Spring House

The past few days have been picture-perfect spring days,

and I have been in the mood for sprucing up the inside of the house.

 I am starting out slow and simple.

 

Here are a few photos of our little kitchen corner:

 

 

~ familiar items, rearranged, with life imitating art...

 

 

 

~ Maya's apron and decorative tea towel hanging below...

 

 

 

 

~ Lucy's bowls on the floor...

(oops, minus the tea towel, hmmm)

 

 

~ the ever-changing chalkboard...

 

 

 

~ our table adorned with sweet bouquet of peonies, lamb's ears and lady's mantle...

 

 

 

Simple spring days will soon give way to the first day of summer,

and I plan on soaking up these cooler days until then.

 

 

 

The Promise of the Lilacs

 

The lilacs at our Dear Old House were blooming last Sunday when we stopped by,

and I just had to snip a few to bring home.

 

 

 

Though we do still own the house,

it looks like new owners will have it soon, if all works out.

I knew they would not move in time to have the lilacs, and so,

 a few just had to come home for us and also a few for our daughters,

since it was Mother's Day.

 

 

The Pillow on the porch chair says,

Home Sweet Home.

 

What a perfect day to bring home to our new house

 a little remembrance from our old house.

 

The Dear Old House will soon be filled with the activities of a new, young family,

and I thank the Lord for bringing them to this wonderful home.

The rooms will come to life with the warmth of furniture and toys,

and the voices of those who now call this place home.

The yard will come to life with summer fun, perhaps a child that will grow

to love climbing the crabapple tree in the center of the backyard,

or swing on a swing set and dig in the garden dirt.

And next spring, they will smell the delightful smell of the lilacs

that were growing there long before us.

 

Spring is like that, full of promise of the things to come.

Just as the lilacs were a promise to us that spring was here

and the flowers, vegetables, and lawn were coming to life,

our God promises us life.

 

Life in abundance.

 

 

 

I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly.

                                                                                                                     John 10:10b KJV

 

What do you delight in?

What do you delight in?

Is it buying something new for your house? Do you delight in fresh baked cookies, warm from the oven?

When it comes to people, I greatly delight spending time with family and friends.

But when thinking about things, I delight in the sight of terra cotta pots, empty on the shelves. My eyes widen, I hold my breath, and my heart catches in my throat. I have quite a nice collection of pots on the shelves in my little corner of our garage; nothing fancy, but a variety of sizes and many aged with moss.  I do not know if I delight in just the pots themselves or the promise of beauty yet to come; that which I so hope for as spring nears and warm breezes melt the snow.

But flower pots are, after all, just worldly goods, and I know that they break easily.

The pots will not last forever.

But my relationship with Christ will, and I so delight in this knowledge.

I delight in spending time with Him, sitting at His knee in prayer

or in reading his Word. I delight singing His praises.

I delight in sharing Him with others, especially with my grandchildren.

It is when I delight in Him and spend time with Him that I have all my heart desires,

for the rest ~ family, home, love and contentedness come from this.

"Delight yourself

in the Lord,

and He will give you

the desires

 of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

The photos in this collage come from my Tumblr  blog, except for the lower left photo, which is from Apartment Therapy.

Easter with the JEMs

We celebrated Easter with our daughter Sara, son-in-law Mark and granddaughter Maya. Our other daughter, Erin, son-in-law John, and our grandsons Jack and Eli were in Minneapolis, but we did get a few fun photos from them.

I made this apron for Maya, as she loves to help cook.

She helped me scrub potatoes for our Easter dinner!

Maya helped her Momma and Daddy make Penia bread, which is a sweet bread that originated in rural Italy and is made during the Easter holiday. (Ingredients include sugar, butter, eggs, anise seeds and lemons.) Mark's family makes it every Easter, and this was the first time we've had it. It was delicious!

Here are Jack and Eli in a Brother Hug.

Even though they live far away, they are always near to us in our hearts.

I just had to add this photo of some beautiful hyacinths I bought for Easter,

sitting on my favorite chair that has it's old paint color of almost robin's egg blue.

They smelled wonderful!

Spring is in the Air! ~ Robin's Egg Blue Mosaic

My favorite color this spring is robin's egg blue. It is such a cheery color, and I find myself slipping it in to our home here and there. I found these photos on Flickr and I love the colors as well as the subjects.  My favorites are #5 & 13. What are yours?

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

I hope you have a warm and happy first day of spring!

P.S. I am not joining Mosaic Monday this time since these are not my photos, but do go to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday and see the wonderful mosaics this week!

( Mosaic made on Picasa.  Photos on Flickr: 1. tikaro; 2,5,6,& 15. Bluebird Becca; 3. tchatchke; 4. MossyOwls;
7. kmevans; 8. lepiaf.geo; 9.  simple hue;10.  p vision; 11. lalalaurie; 12. Posh Living, LLC; 13. babybeanportraits )