...and the morning and the evening of the first day...

.....were fantastic! As I write, the hymn which brings me extraordinary joy is playing in the background, "Jerusalem, the Golden" from the church of the same name's website. This version is from the Worship Conference a couple years ago. In case you don't remember, when we sang it for Easter, I could barely make it through the rehearsals, but on that celebratory Sunday, no tears were shed! This was possible by my not considering the words as I sang, which was incredibly difficult because of the wonderful message behind this haunting melody. I'd read through it yesterday during worship and felt the need to hear it once more. I can always re-do the eye make-up!

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For an interesting change of pace I've now rolled into "Raised on Robbery" by Joni Mitchell. I am dressed in three layers of fabric as I prepare for a day in St. Augustine. The high temp today expected to be "only" 70 above zero so I must prepare for the worst, like going to Alaska in August!

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Well, Judy's here! Funny that I didn't open with that announcement! I collected her from the airport about 8:00 pm on Saturday evening and we squeezed the stuffings out of each other before getting back in the car to head for The Palace. She told me about the great fellow travelers she'd engaged on the way down here, and reminded me of me! As soon as we got home she was given the grande tour and before long I'm certain she'll find her way around, and in fact, she's gotten much better of figuring out which direction leads her to her room.

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After yakking for a couple hours, we retired to our "cabins", to be well rested for the Sunday's adventures. I'd pre-set the coffee maker for her so all she had to do was hit the button, and for her breakfast, I'd gotten some raisin muffins. We left home in plenty of time for me to get my morning Sonic and headed toward church. At the corner of Wells and Blanding, something rare and special occurred----looking to the left for oncoming traffic, there was not one car in sight!! I told Judy how unusual this was and that she'd most likely never see this again on her visit!

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Once at church, the first person to greet Judy was Gretchen, much to my delight. All the folks who were introduced to Judy remarked, almost to the person, that finally!, they get to meet her, after hearing about her arrival for weeks! All made Judy feel at home and she amused herself as I went about my busyness pre-service. The choir sang two hymns from the CWS to be joined with the congregation after a few stanzas, and the one in particular, "When Peace Like a River" stayed with me all day long. A great time of worship and praise! My thanks to the Supplement committee for their hard work and the fruit of that effort. Love it!

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After worship we had lunch with Twila at Chili's so they got to know each other a bit before Judy and I came home to watch the Jaguars whup the Detroit Lions. We visited and I computed while watching and Judy knit a scarf for her daughter as the afternoon went on.

Oh, oh!, it's time for us to head to Mandarin to pick up Judy's niece, Chrissie for our winter visit to St. Augustine for a day of bonding and making new acquaintence....more about making new friends later!

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Judy said to say "hi!" to all the readers and that she's happy to be here!

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Lord's blessings on your day, and, Linda, I hope your feet were warm this a.m.!!!!