…ending 2019 at one of my favorite winter places

and

Met up with Glenda, Haley & the girls 

for the 10,000 Beach Ball Drop. 

We were able to get balls for the girls. 

 I believe they had a good time!

The New Year's Eve Fireworks Show

from the Pier Park pier
over the Gulf. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Welcome 2020 ~ A New Decade

traveling to honor the memory of a gentle man of great strength... Bobbie Ritchie, Uncle Bobbie, Glenn's uncle.

Glenn & I were discussing on our trip to Birmingham for Uncle Bobbie' s funeral that it was probably at our wedding weekend that I first met this caring & loving man. 

I have so many wonderful memories of Uncle Bobbie. He always made sure that anyone around him was having a good time. I remember traveling to the old English home in the Clio area for family events or just for a visit. Images of him & Garrett outside the home come to mind. Christmas gatherings were so special. My MIL was an English as was her sister Johnnie...Bobbie's wife. 

*************

Alabama National Cemetery

Montevallo, Alabama

~silence with respect~

We make our way to PCB for our After-Christmas trip

remembering as we travel that in all thanks, 

we ultimately are expressing our gratitude for Christ

and a remembering of Him.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pelham-al/bobbie-ritchie-8975447

We arrived Sunday for Christmas in Bville with my mom, FATS & Ben. Samuel and Ben were with their girlfriends whom Glenn & I had never met. We enjoyed getting to spend some time with them.

Breakfast was the lunch meal of the day, and it is ALWAYS a good choice for me (and others). Grits, eggs, Breeden’s sausage, bacon, bkft potato casserole, French toast, fruit & toast. Whew!!! So good…..

Leaving early this morning for Dothan, you never know what kind of sky you will see…imagine.

Merry Christmas

Goodwin Family

GALA APPLES

Dad loved a Gala apple. 

The bottom left crisper of the refrigerator 

was always stocked with the apples. 

He loved to share his apples.

Fruit tree seedlings 

have been purchased through Samaritan's Purse. 

In Niger these trees can stop the Sahara Desert 

from creeping into fertile farming land, 

stop erosion & provide food for hungry people.

"let the earth bring forth...

the fruit tree that yields fruit 

according to its kind"
Genesis 1:11 ~ Samaritan's Purse

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Each year we celebrate our family Christmas with Garrett & Hannah at our home. This year we were invited to come to their home to have a first Christmas with them in their home. They celebrated their first year together in their home last year.

Hannah has the home smelling so wonderful with warm scents. (I just ordered my first scents.) Their Christmas tree was beautiful.

We enjoyed Catalina pork chops, creamed potatoes, white peas, red pickles & cornbread. Yum, yum!

Later in the evening we shared gifts. A special gift this year was an ornament that was made by their furs with their G-ma. 

Garrett & Hannah

Grand-furs Romeo & Angel

One Thousand Gifts

A gift of “thanks-giving” understanding

so complex yet so simple. A challenge

to “be the exchange”.

God gifts for our gifting…a re-gift

if you think about it.

His love for us to be

the love for our fellow person.

Challenge yourself…

Name your gifts.

Be the gift!

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

Session 5
Video Notes
Empty to Fill

Gifts of God.....meant to never end.

THINK ON THESE.....

A mask ~

1. our feelings
2. hidden thoughts
3. troubles

We are the same as others behind masks.

I can be the gift ~

1. not for gain but to be given
2. never stops being a gift
3. Be the joy!

"Become the exchange!"

Regifting ~

1. as believers, think of "regifting" and
2. give away your best as God gave away His best.

"I am blessed. I can bless. So this is happiness."?

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

Serve with a focus on Jesus for peace, happiness & a desire for more.

Quotes from the book~

"When the eyes of the heart focus on God,

all work becomes worship, 

a liturgy of thankfulness."

"It is an astonishing truth that while I

serve Christ, it is He who serves me."

"The One thousand presents wake me

to the presence of God."

"God calls us to do thanks. TO give thanks away.

That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living."

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#eucharisteo

Garrett David Franklin

December 15, 1981

7:08AM

8 lbs 2 oz ~~~ 21” long

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

MY JOY💗

~Between Sessions 4 & 5~

Recognizing hard circumstances in our life & trusting at these times help us to find the bridges provided for us by God in our journey to His joy. Can you name some "planks of trust" for God in His bridge building for us?

THINK ON THESE...

• trust-stretching moments
• trust-building moments

Thanks is what builds trust.

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

The week after Thanksgiving is always the week where our home is cleaned, and we decorate for Christmas. 

