I found this article very helpful,

Now if I can just etch it in my brain or make this question blink on and off the next time I need it so I won't be tempted to do the usual, complain!

Asking the Right Question

After many years of hurts and frustration, I finally realized that the question I should ask God isn't "Why, Lord?" but rather, "What now, Lord?" Asking “What now, Lord?” instead of “Why, Lord?” is a hard lesson to learn. It's hard to ask the right question when you’re feeling disappointed. It's hard to ask when your heart is breaking. It's hard to ask “What now?” when your dreams have been shattered.
But your life will begin to change when you start asking God, "What would you have me do now, Lord?" Oh sure, you’ll still feel angry or disheartened by disappointments, but you’ll also discover that God is eager to show you what he wants you to do next. Not only that, but he’ll equip you with everything you need to do it.

Where to Take Your Heartaches

In the face of trouble, our natural tendency is not to ask the right question. Our natural tendency is to complain. Unfortunately, griping to other people rarely helps solve our problems. Instead, it tends to drive people away. Nobody wants to hang around a person who has a self-pitying, pessimistic outlook on life. But we can't just let it go. We need to pour our heart out to someone. Disappointment is too heavy a burden to bear. If we let disappointments pile up, they lead to discouragement. Too much discouragement leads to despair. God doesn’t want that for us. In his grace, God asks us to take our heartaches to him.
If another Christian tells you that it's wrong to gripe to God, just send that person to the Psalms. Many of them, like Psalms 31, 102 and 109, are poetic accounts of hurts and grievances. God listens. He'd rather have us empty our heart to him than keep that bitterness inside. He is not offended by our discontent.
Complaining to God is wise because he's capable of doing something about it, while our friends and relations may not be. God has the power to change us, our situation, or both. He knows all the facts and he knows the future. He knows exactly what needs to be done.

The Answer to 'What Now?'

When we pour out our hurt to God and find the courage to ask him, "What do you want me to do now, Lord?," we can expect him to answer. He will communicate through another person, our circumstances, instructions from him (very rarely), or through his Word, the Bible. The Bible is such an important guidebook that we should immerse ourselves in it regularly. It's call the Living Word of God because its truths are constant yet they apply to our changing situations. You can read the same passage at different times in your life and get a different answer--a relevant answer--from it every time. That is God speaking through his Word.
Seeking God's answer to "What now?" helps us grow in faith. Through experience, we learn that God is trustworthy. He can take our disappointments and work them for our good. When that happens, we come to the staggering conclusion that the all-powerful God of the universe is on our side.
No matter how painful your disappointment may be, God's answer to your question of "What now, Lord?" always begins with this simple command: "Trust me. Trust me."

Bowling Night

 

Amy asked if we could plan a bowling night for fun, Steve told her as long as she took care of all the details we would.  So she made the arrangements with Norwin Bowl and invited a bunch of friends and off we went.  We had 20 of us there to bowl that night, what a great turn out.  She and her friend Cayti are now working on the next social event.  They are working on planning a night to go snow tubing.  We all had a great time and Kara took a ton more pics. as soon as she gets them uploaded I'll post a few more.  

We were teasing Amy she and Cayti need to come up with a name for their group.  We said it should be something like HSF, Homeschoolers Seeking Fun!

More Opportunity for Snow Pictures

Photos compliments of KaraLeePhotos.blogspot.com

Photos compliments of Karaleephotos.blogspot.com

Yes, Sucess! Emma has wedding shoes!

Today I figured before the snow came maybe we'd run down to Famous Footwear and Payless and see if they had any more white shoes in for Emma.  At Famous she picked a pair of patent leather, flat, peek-a-boo toed white shoes, she said she wanted those for her white Easter dress we got on clearance last year, so we picked those up. I didn't really like them too much for the wedding, I was hoping for more of a sandal with a little heel so we wouldn't have to have a lot cut off the bottom of her gown.

So we headed over to Payless and wah lah! she found a pair in there that had a small heel and little silver rhinestones, perfect.  They had them in smaller sizes so I picked up a  pair for Ruby as well, but they are still too big.  I don't think Ruby's foot has grown in 2 yrs! She's still only about a size 9 and here she is nearly 5 years old.  Oh well better than big feet when you can't fit into anything in the store, I hope that's what her future holds. So we'll have to keep looking if we want a little white sandal for her, if not we have these flat silver sandles that were under $5 that are a little big, I figured if her heels hurt she could throw those on at the reception. 

