Lemonade

Y’all know that quip, “Making lemons out of lemonade” right?

Here’s the thing… I like lemonade, but I’m not about to go eat a lemon. Lemonade works because the goodness of the sugar mixes with the sour of the lemons and changes it.

This virus has canceled some of our plans that we’ve been really looking forward too. Jace was all set for a Philmont trek that was called off two days before they left (he should be in the mountains right now in fact). Sam and I were all set and fully paid to go on his 5^th grade trip to D.C. for a week. Cancelled. Fishing trips and sleepovers with Nonie and Dudad. Not happening right now. Soccer, art club, scouts, camping, school. Done until further notice.

But God. He took all those sour chunks of lemon and breathed LIFE into our family.

Don’t get me wrong, we are a pretty tight little family full of love and life, but {up until two weeks ago} we were also a pretty busy little family. The distractions of the day-to-day have been steadily increasing over time, and our calendar was full every night. There were times when I would look at Brian and say, I miss you, even though he was right in front of me! There was always somewhere to be and something that needed to be done, and at the end of the night when we were all finally home together it was time for our heads to hit the pillows.

Having our entire social and extracurricular lives unexpectedly halted sure felt like sour lemons - at first. Yet these past two weeks at home with our boys with nothing expected of us AT ALL have been amazing. We have worked on projects together. We’ve stayed in our PJs all day (or just underwear in one 8-year-old’s case) – not every day, but a couple. We’ve hiked. We’ve built things. We organized the garage. We’ve made art. We’ve worked together on the fort. We’ve played and laughed and argued and apologized and just loved each other. We have energy and time to cook real food. When Brian gets home from work we don’t have to rush out, so we sit and talk and retell funny moments of the day. These moments have been the generous heaping bucketsful of sugar, and it is good.

God is so, so good people. He’s been taking all the sour lemons being squeezed into our current lives, pouring in His holy word, adding in a heaping scoop of sweet moments with our loved ones, and stirring it all in together in our homes.

This is some of the best lemonade I’ve ever had.