Caught in a blizzard

You just don't know how fast it can happen  --- until it happens!!!!  Don S. picked us up this morning at 7:00 so that we could get our car from the repair shop in Valentine ....and do a little shopping.   We knew that some nasty weather was predicted but it wasn't SUPPOSED to start until 10:00 a.m. .....AND it was only a trace of snow or 1 inch predicted.  BUT the winds were going to be strong ----35 mph.  WELL-  I left Valentine ....thinking to myself --- Gary is with Don --- I have some time all by myself --- where do I go shopping.  But being a NON shopper.....I headed for home.  Nothing was going on in Valentine, except a very small amount of drifting going across the roads.    As I got thru Crookston, things started to get a little heavier.  By the time I hit the state line....I was glad the road was bare so I could see the darkness of the road and knew where to go.  Then I turned the corner to head west on the last mile of the trip.  I met (I thought) Dan T. in his pickup and saw that he was kind of having a time getting thru a drift --- so I thought -- stay to the left because the drifts will be the lowest there because the wind is out of the north.  Well ----  I made it through that one but not the next one.  STUCK!!  and stuck good.  So I called Gary and Don and they were still in Bomgaars Hardware Store.  That meant that they wouldn't come along for another half an hour at least.  Phone calls happened along the way......  it was Deon that I had met and he KNEW I wouldn't get thru.....he started back....but decided against that idea.   Deon called his dad and got a tractor coming my way.  You just really know what wonderful neighbors you have when these things happen!!!  Dan came out in what is  weather not fit for an animal!!        .......     We finally got out  - after Gary and Don arrived.    But then Don also got stuck with his diesel truck.  IT IS A BLIZZARD OUT THERE!!! 

We are warm and happy to be home.  We know we won't be having church tomorrow (unless things do another immediate turn around).   So it will be a long weekend....because that also means that we won't get out to  JDC to visit with the kids.  We have lots to be thankful for even in this.....we have a warm home, we have each other, we have plenty of food, we have projects to keep us busy -- who could ask for more.

Gary has been busy helping Don S. remodel his kitchen - but that has also come to a halt with this weather.  I think he will go spend some time in his workshop --- perhaps getting a little further with his sawmill plans.

On other thoughts........We had a nice Christmas day with my cousins Dwight and Marvanne and their sons, Rob,  Jon and girlfriend Laura, and cousin Lee.  We had had a party at the Detention Center on Dec. 22....making pizzas and playing some games.  We did miss being with our kids and grandkids in Michigan but as we think about roads.....we're just kind of glad to be snug and at home.

Release Time will be starting again next week --- so we have lessons to prepare and we're going to try a few crafts again. That always makes things interesting!! and not always in a good way.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.  Please, please pray for the young people on this reservation.  As we visit with kids we hear stories that just make us so sad.  Parents who tell their son they hate him, parents who are drunk all the time,  kids caught up in meth, kids selling drugs and thinking it's OK, kids having kids,........and we could go on and on.  We know that these things happen across the nation - but that doesn't make us feel better.  So again - please pray for the young people!!

Thank You!!!    Gary and Barb