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| (Angel of Miracles, courtesy of WillowTree) |
(and it's all riddled with small miracles along the way!)
Today is supposed to be a Wordless Wednesday, but I couldn't help myself since my heart is quite full!
We've had no new snow the past 24 hours, but we're bitterly cold. So I'm grateful for my warm house. Last night, the experts were hollering about expecting a low of 2 degrees (f) last night (with a possibility of -1 but a windchill factor of -10)!
Turns out that this morning, Google said it was 1 degree (f), but the mercury on OUR thermometer on the deck read at least -10 when we all rolled out of bed to sip our hot cocoa & huddle by the radio for the school closures & delay report.
(We knew Mr LKP had a tanker truck to deliver this morning & an excavator to haul today as well, THEN he can come home to sit in warm socks around the wood stove & snuggle with me. ::wink::) Since Mini-Me's school is a bunch of country kids who really wanted to still go on their ice skating field trip today that's been planned for months + today's a scheduled half-day, they didn't delay OR cancel school (even though they delayed it two hours each day so far this week).
When Mini-Me bundled herself and trudged out to the bus stop at the last possible minute she could
(I don't blame her), the thermometer on the deck read -8 degrees (f)! Good thing she didn't have to wait too long by then. So I'm extremely grateful for warm weather gear for her....a FUNCTIONING bus today....the fact that our pipes didn't freeze (since Mr LKP was inspired to close all the vents to the house a couple weeks ago)...I'm grateful for hot cocoa, pancake & sausage links-on-a-stick as well as microwavable sausage biscuits and their warmth that we were able to fill the bellies of my lovely family before I had to send them off into this arctic tundra.
Considering how cold it actually got, I'm grateful for the inspiration Mr LKP & I received to bring in Hula-Hoop & Sir Linus for the night. Hula usually has good enough house manners, but she thinks Sullivan is fair game + Linus has finally learned and fine-tuned the art of lifting his leg. So their kennel boxes came in from the "barn." There may be cedar chips all over my floor from their boxes to my door, but it smells so nice! And my heart is glad to know they were safe through the night (granted since Linus out-grew Hula, therefore she had to forfeit the larger kennel box to him and now we need to get her another X-Large box, but I'd rather she have to curl up just a little more to be inside near the heater, than to have her be a PUP-sicle outside today).
It was so cold that each time Mr LKP took Willow out to potty last night, it would freeze to her. So sad (and this'll sound gross), therefore we put down some potty pads in the bathroom as a contingency plan
(not that I WANT her having to use them, but gosh it seemed cruel to have her out there soooo uncomfortable). Turns out she didn't want to use them. She was still a trooper and would go out with Mr LKP this morning. But I'm grateful for being prepared, just in case!
Also, while reflecting, I'm grateful we made the investment (when we could in the last two years) in good snow gear. It was so nice to just have to dig the snow gear tote out of the shed, and there was everything we have for sledding (and hopefully someday, snowboarding)....goggles, super-fab gloves & mittens, base layers, snow boarding coats, snow pants, hats & beanies galore! (I really only had to race into town for those snow boots for Mini-Me this year.)
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| (Rockin' the snow gear on Mt. Spokane last winter!) |
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| (Our temp read Sunday night when the flakes were really starting to fly & pile up.) |
All in all, despite these blessings have mostly affected us physically, I am extremely grateful for inspiration....promptings....basically, the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Having that constant companion has saved us a lot of heartache & discomfort.
Don't get me wrong, we've had some scares and inconveniences with all this inclement weather as well. However, it could have been much, much worse:
For instance, the other night when I'd been expecting Mr LKP home around 10pm (he'd been hauling what should have only taken about 5 hours, but he wound up driving for over 12 hours due to the road conditions), I got a call around 9pm letting me know he was parking the rig with the tanker truck and coming home since it wasn't safe enough to take it the extra 20-30 miles to drop it. Smart man since we had white-out blizzard conditions that night. Less than ten minutes later, though, I got another call from him letting me know that his back tire blew! His dad drove out to get him, and I headed into my FIL's to meet them halfway. THAT. WAS. SCARY. I could barely see the median's barrier above the snow, and THAT is the only way I knew where to go. What normally is a 10 minute drive for me turned into a 25-30 minute drive! I'm grateful for my Father-in-Law, and his willingness to be there for us.
The only thing Mr LKP needed to do yesterday was get back to his low-boy & deliver that tanker. So I drove him out to the truck yard in the morning. We figured it wouldn't take that long, so I'd ride with him, and then he & I would find some replacement tires for the back of his Jeep, get 'em mounted on his wheels, balanced, and on the rig. Easy peasy, right? Wrong!
