Two days ago, I was wearing sandals and shorts. It was 57 degrees outside when I got up this morning. Now it is 34 degrees. And we actually have snow on the grass. It’s not a lot, but enough that Kevin brought in a snowball to torment Malia.
This winter has been a weird one. Weird in that it hasn’t actually been winter. We got snow once and other than that, it has been ridiculously warm, like 60-70 degree highs in January which is supposed to be the coldest month around here. Last Sunday I had to seriously consider whether to wear boots or sandals to church. It was kind of ridiculous. Today, we got a skiff of snow, just enough to coat the grass but not stick to the pavement. It was actually quite disappointing.
On the other hand, our Loganites finally got to experience a full-fledged winter. And by that, I mean 10 inches of snow in 6 hours, the university shut down, tow trucks stuck in the snow, shuttles sliding off the road, etc. Daniel hunkered down at home to do homework and paid work, having gotten the necessary access and permissions to work at home, but after only an hour, the power went out which effectively ended his internet-based job availability. Tawni, who works for a plant nursery, was slogging through the snow, gathering employees into the greenhouses, and sending folks home early once the snowfall slowed enough to make driving a bit safer. Nathan took full advantage of an afternoon with no classes and no work by putting on all his snow gear and making a snow angel. Technically he said he was going to shovel the walk, but honestly, I think he was just looking for an excuse to go play in the snow. And I’m so very glad that he still has a bit of that childlike glee that comes with the snow!
Ahh, the magic of snow. Perhaps I’ll experience that again someday, but I suspect it won’t be this season.
When the phone rings at exactly 5:04 a.m., it is a pretty sure bet that the kids aren’t going to school. That is exactly what happened this morning which meant another virtual learning day due to snow. When we looked out the window once the sun actually rose this morning, we had only about half an inch of snow, but according to the info the district sent out, there was more snow in other areas of the district and the storm was expected to continue throughout the day. So although conditions out here were perfectly acceptable this morning, we sighed, rolled our eyes, and got the kids set up for virtual learning.
The funny thing is that Nathan was sending texts all morning sharing with us the amount of snow that has fallen, and is still falling, in Logan. With trees that have become shrubs due to snow, statues that have a new snow-do, and the need to shovel out his car, they definitely have far more snow than we do. And guess what? They still had school. It made for an entertaining morning, one where we chose to laugh rather than complain.
An upside to our snow day was that the shortened online school day meant there was plenty of time for Malia and me to color Easter eggs this afternoon. Malia is not interested in doing an actual Easter egg hunt, which is totally fine by me, but she still wanted to color eggs. We did, however, scroll through Pinterest to find a different way to color our eggs. We’ve always gone the traditional bowls of liquid dye direction and we were both feeling adventurous. We looked at a variety of egg dying methods and Malia settled on the oft used but new to us Cool Whip method.
We started by soaking our boiled eggs in vinegar to intensify the color of the dye and that was fascinating. The chemical reaction that occurred made for some interesting viewing. Next up was adding the food coloring to our mounds of Cool Whip. Malia and I were a bit uncertain at that point because the drops of gel food color looked like way too much and when we swirled it as directed, it just looked far too dark and not all that interesting. As such, we prepared a few dye cups with a smaller amount of color to see how that worked out in the end. By far the most satisfying part of this particular adventure was gently pushing each egg into the mounds of colored Cool Whip. I don’t know about Malia, but I would do this whole thing again in future years just for the satisfying squish as each egg was nestled into its dye. The second most satisfying part of the experiment was rinsing off the eggs at the end and discovering that they actually look really cool! Although we were skeptical at the outset, we learned that more dye is better for this coloring method. The ones with less dye were completely boring.
I feel like we made the best of our snow day despite the fact that it is April and pretty much everyone is well past ready for spring. Around here, we have to keep reminding our kids that spring in Utah brings all kinds of weather. The winters have just been so dry for so long that they are unaccustomed to the lingering snow. But Kev’s birthday is in June and as a kid, there were years when it snowed on his birthday, and I remember snow late in May. For us old timers, the unpredictable weather is perfectly normal. In fact, our anniversary was this weekend and there was snow on the day we got married. My sister, Rachael, got married in February and the weather on her wedding day was the exact same as the weather on the day of my April nuptials. So, while we are all looking forward to warmer days that linger instead of balmy days alternating with snowy ones, I’m not upset about today’s precipitation. It created a pocket of free time that made for some good mother/daughter time.
