It's winter time here and we've had our share of sickness for the last two months so we've been sticking to the house more than we would like. I love the outdoors and nature and I've been missing it A LOT! So yesterday was a huge blessing.
The day started off gray and wet. I took one of my sons to preschool while the rest stayed home due to a teacher in-service day or something like that. Rain was misting as I dropped my son off at school but by the time I got home it was pouring! Despite the fact that it was winter and raining it was a beautiful day because it was warm. It felt great, the only problem was we couldn't play outside with it raining.
After picking up my preschooler the rain soon ended and by lunch the sun started to come out. How EXCITING! Then my husband came home early to finish working from home, PERFECT! He was able to stay home with the little ones while I took our two older children to a special place near home, with ponds, rolling hills, beautiful trees and nature walks. We were so happy to be outside and able to explore again. What a refreshing day it was, I just might be able to make it through the rest of this winter. :)
We had a few slips in the mud and it didn't take long for one of them to soak his shoe in a gigantic puddle (hehe) but it was all okay because it was winter and we were warm in the outdoors.
Up above in the picture is our oldest son holding a sheet of ice. There is a boardwalk that takes you through "The wetlands" where you can explore the plants and animals that live there. The pond was half covered in a thin sheet of ice and a breeze was causing ripples to float across the pond. This moved the ice over to our shore line, shoving the ice into the bank and causing it to break and pile up on each other causing them to then sink. The boys loved watching this, so we stayed here watching and picking up sheets of ice to throw back in.
We saw lots of mud and looked for tracks...nothing interesting to report, only boot prints, tire tracks and dog tracks to be seen. I was happy to hear two birds along the way. I'm guessing they were the only ones fooled by the weather. Soon we came to the creek where we like to wade in the summer. It was very full and rushing due to all of the rain and melted snow. A good time to share with the boys the dangers of flooding creeks. I think they understood me. We found a very shallow stream that fed into the creek so the boys played there, making a bridge of fallen tree limbs. Not surprisingly they slipped and soaked their shoes.
Sun slipping into the west, we made our way back, stopping to say farewell to the sheet of ice, looking again at the trees and seeing how different everything looks coming from the opposite direction. Back at the van we take one last gulp of sunshine and fresh air before climbing in and driving back home.
I hope you are able to take advantage of days like these. God made this day happen for me. The boys had off school, Becky was home to watch her kids, Nate came home early (which never happens) and the sun came out! He totally wanted me to enjoy the day that He had made. I had to say "forget about the treadmill, forget about a shower, get out there now or you'll miss it!" So I ditched all the things I had planned and had a beautiful day out with God and my big boys. Thank you God, for your creation, for knowing me so well, for always providing for me in all of my needs.
AMEn!
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