Chilly Weekend

I hope everyone is warm and toasty this weekend! We've been jacking up the heat, blowdrying the sheets before getting into bed, and I've been walking around the house in my ultra-warm chenille slipper socks. It's been so cold around here!

On Friday I got an early off from work because the ice storm was starting. My mom came down on Thursday to help my brother Michael move into the dorms at OCC. She knew that an ice storm was coming up north in St. Joe, but she didn't realize that the storm was also coming to Joplin as well. So, fortunately by coming up a day early she beat the storm. Unfortunately, she and my youngest brother Alex didn't bring the appropriate clothing for the weather we would have (poor Alex didn't even bring a coat). Luckily, they mostly stayed at our house during their stay. Michael has a double room all to himself in Boatman and it's all in place. I have a feeling if I can't find my husband,chances are it's because he'll be at Michael's. I thought it would be the other way around, but the school has faster internet than we do, so chances are they'll be gaming over there! Both boys will enroll for school tomorrow. Nick's church internship is for school credit, so in reality, he's actually taking 29 credits. Crazy!

Due to time limitations, he quit his job at Starbucks a few weeks ago. His manager was unwilling to give him the hours he needed (and was available to work) so he was not going to be able to maintain insurance benefits anyways. It will work out for the best with his schedule to not have to work, and do school, and do an internship, but we will have a new set of challenges: living off of a single income. Since he wasn't working much last semester because of his hairy courseload, we've really been almost living that way since summer. Nick's mom got us a Dave Ramsey book for Christmas. Dave Ramsey's big mission is getting people out of debt and into saving a lot. Since we're not bringing in much of anything, there's not a chance we can save (and we don't have any debt). However, it's inspired me to think creatively with working on a budget. I'm already imagining the endless possibilities of Ramen Noodle recipes!!! Ha ha ha...

Last week, we were up in Washington, Kansas for my grandpa's funeral. Nick and I drove up on Friday to St. Joe and carpooled with my mom and siblings in their van the rest of the way there (my dad was already there). As luck would have it, the van started overheating and lost power steering about 40 miles from Washington. We turned into the first driveway off the highway, hoping a kind resident wouldn't mind letting us use their phone (especially since all our cell phones had no signal out there in the boondocks). We were overwhelmed with what ended up happening. We pulled into a farmer's driveway, and the family came out of their house. The dad looked under the hood and noticed that a belt had fallen off and offered to fix it. Then, since the funeral was within the hour and none of our family in Washington would make it in time to pick us up and be at the funeral when it started, this family offered us their own van (which happened to be the exact same model as what we were driving, with plenty of room for all six of us). We ended up making it in time and the family called to let us know they had rounded up the troups with some of their own friends in the area to not only fix the belt... but they also noticed something else wrong under the hood and they offered to fix it, too. I've never been more amazed in all my life! It's so incredible how God works things out and that family was such an amazing blessing. Their names were the Koch's (pronounced Cook) and I know they are a family that we won't be forgetting anytime soon!

Today, all church services were closed. I was really looking forward to having our family see where we attend (we were also looking forward to being back since we've been out of town four weekends in a row!). The college was the only place in the area that offered a service. Since we live fairly close, we went there this morning. My mom and Alex headed back up to St. Joe, hoping to get back up there before the next big storm hits. The boys are in the living room now watching a football game and I'm looking forward to relaxing with them in a nice, warm house.

Stay warm and enjoy the time to be with family indoors!