Some Fun Saturday Stuff

Mommie said it was my turn to write the blog post, so here's what's been happening today!

For a little while Mommie kept seeing this Log Yard Swing on the porch of our local building supply store, and she kept saying to Daddy how much she'd love to have a swing to put in the Secret Garden. 

Well, today my brother Scotty was off from work, and he has a pickup truck, and Mommie said, I sure would like to go get that swing before it disappears. And so Daddy agreed it was okay to buy it (with Mommie's share of the tax return money, LOL), and Scotty said he'd be happy to go pick it up.

My brother Scotty is so strong, he was able to lift that swing and put it in his truck all by himself, and take it out and set it up in the yard all by himself.

He said to be sure and get a picture of him flexing his muscles. LOL.

So here it is all set up in the Secret Memorial Garden.  Mommie and Scotty are swinging and Mommie is so happy.

Then Mommie talked Daddy into swinging with her. He was afraid he'd break it if he sat down in it.

Now there's a sweet picture! Mommie and Daddy sitting in a swing, K-i-s-s-i-n-g!

First comes love, then comes marriage...

Then comes Lily in a swinging carriage! Ha Ha. Had to make it rhyme!

I really like to swing! Remember the little poem by Robert Louis Stevenson? We talked about it HERE once before.  

"How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside...

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown...

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!"

This swing doesn't swing quite that high, but it is still high enough for me and Mommie:

Here we are trying to take selfies of ourselves while swinging. 

It was a very pleasant time in the cool breeze and shade of the Secret Memorial Garden.

Isn't it lovely?

Mommie said to never mind the sheets under those chairs. She still has to finish painting the undersides of them. Everytime she thinks she can do it, it acts like it's going to rain, so she can't finish them. But she will, she says. She will...

Now, guess what THIS is?

Yes, you are correct if you said it's another birdhouse for the chickadees!

Yes, Mommie and Daddy put up this other birdhouse today so the chickadees and the bluebirds will quit fighting over the one birdhouse.

Right away "Father Goose" came swimming over to see what was going on and if there were any intruders coming to his pond.

Once he saw it was just another birdhouse for the silly chickadees, he turned around and swam back to keep watch out for other bigger threats to his lady love sitting on her nest.

And guess who came next to check out the new birdhouse?

Yep, you guessed it!! Mr. Chickadee came right away and looked it over very carefully!

He even peeked inside to see if it would accommodate his wife and children:

And after all that work, he went and had a snack to build up his strength for the tasks ahead...

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bluebird is very busily gathering twigs and grass to build her nest in the old birdhouse, which is just fine for her!!

She stayed busy doing this most of the day, so I hope she really means business this time around!

I will say that both Mr. Bluebird and Mrs. Bluebird also flew over to the new house to look in the windows and check it out...but I think they decided their house was just fine for them and they got back to work building their nest.

Meanwhile, there is always a threat of danger nearby...This Red Shouldered Hawk was resting in this tree over on the island for quite a while. Father Goose stayed very close by, keeping a "hawk-eye" on Mr. Hawk, to make sure he didn't venture too close to Mother Goose sitting on her nest.

One other bird of note flew in to the neighborhood this afternoon and had a look around to check things out, and then he went on his way...Mr. Catbird. I don't know if he was interested in the new birdhouse, or just visiting...but he didn't bother anyone and they didn't bother him either.

Meanwhile, in between putting up new birdhouses and swinging in the swing, Mommie and Daddy also went to the local flea market this morning to buy vegetables and look around.

Besides buying more corn on the cob and cantaloupe, squash and tomatoes, Mommie spied this pretty big bowl and really liked it. She asked the nice lady who was selling it how much she wanted and she said $1.00.  Mommie thought that was a great deal, and so she bought it.

Isn't it pretty? That is a peony, which doesn't grow here in Florida, but Mommie loves them and wishes they did. Then there is a lovely moth, two butterflies and a dragonfly too, all things Mommie loves, so she was very happy to get this pretty bowl for just $1.00.

When she got home she looked up the information on the computer to find out more about the pattern, by looking at this label on the bottom of the bowl.  She discovered that this particular design and brand of dishes is VERY expensive, and this bowl would have cost  at least $25.00 if it was new! So Mommie really  likes that bowl a lot more now!! It doesn't even have a chip in it!

So that was her big bargain for today!

So now to finish this post out on a more "serious" note, I wanted to share this very nice little devotional book with you.  One of Mommie's friends from church, (I call her Auntie Opal), gave this book to Mommie especially because of me!  She said because my name is Lily Grace, when she saw this book she thought of me and thought we would like to have it.

It has nice little short daily devotions in it, and Mommie said we can read them together each day.

This is the first one, and Mommie and I really liked it.  It tells us that when we keep our minds set on God, He will help us to stay "completely whole", and "steady on our feet", because we don't give up. Even when we might fall or lose our balance, speaking about our spiritual walk, we don't give up because we know that God is there to hold our hands and help us get back up and stay steady and strong.  Sometimes when we make so many mistakes we get frustrated and want to give up. But God helps us to keep trying and not give in to fear or disappointment or even embarrassment. And when we trust Him to help us, we will surely be stronger and better!!

