Flowers in Bloom

As Rachel said in a previous post, we recently met to plan some exciting new things for Little Flowers. Our daughters are both part of the same religious order in Rhode Island, so we met there, able to visit with them so that we two busy moms with 21 children between us could make the best use of our time. Rachel flew from Baltimore and I drove with two other children, including baby Thomas, from Kentucky. Driving home through Maryland and Virginia to visit relatives on beautiful early spring days, I was struck with the increased budding of flowers as we traveled south. In New England, all was still bare. While visiting Concord, MA, we saw syrup collectors on nearly every maple. Rhode Island was still brown and bare, too. Going through New Jersey, we began to see signs of life. Maryland actually boasted buds and a few brave early spring leaves poking through the earth. Virginia, however, was actually green. The daffodils, forsythia and hyacynth at my parents' home in Central Virginia were in full bloom. The bird feeders were crowded. Spring had actually come!
I began to think about you all in your Little Flowers year and how you have been working on virtues since September. All through the cold, dark winter, the girls have been learning about virtues, the saints, and their faith. Now, as the flowers poke through the ground, the trees begin to bud, and sun warms the body and soul, we can start to see the virtues growing like little flowers in our girls' lives. They begin to be excited about the next Little Flowers meeting, the next saint they will read about and the next virtue they'll practice. Finally, in May, they'll have an elegant Mother/Daughter Tea or May Procession to present their mothers and present to the Blessed Mother a symbol of the flowers that have grown in their hearts this year. What beautiful work God has done through all of you this year. Thank you for all your sacrifices for your girls and all those Little Flowers that are touched through your efforts. God bless, Joan