Beautiful day

It was a gorgeous day!
So warm and sunny. It is hard to believe that yesterday, we were freezing!
Woke up this morning and made some apple cinnamon muffins for breakfast, then got ready for a morning of shopping with mom.
We dropped Josiah off at grandpa's, since we were shopping for his birthday, and Isaac, Daniel, mom and I hit the stores.
Little man Jo will be six next week. When did that happen?
He is having a cowboy birthday party. He loves cowboys and horses. He does not come by that naturally. In fact, I have no idea where that came from. My husband and I are city folk. I should have guessed we were in trouble when we took him for shoes one day and he fell in love with a pair of cowboy boots he just had to have. He wears those boots all the time!! This is a kid who doesn't even like shoes most days. He is too funny.
I have some great party ideas (well, my mom does, really) and will blog more about party prep later.
I found some nice strawberries. I love strawberries. I love to wash and hull and cut them, standing at the sink, looking out the open window, handling the ripe red fruit. There is an earthy sweet smell to strawberries.

After shopping, we split up and mom took the boys to a birthday party while Joe and I visited friends. We discussed flooring for the new house, and just hung out. We had a great time. And the coffee was killer!
We had chocolate mint brownies! Yum.
Our friends said they are so simple. Just add pieces of Andes mints (chop them up) to regular brownie mix, and you have a pan of chocolaty, minty goodness. Again, yum.
The boys played together when we got home. Isaac discovered he could hang from the basketball hoop after dunking (they were playing with a football, trying to sink it, "killing two birds with one stone," as Isaac put it. Where did he come from?)

We had a late dinner and Isaac had some studying to do.
By the time we got baths and had devotions, it was later than I wanted it to be, but the boys are all asleep now, and, as always, I should be.
After Daniel's bath, I had to take pics of his hair! It is so curly. He is my curly headed baby. I thought they would all have curly hair, but each of them has hair that is so different, it's crazy. They are all so handsome, though.

This passage was from our devotions this evening. Sometimes we read from a great little book called God's Words of Life for Kids. It has topics, like "Being Thankful", "Forgiving Others", "Giving to Others", "God Saves You", "Loving God", "Loving Others", etc.
Each topic has about 15 scripture references that pertain to it, and then there is a short devotional reading about that topic and how to apply the scriptures to your life. It is really neat, and great for kids. Easy to understand and not too long.
Tonight's topic was God Shows You What To Do. Here is a passage from it that I loved, and I will leave you on this note:
"Suppose I were to rise with the sun in the east and then cross over to the west where it sinks into the ocean. Your hand would always be there to guide me, Lord. Your right hand would still be holding me close."
Psalm 139:9-10 (NIRV)

It's still winter after all, but Spring is on it's way

The boys spend some time outside on this gorgeous weekend:

It's been so beautiful -- temps in the 60's and 70's.
We went for a ride with the boys yesterday, windows down and wind blowing our hair, sun shining on our skin, falling dappled through the passing trees on our faces.
When we came home, we played outside for a long time, soaking up the sun (it was actually quite warm if you were sitting in direct sunlight) and letting the boys get the ants out of their pants, so to speak.
Today was nice too. Very windy, but then, it is the second day of March.
Joe and I took a trip to the airport to pick up mom and gramp, who took a mini vacation to Florida to visit cousins. Ironically, it was cold there, and they spent most of their time bundled up and freezing.
The forecast for tomorrow? A high of 34 with a wintry rain/snow mix.
Winter is indeed still here, and days like we've had this weekend are beautiful deceptions. But they do serve to remind us that very soon, there is the promise of Spring.
Spring, with all its brilliant color and sunny warmth and earthy scents.
Spring, the promise of new birth and the resurrection of dormant life.
Spring, God's best metaphor for Jesus' work of redemption, redeeming us from death in our sins to life in Him.
So, we will meet this winter weather system reluctantly now that we have tasted of Spring, but we hope in the warm weather to come.
We will look for signs of life on every tree until we see the first bud of the season as we look to that one tree for our ultimate hope. It is the first of many.
A season of life, of resurrection is about to unfold.