God's Fireworks

The alarm went off at 2:30am. It took me a while to remember why I had set it for such an odd hour. I hit snooze twice just as a reflex before getting up and putting on some clothes. I padded upstairs. Doug was still awake, "Is it time?" he asked. I mumbled an affirmative as I went in to wake up the boys. While they stumbled out of their beds and into some clothes I went in to Viking Princess' room. I wondered how she would react to being awakened while still dark. After a few gentle nudges VP woke up. " Hey baby, we're going to see the shooting stars, remember? Wake up and put on some clothes. Let's go."

It was quite an adventure getting the kids up and getting into the truck. The boys were wrapped up in blankets, eyes bleary and hair tussled. Doug had made some coffee and put it in a thermos, complete with cream and sugar. He told all the kids to bring a mug because they were going to get some too. They were excited about that. Once in the truck we wondered where we should go. How far out did we need to travel to get out from under the light canopy of the city? It might sound silly but we prayed, "God please lead us to a great spot to see your light show tonight"

We ended up traveling east. Doug remembered a park that he thought would be far enough out to see the stars clearly. We pulled up and found that we weren't the only ones who were there. Another car was already parked and one more pulled in as we unloaded our kids, coffee and sleeping bag.

We walked up the path and found a grassy spot. Doug laid out the sleeping bag and everyone lay down with our faces toward the heavens. What met our eyes was amazing. We had a gorgeous panoramic view of the entire night sky! Nothing was obstructing the sight of every star you could imagine seeing. (in our area anyway) And then the show began. For the next hour and a half we watched as 'stars' zipped across the sky. Some of them were more like fireballs that left a long 'tracer' in their wake. It was fun to listen to the kids oooh and aaaah just like fireworks. And indeed, it was! God's firework show!

As we were laying there watching, another man came by and told us he had been there since 10pm (it was around 4 at the time) and he had seen over 200 shooting stars. He shared a few 'star facts' with us and showed the kids (and us) where Mars was. It was neat to share the event with other nameless, faceless people just like us, enjoying the beauty of creation. (we never did see his face in the dark)

So as we crawled back into our beds that morning we all felt a little closer to each other as well as a little more connected with the reality of this planet we call earth and it's trajectory through space. It really is amazing all that just happens while we sleep...sometimes it's good to wake up and take in the view.