Snow Loco

Monday we were hit with another snowstorm.  We felt snug and satisfied in our little house watching the snowflakes fall.  We made pancakes, we bundled up, we threw snowballs, we ran laps in the snow track made by the sled in the front yard and we drank hot cocoa…all the good stuff of snow days.  Then night came and brought with it freezing rain that covered everything in a thick layer of ice, basically shutting down everything for the rest of the week— no mornings at preschool, no going out and about, no evening church activities, no drive to the club for workouts, no playing outside and well, the crazy kicked in.

We had just spent weeks together over Christmas and had plenty of cozy, cuddle family time.  All of us were ready to start the year, getting back into a routine and getting out of the house.  Thankfully (depending on who you talk to), Mark could get back and forth the mile to church after Monday.  Not so thankfully, by Wednesday afternoon, Leah hit her frazzled mommy state and the kids were cranky, whiny and restless.  Normally independent Clara became Leah’s little koala bear, wrapping herself around Leah’s leg and her constant shadow— as in, standing outside the shower just to make sure Leah was right there washing her hair and asking again and again, “Are you almost finished, Mommy?” 

It made us homesick, not just California sunshine (icy, cold and gray do not a merry morning make) but for family close-by to call, to whine and whimper that you need a little break and they biologically have to say yes to spending time with your lovely, cranky kids.

Our church started an emergency homeless shelter for nights when the temperature drops below 25 degrees.  Mark worked the “owl shift” Monday night, sleeping at the church in the fellowship hall dubbed A Room in the Inn.  He walked in our door that frigid icy Tuesday morning dropped his backpack and pillow and gently said, “I am so thankful for this warm house, for warm beds for all of us and that we have a home.”  As our nerves grew frayed and our words snippy, this was the truth we gripped— when a storm hits, what an abundant blessing to have shelter, to have food, to have a family and red, red wine.