Home again...

Guess where we've been???

Yup, Arizona with all its wonders.  We had a spectacular day at the Grand Canyon--the ultimate field trip--complete with a clearing snowstorm, small crowds, and the utterly breathtaking views.  No matter how often you see it, it is still a shock when first it sprawls before you.

We're back into our routine after a busy couple of weeks with family and fun.  I always say I need a vacation when I come home from vacation!  But it was memorable, filled with special moments like...quality time with both sides of the family, holding a new family baby, walks in the sunshine (not to be underrated when you come from winter country!), long talks over coffee, doing touristy things--which for me was fun considering I grew up there.  Some new and some old, great because we were with our loved ones.

SweetPea even got to go to public school with her cousin for an afternoon--and I'm happy to report that she's thrilled she's homeschooled!  Even thanked me for homeschooling her.  Happy sigh.

We've got grape hyacinths growing all over in places they weren't intended them to be, but I don't have the heart to dig them up till they've done their flower thing.  Ah, what a smell--literally just like grapes.  I love see how God has repeated patterns like this all across His creation.

So now it's headlong into the spring rush--yardwork and garden, finishing up the last of school stuff, spring cleaning, throwing ought-to's to the winds and playing in the green sunshine of April.  I'm also very excited to be rearranging our schoolroom to accommodate a writing corner for me!  SweetPea does school in her room or the dining room now, so I get to have a dedicated desk for my own pursuits.  Yay!

I'm off to do our read-aloud with SweetPea, The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig.  It's an excellently written true story about a Jewish family from Poland who gets deported in WWII to Siberia for five years.  Gripping and poignant, to say the least.  Certainly puts our own country's issues in perspective.

Thank You, Lord, that You have plans for us for good and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope.