I'm Grateful for the Beautiful World Around Me!

Wow, today it was just so wonderful to wake up early enough to see this gorgeous sunrise!

Today's View from my Back Porch! #nofilters #noautocolorcorrect

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I often have a difficult time getting up in the morning, and I have to lay there talking myself into it, or I find myself just sleeping right through waking up when I know that my husband's got a handle on the stuff with my teenagers in the morning. 😯 This getting-up-early thing is one of the challenges that I've had throughout my life, because my natural tendency is to be more of a night owl. If I want to get up early, I have to do a lot of mental gymnastics and positive self-talk to prepare myself for it the night before.

But today, for whatever reason, I just woke up automatically around 5:00 A.M. At first, I thought I was going to just go back to sleep for awhile. But I ended up listening to a podcast in bed, and then finally about 6:00, I just decided, "Heck with this, I might as well get up!" Wow, my efforts really paid off when I looked out the back window around 7:15 A.M. and saw this gorgeous sight!

What a great wake-up call! #nofilters #noautocolorcorrect

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I often find myself taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets in the beautiful country town where I live. We just seem to get so many incredible sunlit views punctuated by the mountains and fields all around us.

See what I mean?!? #nofilters #noautocolorcorrect

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There's just something so majestic and magical about seeing the sky all painted in a variety of colors. It just lights me up inside as I stare at it in wonder!

Makes me want to never move away! #nofilters #noautocolorcorrect

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So though these photos don't do it near enough justice, maybe you can catch a tiny glimpse of what I saw in person this morning. To me, it's a little tender mercy blessing from heaven, given to me by a loving Heavenly Father as motivation to get myself out of bed the next time that I don't particularly feel like it. :)

This is the only one I brightened a bit... I just had to do it so you could see those cute little chickens wandering around happily in the back field! #smartphonephotography

Today I'm just feeling super grateful for the beautiful world around me!

~JS~ 🌞