My phone (camera) and my bullet journal serve as my memory keepers for months like March.  Lamb-like and gentle at first, the month ramped up rather quickly, stuttered as a sinus infection put me on the couch for about a week, then resurged in a flurry of activities, gathering power as it blew out like a lion with wind roaring through the trees and dragging the last of the leaves off of our Quercus laurifolia.

#1 Son came home for Spring Break sans car.  Northern Virginia had an early March snow so the Ultimate team had a late night practice inside the Field House, and when #1 Son came out his car wouldn’t start.  Sigh.  By the next morning it was snowed in, and it still wouldn’t start.  So Mr. Garner arranged for a train ticket for him and we picked him up at the Newport News Amtrak station.  The Daughter was thrilled to have him home, and so were we.  He won’t make it home for another visit until August, because he’ll be reporting to Appalachia Service Project two days after his last exam in May. During his visit he helped Papa Gene with some flooring work, and he finished up a video project with his Granby Crew friends, but other than that he took it easy and slept in a lot.  We cajoled him into joining us at First Landing State Park one Sunday.  The tide was way out, the sand really packed, the wind minimal – perfect for tossing the Frisbee!  Lots of fun.  We shared festive meals with Papa Gene and Grandma Midge, and then before we knew it,  he was packing up to head back to school.  Sniff.

The Daughter had a great deal of preparation and event planning involved in earning her Harriet Tubman Level Award for American Heritage Girls.  She and three other Pioneers who are also working on the award teamed up and helped a younger squad earn the Engineering Badge by working on a few of the requirements on a Monday night.  The Daughter had to help them think through bridge building with one piece of paper, two books and 50 pennies! They also planned a Saturday event to help the same group of little girls earn the requirements for the Insecta Inspecta badge.  The Daughter was to teach them about the life cycle of butterfly life.  This was a natural for her since we’ve been watching Black Swallowtails on our Fennel now for a few years.  She found a colorful picture book, Waiting for Wings,  by a favorite nature book author/illustrator – Lois Ehlert.  She also prepared a sample Nature Journal sketch, and put together some adorable butterfly treat bags she found on Pinterest!

Despite the sinus issues, we managed to make our weekly walks at the Chesapeake Bay, as well as Morning Walks in the neighborhood, so we watched the snow melt, the camellias burst into long-denied-so-especially-glorious bloom, the daffodils brighten sidewalks and borders and cherry trees bud and bloom!

The Daughter played two Sundays at Park Place – one Sunday she filled in for a student who couldn’t get back from Spring Break in time, and then on her normal fourth Sunday she accompanied me and a church member performing  Not In Me.  It’s a wonderful Lenten text inspired by the Pharisee and the Sinner in Luke 18:9-14, and written by Eric Schumacher and David L. Ward of Thousand Tongues. It was a joy to sing in church again, especially nice to be asked, and tremendously wonderful to be accompanied by my professional church musician daughter!  Here is a You Tube recording of (someone else singing) the song we sang:

In the midst of all of this, The Daughter earned some AHG service hours working on a little project for the CPC-Tidewater office, folding notecards, and wrapping mason jars with twine for table arrangements.

The month ended with fantastic Kempsville Ruritan Barbecue on Saturday, and Mr. Garner’s famous copper river salmon on the grill. Really Monday and Tuesday were anti-climatic after the weekend.

A few pictures:

Early March Morning Walk – snow on the ground

Our Camellia catching up!

Reading Waiting for Wings to the Tenderhearts

Caterpillar Nature Sketch

Dunes at the Chesapeake Bay

Decorating Mason jars with twine for CPC

Adorable CPC Notecards

Our Morning Walk Kitty

In case you didn’t notice the link in the text above, below is a video we took  of a Black Swallowtail butterfly emerging from the Chrysalis it formed on the fennel plant in our backyard.

Not In Me, written by Eric Schumacher and David Ward

No list of sins I have not done,
No list of virtues I pursue,
No list of those I am not like,
Can earn myself a place with You.
O God! Be merciful to me—
I am a sinner through and through!
My only hope of righteousness
Is not in me, but only You.

No humble dress, no fervent prayer,
No lifted hands, no tearful song,
No recitation of the truth
Can justify a single wrong.
My righteousness is Jesus’ life,
My debt was paid by Jesus’ death,
My weary load was borne by Him
And he alone can give me rest.

No separation from the world,
No work I do, no gift I give,
Can cleanse my conscience, cleanse my hands;
I cannot cause my soul to live.
But Jesus died and rose again—
The pow’r of death is overthrown!
My God is merciful to me
And merciful in Christ alone.

Ending:
My righteousness is Jesus’ life,
My debt was paid by Jesus’ death,
My weary load was borne by Him
And he alone can give me rest.