Thank God for new friends

THANK YOU, LORD for the gift of new friends, great hospitality, wonderful fellowship, a beautiful setting, and some great fun with trains. We arrived on Wednesday (Feb 28^th) at the home of fellow ViMMers (Dave & Roberta) who we had not met prior to pulling our rig onto their property and we’re immediately told we could stay as long as we’d like. So, here we are almost a week later; still here and we’re lovin’ it. We are in Florida, but not by much as we are only about seven miles from the Georgia state line where we have gone to shop and eat a few times. It has been truly a wonderful relaxing time on this beautiful woodsy property, but the best part has been getting to know our new friends and learning about God’s creation in this area. I swear (but I won’t) they know every kind of tree and flower on their property and along the road ways. They have given me a new appreciation for even the smallest of flowers. They truly take time to smell the flowers. 

This place is not only beautiful but also very quiet unless the boys are splitting wood or the trains are running. But not the kind of trains you may be thinking of. Instead of trying to tell you about this…let me show you.

Notice our home in the background.

Isn't this an amazing set up!?!?!?!? And beautiful? It takes the train approximately 15 minutes to run amongst the trees, past the ponds, through the tunnel, past the church and country homes, over the bridges, along the cliffs, past the farm, and through the village. Whew...I think I got most of it covered. Absolutely loved watching this run and Bill even got to be engineer for awhile. So fun!

Bill and I managed to tear ourselves away and take one side trip to the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park located on the Suwannee River. This isn’t your run of the mill state park; nope, not at all. Besides all the interesting Stephen Foster stuff, it had a craft village where various arts and crafts were demonstrated including a skilled dulcimer player who offered to give me a few pointers if and when I could come back. Had I known, I would have taken my dulcimer with me. I think it absolutely amazing that God keeps putting dulcimer players in my path. He’s awesome! We also visited what’s left of the White Sulphur Springs House; in its day people flocked there to get healed of all sorts of ailments and diseases. 

Another thing I loved about this past week is the slow moving mornings. We had no place we had to be (thankfully, the bookkeeping work that I still do for His House Christian Fellowship can be done, for the most part, on my timetable) so I could take my time getting up in the morning. I just love being able to have a cup or two of coffee in bed as I leisurely spend time with God. I read a few devotions, write in my journal, pray, and often reflect on whatever it is God lays on my heart that day. Ohhhhh, how I love these mornings…the slower the better. I’m finally learning how to slow down and this is one of my favorite ways of practicing; for this I am very grateful.

Tomorrow (Mar 7) will not be a leisurely morning as we will be packing up and heading to Dade City about four hours south by motor home. We will be staying at an RV park there for two nights so we can go to the Florida Strawberry Festival. Truthfully, strawberries are not the draw. Not even close. We have tickets on the 8^th to go see Scotty McCreery (tenth season winner of American Idol which was the first time we ever watched the show and I liked Scotty from the very beginning). I’m not real big on concerts, but we thought this might be a fun thing to do on our way to see our granddaughter and son which starts this coming weekend. HalleluJAH!

Until then, be blessed and be a blessing!