Starting off the New Year with Geese, Snowmen, and No Worries!

 

Good Morning! Here it is, the first Monday morning of the New Year of 2021! The first Monday after the holidays, and I expect some people have to go back to work, or kids may have to go back to school. Thankfully I am no longer in that category of having to go to work or get kids off to school. I "did my time" in that regiment of life, and thankfully I am now enjoying retirement and no real scheduled responsibilities.  Although, like many others I have heard it said, I don't know how I ever had time to work now that I am retired...there is always something that has to be done! Doctor appointments, grocery shopping, housework, post-holiday clean up.  

But before we jump into all that work, let's just relax and have a cup of hot tea or a cup of cocoa on this chilly January morning, and start the week off right!

Today my only "appointment" is our Ladies' Bible Study this afternoon.  I look forward to meeting with this special group of women each week.  We have been studying the book of Joshua..."Winning the Worry Battle", a Bible Study by Barb Roose. 

It looks like our little mother at Pamela's Victorian Cottage is working on "winning the worry battle" with having so many little girls to look after.

Just in case you didn't notice, there is another new "little angel" added to the family, thanks to their kind Auntie from the city (a.k.a. my sister, who loves to give me these little dolls for Christmas each year). I expect this sweet little "Twinkling Star Angel" will add to the fun and excitement around Pamela's Victorian Cottage in the days and months to come.

We are working our way slowly through this Bible study book, because as is the case with most women's gatherings, we have lots of things to discuss and each week brings out more and more areas of need in the lives of our ladies...and we find ourselves spending more time encouraging one another in our walk of faith and life than in just plain old study. But God's Word is the foundation and backdrop for all of our conversation, and that is exactly how God intended it to be.   Here is one quote from the sidebar of our workbook from last week's lesson:

"If we remember God's generosity in those moments when we experience uncertainty,

then we can wait in faith for God to act."

And another one when we were studying in Joshua 7 about "fighting in fear", and it appears that even Joshua "melted in fear", or as we would call it, he had a "meltdown". But we saw that Joshua turned around his "meltdown" by turning toward God in his distress.  He expressed his truest emotions and brought his questions and concerns to God.  Our takeaway from that lesson was: 

"When stress and fear are mounting, I can avoid a meltdown by pouring out my heart to God."

This little lesson actually helped me during the stress of the holidays by remembering that God is always there for me, and He is my strength and my refuge, even when my distresses are caused by my own lack of appropriate planning and preparation. I also have made a commitment that I will not allow myself to get into that same kind of panic situation again next Christmas. May God help me to remember this and start planning way in advance.  

Speaking of having a "meltdown", if I don't move these snowmen away from in front of this fire, they may have a "meltdown" for sure! LOL!

I just realized that snowmen were playing an important part of our decorations this Christmas, and of course snowmen are fun to keep around even in January if it is cold enough!

Even in Florida you could work through your "worries" and anxieties a bit by having a snowball fight with the family:

Our family did do this, and it was fun until one landed in my hubby's cup of ice water and splashed it all over him...he actually thought we were outside in the snow it was so cold! LOL.

Yes, there were snowmen everywhere! Up at the cabin,

down on the pond,

and even up at the cabin in the hills above the train village...

Here's a little treat for you! I received a late "Christmas gift" (from myself) in the mail:

It takes a lot more breath than expected to make that thing work. LOL. Maybe that will be a good breathing exercise for me to work on each day.

I have seen this Bible verse floating around through our blogs and social media quite a bit lately. It is the theme verse for our Bible Study in Joshua:

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 ESV

I believe (my One Word for 2021) this is also an excellent verse to carry with us into the New Year.  And the verse that precedes that one is also one that will help guide us so that we will learn more and more about trusting in the Lord and not giving in to worries and fears:

"Study this Book of Instruction continually.  Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.  Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." Joshua 1:8

Yes, study God's Word and BELIEVE what you read as you meditate on it day and night...and as you BELIEVE, you will want to OBEY...and only then will we prosper and succeed in all that we do and attempt to do!  If I were to make a New Year's resolution, it would be to do just that...

Well, since I can't really go outside and build a snowman or skate on the pond, I think I will take a lesson from these Canadian Geese who earlier landed on Still Waters Pond, and just glide gently into the new year with no worries or fears.  How about you?

Happy New Year Everyone!

 Welcoming in the New Year  2021 with "A Fresh Start"...

Sunrise from our front porch on New Year's Day 2021

Sunrise reflections on Still Waters Pond, January 1, 2021

And new calendars...this one is Country Seasons by John Sloane...

And this one is the Teapot & Tea Calendar for 2021 that my sister gives me every year!

