Dear Reader:

We have finally gotten some rain and then Friday I saw my first fall leaves of the season. Life is good. And it is about to get better…the Ya’s are heading to the mountains tomorrow….to Saluda for a stay at Brooke and Ted’s mountain home and a visit (even farther up) to Honey’s Wednesday evening. I am so excited!

This poster says it all…the mountains are calling me…in fact all of us Ya’s…we are all tired and ready for our eyes to feast on the beauty of a changing season in the mountains…our favorite. And then we get to see Honey… Wow! It just all fell into place!

There has been a lot going on the past few days…all wonderful  but busy so I was getting apprehensive about having a blog ready for the days I am gone next week. And then God stepped in to help me once again. A Guidepost publication popped up in my email and it said:

Message in a Bottle: Seven Stories of Miraculous Connection (author: Elena Tafone)

As I started reading them…they were all wonderful….7 days….Sunday to Saturday…perfect. A chill ran down my back…down to the teeniest detail…I needed seven stories and I got seven stories. I do hope you enjoy them while I am away. I promise to return with personal , funny stories galore upon my arrival home.

Isn’t there something so enticing about finding a message in a bottle? Here’s the introduction and then Story Number One!

The first recorded message in a bottle was reputedly tossed in the Mediterranean in 310 B.C., an experiment by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus. Since then, people have relied on the ocean’s waves to carry their words near and far. Sometimes with a little help from beyond the sea…

Steve Leidel found the bottle in April of 2005. It had once held vanilla extract. But when Steve fished it from a lake in central Wisconsin, it held a letter. “My name is Josh Baker,” the note read. “I’m 10. If you find this, put it on the news.” It was dated April 16, 1995. That wasn’t the only amazing part. Josh Baker? Steve knew that name. In fact, everyone in White Lake, Wisconsin knew that name. Josh had been somewhat of a hometown celebrity.

At 18, he’d become a Marine. While he was in Iraq, the whole town rallied behind him, sending him letters and care packages. Everyone was overjoyed when he returned home. Just months after his homecoming, though, Josh was killed in a car crash. The entire town was devastated. Then the bottle resurfaced. “He wanted us to find this,” Steve told CBS News. Josh’s message did end up on the news, just like his 10-year-old self had wanted. More importantly, it was a sign of comfort to his mother. As she said, “When that message came – and I don’t care how hokey it sounds, this is the truth – that was Josh saying, ‘Snap out of it. Mom. I’m here. I’m OK.’” 

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So until tomorrow….Thank you God for taking care of our every need!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I took this picture Friday afternoon….as I looked out my “office” bedroom window… I saw the new fall leaves right after our first rain in a quite awhile and I was overjoyed!

This photo filled me with joy….I was outside (right after a short shower) rain was still dripping from the flowers….I caught this raindrop right before it fell off the sunflower. Amazing….awesome!

Well one thing I did predict right…that by the second game of the Clemson season my fingernails would look like they were bitten by some crazy rabbit….and last night’s game was a nail-biter. *Mary…it was the Clemson candle burning and my Honey purple/orange pottery that took Clemson over the top. No doubt! 🙂