Today we welcome a guest post from our friend Judy Mandrell. We think you will enjoy her descriptive visit to the world of her childhood. In this season of Thanksgiving it reminds us to be truly thankful for the everyday gifts God sends our way.

By Judy Mandrell
Since I was a little girl, growing up on ten acres in the Midwest countryside, I have been fascinated by God’s Creation. I loved watching the butterflies flutter around Mom’s irises in the Spring. So many beautiful colors.
If the weather was good I was outside. The Summers were the best. I would sit under a tree, on a blanket, and play with my toys while making a fuzzy caterpillar crawl over my hand several times to get to the other side of the blanket. There were birds calling to each other in the trees and bees buzzing around. Dad had a couple hives. He loved his honey.
In a discussion with my grandson awhile back I mentioned we didn’t have air conditioning, when I was little. He asked me how I got cool and I told him I sat in the shade and fanned myself with a homemade fan. His exact words were, “that’s cruel and unusual punishment.” He’s eleven going on thirty.
There was nothing cruel about my time in the shade. God sent a lot to keep me interested. From many different types of birds to the ants crawling in and out of cracks in our old sidewalk and over the peony bush, chewing the green outside off the buds to let the flowers open up. My favorite was the wild bluebells that lined the fence between the side yard and the pasture. A beautiful shade of blue.
Every Spring there were wild violets under the trees at school. All the mothers got bouquets of purple violets and yellow dandelions wrapped in wet paper towels. I’m glad my Mom was always happy to get hers, it taught me how rewarding it was to give.
There was a bunch of kittens every Spring to play with. I enjoyed watching them get milk from their Momma and the way she washed each and everyone of them, setting in motion my instinct to be a good mother to my children.
There was always a large garden. I can’t say I was too fond of hoeing and pulling weeds but it was interesting watching plants grow and produce, such as Mom’s strawberries turning from white to a bright red.
I remember chasing lighting bugs on a Summer night and being amazed at how their tails lit up, always wondering how and why God created them that way.
In the Fall when the leaves turned, there were so many colors; colors in a rainbow, sunsets, birds in the air, beautiful colors every where. I believe God loves pretty colors.
My pony’s coat always got thick and soft in the Fall. Ever feel a horse’s muscle? It’s as soft as velvet.
I’m so grateful to God for letting me be born before cell phones, I-pods, and electronic games. I wonder how many children today notice half the things I’ve mentioned?
I miss seeing the minnows in the creek that ran through our property and the pristine, white snowfall in Winter before all the pollution. But I have my memories of that time and I have never lost the wonder and amazement of God’s Creation.

So take some time to thank God for some of the small daily blessings that we so often take for granted. I am thanking Him today for you, dear reader.