Memorial Day

 

This Facebook post by Brevard County, FL Sheriff Wayne Ivey  says it all:

 

On this Memorial Day, I ask that you take the time to remember what this holiday is truly about and that you share with your children that while today may be a holiday filled with barbecues and beach time, it’s true purpose is to honor the great men and women who gave their lives for all of ours!!

 

In fact, on this Memorial Day, if you woke up in the United States of America, you owe the very blanket of freedom you slept under last night, to those brave and courageous souls who “gave it all” in the protection of their country!! Regardless of the uniform they wore, or where they came from, they fought beside strangers, all for the same cause, our freedom!! 

 

These heroes gave their lives for millions of people they would never know, and in return gave us our freedom, our safety, and quite frankly, our ability to celebrate birthdays, Easter, Christmas, graduations, weddings and so on!! 

 

So today as you have friends and family over for a BBQ, go to the beach, hang out by the pool, or just enjoy a day off from work, look to the sky and remember those who sacrificed their life for us to have the freedoms and security we have!!

 

Say a prayer for those we lost, those who were prisoners of war, those who are still missing today, and their families, while remembering that Memorial Day is about honoring them for their sacrifices and trying to live your life everyday as a proud American as proof that it was all worth fighting for!!

 

God Bless The United States of America and We Shall Never Forget Our Fallen Heroes!!

 

Sheriff Wayne Ivey

Let's Join in The National Day of Prayer

 

Today is the National Day of Prayer! I hope you will join me and others in this annual day of praying for our country.  Let's also praise God for all of the blessings He has poured out on us this year.  We now have a president who is keeping his promises:  reducing illegal immigration, uncovering fraud, waste, and abuse in our government, working to make us energy independent again, and so much more.  We have had so many prayers answered since January 20.  You can watch his address here:  https://www.rsbnetwork.com/video/live-president-trump-participates-in-national-day-of-prayer-event-5-1-25/

 

Here is information and a prayer for today:

 

2025 Theme: Pour out to the God of hope and be filled. 

 

2025 Verse: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13 ESV

 

2025 National Prayer:

God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace

in believing, so that we will abound in

hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

You have caused us to be born again to

a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead; therefore,

we hope in what we do not see.

This world is not our home or reality,

but the Lord is our Rock,

our Truth, our certainty.

 

God of hope, we pour out our praise

and are filled with Your powerful presence.

 

We pour out repentance of sin and are filled

with forgiveness and righteousness.

 

We pour out pain from the attacks of the

enemy—anxiousness, fear, anger—and You

fill us with courage, assurance, and love.

 

We pour out our needs, the desires of our

hearts, and are filled with Your Kingdom

provision and purpose.

 

We pour out our hearts for our nation, for

the people and places, relationships and

responsibilities the Lord has established: the

Church, Family, Education, Business,

Military, Arts, Entertainment, Media, and

Government. May all who live, serve, and

steward in these be filled with Your purpose,

wisdom, strength, and truth.

 

Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon

us, as we have hoped in You.

In abounding hope, anchored by our hope

in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

 

Written by National Day of Prayer Task Force President, Kathy Branzell

Find a local prayer gathering or watch the national observance broadcast tonight (8 pm ET) at nationaldayofprayer.org.

Golden Cottage Happenings

 

Greetings Y'all - I hope your week has been good.  It's been a Haleluyah week here at Golden Cottage.  A long-awaited prayer has been answered, and we are praising God.  We even went out to eat at a very expensive restaurant to celebrate.  My sense of frugality was hurt, but I pushed through!!  It was well worth every penny!!

We celebrated all week, and went galavanting down to the beach where we visited an English pub.  We love all things British, and were thrilled with the fish and chips we had for lunch.  They even serve it with mashy peas.  I didn't care for that, but Jem loved it.  He ate them when he visited Malta during his Navy days.  I like the doorway and wanted my picture made with the faux phone booth.  Nope...Dr. Who wasn't in there.  We'll visit again because on Sundays they have Premeir League soccer playing in the mornings.  So, we'll go back for a "full English breakfast".  Can't wait!

 Hi-Yah!  (as they say in England)

We've been working in the garden, planting lettuce and other veggies.  Here's a photo of my lettuce.  They'll be ready for harvest in a few days.

 

 The "reds" are showing off in the front garden:

  Amaryllis, caladium, poinsettias, busy lizzies (aka impatiens)

 

I found this little orange smiling up at me from my fruit bowl yesterday and it made me smile.  Can you see it?  She's happy! 

Rocket launches are commonplace here, but last week I got a great pic from our front yard.

 

Lately, I have ventured into the world of AI --  been creating images using AI websites like Grok.  Here are some that I've that I made: (plus the one at the top of this post)

 

 And this is my favorite:

 

I mentioned last month that I'd post some pics from our Purim celebration at our new synagogue, so here are a few.  

One of the ladies helped design and write this beautiful magillah.  It is gorgeous.

 

 

The whole magillah was read out loud by different people, and the main characters play-acted their parts.  Jem played Haman and I played Esther.  I didn't get any pics of us, sadly. 

 Some people dressed up, and my pic for the best costume was Mordecai.

 

 Here are a few others:

 This family was, by far, the funniest! Fred, Pebbles, and Bam-Bam. Check out Fred's feet!  Do you remember the Flintstones??

 

 

And, of course, we had lots of fun, food, and fellowship. (Too much food, as always.)

 

In the week ahead, I'll be throwing out the leaven in my house and from my heart -- getting ready for Passover.  Jem and I are looking forward to our first seder at our new synagogue. This will be the first time in almost twenty years that we haven't been in charge and that feels GOOD!  We're enjoying retirement!!

 

I won't be posting next week, so Chag Pesach to you all.  See you week after next with news from Golden Cottage. And I'll be sharing about our Passover observance.

 

Blessings and Shalom!