Good Saturday Morning! I can't believe this is my third Saturday here at my new home with my Mommie and Daddy! If you've been keeping up with me for the past two full weeks, you will know that I've pretty much changed the way our family lives around here! Every day is a new adventure! Mommie said we just never know what to expect from day to day, but we are having fun together finding out what special things God has in store of us each day.
In addition to our adventures, we are also looking for three special "gifts", or "blessings" each day, from the Joy Dare collection by Ann Voskamp. The "prompt" for today is for "3 Gifts Found Outside". Mommie said we don't have to do these in order, but they are just suggestions for ideas for how to look for the gifts found around us each day that God has blessed us with. We kind of got behind the last couple of days, but we are still counting our blessings even if we don't always share them here.
So for today, our "three gifts found outside" are in these next pictures...(and above).
Seeing the Canadian Geese on Still Waters Pond is always exciting for us, particularly on this morning that we took these pictures...it was very very cold and foggy on the pond, and yet the geese were still there to make us smile!
Next we saw this big old fat Red Shouldered Hawk way up in the tip top of the old dead pine tree in our yard.
He was calling out to us to let us know he was there, and again, we stood and smiled in awe of God's beauty in nature.
Looks like he's wearing a big winter coat!
Now, this is kind of funny...because all we can see is the tail end of the "little ring-necked duck" who likes to dive down into the water and pop back up again. She is still swimming around Still Waters Pond by herself and likes to entertain us now and then with her antics. But you have to be quick to get a picture before she dives back under the water!
Mommie says she isn't sure if we should count this as a blessing or not, because this neighborhood kitty likes to roam around and lay in the yard watching the birds and hoping he can catch one unaware. But he is a pretty kitty, and I liked seeing him walking through the yard today. I don't think he'll let me pet him, however.
Now, Mommie definitely did not think this was a blessing today...this stray dog was running wild through the woods where we take our walks. There was another dog too, but it had already run past when we drove up. They appear to be strays and we don't know if they are friendly or not, so we drove on past and went further down the road before we got out to take our walk. She said the "blessing" was that the dogs ran on and did not bother us or even bark at us.
When we felt safe to do so, we got out and checked our wild plum trees to see if they have more blossoms:
Mommie said this is definitely a "gift" found outside!! Every day the trees get more and more blossoms on them, and they are almost completely white now!
I told Mommie that I thought they were a blessing 'cause they are SO pretty, and they will provide food for the birds...oh, and nectar for the honeybees too!! That's a good thing, isn't it? We will just have to be careful if they bees start gathering around them so we don't get stung.
Okay, now here's the best part of living here with my new family!
Last night the family gathered for a spaghetti supper here at our house!
And my big brothers Benton and Scott were clowning around with me. Our Aunt Peggy (another Auntie I haven't met in person yet), gave my brothers these funny t-shirts for Christmas, and this is the first time they have both worn them together.
They look like they aren't too sure about who I am and if I am taking their places as being "Mom's Favorite".
Mommie sent a picture to Aunt Peggy, and she said we need to find a t-shirt for me that says "I'm Mom's Favorite" too! That would really be funny. I wonder if they make t-shirts like that for little tiny girls like me?
Here's the family gathered for a great spaghetti dinner. Aunties Rose and Sherrie brought the spaghetti sauce and the garlic bread, and Mommie cooked the noodles and made a salad. It was all DELICIOUS!
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
James 1:17
While Mommie was writing this today, my big brother Scott came home from work (he goes in early on Saturday and comes home before noon) and made a wonderful breakfast for himself, using the blueberry muffins we made yesterday:
He made blueberry muffin french toast and sausage:
They sure smelled good, and he said they tasted really good too! Maybe I can learn some more cooking ideas from him! Mommie says he's a very creative cook!
Well, I hope you are having a happy and relaxing Saturday! Thank you for visiting us here.
Oh, and I was SO happy to see my identical cousin Tracie out for a walk in the rain with her Mommie, Aunt Debbi. If you want to see her too you can go over and visit her at
Debbi's Front Porch! You will be amazed at how much we look alike!!
Bye bye for now.
Love,
Lily Grace
xoxo
