32

Double glimpse of God's grace today.  What I thought was a weird, fast spreading rash on my arm, turned out to be nothing more than dried aloe vera sap.  And then on my way home from the doctor, a wrong turn led me to this beautiful view.

31

Caught sight of a little hummingbird in my forget-me-nots.

30

Good lesson on trust.

The little packet of seeds I got from the bank and planted in a window box on the balcony, grew into a jungle of tall leaves that looked nothing like the picture on the cover of the packet.  I didn't think the plants would ever flower, but they did, and they are now full of beautiful little blue flowers and many, many buds.

29

Two big surprises today -- (1) the article about my book in this week's Gazette was a cover story, and (2) the person who wrote it included the verse about two being better than one.

28

Nice write-up about my book, The Water Tower Ravens, on the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy's blog.

27

First time in longer than I can remember that I was able to complete a whole walk without back pain.

26

Surprise reward from an organization I send my junk mail to -- a prepaid $25 Visa gift card.

25

Tiny cutting I salvaged from the geranium the stinkbugs destroyed last summer has thrived and is now full of blooms.

24

Zucchini and summer squash someone bought to church to share, plus seven Chuck E. Cheese tokens one of the children put in the offering plate at VBS. (One of the church secretaries gave them to me when she heard I was on my way to my great-grandson's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.)

23

Perfect day for a walk and for watching the parade.  It wasn't too hot, and there was a nice breeze.

22

Several glimpses of God's grace while visiting a department store I had a gift card for this morning.

• A saleslady in the shoe department who went over and beyond the call of duty trying to help me find the sandals I wanted in my size, and when she couldn't, showed me how to order a pair through the kiosk, that would be shipped directly to my address at no extra charge.
• A huge discount on the sandals (60% off), that enabled me to get much more for my gift card than I thought possible.
• A cashier who gave me an extra 15% off the rest of the items I purchased because I told her to use my store credit card to pay for whatever the gift card couldn't cover.   
• Not having to use my store card because there was more than enough money left on the gift card after the extra discount, and getting cash back for the credit left on it.

21

Anemic looking violet plant I never thought would bloom just did.

20

Not long after the death of my husband, I was mugged in an elevator of my apartment complex.  Although I managed to escape unharmed, it did lead to serious concerns about my mortality and a fear that I would not live to see my children grow up.

By the grace of God, not only did I see them both grow up, get married, and have families of their own, but I've been blessed with seven grandchildren and two great-grands.

19

A friend who persuaded me to take a walk with her on a beautiful day, and whose comments made me smile.

18

It may seem like a little thing to most, but to me it was huge.

I had waited too long, and now the Cadbury mini chocolate eggs with the crisp sugar shells appeared to be all sold out.  After searching through every store in town, but one, and traipsing up and down aisles multiple times to make sure there wasn't a bag hidden in a corner, overlooked,  I headed for home, exhausted, and berating myself for my procrastination.

That's when the "but one" store came to mind, a drugstore I had already passed.  

Hoping against hope I walked in, and there facing me, on a shelf picked clean except for one item, sat an oversized bag of the Cadbury mini chocolate eggs with crisp sugar shells I had been looking for.

17

Catching sight of the baby ravens at play in the snow.

16

"It will be a shelter and shade from the heat
of the day, and a refuge and hiding place
from the storm and rain." -- (Isaiah 4:6)







The terrible wind storm downed trees and power lines, but the ravens' nest remained safe and secure.

15

Was very grateful to be able to clean the snow off my car and get it out of its spot by myself, and not have to ask anyone for help or for a ride.

14

Today's encouraging word from my Letters to God calendar:

Dear one,

When I created you, I did not make any mistakes.  I fashioned you just the way you are in order to fulfill my perfect plan.  You are a masterpiece!

God

13

In the midst of winter...












...a cardinal on a budding tree.

12

Trees full of robins right before the snow storm.

11

Disappointed at not finding any geese on the 21st Street pond, or deer on the Haslets' property, or being allowed to take pictures of the sunset in Franklin Park because they were closing at 5:00 today instead of at dark, my friend and I drove down the side streets of an adjacent housing development, searching for an unobstructed view of the setting sun.

We found a great spot in a cul-de-sac overlooking a semi-frozen lake, and no sooner had we parked when we saw dozens and dozens of loudly honking geese flying overhead towards it. Some landed on the water and started swimming, and others sat or walked on the ice.  

Usually I can't focus fast enough to capture flying birds, but there were so many, it would have been almost impossible not to.

How quickly things can turn around.

Not only did we get tons of pictures of geese, but we got some awesome pictures of the sunset as well.

8, 9, 10

Grace was having my granddaughter and her husband came over to help me with my heavy duty cleaning chores, and the chores too high for me to reach--like cleaning vents and light fixtures.

Grace was the reassurance that I'm not getting as "senior" as I think I am, when my granddaughter couldn't clean the burner on my stove any better than I had been able to, and when her hubby was just as stumped by my logic puzzle as I was.

Grace was what suddenly opened my eyes to what I had missed all along, and enabled me to solve the puzzle everyone else had given up on, and I almost had too.

7

 ^"And we know that in all things God works
 for the good of those who love him, who 
have been called according to his purpose."
(Romans 8:28)

That is truly what happened today when I called the phone company to find out if there would be a penalty for breaking my contract with them.  

I told them that I was very upset because my phone was dead and when I had reported it to the service department, I had been told it would take two days before a lineman could come out to fix the problem.  Considering how high my bill was every month, and how slow my Internet connection, this was just the last drop in the bucket.  It was time for change.

And here's the glimpse of God's grace.  The exasperating circumstance that led to the phone call had a silver lining.  I discovered that the company now has high speed Internet that's double what was available when I signed up several years ago, and they offered to upgrade my connection and rebundle my package for $15 a month less than I am paying now.  Sweet! 

6

Normally, when it's this cold and the snow's been sitting on my car for a couple of days, it gets hard and packed down, and is really difficult to sweep off.  Usually a good deal of scraping is called for too, so I gave myself extra time for the much dreaded chore.  To my surprise, though, it was powdery soft, and brushed off as easy as could be.

5

Fresh snow, so clean and beautiful. Standing at my window, watching it fall, makes me grateful for my warm and comfy apartment.