Halfway through

I realize that we're smack dab in the middle of Winter, but it feels like Spring is just around the corner.  Gray skies have moments, minutes, sometimes even hours of blue.  The sun sails higher overhead.  Temperatures warm, and these days, forty degrees feels chilly and fifty makes me want to throw open a window for some fresh air, even if only a crack and only for a moment.  It was only last month that forty felt warm and fifty-four degrees was a hope I didn't dwell on for long.  Why hope for the impossible, I'd tell myself.  Just be happy where you are.

Bike Ride to Daddy's Work. 

Yes, it's good to be happy with the present moment.  But to hope?  That is where dreams are made and prayers are answered.  And so, I fill my heart and my home with hope. 

The children feel better.  I know because they are happy to argue with me and hit each other and throw tantrums in the middle of Target because I won't buy a soft-pretzel.  We head home, have lunch, and reset.  It used to be that grocery shopping and errands were fun diversions in the day, and while our good trips outnumber the bad, these days the boys prefer to stay close to home.  I'm happy to oblige.

This week I am thinking, planning, preparing for Lent.  William will be aware of so much more this year.  Even Thomas can grasp a lot of what is going on.  Pondering ways to make the season "fun" while still feeling sacrificial.  I know there are tons of resources out there from moms who have gone before, and I'll enjoy perusing many of them in the week to come.