A beautiful morning:
After the traffic yesterday and the scarcity of taxis, I decided to stay in and not go to fellowship. It was disappointing not to see everyone, but I was thankful to curl up and listen to a sermon while staying relatively warm. Our city power was off and on, but I pulled on the extra layers and stayed under my big blankets.
A little before 3, I ventured out and picked up Lisa and Zander and we headed off for a women's basketball game. The Duhok team led the entire game. In the last 13 seconds, the score was 57 to 53 with Duhok in the lead. As the buzzer sounded, the other team started cheering wildly as if they had won. Lisa and I were so confused. Finally, someone explained that the Duhok team needed to win by at least 6 points to win the Iraq championship. We had a good laugh - we were beginning to wonder just how different things could be in Kurdistan!
On the way home, we grabbed some Texas Chicken and then ended up eating by candlelight as Lisa had no city or generator power. I stayed until 8, just being part of the family. It was icy on the way home. The driver had to let me out at the top of our street since a car had skidded into the curb and he couldn't get by. As I fell asleep, I could hear cars all around us spinning their wheels trying to get out of the snow and ice. So thankful for our safety these past few days!
Texas Chicken Snowman
Saturday, January 12th:
7:45am I wake up to city power. Ahhh!
8:24am Mary texts saying they don't have any water (pipes are frozen) :(
9:00am John comes over to get a bucketful. We leave the water on, hoping it will keep from freezing.
10:00am I use the run-off to clean the mold off my walls
11:00am City power shuts off and I work on school work
12:00pm Water comes back on
12:15pm I jump in the shower while we still have water
12:30pm City power is on (and I am able to dry my hair)
1:00pm City power is off and I finish my school work
3:30pm So cold! I knock on Sarah's door to make sure she is doing alright (she is still getting over jet lag and hasn't been sleeping well.) She doesn't answer. I go over to John and Mary's to see if the extra bodies increases the warmth. They are huddled in their kitchen around the radiator heater. Do I keep knocking on Sarah's door or do I walk in and make sure she is okay? We decide to call instead to make sure she hasn't frozen to death. Sarah answers and comes over. We drink a cup of tea together.
4:30pm We go back to our apartment. A little while later, city power comes on.
5:15pm Sarah and I go to Lisa's, picking up peanut butter and bread on the way. Lisa is roasting chestnuts over the soba. One pops as Sarah stops to take a picture with the Z's! We eat dinner together and help get the kids ready for bed.
8:00pm After Zephie is asleep, Lisa and I help Zander make a fort. Zman plays a game on my iPad, then goes to bed.
9:00pm Lisa, Sarah and I hang out in the living room, thankful when city power finally comes on. Our director has asked us to post about daily life on Twitter, so we had fun coming up with silly tweets. (He's going to regret asking us!) :P
11:00pm Sarah and I finally decide we better go home. It would be fun to spend the night, but there's school tomorrow! We are thankful to catch a taxi, then stop at a new hardware store at the corner of our street - one of the benefits of a late-night culture! Sarah gets a new electric cord and outlet covers for her room. We walk up the hill to our apartment very carefully. It is sort of like ice skating at times!
11:30pm Huddled up under the blankets, glad to be in bed.
Despite the cold and "harder" circumstances that the snow has brought with it, I find myself thanking God throughout the day. He has given me a great family here, blessed me with time with Mom and Caleb, provided ways to keep warm, given me a job that I love, and surrounded me with His mercies! Thankful that though it is winter all around, there is life and warmth in my heart.
