{ Blog 365 #24 - First snow of the season }

 

 

It's always been interesting to me, how much snow we get here in Texas.  I guess I never associated snow with this State, I don't know why, but I am glad that I was wrong because I love a good snow storm.

Every year, starting at the end of January and through March, we have quite a few snow days, and if you remember, obviously if you live here in the United States, we had that horrible snow storm two years ago, that shut down 90% of our state.  It was awful.  

 

 

 

We got a Winter Storm Warning yesterday, and early this morning it started raining, then within an hour it switched to snow.  It has not stopped since. 

Of course, I had to document it, not just for our Blog 365, but because I always do when we have our first snow of the year.   I just find it breathtakingly beautiful.  

 

Hope you enjoy these!

 

{ Taking care of the home and lots of snow }

 

The home is the heart of the family!

Have you ever met anyone who does not appreciate a well kept, tidy, comfy and warm home to retreat to at the end of a hard day?

Homemaking and homemakers are often met with a bit of judgement.  There are those who will never understand why there are so many of us homemakers, who love being home, who have chosen this job over an outside career.  Yes, there are also many women who have to work outside the home, and would love to be able to stay home instead.  I'm not talking about those women, I'm talking about how homemaking in general tends to be looked down on.

I'm not going to go much deeper into that, because I've talked about it many times before, here on the blog.

Today, I want to focus rather, on the importance of caring for our homes, or the importance to ME at least, of caring for my own.

So come on in, and sit with me a little, let's have a chat.

Your family comes home from work and school at the end of the day, and they have a warm home cooked meal waiting for them.

They take their showers, open their dresser drawers and find neatly folded clothes.  Those things didn't appear out of thin air, behind them is a wife, a mom, a homemaker who spent her day making sure her family has everything they need.

Taking care of our homes is so much more than just cleaning a house, although that is certainly important, but it is also about providing a safe and cozy space for your family.  About creating memories, traditions, stories that will no doubt be passed on from generation to generation.

 

I sometimes sit and reminisce about my childhood.  I remember watching my great grandma Ema in the kitchen, her apron tied around her waist, and the front pockets filled with random bits and bobs that she would gather throughout the day.  It would hold her handkerchief which she would randomly pull up to her nose, and then quickly stuff back in the pocket, or tuck it into the sleeve of her cardigan.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit
dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22

There is nothing like laughing and smiling, and having a cheerful heart.  Those moments that you spend sitting around the table eating dinner, are moments that will forever be ingrained in your children's hearts.  

Housework never ends.  There is never going to be a time where you look around and say, that's it, all done, won't have to worry about that for at least a week.  Because, there will always be more laundry waiting to be washed, more dishes piled in the sink.

 

 

She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27

In this verse, it is clearly talking about the Proverbs 31 woman, and it focuses on how important it is to take care of our homes, and to not be lazy or avoid doing the work.   Sometimes as homemakers we feel that the invisible work we do, has no merit, no impact, no importance.  But that is so far from the truth.

Just as I mentioned last week in a different post, everything we do, even those jobs around the house that we think are trivial or mundane, are to be done with a happy heart and devoted to God.  Worship, remember?  

But housework is not the only job we have at hand, that needs to be taken seriously.  As homemakers it is imperative that we take time to worship, to pray, to spend some time with the Father in conversation.

I used to have a really hard time praying, I couldn't understand why some seemed to have that talent of just opening their mouths and words flowing out smoothly, beautiful words of adoration, and prayers that would leave me wanting to be just like them.   It wasn't easy for me, I seemed to hit a wall the minute I uttered "Father in Heaven".....all of a sudden, there was nothing else I could think of to say.

All these thoughts racing through my mind, things I needed, things I was worried about, or friends and family I wanted to pray for, but the words seemed stuck somewhere within me, not quite able to release themselves into the Lord's hands.

