When I was a child, my siblings and I would sometimes get scolded for coming in and out of the house too often. We didn’t have central air conditioning until I was halfway through high school, so my parents weren’t concerned about letting cool air out or hot air in. But the frequently open door let in mosquitos and flies. Plus it was probably irritating when the door banged shut so often. We were told to decide what we were going to do and do it–either stay in or stay out for longer than a few minutes.

The entrance of spring reminds me of my childhood self. It’s as if the season can’t quite decide whether to settle in or retreat for a while. Or maybe winter is the culprit, setting out to leave, but coming back with, “Oh, and one more thing . . . “

We have a few more nights in the mid-30s coming up next week. But hopefully after that winter will stay out and spring will stay put a while.

March has been a pretty balanced month—not overly busy, but with a few fun things on the calendar. We celebrated my husband’s birthday early in the month. One Saturday we visited Fort Loudoun, a pre-Revolutionary War settlement, and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. We enjoyed several family times with dinner and games or just chatting.

Our church search has finally brought us to one that seems very promising. Over the next weeks we’ll explore Sunday School and some of the other get-togethers. I have high hopes.

I can’t recall watching or listening to much of interest this month that I’d want to recommend, so I’ll skip that section this time.

Creating

I just made one card this month, for Jim’s birthday.

The numbers are puffy foam stickers.

Reading

Last time, I had just finished Dakota Dawn, Dakota Dream, and Dakota Dusk by Lauraine Snelling, a novella series about Norwegian immigrants who settle in North Dakota in the early 1900s, but hadn’t had a chance to review them yet. They were packaged together in one audiobook.

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

• Be Patient (Job): Waiting on God In Difficult Times by Warren W. Wiersbe
• Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Duggar Vuolo. The sixth child of the reality-TV Duggar family, Jinger wrestled with some of the teachings her family grew up under. Here she details disentangling herself from what was not Biblical while holding on to truth.
• Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability and the Lessons of Grace by Greg Lucas, audiobook. Greg’s adopted son ended up having a host of developmental diagnoses which made caring for him a challenge. Greg saw parallels between his son and our spiritual condition before the Father who loves and cares for us often despite ourselves. Greg’s writing is heartbreaking, yet hopeful and beautiful.
• Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis, audiobook, his autobiographical journey of faith.
• All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson. Hannah proposes that instead of thinking as discernment as looking out for the bad, we employ it to find and follow the good. Excellent. This will probably be one of my top ten books of the year.
• The Space Between Words, a novel by Michele Phoenix. A young woman recovering from a trauma finds some notes from another young woman in the 1600s suffering persecution for being of the Huguenot faith. Excellent.
• Dakota December and Dakota Destiny by Lauraine Snelling, fiction audiobooks. The last two books in this series, packaged together.
• The Lady and the Lionheart by Joanne Bischof, fiction audiobook. An aspiring nurse helps a circus performer with a sick daughter. They each learn there is so much more to the other beyond the surface. Very good.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Joyful (Philippians): Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy by Warren Wiersbe
• Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson
• Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser by Roy Peter Clark
• The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop
• All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese
• Ring of Secrets by Roseanna M. White, audiobook

Blogging

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

• Tips for Getting Out of a Devotional Rut
• Grace When Others Fail Us
• The Power of God’s Word
• Is It Wrong to Read Romance Novels?
• We Need Time Alone with God

Writing

Finally, after a lot of prayer, motivated writing time in order to present to my critique group, and their very helpful and encouraging feedback, I’ve made major headway with my “problem chapter.” I wish I could stop everything and just write for a week. I guess most writers feel that way.

As we turn the calendar page to April, we look forward to Timothy’s birthday, Easter, warmer weather, and more blooms.

How was your March? What are you looking forward to in April?