It was still so icy today! Laney and Frankie enjoyed an “Arctic Lunch” and ate on the icy deck. They could break and throw ice all day long. It’s a wonder no ones gotten hurt yet.
We ventured to papas house this afternoon. The icy trees are mesmerizing, iPhone pictures do them zero justice. It has really been beautiful.
Matt, Tony, Abby, and Addie de-iced papa’s stairs. In the 12 years we’ve lived here we’ve never experienced ice like this, and his stairs, like everything else, had at least an inch thick layer of ice.
The girls haven’t seen each other in quite some time, so they ran around and played for as long as they could.
They slipped and slid all over.
Sometimes I’m still in denial that these girls are young women.
I put up papa’s welcome home banner, left him some snacks, and started his roomba. We love our papa and are hopeful he’ll be feeling better asap.
We watched the latest Wanda Vision and then read about the word of God. We did the activity in the CFM manual where we each looked up a different scripture, read it, then reported back to the group. Now that the girls are older I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile, and this worked perfectly because there were 5 scripture references. Everyone nailed theirs but Delaney, but to be fair she had an Isaiah reference and that’s always difficult.
Most of Texas seems to have their power back on. Around 50 people have died as a result of these storms and so many houses and businesses have been damaged. Tom and Bonnie had a pipe outside burst, but Tom was able to repair it, but then another one burst in their upstairs bathroom and flooded down to their dining room. Tom ripped out the ceiling and for now it’s not leaking anymore, but they will be added to the thousands of Texans needing to repair. Thankfully Tom’s apartment never lost power, but they’re under boil notice for their water. It’s really a huge mess.
In covid news, the US is down to 2600 deaths per day, which after having numbers in the 4000’s, is actually improving. Our highest death toll day was 2/4 with 5,077. 495,000 Americans have died from covid-19. These numbers are staggering and heartbreaking. Maryland is currently 39th in most new cases per 100,000 residents, so that’s pretty encouraging. There are several new variants spreading across the US, which is making some suggest double masking. We were talking double masking and our upcoming flight to Montana and Delaney said “I’ll mask up, but I’m not double masking. It’s too much.” That probably is too much for a 9-year-old. It’s all just a lot.
And finally, in more sad news, a few weeks ago my Uncle Larry passed away. That leaves those cousins without either parent living, which feels so unfair and makes me so sad for them. Then Jim let us know that Sharon’s last living sibling, Uncle Howard passed away a few days ago. He was in his 90’s, so he lived a good long life. But we also found out that his wife passed away back in October. She seemed so young and full of life when we visited with them a few years ago, so that was surprising. And finally, some of my best childhood friends mom passed away from cancer a few weeks ago. When we lived in Germany we lived in a duplex and next door was an American family also with 5 kids (this was pre-Tom days) and just down the street was that families aunt and uncle and their 5 kids - all American, all LDS, and all home schooled. We were all a hot mess and all so much fun. Everyone had a buddy and we had the best adventures together. Those were idyllic and happy days. Sister Bainbridge was the mom down the street, she was good friends with my mom, and we spent many a day at her house. Getting old is weird and I don’t like this part of it, but I’m grateful to know this is not the end. “Death is a kind of graduation day for life. It is our only means of entrance to our eternal lives.” ~Sterling Sill
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