Sunday Reflections
Happy Sunday, friends! Welcome to my lifestyle post called Sunday Reflections.
Sunday Reflections is when I allow my life to reflect or shine back on you, the reader.
I have always been taken with reflections.
There is a window of a nearby home in our new neighborhood that has a light in a window after dark that has captured my attention since we moved here.
That little light has been confirmation of warmth and caring to me…the light in the darkness I find so comforting.
When I pointed it out to Mr. B, he said, “You realize that is a reflection, don’t you?”
He showed me how the tall vintage-style lamp post across the street from that house was the reflection in the second story window.
For some reason, I love the light in the window even more.
I am grateful for our new home and neighborhood, and find ways to be grateful for it every day.
I hope you will join me today as I reflect on my word for 2025: Grateful.
Get cozy and let’s begin Sunday Reflections.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GRATEFUL FOR WINTER SKIES
I hope I am never too busy to ignore the skies around me…and the winter skies this week were stunning.
Most cities have a nickname, and I remember as a child listening to my father on a CB radio talking to truckers and identifying our city by the nickname…the Tall City.
Abilene, TX is called Big Country. You see the words everywhere.
To me, Big Country means Big Sky because the skies are gorgeous as the sun wakes up and sets.
And every morning or evening, I see the reflections of traditional Texas scenes.
And I am so grateful.
I confess that it has been nice to leave the big city traffic behind…now I am able to enjoy the Big Country scenes around me.
Rather than totally focusing on heavy traffic.
And I hope most of us enjoyed the gorgeous, big, full winter moon this week…it was stunning.
I realize that the weather can often prevent us from enjoying the winter skies, but when you can take a look outside.
There are reasons to be thankful even if it is for the warm house we live in and the blankets on the bed!
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GRATEFUL FOR EDUCATION
Of course, I am always grateful for my eight grandchildren, and today I am grateful that the older ones go to excellent schools and have solid education.
Here is my oldest granddaughter leaving for a big presentation at school this week dressed as ELEANOR ROOSEVELT.
She melted my heart.
And, reminded me there are many quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt that I enjoy.
Here is a good one by Eleanor Roosevelt for today, “With a new day comes strength and new thoughts.”
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GRATEFUL FOR KITCHEN HACKS
Perhaps we are not in a blizzard, but it is cold here.
I am so grateful to have these SOUPER CUBE FREEZER MOLDS so that I have homemade chicken broth readily available for any recipe which calls for broth.
It is easier, healthier, and tastes better if you freeze your own.
I will have a Pamela’s Kitchen for you soon with a soup recipe that Mr. B loved …and yes, I used my frozen chicken broth.
As I filled the molds again yesterday, I was feeling very grateful for them.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GRATEFUL FOR A HOUSE
I am grateful for a house to be decorating even though I rent it and not own it.
I know not what lies ahead, but for today, I am grateful to be making this house mine.
The family really liked the Christmas pillows I found this year at …they are very soft and cozy.
They are pillows you lay on or cozy up to with a blanket (not merely decoration), so when I saw these new pillow covers at Pottery Barn, I said, “Yes!”
They fit the Christmas pillows perfectly and they go with the room where one end is a reading area and the other end an eating area featuring blue & white dish decor.
These are the POTTERY BARN KRAVAT GARDEN FLORAL IKAT PILLOW WITH FRINGE. They do sell pillows to fill the covers…but we are happy with ours!
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: GRATEFUL FOR NEW ACQUAINTANCES
I was so grateful this past week to meet one of the regular followers of the blog for lunch.
When Merri Lyn reached out I was flooded with thankfulness to make a new acquaintance from this platform where I have considered you as friends.
Someone recently asked if I have made any friends in my new town.
A sweet boutique owner also asked if I had a “friend group” yet?
I have met many friendly, kind women and they now are my acquaintances…someone I know slightly, but am not close to.
I think about my closest friends from San Antonio. Most are friendships that developed over years…as neighbors; as work associates; as women raising children together.
Friendships take time and I pray, believe and hope that friends will be a part of this new journey.
Many of the women I have met are from here and they are still friends with women they grew up with…they are in Bible studies together, or Mahjong groups, etc.
I am waiting to see if I will get invited to something like that.
