Snow in March

I began my week with a play-date across town so we cancelled school Monday morning and drove to the metro. As I was patiently waiting for a parking spot to open up, a man (not Russian) pulled his Lada in front of my fender, rolled down the window, spit toward my fender, and scowled as he drove away. "Huh?" I thought. That's never happened before. Either he felt the need to spit right then or he knows what the special numbers and color of our license plate denotes. I proceeded to unload the kids and headed on our way anyway.

It was a fun day, but I was a little nervy because my husband was in Washington DC taking an exam for a possible new job. My friends were supportive and hopeful as we sipped coffee that tasted amazing! I said to her, "What kind of coffee is this?" She replied rather sheepishly, "Maxwell House?" We both had a good laugh about what we considered luxury. We also realized that the cubed, raw sugar she bought tastes pretty, darn good.

A few hours later when we arrived back at our side of town, I decided to get an impromptu haircut. After all, it had been five months and I was well past due. I opted for a straight around bob that I haven't sported since 2003. I walked out of there feeling taller, prettier, and flaunting my bare head because it was a balmy 33 degrees! Once we got to the car, I realized the lights had been left on and we had no battery. There was a time when I would have cried, fallen down, or screamed mutiny. But I didn't. I apologized to my kids and we caught a bus.

Once home, a neighbor, who is Guatamalan and all of 4.5 feet tall, drove me back to my van with a mobile charger. The battery wasn't exactly easy to get to and considering my vehicle is notoriously filthy and the snow was knee deep, I think we did pretty well by getting it started. We had Russian male spectators the whole time. I'm sure they had a good laugh. Or maybe not.

So my husband didn't get the job.

When he came home from DC, I couldn't believe the gifts he brought back and how much he thought of me while he was gone. From a Starbucks Washington DC mug to Yankee Candles, I was feeling pretty special. But the best gift of all came the next morning.

I have been feeling really tired lately because I am anemic and I ran out of iron two weeks ago. I know they have iron at the local pharmacy, but every time I go in, I forget the word and can't communicate what I need. So I have gone without. As I unpacked his bags to get out the laundry, I found one container of iron from an American pharmacy. After 11 married years with this man, how is it that iron could speak so much love?

On Friday morning, I headed to Bible Study. It's half a mile away so when it's cold I drive, but yesterday the snow was so pretty and the birds were chirping. I felt like I was in Narnia. It's hard for me to believe that I am so optimistic about the snow that I used to despise. Here it is, end of March and we're still getting regular snowfall. But I've been here for a spring/summer and know that once the warm weather arrives, we will have sun for 20 hours a day and beauty that seems to last forever.

Last week when my girlfriend was over, her four year-old son kept interrupting us to whine about wanting my son's lightsaber toy. She knew that he was getting one at his birthday party the next day but he whined and whined anyway. She shook her head and said, "If you only knew...." This is how I've felt about my life lately. God has something. I keep grasping at it and trying to make it mine, but He knows the proper time for it. Hey, if this girl can learn to find the beauty in snow, then certainly I can wait a little longer for God's timing. I hope.