Snow Storm of 2009

As you may have heard ... Virginia got walloped by snow this past weekend (starting on the 18th and still recovering from on the 23rd!). 

It started innocently enough on Friday evening.  BamBam and I had to drive to a Tiger Cub meeting ... and the snow was just flurrying.  It took us 20 minutes to get to the meeting and by the time we arrived, the snow was starting to stick ... but I could handle it.

An hour later (at 7:30pm) I called the meeting done as we only had a couple of boys/parents and it wasn't even a quorum of our nine Tigers.  So BamBam and I headed out and found that the snow had increased, but again ... I could handle it.

TWO HOURS later (after an hour at a full-stop, only 3 miles from home) we were just one block from home.  We'd said plenty of prayers but the night wasn't quite over yet.  As I started up the hill, my 4-cylinder-front-wheel-drive van just couldn't quite cut it ... we started to slide.  I couldn't handle it anymore (even with the power of prayer!). 

So I did what any self-respecting wife would do ... I called my husband and he and String Bean came 10 minutes later ... up over the rise with flashlights, shovels and snow-salt.  Since a man had just yelled at me for blocking the road (he wasn't happy ... but I really couldn't help being stuck ....) I started to cry and slowly got out of the van ... I love my husband but Friday night it REALLY hit me just how much!

A few minutes of digging, salting, rocking the van back-and-forth ... we were home.  Thank goodness dh spent many winters driving around Minnesota!  I was a basket-case by the time we got home ... and still don't really want to go to another den meeting ... at least anytime soon.

Saturday, dh and I got up at 6:00 to see what the snow looked like.  We were supposed to go up to DC to play and then pickup Kotch at the airport at 2 p.m.  NOT! 

Here's what we woke up to:

and it was snowing INSIDE our screened in porch.

At. 7:30, it was still snowing and here's what we were looking at:

By 1000, it was STILL snowing and now we had this:

The object to the left of the front bumper is a bird bath ... and the "bush" bent almost in half in the foreground is my magnolia ... we don't know if the magnolia will make it through to Spring 2010.

By this point, we'd talked to Kotch down in Florida a few times ... suggested she try going to the airport and see what they could tell her.  By 1130, her flight had been cancelled and we had this (oh, and yes, it was still snowing):

By 1430, it was STILL snowing but dh thought it best to try and start the dig-out process ...

It continued to snow till 2100 or so on Saturday, 12/19 ... such that we woke up to this at 0600 12/20:

... and poor Kotch -- she'd tried everything to get out of Florida: a flight to BWI (canceled as they were having the same weather) and an attempt to re-book to Boston and drive down from there.  Thank goodness she was with a few other college-friends who will some day write a book about the Blizzard of 2009!

By 0800 on Sunday morning, the kids and dh were out there shoveling while I kept the home-fires burning (literally), the tea hot and provender ready for the hard-workers:

Almost five hours later ... we were dug-out enough to get to Tridentine Mass at 1330. 

Kotch got a flight up to DCA (one exactly 24hours later than the original) and a good friend was picking her up and bringing her down ... (dear sweet Karen, to appease me who treats everyone like my own kids, opted to spend the night with us ... and most of Monday, too!).

The kids got ready for Kotch's homecoming ...

It's Tuesday and we're still digging out ... and helping our neighbors dig out but the snow was picture-perfect:

the kids have had THREE days of sledding adventures:

and I got lots done .... bread-baking (and Christmas treats and gifts)

and lots of knitting finished (Big Z got a matching vest since "Big Z's birthday is Christmas Day" while LegoManiac's Christmas vest is just about completed)

But ...

most importantly ...

we have Kotch home, safely

and dh got snow days and so Christmas Break started a few days early .... and he's loving every minute of it, too!

In the final analysis .... yes, the snow is a BIG hassle and worry and yet, we needed to slow down and live, love and learn together in the midst of the blizzard of 2009!  The memories and stories will keep us warm for many years ... God is so good!