Scripture and a Snapshot

Lamentations 3:22-27

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness;

his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.

So it is good to wait quietly

for salvation from the Lord.

And it is good for people to submit at an early age

to the yoke of his discipline:

Share 4 Somethings - December 2023

 

Good Morning:

Today I'm linking up with Jennifer for Share 4 Somethings. We're talking about things loved, learned, read, ate and/or enjoyed this month of December, 2023.  

Loved - I've really enjoyed the decorations in our home.  I'm so glad I actually put up a tree this year.  I've also loved going out with hubby and my mother-in-law several times just viewing mostly neighborhood lights.

Learned - I've enjoyed learning more about the names of Jesus spoken of in Isaiah.  I've heard these names almost all my life, but I love coming to understand them more.  I think my favorite was Sar Shalome, Prince of Peace. If you are interested, you can look over the last months Bits of This and That posts where I've attached pre-recordings of hubby's sermons on this topic,

Read - I've read 5 books in December:  

Appointment at Christmas Bay by Diane Chase

A Castle for Christmas by Stephenia H. McGee

Cobbler Girl by Jean L. Kuhnke

Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette

Enjoyed - I've enjoyed listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies and just enjoying the season.  

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

 

I haven't had much to blog about this week and I guess I've just been a little lazy.  Anyway, we've had a fairly quiet week, but we've had a few things going on.

On Tuesday, I had an echocardiogram ordered by my primary doctor.  She said I had a heart murmur which she's told me before.  But I think since I told her my sister had passed away a couple months ago from a heart attack, she decided to send me for this test.  Still waiting on results.

Also, Lucy has not been completely herself since we got back from vacation.  We took her to the vet on November 30th and he checked her out and did bloodwork.  All came back good.  But she's still not eating well at all, even the treats and food we know she loves, she's not always eating.  So we just dropped her off at the vet and he's going to check her out again a little more thoroughly.

Hubby still isn't completely better.  His neck is still giving him pain.  However, it has improved some so he seems to be headed in the right direction.  We both have a chiropractor's appointment in a few minutes and then we'll be heading to the church to do a few things for Sunday.

That's pretty much my week in a nutshell.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

We've had another nice quiet weekend.  I wanted to take just a moment to post yesterday's pre-recorded sermon.  It was the 5th in the series about the names of Jesus!  The Prince of Peace, Sar Shalome.  

 

Merry Christmas to all!

Cathy

Friday Photographs

I didn't take very many photos this week, but here are a few photos of last Friday's sunrise.  It was such a beautiful morning.

Tuesday morning I had a dentist appointment and
I loved this tree in the waiting room.

 I don't have too many other photos from this week.  I need to work on that next year and get back to taking more photos.  

 Cathy

Thankful Thursday

 

Today I am thankful for so many things, but here are a few that I'll post today,

* Prayer - What a gift it is to be able to talk to God and know that He listens and cares about us.  

*Bible -  And the Bible is where we hear what God has to say to us.  The Bible lets us know that He loves us even before we knew anything about living for Him.  

*Christmas - I'm thankful for all the music of Christmas and the fun movies and books about Christmas.  But even more I'm thankful for the gift of Jesus!

*Mercy and Grace - I'm thankful for the mercy and grace of God.  How His mercy is new every morning, as I often need it.  When I don't do what I'm supposed to or when I go way beyond what I should with my words and hurt someone.  Like yesterday, I got irritated with the way my daughter talked to me on the phone and I kind of short-circuited with her and ended the conversation pretty quickly.  The more I thought about it, the more I knew I over-reacted and needed to apologize.  So, I called her back and apologized and she accepted and I know God did too.  We ended up having some fun video chat later that evening.  Mercy and grace...I need them often...like every day.

There are many more things, but that's all I'll post about today.  So what are you thankful for?

Cathy

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1. Did you do more talking or more listening yesterday? Probably more talking. Was it by choice or by necessity? I was with hubby most of the day and he doesn’t talk a lot, so if I don’t talk it would mostly be silent. 

2. Are you a tea drinker? Hot, cold, or both? Flavored? What do you like in your tea? Do you make Christmas tea this time of year? What time of day do you like to sip your tea? I am not a tea drinker at all.

3. What's an activity you won't try, an event you won't attend, or an athletic challenge you won't take part in not even for 'all the tea in China'? Bungee jumping. 

