For those that have moved away from The Dalles, thought you might like to see these statistics – and either lament that you have missed it, or rejoice that you are in a dryer area.

The Dalles Chronicle reports the following:

The Dalles has more than doubled the old, 38-year-old record for continuous days of snow on the ground.  As of yesterday they reported we had 63 days of snow on the ground, versus the 29 days in Jan/Feb 1979.

As of the printing time yesterday we had 52 inches of snowfall since the 8^th of December AND that was before the snow falling another 5 inches the rest of the day and evening.  But that isn’t the record, it is held by 1949 when 85.5 inches fell.

Poor birds, now they not only have the squirrels to deal with, but last night before Carla went to bed  - about 2330 – she looked outside to see five deer trying to get their tongues into the feeders and bumping them to get the seeds to fall. 

It is a tough winter for the animals that is for sure.

Now some thought I was a bit harsh and demeaning when I mentioned the stubbornness of the Lynds’ it was not meant to be, but to show how focused they are I have an example you might appreciate.

Some of you have heard this story, but it is worth reading anyway.

1979.  I was in the hospital for several days.  During that time it started snowing and there was over 3 feet of snow on the ground before it stopped.  Carla and the kids had to deal with clearing sidewalks, etc.

Carla visited me every day.  The nurses and staff at the hospital wanted her to stay up there – she was pregnant with our youngest daughter and was actually past due.

The staff was afraid that she might get in an accident, or get home, start having labor pains and couldn’t get back up to the hospital.

Her response “I am not going to have the baby until Art can be in the room with me.”

I got out of the hospital and was home for three days when she said it was time to take her in – I was still weak but able to go into the delivery room with her. 

An hour after we got up there the baby was born.

WHO else do you know that can delay such an event until it meets with THEIR timeline?

Love, ‘er. 

By the way she does have her babies quickly.  As the doctor was telling the nurses (many of which were off duty but wanted to see a delivery – they were new to the hospital and were going through a rotation.  Next time they worked they would be somewhere else and the time they had been in the maternity ward they hadn’t been with any babies.)  Carla had a very hard contraction – Dr. Mills said that “her contractions would make most women think they were dying, but she is a farm girl and strong, that is why she has the babies so quickly.”

He could have added strong willed to that dissertation.

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Philippians 4:10-12 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Good verses for me to consider today.  

Weather, of course, has been on our mind a lot here this winter, it deserves to be.

But it could be much worse and for some it is.  Between the snow and the unusual cold this has been a difficult weather for many.  Their budget is stretched due to the higher electrical bill.

It is difficult getting out and about and far too many are house bound until the snow melts off – right now it has turned to ice with fresh snow and more freezing rain on top.

While I have just made a big pot of ham and bean soup, with the aroma filling the house, others are going hungry and are cold.

Other parts of the country are being hit as hard and harder and many are suffering from saturated ground causing hill slides and losing their homes, with no hope of insurance coverage.

Others have lost their homes due to fires and many of those were not the ones whose homes started the fires.

God allows us to go through challenging situations so we can be stronger.  But I also think it is so we become more in tune with those that need Him in their lives.

The best witness to those needing redemption is a person who has gone through similar circumstances and can relate to them with understanding and compassion.  There is a bond there that those who have not gone through those trials cannot fully understand and appreciate.

Right now this nation and this world needs to have people with compassion and wisdom to guide others through the trials that have and are coming.

The world’s storm has just started in our country in comparison with many others, we do not know how much longer it will go, but we do know that God really is in control.

Later, Art (-: