Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Bouncing back with the Hodgepodge


 Again this week I'm jumping into the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.  Here we go with the questions for this week:

1. Do you (or did you used to) watch talk shows? Which are or were your favorite? 

Believe it or not,  we have lived for over 45 years without television.  I know that now one can watch TV via the internet, but we don't do that either.  I have seen the occasional talk show online, but not enough to have a favorite.

2. Would you describe yourself as resilient? If so what do you think makes you that way? If you answered no explain why? 

I would describe myself as resilient.   I can tell you for sure what makes me that way.  There is no need for me to speculate about it.  I'm sure that if you asked my first-grade teacher or anyone who knew me in my childhood, they would say I was easily crushed and not the least bit resilient.  However, my stability is now in Christ.  Any resilience I have is from Him and a direct answer to an ongoing prayer to grow in emotional stability,  endurance, and perseverance.  That prayer has resulted in some pretty hard trials, but it is faithfully being answered.

Graphic by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings

3. What parts of life have surprised you the most? Explain. 

What a question! I'm really not sure how to answer it.  I guess maybe just how, in spite of hard times and difficulties in life, I feel so incredibly blessed.  And that's a God thing; nothing of myself in any way whatsoever.

4. Why do you live where you live? 

Simply put, we love New Hampshire.   Every season -- although I will say that our 5th season, mud season, is not my favorite.

Autumn

Winter


Maple sugaring makes Mud Season worthwhile

Spring and summer photos kept getting all mixed up, but I think I've solved it now. 
From a jaunt around the Big Lake in February or early March one year.

Bird-on-the wing in the wildflower garden

Apple blossoms on our tree

Summer


5. A memory from this week that made you smile? 

We were at our little camp on Sunday evening when the grandkids from next door began trickling in ... first Josiah and Arielle, later Sam and Julia.   Josiah asked if he could make hot chocolate -- easy to do with the Keurig, but still there needed to be finding of the Swiss Miss K-cups, choosing a mug from the cabinet, getting the half-and-half from the fridge, etc.  As I listened to him bustling around in the kitchen getting all this together, my heart was so blessed and warmed that I nearly wept.  It is still making me smile.  Oh, how we need to notice and appreciate the little things God blesses us with every day!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I've only mentioned this a few hundred times, and it's hardly random to regular readers at my kitchen table, but Mr. T and I continue to be so, so thankful that God allowed us to purchase the property including our little camp. Even though still very much a work in progress, it's been a restorative place for us this summer, a place to go for peace and quiet and relative coolness on the hot evenings.  It's also been a place from which to extend hospitality -- and the blessings from that are innumerable -- and a place to make wonderful family memories.  We are so very thankful!

Don't mind the insulation stored underneath ...

Oh, and don't mind the vacuum cleaner and lumber pile in this one ... it's a work in progress, as I said.

 Wouldn't you like to join in on the Hodgepodge, too?  To get the questions and link up, head over to From This Side of the Pond.


3 comments:

  1. One can see why you love New Hampshire. Such stunning photos.

    God is one hundred per cent faithful and good. You always testify to that.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Vee.

      Maine has some incredibly stunning scenery, too!

      Yes, indeed, God is 100% faithful and good, all the time. I can't help but declare that truth.

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  2. YOu do live in a beautiful paradise. I love the NH scenery year round, every season (except Mud) but alas, our roots were here in Florida, and so were our aging parents and we had to come back "home". I do miss the changing seasons and the beauty of your home state, but God has taught me to love where I am as well, and to be thankful for what we have here. I love your camp, and I totally understand your feelings about the sounds of the kids doing the little things like making hot chocolate, etc., and just having them there with you. What a blessing that is. Oh, no TV ever? I LOVE that, and have often wished it could be so here, but our guys loved sports so much and they just had to see the 'games'. But I could have done w/o it and often threatened to do away with it. But I was overruled, and so life goes on and even so we've been blessed as a family and I can't really complain. God is 100% faithful and good, all the time, just like you said! Amen.

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