This year was to be no different but...

...we both get sick on the December lst, Glenn is worse that I am.

...Glenn will possibly need shoulder surgery. We will find out the 6th.

...cancel doctor appt. for the 6th (he is still sick).

It's the 12th, and we are still coughing but yay!...no fever.

...our year to spend Christmas with our SC family...

only 11 days before we leave.

Should I decorate?.

My few pretties.....

Rejoicing as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Luke 2:1-20

Session 4
Video Notes
Trust: The Bridge to Joy

bridge...a structure providing passage

In life we sometimes need a bridge to take us through loss/pain, fear or just the everyday crazy of life. God provides.

"Trust is the bridge from yesterday to tomorrow, 

built with planks of thanks."

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

THINK ON THESE - 

What's holding me back from the land of trust?

A difficult journey of trust -

1. trust is hard work
2. a fear
3. no starting or ending

True Belief -

1. True Belief
• faith in the messenger
• trust in the overflow
• raising arms with open hands
• "can't see His hand, trust his heart"

Isn't joy worth the effort of trust?

Practical atheism -

1. stress is disbelief of trust
2. advertises the unreliability of God that I don't believe

"When we refuse to trust God and 

forget to live in eucharisteo thankfulness, 

we are living as practical atheists. We are not positional atheists

 (in truth, we are always  positioned in Christ through faith in Him),

 but we are living like God doesn't exist."

~RESPOND in your heart~

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

Remembering & recounting -

1. Psalm 36...the Israelites' gratitude journal
2. act of thanksgiving is remembering
3. memory of God's heart that shapes our trust  in God's heart
4. unwavering trust

The bridge & the Bridge Builder

1. counting blessings
• finding bridges that have held
• finding what & who can be counted on
2. each bridge leads us closer to Him...always safe
   

Trust the bridge from yesterday to tomorrow 
built with planks of thanks 
remembering frames of God. 
God lays out the planks of thanksgiving. 
I can walk the planks 
from known to unknown 
and know this...
He holds. 
This is the crux of Christianity...
to remember & give thanks.

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts
#ADaretoLiveFully
#AnnVoskamp

~BETWEEN SESSION 3 & 4~

.

Go on a treasure hunt...

seek the beauty/God's fingerprints

in the "ugly beautiful".

Dig deep.

Pray.

"Faith is always a way of seeing, a seeking for God in everything."

Study Guide-One Thousand Gifts-Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#AnnVoskamp

~one day last week~

not as long as it was when I met him but...

I like

Session 3
Video Notes
All is Grace

Before I get started with the notes from today's session, let me just tell you what my God did last night and this morning on my way home from exercise. Two, yes two "WOW" moments. EEKKKK!!!

I finished the book "range of motion" last night. The last page (217) reads "...I am listening with gratitude, and I am listening for as long as I can, and I am listening with all of my might." WOW 1

Then,as I was driving home this morning, this song on Sirius 68 began playing "The Ways We Miss Our Lives Is Life." WOW 2

Blown Away...God loves me. I am so loved.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"ugly beautiful"

"...sometimes what looks ugly at first glance

is the birthplace of God's most exquisite gifts."

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

THINK ON THESE -

1. Can you find grace in what aches?
2. Ugly/beautiful-
•  Lean into your secrets/your ugly and see traces of God's beauty
• Under the grime of this broken world, there is exquisiteness of God's fingerprints
3. God's face in our life messes.
•  His whisper of..."What do you want?"
•  God loves
•  See the beauty with His lenses
4. First step toward eucharisteo.
•  choice
• look with focused eyes
• bitterness crushes joy
• gratitude redeems
5.  One grace after another
• "...all received grace upon grace from His fullness."...John 1:14-16
•  retune the impaired senses to see the Spirit
6.  wrestling/tears/grace
• God will tuck us in clefts during the dark/ugly
• transfigure
• open hand from son

"Pain is everywhere, and wherever the pain,

there can be everywhere grace, and yes, Jesus."

God is always good and I am always loved."

Study Guide~One Thousand Gifts~Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

~BETWEEN SESSION 2 & 3~

Israel used stones to remind them of God's goodness to them. 

They "stacked stones".

When we are moving too fast in our life, the memory does not hold fast to our heart. We forget to write the story-to tell the story. 

We do not "stack stones". 

Slow down & Stack some stones.

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

a gentle breeze of cool air

a walk down a familiar path

your smile

Session 2
Video Notes
Grace in the Moment

Slow down, notice, give thanks-

• for the goodness & grace of God all around us

What causes me to "rush" my life's journey? In doing so, I am-

• breaking my life
• snagging my life's time
• emptying my soul

"Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow. 

