When we were growing up, Dad took us on all sorts of adventures.  A lot of those trips involved skiing or some sort of winter fun.  Inevitably we would come back to the lodge with some great stories, usually revolving around Dad.  Dad used to say we kids couldn’t wait to get back to the lodge so we could tell Mom about all the mishaps from the day.  He was right.  As soon as we got inside we would tell Mom about the fun on the slopes and mostly about all of Dad’s wipe outs.

My brothers and I started skiing relatively young.  We were 11, 13 and 14.  Dad thought it would be fun to take us skiing but he didn’t ski at first.  He had picture taking and videoing responsibilities for the first few years.  He videoed plenty of our wipe outs.  I had some pretty good yard sales (think skis and polls scattered on the slope) and may or may not have skied straight into the side of the ski lodge one time.  After a few years of watching us, Dad decided it looked like more fun being on the slopes than sitting in the lodge.

At age 50 Dad decided it was time to take up skiing for himself.  He picked it up pretty quickly and after a few ski school classes he set off on the slopes.  We joined him on the beginner slopes and that was the beginning of some of my fondest memories of my Dad.  Dad was a trooper and couldn’t get enough of skiing!  We were up first thing in the morning to hit the slopes and took the last ride up the chair lift in the evening.  He lost a couple of watches to the slopes and a few ski hats (aka: toboggans), as well as broke his leg one time but did not worry with any of that.  Every chance he got we were heading to the ski slopes.

This weekend, the snow and ice made the big hill in our neighborhood perfect for sledding.  We haven’t ventured out to the ski slopes with the kids yet but every chance we get, we hit the big hill for sledding.  I usually am running interference and making sure everyone is safe on the hill but this time I was able to ride the hill myself a couple of times.  The refreeze overnight made the hill one big sheet of ice perfect for a nice fast run down the hill.  My son and I lined up at the top of the hill.  Ready, set, go!  We were on the move.  Pretty sure there was fire coming out the back of the sled because I was flying down that hill.  Whoooaaa!  The hill is one half of a valley so as we come to a stop we are actually going up another hill.  Finally I stopped… and then I started moving again.  Backward!  I was sliding backward on the ice and I…could…not…stop!  I slid backward at least 20 feet hollering the whole way.  My son was yelling. “Bail Mom!” and I soon realized why.  My boots and gloves were falling off as I tried to grip the ice to stop myself.  Then I ran over one of the neighbors shrubs and found myself on my back in the culvert off the side of their driveway.

It was a yard sale.  Both boots fell off, I lost one of my gloves and the sled was no longer underneath me.  I was laughing so hard I could not move and my son was right there hysterical with me.  My sweet girl saw the whole thing from the top of the hill and jumped on her sled to come check on me.  “Mom!  Are you OK?”  Thankfully I was fine, “Nothing hurt but my pride,” as my Dad used to say.  Of course when my boy got back to the house he was more than happy to tell his Dad about the whole thing.  Just like we used to do with my Dad.

Love you Dad!  Miss you Dad!  Dedicating this wipe out to you!

I visited the grocery store on Snowmageddon Thursday, the Thursday before the storm.  There was one spot left in the parking lot.  I took it.   As I walked inside the store I was already regretting not getting my grocery shopping done earlier in the week but I couldn’t put it off any longer.  We didn’t have any vegetables in the house and we were running dangerously low on milk!  We were good on bread but I bought some just for kicks.  It seemed the thing to do.  Everyone had milk and bread in their carts.  I felt self conscious at check out and kept (loudly) mentioning that this was my normal weekly trip to the store and I wasn’t trying to stock up for the impending storm.  The people behind me in line were a little annoyed that my cart was so full and I don’t think they believed my “normal trip to the store” story but I’m sticking to it!  Turns out that trip to the store didn’t help me too much when the power finally went out.

I was getting ready to start dinner when the kids wanted to go out sledding.  I took a quick moment to help them find all their gear and get ready to face the frigid temps.  As we stood at the door, one hand on the door ready to walk out, something distracted me and I turned away from the door for a brief moment.  I turned back around just in time to see a huge tree branch plummet from the sky and assault my car.  It bounced off the car and landed right at the door in front of us.  If the distraction had not come at just that exact moment, the tree branch would have landed on the kids and me.  At the time I really didn’t think of what might have happened.  I stood stunned for a minute.  It wasn’t until a few minutes later I realized, if not for that brief distraction, the tree branch would have landed on us.  I was so thankful for that tiny distraction.  It was no coincidence, God was watching out for us!

