I woke up feeling very drained today, but a little after 8, I dragged myself out of bed to take Basil on a walk. It was a gift really. It was snowing, and for most of the time there wasn’t another soul on the nearby track, so I was able to walk Basil extensively without a leash. While walking I was able to ponder and pray and have some much needed time to myself and God. Everything was so beautiful and white. It was a treat. My biggest takeaway from walking was to try to be more receptive to the gifts in life, and to be more appreciative and grateful. It felt like a meaningful insight.
Basil got lots of running in and accumulated some rather impressive snow-balls on his paws that Lily and I had to clean off when I got home.
Then Lily took Lydia to the puppy store as we are starting to celebrate her birthday week. Here are some pictures from their adventure:
At home I listened to church while Clarissa colored on my lap. Then I rested a bit. After catching my breath, I got the kids in their snow-gear and I met up with Matt, Courtney and Heidi to go sledding. The kids had so much fun sledding. It might be my favorite sledding place I’ve yet been to. Here are some videos of the sledding action.
Matt and Courtney even brought donuts and hot chocolate to share with everyone.
At home, I put dinner together for everyone while Lily had a call with Cammy for her refugee non-profit that she volunteers for.
Both while I was making dinner and after we ate, Mary, Ammon and Clarissa built and played in a fort. Mary has been playing with her younger siblings throughout the day. You can see Ammon holding his handcuffs from a prisoner game they were playing earlier in the day.
After we all ate, Lily came upstairs and gifted me with a quiet evening to myself while she put all the kids down. I played guitar, cleaned my office, assembled a new exercise-ball chair and got ready for the week (and blogged).
Lily and Lydia have both been reading like crazy. Lily is reading all about Russia and Lydia is reading a fantasy book.