The snow is always smoother . . .

The grass is always greener, the snow is always smoother - Isn’t that usually the case?

Last night as I was going out for the last potty break, I glanced at our neighbor’s yard. It was absolutely breath taking. Perfectly blanketed with fresh fallen snow, curving up and down - wherever the wind let each flake rest. There was no trace of activity. My one word description would have to be “peaceful“. I was so captured by this display of beauty.

I’ve had the song “God of Wonders” going through my head this week. Here’s the chorus - God of wonders beyond our Galaxy - You are holy, holy - the universe declares your majesty - you are holy, holy”. Well, last night, My neighbors yard in little, Nappanee, Indiana declared His majesty! I’m sure it still does this morning but I am avoiding going out until absolutely necessary!

My neighbors yard is much more peaceful than ours. One word for our yard would have to be "busy". There are big tracks, little tracks, toys, furniture that never got put away, pumpkins and pretty soon there will be one decaying Frasier Fur. (I think we may have missed the Christmas tree pick up.)

Our neighbors are in a different season of their life. The have no pets and their children are grown. We have 2 children and 2 pets that venture outside. And as I felt envious of their yard, I had to wonder if they are ever envious of ours? I guess both yards display God’s majesty. One is His beauty in nature and the other is overwhelming evidence of His most loved creation!

I know, I know, envy is wrong and I shouldn't be coveting. So let's say I REALLY enjoy my neighbor's yard and I can't wait until I have a peaceful yard. At least that's what I think now. I'm sure when I do, there will be times when I want my "busy" yard back. After all, the grass is always greener and the snow is always smoother . . . . .

Missing that Gilson

I remember a couple winters ago there was no snow. Jesse's birthday is on Dec. 9th. We had some snow right around then but by Christmas we were done. Our friends bought their kids some sleds for Christmas and they never got to use them.

That's NOT the case this year! I'm glad Jesse still likes to play outside in it. He's more into building forts and battle scenes. I actually shoveled part of his fort today. He didn't pick the best place to play the other day.

Before the tornado, we had a snow blower. Unfortunately, it did not survive. It was in the shed. For insurance reasons, I had to find out more about this inherited Gilson snow blower of ours. I found out it was really old. So old they stopped making them a LONG time ago! My first clue was when I found a website with phrases on it that said things like - "The place where the Gilson snow blower legacy lives" and "report a Gilson sighting."

We complained about this snow blower. Sometimes, it seemed as though we only made as much progress as Mr. Oblivious here:



But our Gilson was better than what we have now:
(The shovel is what I meant - the 12 yr. old isn't bad but needs an awful lot of "encouraging")

Yeah, yeah, I know we got about $30 from insurance to go towards a new snow blower but who buys a snow blower in the summer? I'm sure we put that money towards fireworks or something.

New Year's Eve

Every New Year's Eve, we stay home. About 4 years ago the girls have been joining us. Emma Derek and I love it! (Get over it Jesse!!) I think we all have a lot of fun, even Jesse but he won't ever admit it! Mom Ho (my mom) comes over too. It depends on the crazy level on how long she stays.

This year we pretty much played Wii the whole time - 2pm-midnight!!!!

Here's Landry and Jesse. Let the fighting begin! No matter how long they've been getting along, Jesse reverts and does not have a nice bone in his body towards Landry on New Year's Eve. Poor Landry :-( I think it's because she stole his thunder. He had the grandparents all alone for 5 years. He just hasn't been able to let it go!

I had been saving the Creative Kids cookie dough from the school fundraiser. We also played with play dough at the same time but were careful not to confuse the two!

So I hear, "Emma, I have to go to the bathroom do you want to come with me?" I was hoping this would happen and that the whole going in the potty would rub off on Emma. After a while, I checked in to find this:

This Sassy lady is Mom Ho's Wii Mii. She really got into the bowling but couldn't beat Derek #1. Sophie is #3 and Landry is #4.

So here I guess Derek must have done something good and Landry is in her own world.


And here they are with their cups of sparkling grape juice at midnight followed by the Amish Acres fireworks. The flash is just my camera but there were fireworks and they were pretty cool this year!