I fully intended to start dinner after all the excitement but wanted to take a few minutes to spend with my kids, watching them enjoy the snow (read: ice).  By the time, I was heading back in the house, the power was out.  Turns out all that grocery shopping left me with some bread, peanut butter, chips and some fruit.  (Now I do like a good peanut butter and banana sandwich but the rest of the family, not so much.)  All the rest of the food I bought was trapped in the refrigerator.  I guess I hadn’t planned that well after all.  We do not open the refrigerator when the power goes out for obvious reasons.  If the power is out too long, eventually we have to take all the food out and put it outside in coolers but we were not to that point yet.

Refrigerator doors tied shut as a reminder, my husband and I started thinking about what to do for dinner.  We parked his truck at the top of the driveway so we could possibly go somewhere if push came to shove.  The roads were pretty bad in the neighborhood but we heard the main roads were not so bad.  We checked traffic cams and decided we might try to head out.  I started calling around to different restaurants and (I know this is shocking) everywhere was closed, with the exception of one place not too far from our house, a fast food restaurant that literally never closes.  Should we try it?  We discussed back and forth for a minute and decided we would give it a shot.  If we got to the entrance of the neighborhood and things looked bad we would turn around and head back home.

By this time it was pitch black at our house.  We searched around the house looking for shoes, coats and gloves.  Why do we always lose our gloves?  Gloves are like socks in our house.  We always lose one.  Thankfully my son lost a left hand glove last year and right hand glove this year.  He’s wearing a fashion forward mismatched pair this winter but his hands are warm.  Just watch, next year it will be all the rage to wear mismatched gloves.

So, I just got way off track with the glove thing.  Reeling it back in!  We had all of our things, including chargers to charge our phones and iPads in case the power was out for an extended time.  “Come on let’s go.”  Everyone was walking toward the door ready to go when all of a sudden, “Hallelujah” a light shone down from the heavens.  Well actually, our power came back on.  I joked with Russell that God did not want us to eat fast food.  OK, maybe not, but what happened next was no coincidence.

I realized this “having power” thing might be short lived so I summoned everyone to the kitchen for the fastest meal prep ever.  With assistance from me, my daughter was on the sauce and son was on the noodles.  Hubs was on the salad.  We had everything done within 20 minutes.  The quick prep was awesome but the best part was we were working together as a family and having fun doing it.  We all realized the urgency to cook while we had power.  We joked about what we would happen if the power went out…crunchy noodles and cold sauce, that’s what.  We made it.  Table set, sitting down to eat, realizing our family accomplishment, we had a great spaghetti dinner.

As soon as we got up from dinner and started cleaning up, it was light then dark, light then dark.  The power was flickering again.

My kids came up with an interesting competition the other day.  I really liked the thought behind the competition because it revolved around being nice to me.  One big problem: It also meant I had to judge the actions of my children and determine a winner of the competition.  This made me a bit uneasy because I’m not a fan of subjective judgement (think Olympic figure skating) especially when I am the judge, judging my own children.

The idea behind the “competition”?  Do nice things for Mom. Then Mom affixes a point value to said nice thing.  At the end of the day we add up the points to see who did the most and best nice things for Mom.

Before I could even give a thumbs up or down to the idea, my kids were off and running doing extra things for me that they would not normally do.  We were getting ready to get in the car and go into town, so my daughter brought me my shoes.  My son knows I can never find my phone (especially right before we are trying to hurry out the door), so he found my phone and brought it to me.  “Ok Mom, now can you give a point value to our kindness?”

Oh goodness!  I definitely didn’t want to squash their idea because they were being so kind but I wasn’t so sure about the competition.  I also wasn’t a fan of judging them.  It would be all hugs and smiles from the winner but I wasn’t sure what sort of surly looks I might receive from the one I did not chose as winner.  (I used to be able to pull of the, “You’re both winners!” bit but they don’t buy that anymore.  They want a clear winner!)  I explained to them that, while I really appreciated their kind acts, I didn’t think the competition would be the best idea.  I didn’t want to hurt either of their feelings.

