April began with a near total solar eclipse. It was a glorious display of God’s awesome power and skill!

Our Papa and Grandma Forssell came to visit us, we had a lovely time with them, enjoying each other’s wonderful company.

The second round of wildflowers are blooming with remarkable beauty! The Shooting Stars (last two pictures) are especially incredible!

John has been spending hours outside playing baseball. He’s getting pretty good! His current dream is to be a shortstop on a Major League Baseball team. He has also had fun trying to catch the rabbits, which have been eating our plants, in his live trap. The first night it was out he caught one!

Our honorary “Aunt” Becca came to stay with us for a few, all too short, days. We drank tea, talked by the creek, and made the most delicious strawberry pie with our first batch of summer strawberries.

Since John loves his chickens so much, he decided to try and mark some eggs under a broody hen. His experiment worked!

Last but not least, a family from church who raises meat rabbits gave us two to try. Along with John’s rabbit (the one he trapped), we made them into a delicious meal!

Spring usually is the time of year where we are eagerly getting ready for our big summer garden, and all the preserving of food that goes along with it. But this year has been different. Coming on gradually for many months now, Mom has been dealing with chronic back pain as a result of a herniated disc. She’ll go in for surgery on May 9th. Due to this, we’ve had to majorly scale back our garden this season because of how big of a role Mom plays in the harvesting and preserving of our garden produce. We couldn’t do it without her.

So, in closing, although there may be seasons of difficulty in our brief lives on this earth, we can all say with the Apostle Paul: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” – 1 Corinthians 4:6-18

– Riley