cooling rains

They say it's darkest just before sunrise but this summer the image that comes more to mind is that it is hottest and driest just before the storm. It has been a particularly hot and dry summer here and recently we've been in a drought. Two days ago after ten minutes outside we all came back in for fear of heat stroke. But then a storm system moved in over-night and yesterday started out cloudy. I woke disgruntled, however, because the system and little rain we got only seemed to be pouring (somehow) more humidity into the mix. But over the course of the day it seemed to be getting slowly cooler until the difference was unmistakable. We finally had cooled off to a more comfortable temperature (even with the humidity). Today we got the inches of rain we so desperately needed and even more cool temperatures. The difference within 48 hours is difficult to believe. I would like to think that this weather pattern is an image of how we are faring as a family. We're at the point where the clouds have rolled in and a certain amount of rain has fallen but it's still in some ways more hot and sticky than it had been previously. But we have hope that more rain or a progression of the front will bring the relief we have been at times almost unable to believe is on its way. To continue the metaphor, in this drought we have lost a certain number of plants in the garden but some have fared better than if there had been steady rain and clement temperatures. So there is that. I just have been trying to live now with what we have and see what comes next. Praise to God that we have made it this far!