“How about if we all do our best to be kind to each other,  including me being kind to you two?  We should find joy in doing things for others and be thankful when others do kind things for us.”  I wasn’t really sure how to stop the competition and just make it about being nice to each other but these words seemed to do the trick.  They were both satisfied with that answer…I think.  Although, I did tell them I would welcome any kind acts they wished to bestow on me, without judgement.  They just gave me that “Oh Mom” look and we headed out the door.

All this talk of competing to be the most kind person started the wheels in my brain turning (insert squealing and grinding sounds).  What if all people were in one giant competition of kindness with each other?  What if we were being judged on our acts of kindness in order to get into heaven!?  I like to think I’m a kind person but what if I had to go head to head with someone that was much more kind than me?  What if the person I stood toe to toe with at the gates of heaven was someone that never slipped up or said a cross word?  Someone who was perfect and sinless?  What if!?  I might not get in!

It is a scary thought but then I’m reminded of Ephesians 2:8-10.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

We are called to be kind to one another and we are created to do kind works through Jesus, but kindness and good works are not our salvation.  Our salvation comes through an amazing gift of God.

While, I actually do hope to stand face to face in Heaven with a person just like the One I described a few paragraphs above, I would never be able to compete with His kindness, goodness and perfection.  Even still, He will not be there to judge me or to compete with me.  He will be there to show me grace and mercy.  He will be there to tell me His grace is enough and just by my faith in Him I can enter heaven.  I am created to do good works in the name of the Lord but my good works and kind acts are not my key to the gate of heaven.  When the time comes, I can enter heaven because of a precious gift from God.

I am so thankful for that precious gift from God.  I am so thankful He paid the price for me and now, because of Him, I receive grace.  I am so thankful that in return, He simply asks me to believe in what He did for me.  I am so thankful for the champion and king of “The Kindness Competition”.  I am so thankful for Jesus!

We all know this is the time of year thousands and thousands of resolutions are made…and broken.  I include myself in those numbers.  I’ve resolved for the last two years to get my house clean and tidy.  The clean part is OK most of the time but forget about tidy.  I’ve given up on that being my resolution ever again.  I fail miserably and then feel horrible that I bombed in the cleaning department.

I got a little smarter this year and for this past Christmas I asked for no gifts except for my family to help me clean the house.  No monetary gifts, just some of their time to help me clean.  I didn’t expect it to happen overnight but we are taking moments here and there to get things straightened up.  It’s actually kind of fun gettin’ ‘er done as a family.  Although, I wouldn’t ask them how “fun” all the cleaning really is.  I keep trying to brain wash them by saying, “Isn’t this fun?” and “Doesn’t it feel great to get things straightened up?”  I’m not sure how well my brain washing is working but they (sometimes begrudgingly) oblige and help me get things clean and tidy.

So far we’ve tackled 1) the sun room, no more Legos threatening to pierce a hole in your foot.  Woohoo! 2) We cleaned out the candy cabinet.  Doesn’t everyone have a candy cabinet?  3) We’ve tackled a large part of the office but the office is more like a 5 day job!  There is junk everywhere in the office, which is really a converted garage living up to it’s former “junky garage” self.  4) The kids have made large strides in their rooms and have impressed me with the amount of stuff they are “chucking”.

So you know, I’ve just meandered so far away from the original point of this post but I’m going with it.  Trying to set a limit on how much time I can spend writing this post so whatever stream of thought runs through my head is coming out in this post!  It takes me forever to write one post and I’ve gotta get faster if I’m going to survive in the blogging world.  So here’s a post with a time limit!

Coming back around to my original idea for this post.  I am not making a resolution this year but more of a commitment to be more deliberate in my actions.  I will be deliberate about where I spend my time and how.  I’m totally giving you all permission to call me out if I fall down on this one. I’ve shared, with some of my friends, this idea of being more deliberate with my time and they are already “testing” me to see if they can get me to say “Yes” to things when I should really say “No”.  Well, she said it was more of a “pop quiz” than a test.   I have the very best friends a girl could have!

I also want to spend more time with the people I care about.  As I am getting older, I’m realizing more that we are not all immortal, like the Highlander, and I have to be more deliberate about seeing family and friends.  Those happy meetings of coincidence are really nice but they should not be a stand in for making time to spend with those people I care about!

My time is running.  This post seems kinda not finished yet…No.time.to.proofread!