Gifts

Eating lunch with a friend.  Trying to do a decent day's work.  Hearing the rain patter against the window.  There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not recognize Him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly.   ~Frederick Buechner

So great.  Such a Gift.  Becs and I took a drive to meet sweet friends.  Jem tells me my glasses look like they are taking over my face! : D
 
We listened to this on the way:
Show You Love by Jars of Clay

Me and my sweet friend, Margie. We had so much fun. She is such a kindred spirit. : )

  This is Margie's daughter, Elsie with our youngest, Becs. They are so cute together....So darling.

Nothing like sister-in-Christ fellowship. Nothing like it.  It's not very often we are blessed to meet such sweethearts on this earth.  A Gift.

Becs and I went to Hobby Lobby afterwards where we had so much fun looking at art supplies and such...So. Fun. These are precious times.  Such special Gifts.

We're still really missing our little duck, Daisy. She was just soooo human-like it was amazing. Do you know that little darling would nap next to my bed on a little blanket?  She would run to the front door with the little doglets when someone was at the door, her little webbed feet runing so cute...Kind of pigeon-toed....Such a precious little thing... A sweet Gift even for a short time. God's little creature...We miss her so.

When we arrived home yesterday, I was greeted by Marianna, she cooked dinner so that was very nice indeed.  What a sweet Gift.  We listened to this:

I think this music is beautiful...I never tire of it.  Ever.  It reminds me of so many things....just so many things in life. The real things in life....A Gift.

Today I'm missing my dad, I think I need to call him:

I need to visit my dad, it's difficult, he lives several hours away and it's so hard getting schedules together and so forth.  Pray for me about that would you?  It can be difficult and weighs heavy at times.  He's 83 now, he can't drive more than a block away from his home... he has macular degeneration.

Lea talked with him over the phone and he tells her how when he was on city counsel years ago he had had quite enough of another city councilman as he sat listening to the man (falsely) pridefully bragging on himself at a meeting. My dad took a book, probably the rule book! ... and threw it in such a manner that it slid across the floor, my dad promptly publicly challenged the bragging man.   Not a fake bone.  Such a Gift...

Reading and loving this book as well as enjoying the dvd, I fell in love with the book Marianna had given me for my birthday, it's like a personal retreat for me...I just had to treat myself to the dvd also with my Christmas money: 

  You can watch the trailers Here:   Ann Voskamp One Thousand Gifts   and a series Here with Ann herself. Ann Voskamp is such a Gift within herself.  I do believe she is a kindred spirit indeed. You can also see some neat things here on her blog. 
I do hope all is well with you and yours.  And for all my sweet blogging friends who left such sweet, precious comments about Daisy, I so appreciated and still cherish each one.  Gifts. Love, Amelia

  

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are