...outside our kitchen window. Already this dark, very early, morning, I have heard the scraping of heavy steel blades as the city snow plows rumbled by.

I wonder if there will be school today?

So I lugged the boom box down from the bathroom into our “computer room,” and I have Dani tuned in on our local radio station.

I should explain that our “computer room” is actually supposed to be the dining room. Potentially, this is probably the nicest room in the house. I say, ‘potentially’ because this house is full of potential - most of it leaning in the direction of ‘falling down’ at the moment. But with a little imagination and probably a lot of money, this could be a wonderful space. That is, if I weren’t a slob, and a person who is gripped by the fear that the moment you throw anything away you are going to need it as a matter of life or death.

Still, with seven people in a three bedroom house, you really can’t afford to have a room you only use once or twice a year anyway.

And so the beautiful oak dining room table in the center of the room is pressed in on all four sides by stereo speakers, bookcases, an old garage-sale desk that serves as a work station for our old Macintosh, a wobbly shelving unit housing a pieced together stereo system, more stereo speakers, this homemade table I have our new Mac set up on (Papa made the table to display our Dickens Village at Christmas, but the computer got here first!), another bookcase piled with computer related stuff, a couple old one piece school desks I picked up from Washington school for $2 bucks apiece, my drawing table (at the moment too cluttered with junk to work on), and, finally, a very nice buffet, filled mostly with eight year’s worth of grade school papers and projects.

Lynette Jennings would have nightmares.

So here I am sitting at the computer, looking out the window into the black of the morning, and waiting to hear Dani on the radio.

She had to be up and on her way to work before five, storm or no storm. In a minute or two I expect to hear her announce, “And here are the school closings as we have them so far...”

Hold it a second, here she is...

“No school today, all schools public and parochial...”

Ahhhh! Were better words ever spoken?!

Well, at least when you are a kid. Funny how perspectives change when you are a parent.

There go my plans for a quiet, relaxing day. Now I get to look forward to five kids cooped up inside all day. “Daddy, I’m bored!” And, as you know, when kids get bored, the only fun thing to do is bug each other.

Hey! Wait a minute. This is Friday, the kids don’t have school today, no school Monday for Presidents Day - all of a sudden they get a four-day weekend! What’s the deal???!!!

(There’s a commercial for Donut World. Mmmmm! A box of warm, glazed donuts - that sounds good. I don’t know, the snow may be too heavy to drive to school - but to pick up a box of donuts... that may be another story.)

Drip. Drip. Drip. The bathtub faucet needs a new washer again. Of course, when I checked the bathroom cabinet for the tools I keep for this regular chore, there wasn’t a one. Just like last night, when I went to find a flashlight in case the power went out, none of them worked. If I were smart - which we have proven I am not particularly - I would put together an “emergency storm kit,” with flashlights and batteries, candles and matches, so we are ready the NEXT time there is a storm. Our power is always the first to go.

Well, anyway, it has been seven months since my bone marrow transplant and I am still recovering - VERY slowly. Can’t seem to shake this graft vs. host disease. So I am still on all kinds of medications - a gallon Ziplock bag full of assorted amber colored pill bottles. My life revolves around my bag of medications. Prednisone, Cellcept, Neoral, diflucan, penicillin, magnesium oxide - it all still zaps me pretty good. I get about two hours of usable energy in the morning, and then I am drained for the day.

Still, God has been so good to us.

No, wait, that isn't good enough....

That's better.

God HAS blessed us.

The thoughtfulness and generosity of family and friends has been overwhelming at times. Twice our living room was filled with boxes and bags of food and other essentials. Oh, and there were goodies too - chips and Oreos and such - that we barely managed to get put away before we mowed through them all.

Bills are getting paid - some of them astronomically huge - and there is food on the table.

I can’t thank God enough.

If there is any doubt that God is real, and that he really cares, here is evidence that he IS there, and his love IS beyond measure.

Of course, I still manage to lose sight of that from time to time.