Sunrises Of The New Year

(Couldn’t sleep, so I’m posting this early. 😅) The first week of 2019 came in with colors. Several days were rainy, but the few that weren’t were amazing. I thought about waiting for the January In Photos post, but I decided I couldn’t wait that long to share these. I’m too excited. 😂 Also, I didn’t compress these images as I usually do to save space –  want these to be in the best quality possible. So without further ado… I present the morning of the New Year.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.  (Psalm 19:1 NKJV)

The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. (Psalm 97:6 NKJV)

His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. (Habakkuk 3:3 NKJV)

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! (Psalm 8:1 NKJV)

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And a couple of shots of the foggy mornings after that:

“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”  (Isaiah 44:22 NASB)

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And here is the morning of the 6th! It was the most incredible yet!

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.” (First Chronicles 29:11 NASB)

(I can’t help it, now I’m going to revert to giving some commentary.) I love the clouds here. Also, see that speck on the top of the tree in the center? I almost didn’t.

It was a bird! “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26 NKJV)

The clouds kept getting more amazing. Didn’t think I could like it any more than I already did, but it just kept getting better and better.

The name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19 NKJV)

And brighter and brighter! The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. (Revelation 21:23, NKJV) Just think – if the sky and heavens are this brilliant, how much more will the Creator of this masterpiece shine?!

Finally, with this photo, I stopped because I could tell the sun was close to breaking out, and I didn’t want to damage my camera’s lens.

How has your New Years been so far? 😊

Turning Over A New Leaf…

…and some old leaves too. So, in all seriousness: leaves and trees are fun to take photos of and I do so often, which makes Cee’s Fun Photography Challenge subject of leaves and trees perfect for me.  🙂

Leaf arrangement

Leaves on moss

This leaf blew against a tree and got stuck on the bark.

Looking up into a tree at night

Sunrise and trees – the background washed out, but I love how the colorful leaves look in the foreground.

A single leaf on the gravel driveway

Two trees at sunset at my grandmas.

A little plant trying to grow from under a layer of leaves and sleet.

A leaf fell and stuck in the snow.

Trees with a cloudy sky.

Trees at sunset

And lastly, a sneak-peak at next week’s photo post – sunrises and sunsets. This one fits in either post because there are also trees, so I decided to share it here as a teaser. 🙂

Nature’s Smile

During a walk through the woods last spring, I saw a bunch of gumballs and pine cones and thought it might be fun to play with them. So this happened:

Don’t worry – be happy! 😂 And then I thought maybe it might like a branch for a hat:

A little while later, I found two dogwood blooms that I accidentally knocked off the tree. (Oops!)

And I decided to completely redesign the whole thing…

My dad said that this was the result of having too much time on my hands, but it was really nice to unwind on my stroll and let my creative side come out. 🙂

**Thanks to Incomplete Thinker for inspiring me to write this post. 🙂

Foggy Mornings and Purple Sunsets

I love getting up early on foggy mornings, though I rarely get up that early. On the rare occasions I do, it is so satisfying to discover the hidden gems out there; God’s creation leaves me in awe:

This is the view out our front door. And when I trek into the woods, it’s like a scene from a fairy-tale. Except for maybe the coyotes howling in the distance. That turns the fairy-tale into a very-eerie-tale… 😅

And then on my walk, I stumbled upon this scene:

See all the little white blobs? That’s not snow.

It’s actually water droplets that have collected on spider’s webs. You can see them really well in this shot:

Here is a close-up shot of one of the webs (no spiders were home):

Here is is VERY close up so you can see the little drops – this is one of those hidden gems I was referring to:

I love the way the fog hides some of the trees:

And then ever so slowly, the sun begins to break through:

I’m also including one shot of a sunset with a purple sky. It really was that purple; I didn’t use any photo enhancing software on this. I absolutely loved how the silhouetted woods look against the colors of the sky. It was so magical!

All of these photos were taken in the woods surrounding our house. 🙂