We looked out our window one day and here is what we saw…
Then, when the aunts and uncles came out to see, he volunteered to help with watering the garden. Great job, Caleb! You can never start helping too young!
And praise the Lord for parents who are diligently training their children up in the ways of the Lord!
Though unexpected yet certainly possible in mid-May, this morning’s snow sprinkled a rarely seen beauty to home’s surroundings!
Truly God’s creation is amazing!
The little ones are growing up so quickly! Sunday afternoon, I got out my camera to capture some of the girls’ beautiful expressions.
Then this morning while out shooting the spring flowers…
… I heard a little voice and went spying! 🙂
1,000 is a big number… and a small one.
1,000 days is a long time… and short one.
So much can happen and has happened in that time. There have been:
Joys & sorrows
Laughter & tears
New faces
New places
New priorities
Rejoicing in relationships
Grieving at losses
Developing deeper bonds
– with Christ
– with loved ones
To be more specific:
Sitting on the floor playing with baby toys
Driving for hours together
Talking over lists of names
Figuring out just what to make for supper
Scratching heads over riddles
Organising and reorganising rooms to make everything fit
Learning to hang things from the ceiling
All that and far more has taken place in that long, but short stretch of time. Can anyone guess what occurred 1,000 days ago? If you need a hint check this link.
Sugaring off is a traditional spring event here in Quebec. Since we just do it as a family, we go really small scale and boil a couple cans of maple syrup on our stovetop. It is a fun (and sticky!) time. David and Erica and their two girls joined us, increasing the enjoyment. Too little to get involved with the sticky stuff, Keziah just played peek-a-boo in her stroller.
Elizabeth, however, got to join in and loved it!
Yum!
This is sticky!
Some milk after so much sweet
Everyone enjoyed their day too!
Daddy’s little girl – all cleaned up!
As we savoured the maple sugar, I thought of the verse in Psalm 119:103: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Yes, the Word is sweeter even than maple syrup!
It seems as though winter never arrived this year. Sure, we got bits of snow all along, in fact we’re expecting a bit more tonight, but we received none of those get-you-stuck-in-your-driveway storms and the piles that usually mound up during snow removal season were only a few feet tall at most.
Yet despite winter’s non-arrival, spring is just around the corner! The birds are returning: Canada geese fly overhead regularly, mallard ducks were seen today, song birds in large numbers show up at the feeders.
purple finch
chickadee
pine siskin
song sparrow
The red-winged blackbirds and robins have not yet been caught by my camera, but they are around as are the less colourful starlings and grackles. The squirrels too have been feasting on the seed the birds drop. They are cute little creatures and quite friendly too!
Everyone is enjoying the longer days and warm sunshine… including the cat!
Saturday, several of us tuned up our bikes and went out for a short ride. It was a lovely day for it: bright sun and no wind!
Meanwhile, the guys were busy solving a computer issue… It looked complicated.
And then yesterday, we had a special event to commemorate the coming of spring, but I’ll tell of that another time… 🙂
Well, maybe not quite a cowgirl… but Elizabeth certainly had fun riding a friend’s pony last week!
Waving to Grandma T in the window! 🙂
And as a side-note: there is usually still snow around in Quebec at the beginning of March! We have had an extraordinarily warm winter this year and spring is arriving early!
Or is it that he can’t wait for summer?
Usually it is Caleb’s Daddy who takes him out on the 4-wheeler, but today it was Auntie Evelyn. They sure look like they’re having fun!
Looking through pictures is usually a good way of finding just what we have been doing, but this time there were remarkably few revelatory photos. After all, who goes about shooting a dripping bathroom drain, a leaking faucet, another leaking faucet, broken stove tops, a non-functional oven, water coming into the basement due to to much ice outdoors, and a river flowing through the barn for the same reason? Yes, we really had all of those in the past month or two! But the Lord is providing solutions for which we are grateful.
But the photos didn’t reveal that angle of life. Primarily what I find here are the joys of little ones! They are so special!
Keziah smiles so much!
Elizabeth loves her little sister
Reading to several little ones
Evelyn and I recently embarked on some large projects: Making quilts! It is slow work, but I’m sure it will be rewarding in the end!
Figuring out colours
Consulting the expert
This winter has been an odd one with little snow and many thaws. The driveway literally became an ice rink. William got out his skates!
As always, the outdoors draws cameras like a magnet. Numerous birds gather at our feeders… Can anyone tell I like chickadees? 🙂
And a few excursions draw out the beauties of our northern winter – despite the pathetically small amount of snow!
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24