On Tuesday, February 3, 1998, a gentle snow started to fall on the bluegrass hills of central Kentucky.  By the next morning, over 2 feet of snow smothered the ground, leading Asbury College to cancel classes for the next 3 days, for what I believe was the first time ever.  I spent those 3 days with a girl who wasn’t sure how she felt about me, or at least that’s what she’d always told me.  But that snowstorm changed everything.

Holly had received an old 35mm camera for Christmas, but wasn’t sure how to use it.  I volunteered to sacrifice my time to pass on my “extensive” knowledge to her.  So we went on a photowalk around Wilmore, taking photos of what really was an incredible snow event.  The snow had fallen gently, with no wind, so there were many beautiful snow formations.

We shot a couple of rolls of film (remember film?) and then played in the snow awhile.  We sledded, had a snowball fight, and my roommate had some skis, so we even skied downhill for about 40 feet.  It was truly one of my favorite days of my college career, spent with the girl I loved, who, for some reason couldn’t find anything better to do.

At the end of the day, Asbury opened up the apartments for visitation, so we decided to make some homemade chili using Holly’s family recipe.  We walked to Fitch’s IGA to purchase the necessary ingredients.  When we got to the register to checkout, we pooled our resources and, I am not making this up, between us, we had exact change.  And that was all we had.  $11.83.  It was on that day that Holly and I truly fell in love.  The snow miraculously warmed her heart toward me.

And the rest, as they say, is history.  The rest is also future, for 5 children and the generations to come from them.

So today, Tuesday, February 1, thirteen years later, we had a snow day here in Texas.  Holly and I made homemade chili, using the same recipe, but a much larger batch, and we shared with our 5 precious children why they should be grateful for snow days and homemade chili.  It is a testament to God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Wow, 2 weeks in a row, pretty unheard of in these parts. I took this on my trip to India in 2005. I had processed it back then, but for some reason never uploaded it to Flickr. So I made some adjustments to improve the 4 year old processing.

So…how are you doing?

So I’m still on my bi-annual schedule for posting pictures. Two a year is apparently my pace. This is one from our recent trip back to Wilmore (aka Mecca). Abigail had eaten a red popsicle and had nice, rosy lips.

Over the weekend, Nancy Pelosi said that we need birth control (including abortion) to improve our economy here in the USA.

Meanwhile, Japanese corporations are giving their workers more time off so they can “multiply”. The reason? To improve their economy. Japan is in the midst of a long recession with an aging population, and they are not replacing themselves fast enough. At one time, Japan had the same mentality of Nancy Pelosi. Can we be so near-sighted that we can’t see correlations to our own situation?

Are we going to have to go through the same process that Japan is trying to come out of, in order to learn the lessons that Japan is now trying to correct?

Families strengthen our country. Liberals have always targeted the nuclear family, knowing it was the primary thing keeping them from achieving their goals of creating a dependent society. Barack Obama did not win election based on his abortion policy. Indeed, it was hardly mentioned. Hopefully Americans will speak up on this vital issue, not just of abortion, but of the attitude about children and families that treats them as the scourge of society that must be contained.

*UPDATE*
John Harris has similar thoughts.

Well, here you go, the bi-annual Friday Foto. I resolve to attempt to do better. Visit the flickr page for more info on the setup for the shot.

That was easy. Plus I can post from my iPhone with the app, although so far I’ve found it mostly useless without copy/paste functionality. That will soon change, though, I’m pretty sure. So I’m gonna double post for a little while, but eventually I’ll likely move on over here permanently.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Of course, this is a standard disclaimer that they use at the bottom of all stories about criminal charges against elected officials, regardless of party affiliation.