Lent

Our lenten rose,  Helleborus or Hellebore, the first to bloom in late winter, in time for Lent!

Lent is observed in many different ways. To me it means a time of preparing my heart and mind for the grand celebration of Jesus' Resurrection. And I am excited about how ideas and plans are coming together.

Seminary was a time of preparation for my parents' life-long calling. It is also the title of my second chapter, published March 15 as scheduled.

Authors say that publishing a book is like giving birth--labor-intensive, painful, and exhilirating! My translator friend and I had some difficulty achieving a satisfactory parallel version in Spanish--Afinando el llamado.

Tuesday's Basic Jr. Bible lesson was about the birth of Jesus as promised hundreds of years before, to illustrate God's faithfulness. He keeps His promises. He is faithful.

As Miss Kelly tells the story, Rebecca and I illustrate it with Play Doh. Hers is all one piece: the manger and baby, an angel, Joseph and Mary.

On that same day we were reminded of Kalani's birth a year ago, and Mother's transition from this earth. 

My huge accomplishment for the week was to restore the 2000 photo album, a chore set aside since the housefire, Those yearly books of memories are another of the irreplaceable treasures that God protected during the blaze. I chose the silliest photo I could find among the lot, but it also represents looking back at that year. Meanwhile those cute younguns peeking out from their behind their dads, now as men look forward to new things--Skye (lower right) enjoys being Daddy to Kalani, and Malachi will soon be married to Lexi, the love of his life!

Friday's Courier featured this third article in a series about space. If you look carefully you will find mention of two members of our household.

Our two younger members had fun shopping. . . 

. . . and then trying on each others' clothes. So glad Moriah can finally experience having a roommate.

 

Here she is practicing the professional look. Next she needs a job! Graduation is fast approaching.

Stephan spent a few days in Ohio working with a group of ice carvers to make art out of 50,000 lbs. of ice for a magical drive-thru event--Ice World at the Warren County Fair Grounds--which ended on the first day of spring!  

One of his creations, a pair of dancing cranes:

Goodbye ice and snow! We think. 

However, last year we had a heavy snowfall on the first day of spring.