 

Then I realized that it all comes with practice.  The more you speak to God, the more you interact, and spend time in praise and worship, the easier it gets.  Nowadays, I open my mouth and it just comes pouring out, it's a conversation between close friends, but one where the other party knows me intimately and knows everything I need, want, worry or have questions about.  It's a glorious feeling!

And so as a homemaker, my job becomes also about teaching my children the important of prayer and time with the Lord.  They're certainly not going to learn that outside our home.  

 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.   Impress them on your children. 

Talk about them when you sit at home and 

when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deuteronomy 6: 6-7

Show God's love in everything that you do.  Pray for your home, pray for your husband and children, and show grace when needed and warranted.  Not everything needs to be a battlefield and you don't always have to be right.  Understanding, compassion and second chances go a long way in making a happy family.

Your work as a homemaker is important, for God sees the invisible work we do.

I hope these words remind you to think, about what it means, to keep a home for your family.  

As I sit and type these words, the snow continues falling outside.  Just like much of the country right now, we are under a winter storm, receiving tons of snow and ice.  It is beautiful, but it is cold!

Which means, tons of hiding under soft blankets, not just us but our sweet Elliott too.  Is there anything sweeter than a beautiful cat snuggled under a blanket?

I know most people prefer summer, and can't stand the snow, but I for one love snow.  It's cold but it turns everything into a wonderland, at least in my eyes.  

Everything has practically shut down, Curt is home today and possibly tomorrow too.  The snow keeps falling but the roads are extremely icy, which make driving really dangerous.  And so we stay inside, drink copious amounts of coffee, eat yummy food, stare out the window watching the beautiful scenery and the animals coming by to eat.

 

I'll end this post with some photos of our deer, we have about 23 that come by our yard looking for food every day. 

 

 

And even if it's snowing, we still tend to them, and the other animals in the neighborhood that seek food and shelter on our property. 

Hope you enjoy these photos, I for one love watching them come by, watching them eat. It's the only time I get to be up close and personal with these beautiful animals. 

 

If you're also dealing with this snow and winter storm, stay safe and stay warm. I pray God protects you and your family. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{ Slowly coming out of this winter weather }

First and foremost, thank you Lord!

 

Thank you for watching over and protecting my family, this past week.  

 

Our State has been hit so hard. My heart breaks just thinking about the difficulties that so many Texans have had to endure. The loss of life, the loss of property, the fear and the heartache so many families have had to go through. 

 

The great thing about Texans, is that they pull together and help each other. Thankfully, the weather is starting to warm up. 

 

We are all in this limbo, where we watch the temperatures go above 20 degrees and we pray that it hangs around long enough to melt the snow. Then we realize the sun starts going down and all that melted snow is now turning back to ice. Driving in this weather is terrifying, I'm thankful my husband has been home and the 2 times we had to leave the house, we took his truck. 

 

Even then, we are slipping and sliding all over the road, along with the other drivers out trying to get food or gas, and other necessities. 

 

But it will be ok. 

 

We will make it through this, and I want to thank all of you who have been praying every day for me and my family, and for our State in general too. 

 

 

Our week was basically spent, trying to keep the house warm, feeding the outside animals and trying to find them shelter. 

 

Shoveling the driveway, and putting out salt and sand on our country road to help the neighbors needing to drive by. 

 

The roof of our house and garage got so much snow, that we feared it would cave in.  Curt tried his best to remove as much of it as he could, but short of having to climb up onto the roof, there wasn't much we could do.

 

 

Our local stores are overwhelmed. I wasn't able to get to the base commissary because it was closed, so I did a Walmart pick up. Many items were sold out or not available, which is understandable as they couldn't get trucks in to replenish the groceries. 

 

On Thursday Curt and I stopped at Walmart to get milk and bread and had noticed that all their freezers were empty. One of the workers informed us that they had lost power and had to throw all their food out. How awful!

 

 

It does make for some very pretty pictures, but I must be honest, I am beyond ready for the snow to be gone and for Spring to come around.

