March has been a varied month, at home as well as in the weather. We celebrated my husband’s birthday. The guys enjoyed a brief camping trip, while Mittu and I visited them for a few hours one day. We totally missed “Pi Day” (3.14). We got some financial paperwork done that will make things easier on the kids when we pass (hopefully not for a long time in the future). I got some organizational things done here and there. Our health has been relatively stable–always a good thing. We’ve enjoyed the signs of spring slowly making themselves known.

We’ve had snow as well as temperatures in the 80s. We did have some storms and loss of electricity for a short while. And the hardest part of the month was the loss of our niece’s husband after a brutal battle with cancer. We were blessed by the live-stream of the memorial service.

Watching

We’ve started watching a series called Blue Skies about a young woman who is a National Park investigator in CO. In the first episode, a lost dog shows up and “adopts” her, showing an uncanny ability to track and help with cases. Her mother passed away a year earlier in an accident at the park, and she and her father are making progress in her relationship. But a friend thinks her mother’s death was not accidental and has been investigating on the side. It’s a very clean series, if a little slow-moving. My husband and I have laughed over the frequent Significant Glances that occur between characters during important moments. But we’re enjoying the series.

We finished the PBS Masterpiece production of The Count of Monte Cristo about a man in France during the Napoleonic era who is betrayed and wrongly imprisoned for fifteen years.When he gets out, he becomes rich through finding a lost treasure that a fellow prisoner told him about. He reinvents himself as the Count of Monte Cristo. Then he seeks to find out what happened, reward those who stood by him, and exact vengeance on those who betrayed him. But he discovers vengeance often exacts a price on the innocent. We did find a couple of brief objectionable elements, but overall, the series is well done. It’s been so long since I read the book, I’m not sure where they may have varied from the original plot.

Sarah’s Oil is based on the true story of a young Black girl in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. Because she was born in Indian territory and has some Creek Indian heritage, she’s entitled to an allotment of land. She feels sure there is oil under the surface, but trying to find a prospector who is both willing to take the challenge of drilling and honest enough not to swindle her is hard.

First Dog is about a young boy in group foster care who comes across the president’s missing dog. No one will believe him that the dog is the president’s. But he feels compelled to do the right thing and try to return the dog. So he sets out on his own, encountering both helpful and shady people along the way. It was not a terribly well-made movie, but it was quite family friendly. It might have been fun to watch with the kids when they were younger.

Creating

I made a couple of cards this month. This was for Jim’s birthday:

This is one of my favorites. The little scenes on the left and the words were printed and cut from the Cricut.

This was for a friend from church recovering from surgery:

I’ve been wanting to use those 3D blue flower stickers for a long time, so I was glad to finally find a design to do so. The words were from a stamp. Some time ago I used that stamp to make sheets of it in different colors, so I’d have them ready to use when needed instead of having to let the stamp dry while making a card.

Mittu and I met with an artsy friend from church Saturday to do some simple watercolor flowers. It’s harder than it looks! More on that on Friday.

Reading

Since last time, I have finished (titles link to my reviews):

• Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany compiled by Sarah Arthur. I didn’t like this as well as I thought I would, but I did glean a few good selections.
• Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, audiobook. A young man with mental deficiencies is caught up in the mob reaction to the Papists Act of 1778. The description didn’t sound very exciting, but the book was quite good.
• Rebel with a Cause by Franklin Graham, his autobiography.
• All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee, audiobook. A young woman’s twin brother is killed during the Viet Nam war, and she blames her father for not keeping her brother from going. She leaves home for a few years until she learns her mother is dying. She comes home and learns secrets about her family that may heal or open the rift wider. Very good.
• The Spice King by Elizabeth Camden, audiobook, the first in the Hope and Glory series. Annabelle moves from Kansas to Washington, DC, with her blind sister, who has an opportunity to work at he Library of Congress in the early 1900s. Annabelle lands a temporary position at the Smithsonian, where her boss wants her to persuade the head of Delacroix Spices to donate some of his plants to the museum. Gray Delacroix refuses, but Annabelle doesn’t give up easily. Meanwhile, Gray tries to keep his frivolous twin siblings out of trouble. Very good.
• The Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden, sequel to The Spice King. I just finished this and hope to have the review up this week.

I’m currently reading:

• True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth) with our ladies’ Bible study.
• None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different From Us and Why That’s a Good Thing by Jen Wilkin with a friend.
• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley. Disappointed by some bad language in this one.
• Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea by Jennie Nash. I’ve only read a couple of chapters, then this one got crowded out. I plan to get back to it this month.
• The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle by Daniel Darling.
• The Prince of Spies by Elizabeth Camden, the third in the Hope and Glory series.

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

• Spiritual Maturity Is Dependent. Physically, children grow independent from parents as they mature. But spiritually, we grow ever more dependent on the Lord.
• How Do We Delight in the Lord? We tend to concentrate on the second half of Psalm 37:4 and gloss over the first part about delighting in the Lord.
• God Uses the Ordinary. We love the Bible stories involving some of our heroes. But God doesn’t just use those who stand out or who have great gifts: He uses everyday, ordinary people, too. That’s good, since most of us are everyday, ordinary people.
• Spring for the Soul. Souls have seasons. During a spiritual winter, we look forward to the renewal of spring.
• Who Is Responsible for Jesus’ Death? A number of people had a hand in Jesus’ crucifixion.

Writing

I got a good chunk done this month! It was my turn to present a chapter to our critique group. I was able to get that done and then work in the edits they suggested.

Turning the corner

Easter is coming up, and then Timothy’s birthday as well as a couple of medical appointments. We look forward to more blooming things, more stable weather, more reading, writing, and enjoying time with family.

How was your March? Looking forward to anything in April?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)