The BIG Winter Storm

The big storm hit us on Wednesday.  I picked Jackson up from tutor and the snow began falling around noon, just as we were heading home.  It was only a few minutes before the flakes began sticking to walkways.  I called Holly and Laura to check on them; they were picking up the kids from school.  What happened within the next few hours was total madness.  So many people in the area were trying to get home at the same time so going just a few miles was taking hours.  Some people resorted to leaving their vehicles in and around the roadways.  Thank goodness that wasn't the case for my sisters.  They were both on the roads for more than two hours but they eventually made it home, safely. 

We watched the snow fall Wednesday and it was beautiful.  We'd heard so much about this storm so I tried to prepare for the worst; The pantry and cupboards were stocked, I cooked two meals and had the crockpot going early, just in case we were to lose power.  I was hoping that WOULD NOT be the case.  Well....unfortunately, I was awakened around 3 AM by the sounds of a beeping cordless phone and smoke detector.  This was not a good sign.  This meant that we lost power!  Webb got up and went downstairs to take charge of the situation, well, as much taking charge as he could.  Honestly, I was very appreciative because that meant that I got to sleep.  While Webb reported the outage and did whatever else (maybe listened to the news, fixed the beeping in the smoke detector, or whatever else he did, Jackson comes to my room and climbs in the warm bed with me and Sawyer, who joined me earlier in the night.  We managed to stay warm and caught a few more hours of decent sleep.  Of course my mind was racing for the first hour with thoughts of dread to what I might wake to.  Was the entire area without power?  I had a flashback to the winter storm we experienced when Jackson was a baby.  We were without power for days and it was oh so cold.  I was hoping that it wasn't going to be that bad.  My mind was also racing with ideas of how I was going to make my morning coffee and "hot chocolate" (hot almond milk) for Sawyer.  Eventually, I relaxed and trusted that Webb was taking care of things, since he never returned to bed.  At 7 something, I awoke to the sound of our neighbor's loud generator.  Maybe he would make me a cup of coffee?  Soon after, Webb decided to venture out to see where the line was down.  He found it and happily reported that the crews were working on it.  Meanwhile, he decided to go to a McDonald's that was open in Cary, and returned with coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits.  The morning was getting a lot better.  Fortunately, the power was back on around 9:30, just a few minutes after he returned home.  Woohoo!  As soon as the caffeine and biscuits kicked in, we put on our snow gear and headed out to play.  We had a few hours of fun until the rain, yes, rain fell.  Snow is fun but rain in the snow isn't fun.  More snow fell in the afternoon so we headed back out in the evening for snowball fights.  We took another "snow day" today (Friday) and enjoyed a little more sledding, four-wheeling, and snowboarding.  The sun came out and it was a lovely sight.  It turned out to be a beautiful Valentine's Day with a little snow and plenty of sunshine.  

We've had fun and I think we've gotten our fill of snow this winter.  I am thankful for the good times and the memories that we've made.  And to top it all off, 70's are in the forecast for next week.  I'm dreaming of the beach now and devising a plan to get there soon:-)  

This guy has been hanging around a lot!  I think he's staking out a home for his love.  Spring is close by.  

Nature walk, the day before the big storm

I always thought these were sassafras plants.  Dad did the research and we learned something new.  This is wild ginger.  

The kids wanted to race through the tall grass

Snow art- food coloring

Snow art- paint

Jackson & Anderson are ready for battle

Snowball war

That's one big snowball

Sawyer and Jackson trying to catch one last opponent to win the snowball war

Signaling victory

First attempt at snowboarding

This kid loves to lay in the snow

Snow angels

More snow angels;-)

A little country fun:-)

Finding Joy & Happiness In Winter

I used to say that Winter was my favorite season.  As a child, there seemed to be so much to look forward to this time of year. Snow days, exciting weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentine's Day (my dad always bought us a gift and candy for Valentine's Day) and NC State basketball games were such a wonderful part of my childhood winters.  About 3 years ago, my affection towards Winter somewhat changed.  Winter required more work from me like bundling a baby in layers of clothing and blankets.  It also meant a lot less time outside for two of us.  Now that baby is 3.5 and loves being outside too but for some reason, I was feeling like winter was holding us hostage again this year.  Was it because I can't seem to stay warm enough this year?  Maybe the lack of sunshine which always affects my motivation?  Was it because we are inside more than any other time of year and now, I have two highly distractible boys and I'm still homeschooling?  I think some of it was that I was lacking inspiration and a break from monotony which seems to occur in the months after Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, there's always excitement with the boys but I guess this is the time of year when I struggle to get excited over school stuff.

I decided to change things up this week.  I started by reorganizing Jackson's daily chore list; the saying less is more is oftentimes very true.   I also bought him a clipboard with storage that would be our "command center" each day.  The science program that I scrapped last year made another appearance this week.  Did you know that Sunfish and Catfish fathers help guard the eggs and babies for awhile?  Did you know that most Catfish have poison gills?  Learning new things is exciting and keep lessons and routines from seeming so monotonous.  Sometimes change is really good.   Sometimes, people like me who don't like change, can find joy in it.

We don't have an "A" honor roll at our school but even if we did, it really wouldn't mean too much because we've learned to celebrate more than just performance in the areas of reading, writing and math.  J has had a tough climb with dyslexia so we often celebrate the process over product.  We focus on how far we've come together and less of where we need to finish.  This week, I was blessed with so many moments of joy in our homeschool day from his reading to his writing assignments.  Every now and then, I find myself questioning if I am providing the right tools and methods to help and prepare him for his future.  This often seems to rob me of my joy and my patience.  I love it when the Lord reminds me NOT to focus on what my eyes can see and trust that it's in His hands.  I often apply this to homeschooling and parenting but doesn't it really apply to most everything in our lives?
Part of trusting is knowing that even in the winter seasons of our lives, he's making all things new.  Have you noticed the buds on some of the daffodils this week?  I learned that the bulb relies on winter's cold to trigger a biochemical process necessary to make the bulb flower.  If it weren't for winters, we'd miss some of the beauty of spring.

Sawyer helped me fill the bird feeders this week (joy:).  We have happy birds and a happy amateur photographer.  There's something suspenseful about photography; I never know what I am going to get.  I'm finding that it's especially good to have hobbies during the winter months.  Speaking of hobbies, this weekend is the first weekend of baseball tryouts which means Webb is at the ballfields.  We are still enjoying basketball games for now but in two weeks, Jackson will be swinging the bat again.

I'm learning that joy isn't centered around the season or the weather.  Joy comes from the heart and is a choice.  Sometimes, just a different perspective can increase joy.  Counting your blessings, no matter how small, will surely fill you with joy.  Joy and happiness are here, even in the middle of winter:-)

"Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?" Matthew 6:26

The kids with blocks that they made with Granddaddy

Preschool Co-op Day!  Leah had wonderful activities planned- JOY!

Water beads

Cool things to put in the water beads bin

Alphabet hunt- Davis and Sawyer both said this was their favorite activity of the day

Davis

Sam & Jackson playing in t-shirts today.  Brrrrrr......

Making blocks by the fire

Joy in the little things!  

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13