Of course Payless was having a buy one get one half off sale, so we looked for bargains.  Emma found a pair of black and white casual flats also for $2.50 and a  pair of leather tennis shoes for $14 so she hit the jackpot.  Grandma was to take her tennis shoe shopping next week for her birthday so now she won't need to do that and they can look for some capris instead.  I think she's all set for spring/summer now! Nice to have  a birthday when the seasons are changing in the store!

Well everyone's out to play in the falling snow, this should be interesting! at least chicken is done for supper so if the power goes out we can have a meal, the girls have fresh, braided french bread in the oven cooking! It looks divine! That was their homework from W.E.C. Bread Baking, it appears they've mastered that recipe. I can't wait to see what is this week.

Homemade Ice Cream from Snow

Instructions to make your own ice cream treat using snow.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cups sugar
• CLEAN Snow

Preparation:

Go outside and get 4 - 5 cups of fresh, clean snow. Don't pack the snow! Bring it in the house and set it in the freezer until you need it.

Mix together the milk, vanilla, and the sugar. Stir this mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly add the snow to your mixture, stirring constantly, until it is as thick as ice cream! Eat up!

 

Notice the mountain of snow that was cleared from the driveway, you can see how deep by Amy's leg

What an interesting day....

Wow 21 inches of snow measured here at our residence, that's the most I remember, although that blizzard of 93 probably was the same if not worse.  See during that one I was 9 mos. pregnant with Ellen so I wasn't out checking out the snow measurement, I was trying to stay put fearful if I went into labor we'd never get down our driveway to head out to the hospital. 

We lost our power after 11 p.m. on Fri. night and so the temp. in the house began to fall, but it really wasn't unbearable with the fireplace in the livingroom.  I was out of ideas for dinner, but as my mom had no power either, we told her to come out and warm up by the fire and she brought along hot dogs and burgers for dinner!  At first I said, "Ah, Mom we have no power, how am I supposed to cook them??" .  To which she replied, "DuH!! (well not really, she should have) you have a grill don't you?"   I had never even given the grill a thought, guess I have a summertime mentality for that 99% of the time.  So we opened up a can of chunk pineapple and cranberry left from Thanksgiving to go with it!  lol! quite the combo. we did add in chips and oreos as well!  So what a heart healthy day we had.  Just as we were heating a big pot of water on the grill to make some tea and instant coffee, the power clicked back on.  So we were very thankful for that, my mom and mil were joking that you never appreciate something, until you don't have it. 

So what did I do all day with no power!  I got motivated to clean our sunporch, Kara told me she'd like to get ready for the wedding out there and take pics. there because of all the natural light.  So I figured this was a good opportunity to try and whip that room into some assemblance of order.  I moved couches around, cleaned off shelves, and even inside the hutch cabinet! Dusted up everything and wiped most of the baseboards except a few spots that were really hard to get to behind furniture.  So now Kara, if you want to paint that room like you mentioned, go for it! but not till after your invites are done, ok? 

No church tomorrow, Steve was just over there to see the road conditions and said they did something very strange, they plowed up to the church property, turned around, and went back the same way they came??? They didn't plow in front of the church or down around the bend where the road continues? The lot hasn't been plowed yet, but they usually do that on Sun. a.m.  Steve said even still it would take hours of work to clear out the snow in front of the door and the sidewalk.  I know it took over 8 hrs with a snowblower and two shovelers to get our driveway passable.  So they decided to cancel, I know Pastor Hipple canceled, and Pastor Miller was trying to see what he could do to still hold services.  We got an email from Pastor Wally down at PleasantView in MD and they had to call for a bigger plow to come in and do their lot so they are canceled as well.  I'm laughing because my in laws probably still have church, when we've had church even though it's bad out, they have always canceled, so I figure if we canceled, they'll probably still have services.

Well hoping to post some of those snow pics., gotta find Amy and get her camera card.  Hope  you all stay warm, dry, and safe the rest of the weekend.  Look on the bright side, more snow is possible (2-4 in) for mid-week!! that's ok with me, as long as it stops before Fri., I want to get WEC in!!