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Saturday was a balmy 72 degrees. Balmy, I tell you! After a full day of packing, we let Lydia strap on her helmet and rider her skuut bike in the driveway. It was so incredibly fun. After that we played with sidewalk chalk and ran around in the yard.

And I felt my heart and spirit buoyed. I am not kidding. I honestly felt like I came out of a fog yesterday. I remember posting once about connecting with God when I’m surrounded by nature. Now don’t be decieved, I am not an outdoorsy girl. I don’t hike or swim or garden. But just being outside surrounded by birds and flowers blossoms dead grass was rejuvenating!

The only, I repeat, ONLY thing I’m going to miss about this house is our tree. Remember our tree? It’s the most beautiful white and pink dogwood surrounded by pink and white and fuschia azaleas. I almost ache thinking about leaving it. A few months ago, I posted some pictures of our tree in every season. I’m going to frame those for our new house. As a reminder of this beautiful season of our lives. A season that is ending–just like winter. And like yesterday, my heart is being opened and is getting ready for Spring—this new season in our lives! I am excited to see what blossoms!

I Didn’t Know I Had The Winter Blues Till The Sun Came Out is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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“Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these!” Matthew 6:29

Can You Believe This Is My Front Yard?! is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Easter is four days away! Four days and we are still wearing coats outside! What happened to spring sandals and sleeveless Easter dresses? I guess Lydia and I will be stylin’ on Sunday with tights and hats!

I have a thing about Easter. It started a long time ago—when I first heard that the word “easter” wasn’t in the Bible. I just assumed it was like “trinity” or “rapture”, not actually in the Bible, but it just meant something else that was for real. Well, not so. According to the wiki, which I don’t entirely trust, there are several etymological roots for this word. But the one that most interests me has to do with the goddess Eostre, who is pictured with lots of pet bunnies. (Ring a bell?)

I know back in the day, Christian holidays got mixed up with pagan holidays. I get it. I know the missionaries were just trying to get people into “the fold”. So, yeah, combine your pagan feast with the day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, whatever, just stop worshiping the bunny rabbit god. I know there is not one thing I do in my Christian walk that isn’t tainted by American tradition or a completely random pagan history. I understand it.

And I really didn’t mean to ramble this long about it. I’m not an expert. I haven’t studied it extensively. But anyone with half a brain has to wonder what eggs and bunnies have to do with Jesus coming back to life.

But I never knew what to do about it. I mean, I love a good hard boiled egg colored pink. I pine all year for a Cadbury egg. And I simply adore a little girl in a flowery dress! Last year, I read a post by Shannon about this very thing. She and her family have a First Day of Spring party and do all the “easter” traditions—then on “Easter Sunday” they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. What a great idea!

So, this year, we had our first Spring Party! It wasn’t a big huge party–just Lydia and Nora playing together.  We just celebrated Spring like we’d celebrate Back-to-School or the first snow! It was perfect!

We dyed eggs.

We made lamb, bunny & chick puppets. (I like the bunny best.)

We even had an egg hunt. Lydia and Nora were so polite–Nora would show Lydia where an egg was, then Lydia would put it in Nora’s basket!

Then we decorated cupcakes with marshmallows and m&ms. It was really cute…and apparently really yummy!

I know in the grand scheme of things, eggs and bunnies aren’t going to ruin Lydia’s spiritual formation. But in an effort to do my best for her and for the Lord, I like this Spring Party idea. I didn’t feel like we were pushing so much into one day (or skimping on the chocolate eggs). It was just perfectly balanced. I can already tell on Resurrection Sunday, we’ll be able to just talk about Jesus and hang out with our families.

Of course, she’ll probably get an Easter basket from her grandparents. Oh well.

Springy Eastery Type Party! is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I’m ticked at Easter. I can’t help it.

I went to a Christian bookstore yesterday to buy Lydia a book about the resurrection of Jesus. They had an entire shelf dedicated to the holiday that celebrates that event. Every single one of those books had the word “easter” in the title. Not one book was called, “He Lives”, “Jesus is Alive”, “It’s All About Jesus” or even “Happy Spring!” Now, in case you think I’m a scrooge (I know that’s mixing my holidays, I just don’t know the easter equivalent) I just want to remind you that the word “Easter” is not in the Bible. I won’t even get into the pagan goddess Eostre or the fertility festivals to honor her and her pet bunny. Let me just say it again, EASTER is not in the Bible.

Don’t get me wrong, bunnies and chickies and eggs are cute. It’s much more fun to roam the holiday section at Target in March than in October. But for the past few years, I have refused to say “Easter” when referring to the Resurrection Day of Jesus. I can’t stand mixing the event that changed the world with eggs and baskets. I don’t even feel this strongly about Halloween. It’s blatantly pagan and I’m ok with that.

I just haven’t known exactly what to do about this because I don’t want my daughter to go through life without a Cadbury Creme Egg or a floral dress. But I do want her to know the difference between truth and tradition. So, I was glad to find this post from Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer. She suggests having a First Day of Spring Party with all the “easter” trimmings–do an egg hunt, eat a chocolate bunny, dye eggs till your fingers are blue. Then on Resurrection Day, celebrate…uhm, how about…oh, yeah!…the Resurrection of Jesus. You don’t miss out on the pagan American traditions and your focus is entirely in the right place.

So, here’s my baby girl, last week, picking up eggs with the best of them.

I’ll leave you with this quote by Samuel Stennet (circa 1787):

“To Him I owe my life and breath,
And all the joys I have;
He makes me triumph over death,
And saves me from the grave.”

(For the record, after my book hunt, I did end up buying Lydia two books. One is called, Easter, Easter, Almost Here and it’s about Palm Sunday. Go figure. The other is The Easter Story which actually is about Jesus’ death and resurrection.)

Easter is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I’m really not dogwood crazy, I just cannot get over how gorgeous our neighborhood is right now! Every house has tons of flowering trees. It will take your breath away! I took some more pictures of our dogwoods today because the pink dogwood is in bloom. Oh. It’s beautiful.

When I was little my mom told me that Dogwoods bloomed around Easter (which I will now refer to as Resurrection Day) to remind us of Jesus. The flower is in the shape of a cross just like the cross Jesus was crucified on. The seeds (are they seeds?) in the middle look like the crown of thorns the Romans put on Jesus head to mock him as the “king of the Jews”. And my favorite part is the tiny bits of color on the end of each petal–a rust color that reminds me of the wounds that Jesus received–being nailed to the cross by his hands and his feet. The beautiful pale petals remind me of how Jesus’ sacrifice can wash away the gross part of us and make a new clean life for us.

Isn’t that cool? I really do believe God lays out His love, His plan and His story in nature. Looking at the Dogwood and the other flowering trees this Spring makes me see how creative and artistic God is.

“May the glory of the Lord continue forever! The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made! The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch. ” Psalm 104:31-32

Dogwood is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I walked outside yesterday and to my amazement, the tree in our front yard is a Dogwood! They are my favorite tree! We had them at our house when I was growing up. Plus, they feel very southern.

Not to mention, when I walked outside today, I discovered that not only do we have a Dogwood, we also have a Pink Dogwood! I cannot wait for them to blossom.

Last but not least we have a purple tree. PURPLE, people!

Just to clarify, I am not a photographer. I do not know how to take pictures, nor do I have an eye for it, like some people I know. I am just so happy about our springy little yard, I had to share!

Any plants you need to share with me?

(ha! I can’t believe I’m asking that question OR even posting about trees. If you knew me, you would think it was funny that I’m posting about foliage!)

Why I Love Where I Live #282 is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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