Finding Spring

Warm, gorgeous weather in March...in Illinois...unheard of and unusual!

So since we have had this summer in March we had to go find spring.  I wanted the kids to find it. Nothing technical or crazy, but truly find spring. Which meant we were going for a hike to the nature preserve.

I really believe on this particular day God wanted to see things we wouldn't expect.  We were so blessed...we found snails, a tiny snake happened to slither across our path (and no one freaked out...including me), the brightest and greenest moss everywhere, smaller than a dime wild flowers but with a magnifying glass the details were incredible. I was honestly just hoping for a bud on a tree and maybe a flower or two - oh did HE surpass our expectations completely.

Then what we heard...awe! - Woodpeckers knocking on every tree they could - I LOVE this sound, the moan of frogs from the swampy pond, the song of the birds as if they were praising God that Spring was found! And the smell of sweet onion grass and just that spring smell. We even managed to see deer prints hard in the mud as they had run through a couple days earlier when it was soft.

Then Tank found the tree. A massive tree that was unique looking.  He looked up with his little 3 year old eyes and said, "look Momma, it looks like God's hand....I think He is holding us." And it hit me like a ton of bricks...we found spring today because our Creator made it for us. And this same Creator that cares about the tiniest detail of the littlest wildflower, the amazing pattern on the shell of a snail, the way a snake slithers in the grass...this same Creator holds us and how much more He cares for us...enough to make Spring not hard to find on the Summer-of-a-day in March.

I am convinced, through the eyes of a child, things are clear. And so, as Arae so poetically told me, "Mom, the reason God talks about faith like a child and how we should have faith like a child is because Children believe."

"I am the Vine"

Bobo graciously packed a snack for all of us without me even knowing it.

The Tree - not sure exactly where Tank was looking but still so amazing he saw what he did.

He didn't want to leave this spot.

I couldn't capture it quite fast enough...his little head was just out - maybe it is the fact that little fingers were picking it up.

Chewing  - monkey see monkey do or in our case, Bitty See Bobo Do