Count Your Blessings Monday

I am giving us an opportunity every Monday to not only count our blessings, but to share them with others. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Make a post on your blog telling us about your blessing. Please put a link back to this post. You can add the URL of your blog post on Mr. Linky below. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!



Today I am counting seasons as a blessing. Seasons show us the continuity of life. They give us spice and variety.

Ec 3:1-8 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

We had our first light frost on Saturday night and last night was our first heavy frost. It is currently 28 degrees. The frost kills off things that cause allergies in people. Our friend has horrible asthma. From Spring until the first frost, he has a hard time breathing. He looks forward to that first frost and this year it was really late. I love to sit by the woodstove and feel its warmth. This morning , we lit the stove for the first time this season. It shows that we are stepping into the next season.

We noticed on our drive to Columbus yesterday that the peak of the color has passed here. There are still lots of spots of color, but the bare stark trees in some areas showed the coming cold season. Our animals already have heavy coats, even though it has been mild. We may be in in for a cold winter. That is another reason to enjoy now. I love Autumn best of all with all of its color and change, but winter has its own stark beauty.

Another thing that we talked about is how Spring comes up from the south in a wave toward us. If we travel farther south in the early spring, they already have leaves on their trees, the spring shrubs and flowers are already blooming. Autumn on the other hand comes down from the north in a wave on us. New England gets its color earlier and as you head south, the change is not as visible. It is very orderly. God is a God of order.

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Joshua came in last night and told me to bring my camera outside. The sun had lit up one of the trees on our tree line. Here are several pictures of it. The last picture is the peppers that we picked last night before the freeze. Peppers in late October.... another blessing!!!