Today's Exposition

You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence...Psalms 16:11
isn't that a wonderful verse? I love it! Hoping your week is off to a great start and you experience what that verse is saying...

my most recent addition to my front porch, wish we could sit and chat...

and I would serve some of this egg cheese...delicious with sweet maple syrup!

hope
is 
stirring
the
earth.
new life
is
persisting
a
place....













still counting gifts...
501-a new gratitude journal,502-gifts from sisters,503-tea parties,504-egg cheese(thanks Dar.)505-trees,506-the smell of rain,507-grocery stores,508-mud that dries for easier clean up,509-robins,510-driving-I find it cathartic,511-family movie time,512-newspaper and coffee,513-lips,514-girls adding things to my list of thanks,515-safety on the road,516-being the first to arrive,(this is rare)517-the sound of the door opening when someone comes home....

Listening To The Clouds

     as I drove to pick up my daughter the other day I found myself enthralled with the clouds. so I wanted to share and hope you see every cloud in your life as a treasure.
There's something about clouds...
A sky with clouds ...
dreamy,whimsical, fluffy, feel good clouds.

Don't get me wrong,
I like the sun and it's very important role in the solar system.

          But clouds   SPEAK.   They FEEL.  They KNOW.

Clouds  move through the sky with dignity, grace and a stoic sense of who they are and what they've been created for.

True to their Creator they enhance the skies they dwell in.
So we who turn and gaze at heaven's beauty can marvel  but REMAIN MYSTIFIED.

                        and dream beyond the clouds.

Clouds floated freely

in this bedroom for a while until girls grew bigger and moved away from clouds.(too bad I don't have a picture of the charming fairy and floral wallpaper they are removing..)

also visit....

http://mockingbirdhillcottage.com/

Gift In A Lunch Box

One of the highlights back when I was a girl attending school was opening my lunch pail(and I did actually have a little pail for a while)and finding out what was tucked inside. Was it a good lunch day ? those happened after my parents had made a trip to the market and bought a case of bananas,a box of cookies  and a bag of apples.
My lunch somehow did way more than nourish me physically, it seemed to demonstrate tangibly that I was loved.






I thought about this recently as I tackled the morning chore of lunch packing.First I pack my husbands,and send him off to his work with a kiss and a coffee,next I decide what my four children will be dining on come lunch time.(my oldest is away at college so I have one less than I did have for many years.)

I know many people have their kids pack their own lunches.While mine do help, especially on the scramble mornings....I really do find this to be a special Mom privilege. When you think about it, it really is like packing them a little gift.
Something they can look forward to in the middle of their day and hopefully taste the love in every bite:)

this little cupcake notebook was a birthday gift from my youngest two...just the thing to write a wee note on and tuck in the lunch box on occasion...


The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it
                   but what he becomes by it.
                            ~John Ruskin~

Urging April

APRIL,you  summon spring like no other month can,eventually spring  relents to your winsome ways.

April,no fooling around please
for I am earnestly waiting  warmer weather to engage  in nature's serenade,and coax the grass toward green.
                                                           via

April showers,you bathe my spirit and refresh my soul, as first signs of life pushing upward,cause tingling elation.

April's breezes, so perfect to dry lines of flapping clothes and 
fervent farmers' fields.

Oh yes April, you are welcome here. I salute your winning charms and I feel honored to be privy to your secrets. 

a little ditty to express how patient I am being as I wait...:))                                      

   this picture was taken on the weekend.we had a few days of sun and warm temperatures. It didn't take my girls long to haul out the chairs and get comfy...but that was then..
now it is back to cold winds...


487-Easter:the TRUTH,488-long bike ride on the weekend,489-rains washing the world,490-birthday cards,491-personality differences,492-clothes line,493-trampoline jumping,494-plans for summer,495-shopping at Target,496-good days with my kids,497-prayers prayed and answered,498-waiting without waning.499-smiles from strangers,500- fun friendships.