My little daughter just brought me the first plum blossoms.

Aaaahhhh........there is no way to drink in enough of the sweetness of fresh blossoms.......there is nothing that says innocence quite like the first blossoms of springtime....the soft, delicate scent of warm spring days...

I'm transported back to an old orchard....

The trees are a dressed in their lacy pastel finery. 

It is impossible to resist being drawn into the world beneath their gnarled branches. 

One is a princess too, arrayed in the finest of organdy, tiptoeing , whirling, dancing through the grassy avenues between the trees , giddy with the warm fresh scent of blossoms.

One becomes oblivious to the world outside this sun-dappled wonderland!

One can look overhead and lose oneself in the pinks and whites against the blueness of the sky.

One can sink down into the deep, soft, greenness of the tall orchard grass.

The old orchard listens well and always keeps the secrets entrusted to it's depths.

Many a young maiden has dreamed of  happy castles of  love, or sobbed out a broken heart within the privacy of an old orchard.

Many a young man has climbed to the top of an old apple tree to conquer kings or ponder deeply the perplexities of  manhood .

The old orchard is a happy place of childhood play, a quiet place of reflection, or a silent confidant of life's deep questions.

An old orchard is a friend and happy is the one who has known such a friend.

The last couple days brought a change in the air.The very atmosphere in town and about was different with the coming of the first warm days .

People scurried to and fro, the store bustledwith customers, people talked of gardening and asparagus.

As I drove through town feeling the warmth of the sun through the window I was struck by the promise of Spring.

It was easy to forget that winter still held us all in it's icy clasp. It was a easy to overlook the patches of snow, the mounds of snow in every parking lot and  the occasional chilly gust of wind.

It was deeper than that; it was easy also to push back the panic and darkness of the financial situation that loomed so dark throughout the winter. It was easy to overlook the uncertainty of a changing government.

One felt perhaps the as nightime magnifies one fears ,so winter had given flight to over imagination of the state of world affairs.

Throughout the winter talk circled around as endlessly as the driving snow ,of stocks, falling sales, troubled banks, and thousands of people losing their jobs.

With the ever increasing knowledge of how much the new government really does intend to "change "Amercia, came chilling  talk of survival; living off the grid, stocking up, adequate alternative food sources and energy.

One only had to read any newpaper or listen in on most any talk show to hear of "New World Order". Talk of changing laws of parental rights over our children was as ominous  as the winter winds.

Parents began to think not only of their families daily needs ,but of how much that all may change and whether or not they really and truly have prepared their chuldren to face an uncertain world with a firm hold on the only One who can see them through.

Yes, the winter has been a long , dark one but as it gives way to the chatter of springtime robins and the gentle warmness of the sun,  we must remember ,not with fear, but with preparedness, that our government most certainly is changing.

With that awareness we do not feel the darkness of winter, we  feel instead the anticipation of the changing seasons, our "redemption draweth nigh!"

And we lift our faces to the warmth of the Son!

Mom's Menu- Baked Ham, Mashed Potaotes, Ham Gravy, Corn, Tossed Salad, Chocolate Brownie Cake, Ice cream and Coffee