Still A Snow Day

✅ FORT BUILDING
                    Kaley made it six steps before she toppled face first... again! So sure footed across any surface, except the snow. Glenn scooped her up easy, only for Kaley to kick her legs for another try. Without a doubt, their rambunctious daughter was looking to climb the walls of the family fort. She had always been ready to copy her big brother, Brandon; who at the moment, hung like a monkey on their left rampart.
                    Beverly raised her hand under Brandon's bottom, giving him the needed boost over the wall. He rolled into the 'courtyard', white powder covering him head to toe, only to hop back up, arms spread in his bright orange snowsuit. "I am Mountain Man!"
                    "Mom, where's the small spade?" Ivan was crawling out of the low doorway into the fort, taking no notice of Brandon's stomping and posing.
                    "Dooowwwnn!" Kaley begged Glenn again.
                    Amidst all the demands, as biting as the air that slipped through their gloves and scarves, Beverly and Glenn kept the balance between the strategy of their eldest and the destruction of their two youngest. Most people just threw snow into a pile into it possibly resembled a house or beaver den. Not the Marcsons. A colossal snow fort was a tradition which Glenn had brought to their marriage. Nothing less than four rooms with outer walls like a fortress, and a roof; if the accumulation was durable enough.
                    The snow today did not disappoint!
                    "Here." Glenn traded Kaley off to Beverly. "You'll want to pack in these corners for stability."
                    Glenn switched places with Beverly, getting in with Ivan to 'stabilize' their fort. Toddler on her hip, Beverly bent down to where Brandon licked at the snow resting on his glove. She snickered. "Good?"
                    Brandon waved his hand at her, nose cherry and wet. "This'll make Mountain Man strong!"
                    "I'm sure." Beverly put herself down cross-legged; a welcome position after an hour of stacking. Despite the cold across her face, sweat lined her brow and a mess of her hair had slipped from under her hood. Same with Kaley and Brandon's blond hair. In short, they looked like their father and acted like her.... challenging the laws of physics wherever they went. While Ivan retained Glenn's level-headedness, loving to point out what his siblings always did wrong.
                    However, Beverly rejected the over-analysis of her children. She was just happy to see them all wear those carefree expressions of a worryless day. There was indeed a uniqueness to the feeling of a snow day. Once Beverly had realized this, halting the 4WD brakes and celebrating the surprise holiday became her new family project. She and Glenn had talked about their rare situation- she a teacher and half of his architect contracts were work from home- and how it needed to be taken advantage of.
                    And as chilling and thrilling as they had made it so far, the snow fort was just the tip of the iceberg!

~To Be Continued~

A Marcson Snow Day

✅ THE GOOD NEWS
                    Was it possible?
                    Beverly enlarged the report on her screen, the glow mirroring her growing grin. Heavenly Father, it is!
                    The squeal came up from her toes, casting off whatever sleep lingered on her eyelids. Rolling under the cover of down that was their comforter, Beverly put her phone over Glenn's shoulder so he could see it. Well, if his eyes had been open.
                    "Nine inches," Beverly giggled into her husband's ear. "with ice. Snow day, babe."
                    She got REM-induced mumbles in reply. Something about being insane.
                    "Yes, God is good to us." Beverly kissed Glenn's temple and slipped out of bed so as not to disturb. Her grittiness followed her to the jack-n-jill bathroom, where she wrestled her chestnut hair into a tie. Not today, bedhead. There's too much winter to enjoy! 
                    Everyone had been content with the so-so season the county had had this year. No slush, no fuss as any rational person might think. Good thing 'rational' didn't apply to Beverly... if only because she never stood still long enough to let it!
                    Hair up, Beverly snatched her fuzzy pink-striped socks off the rim of the tub where they'd been drying. Next came her terry-cloth robe, hugging her in its softness as she tiptoed for the stairs. So much to do... but first things first.

✅ BREAKFAST
                    "You didn't wake us up."
                    Beverly turned her head from the sizzling stove of potatoes and eggs. Ivan stared in the threshold of the kitchen, pajamas as lopsided as his hair. She raised her brow. "Did I need to?"
                    Ivan's own brow- so serious for seven- knitted together. He eyed her in confusion, hearing the Christmas music from the player, sensing the heartwarming smells of breakfast... and not getting it. Until his eyebrows rose in illumination and he dashed from sight, heading for the bay window. Beverly smiled for his excitement. Outside, he'd find the sun sparkling across a gaping field of billowy white. All the branches bowed down in their ice crowns while the sun peeked in and out of wispy clouds that promised further snowfall.
                    Beverly could hardly wait to feel the flakes kiss her nose and cheeks. But first, breakfast! Frolicking amid drifts of snow could not be done on an empty stomach. Beverly flipped the potatoes so they didn't burn, opening the oven with her other hand. Cinnamon wafted off the slices of french toast that were turning to gold. Ah, the joys of baking, Lord... 
                    She was at risk of overusing that word today, but she was too happy to care. She'd been sick for the last snow day and this food had about to go to waste. She was making up for lost time. Beverly closed the oven, almost missing the coos over the baby monitor. "Ma,ma,ma,ma,ma,ma."
                    "Ivan." Beverly called him away from the window. "Will you go get Kaley?"
                    Ivan poked his head in, pouted lip in place. "But she wants you."
                    "I'm busy making sure we have fuel to build our fort." Beverly twirled her spatula in emphasis. "And bring your tablet down too."
                    "Dad's phone too?" Ivan assumed. Beverly winked. "Of course."
                    The policy had taken a while to fall into effect, but Beverly and Glenn looked on it now with a renewed gaze of gratitude. Evenings, holidays, and certain weeks of summer, all electronics entered 'the cabinet'. Special conditions applied to emergencies, but aside from the CD/DVD player in the living room, no device was accessible to the Marcson family until quality time had been fulfilled. Beverly's own laptop and phone were already up there, collecting dust.
                    Ain't nothing distracting us from this. Beverly fawned her oven mitts to pull out her perfect french toast.

~To Be Continued~ 

Ready, Set, Glorify!

Beginning the new year off, I have naturally been sighting all of my flaws under a lab microscope to see what I need to get rid of.

Surprisingly, the list looks much the same as it did last year. Despressing me, and nearly overshadowing my hope of being the best human being on the earth this year. Then, I get hit over the head with this verse:

'Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works and glorify 

your Father in heaven.'

~Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)~

Wanting to be better and remake ourselves is a most familiar momentum. We live in it for the first few weeks of the new year (for those truly dedicated, until February!) before sputtering and struggling, and finally giving up on it. In a sense, that's a wise thing to do.

1) You can't become better, or wiser, or any of that alone; pushing for any radical change right out of the New Year's gate is a fool's errand.

2) It's never been about us or our accomplishments to begin with.

I'm going to let the verse fill in the blanks because I can't out do the gospels. We're not foolish for wanting to better ourselves, our relations, or our habits. But, we are foolish if we don't plan on getting the right help or having the proper goal in mind. For a Christian, that's to honor God, and to seek Him out.

So, whatever changes, goals, or milestones you're wanting to reach this year (heck, even in this decade), start it off the right way. WITH God and FOR God.

'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off EVERYTHING that hinders 

and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run 

with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes 

on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.'

~Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)~