Friday Five:Signs of Hope

Songbird from RevGalBlogPals writes:

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Song of Solomon 2:10-13 In the late, late winter, as the snow begins to recede here in Maine, we begin to look almost desperately for signs of spring, signs of hope that the weather has turned and a new day is on the horizon. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Easter and Spring twine inextricably, the crocuses and daffodils peeking through the Earth as we await the risen Christ. Share with us five signs of hope that you can see today or have experienced in the past.

AHhhhhhhhhhhhh! Spring! Here’s my five, photoblog style:

1. The first snowdrops peeking through. Taken right before the last snowstorm in March.

2. Bluebirds in our backyard a few weeks ago.

3. The Cherry Blossom Festival here in DC. (This was taken March 2008.)

4. Forsythia. (Last year’s – this year’s blossoms are just thinking about blooming.)

5. Countdowns to summer start. Reedy Girl is famous for keeping them on her white board. Coming up this spring: two concerts, middle school band tour, vacation at the beach, state testing, AP testing, finals and high school graduation. This was last year’s countdown board:

BONUS: What’s left for me this semester? (in the next four weeks!)
3 research papers, 15-20 pages EACH
6 exegetical outlines from one of the Gospels
4 systematic theology essays
2 books on pastoral theology (book reports)
3 reflective essays
1 sacramental doctrine essay