The Eyes of My Eyes Are Opened. -E.E. Cummings

**photo taken from flikr.

Today was a little on the crazy side. The crazy spilled over into the evening and just now stopped because the kids are now in their beds. Goodnight crazy. Until we meet again tomorrow…

Because of the craziness of the day, I found myself needing to physically separate a few of my children. Piper was melting into a heap of wounds, offenses, injustice and tears. {Think Wizard of Oz: Wicked Witch of the West: The Melting Scene}. Crue was resorting to violence because if everyone around you is crying, why not start hitting people? I put a movie on for Crayton and Lennon (a treat on a school night), loaded Piper into the car with the Taylor Swift CD to sooth her soul, and restrained Crue in his car seat. Thank heaven for the five point harness. With Lennon and Crayton forming an alliance and Piper and Crue restrained in the car, I departed to get gas and dinner. It had just rained a beautiful, furious, monsoon rain and everything was sparkly and fresh. Really beautiful. I looked out my window and saw a little rainbow. We all got excited and then I looked to my left and beheld the most gorgeous sky I have ever seen. The clouds were lined with gold and their depth went on forever. And just like a veil, there was an orange misty curtain that blanketed the whole sky. We looked at the sky. Piper said that it looked just how heaven must look and her tears stopped. We started singing along with Taylor. And Crue, harnessed in, became a gem of a child and returned to his inquisitive self and asking every 4.6 seconds if I am a man or a woman. All was well once again. We got dinner and by the time we were driving west to our home, the golden sky had turned an orangey pink. The clouds were still lined in gold, the depth still went on forever but to my disbelief, the perfect sunset from just moments before had outdone itself. It was even more magnificent. To add the splendor of the sky, behind us in the east, there was bright full rainbow that reached from one side of the sky to the other. Piper and I couldn’t decide if we should look east or look west. Both sides were such a gift. Piper declared that Heavenly Father must make skies like that when someone dies or someone is born. They couldn’t be wasted on a plain old day. I had to agree.

Later while we were {mostly} happily eating our feast of Chick-fil-A at our dinner table, this conversation took place.

Piper: Crayton, you should have seen the sky tonight! It was so beautiful. You wouldn’t have believed it.

Mom: Oh, it was so amazing Bubba. I wish you could have seen it. It was so beautiful it almost made me cry.

Piper: Mom, you did cry.

Mom: You saw?

Piper: Yes mom, I saw. You cried.

And you know what? I did. I cried. Because sometimes tears are the only way to tell a loving Father in Heaven that you are grateful for the beauty all around you. And today, {and everyday}, I am.