Footsteps

Yesterday was the first substantial snowfall of the winter season. Earlier in the week, we saw flurries, but this was the kind of snow the kids had been waiting for - it fell steadily for hours. They watched out the window throughout dinner, and I made them take a break and watch The Polar Express, just so they could see the difference in the amount of snow. It snowed much of the night, and flurried for much of the day.

In anticipation, I got out the snowpants that people had given us for the kids. Patience's pant & coat set were a little big, but worked fine. Gideon's pants were WAY too small. Eema didn't even have any, so I knew we were going to have to head out to the store today to get some. The kids were all told that they could not go outside and be in the snow until they had the proper clothing.

Long story short: Gideon couldn't wait - so he went outside before breakfast and wandered around in the snow on our deck. He has been sick for two days, so that wasn't really a good choice. He did not get to go outside and play after our shopping trip (which included two new pairs of gloves because the boys already had holes in their other gloves after two weeks, two pairs of snowpants, and three pairs of boots). Patience and Eema went outside, and had snowball fights, made snow angels, are in the midst of building a snowman, and shoveled some snow.

At one point, Patience and I decided to take a break from the snowman-building action, and we walked over to one of the places where the snowplow had piled the snow from the parking lot. I picked her up and put her on top, and held her (she was scared to be so high up). After a couple of minutes, we walked across the parking lot and back to the fun. When we reached the edge of the parking lot, I looked down. We had returned to the path we'd made in the snow before. In it, I saw two sets of footprints right next to each other, because we had been holding hands. These large footprints contrasted with tiny bootprints; in that moment, I was newly aware of the awesome task of raising up a child in faith. These footprints that trust enough to hold my hand also expect me to lead. I am humbled, and I am blessed.