YOU. HAVE. GOT .TO. BE. KIDDING!

Ya know, as the song says: Momma told me there would be days like this..

You have heard how far behind we are in trying to get ready for Christmas. It seems like every thing has been working against us. Deanna and I started (mostly Dea) sorting and cleaning back during Thanksgiving to start getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve Party. Evidently we didn't start getting ready soon enough.

For those that don't know or don't remember; Deanna started these parties before she even met me. It was just a way for her to take care of the people who, otherwise; wouldn't have anyone to share Christmas with. Since then it has blossomed and taken on a life of it's own. We still have a few people who attend these that this little "shin-dig" is all the Christmas they have. But there are also a lot of other people who attend for the food, fun, and felloship; and we are very grateful for the opportunity to give to them a little of what God has given to us. Some years we have as many as 50 people or more. Other years only 10 or 15. It doesn't matter how many show up, Dea always seems to cook enough for us to have left-overs for the next week...At least! Yum!

Well, I don't want to go into too much of the details of all the little things that have gotten in our way this year but today was no exception. I am serious in this: Please pray for us. We have two weeks of work to try to accomplish in one afternoon.

God is good. God is Faithful.

Anyway, Dea and I wake up early today and she gets busy baking cinnamon rolls. I start sorting and cleaning but then realize that we did indeed get 12 inches of snow in the night. On top of the 6 we already had. The wind is blowing at about 20 to 30 mph. Can you say a beautiful day in the neighborhood? Poor Amanda (her and her mom live with us) has been out shoveling the driveway since six am in hopes of getting to work by nine. I joined her about 7am and we shoveled til 8. As we were getting ready to go inside, the snowplow came. Back out we went to shovel off what he covered (we knew it was coming and intentionally didn't shovel the last little bit. So after the plow it was all we had left to do). I didn't need to be shoveling. I needed to be getting ready for the party; but you do what you have to.

A little side note here. We have a new guy plowing the roads for the county where we live. I used to complain non-stop about the last guy. He wouldn't get here till late and he really did the very bare minimum. In truth he really didn't even do that. It was terrible. This new guy is an absolute Blessing From God and I pray that He stays and Continues the fantastic Job he did. He plowed by us at 8am the other guy would be closer to 10am. This new guy was taking his time too, making sure he got it right. Interesting that he was here sooner. Better. He made several passes instead of one and half. (the old guy would plow one way and only use half his blade on the way back) Then, I couldn't believe my eyes. On one of his passes back He backed up and plowed the huge embankment in front of my mail box. I would have been hours shoveling, and he took care of it in seconds! I quick-grabbed a box of Christmas candy we had as a spare present (it's good to have those!) and ran out to hand it to the guy. He was surprised at my very "merry" Merry Christmas! So I explained: "you have no idea how much that means to me!" He smiled and told me I didn't have to give him a present, He had just thought that looked like a lot of snow. Then he smiled and said he would get the other side of my (currently very narrow) driveway entrance when he came back in that direction. He did too! It was a very big Blessing for me in the middle of a delay in my day I didn't need. God is Good. All the Time.

I came back in and collapsed in a chair to call my Mom. She loves snow. So I blame her whenever we get too much. She laughed and told me to make snow angels. I told her that probably wasn't a good idea. I have a dog who has left some pretty good sized...um...landmines(?) buried in that snow. She laughed more. It's good to make your mom laugh.

When I finished with the call, I was still tired from the shoveling but I got back to work sorting and moving furniture. Then Dea asks if I can spare a few minutes to take her delivering gift baskets of fresh baked cinnamon rolls. What am I going to say? No? I don't think so. So off we went. After some considerable amount of time scraping and brushing the snow off the car. You might want to note that I was being very careful while I was trying to get the snow and ice mixture off the hood. You want it off or it will refreeze your windshield but you don't want to hurt your hood getting it off. Don't forget while you are doing this the wind and snow are blowing at you at 20 mph. The temps in the teens. You figure out the wind chill.

So we get going while trying to decide who we will actually be able to deliver to. Her Aunt Gayle and Uncle Lloyd hadn't had their driveway plowed yet so they were out of the question. Still their were others we could get. As we were delivering in Warrens, the town snow plow (Different from the "county" plow) was heading our way from the other direction. We know the guy so I jump out and wave him down. He was quite pleased with the pan of rolls I handed him! Surprised too. He's a great guy and has helped Dea out quite a bit with Cranfest.

Remember him.

We stopped for gas and then headed to our next stop and the little village had three vehicles plowing snow. The big dump truck driven by our friend. A big flatbed utility pickup truck and a regular pickup.

The Dump truck and the flatbed were working a corner together nearby our next stop. I waited TWO BLOCKS AWAY. Till I could see they were going the other way. Then I went down the street toward our friend
Merlin's (Sp?) house. At this point the flatbed was stopped 30 or 40 feet from Merlins drive way. Facing away from us, in our lane. Situation normal. It looked like he was waiting for the dump truck to drive by the intersection they were working and then the flatbed would drive forward. My mistake.

Dea was getting ready to get out when I looked up and saw the flatbeds backup lights come on. Really? I politely gave him two quick beeps of my horn. To remind this guy I was here. He's still coming.
Hmmm. Didn't hear me. Better back up and Hit the horn some more.
I am now laying one hand hard on the horn while the other hand is trying to find reverse. This is not my truck . This is Dea's car. Don't pull so far down Will. This car's tranny isn't as sloppy as mine. I'm in neutral!
ARRRGh! Up! into Reverse! I can't hit the horn any harder! NOOO! I'm Back in Park!

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me!

Whap!

Cinnamon Rolls with icing...now in the floor boards. I had a cola that landed who knows where. Neither Dea or I were hurt. You know, he really hit us hard! He wasn't going that fast when he hit us but it really felt like he hit us hard! I was surprised by how minor the damage really was.

I bent over and picked up a couple of pieces off the ground as Dea finally climbs out and walks over.
I hold out her hood ornament. "here you go, Merry Christmas!" She giggled.

I love her.

The poor guy in the flat bed is the newest town employee I guess, and he is very, very polite and very very apologetic. He never heard the horn. I laughed. "Then you never stood a chance seeing a white car in your rear view mirror in a snow storm!

Really, there was no reason to be mad and none of us were. There is a hole in my hood where his receiver hitch hit us. The bumper is dented and my license plate is twisted like my sense of humor.

That appears to be it.
It drives fine and the radiator isn't hurt. We will have to get it officially looked at after the Holidays. They assured me the township would take care of it. Everyone knows everyone here. Still, the biggest damage was the time wasted dealing with that instead of getting ready for the party. Sigh.

Do you see the trend though?
Too much snow; Snow plow that helps out.
(by the way Seth if you read this, I still desperately need you to plow BOTH my driveways early! PLEASE!)

Car accident; no one hurt and the car still drives.

So, the purpose of this post is many:
First. God is good! You need to know that! I certainly believe it. He has continually shown me His presence in spite of the situations that have arisen.

Second to get you to pray for our Christmas eve party because we really want it to be a pleasant blessing for everyone who attends. We want them to see Jesus and we wouldn't mind getting blessed as well.

Lastly, I hoped to give you a smile! Deanna has been sleeping for a while now and I need to go to bed too!

God is Real
God is Good
God is Real Good!!
Merry Christmas!!!!
Will
( Note from Dea "I TOLD YOU STUPID THINGS HAPPEN TO ME". Who in the world gets hit by a snow plow? ( Sorry Will.)