So Long, Darewell

My house is alive with The Sound of Music: we let the girls see the movie a couple of months ago, and they LOVED it. I checked out the soundtrack CD from the library, and we listened to it in the van every time we drove somewhere for four straight weeks. We let them watch the movie again this week while Evie was sick, and they sang along with all the songs. Their own versions of the songs, of course. For example: "So long, darewell, and you and you and you. [Voice goes up one full octave] Goodbyeeeeeeeeee!" "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cow and pin it down?" "IIIIIIIII'm ev'ry mountain!" And neither Evie nor Eloise seems to be able to go straight up the stairs these days...no, instead they must sit on the stairs and slowly go up while sitting, all the while singing like little Gretel, "The suuuuun has gooooooone to bed and so must I-I." (If you are not familiar with the music or the movie, none of this will make much sense or be very funny. Sorry!) Because they have been so intrigued with the vonTrapp family, I also checked out from the library a neat pictorial biography of the actual Trapp Family Singers, as well as Maria Augusta Trapp's book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which served as the inspiration for The Sound of Music. We have enjoyed studying the pictures together, and I'm very much enjoying reading Maria's biography and sharing many tidbits from the story with the girls. Maria shared her story with such enthusiasm, and you cannot help but catch some of her spirit while reading it. The other day I read part of a chapter that really resonated with me and the particular stage of life in which I seem to find myself right now:

It will be very interesting one day to follow the pattern of our life as it is spread out like a beautiful tapestry. As long as we live here we see only the reverse side of the weaving, and very often the pattern, with its threads running wildly, doesn't seem to make sense. Some day, however, we shall understand.

In looking back over the years we can discover how a red thread goes through the pattern of our life: the Will of God.

I really do look forward to the day when I shall understand so many things. Until that time, I cling to Ecclesiastes 3:11--"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."