yes, Martha, I am now frozen.....

Remember when we were growing up and our brothers would wrestle each other until one called "Uncle"? Well....I call Uncle. The weather has won, proven it's point. Enough. We are frozen.

It is three degrees at the airport, probably below zero out here. It is supposed to go down to negative 13 tonight, and that is without the wind chill. The high tomorrow: ten. I find it amusing that I looked at the weather calendar for the week, and when I saw a day with a high of 25, it looked warm. Twenty five degrees is seven degrees below the FREEZING mark. That is COLD. But, comparatively....

So...what a weekend. Left for the wedding around 9a.m., got home at 6:30. phew. The older kids stayed a bit longer and cleaned up. Mirielle was in charge of serving, and was there in the kitchen most of the day. It was a big wedding, with fresh fruit and donuts and pastries and coffee and juice for a snack after the ceremony, then a roast beef dinner at 1:30. For close to 300 people, that is a lot of work.

But...the joy and the spirit of goodness and blessing the was incredible. Both Mike and Rachel have been such amazing young people, always thinking of the others, doing things with the youth and children, giving of themselves. They have remained faithful, and it is very clear that God has blessed them.

This morning we got up and went to church, some of the guests from the wedding were still in town, so we had an amazing meeting. It is always so good to hear the testimonies of the youth. They get up there one after another, encouraged to remain faithful and stedfast in their trials. It is so refreshing and upbuilding.

So....all is good. But not without trials, of course....

This morning, I looked into Jonathan's room, and he was sleeping on the floor....and because I am such a good detective, I figured out why...there was a big pile of...well, of barf, on his bed. He is a resourceful boy, so he got himself some clean bedding and slept next to his bed instead of waking his parents. (he is also a keeper!)

So...I didn't think I was going to be able to go to the meeting this morning, which is never easy for me because it don't mean I get to go back to bed, no sir. Naw, I still hafta get the little ones dressed and brushed and fed.....then it worked out that one of the older ones could stay home with him....so I got to go...

I had taken Miss Rosie-The-Bad-Dog for a walk down the road this morning, with no hat on, as usual...but this morning, it was brutally cold out. (I am not completely stupid, I did have one glove on....)By the time I got back inside with Miss Crazy, my head was aching. Fast forward to after the meeting...oh my goodness, my head hurt so bad I thought I was next to barf....Paul gave me ibuprofen, as soon as I got home I took a few more and then took a nap. A very large warm comfy nap, so don't feel sorry for me...Paul came into the room a few times for things, and in my sleep I thought he was bring me the baby. But we don't HAVE a baby anymore. For years and years and years, a nap like that would have been punctuated by nursing a baby.

So...here I am...headache in the background, but still that blah, yucky worn out feeling that comes after one of those headaches. And it is rapidly approaching the Dreaded Dinner Time. Not always dreaded, but when the Mom has no idea, at 5:39, what is for dinner for like 15 or 16 or 17 people...(I haven't counted yet)...then comes the Dread.

The bedding pile at the door of the laundry room is taking on a life of it's own. Any sensible mom would have done a little work between the nap and the Bloggy Break, but I never claimed to be sensible. It does niggle, though...the things that need to be done.....oh my goodness, the little girls are so sweet, playing Barbies....Camille is pretending her girl is singing "Jingle Bells" to the top of her lungs...she mixed the lyrics with a church song called, "Living Faith", and the result is pretty funny.

Years ago, our girls weren't allowed to have Barbies. Well...Emily had a modest version, a fifties style doll with ankle socks and a long skirt. And when we did buy her a Barbie, I removed it from the box, removed the earrings, put some homemade clothes over the bathing suit or immodest outfit, and voila! Emily had a Barbie to play with. Now....it is clear that children are innocent, and they play with their dollies from what they live and see at home. Their dolls love each other, and like to change their clothes, and have mommies and daddies that sing to them and carry them and play with them....

And now I shall consider dinner......