Thankful Thursday. Praise you in the Storm.

I am sure I could find lots of things to complain about today. But there are enough people complaining so I will do just the opposite and say Thanks. It is Thankful Thursday and I again have a lot to be thankful for. This past week we have been hit with violent storms every day. Our power has gone out numerous times and we had had to “rough it” and go without air conditioning for hours and hours in 90 Degree weather with 100% humidity.

So the first thing I am thankful for is air conditioning. I am thankful that I live in a country where I have electricity (most of the time) and have the ability to turn on an air conditioner and cool off whenever I want to. Many years ago we visited the Dominica Republic. Down there, to save electricity, they simply turned off power to residential areas during peak hours. So every day from about 1:00 to 4:00, the power went off. I wonder what people here would do if that were the case? I can hear the screaming now.

Number two on my list are the storms. The same ones that knocked out our power brought us some much needed rain. This morning, on my way to work, another storm blew in. There was lightening all around me and it was raining hard. As I was driving this morning, a song came on the radio which reminded me to be thankful, even during the darkest storm. There are storms all around us these days and it is easy to fall in with the complainers and forget about the positive. I don’t want to be a complainer. Here is the song that they played: Most of you have heard it before.



Along with the rain and lightening of the storms came some of the strongest winds that I have seen other than during a hurricane. There were trees and limbs down all over the place even in our yard. During one storm a huge tree landed on our house. We still have some major broken limbs hanging in the trees of yard. But through it all, our flowers survived. While the trees attempted to stand tall and resist the wind, the flowers simply gave in a little and moved with it. Isn’t it amazing how the flowers made it through yet many trees cracked under the strain? I know there is a lesson here somewhere. Flowers are number three on my list. I am thankful for being able to grow beautiful flowers which remind me of my Grandmother. Check out my garden photos. These were all taken after the storms.


Flowers:
Day lilies


Zinnias



Veggies:
Big Boy Tomatoes




Roma Tomatoes


Sweet 100's



Okra



Cucumbers



Sunflowers






Fun things to grow:

Gourds



Castor Bean


The number four thing I am thankful for is bugs. That’s right bugs.

Dragonfly:



Without bugs there would be no other life on earth. They are a valuable part of our food chain and do most of the pollination of our plants. That Dragon Fly is laying its eggs in our fishpond. The fish in turn eat the larva. Then the cats eat the fish. So if we could just eat the cats…….. Just kidding Honey. I bet they do taste like chicken though.

The fifth thing I am thankful for today is Lunch. Today marks 1000 days here at work without an accident or an injury. Because of that, we are having a celebration lunch. Today we are having ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. Because this is a special occasion they have asked one of the great chefs of our time to do the cooking. That’s Me. Move over Rachel Ray. This grill aint big enough for the both of us.

Have a great Thankful Thursday,
Greg

Comments

Kelly said…
Tastes like chicken...EWWWW!

I love that song. It is one of my favorites.

Great list!
Hi Greg, You're right to go forward with TT even if I've not pulled it together! It's not about me (although that's hard to admit LOL!) It's about praising God.

Your post was great! Did you take all of those pic's? They're amazing - love the detail.

Did I read correctly that a huge tree fell ON your house? I'm sorry! Was there a lot of damage?

I expect to see another blog post about the flowers that survived the storm because they were lowly and humble verses the trees that were just puffed up with pride but crumbled under the wind. ;)

God Bless,
Sonya Lee
Danae Hudson said…
Your celebration lunch sounds AMAZING!!! And I love the garden. I would love to have a garden, but I think I need a yard first. ;)

Happy TT!!
Skoots1moM said…
love your words today...
awesome pictures
god loves the humble and protects his most delicate, doesn't He?!!!
He did a great job with your sunflowers, didn't He!!!
Deb said…
Wow!! What a great list!!
Okay, LOVE Casting Crowns--actually met them and spoke with Mark Hall..he's a fantasic man of God!!
Envious of the flowers~~ they are beautiful!!
Know all about being without electricity (have you checked out my post on that this week?)
Handy with a grill---hmmmmmm new concept for me since I tend to burn everything on the grill even if I'm staring at it the whole time I'm grilling!! :o)
Have a wonderful day!!
Deb
Always an uplifting post, Greg! Enjoy your well deserved lunch - even if you have to do the cooking.
SusanD said…
Love your garden. Those tomatoes look wonderful and such a great variety. Do you can your tomatoes? Excellent list and song today. Blessings, SusanD
Sharon said…
First let me say that is a Awesome song!! and at the perfect time!
God is so good, Your Thankfulness today is extremely wonderful, and lets rejoice for the flowers and veggies. Your garden looks like mine, though you started before me in the planting, so your veggies are huge!! good for you! Have you tried the topseyturves(how ever u spell that) have you tried one yet, I have 3 ~ 2 are living the 3rd one crooked. but the maters are growing fantastic. I will take some pictures, when I get home before the thundstorms as well. The lightening has been scarey huh!! love the rain but can do without the lightening.

