Winter Blessings

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After two wonderful snows last week, our weather forecast for Sunday was a 100% chance of rain hour after hour with flooding to boot. I am grateful that we got the rain, but not the flooding. The combination of melting snow and rain sent waterfalls down the hills near our home. Two low spots in the field across the road became rainy day ponds. A temporary branch snaked through the field beside our house and into a low place in our yard. Still the river kept in its banks, and we didn’t get flooded in.

On Saturday a friend and I were texting about a group of friends possibly going out to eat after church on Sunday. She and I agreed that we would both plan to do that if we weren’t swimming in the flood. At one point, she texted: “I’m probably alone in this, but I like snow better than rain.” I quickly responded with, “Me, too!!!”

As we gathered for church on Sunday morning, the rain had begun. The man who usually makes our announcements mentioned how much better it was that we were having rain and not snow. We people are so funny. We certainly don’t all agree, do we? That’s a lesson we need to take to heart as a country. Sometimes disagreements have a moral base, but sometimes two people—or groups—can disagree without either of them being wrong.

Ray and I appreciate those of you who encouraged us about his first podcast yesterday. We appreciate all the folks who have already listened to it. Ray and our videographer, Titus, got together last Wednesday to begin working on recording it. While Titus was here, he and I recorded a video we had been planning. I’d like to share that video with you today. I hope it is encouraging to you.

My topic is Wintertime Blessings. I love wintertime and snow—the more snow the better for me; and, as I have said so many times before, I love Christmas. Titus and I chose this setting in my new office, hoping that my parents’ old aluminum tree would evoke feelings of wintertime.

Homeschooling in the wintertime has so many blessings. I hope that these wintertime ideas and reminders will bless your family’s winter.

Since its first rooms were constructed in the 1840s, our house has gone through many transformations. We have recently moved my office into the room that was originally a portion of the front porch and later closed in to form part of a mother-in-law apartment. Want to know what it’s really like to live in a house that is getting closer and closer to two centuries old? I’m standing in what was once the kitchen portion of the mother-in-law apartment. When we began pulling out the kitchen cabinets, the floor fell in! Thanks to our son-in-law and a close friend, I can now stand on a solid floor. Today we can even stay warm in the wintertime—something we definitely could not do during our first few winters here. Brrrr!

As you cherish your precious family during this blessed wintertime, remember how much God cherishes you.

By this the love of God was revealed in us,
that God has sent His only Son into the world
so that we may live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10

 

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