Beautiful Fun Snow

We enjoyed going out in the cold for a few minutes last night. John was glad to take pictures while I . . .

Made a snow angel!

(how are you supposed to get up without making boot prints in it?)


This is the best snow angel I've ever made! In Alabama and Arkansas, they always have leaves and stuff in them since the snow is so shallow.



We did get about 4" or so of snow yesterday.





This snow was in addition to the several inches we already had on the ground (we haven't seen the ground since the beginning of January). We also got icy rain on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning so there was a nice crunchy layer of ice between the snow!




The view from our bedroom window!

Shoveling snow using a shovel we borrowed from a nice neighbor as we don't yet have one!

I can't remember ever shoveling snow before either!

If it's just a little (as it was last night), it's not bad at all. I can imagine it gets tiresome when there is a lot to do. A snow plow cleared most of our parking area - there was just a bump to clear away in front of where we park.

I had plans of making a snow man, but this snow wasn't packing the way it should have. Sometime before this winter weather is over we'll get a snowman or two made!

Food, Perspectives and Advice

Here are some of my thoughts from the last couple days readings in Exodus:

Exodus 12:16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat—that is all you may do.

-Things I noticed from this verse:

- God was very practical here- he said that for the passover you couldn't work except to make food :)

- God is by context agreeing that it is work to prepare food!

Exodus 16:2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

-Our perspective changes with time. Being slaves in Egypt was not that easy, but that's all they remembered when they were hungry.

Exodus 18:14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" 15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." 17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him.

-Often we need the advice of "outsiders" (such as visiting parents as in this case) who can see the bigger picture without getting bogged down in the details. When given advice, it's hard to accept it at times since we're sure we know best. But like Moses, we should consider advice and if the advice is good, we should apply it.

Snowy Home Pictures

We took this picture outside our house a couple weeks ago. We have nice homey apartment with a red door!

Our apartment is on the end of the building so we have an extra window in our living room and kitchen. So far, the curtains have been closed most of the time we're here, but I'm glad we have the extra windows nonetheless.

A couple days later, John took this picture as he was leaving the house. We are extremely thankful to have a covered area for our cars. It's right outside our kitchen door and big enough to fit both vehicles underneath. Not having to scrape the windows is wonderful! I'm glad it so close as on some of the coldest days this week I've let the car warm up for a few minutes while making lunches before work.

The view down the street from our apartment.

The view looking towards our apartment from the road.

The winter snow makes the area look great!

Cold Weather First

The other day when I got gas, I had something happen that had never happend in Alabama. My fuel door wouldn't open. Upon examining it, I realized that it had iced itself shut. With a little persuasion chipping out the ice with my keys and a gentle whack for good measure, the door soon opened up just fine.

In case you were wondering - it's cold here! With highs tending to reach around 20 and lows often below 10 (and even -24 one day last week!), the weather is like nothing I've ever known. But, so far I'm not minding it too much. I just don't spend much time outside. The last time I was outside for more than a couple minutes was sledding a couple weeks ago now.

The same family is planning a night sledding this Friday night. I'm not sure - the high is 33 that day and the low 21, so it's definitely warmer than its been. They're going to have a bonfire and I'm sure it will be fun. We just have to decide if we're up to the cold.

Sledding!

This weekend, we were able to enjoy the first good snow of the season with style! Some friends from our Church invited many people over to their traditional sledding party and were were thrilled to be included!

From 2009-01-10 Sledding!

The day wasn't too cold. There was even a light drizzle of rain for much of the time. Maybe that helped to make the hill faster?



There were many different types of sleds to try!

We had a blast going down!

Pulling the sleds up the hill and giving people a push to get started was a great workout! My arms are still reminding me that I used them this weekend.

When walking was too much, we were glad to have a ride!


Scott brought his snowmobiles and John enjoyed riding! I haven't ridden yet - maybe next time?




Soon the warmth of a fire was calling my name!


We relaxed after the snow with some hot chocolate and some delicious food as well! We even played a few games before returning home.

It was a great day! If you have to have cold weather, at least it does snow - sledding does somewhat make up for the cold :)

If you haven't yet seen these pictures on facebook, you can see all of them by clicking here.

