What I learned in March

What did I learn in March?

Goodness.  My mind is so blank, I'm appalled.

I should always be learning.  I hope I learned something.

(1)

I am in the center of a process of learning to trust God with my children's futures.  It is one thing to steel oneself for trials and trouble that may come.  It is another thing entirely to hand over the fate of your children to the Lord, blind yet trusting.

Even though I was never in control in the first place.

Perhaps I am learning that I am not in control, although I'm not sure I thought I was.  Anyway, the One who is in control is infinitely more qualified than I.  Yes, He is.  I am learning to live by this, although in my head I have always believed it.  I know that it is logical, and I do not understand why it is so difficult for me to feel the peace in turning life over to Him.  He is good.  He is wise.  He is attentive.  He is faithful.  He is zealous.  He is all I need Him to be, and more.

 (2)

I was reminded that although the package says to plant your daffodil bulbs 4 inches below the surface, I never used to do that.  I used to plant them with their bottoms 4 inches down, and their tops just barely below a delicate layer of soil.

This past fall, Shawn and I planted 40 daffodil bulbs.  He dug and I stuck, and we planted them 4 inches down, following directions.  This spring, they have not been coming up and I've been fretting, comparing them to my neighbors' vibrant sprouts.  Finally, my friend Melinda suggested, "Well, you could dig one up and see what it's doing down there."  So I did, and I found a bulb, and it had a tiny, pale green shoot coming out of it, searching for the sun somewhere up above all those inches of dirt.

I am not sure exactly what I learned from this, but I think it is related to not assuming that the planting directions on a bag of bulbs are correct, and also something about the need to go remove a few inches of soil from everywhere that I think daffodils may be submerged.  Oh my.

(3)

I learned that it doesn't work to substitute ground up oatmeal for all-purpose flour in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Nope.  Well, it tastes good, but it doesn't come out looking like cookies, and the best way to eat the crumbly mess is out of a bowl with a spoon.  GF woes.

(4)

I learned the names of the children in my maternal grandmother's family.  This may be interesting only to me.  The girls were Martha and Esther (my grandma was Esther).  The boys were Theo, Ezra, Silas, Reuben, Aaron and Benjamin.  Another thing that is interesting to me about this:  My sister's boys are Aaron and Ben, and I have a friend from New York whose boys are Reuben and Ezra.