
We were sitting at the table eating chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese for lunch, when middle son noticed a cloud in the sky outside the window. He got so tickled because...

...the cloud looked
exactly like Mr. Toad's car. Mr. Toad is the crazy, wild driver in Kenneth Graham's
The Wind in the Willows. Mr. Toad races about and crashes all the motor cars he owns, then he "borrows" other cars he fancies and crashes them as well. While middle son laughed about Mr. Toad's perfectly formed cloud-car in the sky, the wind suddenly shifted and caused more wild laughter at the table because....

...Mr. Toad's car was smashed to smithereens right before our eyes, right there during our lunch! He just imagined Mr. Toad flying forth from the wreckage, eager to find another vehicle to push to its limits. He was so tickled by the whole thing I had to make him stop eating so he wouldn't choke.

This the book in which Mr. Toad lives. The
Wind in the Willows has been a blast to read aloud with the kids the past few weeks.

I just love how God keeps us involved in our learning in such an exciting way. When we read
Charlotte's Web a few years ago, He sent a beautiful argiope spider to build her giant web on the outside of our bathroom window. For months, the kids were able to stand at that window and press their noses one inch away from that beautiful spider and her amazing world. We fed her grasshoppers and watched her spin and catch prey and make her egg sack. And it all happened while we were reading about Charlotte.
Those kinds of God "bonuses" seem to be all around me, if I just remember to keep my eyes open for them. Mr. Toad's cloud-car surely put some extra fun into our latest read.