these {blessed} days

don't have much time for recreational blogging lately. but i have some photos that have been piling up and i've been missing my these days posts. so i thought it was time for a small update.

lots of big things going on in our lives... or rather, lots of big decisions being made or pondered. sorry for the vagueness, but i can't really divulge until i know more myself.

in the mean time, i spend my days enjoying my sweet boy who never disappoints when it comes to putting a smile on my face or lifting my heavy-hearted mood. and i find that if i look back {even just through my photography} at my recent days, i am very blessed.

which brings me to my first photos.

this first one is an oldie... i posted about it a little over a year ago. but there's a reason i'm reposting.

in case you don't remember the post, i'll explain a little about the sign again. it stands on the side of the road next to a corn field somewhere between my house and my mom's... about thirty-five minutes into the drive.

i suspect the farmers/owners of that corn are the ones who own and edit the sign. one might expect their messages to be about the crops they grow. or even about the town they live in... sort of an information post for announcements and such. but nope. there are always messages of inspiration on it. and i tell you... when you are driving a long while to get somewhere and have lots of time to think about things in your life, an inspirational message in the middle of nowhere is kind of cool... especially when it's quite uncanny how it fits into your life at the moment.

well... guess what the sign said last sunday when i was driving out to see my grandma {who is now living with my mom}.

i'll give you a hint...

...it contained some of those same letters that were found in the message from over a year ago. no surprise there, i guess.

so you might be wondering why i'm showing it this way, then. well... it's because, unlike a year ago when i drove past the sign and stopped to photograph it, i did not have time to stop to get a picture of the message last sunday. {i took a mental picture, instead... one that stuck with me all day.}

and, thus, i had to recreate the message i saw sunday using the letters from the year-old photo for my post today. except for the blooming tiger lilies and the tall corn, it looked a lot like this...

there you have it... "have a blessed day" {same old pic from that summer a while back, but a new message for a chilly, rainy fall day. i simply used and rearranged the letters from the old photo to recreate what the sign currently looks like... thanks to the wonders of photoshop. a lot of work for a silly picture, i know. but i figured a visual is more effective than just the words.}

like i said, it stuck with me. here's why. i just might have had a blessed day whether i saw the sign or not. but i like to think that seeing the sign lifted a thin veil from my eyes... one that was clouding my sight and had me thinking that many things in my life looked gloomy. after all, i was dealing with some disappointing turns of events in my own life and also immersed in the very evident divided nature of the people of this country right now.

put bluntly, i was just plain discouraged. but like my mama always taught me, you only have one chance to live each day {unless you are bill murray's character in groundhog day }. the point is, i could choose to dwell on the bad and then miss the good. that's not a new concept to anyone, including me. but it's one i often need a reminder of.

that's why i think blessings work... to say to someone, "be blessed" or "bless you" or "have a blessed day"... it works! it works, because it reminds them that they already are blessed, if they are focusing on the right things. that's where the blessing is at... not in the things that they are already blessed with... but in the reminder to look at those things and be grateful for them. that's my two cents, anyway.

so... blessed i was.

isaac and i went further on about ten more minutes and eventually arrived at my mom's house. it was a lovely visit with my grandmother... our second consecutive sunday visiting with her. unfortunately, our opportunity to visit with her came at a price, though. my aunt has recently fallen and broken her hip, so she is no longer able to care for my grandma, as she is in the hospital. so this life as a care-taker has shifted to my mother {much to her delight... and ours too, because it means getting to visit with my grandma}.

the sunday before last was isaac's first time meeting his great-grandmother, and it was so very good to all be together in one room... four generations, from very young to very old not as young. i've included some photos from that visit...

okay... i must point out here... my grandma is 97 years old. how cute and limber is she for her age? and her mind is exactly the same.

to say i was blessed by spending time with her is an understatement. she recounts stories with her surprisingly sharp mind, recalling memories from many years ago. she recites poems to me. she LOVES her little great-grandson and continually calls his name and tells him he is sweet. her sense of humor and wit are better than ever. and she prays with me... reassures me of her faith, reassuring me of mine. she has left a legacy that my mother passed to me. one that i pray i will pass on to isaac.

i couldn't describe it if i tried, just how much i have loved these last couple of weeks in her presence. our sunday visits will likely continue as long as my aunt needs to be cared for in the hospital and rehabilitation, because my mom needs her sundays free so that she can visit the elderly in nursing homes as part of her visitation ministry... so sunday has sort of been deemed my day to watch my frail and delicate grandmother.

in all honesty, it's not a convenience for me to give up one of my weekend days when we only get two a week with hubby. although... he usually just watches football most of the day, so i guess it works out well. still... we miss him. but the reward for going to my mom's is priceless, and i wouldn't trade it.

anyway, i ramble. i best get back to some more pics...

here is the added bonus that comes with our visits {especially for isaac}...

he gets to play his grandma's super-duper, way cool, i've-never-seen-anything-like-it piano, which he absolutely loves playing. {i'm guessing for the neighbors in the adjacent condo, not so much.} and i  just love to watch as he tinkers on the keys. i think the last time i took photos of someone playing it was three years ago. with such nice lighting coming in onto the piano, i always love how they turn out.

isaac enjoys seeing both his grandma and mine very much. but i get the feeling that at this age, his visits there are all about the piano. that's okay too. whatever gets him there, right?

well... i honestly thought i'd be getting on here today and sharing just a few words with all these photos. but i should know myself better than that by now. =)

okay... more pics. then i'm done.

we don't do much of anything big and exciting around here. most days are the same and slightly mundane. so special outings {or dates, as i like to call them} to the local newly-renovated starbucks are in order, because in isaac's world, this is big. and he is as happy as a lark {am i dating myself by using that phrase?} just to get out and enjoy a treat while people-watching {which he definitely takes after his mama by enjoying}.

and it's a bonus for me, too... i get my favorite caramel apple spice deliciously warm cider drink. YUM!

is he not the cutest date ever?

my point is, whether big events or the little, perhaps mundane, things in life, we are blessed and are always counting our blessings. even just to look at the warm hat and coat he has reminds me of how much we have... so much more than what much of the rest of the world has. there's not one inch of room for complaint here.

some days are difficult. not gonna lie. but we are having blessed days. rare cider and mini sweet-cheery-pie-with sugar-on-top treats or not.

and then there's the joy of bath time... just about the only other thing i've documented with my camera lately. this is his favorite pastime...

although, i'm sure you are having a difficult time believing me when i say he loves his baths, aren't you? =)

so, these days

...we're visiting grandmas a lot.

...we're going on little mini stay-cations to the local, walkable starbucks.

...isaac is getting to take longer baths to compensate for more time indoors.
and last, but something i can't show with a photograph

...isaac is starting to sing songs more and more... like the alphabet song, whenever he can... which happens to be about every other three minutes, and i couldn't love it more!

well... that will about do it for my newest these days update.

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except, i've got just one more thing to leave you with before ending this post, and that's this... whatever day you might be reading this...

"have a blessed day."

♥