Hello everyone! I know this monthly blessings post is a bit late, but I’ll try to make up for it.  It’s been a wonderful month. There’s been a lot of highlights, so brace yourself – this is a long post! :)

I took this picture a few weeks ago when our lilac bush was in full bloom. There were many different types of butterflies surrounding it. This blue butterfly was beautiful, although it looked like something happened to the lower part of its right wing! :(

On April 9th, we celebrated Jonathan’s 10th birthday with a lovely picnic and a triple-chocolate-cookie-crust-mousse-something in the evening. Whatever it was, it was a great choice made by the birthday boy! :)

Welcome to the double digits club, Jonny-B! I love you!

Wesley took this picture of me under our dogwood tree. I like how the leaves framed this picture.

We have a new addition to the family! Meet Flospy, Jonathan’s new miniature bunny.

Now this was an unexpected event. Here’s how it went: a few days ago, Mom and I were in town doing some shopping and running errands. We needed to swing by a farm and home store to buy corn for feeding the turkeys. As we walked towards the back of the store, we saw a cage of baby bunnies. They were absolutely adorable! Mom and I cuddled several of them, and we kind of gave each other a look to say we just HAD to bring one home. Both our hearts were melted by this time. We knew that Jonathan would really enjoy a pet. He is very responsible, and would love a baby bunny. So we got a small black bunny a gentle personality. She’s a mini bunny, so she won’t get very big. We brought her home in a cardboard box, and when Jonathan opened it, he was completely surprised. He named her Flopsy.

He’s so excited to have a little pet all his own! Daily activities for Flopsy include running through mazes out of cardboard bricks, gnawing on carrots, and being cuddled by everyone throughout the day. :)

Last weekend, we went hiking at the Ha Ha Tonka State park (isn’t that a funny name?!). The scenery was beautiful, and there was an old castle that had been partially burned down.

It was used as a hotel after its completion in 1922. But in 1942, sparks from the chimney caught the roof on fire and much of the castle was destroyed in a few hours.

We hiked all over the park and enjoyed the gorgeous view. After hiking some pretty huge hills, we all felt tired, and were glad to stop and enjoy a nice picnic.

Mom makes the best kabobs, and Daddy does a wonderful job grilling them! :)

It was a very fun day!

And now here’s something that’s encouraged me this month:

I have been reading through the book Do Hard Things. This is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it. It has challenged me to think about how I’m using my time to most glorify God and use the opportunities that He’s given me.

The book asked the question, “Is how we’re spending our time right now preparing us for what we hope to become in the future?”

This has challenged me to think of my teen years not as “just waiting around to become an adult”, but to use them to not only grow and strengthen my faith, but also to pursue and cultivate the gifts that God has given me. So many times, young people waste their teen years, and do not use them to their advantage. The teen years are special in that they provide many opportunities but do not include many of the cares of adults, such as financial responsibilities.

Here’s something else from the book to consider: we should never measure our success only by other people’s standards of what is acceptable. If we measure our accomplishments by what other people do, we won’t reach our true potential. I love this quote from Corrie ten Boom: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” If we can trust our futures to God, He can use us to accomplish things we never thought could be possible.

When we do reach out, succeed, and accomplish things in life, the enemy of pride can easily trip us up. We must remember that we are indeed each a pen in the hand of God, and whatever great things we’ve done in our lives are really His work through us. All the glory should go to Him because He enables us to accomplish great things in the first place!

So thus concludes this post for the blessings of April. But stay tuned – there’s more around the corner. This weekend is Wesley’s graduation!