The house is quiet.  I awoke at 6am to learn that school was closed.  In our neck of the woods, the winds are whipping tree limbs into power lines and causing power outages and there is icy snow thinly covering the ground.  Yesterday our electricity was out from noon to seven in the evening.  Darkness and quiet can mean so many things.  What we see as “dark” can be darker still, what we hear as “quiet” can be even quieter……….

We lit candles and carried flashlights.

For now, the house is warm again, and maybe not as quiet as I think.  It will surely get louder as the children wake up, good healthy children with lots of energy, curiosity, play, mess, and need for constant work to do.

Someone can clean the kitchen.  Someone can fold clothes.  Someone can sit beside me and let me read to them.  Someone can play a game.  Someone can make us lunch.

If you can slip and slide your way to our place, all are welcome for a party day.  We a friendly dog, three cats, and children from the age 6 all the way up to 20.  Friends.

Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a best friend.  ~ Bill Watterson 

******

I drove my Hannah friend to the airport yesterday morning.

As my husband texted me, “The parting of good friends is sad but oh so worth it.”

These are the pajama pants she made Caleb, using another pair belonging to him as a pattern.  Caleb is our football fan and he loves the Patriots.  These pants were a labor of pure love.  (Hannah is a Seahawks fan)

She made me a pair of nice thick leggings in a wonderful olive green.

*****

a little clip from singing with Hannah on Sunday

the last verse:

Let the stormy breezes blow, their cry cannot alarm me;
I am safely sheltered here, protected by God’s hand;
Here the sun is always shining, here there’s naught can harm me;
I am safe forever in Beulah Land.