The Weather

Yes, this is a blog about the weather. You know, everyone always talks about talking about the weather as if it were a last-ditch conversation effort, but really, sometimes it really is worth mentioning! If it's been raining for a month solid and you get a morning of blue skies and sunshine, Yes! the weather is an exciting topic! If you live in Phoenix and the sun shines and bakes and fries and broils every single day of the year, and you wake up to the sound of raindrops, Yes! the weather is very exciting! And if it should happen to begin to really storm, YAY! call your friends (we were always 'storm buddies') and get excited together because the weather is so darn exciting!

I cannot wait to go back to having rain be something to look forward to instead of dread. It has rained every day for longer than I can keep count. I can hardly wait for spring. I love rain - in Phoenix. Here...it's just another day that we're mostly stuck playing inside, and it's cold and wet and muddy out. The weather has been mild, between about 2 and 10 degrees over the last couple weeks. Then today's weather was just . . . wow. I woke up to a partly cloudy sky, very excited to see blue. Then it was fully cloudy. Then fully sunny, with dark clouds on the horizon. Got some rain. More sunshine - actually got to wear my sunglasses! Then SNOW. Then sunshine. Then rain. Now it's dark and we can't see the weather anymore. But it's cooold. Woo-hoo. At least the sun has started getting up around 8 and going down at 5:30ish, instead of the mid-winter up at 9 and down by 4. Every day is a little longer....by the time I leave, it will be up at 5ish and down at 11ish. Yay sunlight!!

For Daddy

Dad is complaining that I haven't blogged recently or often enough for him to enjoy living vicariously through my foreign living arrangements, so here I am! Not much of note has happened this last week or so, which is why I haven't had much to say. The weather yesterday was odd, though, because it was a good 10 degrees outside, the sun was shining, and I was able to go outside in short sleeves and drive with the windows down and use sunglasses. HOW FUN IS THAT? I tell you, I am so looking forward to being in Phoenix where it's warm and the sun shines. I know it's hot - miserably, unbearably hot at times - but it's better than being cold! The days are slowly starting to get a little longer here, which is exciting, too. And I saw my most colorful sunrise yet the other day!

So, there you see how exciting the week has been - a blog about the weather! hee hee I promise the next one will be more interesting, cause this weekend's gonna be fun. ;)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So, yesterday, this world was really a winter wonderland. Everything froze so much - again - that it was gorgeously white, and the sun was shining and the sky was a perfect clear blue. This is one way I know God loves me - He sends me sunny days on weekends, when I can truly enjoy them. So, I went out photographing everything I could, went to the Haus im Moor, drove around back-country Germany, and went walking in my favorite spot in the woods. Just gorgeous. And it's a good thing I did this yesterday, because today it's a whole 3 degrees and things have melted, it's drizzly, foggy, and for some reason the entire world has a sickly, yellowish cast to it. Eew.

So, yes, there are lots of pictures, but I can't resist showing them off, because God's creation is so breathtakingly beautiful! Walking around in the silence, hearing the frost fall in showers from the frozen branches, and seeing the brilliant blue of the sky and the shining white of all the ice - it was an incredible afternoon.

I am officially done with ALL wrapping of gifts, eagerly awaiting getting to put them under the tree and watch the kids open them. We don't decorate the tree till tomorrow, I've been told. I really have no idea what the next two days are going to be like, I'm just going with the flow. Whee! It doesn't really feel like Christmas...it's going to be very different. With all the traditins gone, though, it really brings back the focus on why I celebrate Christmas. Without the comfort of my family around me, the only one I have to run to is Jesus Himself, because He never leaves me alone, and that is a comforting thought.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

So, several hours and quite a few purchases later, here I am again! I know, two blogs on one day, but hey. I'm now finished my Christmas shopping! At least until I see Larissa...she's here!! I got to talk to her on Wednesday when she got here, and I am SO STINKING EXCITED to get to see her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did get our Christmas tree today. I think we don't decorate it until Christmas Eve day, though. That's also when presents are exchanged, so I don't know what one actually does on Christmas. I know I will be spending a good deal of it on the webcam, watching my parents and sister open presents at home! Hooray for technology.

I swear it's getting colder, my hands feel like fire after being outside walking around for so long. (I miss malls!) It certainly has gotten foggier since I was writing earlier, I can't even see across the street now. Glad I'm done driving for the day! Nothing to do now but sit back and relax - or scramble secretly to wrap and hide all my gifts for people. I love Christmas! :)

Oh, and yes. I wanted to show you more pictures that I had fun taking of the almost-snow today, since I only got one uploaded to the last one before I remembered I had limited last-minute shopping time. Here you go! Oh! (again) I think one of the wierdest things I've ever seen is frosted spider webs. The house here is COVERED with them, and now they're all broken with the weight of the ice, so there's these thick white strings hanging everywhere, and it looks odd. (see slide picture)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow,

Oh PLEASE, God, let it snow!!! It's SO CLOSE, I can see it, feel it, taste it, touch it - and it's not here. The high has been -5, so if it does snow, it will stick. Everything froze last night, and there's a thick fog, so the world is white - but no snow. It's still lovely, and a thick frost like this is almost good enough to be snow - but I really, really, really realy reallyreallyreallyreally want SNOW! I'm freezing, there should be a beautiful reason to be this cold! A white Christmas! Ein weißes Weihnachten! Please?!?

So, school's out, and work's out, and I still need to finish my Christmas shopping. YIKES! I should get working on that...now....