Its ALL fun and games until.....

Last week we had record snowfall for this area of Texas!! It was forecast all week to have snow starting last Thursday. We woke up Thursday morning to this....



Which is fine! No problems! The kids still had school so surely the roads were fine....but by noon my neighbor (the only neighbor I have) and I decided that our kids should probably come home before it got too bad. The snow was coming down quite hard and since we live out in the country the roads would get pretty bad as the day went on. So her sweet husband, Gary, decided to pick up all of our kids from school around lunch time. Which again is (still) fine!! After we ate a little lunch we decided to go out and play in the snow. After all...we don't get this much around here! Even the neighbor girls and our dog, Tucker, joined in the fun!!













Yes. That would be my daughter with my husband's hunting coat on and plastic bags over her cotton gloves. We don't get snow much so there is normally no need for winter gear. Don't judge me!!

So around 3:oo I went in while the big kids kept playing outside. At 3:15 I was watching a movie next to my fire(propane, thank you very much) and the power went out. So I called the electric company on my cell phone and reported my outage. The recording said it would be back on around 7pm. Ok....I can deal with that. So I text my husband and tell him. He then informs me that he is leaving early because the roads are getting bad. About 5pm he calls to say that there was a
pretty bad accident on our country road and the police had it blocked off and he was finding an alternate route home. At 5:15 I get a text that he had slid off the road into a ditch and couldn't get out. A stranger (I use that word loosely. You hardly meet a stranger here!) drove him to my parents house. They were not home because they were busy being stuck in the snow too so my neighbor who was out rescuing school buses and other vehicles from the ditches in his tractor stopped by and picked him up. Seven o'clock rolls around and I call the power company again and the recording now says 9pm. Ok....we can still handle this! We bundle up and eat PB and J with sourdough, get the guitar out, sing songs, and tell stories. It was like a regular camp out! Except with out the warm fire!! We were all in pretty good spirits because SURELY the power would be on any second now.

SURELY!!

Nine o'clock rolls around and I call again. Now the recording just says they are working as quickly as they can. Not good. But still...we decide to stay put for the night because we couldn't really get out of our driveway anyway because its at an incline and the roads were slick! We pile on the blankets and go to bed. The next morning(Friday) we wake up all blue lipped and cold toed.....SURELY the power will be on today.

Surely!?!

After Brian plays in the snow with the kids for awhile he decides he really needs to try and get to work. He finally makes it up the driveway in my car (remember his is still in a ditch!) and heads to my parents to shower. He sends my dad back over to get us around lunch time so we can go eat a warm meal and take showers. Surely the power will be on this afternoon.

Surely?

Long story short? The power did not come back on until Sunday afternoon!! While staying at my parents I would watch the news with my dad at night and seeing all of the people who did not have power either and didn't have somewhere else to go made me even more thankful for our situation. See....my parents took in 7 people who had 7 mouths to feed without hesitation. And they didn't at all make us feel like we were intruding. We were not having to stay at a community shelter and we actually had a warm bed to sleep in. And even though we lost alot of food from our fridge and freezer I still knew that we could go to the store and replace it. There are people who wake up every day wondering if they will be able to eat at all....or feed their children. We are so blessed. We take so much for granted in America. I want to do more....I want to be more aware of the needs around me. I want my heart to beat like His....Thank you, God........

I walked up to the front of our property to see if I could see any trucks working on power lines. I saw nothing. Except my family down by the house playing in the snow. I love my people!!

This was the view down our road.

My husband, kids, Tucker, and the snowman who looks like he's smoking an orange joint. Why did they do that? My husband is 6ft. if that tells you how tall the snow man was!

I have more things to tell about our weekend! It involves a puppy and an old lady who's car may or may not have hit some ice in front of my house yesterday, spun out, and crashed through my fence. Its always exciting at the Woods Casa!!!



And this is where Adiah and Rhett slept while we stayed at my parents. Other than my parents bedroom they only have one other room so we made beds anywhere there was space. My littles got one of the bathroom floors!!