Sunshine Search

The last couple of days were warm, beautiful desert spring days but today we have reverted to winter. Desert winter, mind you. It's gloomy and I went to church with only a long sleeve blouse and no jacket and lived to regret it. However, I'm really not complaining. We had more rain last night and who in their right mind would complain about rain when you live in the desert? It's a blessing and I know it.

I'm trying to count my blessings. It's helping me on the day-to-day journey. I've been reminded over and over lately just how important it is to appreciate the small things and look for the sunshine even on the gloomy days.

So...what sunshine do I have to share? Today was J's "farewell talk." It's a tradition for missionaries in our church to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday shortly before they start their missions. J will officially be set apart as a missionary next Sunday (on Easter) and his first day will be April 1st. So today he spoke on the topic of preparing for Easter by focusing on Christ. He did a fantastic job. It was hard work for him but he managed to write the talk almost completely on his own. (I did sit down with him yesterday and helped him come up with some ideas to fill in some areas he didn't feel were quite "enough.") I worried that actually standing up and speaking in front of everyone would be too much (especially after he was nearly paralyzed just trying to do a practice run in front of his family) but he managed to do it and he wasn't as quiet as I feared he would be (I think he may have even paused once or twice to take a breath, :) )  His service mission leaders joined him as speakers as well, and they had a number of other elders who will be serving with J come too for support-- they sang a beautiful version of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" at the end of the service. I'm excited for this new opportunity-- and J looked sharp in his new suit! (Unfortunately, I did not remember to get a picture. Mom fail.)

On the writing front, I am still struggling to make progress on Sheralie #7. I'm about two-thirds done with the first draft (I think?) and I am running into plot walls as I try to wrap up a long series. The hardest part is that I've had very little free time to write lately, and I'm so tired. But I have an enforced break coming up in May with the surgery so maybe I'll get some done then? (Of course, May is usually a month of madness so...maybe June?) I had a lift of confidence recently though-- S has a friend who recently picked up the Roran Curse novels and has been working her way through them. She told me she likes them very much so far, and what more lovely words can a writer hear?

Tomorrow we go back to school after spring break-- wish us luck, I have a feeling that it's going to be rough getting back into the routine. But one quarter more and we'll have another kid done with high school. Hallelujah for that!!

For everyone else who is in survival mode, just trying to get by one day at a time-- don't forget to pause and look for the sunshine. What are you grateful for??