Posted in Daily Blessings

Ahh...Cabin Fever!  I have a full understanding of the term now, that's for sure.  For those who don't know, my region went through quite a bit of rough weather last week.  We had nearly a foot of snow, several inches of ice, and massive power outages which resulted in loss of water for many cities and towns.  There are many still doing without, although we managed to get up into the upper 50's on Saturday and the low 50's yesterday.  It hasn't been enough to melt all of the snow, though--there are still many areas covered with snow and ice.  Trees are down nearly everywhere, and in some places, still across roads, rendering them impassable. 

It has been devastating, to say the least, but there have been some silver linings to the dark clouds.  Neighbors have been reaching out and helping each other, and this is wonderful!  I've noticed many working together to cut up trees and move them out of the way, taking food and water to those doing without, and opening their homes for hot meals and showers to family and friends in need.  What a blessing it is, too, to see the many power company trucks from other states who have come in to help!  The National Guard is out in Kentucky helping many there, too, and that's a blessing, for sure!

I've also noticed that many children are learning that life does go on no matter what the conditions may be.  So many children have become "couch potatoes" (for lack of a better phrase at the moment)--playing video games, watching television, listening to music, etc.  However, during the last week I've seen them getting outside and getting some exercise.  They've played football in the snow, built snow people, snow forts, etc., and gone sledding and snowboarding.  They've learned once again to enjoy board games by candlelight, to listen to stories being told and/or read to them (or read them themselves), and gained a new appreciation of "family gatherings" as they used to be. 

My son did manage to get out to work everyday and the children and I stayed here in my home.  I was very blessed to have them with me, and the Lord blessed our time together very much.  We never did lose power completely, although the lights tried to flicker a few times.  We did lose cable service for a while, though, which meant my internet was also down, as well as my phone.  However, they came through all of that like little troopers!  I don't allow them to watch television very much anyhow, but they did miss seeing Curious George that day!  In its place we watched a Veggie Tales movie, though, and they enjoyed that very much. 

It was nice to have the opportunity to stay home and cook and clean for my family once again, I must say (although at times I wished I had a dishwasher)!  Their school was closed all week, although mine was open on Thursday (I had to miss that day to stay home with the children), and that's okay.  We all have excellent teachers and will catch up soon.  We did do quite a bit of studying here at home--they worked on words, numbers, and reading and arithmetic, as well as some word search puzzles and other "fun" ways of learning.  A dear friend in Tennessee had sent me some homeschooling books and such, and while we've gone through much of it last summer, we still had more to work on last week.  I took advantage of many things I found online, as well, and many resources I had downloaded from www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com   They have great resources and I check it every weekday to see if the "daily special" is something I can use, either now or in the future.  It all came in handy last week!

According to the weather forecasters we have some more snow heading in tonight and on through Wednesday, maybe Thursday.  Ouch!  However, they are saying the "big storm" that was due to hit us is going to bypass us to the east.  I pray it isn't as destructive as the one that hit us last week!  It's supposed to go up through Virginia and on up into the New England states.  I pray God's hand of protection upon each one who encounters it.

I haven't had a chance to finish this month's Nuggets of Wisdom newsletter just yet due to spending so much time on everything else, but I hope to get it finished and in everyone's inboxes this weekend or the first of next week.  I pray everyone has been spending time in God's Word and learning more and more of the treasures to be found there!  Have a most blessed week!

Hugs,

Cynthia Robin