Spring Abounding

 

Yesterday it snowed.  We had at least a couple inches on the ground, a couple days after I had planted my herb garden in our little porch greenhouse.  The basil was wilting, so my son transferred it back to a portable pot and brought it inside for me.

Today, literally by the time the sun rose, all the snow was already melted, and my kids convinced me to let them go exploring in the woods alone.  I gave them alarm whistles and walk talkies and sat on the porch waiting for them to come back.  Dare I say, it was actually hot in the sunshine!  

Such is spring in the mountains.

The last month has been a bit of a whirlwind.  We had a nice Easter, and then before I knew it I had our homeschool group meeting, then visiting a co-op, then my son's birthday and a birthday party, then field trips and eye appointments.  This week we'll have standardized testing, and two nights out with friends for me.  It's a good busy, but busy nonetheless.

Homeschooling is going well, we're well into the homestretch and limping toward the finish line.  I made limping sound like a bad thing just now, but it's more like finishing a bunch of our curriculum and trying to find some things to fill these last few weeks before we're officially done for the year.  I bought this Shakespeare curriculum, I want to finish this book about the ancient Romans, and there will be spelling and math drills abounding.  My daughter asked if we could start the second book in the Anne Of Green Gables series as a family read-aloud, so that might be on the horizon as well.

We've been on the go so much, I haven't had as much time to bake or experiment in the kitchen, and I'm itching to try making something new.  I did buy coconut milk and seltzer water in preparation for making refreshing springtime beverages, and we've been stocking up on all the fruit. As summertime approaches, you'll probably find me gathering recipes to try when I actually have time to make things again (hopefully).

One new thing in April is that I re-started my no/low buy after falling off the wagon in March.  I'm adjusting my rules a bit to allow myself to buy a couple things a month as long as they are less than a certain dollar amount.  It's going well so far, and it's a good thing, because our puppy ended up costing us $800 this month.  That was not a happy day.  

Dot basically swallowed a toy, and ended up throwing it up, but still looked so miserable and listless that we were worried there was something else stuck in there.  Our vet was closed for the day, so I ended up taking her to an emergency vet, and oh boy.  Never again.  

You know you've made a mistake when everyone in the office keeps calling an animal "your kiddo", while your actual kiddo is holding said animal.  I would have walked out, but they took the dog away for an hour, and I had to strategically ask for her back before being able to escape.  It cost that much just for an X-ray, and even though there wasn't anything obvious in there, they wanted to put her on an IV overnight! A dog, remember. And a dog which I already told them was still drinking plenty of water.  I said I was taking her home to take our chances until our regular vet opened, and what do you know, she was 100% back to normal the next day.

Thankfully we were holding money aside to buy a new window, so we'll just have to wait another year.  Who needs airtight windows anyway?

We went on a field trip to the zoo a couple weeks ago, and as we were walking down the paths, I noticed that I could smell the flowers, so our state is in that stage of spring now.  Then when we went to church the other day, the flowering trees were just at their prime!  I'm so glad I took some pictures that day, because as I mentioned, a few days later we had more snow.  I was circling the tree, taking pictures and videos and big, deep breaths of the floral air, and I must have been making quite a spectacle of myself because a woman walked up and asked if I wanted a picture with the tree.  I was a little embarrassed, but obviously agreed.  She commented that she and her husband "were admiring your joy over the trees, and we just thought you needed a picture".  

And all of a sudden I wasn't embarrassed anymore, because why would anyone not have joy over flowering trees?  Joy is actually the right response, and who cares if everyone can see it? God could have just left all the flowers on the ground, but that would have been too obvious - instead He decorated branches with them.  Isn't there something magnificent about that?  

This week I hope you too find something that makes you so joyful that you make yourself a little ridiculous over it.  Let it spill over, scatter it all around, and don't be embarrassed if someone comments on it, because why should you not splash a little joy on them too?

"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

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Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.

Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.

For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with righteousness,

And the peoples with His truth."

Psalm 96:11-13

Happy Spring, friends!