School bus worries, after-school treats, instant coffee, and more (7 Quick Takes)

I hope your week went well. I’m looking back on ours and sharing 7 Quick Takes.

~1~

The school week opened with concerns about a school bus driver strike. I tried to arrange my work schedule so I wouldn’t be far from our sons’ school in case they were stranded there and needed a ride home. One day the bus was so late picking them up that my husband drove them to school, but otherwise, the buses seemed to run just fine. This time last year I had completely different worries about school. Being concerned about whether the school buses are running feels like a good problem to have.

~2~

Our sons’ school was locked in for part of the school day one day this week because of police activity in the area. The children were safe, and everything was fine, but I was worried they might be anxious, and I wasn’t in touch with them. I was hearing how other children were doing from their moms, and I just had to hope and pray my children weren’t concerned. Once I finally heard something official from the school and knew that they would be coming home on their bus on time, I went and bought them slushies and a few treats to welcome them home.

I can’t control much in this world. But I can provide after-school treats to try to make the day just a little bit better.

~3~

Autumn is really trying to woo me this year with its colorful trees and crunchy leaves and frolicking squirrels. I find myself coming across beauty without even looking for it.

One of my favorite things is taking photos through windows, whether looking out or looking in. As the days get colder and colder, I certainly prefer looking out from a heated space.

Brrrr. It’s cold out there.

How do I know it’s cold? My children just came inside from raking leaves and asked for hot chocolate.

~4~

After I mentioned that we used to drink instant coffee before the pandemic, one of my most faithful blog readers sent me some instant coffee, and it is delicious. It’s very smooth and a little bit sweet, which only adds to the experience.

And on school mornings when I don’t have time to brew a pot of coffee, instant coffee is such a treat.

If you’re curious about it, this is the coffee my friend sent.

~5~

Today is National Adoption Day. I talk about how adoption has shaped our family, but I don’t talk as often about how many children need families around the world. You can’t visit an orphanage and see the rows of cribs and look into the eyes of children who are waiting and walk out the same person.

There are so many children throughout the world who go to bed every night without knowing the love of a family. If you feel called to learn more about adoption or foster care, I hope you do. If that’s not the path for your family, maybe you want to support an organization that helps create families and also helps families stay together. We give to Love Without Boundaries because they are doing extraordinary, life-giving, compassionate work for children and families in China. But there are many other organizations that do critical work.

If we can do nothing else, we can pray. And that might be the best thing we can do.

~6~

This year, for whatever reason, I keep seeing gifts for myself when I go shopping for others on my list. The other day I happened to see a bird dress online, and I couldn’t resist ordering it. To clarify, this is a dress for humans that is covered with birds, not a dress a bird would wear.

Maybe I’ll slip it into my stocking? Or wrap it and leave it under the tree? Christmas seems pretty far off. Maybe I’ll just start enjoying it once it lands on my porch in a few days. I mean, life is pretty short to let bird dresses go unworn for long.

~7~

Our younger son got the first dose of his COVID-19 vaccine this week. What a tremendous relief after so many months of worry. My heart is full of gratitude for all the researchers who worked to make this possible, all the doctors who told me yes-yes-yes please get your son vaccinated as soon as you can, and the kind pharmacist who put it in his arm.

I had told our almost-12-year-old that he could pick out something from the pharmacy as a treat, and he’s a pretty smart kid. He looked up at me, standing there with my eyes shimmering with tears, and turned and headed straight to the technology section, where he picked out earbuds that cost much more than the candy bar I had in mind.

I was so overwhelmed with the emotions of the moment that I just said yes.

Christmas came early this year. Thank you, God.

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