That's it. We'll be resting the rest of the week/weekend!! I apologize in advance for the teachers who get these children on Monday!

Working from home

Derek is working from home today. I think that's a blessing for many reasons. First, the weather is supposed to get bad. And, we have two unreliable vehicles right now. I blogged a bit before about what Derek used to drive (Rusty) and his current ride the GPA (Grandpa's Park Avenue).

Last week Derek started driving the van to work because he thinks one side of the GPA's breaks are going out. He had finally fixed the heat but now the breaks need help. So to be safe, I stayed home bound and he drove the van. Fine with me. I have plenty to do!

Recently, we've been noticing the coolant low light for a while in the van. When I say "noticing" I mean Derek is aware of the problem and trying this and that while hoping it will go away. I on the other hand, see the coolant low light and think it's the washer fluid. Apparently, I remember nothing from Auto Shop nor can I read and understand! Then, Saturday, the heat started acting funny, and then stopped which wasn't very funny with the freezing temps.

So Monday, Derek decided between heat and bad brakes or no heat. Since he drives all the way to South Bend for work, he went with the heat so that meant bad brakes on one side. He did make it there and back with only a few incidents - he almost went through Great-grandpa's garage door when he was dropping off Jesse in the morning on his way to work. And then on the way home, he went into a field. Luckily he just kept going and drove right out.

Needless to say, it was nice for him to stay home today!!! Here he is with his co-worker/secretary.

We got to have lunch with Dad, Joan, Christine and Brian. As I write this, they are headed to Indy to fly to Texas to celebrate Christmas with Brian's family where it is about 100 degree's. (That sounds nice right now but I wouldn't trade it for a White Christmas.)

Oh and here's a picture of Rusty. He didn't make it. He was parked the other way at the top of the driveway. The tornado blew him around and he is sitting on the phone box or some kind of utility type eye sore in the yard. His frame was broke. Poor Rusty!

Winter Storm #1

Here are a couple pictures from this past Friday's storm. We got a lot of ice! The coolest thing was that there was thunder and lightening. Jesse was ALMOST disappointed there was no school because they were having their class party of course. (Okay, he was a little disappointed.)

I put down Winter Storm #1 because we are supposed to get some more ice tomorrow. But with this one, everything was fine at our homestead until yesterday morning. Around 7am our power went out. Not a big deal except it was extremely cold! I couldn't get Derek up but that gave him a boost out of bed. He was up in a flash straight to the garage to hook up the generator!

We purchased this generator, oh, quite a few years ago. That last big ice storm to hit Nappanee. We were out of town when it had hit and when we got back about 3 days later, our house was still w/out power. The thermostat said57 degree's. I think we actually called Denny Martin at home to see if he would open up and let us buy a generator. He did and 3 hours later we had some heat and lights. Derek headed to get gas or food and saw some Nipsco trucks in Martin's parking lot. He tracked the men down at Pizza Hut and asked where we were at on the list. We weren't on their list but they came to the house and fixed it in 10 minutes!

So, we've have had this generator for years. We have lugged this thing with each move. We even tried to sell it a few times - no luck. As I write this, I think the generator was in the shed when the tornado hit. I'll have to add a picture. This thing is indestructible! I think we'll have it forever. So, after this last move, we decided to keep it. And, as a permanent member of "Derek's Collection of Guy Things" he'll now jump at the chance to use it!

And he did on Sunday. Our church was without power as well but still stayed open to have service in a smaller, warmer area than the sanctuary. We went. Shortly after worship started, the power came back on. We had left our generator running. So afterwards, we headed home, unplugged it and were just about ready to leave to head to Great Grandpa's when the power went on and off a couple times. Well, it was on when we left. Upon returning, we were on CR 52 and saw every house go dark! So, we got home, lit candles, powered up the generator and about 20 minutes later the power came back on and has been on since.

We are still leaving things in place until this ice melts and especially since we're supposed to get more tomorrow! Winter is here!!

Here's our shed before our tornado.


Here's our shed after the tornado.

Here is our trusty generator (midde of picture). It landed behind where the shed was, along with some of our neighbors furniture and other items.