Highlights from Blizzard 2010

So we had a pretty big snow storm this weekend, which the Washington Post referred to as "Snowmageddon." It started on Friday around 11 am and finished up Saturday around 5 pm. School let out conveniently at 11 am for me just as the first flakes fell and Stephen left his internship at 1 pm. Most of the city was in a state of PANIC due to the fact that they delay or cancel school here with an inch of snow on the ground. Despite our snowy upbringings in Utah and Minnesota we were impressed!

Some of the facts:

• Forecasted accumulation: 24+ inches, possibly 30+
• Actual accumulation outside our apartment: 22 inches
• Highest total accumulation: 40 inches in Colesville, MD
• Time we went spent without electricity: a little over 12 hours
• Low temperature in our apartment: 62 degrees (not bad with thermals and sweatshirts!)
• People without power at one time: approx. 200,000

Now here's the evidence:

We're hoping to let some of this melt tomorrow since church was preemptively cancelled on Thursday night.

We're very happy that our landlord hired someone to plow our parking lot or it'd be a mess! We're also lucky to live right off of a snow emergency route that gets plowed frequently.

The dark one was taken when we were awakened at 4:30 am by hearing our fan turn off. Sure enough the power was out. So we put on a few more layers and slept for a few more hours. 

For breakfast we heated up waffles and oatmeal on the stove. We spent the rest of the morning doing this Final Fantasy VII puzzle the Haskins got us in Thailand a while ago. We finally had time to do it!

Then we made Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes for lunch. We're glad we have a gas stove or we would have had cold soup or sandwiches.

We had no idea how long our power would be out (the VA power company was saying that they expected it to be a multi-day problem) so we put some of our perishable food on our balcony!

We were overjoyed when the power came back on this evening around 6 pm! We thought it would be okay to go take a look outside. We're surprised we didn't hear this tree fall over this morning.

Maybe because the power lines are holding it up! We have no clue how we have power right now, but we'll stay warm while it lasts!

Blessed

Yesterday I passed a teacher in the hallway and casually asked "How are you today?" as I walked by. Her answer surprised me: "Blessed."

Maybe her response is common in this area, but it was the first time I've ever heard anyone answer "How are you?" by saying "blessed." It made me think about how, regardless of how crazy of a day I'm having a work (even though that particular day was actually great), that I really do enjoy an abundant life. I'm so glad to have a college degree and a job. More importantly I'm thankful for a loving husband and family as well as the Gospel of Jesus Christ.