When we got to the low-boy, he was only able to drag it about 10 feet from it's parked spot. Upon further investigation, he had two flat tires. Now, every Les Schwab this side of the Rocky Mountains & north of Las Vegas was backed-up about 8 hours minimum. However, Mr LKP figured if he could get the trailer out further he could better assess the tires' damage, possibly remove them and take them in....and perhaps they were just low.
That would've been nice if the brakes hadn't been frozen! So he spent a couple hours thawing the brake lines....only to discover that it was the actual drums that were frozen instead. His boss finally showed up on the scene, and they realized that apparently his brakes had frozen-up probably about 50 miles north of the yard, and that he had basically drug two of that axle's tires as far, which wore HUGE holes in them! (Not that there was any way he could have known those drums were frozen, as there are no indicator lights or signals that would've let him know that.)
So a quick little day on the road & then solving his own vehicle problems turned into an entire cold day of him rolling around in the snow under his semi! They were able to thaw the drums, and last night Les Schwab sent out a truck to fix the tires, so he's good to go today.
From all that, I'm grateful for Mr LKP's boss who understands how hard my husband works, and how dedicated he is to all he does. Who's willing to pay him for even the time he wasn't on the road. Who appreciates the fact that because my husband has the work ethic he does, this boss can enjoy more time with his family and less inconveniences than if he were having to still operate that truck regularly himself.
In the middle of all the semi drama, I received a call from Mini-Me. She had forgotten to take her key with her to school and had found herself locked out of the house! (When it rains, it REALLY pours.) So, she hiked back up our driveway and to the post office in the rinky-dink little town across the road from our place and called me from there. Since that's the only place we've got in our town (no convenience stores, no library, no nothing else), that's where she felt she could safely go. I'm grateful for a small-town, take-care-of-each-other mentality of those where we live, and for a compassionate mail lady who was willing to let her stay there and do her homework...read....and draw while we were stuck out at the truck yard still.....EVEN after when she had to close the post office! (She said she had extra paperwork to do and sidewalks to salt anyhow, so it worked out fine. I'm wondering if she was just saying that to make us feel better.)
Really, the outcomes of all of this (the past 3 days included) could have been so much more severe. God has truly cradled us in His hands, and we have come out unscathed for the most part. (Mr LKP was even able to locate some tires via Craig's List and scored 3 almost-new ones for $100 last night! I believe THAT blessing may have come our way not only through inspiration, but through our faithful paying of tithing, to boot.)
I'm grateful for Heavenly Father!
So, as you can see my heart is extremely full, for MANY good reasons!
Our spirituality has greatly impacted our physical situations this week, which in-turn has strengthened our spirituality more through fortifying our faith, our testimonies & our trust in Him!
I'm grateful for the miraculous cycle this is.
While we lived in Idaho, there was a sweet sister who spoke one Sunday. Wish I could remember her name, alas I remember most what she said since I jotted it down and had it on my bathroom mirror for almost 3 years! She said, "Even small miracles are MAJOR miracles."
So true.
Oh, and I'm also going to prep a turkey so it can sit overnight in all its spice-rub, and then it'll be ready for the BBQ tomorrow morning. YUMMMM! We're having Thanksgiving with Mr LKP's family this year (which will be strange as we've cooked, BBQ'd, & hosted every year for the past 8 Thanksgivings), but we're still going to BBQ our turkey like normal so I have a garlic-free meat option for myself (thank you allergies)....and leftovers for Mr LKP's lunches! (P.S. by BBQ'd I don't mean saucy, sticky BBQ sauce either...I'll have to post the recipe later for you.)
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| (source: our blog archives) |
I'm grateful for small miracles that are actually MAJOR miracles!
2 comments:
Hey baby woman!
Today as I drove grandpa to the doctor in Kennewick, I was stopped Northbound at the 395 and 27th Avenue stop light...first in line in the thru left lane. I watched a Peterbilt drawing nearer in my rearview mirror and another car stopped in the right lane and the left turn lane became occupied. The cross traffic was covering the whole intersection four lanes thick on compact snow and ice. The Peterbilt locked up his brakes and began to slide with the trailer shifting to the right and the cab shifting to the left. I jumped on the gas and steered to the right as far as I could go without hitting the neighboring car. I lunged forward nearly 10 feet toward the cross traffic lanes. The Peterbilt quit sliding. No one got hit, dad was wondering what I was doing so I suggested he look out the back window...he was blown away. I told him, "my dad taught me how to do that!" :) I'd moved just enough to allow that trucker to straighten out his rig into the center of the thru left lane. I wanted to jump out and 'high five' him! I am thankful to be home, too, and out of the weather. Happy Thanksgiving my sweetest daughter!
holy bats, mom! that's some scary stuff. yeah i'd say there was definitely some MAJOR miracles that came from some very small, & humble blessings earlier in life! i'm glad you're home safe and sound. we had a few close calls, but now that the drive line's back in the jeep things are peachy again. :)
love you!
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