The Gathering of Strangers!
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The Men Gather to Get Acquainted
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Many Smiling Faces
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In my apron - showing off all the snowflake cookies that our group effort produced!
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Bonnie and Donna preparing the Gift Bags ahead of time!
Bonnie and Donna preparing the Gift Bags ahead of time!
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You will wish you had SMELL-O-VISION when I tell you the food was spectacular. There are several chefs and bakers in my Sunday night Bible study and all of them made the best dishes.
We had Chicken Breast in a Golden Mushroom Sauce [Miss Bonnie's specialty] - that melted in your mouth. Our man, Skip, made Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with his own recipe of apples and cranberries tucked inside. Skip also made a Vegetable Lasagna for the non- meat eaters! Others made Double Baked Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Rice Pilaf, Veggies and Sauteed Golden Delicious Apples [with skins on] - A Garden Salad and a Variety of Biscuits. - That was after the appetizers!
Our hit of the night was the dessert. Our man, Tom, baked a famous [shhhh!] recipe of Bread Pudding with a Special Secret Sauce poured over the top - and it was still warm after baking in the oven for two and a half hours! Yum!
[I had a piece for breakfast this morning!]
I only took a few pictures when people [our strangers] began arriving because I was busy bringing all the food out to our new
Banquet Room
[thanks Alleluiabelle for the title].
So you are only seeing a few of the guests.
We had 31 in all who shared a night of becoming friends!
It was so special to see who God brought and who knew each other from long ago.
At least 6 of the guests knew other guests or other people that were there
but had not seen each other in years.
We've also had another very Special visitor to Shepherd's Walk. I have no picture but... if you 'google' her description you can see her. The day of our first snowfall here in NJ - December 5th - at 2:30AM in the early morning I was awakened and looked out my bedroom window and down below was a White Deer. I had never seen one in my life - and there she was just outside the new Banquet Room windows below. I ran downstairs and put my glasses on because I thought that I must have died and gone to heaven - surely I was in a dream!! A White Albino Deer had come to Shepherd's Walk. I watched her for 30 minutes as she grazed outside all my windows eating acorns. THEN... the night before our banquet as I was still setting up some things I opened the back door [of the new room] - it was already dark and there she was again. She was a little further back toward the woods where SW begins. I got some apples and lettuce cores and said to the Lord, "Lord, You brought the animals to Noah - two by two - surely you can bring this deer closer to me now." I walked outside in the dark with only one spotlight on dropping the apples under a big oak tree where I had last seen her. I began to ponder, "Lord it would be the most special thing if our White deer would be IN Shepherd's Walk along the path one day." Then I walked toward the tree house where the entrance is. I thought I saw her out there but it was just the background of the white sign for SW. I picked up some of the Shepherd Staffs that fell over from the wind. As I leaned them back up against the tree house I heard a noise and as I looked down the path --- there she was!!!!!! Oh my, right there she stood and did not move. She was not spooked, nor did she run away. I walked a little closer and called to her, "Come closer, Girl, it's OK. Don't be afraid, I brought you some apples." We were about 50 feet apart but she just stood there and I stood there talking more with her. [Yes - surely people will want to carry me away to the nut house] But I tell you this white deer is a sign of God's Presence. She is a reminder of the purity we have only in Christ when our sins are washed away - as white as snow. She is a gift that God has given me! Since she first arrived - on the day of our first snowfall - I have appropriately named her
SNOW ANGEL.
Everyone at our dinner was intrigued by the story and many looked out back to see if she was there last night. I know she will be back again! God gives us good gifts - even something as special as a white albino deer who had beat all odds of living [without camouflage] in the wild - exposed to danger and all the elements and predators - yet God has protected her from all harm. He has done that same thing for me.
Perhaps one day I will get a picture of her - when the time is God's timing! Until then... visit this website [not my video] YouTube - Albino Fawn and you can see a younger version of my deer that looks like Miss Snow Angel!
Isaiah 1:18-19
18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; ..."
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