April Showers and Flowers

Happy first week of April! 

This year is moving right along, before you know it, half the year will have passed. We are enjoying beautiful spring days here... sprinkled with lots of rain, and mixes of sunshine, and snow/slush/hail, and then beautiful clouds in the skies.  This is spring in North Idaho! 

Crocus springing up in my garden! 

Spring showers... bring glorious clouds too! 

The clouds in the sky never cease to amaze me.  

We walk in the evenings now since we have more daylight, and it is a joy watching the evening sunsets painted on the sky's horizon for us to view. 

Our local herd of elk grazing in a neighbor's yard... always a delightful scene! 

No wee ones yet... so I know most of these lovely ladies will have calves very soon. 

Elk usually run as soon as they suspect anyone is close.  However, today they posed for me! They were enjoying their evening snack too much to run. 

More lovely evening skies.... with just a faint burst of sunshine in the darkness. 

The Northern Lights were forecast for our area... and I spent several hours outside waiting... and watching... with no luck this time. 

This lovely bluebird was acting rather shy, and wouldn't look at the camera...
but oh, that blue! So beautiful to see! 

I made these delicious Egg Tortilla Cups for my bible study ladies this week. 
They were oh so good, and quite easy to make! 

I used corn tortillas, and they were just about the right size to fit into the muffin tin. Topped with a dollop of sour cream and salsa... a perfect morning treat! 

Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it! 

Egg Tortilla Cups

8 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (divided)

1/2 cup chopped veggies (bell pepper, scallions, spinach, etc.)

12 Mini tortillas or street taco corn tortillas 

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350.  Grease a muffin tin for 12.  Heat tortillas until soft and pliable, about 30-45 seconds in microwave. Press each one into the muffin tin carefully. In a bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, veggies, 1/2 cup cheese, parsley, cayenne, salt & pepper.  Mix well. 

Pour egg mixture into the tortillas, sprinkle evenly with the remaining cheese.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through, when they are puffy and tortillas begin to crisp.  Top with salsa and sour cream, if desired. 

Another evening sunset... 

Another night spent trying to capture the elusive Northern Lights... someday we hope to see them again in brilliant fashion.  Others in my area were able to see them, but we had intermittent cloud cover here when they were forecasted. 

On a cold rainy day, I pulled some frozen pumpkin puree from my freezer (put up from my garden) and made a pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bread... yum! 

There were several opportunities for Northern Lights recently, but our skies did not get the show that others did.  

This was the closest I was able to see the Northern Lights, with the light green coloring just over the mountaintop.  However, we are entering a more active cycle for sunspots to occur, which produce the magnetic activity on earth creating the Northern Lights, so one of these days... we will get to see them again.  

Yesterday we had a windstorm blow through, which usually means downed trees, and then no power.  We are always hopeful our power will stay on, but we are always prepared should it not.  I had soup already made for dinner, along with homemade sourdough bread.  We have a 5-gallon bucket filled with extra water for the toilet flush, and have two 5-gallon containers ready for handwashing and drinking.  We have plenty of propane.  The only thing that could be a problem with a power outage would be my little seedlings, and 10 little chicks that I just got Saturday.  However, should the power go out, the seedlings can be brought inside, as well as the chicks.  Thankfully, the power blinked but stayed on! 

We are still playing the game of winter/spring = Springter... but thankfully the snow 
we are getting is just melting. 

Our hearts continue to plead and pray for the people of Ukraine who are facing such difficult circumstances.  Our community held a prayer rally for them last weekend, and it was such a beautiful time of fellowship and prayer.  We were able to speak with a local missionary who is working in Poland with the fleeing Ukrainian people.  She shared the need for ziplock baggies for the fleeing moms and children, and so many wonderful ladies in our community are getting together to make these baggies.  The baggies will be sent over to Ukraine with a group of missionaries that are headed over to the Polish border.  As women and children cross the border, they will be given these baggies with goodies/toiletries/crafts/snacks etc. to help them as they figure out a new path forward after leaving Ukraine. Our hearts break for these poor people, and it helps to know that we can do something to bless them. 

Speaking of the prayer rally, it was a tremendous blessing to our community.  There was a video recording made of the event, and I'll post it below. It is quite long, but maybe your heart will be encouraged to know that people are gathering together to pray for this great nation, and for the country of Ukraine.  The Lord is the only One that can minister in ways that we cannot.  Our prayers wing their way to heaven and minister in ways our earthly hands cannot. The gathering of our community together to pray was special in every way. 

VIDEO LINK: Community Prayer Rally 

I have also made a new worship medley video with 4 worshipful songs perfect for a time of prayer, devotion and worship.  Images in the video are mine, taken through the years.  I love being able to share these images with you in this way. 

With love and blessings to all!