Lena is Eleven

Our sweet Lena Lu is eleven years old and is dancing her way towards high girlhood. What a year she has had, full of hard moments with Lyme and healing but oh with what courage she met all of the mountains.  She is beautiful and gentle, a mother to all and tender with her kitties and chicks.  She is a book girl and enjoyed the Redwall series, Nancy drew mysteries, Cherry Ames books, James Herriot and read over 70 books during her school year.  She is a wonderful artist, and flowers and vines appear on grocery lists and staff paper along with a creation of Shakespeare paper dolls.  Lena has a sweet and pure soprano voice and we all enjoy listening to her sing throughout the house.  Lena loves to be organized and plans her days with great detail. But she's always up for a good romp in the woods or a wade through the creek.  She loves her dolls like a faithful mother and always turns up dressed up in a different era for lunchtime.  Our dear girl plays the piano and violin and was part of the Forte Fide Ensemble and a new homeschool choir. She knows her plants and medicinal herbs, is not afraid of mud or bugs and can get her baby brother to sleep when no other can.  Lena thinks deeply about things, about her Savior and the broken world around her and prays for all hurting. How we love our tender, deep thinking, hard working girl and pray for God's richest blessing on her now and forever. 

Lush Green of Spring

Just like that we're in the lush green of spring and have noticed the splendor around us. The lilacs are blooming, the bluebells on the Perkiomen Trail have carpeted the path in purple glory and the perennials are poking their eager heads up through the damp earth.  Seedlings are started inside and vegetables beginning again in the garden.  Spring is so redemptive, reminding us of life, after rest, after death and the newness God provides. 

But goodness, we've been busy.  April was the peak of our homeschool year with so many fun events- a geography dinner including food from Holland and Sweden, end of year piano and ballet recitals, Easter dinner with family and a Seder dinner at home on Good Friday.  Lena lost four teeth! Levi got three! Our chicken Jane Bennet who survived the brutal raccoon massacre is happily recovered from mortal wounds and is being carefully watched over by Theodore Lawrence, our rooster.  We're tired and ready for some rest (we feel like Levi who was found lying on the table) but we see miracles everywhere, when we choose to search for them.  So now we move on to homeschool evaluations, physics projects, Shakespeare plays and a choir concert to tie up our homeschool year and we wait eagerly for the song sparrow eggs to hatch (in the mud kitchen bakery of course).