Anyway, as I said above, I got a Walmart pick up but it was missing quite a few things, so this afternoon, before picking Jasmine up from work, I am heading to the store to get what I still need.

In the meantime, I am starting a baked potato soup in the slow cooker, and will probably make some bread bowls later to serve and eat the soup with.

Tomorrow morning we are hoping to get to church, it all depends on the weather and if service will resume.

I wish you all a very blessed weekend, hope you stay warm, stay safe and enjoy your time with the family. 

{ Historic Winter Storm }

 

I am sitting here with my cup of coffee, staring out the window at the beautiful white blanket of snow.  

 

I've always loved snow, always loved winter, but even I have to say, I'm ready for this all to melt and for Spring to spring forth.

It's been a cold past few days.  Actually, let me rephrase that, it's been a frigid bitterly cold past few days.

I know many of you are in the same boat, watching the same snow, enduring the same bitter temperatures from inside your warm homes.

 

Snow is not something we get often in our area.  Truthfully, when we do, it's nothing like this, at all.

It will snow for about an hour and then melt right away.  This?  This has even surprised the meteorologists.  They're calling it an Historic Winter Storm, the likes of which have not been seen in our State.  Yesterday we set record low temperatures.  Goodness!!!

 

We set out food for the outside animals, as best as we could. 

 

The snow came down hard, blowing all over the place and leaving snowdrifts that left us scratching our heads in amazement. 

 

We were told to prepare for a huge storm, to prepare for power outages and below freezing wind chills of -30.  In Texas, IN.TEXAS!!! 

Our wonderful Lord kept us protected and we didn't lose power, although there are millions of people in our State without power at the moment.  My prayers have been constant, for my family and I, but for everyone in the path of this weather, and especially those without electricity.  

 

It broke my heart to see the birds out there. They were trying so hard to get out of the blustering snow. They would sit up against the walls of the house, against the fences and under anything they could find.  If it were up to me, I would have opened my doors and brought them all in.  

 

Within a few hours, everything was blanketed in white. It looked like the movies, blowing snow, high winds. I've never seen anything like it, not even when we lived in Idaho. 

 

Marley was so happy playing outside. He loves snow and anytime we get some that sticks, he is immediately at the door barking to get out. It's so cute watching him running, jumping and munching at the snow on the ground. 

 

 

 

We woke up yesterday to blue skies, but the bitter cold still remains. And now? We are hunkering down and preparing for the next snow storm that is incoming this afternoon. It is supposed to drop another 6 inches of snow. Work and school has been cancelled the past 2 days, and I'm not sure how it will be tomorrow, since we have a 30% chance of snow for then too. 

 

It feels so strange even talking about a Winter storm in our area.  

 

We've been indoors, keeping busy, relaxing, reading, watching movies, eating yummy food and spending time together.  

 

I actually made food and some sandwiches to have on hand, in case our power went out.  It helps to prepare as much as you can, but it's also good to keep in mind that no matter what happens, we can sort it out and get through as best as we can.

 

If I have to cook in the fireplace, then I will.  My family actually started laughing and were saying that if it came down to it, I would just bring forth everything I have learned over the years, about the Amish and the pioneer way of life.  My son said "if anyone can do this, it's you, and I'm sure you'll be smiling from ear to ear."  Hahaha

He is not wrong.  I think that we can always learn from our ancestors and days gone by.  We don't have to worry about any of these things on a day to day basis, but when times like these come around, it's good to know that we have the skills and the knowledge to get by .

Anyway, I am going to finish this post up.  I need to read my Bible and my devotional for today, I'll also be crocheting some more, reading my next book for review, and hopefully watch some period dramas on the TV.

Ohhhh one of you had asked me where to watch All Creatures Great and Small.  I watch it on PBS.  It is also where I'll be watching Beecham House, Miss Scarlet and the Duke and a few other great ones.  Give it a try, you should be able to find it on your local TV channels or at the PBS website online.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone and thank you for dropping by my little corner of the world.