Woke up to a WARM house...after our gas well lines froze up at the well head, we went two days without heat and the cabin dropped to 48 degrees plus no fireplace plus no hot water before I broke down and bought us a powerful kerosene heater.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the wonderful men who service our well were bombarded with similar problems from many of their customers and they were trying to get everyone's heat up and running again so we had to wait our turn.

Bless their hearts, two brave men came out late yesterday afternoon and stood out in the open fields with the wind whipping snow at them in below-zero windchill temperatures and thawed out and bailed our gas well.

This morning I'm thanking God for the simple things in life that are the big things...with a warm home being one of them! 

As I listen to the wicked wind whipping and see the snow falling outside...again.......

One of the gifts of the viciously, brutally cold mornings we've been having a lot of lately are the breathtaking sunrises.  The new morning light reflecting off the brilliantly white snow just makes for some spectacular landscapes.  I've been taking sunrise photographs nearly every day recently.

But Thursday's sunrise was extra-special.

A snowbow!!!  And at the end of the snowbow is a sundog.

The sun was just rising behind that pine tree on the right and reflecting through the icy crystals in the sky (imagine that!) to form a sundog and snowbow.

God's creative power is evident even when we're freezing our noogies off....

This is unbelievable to me. 

Despite all the storms we've had, the heavy snow, the 40+ mph winds, and just the brutal winter, this treeful of Granny Smith apples has lost nary a one.  Those now-rotten apples are still hanging on. 

At this point, I suspect they are frozen to the branches...

I found out something new about my husband of 33+ years while snowbound with him during Winter Storm Ion.

He's an obsessive puzzle maniac.

I had a few unopened puzzles that I'd bought over the years and I told him I was going to get one for us to CASUALLY work on while we were stuck at home.

Little did I know I'd create a monster!

He couldn't quit working on them.  As soon as he got up in the morning, the first thing he'd do was find a piece.  And all day long, he was obsessed with them....complaining all the time, "This puzzle is impossible!"  and "We'll never get this put together.  It's way too hard!"  and "I don't know why you thought you had to get out a puzzle!"

But he couldn't rest until they were done. 

My idea of doing puzzles is to sit down for 15 or 20 minutes, find a few pieces, then get up and do something else. 

Not his.  He sat there for hours.

I unleashed a puzzle monster.  We did 2 1000-piece puzzles (with him doing 75% of them) in less than 3 days.

I've got one more puzzle that I'm holding back, just in case he gets cabin fever again and is about to drive me crazy....

And while we're freezing in Indiana, David up and moved to Phoenix, Arizona!!!

I was "mad" at him for a few days...I was just so shocked that he resigned as Family Life Minister at our church when it seemed like he was just getting going good.  But he got an offer he couldn't refuse and felt like it was what he should do, so he went.

I miss him a whole bunch!

The Sunday before he left, Emily, Zach, Brook, David, and I went out for a farewell lunch.  I tried not to be sad, but I was.  And still am.

And when he posts statuses on Facebook like he's cooking brats on the grill in t-shirt and sandals, it's hard not to be a little "mad" at him.

Just kidding (kinda...) ...we're very happy for him and know God will use him wherever he lands.  I just wish it had been in Sulphur...

More nasty weather headed our way, so enjoy the 20 degrees (woo-hoo!) for a few hours before the bottom drops out of the thermometer again.

Just hanging onto the thought that a month from today I'll be basking in tropical sunshine....

Stay warm, cozy, and safe this weekend!!!  Toodles!