The Rains Came Down

Have you been worried?

Don't worry.  We are still here.  (We have cupboards full of beans, remember?)  We are still happy.  (We have each other, remember?)  We are still believing.  (We have seen the hand of God too many times to forget, remember?)

Ethan came home from school the first day after David lost his job and asked, "Did Dad get a job?"

I smiled at him.  And told him it might be a while.

I am trying to tell myself the same thing.  And trying, hardest of all, to be patient. 

Last week we had a monster thunderstorm.  Hail, even.  Whole rivers coming off my roof.  And in the middle of it, I was a witness to this:

Shelter from the storm.

I know just how Caleb feels.  Unaccountably grateful.  For shelter from the worst of it, for the thought and the gesture most of all.  From several of you.  (You know who you are.)  I got a note just yesterday afternoon (thank heavens my cousins married so well!), when I was discouraged and depressed.  It was a balm, a solace, a pink-trimmed, plastic umbrella as the rains came down.