Doing Fine And Better

Hello! How is everybody? I trust that this wonderful holiday season finds you well. I know that my heart has been done a little good - to return to the Internet after several days without it to find so many well-wishes for our well-being. It was thoughtful of you and touching to me.

Our little family here weathered the storm just fine. We were without power for about 9 hours on Tuesday (but our Internet antennae just thawed yesterday), but consider that a mere glitch compared to the thousands that are now enduring day 9 without electricity, most of them now in shelters. Many of the kids' teachers have been showing up faithfully to work each day though they are among those thousands. I love our school. It is tight knit in the sense that when any teacher or family there suffers some big trial, everyone rallies to help. Many of our teachers were holed up with our school's families so they would have electricity to prepare themselves for the school day. We invited a good friend of mine who teachers there, but not my kids. Thankfully for her, though, her parents were close by and they had taken shelter there, where her kids were being thoroughly spoiled.

I found out that Target is a popular place to escape in a disaster. We headed there to do a little (and I mean LITTLE) Christmas shopping while the lights were out and we must have seen fully half the people we've ever met there. It was wonderful. Just exactly what Christmas should be. A bunch of familiar people with no electronics to distract them from the warm greetings of friends long not seen. Catching up over hot chocolate with cold icy snow falling outside and no extra money to spend. Just fellowship in a colorful store with smiling people and surprised "hello's" everywhere! I loved it.

My husband, not so much. He is one of those techno-obsessed people and I actually began to believe that you can literally DIE of irritation! He mentioned at least 20 times (and I am serious that I am not at all exaggerating that number!) that weatherman are pompous, arrogant overpaid idiots. And I don't always entirely disagree with that, but, I kept reminding him "we already knew that. So WHY do you let them get to you like that?"

Of course, I know why. He is frustrated at another week off of work. I must say, I don't think there are many families who wouldn't notice the strain of 9 unscheduled weeks off of work and we are certainly no exception to that. But I also MUST praise God that we have still eaten every meal and will still have a nice Christmas this year. There will not be nearly as many presents (and we've never gone overboard anyway to keep the focus where it should be on baby Jesus), but we feel blessed. Actually we feel like we're living a miracle. We don't have a clue how we've held on with so many weeks of bad weather this year, but God has been more than faithful. Especially to our employees, who tend to feel the pinch of a missed paycheck way worse than we do, and yet they have all been able to stay with us without seeking other employment. This has been a TREMENDOUS blessing because it is Greg's favorite, most capable, loyal and compatible crew he's ever had. So it's been like manna from heaven, these provisions that have come to us all without the pinpointed source of a steady income.

Thank you, Lord. And thank you friends for checking on us.

By the way, if you are wondering specific prayer requests for our area, there are still many families having to attend work and schools from crowded, not so private shelters because they are still without power. Also, fires have been a big issue because of faulty frozen heaters and carbon monoxide poisonings are pretty rampant due to people using generators to stay warm. Finally, there are a few school buildings have either burned down (most in poorer or rural areas) or have burst pipes that will take weeks to fix. This is an issue because many of the children who attend these schools having a single working parent who can not afford to stay home with them until school starts back. So please be in prayer for these families.