Winter 2014-2015

I knew that it would take me a while to gather my thoughts on this last winter. Getting enough vitamin D and being able to walk outside without a coat need to happen for multiple days before I could form a sentence about winter that wasn't completely negative. We love NH, we really do. Every season is incredibly beautiful. Even when it's freezing outside and there are 5 feet of snow on the ground it is still so lovely to look at. All the amazing pictures you see of New England in books, calenders, and post cards are all real. It truly is a great place to live but the harshness of winter does take it's toll. Even the hardened locals were throwing in the towel this year. 

 We started out with a bang the night before Thanksgiving. I don't remember how many inches it was but the snow was super wet. Very wet snow means a lot of downed trees and limbs which equals power outages. We were without power for 3 1/2 days along with most of NH. 

After the thanksgiving snow melted we got through most of December with a few small snow falls but also some warmer days to melt it. We almost got to February first with no snow on the ground! Of course, we were holding our breath and hoping that all those almanacs are wrong about it being a really tough winter. 

THEY WERE SO RIGHT!! 

Then January 27th came and with it almost 3 feet of snow. After that it just wouldn't stop. The temperatures were very cold and it snowed every 3-4 days and not just 1-2 inches. More like 6-12 inches.

I knew that winter was going to be tough so I had a game plan of library trips, museum, play dates, sledding, walks around the mall, and trips to the coffee shop planned. This all worked until January 27th. When the snow is taller than your 2 year old that means he can't play in it. I even dug him a snow maze but he couldn't see over the top so it just scared him.

It was also so cold that even small children that typically can play outside when it's below freezing were crying "it's too cold". Bundling your children up in snow suits, boots, hats, and mittens just to have your toddler play outside for 5 minutes and the baby to start screaming as soon as she's suited up will tempt even the calmest person to insanity. 

There is an actual thing call SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and I might have scoffed at it before this  winter. It completely makes since that someone might get very depressed when they haven't seen sunlight for multiple weeks, the temperatures haven't risen above 18 for a month, and the words "ice dams" are used in our everyday language. Now, throw in a little boy that loves being outside and suddenly can't go play in his sandbox because it's covered with 5 feet of snow and you might have the perfect storm. Oh, and both kids had pneumonia at separate times too.

So that being said it was a crazy hard winter. I never would have guessed that one of those dark trials that God puts us through would be a horrible winter stuck inside with a baby and a 2 year old. Never in my wildest dreams would I have though that winter would be the thing to bring me to to my knees over and over again in prayer for God's grace, patience, peace, and contentment. He was merciful and brought me through and even though I might have doubted that spring was still a real thing it has actually sprung!

I'm pretty sure we all feel a little like Hon coming out of hibernation sickness...

...but we made it and the best is yet to come. Summer!!!