Indeed they rush around in vain, gathering possessions 

without knowing who will get them." 

~Psalm 39:6 CSB

Thanksgiving/gratitude is "my invitation" to slow down.

Slow down, notice, give thanks. For the good & the hard...embracing what comes our way.

• grief to grace
• empty to full
• All is grace, sufficient.....for God is good, and I am loved.

In the blur of my day, I will be intentional to be thankful.

#1000Gifts

#ADaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

babysitting our "grand-furs" tonight 

as their parents entertain 

with a Friendsgiving

It's been a little over a month since Gayle moved to Huntsville to be near two of her sons and their families. It was time for a visit.

Her home is so cozy and warm. It is very much like I would want. (still can't convince Glenn to moved...darn) She has some unpacking left to do as well as decisions to make about the wall décor.

Gayle was so excited to show me around Huntsville and surrounding areas. We spent time in Guntersville viewing the Lake & shopping at some fabulous unique stores, riding through the old district of Huntsville with beautiful Fall trees and enjoying some delicious foods.

and of course, checking out some fashion.

It was misting rain both days I was there so we did not get to hike the trails of Green Mountain but she & I already have our "To Do" list for my next visit.

~BETWEEN SESSION 1 & 2~

Can you name 20 gifts of God's grace?

Be creative---think big or small.

"The brave who focus on all things good and 

all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy 

even in the here and now, they are the change agents 

who bring fullest Light to all the world."

Study Guide-One Thousand Gifts-Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts
#ADaretoLiveFully
#Eucharisteo

Session 1
Video Notes
Attitude of Gratitude


His Love Letter-

• to heal our soul whole
• to fill us again with glory ad grace

Minutes in our life make us who we are. Through the sounds, smells, images, etc our lives are seared with good & not so good minutes. We are not exempt of the hard.

How do we handle the hard?

When we count, we learn of the gratitude heart and can face any situation-good or hard-with grace, strength & joy.

EUCHARISTEO

grace     thanksgiving     joy

THINK ON THESE--

1. Moments of being wounded that "close our hands"
2. "Open hands in thanks" with our eyes on God.
• Our victory can not be received if our hands are closed.
3.  Thank God always.
•  silent...seek
•  painful...praise
• terrible...trust

Be honest with God with gratitude.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Thanksgiving is the evidence 

of our acceptance of whatever He gives. 

Thanksgiving is the manifestation

of our Yes! to His grace."

Study Guide-One Thousand Gifts-Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts
#ADaretoLiveFully
#Eucharisteo

Are You A List Maker?

Most of us are list makers. Whether on paper or in our minds, we track in many ways. There are grocery lists, appointments, our friends, recipes, errands, household chores. The list goes on and on an on.

I will participate in an online Bible Study with Ann Voskamp, author of the book One Thousand Gifts. I will be journaling my video study notes.

Do you count?

...your blessings?

"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

"Without counting, the song loses harmony. 

And without counting blessings,

 our lives lose the song, 

the light -- the beat of God's heart.

Who wants to miss the beat of His heart?"

Study Guide-One Thousand Gifts-Ann Voskamp

#1000Gifts

#A DaretoLiveFully

#Eucharisteo

Sixty-five years in this temporary place.

Reflecting upon early life... 

loved as remembered...

into the heartbeat of choices,

creating life changing events,

turning one-hundred eighty degrees

for the longing of the unexpected.

Maturing & aging in this path of life...

in celebrations & trials,

pushing forward,

taking step by step,

to what is unknown.

Being next to you

 standing tall, hands barely touching 

having grown together in sync

grounded in unspoken love

and assured of the path I've been.

~mgf~

11.14.19

Dawn breaks into glorious beauty 

as I make my way to Carolina soil.

Fog over Lake Eufaula, and

I miss seeing my three trees in the lake.

a long, winding road

from Georgetown to Americus...

follow the truckers

bobcat breaking up the sidewalk & wall area...

wonder if my gentlemen talkers 

will need a new place to meet

short visit with mom

good & relaxing 

Meet our new “Grand-Fur”…Romeo

He is one year old and weighs around 5 lbs.

He and his sister, Angel, 
are ready to brave the cooler weather 
in their new winter coats.

Angel is our grand-fur and staying with us while her parents are celebrating their Sixth Anniversary at PCB.

Angel weighs 5 teeny-tiny pounds. She is 3 years old. She loves to be cuddled.

and she loved watching our card game.