Rain

I told the kids all morning the rain was coming.  Watch for the rain.  Play outside while you can.  They did.  And waited.  As they sat down to lunch, I heard it coming.  I slipped away and stood in my doorway, watching neighbors hurry to get things out of the rain.  And then I walked barefoot into it.  Turned my face up to it.  The cold drops covered my face like tears, the wetness on my cheeks feeling so familiar.  I stand and just let it fall on me, all around me.  Watch the earth get blanketed in a curtain of it.  I hear the kids at the table, now aware of the rain.  They excitedly run about, yelling, looking for me.  But I stay where I am in the rain, almost unable to move.  Not wanting to move.  Feeling like God's touch is falling down all around me, on me.  My sweatshirt soaks through.  My feet start to burn with cold.  I hear the kids, nearly as a dream.  And then they're there.  "Mama!  I don't want my corn bread."  I snap back into reality.  I watch them grab "raining boots" and run into it.  I listen to their made up rain songs while they dance in it.  I watch my three blessings embrace the rain with the joy only children have, wishing they could hold on to that joy forever.  Wishing I knew how to find it for myself.  And so I join in.  We swing in the rain, a muddy 2 year old on my lap.  We run in it.  We dance in it.  We let it fall on us past the point of being soaked through.  Past the shivers.  Past the goose bumps.  We sing in it.  We laugh in it.  We stay in it until the drops get as big as marbles.  Until the earth is too slippery to run on anymore.  Until the cold and wet are finally too much.  The children request hot baths, and I run the water, even though its past nap time.  And as they soak up the warmth, I go behind them, picking up muddy clothes and wiping up dirty footprints, a mess I'd usually be upset about.  And I smile, letting go, knowing the memories that this mess created.  A mess so easily cleaned up in exchange for a lifetime memory, on a day when it was very needed.  God is gracious, and I am so blessed!

Yesterday's "Tidbit of Joy"

With Zac working so much, I've been trying to add what I call a "tidbit of joy" to each day.  Just a little something to keep me intentional, to make the kids feel special, and to keep all our spirits high while we miss Zac.  Its just little things like not telling the kids their friends are coming to play, or adding animal cookies into their peanut butter sandwiches at lunch.  Easy stuff.

Yesterday, God supplied us with a good tidbit of joy.  Rain!  We don't usually get rain this late in Spring around here.  We were playing outside and talking to neighbors when it started to rain.  My neighbors literally took off and headed indoors, making a comment about how they guessed we were all headed in for the day now.  Oh how little they know my kids!  As soon as the rain hit my kids' faces lit up!  They ran to the carport and grabbed anything they could find to catch the rain in.  Then they ran around our cul de sac laughing, holding their buckets up, and looking up to the sky with mouths wide open to catch some on their tongues too.

Soon, the roof started shedding its abundance and they ran to the side yard to catch the waterfalls there.

Buckets of rain naturally get turned into pots of mud pie soup.

Lunch was pushed back for this wonderful play time.  The kids were soaked to the bone by the time we came in.  They were stripped down on the front porch and ushered to hot baths and showers.  Left over matzo ball chicken soup with tofu, and chicken and cheese snackmaster sandwiches (panini type things made in a press straight out of my childhood) were calling to us even though they were planned for dinner.  So we filled our bellies with warm food and the older two got to watch Narnia while Kian napped.  We don't watch much T.V. around here (we don't have cable) and since February, have cut it down to basically never so this was a real treat.  But it just felt like a Narnia day.

Thank you God for Your wonderful tidbit of joy today.

And thanks for watering the garden.

Welcoming The Rain

Doing the Hooray For Rain dance.

What's cuter than brothers excitedly welcoming the rain?

Possibly these two as they head out on a special Daddy date.

Or possibly these boys who helped me make their dinner while Daddy and Sissy were away.

Nope, I think this is the cutest.

A tiny boy experiencing rain for one of the first times in his life and being in complete heaven about the new experience.  Can you imagine?  I love seeing my kids experience things we take for granted, for the first time ever.  They enjoy it so fully and purely with no care of who's watching.  Their joy is contagious!