Spring has sprung!

How do I know it's spring?  I could say that I could tell by the longer days.  I could say that I could tell by the beautiful flowers popping up ALL OVER the place.  I even watched as two flowers emerged on one of my daffodil plants.  We call them the twins because not only did two come up, but they are two toned.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get a photo.  Maybe.  I could say that spring has arrived because we are having 45 to 69 degree temperatures every day for the last week and more to come this week.  But someone else noticed that spring had sprung.  We found a little evidence of this on our front porch this past week while we were basking in the warmth of the sun:

My first thought was, "Oh, no!  The last time I had any dealings with this column, I was rescuing a rodent from it's depths."  Have you ever seen a soaking wet, very mad, squirrel.  I HAVE!  Anyway, I took a peak and the nest was empty.  Whew! 

Being the procrastinator I am, I waited to talk with The Man about it for about a week.  Him:  "Hey, we have a bird's nest on the front porch."  Me:  "Oh yeah, I meant to talk with you about that.  Should we take it down?"   Ha, fine time to take it down, girlie girl:

At first glance, you'd think, whew! she got away with procrastinating.  HA!  I have NEVER had such luck!

Aw!  How sweet!  If I had taken the nest down, that poor mama bird would still be flying around saying, "I am NOT going to just cross my legs until you build another nest!!!"

So I could tell you a whole bunch of canned reasons that indicated spring has sprung, or I could say that a little birdie told me so.  In fact, a little, fast, sensative birdie DID tell me so (click for a better view):

When Opportunity Knocks

Open the door.  Thankfully, the opportunity was to teach high school students about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  First, the seminary teacher asked me WELL IN ADVANCE to teach.  Timing is truly everything and I said "no problem, I'd be glad to" without a quiver.  Then, I had a pretty rough week and the trembling began.  I wasn't sure how teaching high school students would contribute to maintaining my mental health.  So Monday morning, I show up, fully prepared for whatever was going to hit me.  NOT.  I was not prepared for students to self-correct, contribute positive comments 100% of the time, and really listen to the lesson.  I wondered what the REAL teacher had said to them.   On Tuesday, I arrived, forgetting to change from my cool, fun, but totally not outside the house, shoes and one of the girls said, "I love your shoes."  And I really don't think she was kidding me. 

(thank you Missy for making me at least LOOK cool)

Again, the class was totally on, contributing their thoughts and ideas and listening to what they read from the scriptures.  When Wednesday hummed around, so did I.  Each morning I gained a stronger testimony of what the scriptures offered as I shared with my class the cycle of pride.  Each evening as I read, I learned that we each fall into the cycle of Prosperity and Blessings, followed by Pride and Sin, then Chastisement, and with a listening ear on to Humility and Repentence.  I also learned that each DAY I fell into every part of this viscious cycle.  How grateful I am for the knocking door, so I could learn this pertinent information for myself and my family, including how to be repentent and humble without being chastised.  I'm sure I will continue to experience this lesson because perfection is not for the living and I am way into living.  And the living I experienced this week teaching seminary was worth getting up in the morning for and studying in the evening.  Before Friday, I knew that my life had been touched by the greatest and I'm happy for the blessings and fun I had, especially on game day.  My mental health was far improved, all calm on the homefront!  To reward the REAL teacher, I made her this bracelet:

(which I hope she knows means that I will willingly sub any time she wants me)

Long Lasting Friendships

Twelve years.  That's a long time.  A long time to keep from doing something that you're drawn to do each of 365 days of those twelve years.   I'm so proud of my friend who has achieved 12 years of abstinence from her addiction.  To celebrate this huge achievement, I decided to make this necklace and earrings.  While I couldn't duplicate the NA symbol, I was able to take the color (black) and incorporate it.  Using 12 stones to symbolize the 12 steps (and 12 years), I played with the wire to link the stones together.  I really love how they turned out.  I also love that my friend and I celebrate our longer than average friendship and continue to grow in ways I never thought possible.

I like durable friendships.  The ones that weather through the tough idiosyncrocies of life and end up stronger and more in touch with reality.  After all, it's easy to be friends when . . . well, when it's easy.  The easy life - what is that?  When you get up in the morning (and have a bed to get up out of), eat breakfast (chosen from the plenty of food you have on hand), shower and dress (with the excellent supply of water and clothing), and then get in your car (which has plenty of gas) and know that God is on your side.  That's pretty easy.  The more difficult times require more hardy friends. 

PS  God is always on your side.

Ice Cream??? Seriously???

This driver has no clue that we're going to have a few more weeks of winter.  He continues to drive around (this isn't his first pass) -  oblivious to the chill in the air, the wet cold clingy presence of winter which is undaunted by the fact that it's MARCH . . . IN FLORIDA!!!   

However, last week we planted the garden anyway.  And now, every day we go out to check and see if we have lettuce, beans, spinach, carrots, or herbs peaking out from under the dirt.  Or at least an indication that they will be there soon.  No such luck . .  yet.  After all, it's cold.  I love to garden even though I have the BLACKEST thumb ever.  We planted an entire strawberry patch one year and were blessed for 3 years with pretty, tiny, red thumbprints of berries.