Silver lining

We have a commute each morning to get Acilia to school. On a good day it's 20 minutes, on a busy day it's more like 25. Every part of me dislikes this commute, but her school is fabulous and it's worth it. I've decided to stop "dreading" the drive everyday, afterall, it's a part of our life, so I feel like it's time to just embrace it and make the best of it. I am glad I have. I've been able to discover that I have built in quality time in the confines of our vehicle with my kids 5 days a week (6 if you include Sundays, we go to church there too!) !! How cool is that? Acilia most of the time spends the time reading, which gives her major points for her reading log at school. She's "required" (I say required because it's for a grade...) to spend atleast 15 minutes a day with her nose in a book. Due to our long commute, she gets about double that. There are times when Acilia would like to stop for a bagel on the way to school, the bagel shop is near our house so she can leisurely eat the bagel with plenty of time before we arrive at school and even sip on her coffee. (That is not a typo, she is 8 and she likes coffee, we do decaf of course) Miles enjoys the ride too, he usually grabs something for the ride, whether it be a book, a puzzle, a few little toy cars, he's rather content looking out the window looking for all types of trucks and just conversing with us too. It's a great set up really. To add to the fun, Acilia has memory work each week. A pretty common thing in private schools, you are to memorize verses from the Bible, or prayers, etc. This month it's been Luther's Morning Prayer and Luther's Evening Prayer broken up into parts. I've been memorizing it with Acilia and it's been fun to say it together in the morning. I think we will continue that even after she knows them. Who am I kidding, she knows them just fine, I still need the paper to remember the words! Ha!

This morning on the way to school, after a forecast of 66 degrees and rain all day, I was thrilled to see breaks in the clouds where sun was sneaking through and the rays were making their way down to Earth. I was struck by the sheer beauty of the rays and shared my amazement with the kids. We started talking about how it looked like Heaven. Of course that always leads to talks about what we think Heaven will be like and Miles asked me if Heaven is the sun. I told him in mommy's world it is, I love the sun! :) Heaven is like everything we love and then even more beautiful! As the morning progressed, the skies opened up even more! I started thinking again how we can plan for things, the forecasters can predict rain, but God is so much bigger than all of us and He chooses to bless us in many little ways throughout the day. Sun for me is a huge blessing and I got the message loud and clear. The message is, no matter how dark the sky or what's "predicted" we must always have faith that finding the "good" in each moment is something that could bring the simplest joy. My hope for you is you are able to find your blessings in each moment!