Welcome

In Hawaii, it's E komo mai. In France, it's accueil. Swedish say välkomna. But here in the U.S., we say Welcome. However you say it, it is a form of receiving someone with pleasure and hospitality into your home. We work hard to make our homes a place of comfort, a place where family and friends will feel welcome and enjoy visiting. The pineapple has been a universal symbol of hospitality and welcome for many centuries all over the world. To the Carib, the pineapple symbolized hospitality, and the Spaniards soon learned they were welcome if a pineapple was placed by the entrance to a village. This symbolism spread to Europe, then to Colonial North America, where it became the custom to carve the shape of a pineapple into the columns at the entrance of a plantation. Many of us today still use a pineapple motif in our home to show that our guests are welcome. I am one of those pineapple people. I want my guests to know they are also welcome to cross the threshold into my home. I needed a new rug at the front door (which is actually in the kitchen). I was at Family Dollar today and found this for $5.00. I was ecstatic.

My guests will always know they are welcome to come on in and sit a spell. This triggered me to realize that I have pineapples in several rooms in my house. Here are some of my favorite pineapple decorations.

So if you are ever in the neighborhood, drop on by. Guests are always welcome.

May your day be filled with joy.....

Do you ever have days where your life is just so full and your plans are so many that you just LOVE being alive. I have these days so often. God has blessed me with so much that I will never be able to thank Him for everything He does for me. Sometimes, just sitting at my desk, driving down the road, or reading a book, He just fills my heart with joy and my cup runneth over.

It's nothing elaborate or nothing huge. It's the little things. It's getting excited about taking a trip with a dear friend to go to my Mom's. It's knowing my Mom and sister will be coming back with me to spend a week. It's the gladness in knowing kindergarten graduation is coming for my granddaughter. It's knowing the summer will be packed with fun and exciting things to do

with the grandchildren.

J-O-Y. Such a simple word. Three little letters. But such depth of meaning and such peace and contentment you can find in Joy. Here are some of my favorites quotes about joy.

And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. - Psalms 35:9 Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal. - Unknown They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. - Psalms 126:5 Joy is the feeling of grinning inside. - Melba Colgrove Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. - Mother Teresa of Calcutta Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. - Isaiah 12:3 Joy delights in Joy - William Shakespeare When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things. - Maya Angelou For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. - Psalms 30:5 One joy shatters a hundred griefs - Chinese Proverbs Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow - Helen Keller

But this is my all time favorite:

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. - Habakkuk 3:18