4. What's something most people seem to love but is not 'your cup of tea'? Laying on the beach to tan. I’d rather walk on the beach and hunt shells. 

5. How does your family celebrate New Year's Eve? We really don’t anymore. We just spend a quiet evening at home. 

 6. Insert your own random thought here.  I so love this performance of "God Gave the Song.  It thrills my heart every time I hear it.

Thanks for visiting.  You can link up from the Hodgepodge Button at the top of the page.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - Christmas

 

Christmas

From our hostess, Annie, "Hi there. It's time for another of Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...  

Christmas is next week...Let's talk a bit about it, okay?" Link is here.

1. Are you excited for Christmas to come? Actually, I'm already enjoying the days leading up to Christmas and I know I will enjoy that day too.

2. What do you look forward to on Christmas?  I'm looking forward to some live video with my grandson watching him open gifts and with the girls too,

3. What will Christmas Eve find you doing? We will be at church that morning and I'm not sure yet what the evening will hold.

4. What will be on the menu for Christmas?  Plans are to go to hubby's mom's house and we're bringing the ham and mashed potatoes and I don't know what others are bringing.  

From Annie  "Since Christmas will come before the next Tuesday 4, I wish you a blessed and very merry Christmas."  Annie I wish the same to you and to all who visit.

Since I never got a post together yesterday, I will post hubby's pre-recorded Sunday Sermon here today.  

Cathy

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: The Christmas Blues  

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. 

1) In this song, Dean Martin sings that the streets are white with snow. Do you anticipate a White Christmas this year? It's always a possibility. I haven't heard the forecast though.

2) He tells us he's done plenty of window shopping this season. Do you find you're influenced by a retailer's window dressing and store decor? Are you more motivated by price? Or do you do most of your shopping online, making holiday decorations irrelevant? This year was all online shopping and it's done.   

3) Dean was born in Steubenville, OH. Though he rarely returned to his hometown, it was in his thoughts during the holidays. Every Christmas he made like Santa and sent toys to hospitalized children in the Steubenville area. Are there toys on your shopping list this year? No toys this year.  

4) He had fast hands when it came to cards and before he was famous he worked as a dealer in Atlantic City. When you play cards, what's your favorite game? Uno

5) Dean Martin was an avid reader ... of comic books. Especially in bed when he was on the road and couldn't sleep. Much as he enjoyed comic books, he was embarrassed by them. What do you do when you can't sleep? I read.  Sometimes I scroll social media, but then I can't seem to go back to sleep.  So it's better for me to read until I get sleepy. 

Now let's have a few holiday-specific questions: 

6) Every year, the United States Postal Service introduces special holiday stamps. Do you purchase them? I have before but mostly I just use regular stamps. 

7) Do you have a funny/ugly holiday sweater? No, not any more. Wait a minute.  I do have a sweatshirt that I got when my sister passed away a couple months ago.

8) Do you wrap your presents or use gift bags? Both, but this year the girls are doing the wrapping for me.

9) We're doing Christmas karaoke! What holiday or winter-themed song will you perform? Silver Bells

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Christmas Stuff

 It's been a good week.  I have most everything done for Christmas now and it's time to relax and enjoy, with just a few things left to do.

The girls made Amazon Wish Lists and gave me access to them,  So on Wednesday afternoon, I bought and mailed through Prime all the gifts, for the girls, their hubbies and Colton.  The gifts are enroute to my oldest daughter's house.  I did a separate shopping cart for each one.  They are all addressed to Kelli and then each person's first name is added after her name.  That way, even though they are coming in separate deliveries, she will know whose is whose.  So her sister will wrap her stuff and she will wrap Kerri's and they they'll wrap the others' gifts together.  My girls still love to open wrapped gifts and don't want it spoiled before Christmas morning.  I think it's working well.  Plus I could ship them free that way and I don't have to gift wrap.  lol  And most importantly, they are happy with it!

Some things I still need to do:

*  I'm spending extra time practicing the piano for the Christmas Carol and Candle Sing on Sunday evening.  Also, we'll add extra lights and decorations Sunday afternoon for that service.

*  I still have a couple of Christmas cards to send...most are finished and mailed already.

*  I still need to buy the ham for Christmas dinner.

