Heading for home after a wonderful birthday celebration day at Friday Harbor, followed by dinner in Anacortes, our friend and chauffeur, Rhonda, asked, "Want to take a little detour and catch the tulip fields in bloom?" We all said, "Yes!", thankful that we had dodged the rain forecast for the day.

After just a short drive through some winding farm roads, we came upon the tulip fields at RoozenGaarde, near Mt. Vernon. Our timing was actually great, because most of the crowds were leaving and we quickly found a place to park, on this busy Saturday. Even though I've seen these fields in bloom a number of times, I was in awe as I gazed at all this beauty right in front of my eyes...not just in some postcard from Holland. I thought once again of the words from Matthew 26, Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow, they do not toil or spin, yet not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these." And then I started thinking about what a miracle these flowers truly are. Tulips begin as an ugly, knobby looking bulb...nothing beautiful about them. Then, the bulbs are plunged deep into the soil, spending months in the dark, but the miracle is beginning to take form...even though we cannot see it. After a time, as the earth begins to show early signs of spring, they pop through the ground, just their fat leaves in evidence of the small enclosed flower pushing up in the center. The sun soon causes the enclosed flower to open and ta da!... there is the gorgeous tulip, in all its' glory! What a picture of life...sometimes we spend months in the dark, going through hard times, but God is working all the same...working to bring beauty out of it all. And what a picture of this Easter week...after the darkness of Good Friday, Sunday comes and we celebrate the Risen Christ! (I wrote a post called "It's Friday...but Sunday's a comin' last year at this time).

Wandering through the fields, admiring the beauty of the flowers and taking photos, we ran into some dear people, my cousin, Lyle and his wife, Lois, their daughter, Noelle, and her three little boys, Collin, Aaron, and Luke. The boys seemed much more interested in throwing chunks of mud into the ditches and poking around with sticks than gazing at tulips, but they were having fun anyway!

Their grandma did manage to get a good picture of the three of them...adorable little rascals!

What a fun way to end our day of celebration! If you are a local, I encourage you to go and see the tulip fields...such a sign of spring! I hope you have a wonderful Easter, full of rejoicing. He is risen...He is risen indeed! Warmly, Gracia