This and That

We had a major ice storm here in North Texas, and boy was it a doozy. Everything closed down today, and all the schools have already cancelled for tomorrow. We normally don't get snow storms, we get the fun ice storms. Yesterday is was in the mid-50's and sunny, but by 3:30am we were awake with the sound of thunder, lightning, and sleet. The wind chill is 0 right now. We are not equipped to handle the weather when it gets like this. I think that city of FW has one sand truck. So rather than push through it, we just shut down and wait for it to melt which is just fine by me. I personally enjoyed being stuck in my home for the day. (I had to laugh at the weather forecast...it just says COLD.)

Rob had a shift, so it was just me and my little man. He amazes me with all that he is learning these days. I have been singing Old MacDonald these days not thinking that he is paying attention, but low and behold-he is! He surprised me with a little one liner-E-I-E-I-OH at the top of his lungs. I have it on video, but the pesky website is moving as slow as a pack of snails so it will just have to wait.

My mom introduced me to this soup recipe which I am in love with. It does have one ingredient that we Texans are unfortunately famous for-VELVEETA. I typically will not touch the stuff, but after tasting this soup I caved in. If you love a good cheeseburger, then this is the stuff I tell ya! It is like In-N-Out in a soup bowl. This recipe came from a teacher at my mom's school that has 4 kids, and this is the family favorite recipe. She has 4 picky eaters, but this recipe brings the whole family together and I totally see why.

This past weekend we ventured to a mall with a carousel which we thought E would just love-boy were we WRONG! He was totally freaked out by the carved faces and the large wood animals. He loved watching it go around from the outside, but the instant I took him on it to ride it was a different story. We ended up sitting in the sleigh, and he hugged me tightly and hid his little face. He would look up every few seconds to see if it was over yet. It was the longest 2 minutes of his life!

To round out this random post, I just finished a book that has touched my soul-to put it mildly. My sister recommended this author to me, and I read through it at Twilight speed. It is called Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. She is a Christian author and lives in Northern CA. This book is based in Paradise in the gold rush days about a young woman sold into prostitution at an unfathomable young age, but it is an amazing story of God's love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I have never found a Christian fiction author that I connect with until now. To be honest, I have tried reading other authors in the past, but they were just a little too hokey/unrealistic for me. :( I decided on this book because on the back there is an excerpt from Amy Grant which quotes how the book changed her. I personally like Amy Grant, so I dove in having no idea how it would affect me. The book has a theme of a romance novel, but it is not over the top by any means. So, if you are looking for a good book that will pull you in, break you down, and finally leave you feeling warm on the inside when you are done reading it-this is the book for you. (I am now reading her novella series on 5 women in the Old Testament that changed history. They were all in the lineage of Christ, and the stories are all Biblically accurate.) Cool stuff.