The kids had a good week back at school considering this week followed spring break. Even though it's unseasonably cold, we've planted flowers on the porch, cleaned out the cobwebs and I've really enjoyed sprucing everything up. We're looking forward to summer. I love summer break. There are few benefits to being a teacher these days, but one of the few remaining is summer break. When I saw this picture posted a few days ago, I instantly thought about what a slamming screened door sounded like. I must have heard that sound ten thousand times growing up and now ten thousand more times since having my own children. Addie in particular, will get out of bed in the morning and head outside without telling a soul she's even awake yet. The slamming screen door is official notification! Praise the Lord she's able to do that here.
We are counting down the days..
Literally...
Check out my new hummingbird feeder...
And the new blooms on my orchid...
My foxglove is blooming!
Our power went out during last night's downpour. Came back on around 2am I think. Nights like that make me have fleeting thoughts of city living.But, then that Great Horned Owl will perch high in a tree in the backyard and I could sit on the porch and listen to him "hooHOO, hooHOO" all evening. The older I get, the more I appreciate things like that. Maybe in my younger years I was just too busy to notice. Life, even at its best, can be stressful. What a blessing it is to come home to the country every day where a screen door slams behind me. When we decided to leave Effingham and move here close to grandparents, the decision was easy but actually doing it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was leaving wonderful friends, a great job, and headed for something totally unfamiliar. We took a leap of faith. There's no other way to say it. My heart still kinda hurts when I think about it. When we came here, my daddy said there was 6 acres across the dirt road he'd let me build on but he had no idea whether it'd be fit for anything. The woods were thick. There wasn't even a path through them. Once we hacked around with a machete, and got a good look, I knew it would be beautiful. Beautiful it is...
But we carved this place out of the bush... quite literally. AND the bush is constantly trying to reclaim it. Briers grow every day. Sweet gum saplings appear overnight. Poke salat grows out by the chicken coop by the hour. It really is a constant battle to beat back the bush. However, right now in the middle of a cold snap in the middle of spring, I am thankful for this place. Thankful for new friends who haven't replaced the old but brought something totally different to me in a different stage in my life. I'm thankful for my husband who can fix anything and that even though he says repairing the tile in my kitchen is "the eighth circle of hell", he loves country living too. I'm most thankful that we enlarged the screened porch on this house and that we put a wooden screened door on it. What a blessing that the spring is broken and it slams loud enough to hear it all over the house. I won't be asking Pete to repair it. It's all about perspective I guess.
Easter is a perfect time to reflect on perspective.
Happy Easter everyone!
