I am looking forward to Easter and a lovely Eastertide. It seems to me as if the land is awakening from slumber and the signs of life are so encouraging – the nest with five little blue eggs on my porch, the green leaves coming on the trees, the greening of the pastures, the spring frolicking of the horses. It’s a beautiful place to be.

This month has things worth celebrating!

Our main festival dates in our family this month include:

1- Easter Monday

8- Will you be watching the solar eclipse?

23- St. George

25- St. Mark

29- St. Catherine of Siena

and I am looking ahead to Ascension Day (Thursday, May 9th) and the Rogation Days that precede Ascension Day ( the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday prior to Ascension Day).  There is also a Novena of 9 days that begins on Ascension Day and ends on the Eve of Pentecost. 

These are a few of my favorite things this month for my family:

• Since we will be in Eastertide here,  dyeing of eggs,  thinking of the Paschal candle and light in our home, indoor dish Easter gardens, Easter carols (yes, they are real!) and attending church are in my heart, This is growing my own garden in my heart.
• Gardens outside as well – especially leading up to Rogation Days which is a wonderful time to have seeds, gardening tools and homesteads blessed. My seedlings are getting tall and I will be planting them outside this weekend.
• Spring cleaning, decluttering, and moving ahead with some simple decorating I have wanted to do in our home. We are re-doing our laundry room, which is something small that we can afford, but it will be nice to have that done. Other projects coming up include building a dry lot behind the barn for the horses in inclement weather, and painting thousands of feet of fencing!

These are a few of my favorite things for small children:

• Ramping up all kinds of physical activity since the weather is generally nice…hiking, kayaking, roller blading, walking, never disappeared these past months, but I feel so drawn to these activities now.
• Incorporating more and more loose parts play and re-arranging indoor and outdoor play areas.

These are a few of my favorite things for grades-age children:

• Spring handwork – wet felting, making beautiful spring crafts
• Movement outside and exploring nature
• Adjusting our rhythm to the seasons, but sticking to strong awake, rest and bedtimes, along with regular nourishing whole foods mealtimes.

These are a few of my favorite things for teens:

**Exploring new interests and possibilities for summer. There are many wonderful camps for the summer. Sometimes by age thirteen or fourteen, the appeal of going to camp dissipates and sometimes it doesn’t, so you can carefully observe your child. It can be hard to know how hard to push. ** Sleep! A lot of teens really need sleep over the summer.

These are a few of my favorite things for my own inner work:

• In the past I had created a Sacred Hour – half to be spent in personal study, and half to be spent with our children in sharing the Saints, the Bible and Anglican traditions. This Eastertide, I am devoting some time to Anglican Studies and also using the Venite App for daily readings.  I am feeling very happy about this.
•  I am starting my own version of the 75 day hard. The similarity ends at 75 days! LOL. Mine essentially includes a focus on meal planning and prep, exercise and activity in nature, things to promote lymph movement and restorative practices.

In our family:

• I love to get the vast bulk of my planning done over the summer. Our youngest will be headed to a classical hybrid high school as that is what is available in our area. The singular focus is to get him ready for university and military service, which is his goal right now. So legally we are homeschooling, but I feel as if my planning is done as the off days are following the plans laid out by the hybrid school. Bittersweet!
• Our oldest two children are living on their own, one about 45 minutes away and the other six hours away. Blink and off they go!

Happiest of Eastertides to you and your family,

Carrie