want to go to Paris?

Jordan of "Oh Happy Day" adventurously moved to France four months ago with her artist hubby and two darling sons. To celebrate her blogs fifth birthday, Jordan has saved her pennies, and Benjamin's, for a lucky reader and companion to travel to her new home in Paris for seven {7!} days to explore and experience the city through her eyes.
Ooo la la!
I would love to be the traveller...and, I would want to take each of you with me;
however, if not me, then I hope it is YOU!
Go to Jordan's blog link to enter.
Bon voyage!

[image: explorarcar.blogspot.com]

are we ever...

{credit: it's mary ruffle. I adore her!}

you + me

One day at a time...

[Not sure credit; please let me know if you know.]

oh happy day!

Is it ever a way good day!

aak!

Forgive me my fine feathered friends
whom I adore and appreciate.
I arrived home from school to find your water had frozen.

First thing I did was replace the water
then set out some food.
Mr R is picking up more seed as we speak.
It is critical the small animals have a fresh water
source when the world is frozen.
Please consider tending to your neighborhood creatures--
such a simple service when they bring such joy to our lives.

Notice the little bird tracks--darling!

we need to reach out

Mr R and I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon calling and checking on many friends and church folks. We are very, very grateful for our heat and safety and more than willing to fling open our doors as wide as they can open to welcome anyone who needs warmth, shelter, a shower, place to eat, sleep and recharge their cell phones as well as their hearts. A place to gather, play games, watch movies or read. A place of warmth and shelter. I really wanted to put the heater in the bathroom and soak for a few hours with a book but that is not what a good shepherd does. We truly love our fellowman and know if our girls were still young and hungry and cold we would hope and pray someone would reach out to us and help as we don't have any relatives in this state. May we each have courage to reach out to all; co-workers, friends and even people we don't know well...or always embrace. It can be uncomfortable but it is so worth bringing relief! Isn't that our purpose, really? To help each other? It then is a way good day...orange color and all.

the long wait

We had totally prepared for the situation.

There was now nothing we could do but go to bed and wait.
We had food, milk, fully charged cell phones,
fuel for our generator, two vehicles with full tanks of gasoline,
warm blankets and clothes laid out by our beds in case...of anything.

Monday we had called our friends and chatted with neighbors
to ensure all had knowledge of the storm predicted to affect
1/3 of the US population and was headed our way
with not snow but ice.

We offered to get prescriptions, bread, fuel...anything
they needed to prepare their families, homes and pets for the monster storm.
Forty thousand households were without power when we went to bed.
the trees were encased in ice.
Tick, tick, tick.
We finally fell asleep.I awoke at 3:00.
We, so fortunately, still had power but the sound--
CRASH!
Shattering.
It sounded like our world was falling apart.
I bolted out of bed to again look out our window.
I know my jaw literally fell open.
The trees, so burdened with the weight of the ice,
were doing back bends.
Trees were splaying, half of the trees bent over houses, garages
and parked cars in driveways.
I could not see any trees falling but the crashing sounds continued
over and over as if hearing fifty or sixty car accidents with
glass shattering.
Very jarring.
I was so worried about the trees that house the birds.
I love my birds and bunnies.
Every two hours I had been rotating wide, shallow containers
of fresh water and food for them.
Now their world seemed to be crashing down
and with it we, humans, could have gaping holes in our nests,
lose our power and have frozen pipes.
This could be a dire situation for many days.

Finally, after about two hours, I finally fell back asleep.
{after I had sent our family an updated email at 3:12 am}

I awoke again at 5:30.
It must have warmed up a few degrees after all because when I
looked out the window I know my jaw fell open to the the ground
as I beheld ALL the ice was off the trees.
They were all UPRIGHT.
I was amazed.
I truly saw a miracle.
I am teary writing this.
I cried out with gratitude for us, the birds
and all in our community.
Thank you, Heavenly Father.
Thank you, Mother Nature.
Thank you.

My husband knelt by the window on one knee to get a better view,
looked out and echoed, "It really is a miracle."

We realized the shattering sounds were all the ice
slipping off the trees and branches and falling
to the earth.

We weren't totally out of the woods yet as we could lose power
at any moment and it is cold out;
however, it was dawning a more hopeful day.

I did wonder aloud if Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow...or not.
I love winter but this is enough, even for me.

day to night

This is how much ice we received before the sun set
on the first day of February.
Quite a bit--a quarter to a half inch of ice
encapsulated each twig and branch.

It was pitch black out as we went to bed around 11 pm.
We peeked out the window and were astonished
to see icicles 4-5 inches long frozen to each branch.
{My dear Mr R kindly shone our super strong flashlight
onto the frozen daggers for me to try to get a photo.
Mind you, I had the window open and was
hanging out as the ice was pelting us--thanks love.
I know its not a good, even fair, photo
but it gives you an idea of the severity.}
We quickly turned on the news for an update.
Our weatherman explained they had thought
our temps were going to increase a few degrees after midnight
turning the ice to rain and melting some of the ice.
Unfortunately, he said, it was not to be
and was going to be worse than previously forecast.
He said to be prepared for all the trees to come down due to the weight of the ice
and they would be pulling the power lines down with them.
This storm is so wide spread it could be a few days
before the power would be restored.
Not good!
Currently, pink is not my favorite color.

the second color of February

This is what I saw on the 5:00 a.m. news --
orange!
*no more pink*
Although orange is not my color of love either at the moment
as it represents winds with gusts
of 30-50 mph for the next thirteen hours.
It could continue to knock down trees and power lines.
We still, very fortunately, have power.
I have lots of phone calls I need to go make!

pink is for February

Pink is also code for i-c-e.
We have lots and LOTS of pink.
We are forecast for a lot of ice.
Mother Nature, please share gently
rather than generously with us this day.