Refreshed

This weekend was filled with wonderful surprises. Beauty in nature and in friendship were just the encouragement we needed out here on the prairie.

We woke up to lots of snow this morning. The snow looked like a blanket of diamonds as the sunrise hit it with pink and yellow. Isabel needed to know the exact measurement, so she headed out with the yardstick-- 11 inches. Nathanael said, "Well, I love a snow day. Let's go play in it." Well.... I told him to go get dressed for school. He was horrified and said, "Are these people crazy?"

We don't have a snow plow or blower yet. We also don't have a snow shovel. These are things that are our long list of things we need to purchase. We saw this morning that the county road we live on is only plowed to the road most people turn on. There are only about three or four houses down past that road. Evidently our portion is not priority-- I am loving the four wheel drive on my suv.

This weekend we had our first guests. Some dear friends from Iowa had already planned a vacation to Colorado Springs, and then they found out we had just moved here, so they re-routed their trip and fit us into their plans. Unfortunately, they had to experience the 85 mph winds and the dust storms, but we and they didn't mind. There is nothing like being with friends that you can pick right up where you left off and be yourselves. You would never have known it has been eight years since we last saw each other. We all told stories and looked at pictures and laughed and laughed.

What a perfectly timed encouragement for us. I have been missing my sweet Fort Worth friends and feeling blatantly "new" and vulnerable. It was very comforting to have accepting, loving friends with whom we have a history to encourage us toward making new friends in this new place.

By the way, I had what may have been the best shower of my life on Friday night. Clean water is fabulous. Hot clean water is even better. Laundry in my own washer and dryer is also fabulous. Water and ice from the door of the fridge- divine. Things are looking up.

Clean water, eleven inches of snow, and a visit from old friends-- I am feeling refreshed and ready for whatever this week might hold.

Proverbs 11:25 "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."