Reading the Bible

I've recently begin reading the bible a new way using google reader. I know that at least 15 people read my blog through google reader so I thought that you (and possibly others) may be interesting in subscribing to the Bible. I just started yesterday and chose to "catch up" the reading from the beginning of the year. But you don't have to do that as the reader will give out the same passages each day of the year. If you're interested, visit Bible Gateway's site here. As I don't want to be stuck using the computer if I'm traveling, I also printed out the same schedule in daily for at Bible Year here.

So far, I'm enjoying the idea. I hope that reading on the computer will make it more likely that I do simple research about the things that I read. Maybe it will even make it more likely that I share "new" things I learn here on my blog.

For example, this morning as I caught up on my reading, I noticed for the first time how God called himself a reward in Genesis 15:1

After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. "

Do I think of the Lord as my very great reward? He is and I must align my thinking with His revealed word.

Winter Weather

Before coming to Ohio, I never really considered what it would be like to live in an area where winter weather is of any concern. Sure, we had little scares occasionally in Alabama where there would be dusting of snow, school would be cancelled and all the milk and bread would be sold out. But honestly, during the 14 years I lived there, the roads were never really bad.

Sure I heard about places with snow, but how bad could it really get? I didn't think about how often it actually snowed and how driving could be affected by the weather. Rain may make driving difficult, but it's nothing like snow - especially when it's icy sleet or falling really fast.

According to the locals, we don't yet have really cold winter days. As I look at the ten day forecast, I wonder what real winter will look like. Already it's rare to go more than a couple days without seeing some snow falling. True, it does occasionally get warm (now defined in my brain as above 30!), and the snow has yet to accumulate, but how cold will it get?

As I learn about winter weather, I still think it somewhat fun to see the snow falling down. Weather up hear is more interesting - you never know when it will affect your drive home. Staying home due to the weather is something new that will sometimes give you an extra evening home. I've learned that snowplows and salt are wonderful and that the drive to work is typically not bad. I've also learned the term "two-hour delay" which happens whenever the roads are a little icy and schools open late. I don't like the feeling of my car sliding on the road, but so far have not had any major problems. We haven't yet had more than a few inches fall at once. Tonight, we supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow. I haven't yet made a snowman but maybe this weekend? . . Stay tuned!

More Highly than You Ought

At times it's easy for me to think of myself more highly than I ought (Romans 12:3) and yet to not even realize that I'm doing it. Recently, my job has revealed this subtle problem to me again.

At my job, we make new drawings and changes to drawings to match customer orders. When I first begin this job almost three months ago, I didn't yet have a computer and had no product knowledge. So for the first few weeks, I spent almost the entire time checking other people's work.

Checking is not fun, but it is necessary since it's so easy to make a mistake or think you changed something that you didn't. But there is a fun side to checking that can encourage pride in your thinking. Finding a mistake is actually somewhat fun. When this happens, my sinful nature thoughts come to my mind like: "You're so smart, smarter than the guy who drew this, I bet no one else would have caught that, how could someone be so dumb as to do that wrong, you're new and you caught that one."

After several weeks of these thoughts, I began to finally get jobs of my own to do. Soon, I was the one making the stupid mistakes that anyone should have caught. Some of them I could excuse, but others were obvious (once pointed out to me). By now I should have learned, but it's still tough. Pride still sneaks up instead of a humble spirit.

When I received a list of mistakes this morning in my email, my first thought was that the guy sending the email was wrong, that the guy who checked my work should have been more careful, that it's someone else's fault that I made a mistake.

In reality, I have to realize that God in his infinite wisdom has made me prone to error. I need the help of others to point out my mistakes and accept it with humility. I need to be careful not to think of myself as better than another. Through seeing my own mistakes in black and white at work, I am reminded that our sins though not often so obvious to others are clearly seen by God. If we confess our sins he will forgive us.

Lessons learned at work are good for life!

It's a New Year!

Happy New Years! How did 2009 come so fast? I guess time seems to speed up when a lot of exciting events happen in sequence! This has been the most momentous year of my life. Becoming engaged to John in April, moving to Ohio in August, getting married in September, and starting a new job in October, moving to a new apartment in November and traveling a lot in between has made for a great year! Who knows what this next year will bring? Thankfully we can trust in the God of the Bible who will bring us through the future!