Prompted By A Lovely Fall Drive

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Today’s post is Part of a 31 Day writing series where I will choose moments from my life and let them be my writing prompt for the day.  This one is inspired by a drive to look at the changing color of the leaves. Click the prompted button to see all the post in this series. (note: you can click on the pictures to see a larger image – just right click and tell it to open in a new tab so you don’t lose the page.)

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If I don’t have an opportunity to wander about on a lovely fall day to see the leaves in all their glory I can become a little frazzled.  I always try to keep the third weekend of October open, which is usually peak in our neck of the woods.  I don’t always win the calendar war.

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Yesterday, after a busy weekend and arriving home around 4 PM my husband graciously took me out for a little spin on our way to the church fireside gathering. Just minutes from our back door we had some of the most beautiful views I have seen anywhere.

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We drove through a covered bridge that frames a lovely country church and wound around a delightful ribbon of country road that had some lovely fall color at every twist and turn (and I literally mean twist and turn).

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It was a delightful drive that ended at a friends house where our small congregation gathered for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  Long after everyone else had gone home, my husband and I stayed around the fire with our friend catching up and watching the flames burn low.  It was a peaceful way to end the evening.

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(un)Winding in grace,

Teresa

Churches of Granville

Continuing the series from our trip to Granville, Ohio….

Taking pictures of churches is a given for me.  I grew up with a father who decided it was his mission to take pictures of every church in our little town and surrounding county when I was a teenager.  The family would hop in the car on Sunday afternoons and drive around taking pictures.  He later updated his collection to add the newer churches, then compiled them into an album to donate to our local library.  For a small rural area, we have lots of churches.

It was only natural on our recent trip to Granville, Ohio for me to walk around town and take pictures of the churches. Downtown churches represented were:The United Church of Granville, St. Luke’s Episcopal, First Presbyterian, Pilgrim Lutheran, and Methodist.  There was also a beautiful church on the campus of Denison University.  There was a Baptist church on the outskirts of town, but I failed to take a picture of it.

Since we arrived late Sunday afternoon, we did not attend any of the local churches.  I hope you enjoy this little tour of the churches of Granville.  Amateur photos coming up!

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122:1

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Where do you worship?

Worshiping in Grace,

Teresa

What I Learned While June Sped By

What I’ve learned in June.  A reflective list of realizations, some new, some rediscovered.  Join the party hosted by Emily over at Chatting at the Sky and see what others are sharing about June lessons.

1.  I like cool spring days better than hot, humid summer days and we were blessed with several of those early in the month.

2.  Hydrangeas need lots, lots, lots of water.  They wilt at the first sign of too much heat.  But they are beautiful and worth the extra maintenance.  I hope the one I planted this month survives.  And I hope it retains the beautiful blue color.  There is much I don’t know about Hydrangeas yet.

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Source Raul654

3. Speaking of high maintenance, my brother would rather I call him once with a list of all things going on, instead of calling him randomly.  Then he can get back to me.  Whatever!  Today’s list for him (a list within a list if you will): I love you. How is your foot? Have you seen Dad’s new building yet? Aunt C is in the hospital. Aunt K is in the nursing home. B is going back to Texas for a week and then she’ll be back here for a while. Come see us sometime. Tell T and the kids we love them. If you need me I’m only a phone call away! Come to church with us sometime. So, when I called him, he actually answered. Turns out I’m supposed to mail the list every Friday.  I just might do that.   I know he loves me and I think he was just joking about the list.  Bottom line – he doesn’t like to talk on the phone.  I don’t either, but I do like to keep in touch with my brother once in a while. So, I call him sometimes.  He’ll get over it.  If I didn’t call he’d think I didn’t love him anymore.  And, a list is very efficient, the call lasted less than five minutes.

4.  I did not learn this in June (I’ve always known), but was once again reminded that I love my sister and I love having her home from Texas, she fills in some gaps that are missing when she is not here.  I think I’ll lasso her, tie her up and keep her here.  Can you tell I’ve been catching up with McLeod’s daughters on Netflix?  Sisters are a gift to be treasured.

5.  They killed Claire McLeod off on McLeod’s daughters.  I know this is old news to most people who remember this show. I just discovered this last night and I’m still in shock. She was the pivotal character.  I hope I did not spoil this for anyone, I realize I may not be the only one ten years behind.  (it was just as depressing as Matthew dying on Downton Abbey – oops, hopefully you already knew that).

6.  I should remember that if you attend church business meetings, you will be elected to be the clerk or something like that.

7.  I’m discovering that as much as I love people, I really need a lot of quiet time to reflect and regroup.

8.  I like the idea of owning a first edition book over the idea of selling it for big bucks.  That is a true book lover.  I also have too many books, but I did not learn this in June.

9.  I read lots of blogs in June rather than doing a lot of writing on my blog.  I came to some conclusions that I’m formulating into a post.  I’ll share my thoughts once they are in line.

10. I’ve been seeing that depression is a topic that we need to speak out about.  I have some thoughts brewing about this too that I want to write about on my blog.

11. I’m so over all this equality stuff.   I will not share my thoughts on my blog. There are already too many voices out there espousing opinions.  OK, I will say one thing:  God knows the truth of everything and he knows his designs and plans.  I need to trust him and follow his lead.  OK, two things: words have meanings and those meanings should not be changed.  It is what it is. That is all I will say.  You have to choose your own opinion about all this stuff.  Hopefully you will do that prayerfully.

12. Prayer, even in the little everyday things is vitally important.  It builds our faith. Praying daily helps prepare us for the bigger issues.  It makes us more grounded when they come. And come they will.

13.  After 29 years I love my husband more than ever.  We celebrated our marriage this month – not a new thing I learned, but a good reminder of where we’ve been on the journey to where we’re going.

So, what have you learned or re-learned in June?  You can link-up here to share , or if you want to read what others have learned, just pop on over and read some of the other blogs.

Learning in Grace, Sadie