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It’s crazy how incredibly fast a week can pass, how incredibly full it can be, and how much it seems to be difficult to remember much of what happened.

I missed church today. It snowed for close to 24 hours here, and by the time it was all over, there was about six inches of the white stuff in my driveway. About 2/3 through shovelling the stuff to the side, I broke the handle to the shovel. I did something somewhat stupid, and I tried to see if I could simply drive through the rest of it, and while it probably would have been fine if the driveway was flat, there’s a little bit of a dip where the driveway connects to the road, and I managed to get the car completely stuck there. Thankfully, there was another snow shovel in the garage, one that is probably at least sixty years old, solid wood and steel and almost completely indestructible – but ridiculously heavy, unwieldy, and un-ergonomic. It got the job done, though, and managed to free the car. I’m understanding that there are certain items where if they break, a person is kind of up a creek, so I suppose this far north, if a person doesn’t have two of them on hand, it’s kind of tempting fate. But because I got the car out, I was able to go to Meijer and get a new snow shovel.

Most of my weekend plans went down the tubes with the snowstorm. However, I’m thankful to be able to have a warm and dry and safe place. The power was out last night for 3-4 hours, and not only did I not freeze to death, our local power company had people working in the middle of the night to get the power back on as quickly as possible. Also, I was feeling decently sick on Friday morning; I’m glad to be over that, but the weather was a moment just to stay put and relax a bit, and as much as I wanted to do the things I wanted to do, I’m also grateful that I could relax a bit.

I was crazy enough to go out on the bike on Friday afternoon. I needed the break (and the exercise). I don’t know; even after being in the area for a decade, I love the beauty of the place, and I’m grateful to get to experience it. (Oh, boy, was I cold by the end of it though! 15 miles, just for fun, starting temperature about 30F and it just got colder from there.)

The kids were with me for Thanksgiving, and I managed to put together a decent spread. I’m not sure I did a *great* job with the turkey, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m just grateful that as much as it was far from perfect, it’s not like we did *nothing*. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to catch up with close friends after not having seen them for a good long while.

I’m grateful that the doctor’s appointment on Wednesday took place without any crazy stuff. Hopefully, too, we’re nearing the end of this “saga”.

Oh, boy, it isn’t even 11, and I’m starting to nod off sitting in the armchair. .Please know, too, that I am grateful for you as well and in particular, your prayers.

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