Empty backpacks hang in the closet.

There are unused lunch boxes in the cupboard.

Friday mornings come with an extra twinge of heartache and, I admit, most of the time I feel like this is injustice of the worst kind.

The answer to how are you? has become simply the same.

Nothing’s changing…or, at least, these particular things – these big things – remain hopeless.  But there are little ways in which things are better.  Areas that have nothing to do with the big things, except perhaps to remind us that God can always find a way to make His grace evident, even when life’s trials threaten to overwhelm.

And I’m thankful for that.

It would be easy to be hopeless otherwise.