We awoke the morning of the 20th to a winter wonderland. Church was cancelled and we got to sequester ourselves away in our warmish house all day. Kevin had to work a 24 hour shift, unfortunately, so was up shoveling his car out at 7:00. We were bummed he couldn't take the day off with us but I was glad his being up got me out of bed early. After I saw him off and shoveled a bit more, my good friend Deepa was coming in on the train that night and we needed a clear path so we could get out to pick her up!, I went and grabbed some company, the camera, and enjoyed the world as it lay in solemn stillness. SO peaceful. Not even the song of a bird disturbed the silence for a good bit. I wonder if this is how it felt to Adam and Eve, seeing the world, so undisturbed, just after the creation. I love, love, love to look out on the fresh snow before anyone has walked on it. I love how everything in nature bears testimony of Christ, his life, then death, then Resurrection. And it's so wise of God to have a resting period of nature and to give man the Sabbath on which to rest. I need to be better about resting myself period so I can be whole. Just a random thought. Anyway, I am reminded of a Young Life ski trip I went on with some friends from high school. One night, around ten o'clock they had us bundle up and go sit somewhere outside, alone for a good half hour or so. I think they asked us to think about our relationship with God or who we were or something. The moon was SO bright and I remember it being such a neat experience. You'd think we would have been frozen by the time they called us in after sitting in the snow but we were mesmorized, I suppose, by the nature surrounding us and the chance to think on sacred things in a sacred spot of earth. Anyway, for now, we're enjoying our beautiful snow-covered region of the earth:) And we were glad to have a White Christmas, too!

Just another gorgeous morning in NOVEMBER! We've been spoiled by lots of unseasonably warm weather this fall and enjoyed every minute of it.

Absolute hilarity - closing your eyes for pictures:)

This was not staged and, yes, that's J in the background pouting that P is riding her trike.

This scene made me laugh and laugh. I can't decide who she reminds me of the most. Grandma Jamie? Grandma Zimmerman? Pops? Grandma Powers? Hadley? Whoever it is, it made me realize, we are a family of avid newspaper people. The first year Kevin and I were married I signed up to get the Wall Street Journal, which comes EVERY day and is no wimpy paper. I think I read one article over the months we got it, as I was busy trying to work, finish school and sleep during my first trimester with Jillian. But just out of principle I wouldn't let Kevin throw any of the papers away and I wouldn't let him call and cancel for a long time either, just out of principle. I'll be the first to admit that was somewhat crazy but I'll also be the first to blame it on my genes:)

O Christmas Tree

We got our tree from Home Depot this year. It turned out to be a great tree, although we did miss going to Ted Drewes. It opened up a lot more than we expected and took up lots of room in our family room:) I just LOVE walking into a room, in this case our house because it was right by our front door, and having that glorious smell of a freshly cut evergreen waft through the air!

Playdough Snow Guy