What to do with all those dyed eggs

We don't eat a lot of hard-boiled eggs around here. I suppose we should, considering how easy it would be to use up the dozens of eggs our chickens lay each week. But, anyway...

We do love to dye boiled eggs for Easter. Last week we tried these directions for dyeing with natural ingredients. We used purple grape juice, paprika, and green tea. I forgot we had spinach to use for green, or I would have tried that, too.


The green tea gave the most even color of the three. The grape juice-dyed eggs came out bumpy and speckled, as though the acid in the juice ate away some of the shell. Which leads us to our next project... Disappearing egg shells.

We're planning to do this Wednesday, so I'll let you know how it goes. If you decide to try it, leave me a comment!

Celebrating Easter

Allelujah! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, Indeed!

Wow. What a day. What a week. I hope it was a blessed one for you and yours! I am truly grateful and overwhelmed at the grace and blessings I've received this weekend.

The boys woke up early, excited to look for their Easter baskets. It didn't take them very long, since last year their baskets were hidden a little too well, and I didn't want to repeat that drama! I was so happy to find chocolate Easter crosses, Christian Easter stickers, and Bible-themed jigsaw puzzles at the Dollar Tree!



We had Easter breakfast with my parents and youngest sister, who came for the weekend from San Francisco. Then we headed to church. My fellow nursery teachers and I -- all three of us -- were left in charge of the 40-plus children 12 and under who came for the Easter egg hunt, Bible story, and snack.


We ordered cross-shaped sugar cookies from our favorite local bakery, and I made frosting in pastel colors for the kids to glop on and get all over their Easter finery. Actually, they all did really well. No, I did not have time to grab my camera!

Despite some communication glitches between the service and Sunday school, the morning went very smoothly -- no one cried, no one got lost, no one fought, and we all made it to the service in time for communion!

After we cleaned up the parish hall, we headed home for an afternoon of rest... boy style.

My sister hung out with the boys and my camera all afternoon, while I got out of my Easter skirt and into my pjs for some chatting and knitting.


My dad barbecued, and my mother set a beautiful table for Easter dinner.


I hope your day was full of grace, peace, and celebrations of our Savior!

Lenten goodness

Spring has a way of opening up endless possibilities... the weather is lovely, so we want to be outside -- but do we go out in our garden, or leave home for the fun field trip? We've done as much as we can do of both lately.

I don't remember last spring being so busy, but maybe it was. We had new baby chicks, so we needed to be home more to take care of them. We were putting in our little garden, and building the coop. And we had our Lenten Shabbat dinners, which we have not done this year.

Maybe I always feel like this in spring -- like the season is so perfect and so very short, and I can't possibly squeeze enough into it.


Valerie Bendt wrote, “We should not let the good things crowd out the best things.” This is so where I am right now -- choosing between the good and the best, and trying to discern which is which.

Maybe my trouble is trusting that I'll ever catch the best if I leave the good behind to chase it. There's SO MUCH GOOD around me!

But trying to keep up with my boys' need for ACTION! has left me feeling like I haven't observed the quiet, reflective season of Lent very well -- and here it is Easter week.


Then, yesterday, I found a surprise in my mailbox. An angel left a little book for me, a 30-day devotional called, "Becoming A Woman who Walks with God."

It's so easy to walk with Him when I'm tired and worn out and need a lift. Maybe that's why He's let me run around so much lately.

He knows too well that when I'm feeling fine and everything's going peachy, that I'm tempted to climb out of His arms like toddler yearning for independence, saying, "Thanks, Lord, but I can walk on my own for a while now. I know where I want to go."


But it's when I let go of His hand, and run off on my own, that I inevitably trip and fall and reach, crying, for Him again.

This week, I want to make sure we remember where our freedom and joy come from.

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
--John 1:29

Another homeschooling interview

Oops, I forgot to let you know that Debbie Harbeson interviewed me for her homeschooling interview series. So sweet of her to choose me. My answers were a little on the silly side, but hopefully she didn't mind.

More posts to come, I promise. April is already getting away from me...