Spring has sprung... maybe?

After weeks of stuttering along, taking two steps forward and three back, I think Spring has finally arrived... just in time for summer! Honestly, you'd think we had just skipped it all together. So here are a couple of pictures of the house in spring. This is my favorite time of the year for my house, because it actually has flowers!

On the first Sunday of April, while we were watching conference, we heard chirping and scrapping right against our front door. After a while, we noticed that a pair of birds were building a nest right on the top of my wreath that was hanging on the door. We were so excited, but soon realized that birds against our door was probably not the safest thing for the birds, especially with the amount of traffic that goes through it. So Jorge decided to move the wreath onto the porch light next to the door, so that it would be safer for the birds to continue with the nest building. I didn't really like the idea of a wreath hanging on my porch light, but I figured the birds would not return, so I humored him. Well, they did return, they built their nest and the mom layed 4 or 5 eggs, which have since hatched. So we have a little family of birds living on our porch.

It has been so much fun watching the progress, and teaching our children. In the past we have had issues with neighborhood kids knocking down nests, so this has been a great opportunity to really teach ours about the sanctity of life, that all animals are God's creations and that we should protect them and not disturbe them, even if we are just curious. It has been interesting how protective they have become, and it has been wonderful to the joy on their faces when the mama bird comes to the nest to feed her babies. I worry everyday that something will happen to our little neighbors, that one will fall out of the nest, or that they will be disturbed, but then I realize, just like everything else, it is in the Lord's hands, that he is mindful of all of us, even the littlest baby birds. I am grateful for the blessing of spring and for the gift it has given us to help protect and nurture these little creatures, right along with our own.