Feb...brrrr...ary

We've started this month off with a "blizzard" - Oklahoma style.

Not much snow, but LOTS of gusting wind!

Phil took the 3 youngest to the sledding hill to slide down at least once before the wind blows it all away. Abbie & I are making homemade hot cocoa & chili, because that's what seems appropriate for a day like today. The gas heater is going strong in the living room, and the patio door in the kitchen in one big sheet of ice. The cat has spent the morning sitting on the window sill, flicking his tail, watching the chickadees and house finches eating out of the feeder in the backyard, and yearning for a tasty lunch of his own.

I'm enjoying our "blizzard" and hoping it lasts another day...

Rosita Fresita!

This is a picture of my sweet girls from 2003. Abbie was 5 & Grace was 2.
Noah saw this picture & chuckled, "Huh, Grace is a dog, and Abbie's...um...a Mexican with freckles?"

I still can't stop laughing about it.

Delusional...

Not sure if it's from being sick all week or cabin fever, but we've got the giggles going on at our house.

Abbie, Phil & I were having a "serious" conversation until she said, "...and sometimes they have the assumiation that..." We started laughing & soon she was laughing so hard she fell off the couch!

After learning that Noah's still running fever, he declared: "I feel like I'm going down hill." Phil: "So you're feeling worse?" Noah: "No...I actually feel like I'm going down a hill...like on a sled."

We had Daniel check his temp & soon he was complaining tight-lipped, "It's not beeping!" Only to discover we hadn't turned the thermometer on!

Dealing with disappointment...

Right now we're supposed to be in our van, bundled and buckled up, and headed for Colorado.

We were going to see aunts and uncles, and great-aunts & uncles (you get "greater" the older you get!), cousins & second-cousins. We were going skiing, and sledding, and snowman makin'. We had our bags packed and our minds filled with expectations...

But sometimes what's "supposed to" happen, doesn't. Our dreams of skiing dissolved when the flu bug walked into our house & took us down one at a time. Fever, and chills, and cough, and runny nose...it's not a pretty sight.

It's hard to deal with disappointments. Big and little ones. When things don't turn out the way we've planned or the way we think they should. It's hard to see God's plan in the disappointments...or if there is one. It's something I have to take by faith sometimes, because I may never know the reason. Even for something as small as a ski trip.

So I lean hard into God. And I tell him about my disappointment. Because I know He cares.

Even about ski trips.

Compliment?

Recently it seems like I've had to spend a lot of time disciplining. I don't know whether it has to do with being cooped up because of the weather, or if it's a part of growing up, but the kids love to push each other's buttons, irritate, aggravate, and be down right mean to one another. I've preached plenty about love & kindness, but my words seem to fall on deaf ears. So then I have to take drastic measures & get creative.

My daughter was teasing her brothers, hiding toys from them on purpose, and delighting in their frustration. She hates to be alone, so I gave her a "time out" in a room all by herself & quoted Proverbs 21:9 - that it is better to live alone in an attic than with a quarrelsome woman - and reminded her that she would soon be playing alone because her siblings will not want to play with someone who irritates "just because". Those 10 minutes were misery for her, but she came back to apologize to her brothers & came in tears to tell me...

"Sometimes I think you're the meanest mom ever! But I know it's because you love me & you want me to learn a lesson."

Monday...

I’m in my kitchen frying pancakes. Frying pancakes is a mindless activity and my brain is going bloggy bananas. So I found a laptop (Thank you, Dad, for your hand-me-downs!) and my mind is beginning to relax.

We were all little disappointed this morning that school wasn’t cancelled. It was snowing, but the roads weren’t bad enough to justify a snow day. But Phil made up for it by arriving home shortly after we did. His excitement was contagious, and we all loaded up in the van & headed to “the sledding hill”, which isn’t really a hill at all, but a highway overpass. This is the first year we’ve had real sleds. We’ve always had make-shift sleds – pieces of cardboard, trays, cookie sheets, anything flat or smooth that we think will work. But we found a great deal on saucer sleds before Christmas & the boys were excited to try out their gifts. Especially since snow in Oklahoma is a rare thing!

An hour later, the kids were happy, rosy-cheeked and tired, and I felt refreshed after some much needed quiet time in the van. Phil went back to work to tie up loose ends, the kids got busy on homework, and I tackled the mess in my kitchen.

The pancakes are just about done…and I am too. An empty brain and a full stomach bring balance to life.

Leaks are not fun...

...but thankfully, I'm married to a man who knows what to do to fix them.

As we were cleaning up from our leak, we chuckled to find our son had stopped his - by stuffing Kleenex up his nose shortly before falling asleep.