I bet you are a great cook, and I'm sure you made alot of people smile. Congrats on the no accidents, maybe I will make that suggestion here at my job... My husband gets $50.00 gas cards...

Have a beautiful and blessed day and keep on smiling :) God Wuv's Ya!
Terri Tiffany said…
LOL! So you are a chef too! too much talent for one person. Did the tree hurt your roof very badly? Hope not! We are getting quite a storm as I write this--hate them but like you, we need the rain.
Hi Greg
What a fantastic list! I have never heard that song before so thank you for sharing it. I love it! You garden looks like the kind I can only dream of. Stunning.
Collette x
Leaon Mary said…
Sonya told me you had a great dragonfly over here and for me to check it out. You do! I hope you talked to it for a while. They like it when you talk to them. lol

As for the chicken thing... a chinese restaraunt not far from me was closed a couple years ago due to ... you guessed it ... cooking up domestic feline and passin it off as "chicken." I don't think anyone even tasted the difference!*

Happy TT
Lea
sara said…
Love the pictures!!! your garden looks great! I wish I was there for the lunch..love me a good ribeye!!
Lori said…
I have been so busy after adding an 8 hour job to my already busy life. So blogging is hard these days BUT I would miss one of your thankful Thursday posts. I look forward to it each week. Keep up the great attitude.

Lori
Call me weird but I love when it storms at night! I am thankful for the rain after the past two summers with a drought. My water bill is thankful too because the water isn't evaporating out of the pool like crazy either.

Your garden is fabulous!
Heidi said…
Very good song. A challenge to keep singing it through some of the really tough stuff sometimes- like life's storms, not the weather kind. But you are absolutely right!

I am sorry about your house.

Your veggies look fantastic and I love dragonflys (it doesn't seem right to change the y to i and add es for them it would seem like putting them in a catagory of yucky flies and they are soooo not like flies Dragonflys are gorgeous!

I like your attitude. Thanks for the post.
Heidi
Carmen said…
Great list Greg! Beautiful photos too. Love the sunflowers. Sounds like you've had some violent storms. We don't experience big storms like that here...it must be scary at times.

"Move over Rachel Rae?"
Hehehe...you make me smile!

Oh, and there'll be no eating cats this side of China! :( Yuck!
We have had the same storms and they are pretty scary, but my lillies are still doing great.

I love sunflowers and those have to be some of the prettiest I have ever seen.
Angie said…
So much for which to be thankful. I love how you look at what would seem to be trials and find reason to be thankful. It's a wonderful exercise, yes?

I just posted what I am thankful for today. Praise God!

btw, gorgeous pics.
I really love that song! I must admit, I am slightly jealous that you have veggies already! I'm just now getting blooms.

Pop over if you get a minute - I've had a day like some of yours :) Therefore, I am thankful to be sitting at home typing this and not in an ER somewhere!!!
Edie said…
I love this TT! Is the cat still in hiding? LOL.

I love ribeye, baked potato, and salad. It's the Perfect meal! And I'm sure that chef cooked it to perfection.

You have fabulous gardens. If you get bored with yours, you are welcome to come over and spruce mine up a bit. :)
Edie said…
Oh, your tomatoes and sunflower reminded me of when I was a little girl. We grew those too. I used to pick the seeds out of the sunflower and eat them as is. The only reason I remember the tomatoes is because of the big green worms. Blech!
Daisy said…
I LOVE YOUR SUNFLOWERS!!! They're just gorgeous!
Susan Skitt said…
Hi ya, just catching up a bit. Amazing pics, Greg, esp. loved the Sunflowers. You had some wild storms down there. We've been rained on quite a bit up North also. Tough to get the grass cut when it's always raining. With my teen gone for the summer working at a camp, guess who will be back to cutting the lawn? (Me)

And I love that song you posted, one of my personal favs.

Hope the wedding works out well today. Happy cooking!

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