Grateful!

This summer I have been meeting with some other women from church on Monday night. We are going through the book "Choosing Gratitude" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Is the gratitude that flows out of your life as abundant as the grace that flows into your life?

"The world tells us annoyances and afflictions cause discouragement and doubt - and that we are right to demand our way. Then there are circumstances that aren't what we wish or even what we think we need and suddenly we're convinced life hurts. The only option we have is to protest or whine - or so it seems.
But what if we responded with worship instead? What if we moved beyond an occasional 'thank you', to cultivate a lifestyle of appreciating God's goodness every day of our lives - despite the circumstances?"

A site a friend from that group shared with me is one by Ann Voskamp. You can download here a 7 Gifts Gratitude booklet to record and print out what you are grateful for each day of the week.

To begin to live a life of grateful worship — counting blessings and giving glory to God! “In Everything Give Thanks…”

Some things I am grateful for:

simple things like windchimes!

glorious sunsets!
(just for you, Sarah!)

laughter - when I see my "pretties" re-arranged by grandchildren

Starbucks!!

funny son-in-laws!

(love the wig!)

Chocolately smiles!

And so much more......!!!!

friends, family, flowers....

I have a bottle of Joy dishwashing detergent by my sink.
When we built our house 6 years ago, the builder tried to encourage me to put in one of those soap dispensers, but I said "Nope!" I wanted my bottle of Joy. To remind me of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always;
Pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Rain!

There was a beautiful sunset last night.

I woke up in the middle of the night. What was that sound?

Rain!!!!

One whole inch! Which means I don't have to water the plants this morning. GOOD!

Because I am a little nervous. I have had this menacing looking creature buzzing about. He lives in this hole in the ground. He is a type of ground bee. Supposedly they are harmless and won't attack you.

But I do not trust it! You can't plug up the hole because they just dig it back up. They are supposed to be good for the garden - but it still scares me when I am out watering.

But I will have to water again for awhile. The forecast isn't too promising.
Good-bye rain clouds. Enjoyed you while it lasted!

Job 38
24From where does lightning leap,

or the east wind blow?

25Who carves out a path

for thunderstorms?

Who sends torrents of rain

26on empty deserts

where no one lives?

27Rain that changes barren land

to meadows green with grass.

28Who is the father of the dew

and of the rain?

Purple Martins fly the coop

In my last post I mentioned that it was HOT!! A couple of days ago, the car temp read 113 degrees. We are in a drought.

I have never seen the stream dry up or the lake down so much.
I wonder how hot it gets inside a purple martin house?

Al tells me that when he was in highschool, he put up hay in metal barns. They took a thermometer up there and it read 135 degrees! They got paid 1.25 cents a bail and made $30 a day. So they worked hard in the heat!

I don't know if the heat is encouraging the babies to leave their nests early or if they are just trying their wings.


This little one took off.
Having such a hard time of it. Just quite can't fly yet.
The mommy and daddy encouraging the baby bird.

"Fly, baby birdie, fly!"

It flew/hopped under one of my bushes.
It reminds me so much of my friend Mary Ellen's book, "Flitty, Twitty and Itty Bitty."
See the mom flying close by? A little bunny came hopping by and several adult purple martins swooped at it until it hopped away. A bunny would not hurt the birdie, but the big birds were not taking any chances!
"All created things declare the glory of His excellence. The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold their beauty in blessing to the world. It was He that filled the earth with beauty and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father's love." The Desire of Ages-Ellen G. White

Yesterday I opened the back door to find a female zebra finch! I have never seen one in the wild. They are usually in bird cages in a home. They have them in the old folks' home where our parents are.

I hope I see it again! My guess is that it escaped from someone's home.

As Mary Ellen writes about her book: Does anyone really care what happens to baby birdies? God does. If God cares about baby birdies we can be sure He cares about each of us, too! The Birdie Family: Papa, Mama, Flitty, Twitty, and little Itty Bitty find out God is watching over them and their family when trouble "blows" their way.

If you haven't ordered one of these books for your children yet, you need to! It is so sweet and teaches children about God's care.

HOT!

It is CRAZY HOT in Kansas!
I don't recall such a hot summer before.

Today the car read 113 degrees! The digital sign at the hospital also confirmed that. YUK!!


So, what does one do on a hot day in Kansas? Al thought it would be great to wash the cars. He LOVES this hot weather, by the way.