I'm a little late getting back into the swing of things here in blogland.  It's been a busy few days of ushering out the old year and welcoming in the new year! But it's all been wonderful.  I will share some highlights of this past week, so then you will understand why I've been a bit absent from visiting with our dear friends here.  Hopefully I will get caught up in the next few days.  I trust that all of you are off to a great start for the New Year. We are ALL praying it will be a much better year than last year in every sense of the word BETTER. 

 So this past week was filled with fun times and visits with loved ones to celebrate Christmas and New Years.  Midweek we met up with my hubby's brother and his family at a lovely park about an hour + away to have a picnic lunch and celebrate Christmas and our daughter in love's birthday together.  (Bear with me on some of the pictures if you are also a Facebook friend. You may have already seen many of these, but I will throw in a few new ones here and there to keep it interesting!)

My sister in law/brother in law were so thoughtful and generous in their gift giving. These are a couple of the more notable gifts that I am enjoying:

This is a "snow-globe" lantern with a cute snowman and cardinals. It lights up and makes a wonderful addition to the pretty cabin scene below, which was a Christmas gift from this same sister in law a couple of years ago:

They also gave me this beautiful Olive Wood Nativity scene, which was hand made by artisans in Bethlehem.  I love it so much.

It was so nice to meet with them and their beautiful family and enjoy this special time together. They live about 2  hours away, so meeting half way at a nice park was a great way to visit on a amazingly warm and beautiful December day!

The next day was New Year's Eve, and that found me busily preparing for another wonderful visit with my sister and her hubby. They decided to drive up on New Year's Eve afternoon to spend the night with us and be with us for both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day! That was a treat that we haven't had in a long time, to actually have my sister in my house overnight and get to have a nice long visit!  I love this Christmas card she gave me:

No, we didn't jump on the bed, but we did have a lot of fun.

Our kids came over and built a fire in the firepit so we could roast some marshmallows and make some s'mores!

My sister enjoyed making s'mores...

and my daughter in love and her sister also enjoyed roasting marshmallows

So much fun!

We actually were able to watch fireworks from our front porch! That was fun, and they actually went on all night long, which wasn't so fun as far as the noise was concerned, but what we got to see was entertaining:

The next morning it was so wonderful to be able to sit on our back porch and have our morning tea together:

And then we actually talked the men into joining us for breakfast on the porch!

We were having such a great time...and the weather was quite comfortable for January 1, 2021!

The Canadian Geese flew in and landed on Still Waters Pond to entertain us while we ate our breakfast:

Here they come, like the Spanish Armada all lined up and quietly swimming in for a closer look:

(If you look real closely, you will see a female Wood Duck in the background swimming around)

They were all having a great time swimming in the pond and pulling up lily pads for breakfast:

This couple kind of stayed at a distance from the rest of the group. Once in a while the males would have a little standoff. I guess they got too close for comfort...

It all made for a very entertaining breakfast!

After breakfast we took our guests for a ride around the historical area of our small town and saw some pretty old houses:

And also saw the lovely red front doors of our little church that we love so much:

We also took them over to visit our son and daughter in love at their "Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop" so they could see first hand how they create all the wonderful woodworking items they sell in their business. I forgot to take pictures, but I have shown some HERE before.

After our tour of the town the family gathered once again for a traditional New Year's Day lunch of black eyed peas and rice ("Hopping John"), cornbread, pulled pork, ham, and various other goodies.

Later in the afternoon my sister and I once again retired to the back porch for a "Hot Tea Party", HOT in that not only was the tea hot, but it was HOT on the porch for January 1st! 80 degrees! But we were determined to enjoy our tea along with a piece of homemade apple pie...

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and sister's hubby wanted to get back home before dark, so off they went around 4:00, and they did make it back home safely before dark. Praise God!

What a wonderful way to spend the last week and days of 2020 and the beginning of the brand new year of 2021!  I BELIEVE (my new One Word for 2021) that God has some wonderful things in store for us in the new year.  Here is what we read in our morning devotions today:

Psalm 98

1.  "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

For He has done marvelous things;

His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.

2.  The Lord has made known His salvation;

His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.

3.  He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4.  Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.

5.  Sing to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of a psalm,

6.  With trumpets and the sound of a horn;

Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.

7.  Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,

the world and those who dwell in it;

8.  Let the rivers clap their hands;

Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,

9.  For He is coming to judge the earth.

With righteousness He shall judge the world,

and the peoples with equity."

This gives us great hope for the new year...I look forward to the ways God is going to make known "His salvation" to all the ends of the earth...and His righteousness that will be revealed in the sight of the nations.   I love knowing that "His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory!"  I BELIEVE we are going to see God doing some very marvelous things in this new year throughout the whole earth...So let us "Sing to the Lord a new song..."  and "Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King!" God is still in control, no matter what the media and the governors and the dictators of this world want us to think.  Our hope is in the Lord, and we can rely on Him to do what is righteous and just when He comes to judge the earth and the world.  Let us approach this new year with great hope and faith. God is in control!

Happy New Year everyone!!