Beauty and Hope

Dog sitting has created a new world for me this week. Not just the kind of week that makes me want to keep this dog {although there is that...} but the kind of week that forces me to have a different kind of life for a minute.

And I would dare to say it's the kind of life I needed to have for a minute.

I've stopped to smell the roses.

Literally.

Because it turns out we have rose bushes, and it turns out dogs need to go to the bathroom frequently.

So while Phoebe thinks about the best possible spot to fertilize the yard, I just wander up and down the row of bushes and drink in the utter beauty of buds bursting into bloom.

Some blossomed days ago and are starting to crinkle and wither, and others are such tight buds that I can't even see the color of the blooms on that bush yet.

Kind of feels like our life in this season...heavy with beauty and parts still waiting to burst open while other parts are settling into completion.

And where these flowers are concerned, it all feels like one big bonus. We had no idea there were so many beautiful plants awaiting us. A January house hunt concealed all that. Everything was buried beneath winter, and slowly, in the two months we've been here, it's burst forth, piece by flowering piece to surprise us.

And if it weren't for Miss Phoebe, I would have missed a good chunk of this glory this week. {And a handful of stunning sunsets, too.}

It's good to pause and find the hope hidden right outside your own door.