A week of surprises

“My County Tis of Thee…”

Yes, I watched TV all day on Tuesday, and no, not because I’m an Obama supporter, but rather a news freak and a bit of a ‘history-in-the-making’ buff. We have the cable news package, so I could go from channel to channel and get every angle and view. It was very exciting. My daughter was less than thrilled that PBS was not airing Sesame Street, but I gave her a lesson on America and the role of ‘Tradition’ instead. Black or white makes no difference to me, but every new presidency is a chance to be a part of history.

For the record, I think our new president’s Christian morals and ethics are very lacking and his disregard for the sanctity of marriage and human life is evident. His cabinet picks are less than promising, in my opinion. However, I am hopeful that God can and will make something good come out of the next 4 years and I’m willing to bet that He has a plan. From all the interviews that were aired and the showing of the throng of people in Washington DC, it’s obvious that Obama has given hope to a whole lot of people, and I wonder if that’s what will sustain at least the economy for a while. We can only wait and see, I guess.

The weather was gorgeous all week, nearly 70 for three days running. The kids and I spent as much time as we could outside, either up at the park or in the back yard. We’re blessed to have the big city park only 4 blocks away, and have a swing-set in the back yard. The snow began falling early Friday morning and our newest dusting had almost half covered the grass. Another ¾” and we could’ve call it an inch!

Our big news of the week is split in two.

On Wednesday, the 21^st, Lars decided he didn’t need his walker to get around anymore. He started walking in the kitchen, then wandered to the living room, walking from Daddy to Eden to Mommy and back again, laughing all the way, and occasionally crying just to be sure we were still going to cheer for him in the end.

Just about the time he went to bed, we got a phone call from Chad, delivering the news that we’d gotten a new niece, and Eden & Lars a new cousin. Ziana (ZEE-ana) Marie tipped the scales at 7# 15oz and is cute as a Kenny could be. We even got photos in the first couple hours, so I felt very special to be included. I wonder when we’ll get to meet this new addition??

Congratulations, Chad & Marie!!

In other news, my last weekend of EMS-I classes were postponed two weeks, due to the potential for a big snowstorm and not wanting people out on the roads. Out here, it really doesn’t take any snow to close the roads, not because of the snow so much, but b/c of the deadly wind. There are no trees to stop the blowing snow, and it freezes over the road. Sometimes, the wind just blows big trucks over on the interstate, or blows them over just sitting still at a truck stop. It’s too dangerous to be out. So, they have big bars that go across the road and you can’t get by on the interstate. You have to turn around and go back to the nearest town.

Of course, I had babysitters all lined up for this weekend and was already to go, so now I need to work on that again. On the bright side, my presentation is finished and so I don’t really have any homework, either.

Anyway, the snow came down. And came down. And came down some more. By Sunday morning, I had to dig a path to get out of the driveway to church. Eden was already in sweat pants and a sweatshirt by the time it was time to get dressed for church. She informed me that she was going to Mark and Laura’s to go sledding. When I told her we had to go to church and Sunday school first, she asked if we could go sledding instead.

Needless to say, immediately after church, we took a pot of soup to Mark and Laura’s house, donned on snow pants and gloves, and headed out to the back yard. The slideshow shows Mark dragging the kids (yes, even the big kid, Sarah) around behind the 4-wheeler. This is called sledding “Nebraska Style”. And, really, it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time! The kids had a blast, and Eden was yelling, “Faster Mark-y!” She only face planted once, and after a few brief tears, was anxious to get back on. In the end, Eden was the last one to stop sledding, the last one to stop making snow angels and the last one to be drug inside. The hot chocolate and cider were waiting for us by the hot, crackling fire.

While Lars was still napping at Laura’s, I took off to go shovel the walk and driveway back at our house. It took about an hour, but was worth the time. By the time I was done, Al got home from the nursing home service and helped scrape what I missed. By the time we were finished, there was another half inch on the cement.

Bridgeport declared it’s first snow emergency in history, school has been cancelled for tomorrow, and Al has to report to the courthouse tomorrow morning at 0830 for Jury Duty! Never a dull moment here!