January Blessings!

About a month ago, the Lord provided the money for me to buy a camera of my own!!  This is something I had been praying for!  I am so grateful my sister has let me use hers for the past few years, but I really desired to have one of my own since I love photography so much!  So it was pretty exciting to realize that I could actually buy one!  I started searching online for the best deals and ordered a Canon 60D and two lenses.  

Since it was January and there were no real flowers blooming, I took photos of these fake ones on my desk. =)  I've been having fun with this camera; getting familiar with the settings.  

Then my 28th birthday came and Dad gave me this beautiful rose for my birthday gift.  He has given us girls a rose for our birthdays ever since I can remember! :) 

I was thrilled to have a real flower to photograph and had a blast taking numerous shots of it in different settings, lighting, etc.  This flower really got shot at a lot. ;)

My younger sister made this fabulous cake for my birthday!

A lady in our quilting group gave each of us a bag of apple slices that her husband had dried on their woodstove.  Wow!  They were SO yummy and I really enjoyed snacking on them as I worked on things at my desk!

It's always fun seeing Pileated Woodpeckers at our place!  They like to eat the dried berries off the trees, as you can see in the photo.

Our Amaryllis didn't bloom last winter for some reason, so I was really happy when I noticed a bud on it this year.  And soon it was ready to open out.....

......into full bloom!  Such a beautiful flower!

There are so many blessings throughout each month, from the big ones to the simple everyday ones that really are big blessings too.  Even the trials that we experience are for our good and so we should thank the Lord for them as well. 


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18