When you're tempted to complain about the snowfall..remember the storm of April 1997

"Yes, that is our house behind all that snow!"

"We finally worked through all that snow to get off the yard!"

Now, I know that I'm beginning to sound like your typical Mennonite who sits in the coffee shop with an order of rye toast and coffee and kibitzes about the weather.

"Do you remember that big snow storm in '97?" one old man will begin the conversation and in a minute or so everyone has their own memory of how it started, how high the drifts were, how long it took them to dig their way out, what the temperature was and was it worse than the big storm back in '43...ok, ok, we've heard enough from them!

This afternoon while I was working in the church I went to place the service schedules in the sound booth and I stood for a moment and watched the snow falling outside the huge sanctuary window. The snow though treacherous for those driving in it it was absolutely beautiful for those of us sitting safe and sound inside a warm building. Suddenly my world felt very small, there was me and God alone in the sanctuary and it felt so peaceful. As I stood there enjoying the moment of quiet watching the snow flakes a very old old song ran through my mind 'For the Beauty of the Earth'

So, now a few hours later, I'm sitting here at home with a steaming hot cup of tea and ready to reminisce. Wes and I really haven't forgotten that particular snow storm. It was actually pretty intense. When the storm was at it's height Wes walked outside and was only about 50 feet from the house and couldn't see the house to make his way back. Don't even ask me why he was out there!

As you can see our boys weren't that big and every time they went out to play on the huge snow drifts we had to remind them not to touch the hydro wires. You can't see them, but the hydro wires are right behind Mark's head in the top picture. That was pretty scary because which little boy wouldn't love to play on those drifts?

"Amazing snow drifts!"

"A long day ahead of him!"

Wes remembers measuring the largest drifts and that they reached up to the 18' mark and he said he'll never forget how hard the drifts had become because of the cold. The snow blower blades couldn't even make a dent in them. Wes had to get off the tractor to break apart the snow into pieces and then climb back on to snow blow the pieces. He remembers starting at 7 or 8 in the morning and finally breaking through to the end of the driveway by about 3 in the afternoon. As you can see he also didn't have a cab on this tractor...brrr. The pathway was barely wide enough for the semi to get through so he could get to work the next day. The semi had only a few inches of clearance on either side, so the mirrors were sometimes touching the snow drifts as he drove along.

Wes and I laughed as he remembered that our cousin Scott had been trying to snow blow a drift on his driveway and his snow blower had simply driven over top of the drift, he just couldn't get it to bite in because the snow was so hard.

Wes asked me why I would want to share this on my blog and I didn't really have an answer for him except I just felt the need to share. Wes went outside for a bit to check something on the semi and I got up to sneak another one of my mom's great cookies (thanks mom!) and then it hit me God had given me another gift. I stood still beside the container of cookies for awhile as I absorbed what God was showing me.

I had just sat and listened to Wes reminiscing about a storm that happened nearly 12 years ago. He was going through those days in great detail, laughing and remembering...get it?...remembering...

Wes' memory is completely in tact and that is truly a marvelous and wonderful gift...God just needed to remind me.

This blog is not just to keep you posted, although I hope it does that too, but God is using it to help me remember the incredible gifts he has given us in this amazing journey we are on.

"Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles..." 1 Chronicles 16:12