That's pretty much all I need to do.  I'm sure there will be other things that pop up, but I feel pretty good about being prepared this year.

Fun stuff:

*  Hubby and I are taking his mom out for dinner and Christmas light viewing tonight.  It's her birthday and we'll celebrate that too.

*  We have plans with Kelli to watch "White Christmas" together Saturday evening, hopefully.  And by together, I mean she's in Florida and we're in Ohio.  I'm looking forward to it!  I'm so glad one of my girls loves "White Christmas" as much as we do.  In 2012, we went to a White Christmas Sing-a-long that was so fun.  I wrote about it here, if you're interested.  The 3 of us had a blast and I would love to do this again someday.

*  Our annual Christmas Carol and Candle Sing is Sunday night and we always have fun with this.

Hoping to enjoy all these things with as little stress as possible. We still have not made definite decisions about when we'll get with hubby's family for Christmas and my family will probably wait until sometime after the first of the year.  Our brother would like to have time to celebrate with his grandson who is 2 and this should be a really great Christmas for them with him.  Also my sister and her husband have both been ill with congestion and colds and they just need to have a quiet celebration for now.  So plans are up in the air, but I don't intend to worry about them.  I choose instead to have JOY!

from the internet

Thanks for visiting and I hope your season will be joyous and free of stress!

Cathy

Thankful Thursday

 

Good Morning:

I haven't written a Thankful Thursday post since almost 1 month ago.  But I think it's time to be intentionally thankful today.  How about you?  My friend, Rebecca Jo got me started on this many years ago as she had a link up and it got me to be fairly regular in thanking God for so many things.  She no longer has the link-up, but I know some others have continued on writing their posts and I did for a while, but have gotten lax about it.  Here's to ending the year and hopefully starting the new year thanking God in a Thankful Thursday post each week.

Some things I'm currently thankful for:

* Lunch with some of the local (girl) cousins - Monday a small group of us girl cousins went to lunch at Bob Evans.  We all have such a great time being together and I hope we'll keep on doing this.  We only had a very few that could attend this time, but we talked and laughed and had a great time (at least I know I did and they seemed to also.)  There were four of us cousins, 1 second cousin, 1 third cousin and 2 fourth cousins.  Hoping more will get to come next time.

4 Generations of Cousins - ranging in age from 1 to 80 something

*  My Mother-in-Law:  We went out to see some Christmas lights again Tuesday and I know I say this all the time, but it's true.  We just had the best time talking and being together.  She's got a birthday tomorrow and will be 88.  I can hardly believe that's true.  Her mind is super-sharp and she gets around like she's 60 or younger.  She's full of so much life experience and wisdom.  I loved it that night, Tracy couldn't find his wallet and was so afraid he had dropped it outside the restaurant.  After looking and we couldn't find it, she just prayed out loud and asked God to help us find it.  We went ahead and enjoyed the rest of our drive and Tracy came home and found it had dropped out of his pocket in our bedroom.  He called her to let her know and she was just praising God.  So you can tell, she loves the Lord and depends on Him, as we all  should.  She's an amazing pianist and also has a beautiful voice.  In fact, I want to be like her when I grow up! lol

Here she is with her great-grandson a little over a year ago.

* Creation - I'm so amazed and thankful for all that God created for our use and our pleasure.  The skies, the oceans, the whole earth and all mankind.

Sunset across from our church.

* God - I love God, but He loves me even more.  He gave His son for my salvation and there is no greater gift.

A live nativity we attended a couple years ago.

These are just a few of the things I am thankful for today.  If you would like to share what you are thankful for, I would love to hear it.

Cathy

 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1. Oxford's Word of the Year for 2023 is 'rizz'. Hmmm...before today had you ever heard the word? No Do you know what it means? No (Apparently it's short for charisma) Have you ever used the word? No If you were in charge of the world, what word would you declare word of the year for 2023? I have no idea.  However, I would love to hear everyone praising Jesus!  I'd love to hear His name being used in praise all the time.

2. What's one word you tend to abbreviate in your writing or speech? (as in rizz for charisma) I can't think of anything right now.  When on social media, I guess I use lol a lot.

3. Are you a Hallmark movie watcher this time of year? Yes What's your favorite character from a holiday- themed movie, book, or TV special? All 4 of the main characters in White Christmas.

