Signs of Spring: 5

Rain

Beautiful: Green and Blue

This is part of that ginormous tree that I told you about last Fall that I never got around to showing you (because it didn't end up changing colors like I thought it would). The picture of the red bird a few days ago also contained this tree. It is huge, and it has green ivy completely covering it almost to it's very tips.

Signs of Spring: 4

My neighbor's lilac tree is getting ready to bloom. When it's done blooming, my lilac bush blooms, so we get double the sweet-smelling goodness.

Signs of Spring: 3

Anticipation

Beautiful: The songs of Spring

When I was outside yesterday looking around at all that was blooming (and getting my hands in the dirt of my vegetable garden for the first time this season, yay!), this beautiful guy was singing his heart out to his maiden (who I finally found in another tree a little ways away). The color of the sky was amazing, and he was just so red. The two just sang back and forth to each other, each with a different but similar melody. Beautiful.

Signs of Spring: 2

Signs of Spring: 1

An early Spring walk

We went for an Early-Spring walk yesterday, in the beautiful 76 degree weather (tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 40s, that's Spring for you).

It was wonderful to see our neighborhood clothed in various shades of bloom.












(This is weird, because this picture looks like my head on Libby's body)

Beautiful: Such a good Mama

Beautiful: The golden light of a summer afternoon

Beautiful: The strength of the sun

Beautiful: Winter holds her ground

Beautiful: The way this guy learns

The One Word Project

Thank you all for your kind words over this past week. It turns out that everything is alright. I have had migraines since I was a teenager, and the results of a recent MRI of my brain showed some unusual things. I went to a neurologist Friday morning, and everything seems to be okay. It turns out that my increase in migraines is "normal" in people who have had them long term. They have also been compounded by the fact that I have not slept well in over 3 years. My brain needs good, long sleep to produce what it needs to fight back against migraines, and since it has not been getting it, the migraines have been getting more frequent and severe. So, off I go to try to figure out how to make my little guy (who, mind you, woke up 4 times last night, one of the times being for an hour and a half) sleep better so I can get more sleep. For me, it is survival (if I leave things as they are, my migraines will increase from one a week to every day). Good luck with that, right?

The result of all of this, as well as the week off from blogging, has been a quieter me. I have totally put myself in God's hands, no matter the outcome. But, I have fewer words, as I watch my babies play, as I watch my husband come home from work and the resulting joy on everyone's faces, and as I quietly fight through another migraine.

I contemplated taking a whole month off of blogging. I have contemplated stopping blogging altogether. But, I want to be true to the reason I started this in the first place.

So, my solution is something I just discovered over on the Shutter Sisters blog. It is the One Word Project. Each month they come up with a word, and people enter pictures that they think capture that word. This will be a way for me to still keep this blog active, and still maintain my quiet (which I feel like I really need right now). Each day I will post a photograph of what I think is beautiful. And when I come out on the other side of this, whenever that may be, I will be stronger, because God will make me so.

I will still keep up with the blogs that I love to frequent, especially as garden season rolls around again. Our seeds are here, and my friends and I will be sorting through them all to start growing them very soon. As the cold accepts it's defeat and the sun grows stronger, many lovely pictures will emerge on this here blog. Just be patient with me=)

Here's to Beautiful! Feel free to share what is beautiful to you in the comments section!