Wintry

It's cold + snowy here.  The lakes near us have frozen over. There are 4 red and blue ice fishing tents set up on the lake just a walk away from our home. And we drove past the bigger lake (that's 9 miles across at the widest part) this morning, where there were probably 20 tents set up on the lake.

We got fresh snow about everyday in January. Paul started ski class.  He's gone to 4 sessions and one day was just 9°F, but he enjoys it so much, that he usually stays out for the entire 3 hours!  The first 2 lessons were learning the basics, how to fall and get up, snowblower stop, and go on the magic carpet (which takes you up the bunny slope), etc. Then, he went on the ski lift!  

Our woodstove has kept.us warm, if we keep the fire going, which we do.  We have the Kitchen Queen, which is also a bookstore with an oven beside the firebox and top, I can boil a kettle of water for tea, fry eggs, whatever, onions and mushrooms or ground beef, which I am.doing this afternoon and making lasagna. 

Keep warm and enjoy this beautiful day, because this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Love

It's been too long!  A lot has happened in the past month. 

We were down in the San Antonio, Texas area. And our daughter, Hannah, got married!  The wedding day started off with blue skies and midday we all gathered and at the end of the day good food, and a swim in the hot tub.  I have so many photos. Hannah made goodie bags with Korean tea, coffee and other delectables for all. Our new son-in-law is great.  He fed our little Elijah with chopsticks, I have a few photos of that. Elijah adores him. A visit to the airport where YunJae teaches, Landa park, walking around the historic Alamo, feeding the koi fish, the city streets, Mexican vendors (I bought a beautifully embroidered dress), La Panaderia bakery, an outdoor Christmas market, a few cafes. The time with all our immediate family, Olivia flew in from Cincinnati, plus her Godmother, my sister, and another sister and 4 of her kids, my aunt, met YunJae's brother and some of their friends.  Also, the warmer weather, palm trees, flowers + the Riverwalk there is lovely. We stocked up on groceries at Trader Joe's. I have missed living just 2 miles from one, the nearest is 1 hour 15 min. by car now. But really, our daughter now has a husband who I can tell really loves and cares for her and I trust them to build a good life together.

All that made for a fantastic trip, even though we found out that George didn't just sprain his ankle, but fractured his tibia, a buckle fracture which isn't awful, but he was unable to walk for a week. Overall, we had such a great time together.

We had the stomach bug, possibly norovirus, but are back to health, thank God.  Some friends of ours have had great struggles recently. Most of all is Deacon Jorge, who is in his 40s and has had brain cancer and serious surgery, his nose removed years ago + so many more little things.  His wife has become a good friend to me.  I hope I can be a good friend to her, because she and her dear husband deserve all the best.

It snowed this morning.  We have had quite a white fall and winter so far in upstate New York and I love it.  We went hiking in the state park near us this morning.  Looking forward to celebrating old calendar Nativity in 6 more days!