Happy Sunday everyone!!! It's a beautiful day!!!

Happy Sunday everyone.  It's really nice outside today.  It was supposed to be 90 degrees Fahrenheit today. It actually feels more like 80 degrees.  I really love being able to have all the windows open....all that fresh air and the occasional breeze :) :) :)  Here's my memory verse for this week :) :) Feel free to borrow this Scripture photo if you'd like.


So I was taking photos as usual today.  I also went to one of the laundry rooms here at the apartment comlex to see if there any magazines lying around that I could read.  I love anything country etc!!! No magazines to be had anywhere...BUT I did walk by a neighbor's apartment...the neighbor and his wife were both home. So my dad and I stopped to chat ;) :) They're a really nice couple.  They have some beautiful flowers on their patio. They were gracious to let me snap a few photos. Thank you!!!!! Take a look at what I saw today :) :) These are simply gorgeous flowers...



Hydrangeas...these sure are pretty, aren't they?


Even more amazing...these are some more hyndrageos that were growing in the same container!!!

Snapdragons....That's what my neighbor said these were called. They sure are a pretty shade of pink.  he said they started out purple when he first got them. 

These are blue verbenia.  The color was so intense, almost neon, it was difficult to get a clear photo,...they were that intensely beautiful!!!

Here are some beautiful fuschias that were hanging from another neighbor's apartment.  I love how they cascade over the side of the planter!!!


I don't know what these are called...but these were in a little planter on my neighbor's patio fence...(the married couple that I was chatting with on my way to the laundry room)..I was trying to focus on the flower in the foreground..and it seems like my camera liked the flower in the background instead.  It's an interesting perspective...but still very pretty.


Okay...here they are in better focus.  There's such a variety out there...and now is a really great time to drive through the neighborhoods and take a peek at what people love to plant and put on display!!!


This was at yet another neighbor's apartment.  The red flowers with the white centers caught my eye.  The pink ones are very nice, too!!

PRAYER REQUEST FOR ME...AND A MOMENT OF UNCOMFORTABLE HONESTY: Okay..so I have a prayer request/confession to make...I have not been to church in a few weeks..about five at least.  First off, I wanted to ask you all to forgive me if I'd said I'd been, because I wasn't.  I do love going to church very much..but lately I've been feeling really discouraged about many things...my weight (I've gotten fat in the last year and  do need to lose some pounds..no doubt), being single, still not having a proper career job etc, feeling alone at church because people are so busy with their own lives..and often I feel like I"m the last single person in the entire church..although that is not true...and wondering what exactly God has planned for my life & why He's not being a little more forthright about His plans for me :) :)  Most of the time I don't even worry about these things...but when it's quiet and there's nothing going on, that's when I start to feel sorry for myself.  It's not right and I let that discouragement keep me at home, instead of going to church where other people could encourage me.  Oh, I'm still doing regular devotions and spending time in prayer and reading my Bible..but church has really faltered... Please forgive me for not being forthright about that earlier.  My dad has been really understanding about the discouragement I've been feeling lately.  He's also been praying for me.  In some ways, I was afraid that if I said that I just didn't want to go to church today because I felt sad/discouraged, that maybe it would be frowned upon or that people would stop visiting here.  Again, I would ask that you forgive me for not trusting you ladies and for being more up-front about going to church. Pray that I'll have the discipline to go because it would mean being obedient to God and because honoring Him is way more important than how I feel at any given time!!...meaning, I don't want to be ruled by my emotions, but rather by the truth of God's Word!!!

Now I did actually get dressed and ready to go to church today!!!  I had on my nice natural face thanks to Bare Minerals...love that stuff!!! My dad and I were in the car and headed in that direction and then I literally started feeling kind of sick.  I have a minor form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease similar to colitis, called ulcerative proctitis.  I've had this for 10 years now.  It's more of an annoyance on a daily basis than anything else..but once in a great while I have what I call a very bad IBD day.  Today was one of those days...and I can never predict when they'll happen.  I'm only able to feel that something is not good...so my dad turned the car around and we stayed home. This time he stayed home with me, instead of gonig to church on his own.

I will definitely be there next Sunday...and I'll even take a picture and post it here to prove it :) :) :) Remind me, in case I forget to post the photo!!!!

That's the news from Oregon today. ..hoping everyone is having a great Sunday. Love and hugs, Heather :) :)  :)