A moment of sweetness

The Washington, D.C. area had its share of run-ins with natural disturbances-an earthquake, a brush with Hurricane Irene, and days of relentless rain from tropical storm Lee-within a pretty short period of time. Thankfully, our house and family were spared from serious loss and damage, but we were all a bit worn out by the weather. On the Thursday afternoon that Lee made his force be known, and it rained and rained and rained, and it was a hard rain. Truly, I have never seen that much rain fall from the sky, and it seemed like it would never end. Eventually it did stop, but I have a new appreciation for Noah and his family. Toward the end of the worst of it, a few rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning accomapanied the rain. Of course, the thunder and lightning started right at bedtime. Pierce was very nervous and refused to stay in his room. Madelyn decided she needed to come out of her room, too. The kids stayed downstairs with us until the worst of the storm was over. Pierce panicked when we told him he needed to go back to bed. Madelyn, in a sweet moment of sympathy, told Pierce that she would stay with him. We agreed to this, and when we went upstairs to bed, this is what we found: