the fates intervened

Over the last few weeks, we've had an awful lot of weather events. We've been in the hallway a lot. We've had no less than three "Stick Picking-Up" outings, and most of those 'sticks' really qualified as small branches. We have fences of ours and fences of friends to mend.

A couple of weeks ago, we were powerless at school, sirens going off, which may have led to chanting Latin and singing hymns while under our desks. We are not nerdy, I promise. A few minutes before we got under our desks, the same storm system was running through our dear friends' neighborhood, knocking over hundred foot oaks and destroying homes, banks, businesses.



Yesterday, there were more tornadic events. My little brother in Oxford, Mississippi, as an Ole Miss student, was being prayed for by weathermen. When the weathermen start praying, and exhorting others to pray, for specific groups of people, you should probably look up and quickly scurry to the hallway. Of course my little brother, being a thinks-he's-invincible-21-year-old, was outside watching roofs be torn off, talking to me on the phone, causing me heart palpitations.

Brother is fine (clearly due to the weatherman's exhortations...), but a lot of people are not. Over 100 people are confirmed dead in the Southeastern states. A tornado estimated to be a mile wide went tumbling through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, causing damage reminiscent of Katrina. This qualified as weather. And deserves much prayer.

There has been lots of weather. This calls us to faith and to peace, both of which can be hard during the sirens. It also calls us, I believe, to act seriously while not letting our hearts and minds remain in a place of somber worry. We need to hop up, put fences back up, and learn to laugh. Either we believe in an omni-everything God or we don't. If we do, we can do nothing but pray and rely on His promises to us. If we don't, nothing to do at all. But either way, worrying is never a help.

I've been trying to model this and explain this to our children. Playing card games in the hallway is much more help than discussing all the possible eventualities. Be honest, move on.

Tornadoes are scary, they can kill people, God is control, the chances of it hitting our house are very low, we should be prepare anyway, now who wants to deal the UNO cards?

I love when I can put things into sayings for the kids. They are affected by humor and sing-song tones. I was just thinking that I'd love a saying about how we deal with weather that we don't particularly like, or on the other end of the spectrum, that is actually very scary.

And then the fates intervened.

While compiling a list of children's required literature, I remembered the thing I keep remembering - I haven't done a great job teaching poetry. And I like poetry. Especially the old stuff that is actually written in a particular meter - None of this current writers-almanac-garrison-keilor-free-verse stuff. I hear some of that 'poetry' and think, "ooh - you can ramble in non-complete sentences....so can my four year old"



Anyway...

A more seasoned homeschooling Mama pointed me to a site to help with my required reading list, and while there, I stumbled onto this list of 200 poems for first graders.

And I scrolled down to April (they were sweet and organized them by seasonal appropriateness. Don't want to talk about Snow in July).

And this little, practically perfect in every way ditty popped up.

Weather
anonymous

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.