Until then, my family and blog keep me very busy.
With purpose in each day, I am not lonely.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?
Your turn!
What are you grateful for today on this lovely Sunday? Please share….
Finding gratitude in each day is very important for our joy and peace of mind.
I look forward to reading what you are grateful for on this Sunday…
I hope to see you tomorrow….until then….
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS & KEEP SMILING!
By Pamela Lutrell
Whether shopping new arrivals or clearance sales, please shop with the links on my SHOPPING PAGE…thank you, thank you to all who shop this way.
Brrrrr….living in the Midwest where the temps have just really dropped I’m thankful that I have a warm house around me with central heating. I’m grateful that I have been blessed with so very many thoughtful caring neighbors who shoveled me out and ran to the stores for me. And, as much as I dislike most technology, I’m very grateful for my Kindle and constant access to so many new books. When you’re not leaving the house and you’re the only person under the roof it is like a tea-time party with friends surrounding me whenever I pick up my Kindle. (Which is way too much, I must admit.) I have been truly blessed in this new stage of my life and enjoy the new of each additional day along with the comfort of the old and comfortable.
So many wonderful blessings, Carol!
I too love skies and am thankful that I can now see the sun rising when I get up at 7:30. Getting up and going to bed when it is dark is not my favourite thing. In regards to waiting to be invited, when I had my first son and was going to be home with him a good friend who had that experience gave me the best advice by saying, ” Start inviting people into your house for tea as an informal interview experience and you will find those you want to have as friends.” In doing that I now have a group of 5 wonderful ladies who have supported and grown together for 42 years. My ‘Tea Party Group’ now live in 4 different cities but still get together regularly. For them I am very grateful.
I am grateful to be able to deliver 28 cases of water and over $5000 in gift cards to a few needy families who lost everything in the Palisades fire in California. Last week, my daughter related the sad stories of friends of my grandkids who lost their homes. I reached out to my golf group of 160 women strong and they certainly responded in mass. I drove 118 miles west to the coast from my home in the desert yesterday and reflected on the amazing friends I have met in 6 short years after retiring and moving cross country. At 73 I am ever so grateful to the Lord for all my blessings but especially for the health and strength of my mind and body to still be able to do for others. Pray for California; they certainly need it here!
I say a prayer every morning when I awaken that I awoke. I’m grateful if my lower back does not hurt as I get out of bed. I’m grateful that my Mr. B ground the beans and makes my first cup of coffee for me. As this next winter storm blows across the South, I’m very grateful for a warm house, and warm clothes. I’m grateful my grandchildren live close by. Your little Eleanor Roosevelt is so cute! And I have found those souper molds are a great help when I want to save the last cups of a big pot that gets eaten several times over a few days. I grateful to have a friend who writes a blog every day and helps me appreciate all I have.
Thank you, Linda! I love the idea of a Tea Party Group! What a wonderful way to make new friends!
You are the Lord’s servant, Linda and thank you for your service and for sharing how you have helped. These personal touches mean so much. You are a hero in my eyes.
And I am grateful for you, Celia. I am the one who delivers coffee to Mr B every morning to get him out of bed and I am grateful to be the morning person in our house. Thank you so much for sharing…stay warm.
Good Sunday morning Pam,
So glad you have made the adjustment to your new environment, home, and community. You look happy. Your daughter and family must be thrilled to have you both.
Your granddaughter is precious dressed up as Eleanor Roosevelt. She is a beautiful girl.
Have a wonderful day.
What a lovely little Eleanor!
I am beyond grateful for the recent revelation that my eldest son is in Lđź’–VE. I was able to meet the young lady and spent several days getting to know her. Not to put the cart before the horse, but I believe she could be THE ONE.
You as well, Katherine.
That is exciting, Connie! I am so thankful for my DILs and hope you are blessed with the same joy…but I guess that is really getting the cart before the horse!!
Winter skies are gorgeous. Your little Eleanor made my day. I like my super molds. too, and I make up a big batch of spaghetti sauce to put in the molds.You can have a pasta dish, chicken parm or many other dishes quickly. When I go to bed, I thank God for the cozy bed and blankets and pray for those who do not have this. Have a wonderful Sunday.
