Here's to Finding Some Sunshine When It Rains.

Literally as I am starting this post, the weather outside is trying to figure out if its going to snow or rain. So far, it's done both, back and forth. It's ironic that the weather here in Indy seems to be aligning with the sentiment many of us have right now. It seems as if there's so much gray and sadness about us right us know triggered by uncertainty and fear. How do we keep ourselves from circling down the funnel where at the bottom of the darkness lies sadness, anger, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and any other emotion that makes you lie awake a night?

One day we were riding in our truck, all 6 of us. The oldest two sit in one row and the youngest two in the other. That day was not unlike days we've had before. The stench of irritability was in the air. There were a few tempers, well, not necessarily flaring, but starting the flicker. In the way back, our oldest two were having a minor disagreement. You know the typical, He won't stop doing this! and She won't stop saying that! Nothing that required the immediate intervention of us parents. So in attempt to allow them to work on conflict resolution, which we often do, we ignored the complaints. The youngest was fussy. I believe he may have skipped a nap that day. Rough. My husband and I were a little annoyed that the children weren't being the well behaved children that we were raising. I mean we followed all the instructions in the manuals they came with at birth. Your kids came with manuals too, right? Anyway, annoyed, yes, but not enough to do anything other than an occasional You all need to chill out. Then there was our youngest daughter, smiling peacefully looking out of the window singing quietly to herself. She was not at all phased by the grungy presence of aggravation about her. She was pretty much completely tuned out to what was around her. She was in a happy place and nothing going on outside of that space could sway the joy she had at the time.

In general, this kid is one of the most joyous people that I know. No matter what's going on around her, if it's in her at the moment, she's happy. How do we know she's happy? She singing. That day we were in the car and manageable chaos was abound, her sister asked her to stop singing. I immediately intervened. I let her know that if she's singing, she's happy. She has the amazing ability to find her happy place in any situation. This little girl is always singing and dancing. She seems to find joy all the time. We are Christian and have been teaching her about God and Jesus. These discussions have made her joy grow even more. She was ecstatic to learn about such immense love, and she carries it