Oh Clap Your Hands!

 Good Morning!! I am having so much fun in my new home with my wonderful family and friends! Mommie and Daddy get up pretty early and Mommie has her cup of tea and Daddy has his coffee. This is Mommie's special cup...it says "Rejoice in each new day!"  Mommie likes to be joyful in the morning when she's getting her tea and then she and Daddy do something called "de-vo-shuns".  I asked Mommie what that was and she said it's when they read something special from the Bible and also some good thoughts for the day.  Oh, Dear Aunt Debbi and Cousin Tracie! I loved the special verses that Mommie read out loud to us from the Bible.  Listen to this:

Psalm 47

1.  "Oh, clap your hands, all your peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2.  For the LORD Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth!

3.  He will subdue the peoples under us,

and the nations under our feet.

4.  He will choose our inheritance for us,

the excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

5.  God has gone up with a shout,

The LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

6.  Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7.  For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

8.  God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

9.  The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is greatly exalted."

When Mommie finished reading this and the "de-vo-shuns", this reminded me of a special song that I wanted to sing. So Mommie said it would be fine if I played my guitar and we sang a little song together:

I don't know if everyone knows this little praise chorus or not, but I really like singing happy songs like this. 

"Clap your hands, all you people

Shout unto God with the voice of triumph!

Clap your hands, all you people,

Shout unto God with the voice of praise!

Hosanna! Hosanna!

Shout unto God with the voice of triumph!

Praise Him! Praise Him!

Shout unto God with a voice of praise!"

I sang my little song to all of the family over in "Pamela's Victorian Cottage" while they were waking up and getting ready for breakfast.  I don't know if their mama appreciated it or not, but it was a fun way to wake everyone up! 

After breakfast we had a little visitor on the back porch...I cried out, "Look! A squirrel!"

But by the time we could get outside to see him he was gone over the rail and down into the yard and over in that big tree:

Then we checked the pond to see if there were any geese out there, but it was kind of misting rain and the geese were way over on the far side of the pond where we could just barely see them. Mommie said they might come over to our side later so we would be watching for them.  But meanwhile, Daddy said it was time to go for our morning walk.  

Mommie said she was afraid we'd get wet, but Daddy suggested we make a little raincoat for me so I could go on the walk and not get wet.

And so she did, but before we could go on our walk we had to put a special letter in the mailbox to YOU, Aunt Debbi and Cousin Tracie:

Mommie said it's always nice to write a real thank you note to someone and mail it to them when they've done something extra special for them. Mommie says you did something really special when you sent me to them.  I agree. We are all very happy!!

After that we got in the car and drove to a place out in the big woods!  Mommie says this is where they like to go for their walks because there isn't any traffic or houses or dogs barking. It sure is different from the walks we took together in Charleston, Aunt Debbi, which I really loved, but this is kind of exciting in a different kind of way.

Here I am in my new little red raincoat that Mommie made for me really quickly so I wouldn't get wet. It really wasn't raining by then anyway, but she said we didn't want to take any chances.

Oh, and guess what, Aunt Debbi! My Daddy have me a piggy-back ride! That was awesome!! I love my new Daddy. He's a lot of fun.

So then we started on our walk, and I saw this pretty little pine tree that I thought would make a wonderful Christmas tree!  

And then we saw this really HUGE pine tree that is really really big. Mommie says she can't even reach her arms half way around it because it is so big.

I saw this thing on the ground that I thought was some kind of dragon, but Mommie said it was only a big branch that had fallen out of this huge tree, but it does look kind of like a dragon walking across the ground...I was glad that I was with my Mommie and Daddy and that it wasn't really a dragon. That would be scary!

There was this funny looking green spongy looking stuff all over the ground in lots of places. It kind was soft and crunchy when we walked on it.  Mommie said it was called "deer moss", and that the deer like to eat it.

I looked at it a little closer, but I didn't think it was something that I'd want to eat. I was hoping we'd see some deer come and get some. Daddy said he saw three of them yesterday, but we weren't with him. We tried to be really quiet and watch for them, but they didn't come.

Mommie wanted to show me all of her favorite places to walk through the woods. It was cool and quiet there as we walked on a carpet of pine needles...

Now, Aunt Debbi and Tracie, you aren't going to believe this!  There was a boat in the woods with a tree growing out of it!! Can you imagine such a thing? Why would a boat be out in the woods where there is no water, and have bushes and trees growing out of it?

Mommie said that apparently this boat was someone's "Final Straw", whatever that meant...and they decided to just dump it in the woods.

That made me kind of sad...first of all that they couldn't keep their nice boat, but then that they would just throw it away out in the woods and mess up the pretty forest. I don't understand why someone would do that, Aunt Debbi. It sure made me know that I don't want to be a "litter bug". We need to keep our woods and roads clean and litter free!!

Mommie and I had wandered around through the woods for a while, and then we realized that Daddy was no where around.

So Mommie said we needed to get back to the main road so he could find us, and there he was, driving down the road in the car looking for us.

I waved at him and he stopped and picked us up. 

Mommie said that it was okay to do that because we knew it was Daddy in that car, but we should never do that if we don't know who it is.  I promised I would never get in a car with a stranger.

After we got home we found out that my big brother Scott was home from work and he came out to meet me!

He was so cute and sweet and said he really liked my guitar. He said he always wanted a guitar when he was a little boy but he never had one.  I told him he could play my guitar any time and he thanked me.

He was wearing a shirt that said:

"I'm Mom's Favorite".

I wonder if he is a little bit envious of me being here? 

No, he's very kind and funny and he seemed to be very pleased to meet me.

Whew! We really had a busy day! But guess what, Aunt Debbi and Tracie,  after supper we went outside and saw the geese!! There they were, right up on the shore near our back porch!!

I had to be very very quiet to not scare them away.

They were so big and pretty! They didn't seem to mind me watching them for a few minutes!

That made me very happy!

Wow, it is now almost bedtime, so I guess I'd better stop writing and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is church day and Mommie and Daddy have to get up and get ready on time. I hope that I can go to church too. Mommie said that maybe I can sing with the choir! Wouldn't that be fun, Aunt Debbi?  I hope I can.  I heard Mommie singing a song today while she was cooking dinner and she said it was the song they would be singing tomorrow in church. It sounded pretty and kind of a happy song. Maybe we will sing it for you tomorrow.

Okay, time for bed!  It sure has been an exciting day!

Good night Aunt Debbie and Cousin Tracie.  I love you.

xoxo

 

Lily

Lillian Grace