Memorable Moments: A burden that should never be lifted and other thoughts . . .

A little over a month ago I wrote about a heaviness that I have been carrying around ever since Grace started the process of adopting Sam; the burden of knowing how children are living while I go about living my blissfully unaware existence. Since then, some of the burden has been lifted knowing that Samantha's misery will soon be a distant memory. Grace will be leaving for her first of two trips on April 20th. Please pray that God would prepare her heart for what she is about to see. A little more of the hopelessness was recently lifted when I learned of what God is doing Sam's orphanage, and even more of the powerless feeling evaporated when I learned of practical ways I can help (and you too). Visit this blog for more information. However, the heaviness will never be totally gone. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 Now that I know I am responsible . . .

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Over the span of weeks since I have last written, we have experienced a wild fluctuation of temperatures. Just two weeks ago when we decided it would be a good idea to go for a picnic, it was 91 degrees; a record breaker.

While Steven hogged the nice camera, I took the following pictures from my phone. I am very grateful to have a decent camera on my phone for times such as these.

Jimmy Johns, our favorite picnic food.

I love this picture and all of its elements; the beautiful flowering tree and Steven taking the girls' picture in the background.

Doing a little goose watching.

A close up of the flowers on this tree. Each of the girls picked a bouquet for me. When Audrey presented me with hers she said, "here you go my lady"!

Madeleine named the flowering trees the "Jungle of Beauty".

I also like this picture I took of the Pioneers Park Pillars.

While I was snapping pictures with my phone, Steven was taking better pictures with our good camera. Here are some of my favorites:

This particular park that we visited has a nature center that we like to walk through. We love it for the animals you can view while living in their natural habitat. However, on this particular day we were surprised to see a rather large area of charred land. It was obvious that there had been a fire and I explained to the girls that it was probably a controlled burn. However, I couldn't explain why and that was not sufficient for Madeleine. Especially since we saw this:

A snake that did not make it out alive.

So, with Madeleine by my side I asked one of the employees what the purpose is behind a controlled burn. She explained that it was to kill unwanted trees and weeds and that the heat from the fire is actually good for the prairie grasses. Madeleine and I agreed that it seemed like a high price to pay just to kill a few unwanted plants, but what do we know?

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For Easter it cooled off and felt more like Spring. We maintained our tradition of dying Easter eggs and making a bunny cake.