4. Something you look forward to eating this month? Nothing in particular.  We're planning to do a ham for Christmas and that will be good.  

5. What's the most stressful part of the holiday season for you? So far I think this year there isn't much stress for me.  I hope it stays that way.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. I post this most every year and I never get tired of it.

Thanks for visiting.

Cathy

Tuesday 4 - Gifts

 

Gifts

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4..

It's the giving season and people are shopping for presents for people they love.  Can we talk a bit about it?

1. Do you enjoy shopping for gifts at the holidays?  Sometimes  Why or why not?  It really depends on what I'm shopping for and how well I know the person I'm buying for.  I love buying for children, but adults...not quite so much.

2. Is the price of things putting a damper on buying this year?  Not really.

3. Do you shop online or in stores and why do you choose that way to shop?  Again, it depends on what I'm shopping for.  

4. Which people do you find hard to select gifts for and what do you do when you just have no clue! Adults are the hardest and if nothing really comes to mind, it will be a gift card.  

Thanks for visiting.  If you want to link up, click the word gift at the top of the page.

Cathy

Bits of This and That

 

It's been a good weekend.  I hope yours was too.

On Friday evening hubby and I picked up his mom and we got a quick bite to eat and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights.  It was so fun and something we do a couple of times during the Christmas season.

This picture and the one below are from a display we've been going to see for multiple years.  It's interactive and just a lot of fun to see.   And yes, this is someone's home in the middle of a subdivision.  It's a favorite.

These next 2 are from the same neighborhood and were very beautiful too!

On Saturday we had Olive Garden for lunch (I'm so hooked on their soups this time of year).  Then I ran into the grocery and picked up some items and then we were home.  I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, napping some, reading, and watching Christmas movies.  This is my favorite kind of day!

On Sunday, we went to church and had a great service.  Hubby's pre-recorded sermon is posted below.  We had put a chuck roast in the crock pot on Saturday night so we had a delicious meal of beef and noodles after church.  We also have leftovers and will be having beef and something tonight for dinner.

So, this is about a perfect weekend for us.  I hope you had a good one too.

Cathy

Saturday 9

 

Wildest Dreams

You can link up here if you'd like to participate.

Saturday 9: Wildest Dreams (2014)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, a tall, handsome man asks Taylor Swift to drive away with him to escape the crowds. Where were you headed when you most recently got behind the wheel?  It was last evening and we were headed out to view some Christmas lights after picking up hubby's mom to go with us.

2) She sings about memories of a romance that just "follow you around." Is anyone special on your mind this morning? (It doesn't have to be a romantic partner.) My hubby who is just in the other room and I think he is definitely feeling better today.

3) The lyrics reference sunset. Now that it gets dark earlier, do you find yourself watching the sun set more often?  Only if I happen to be out with the dog.  I watched lots of sunset and sunrise skies last month when on vacation.

4) The video for this song takes place on a movie set. Swift said it was inspired by tales of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton embarking on a love affair while co-starring in Cleopatra. Elizabeth and Richard fell in love in Rome, while this video was filmed outside of Gaborone, Botswana. In your wildest dreams, which of these exotic locales would you rather visit: Rome or Gaborone?  Honestly, I have no desire to go to either, but there are lots of places in the USA I'd like to visit.

 

5) In homage to Elizabeth Taylor, Swift went from blonde to brunette for the video. Do you have an appointment with a stylist between now and year end?  No, I don't make appointments any more.  I just go to our local Great Clips for my haircuts.

6) Both Taylors (Swift and Elizabeth) often wore the color purple. What color dominates your wardrobe? Blue

 

7) In the video, Taylor Swift's leading man is Scott Eastwood, son of Clint. Though not as famous as his dad, Scott works steadily and has more than 30 TV and movie credits. Can you think of another second-generation performer who followed his or her parent into show business? I think of Carrie Fisher whose mom was Debbie Reynolds.

8) In 2014, when "Wildest Dreams" topped the charts, Paul McCartney had to reschedule tour dates so he could recover from a bout with the flu. How are you feeling this morning? Any coughs, sneezes, sniffles? Nope, I feel pretty good this morning.

9) Random question: How many different zip codes have you lived in throughout your life?  I've lived in 4 different zip codes and all were in less than a 20 mile residence from where I live now.

Thanks Sam.  These questions were fun this week.

Cathy