I am in the northeast and expecting a snow storm today and then frigid temperatures. So today I am grateful for my warm home, homemade chicken soup to be enjoyed as the snow falls, a scented candle to burn, my book to read and the luxury of not having to go anywhere! Being warm and cozy is a blessing for sure!
Happy Sunday!
Linda Ann
I am grateful for YOU! For your lovely fashion posts, your thoughtfulness, your kindness and for your Sunday Reflections! May God bless you always.
You are well, Marcia. I do love those souper molds …make cooking during the week much easier.
Wonderful winter blessings…stay warm, Linda Ann!
And I am thankful every day for the followers here…thank you for the kindness you showed to me, Joanne.
Your granddaughter is adorable! It was -6F here this am but the sun is out. No more snow until tomorrow! Yay! My best friend Judy is staying with us for four days over the worst of the polar vortex. Tomorrow our high will be 9F. More snow but light. We are all cozy here and we are going to bake cookies this afternoon from Sally’s Recipes. Today is peppermint melt cookies. Bundle up and stay cozy.
Your little Eleanor looks so cute. I love her hat. The moon has often been illusive here in the Midwest, as we have often had cloudy skies. I do look out my bedroom window each night after turning out the lights & see two bright lights to the south. I don’t know if they are stars or planets, but they are lights in the darkness.
As are many others, I am grateful to be sipping hot tea in a warm & cozy home. I am grateful for my sweet friend, Amy, who is always ready to hug me on Sunday mornings. Because I live alone, hugs from family & friends have become very important to me. After dillydallying for a while, I am grateful that God put an opportunity to try chair yoga in my path. It is something I have said I wanted to try but failed to act on.
Sounds like reasons to be grateful and lots of fun.
Good for you beginning the chair yoga, Becky. Hugs always evoke gratitude…Amy sounds like a blessing as well. Being in Texas, we hug often!
Pam, I am so grateful for your Sunday Reflections. Beautiful skies, grand children, home, new adventures.
Blessings for another week.
Your sky pictures are captivating. I’m also a sky gazer. Our skies here in the mountains are very different than your Texas big sky but can be just avout as gorgeous in their own way. Your granddaughter is adorable dressed as Eleanor and I’m sure she gave a good report. I’ve been through some trying times and right now my husband’s condition is not good at all. Each day I recall 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” And thank God for the blessings and challenges, asking for the grace to accept both. And then I stop and think about the many things in my life that I am very grateful for.
I hope your week is full of blessings!
Kathy, I will pray for your husband right now!
Pam – I’m up in mid-state Illinois; at 3pm today it was 10* and felt like -9. I’m grateful for indoor plumbing! lol
And heating I am sure! Stay warm, Marin!!
I’ve missed your posts and the comments over the past two weeks as I have escorted friends from New Zealand on a grand tour of Texas. Just an hour after returning home tonight, your Sunday post is the first thing I’ve read as I start to work through a two week backlog of emails and reading and it could not be more in tune with how I am feeling. I am so grateful that we safely drove over 2,000 miles around the state in mostly good weather with no car problems except a slightly low tire, for all the beautiful sights and skies we enjoyed together, for that gorgeous full moon which we saw in your former hometown of San Antonio, and for the variety of people we met all around the state. I am especially thankful that none of us became ill and that we had the stamina to enjoy adventures like climbing Enchanted Rock, walking the streets of the Fort Worth Stockyards and attending their first rodeo, touring the Painted Churches in Schulenburg and exploring a historical ship in Galveston. We still have more to see in the DFW area this week (JFK Museum, fancy Dallas mall, and a few more local “musts”) but this time together has been such a blessing for all of us. My daughter’s family has been very ill with the flu in my absence, but so far none of the grands has been hospitalized and at least one granddaughter showed improvement today. I loved seeing your granddaughter as Eleanor Roosevelt. She’s one of my favorite First Ladies and I did a school honors project on her in the 8th grade. I don’t think my costume was nearly as good as your granddaughter’s, though! I look forward to catching up on all the posts I’ve missed, and to seeing what you have in store for us in this new year!
You are a great tour guide! Sounds like that flu is making the rounds… hope your family is done with it soon. Stay warm and cozy today.