The Rainbow Connection

The people in Texas are seeing quite a bit of rain right now, courtesy of Ike.

I pray for them.

My week has been much less catastrophic, but not very fun nonetheless.

This week has been my most difficult since the move.

I won't go all into the "why" of it all, but by my Sabbath Day yesterday I was in tears.

And then came the rain.

I was preparing to go to a cookout with some new friends and their families.

We're all 40 or under, 3 of 4 of the couples have kids, and four of us are ordained ministers in this town. We all moved to this place less than 18 months ago to pastor established churches here, and we represent 3 denominations: United Methodist, Presbyterian (USA), and Baptist (Cooperative Fellowship). We're glad to be in relationship. We look forward to what God will do through our ecumenical friendship and partnership.

But just about an hour before my husband, son, and I were to leave for the get-together, the bottom fell out of the clouds. It rained hard and heavy for the next hour, but subsided just as we were leaving.

As we pulled onto our street, I saw it:

A beautiful, full, bright rainbow: the brightest and widest I've ever seen.

It was gorgeous.

And it said:

After the rain, there is always the promise.

After the rain, somewhere there is a rainbow.

After the rain, there is still God.

After the rain, there is beauty.

After my morning tears, my evening was full of laughter. We all had a wonderful time watching the kids play, grilling out, venting about the things only other ministers and their families understand, and knowing that God will see all of us through, if we will only be faithful.

Thank you, God, for rainbows and friends.

Adorable, but...

A few nights ago, my son hardly slept.

He had developed a cold, and the congestion in his nose kept waking him up. He refused medicine (and remember how the FDA said it didn't help anyway and not to give it to young children??). It made for a very, very long night for all of us.

Around 5:00 a.m., we were all trying to get back to sleep after dealing with the troubles of mucus at around 4:50. We had given our son a tissue to hold in his hand in the bed and use when he needed it.

Suddenly, my husband and I heard a sing-song voice coming through the baby monitors (yes, we still use them so I can hear my son breathe). The little voice said/sang:

Oh, tissue!
Where are you, tissue??
Tissue, I can't fiiiind you...
Come, here, little tissue!
Where aaaaarrrree you?

Oh, yes, it was adorable. But it was also 5 a.m. after a very long night of interrupted sleep.

I wouldn't trade it for anything, this little amazing gift of God.