Grateful

We're linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for 5-minute Friday.  A place where we can get together to share our thoughts and write for 5 minutes, without worry if it's just right, we just write.

Today's word is Grateful

Go -

So we've been crazy busy since school got out at 3, getting snacks and juice, gathering dance clothes, shoes and the lost yoga mat, finding his picks for guitar lesson later, "and you know my teacher said I need a new binder, mum" at the last minute.  Crazy busy and I'm tearing my hair out as I realize somehow I have to squeeze dinner in to this evening and these children and I urge them along with words like, "quick" and "hurry up." The dog looks at me with his sad puppy eyes, waiting for his walk that has to happen at some point to, and what time does it get dark these days I wonder?
Then driving home from these activities and all their crazies I look in my rearview mirror at a boy and a girl who are chatting to each other, laughing and singing to the song that's playing, the dog has his head resting over the back seat between them, and all three are smiling and I feel it to my core - love and gratitude for the precious cargo in this car right now.
So I say, "hey kids, I just wanted to say I think you two are great, you are really fun to be with and my favourite thing to do is spend time with you.  I love you both so much and I'm lucky because you're both awesome.  I have so much fun with you both and I love hanging out together."
Silence.  Then my eldest, the boy, says with a slight smirk and a twinkle in his eye, "what's that mum?  Didn't hear a word?"
Small miss giggles.  "me neither" she says.  Then he says, "say it again mum.  I wanna hear it again."
And that makes me grateful too.

Grace for my Mess

Linking up for another 5-minute Friday with Lisa-Jo Baker.  Join us!

Five minutes writing unedited and this week's prompt - Mess

It's a mess.  It's all a mess.  Two years ago a tornado swept through my life, my heart, my soul, my very being and I was shaken and bruised and battered and felt like I scarcely lived to tell the tale.  It's name was childhood cancer.  And my daughter carries the 5 inch scar on the delicate skin of her beautiful neck and now hidden beneath her hair.  And that event creates changes and wreaks havoc and leaves a mess.
We were given lots of information, we were given numbers for support groups, we were talked through the mechanics of surgery, of pathology reports and treatments.  What we were never told, and what I didn't expect was the chaos and mess of a life turned completely upside down.  This childhood cancer gig messes with your head, your heart, your home, your marriage,  your relationships, your friendships, your finances, your emotions, your soul, your faith and yes, it gets messy.  We've endured the mess, been in survival mode, been broken, been broken apart, then been broken together and been in a messy season of grief.
Now my home is still a mess, physically, and I have stuff that needs dealing with from two years ago, my heart is a mess and has stuff that needs dealing with from two years ago.    My family is messily carrying on together, doing the best we can on any given day.  And I pray daily for grace for my mess, for strength to keep on keeping on, and for the belief and trust that the storm has passed.  That the mess can be sorted out, that there's always, always someone willing to get in the mess with me and help, there's always a word of encouragement, a victory cry of another child a step closer to cure and always, always God, waiting patiently for me to find rest in Him and then set me on the path to clarity, cure and the calm that always follows after the storm.