Over the past week, I've been a bit sick.  And what does that mean?  You guessed it. Pinterest.

One thing I did a couple weeks ago was this one with a wine bottle. I had some empty bottles at the house, so rather than recycling them, I decided to do a science experiment.  My friend Charlotte helped me with this one, just in case the flames got out of control.  Of course, they didn't, and the result was great!

 One of the bottles didn't cut as we had hoped, and so I tried this pin out.  It's always annoying when you finish a knitting project and there's enough yarn left that you can't toss it but not enough to make anything.  It worked out perfectly.

Which brings me to craft-tastic week of being sick.  I tried a few new recipes, including mashed potato bread and banana chocolate oat cookies.  Another golden pin I found was for this cowl so I tried out some yarn I got for Christmas. While watching Bye, Bye, Birdie on youttube, I also made another hat for a friend.  The last craft completed during the gloomy, congested week of sleep and musicals, was inspired by an overly ripe clementine I had in the kitchen.  Who knew clementines burned like candles?

Ah, Spring, when bursts of colors appear on a blanket of green grass.  The sun shines longer, the weather is warmer, fountains are on in town, and picnics are seen over the countryside.  As much as I love winter, I'm so glad spring is here!

A couple weeks ago, we had a picnic/crêpe afternoon as a farewell to Hannah before she left.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

A perfect day for a picnic.

Wonderful people.

Such a lovely afternoon!

Soon after, I headed to Peillonnex for a retreat with other workers in Europe.  The town is almost in Switzerland, and up in the beautiful Alps.  I know that I've only seen the Alps, but good grief, I love mountains!  Each morning, I would get up early, take my coffee and my Bible, and go out on the veranda while the sun rose over the mountains.

Swirly lamp post in town.

The sky was just amazing out there.

We took a hike up to the Roman ruins and got to see this beautiful view.

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

I was so excited to find my favorite flowers in France!

Where I spent each morning.

Some of us went to Yvoire one afternoon.

Flowers everywhere!

Daffodils.

There were many a-boat in the lake and on the shore.

My favorite street!

Sunrise.

Mountain sunrise and coffee.

Spring is here, and what a welcome time of year it is!

Well, I can check one more thing off my bucket list.  I went skiing a couple weeks ago for the first time!  I guess "skiing" is a loose term, as my friend and I took a first-time class and weren't even allowed to use the poles, but we still learned the basics and didn't get too injured!  I'd mark that as a win.

 Post-class

We had a beautiful day for it!

I'm not completely sold on it, but at least I can say that I've gone skiing!  And in the Alps too!

Last night, a song came into my head.  It's one of my favorite songs and I have my sister and brother-in-law to thank for that as they had it sung at their wedding.  The song is Center by Charlie Hall.  Often times I find myself wondering what is it that I'm living for?  Do I do the things that I do for my own glory or for God's glory?  So that I can be complimented or that God can use me to reach to others?  As I was thinking of this last night,  the song came to mind.

Oh Christ, be the center of our lives

Be the place we fix our eyes

Be the center of our lives

If we're living for Christ, shouldn't He be the reason for what we do, how we live, and how we interact with people?  But we live in a world that constantly is telling us that we are the most important thing to exist.  Not we as a community or citizens of a country or anything like that, but the focus is "Me, me, me" all the time.  In fact, this is seen in the names of different products everywhere: iPhone, iPod, etc. (sorry Apple) In fact, we get so carried away with this that we don't even think to listen.

We can always find ways to fill moments during a day, find music to fill the empty spaces, but why is that done?  Is it a means of evading what is actually happening?  Silence is important, but often forgotten.  I know I say this a lot (which makes it a bit contradictory, I suppose), but the art of listening has been lost to an extent.  I'm not always a good example of this, but it's something that needs to be practiced, especially when it comes to listening to God.  I know there's been a lot of controversy over Rob Bell in the past few years, but there's one video of his that I really like about silence.  I saw it in Collegelife a few years ago, and I highly recommend it.  

Silence. Listening. We never know what we'll hear, but if we tune out the noise, we may just hear God Himself.