Dreams of White

Oh what anticipation...the forecast calls for a "possibility" of snow in the morning. Do we dare dream? Could it be so? Ashley has asked for an extra quilt tonight...just in case!

I love it! I actually get butterflies in my stomach thinking that we may have a school delay, or even a cancellation. For this Minnesota Girl, snow is a comfort. I never tire of the thought of it. (The reality is that I do not have to take 40 minutes to get my kids dressed to throw them in a snow bank just to have them cry out after 3 minutes, "Let me in! It's cold out here!" I also do not have to travel with boots, an extra hat and a nutragrain bar in the back seat of my car.) I do remember the fat, fluffy flakes of a Minnesota winter, looking up into the street lamp to see heaven dropping pieces of beauty into the night sky, waking up in the morning to the gorgeous glistening of the sun on the snow...diamonds really.

Here in North Carolina, the promise of snow can strike fear in the hearts of those less "experienced." We really are not prepared, as a community, for snow. I, myself, do own two snow shovels and a sled. What can I say, I am an optimist! I also have salt for the sidewalk...and no, it is not Morton's!

Tonight was spent with friends, talking around the table. We all gave our predictions and hopes. Wayne commented on how beautiful our neighborhood looked last year. Everyone's yard looked so good (the snow lasted maybe two hours). We were out there, playing in it, taking it all in.

That is one reason why I love the snow...it makes everything beautiful. Even the most dismal of places can become places of beauty. God is so good. His love blankets us. When we see that, when others see that, it is beautiful. God, you are amazing. Thank you for revealing yourself to us through your creation. May I always have eyes to see, and ears to hear, the beauty you have placed around me.

P.S. Lord, we would love to wake up to a blanket of snow.

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow

-Longfellow