I'm thankful for "snow"?

Not my idea of a good day to run errands with small children!

Lately, I've found myself being thankful for the everyday things in life, but I have a hard time being thankful for the "inconveniences" in life as I see them. I know that God allows everything for a purpose and that nothing catches Him by surprise, but when things don't go as smoothly as I'd like or how I think they should go, I catch myself being ungrateful!
       Wednesdays are always busy for me as we have church in the evening. The church we attend is 26 miles, one way from our house, so if I'm going into town, I try to do multiple errands. It makes for a long day with four small boys, and they are very thankful to get out of the car at church and see daddy! Usually, we go grocery shopping, Target, Walgreen's, Wal-mart, and either Fleet Farm or Menard's.
          Yesterday morning, however, when we left the house to take Garett to school it was sleeting-just plain nasty outside. As the morning wore on, it turned to snow, but it was the wet sloppy kind of snow, not the fluffy, powdery kind! I debated about whether or not to run my errands, and was trying not to gripe about the weather as my children were ecstatic that it was SNOWING! So, when Garett came home from school, I was still trying to decide. The children were begging to go outside, and I decided to let them...knowing full well that it would take them longer to get dressed than they would be outside, they would come back in soaked and cold and then want to do it all over again in an hour!
         Nevertheless, I got out all the snow stuff, found mittens, pants, and hats for everyone and set them outside. For the record, Chandler was outside all of 4 minutes before he had to come in to "go potty"! But they enjoyed playing in the slop...oh, I mean, snow.  As I watched them from the window, holding Travis, I was reminded of how good God is to each of us. I didn't want the snow as I saw it as an inconvenience, but the children were utterly delighted with playing outside, wallowing in it and enjoying every minute. After about 25 minutes, they all came in soaked, of course. Wyatt was howling as he had lost a mitten and his hand was red from the cold. I got everyone out of their outerwear and sat them at the table for lunch. Guess what each child thanked God for at lunchtime? You guessed it...the snow.

     Regardless of how I thought the snow was a nuisance to my day, God had created it and it was for His glory. And as I reflect back on the day, I can honestly say I am "thankful" for the snow.