It's a real snow!

You should have seen all the window watching as everybody talked about how much snow they wanted to get last night, haha :). We woke up this morning to over eight inches!

Josiah looked a little bit short in all that snow, heehee :). He tried to walk through it (he has started walking all by himself... it is sooooo sweet!!!! His little feet pitter-pattering -very loudly- on the hardwood floors, haha :).). It was so cute :). He couldn't make it very far though... haha :).

I love this one... looking up at Mommy after he gives up trying to move any farther, haha :).

Peter stuck it out for a looong time (longer than I chose to, haha!), which is even more impressive when you take into account that he spent half of the time floundering like this, because he was having so much trouble walking through the stuff, haha! At one point he asked Mommy to carry his bike (ya... a bike... I'm not sure why...) to the front for him, and when they made it to the front he told her "Whew. Pretend I drived." Haha!

I'm pretty sure Josiah disapproved of whatever they were doing ;)...

An artist works wherever she goes and with whatever she finds :).

And here is Peter  with yet another summer toy in the snow... haha! Andrew and Peter also had a toy car out there. Andrew told Mommy that they were playing rescue, and "Peter's car is stuck in the snow, so I am getting him- Peter, where are you going?!!!". Haha! I guess Peter called the rescue squad a little prematurely ;).

Daddy and Andrew went out this morning to clear the driveway before Daddy went to work, and helped a couple of neighbors to do their driveways, as well :). This mound looked like it would be fun to jump in like a leaf pile... but I couldn't bring myself to do so. It was too cold... (It was just brought to my attention that Tori braved it after I got back inside! Go Tori! Haha!)

The artist's Snow Queen... literally ;).

While we were out, Tori came to me and asked me to take a couple pictures for her. She loves winter and the sea, so she decided to combine them! She took Josiah for a bit while I did so, and she was hilarious... it appears that was the first time she had held him outside in the snow, haha! "It's okay Josiah... you're okay... I'm not going to drop you!... I'm really scared I'm going to drop him. Okay, can somebody just take him before I trip?". It was hilarious, especially given how sure footed she always is!

And then we came inside and enjoyed some hot chocolate... which Peter really enjoyed... enjoyed wearing, if nothing else. Heehee :)!

Praying for Pleven

Some of the former caretakers from the Pleven orphanage, those who were in on the situation when funds were being stolen and children were being starved, are trying to get some of the older children, who are just about aged out of the adoption system, into a group home -an unfinished, unequipped, group home- because they want to get hold of the children before the Pleven Project has adequate funds to build their own group home where the older will be treated as human beings created in the likeness of our maker. There is news that things are moving in the right direction, but prayer would really be appreciated right now!

For more on the situation, you can read this blog post:  http://theblessingofverity.com/2015/02/urgent-help-and-prayers-for-pleven-requested-guest-post/


And for an update that looks highly encouraging, you can read this post: http://theblessingofverity.com/2015/02/the-helper-of-the-fatherless/

John Wesley on Modest Dress

"Let a single intention to please God prescribe both what clothing you shall buy, and the manner wherein it shall be made, and how you shall put it on and wear it. To express the same thing in different words; let all you do, in this respect, be so done that you may offer it to God, a sacrifice acceptable through Christ Jesus; so that, consequently, it may increase your reward and brighten your crown in heaven. And so it will do, if it be agreeable to Christian humility, seriousness, and charity."
                      ~John Wesley