This year did not start off with a proverbial bang, but with the gentle hush that accompanied the biggest snowfall we’ve seen in years. I love the quiet that comes with the snow. It muffles the hubbub that is a part of our busy world and makes everything seem a bit more peaceful. Add to that the clean white of newly fallen snow, and it was like the year was starting fresh. As Anne Shirley, heroine of some of my most favorite books ever, would say, “Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.” That’s what starting a new year with a delightful coating of snow felt like.
The snow fell all day and the snowplows hadn’t made it to the residential areas, so our 1:30 church meetings were cancelled. We didn’t really concur with that decision because it wasn’t that much snow, but then we got two of our cars stuck in the snow right in front of our driveway. That got us a little bit more onboard with our leaders’ decision. 😂 The bishop encouraged all of us to help our neighbors with snow removal, so instead of our normal meetings, everyone in our part of the neighborhood was out and about with snowblowers, shovels, and ATV’s with snowplows clearing the snow.
I cleaned out the coat closet yesterday and discovered that we still had one of the magnifiers I purchased years and years ago as part of a snowflake watching kit. I thought the boys had lost all of them, so it was a pleasant surprise, one that meant Malia could do some up close viewing of the flakes that were falling. And because there were no official church meetings, Malia got to wear her Converse for the second Sunday in a row.
Although our church meetings were cancelled, the wards with earlier start times still met and the stake presidency was still doing meetings and interviews. Nathan had received an invitation to meet with a member of the stake presidency this afternoon (one of the cars that got stuck in the snow was Nathan coming home). He will move back to Logan on Saturday, so he had no idea what the meeting was about. These kinds of meetings are usually when callings are extended, so he was prepared to tell them that he wouldn’t be able to accept whatever they had in mind for him. When he came home though, he was super excited. The meeting was indeed about a calling, but it is not a stake calling. Nathan has been called to serve on the newly created ASL Institute Council. The council, and the calling, covers the North America region. So definitely not a local calling, but one he can fulfill from wherever he happens to be living.
When Nathan told us his news, both Kevin and I had a strong impression that this is the next part of his missionary service. He had to come home from Texas so he would be in the right place at the right time to meet the right people. The place was the ASL institute class he has been taking. The time was the last time this particular class was held. The person was Rick Jensen, the coordinator and advisor for the ASL seminaries and institutes in the North America region. Bro. Jensen, who is deaf, showed up in the institute class on the last day they met before Christmas and was talking to the young adults in attendance, of which Nathan was one. In November the church created the ASL Board of Education to help support deaf youth and young adults and Bro. Jensen is a member of the committee. The deaf sister who was teaching that class is now the head of the ASL Institute Council.
Nathan has been waiting on the Lord. When he came home from Texas, he knew that was the right choice. When he decided not to apply for a service mission, he knew that was also the right choice. When he applied for and accepted a job, he knew it was the right one. And when he decided to go back to school starting this month, again he received confirmation that he was on the right path. But through all this, he had no idea what the Lord had in mind for him in terms of missionary service or ASL. But the Lord has been orchestrating Nathan’s life, as he does with all of us if we let him, and He has put Nathan right where he needs him to be. Nathan has no idea what this calling entails. It is a brand new council after all. But he is so excited about this opportunity to serve.
On the flip side, we are starting the new year with yet another run in with Covid. Kevin’s parents have Covid and unfortunately, Kevin was exposed. He is starting the year all masked up and counting the days to when the necessary Covid tests should be done. I know this is just our new world, one where Covid has joined flu and RSV to make a mighty triumvirate of common diseases that tear a swath through society every fall and winter, but the scare campaigns of 2020 have worked far too well in my mind and I’m still dealing with the fallout of those tense days. I’m working to get my anxiety under control though. I guess that’s one of my goals for this new year: let go of the unnecessary and unwarranted fear and anxiety that seems to crop up far too often. That is certainly easier said than done, but I’m working on it. And I know the Lord will help me in my efforts.
So new year. New snow. New calling. New goal. That makes for a pretty eventful day.
