breaking.

And so today I truly want to give God praise and thanks for His kindness to our family. 

Just some thoughts today from Psalm 130

"1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;

2 Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

And in His word I do hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord

More than those who watch for the morning—

Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;

For with the Lord there is mercy,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

8 And He shall redeem Israel

From all his iniquities."

Praise God!