Those are some good thoughts for today, don't you think?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little visit with us today. Did you do anything fun or different or interesting today? Mommie said to tell you she will get caught up with you soon. As you can see, today was kind of busy! But it was a good good day.

Thank You, Jesus!!

Amen.

Bye bye for now.

Love,

Lily Grace

 

Weekend Adventures with Lily Grace

Good Monday Morning!! Mommie said some people don't like Mondays because they have to go back to work or school after a nice weekend,  but since I don't have to do either one, I like Mondays just like I like all the other days!  And this morning it is pretty cold here in sunny Florida...39 degrees, Mommie said!  Brrr! That's cold!  But she said for some of you living up north, this would be a nice spring day. So we will enjoy this nice spring day no matter what the weather is!

If you read my post on Saturday morning HERE, I said that Saturday was going to be a cloudy, rainy, cold and dreary kind of a day, and so it was rainy...but we didn't let that stop us from having an "adventure"!

We decided to take a ride in the car to that pretty little town near us called Hawthorne again.

I love looking out the windows as we ride down the road, don't you?

We were on that road that they are still working on, and this big old crane was holding some of their equipment up in the air for the weekend so no one would steal it while they weren't there...

It sure was raining, and I was wearing my nice teal rain poncho that Auntie Pamela made for me, in case we had to go outside in the rain.

When we got to the little town of Hawthorne, the rain let up a bit so we could see some pretty things. We didn't get out, but we just rode around the town looking at the old fashioned buildings. (Mommie said if you click on that link for Hawthorne it will tell you more about the history of this old town, which is very interesting).

This place used to be a hotel way back in the day, but Mommie said she thinks they use it for apartments now, so people can live there all the time.

Here is the history of this hotel, known as the Moore Hotel,  if you'd like to read it. It's interesting.

Isn't it pretty?  I think I'd like to live there!

HERE in a LINK to a Facebook page about the Museum if you are interested in more about the history of this little town.

Mommie and Daddy always like to look at the pretty churches in these small towns. Here is the Methodist church.  Isn't it pretty?

I hope you enjoyed our little tour of the little town of Hawthorne.  Mommie said we need to show people that Florida isn't all beaches and Disney World. There's a lot of history and interesting and beautiful places all around us if we just take the time to look.  She said that when we take these little rides it is also to help me learn more about the history of our area, 'cause I need to know stuff and learn things!

When we got back home from our ride I helped Mommie bake some more of those good Coconut-pecan cookies that Daddy and my brother Scotty love so much:

Speaking of my brother Scotty...this is just another picture of that cool motorcycle he created from copper wire.  He said he keeps "tweaking" it to make it better.  Oh, do you see that copper angel behind it? He made that for Mommie for her birthday last year...isn't it beautiful?  He's very talented.

On Sunday it was kind of chilly, so when I got dressed for church I kept my pink striped PJ's on under my pink dress!

Here was our verse for the day yesterday:

Mommie said she already showed you this picture on her page yesterday,  but she wondered if you had counted how many birds were on this tree?

She said lots of people guessed on her Facebook page, but only a few got it right. She said you really need to look very carefully...as some of the birds might be just a bit blurry!! Let us know how many birds YOU see, okay?

This was our verse for Saturday, but I wanted to share it again, because it has my name in it! Do you see it? Right at the beginning it says "Grace" and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord".  

I said to Mommie, "Hey! I see my name there!! My name is Lily GRACE!"   And Mommie reminded me that my name GRACE means an undeserved blessing, or unmerited favor.  She said grace is when God gives us blessings that we have not earned, but He does it because He loves us so much.  She said the biggest gift of GRACE is His gift of salvation...because we can't earn it.  It is a gift of God.

We can find that in the Bible in the book of 

Ephesians 2:8-9

8. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 

9. not of works, lest anyone should boast."

I am trying to learn these things, and I want to share what I learn with you, so just in case you didn't know these things you can learn them with me!

Well, that sums up our weekend. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Have a blessed and beautiful week. I can't wait to hear all about it!

Love Always,

Lily Grace

xoxoxoxo

 

The Adventures of Lily Grace

Hi! My name is Lily!  Well, if you want to be proper about it, by full name is 

Lillian Grace, but  most people just call me Lily.

This is my very first picture when I arrived at my new home with all of my baggage...

As you can see, I am a very modern girl, with my very own guitar, karaoke machine, microphone, and boots! I wear boots, with my tie-dyed t-shirt, long lacy jacket and daisies in my hair!

I love to sing and laugh and make people smile, and so that is what I hope to do for you!

I just met my new Mommie and Daddy when I arrived at their home in a special box, delivered by the very friendly but hurried mail lady! I say she was "hurried" because when she arrived at my new Mommie and Daddy's house, she stopped right in front of their house and honked the horn! Can you imagine how startled I was to hear that horn honking? I mean, I had been closed up in a very secure box for several days while I traveled over 300 miles from my identical cousin Tracie's house to my new home.

But then I could hear my Mommie's excited voice as she came running to the mail lady's car and said, "Oh is that a package for me? I bet I know what it is!"  And the nice mail lady slowed down long enough to say, "It must be something special!"  And my Mommie said, "Oh, yes it is!" But she didn't take any more of the mail lady's time...she just whisked the box out of her hands and ran back into the house yelling "She's here! She's here!"  I could hear a nice man saying, Oh! It must be our special package!! And I wondered to myself if that might be my new Daddy! Then I heard another voice saying, "Oh, what is it? What is it?" And my new Mommie was so excited she could hardly talk as she was hurriedly looking for something to remove my protective box so she could take me out of that place right away! I was getting so excited because I knew that any minute I was going to be able to get out of my special box and finally see my new Mommie and Daddy and breathe the fresh air and see the pond and meet all my new friends and family!

Finally Mommie was able to cut away all the special things that were holding me safely in my pretty box, and she was able to pull me out and into her arms...What a happy, happy moment!

At first I was a little dazed from the bright sunshine and the happy smiles all around me. I wasn't prepared for so many people all at once....my new Mommie explained that she had a friend visiting her and guess what? You'll never guess this...but My New Mommie's name is Pamela...and guess what else? Her friend who was visiting was also named Pamela!! I was a little confused as to who was my Mommie if they were both named Pamela, and they were both so excited over my arrival that I think they both would have loved to have claimed me...but my real New Mommie held me in her arms and looked into my face and smiled SO big and looked SO happy, that I knew she must be the right "Pamela" that was to be my new Mommie.

(Please excuse me a moment, because actually I am writing all of this in a letter to my sweet Aunt Debbi and identical twin cousin Tracie, because they are the ones who sent me to my new Mommie, and I know they are anxiously waiting to hear all about my arrival).  

Mommie held me and looked at all of my special things that came with me...oh, Thank you, Aunt Debbi, for the wonderful toys that you sent along with me. My new Mommie was so excited to discover the Dancing Barbie and the beautiful Horse, and the lovely ladies' fan, and oh yes, the telephone and the cute pink teapot! Also she was excited about the nice unicorn ribbon that she says we will do something special with to decorate my special place. Oh, and she and the other Pamela oohed and aahed about the cute outfit I was wearing, and the boots, and the guitar and karaoke machine, and well, just everything was so perfect they both exclaimed.


All this time my new Daddy was taking lots of pictures. He didn't want to have his picture taken, but he was happy to take lots of pictures to capture these happy first moments together. And then, well Aunt Debbi, this is the most exciting part of all...My new Mommie and Daddy and that nice lady named Pamela all talked about what they should name me. I heard them saying several different names that they had been thinking about, but they were all in agreement that they should just think about it for a few minutes and that my name would come to them as they got to know me a little better.

Well...I sat there looking around and thinking about what a wonderful new home this was going to be and I was getting more and more anxious to start checking things out...but somehow the need for a name seemed to be pretty important to everyone. While I listened to the ladies talking about how cute I was and how much they loved my hair and eyes and cute daisies in my hair, and the pretty lacy coat and boots and tie-dyed shirt...all of a sudden I heard my Daddy's strong deep voice say from somewhere on the other side of the room that he thought they should name me "Lily". "Lily!", my Mommie said and the other Pamela said! They both looked at me and said, "Lily! That's a perfect name for you!" Then I heard my Mommie say that "Lily" would be a shorter name for someone they knew named "Lillian"...Oh, they told me that Lillian was my new Daddy's grandmother's name! That made my name extra special...to be named after my Daddy's grandmother...and then my new Mommie said that she really loved the name "Lillian Grace", and that would be my complete name, but that they would call me "Lily", because it just seemed to suit me best!

Mommie said that the name "Grace" stands for "unmerited favor", which came to us from Jesus when He loved us so much that He was willing to die for us even though we didn't deserve such a blessing. But she also said that Grace was an unexpected blessing, and that is what I am to them...an "unexpected blessing". I like my new name...Lily is a beautiful flower and that makes me happy to know that they think I am beautiful, and also that I am special enough to be named after someone so special as a grandmother!! Wow! They must really love me, Aunt Debbi!!

Oh, and then, after a little while my Mommie took me outside to show me the big pond! It is so beautiful, Aunt Debbi! Just like you said it would be!

I can't wait to go exploring a little more, but it looks like it might rain and my Mommie was wanting to come back inside and write to you and tell you all the good news!

I am so excited, Aunt Debbi!! I think I am going to love my new home. My Mommie said that we will take it easy today and not try to do too much my first day here, as I am going to be living here for a long time and we will have many more happy days to have our tea party and get acquainted with everyone. So right now I am standing right here beside my Mommie and watching her write to you as she tells you all about our day so far!! There will be more to come I am sure, but for now my Mommie says to tell you that she loves me very much and that she will be sending you something in the mail soon. I hope you and Tracie aren't too lonely without me! Maybe someday we can all get together again and have a wonderful party! Thank you so much for sending me to my new home.
I think I am going to be very happy here.


Love always,
Lily
"Lillian Grace "...doesn't that sound nice?


Bye for now!! I love you too, Aunt Debbi and Tracie!