Back from town and built from snow

I was very pleased the roads were all open today as Hezekiah has been looking forward to coming to the Champion Centre with us for weeks now. Ruth is normally Asher's driving companion, so with her away, Rachel and Hezekiah had to come with so Rachel could keep an eye on Asher as we travelled.
He had a great time playing during the open "morning tea" time and then Rachel took him to play in the family room while Asher had her sessions.

We got to meet Asher's new speech therapist (her current teacher will be leaving at the end of the term). They had a fun time playing together, which was really sweet to watch.
Asher's balance is improving almost every week. She still needs to concentrate when walking along here (thus the serious face) but was more than happy to do it without holding someone's hand.
I was pleased we could have the morning out. Asher would have been rather frustrated at home without no electricity to power her music dvds.

On our way home it was great seeing it change from NO snow at all on the South side of the Weka Pass,

and watch how it changed.

It was still a bit hazy to get a nice clear shot of the mountains around our place.

Thankfully one of my photographically talented neighbours, Tina Longman, took the amazing photo below, and shared it with us to enjoy.
We thank the Lord that we can call this beautiful part of the world, our home.

Hezekiah was thrilled to see the street getting cleared as we headed home.
It was still an icy 2 degrees at 1pm.

Just as we drove past our home, we spotted the garden filled with children and this wonderful snow man (and the igloo pictured below). Rachel and I both immediately felt overwhelmed with happiness. It was so special.
The Redepennings had not received any snow, and so I had asked Joanna if she wanted to bring Ruth, Hannah, and her own children to our place - to enjoy our garden and home (with warm fireplace even if no electricity). I was so thankful she had taken us up on the offer. It was wonderful that Ruth and Hannah did not miss out on the snow fun. And they brought a lovely pot of soup that was warmed on the log burner and we had a lovely lunch together too.

Hannah had already come inside - but I asked if she would head out for the photo (thus no jersey).

The older children kept working on the igloo. They wanted to get that finished before they headed in for lunch.

I took these photos shortly after getting home, but didn't get any more of it completed on the day. Thankfully it stayed around for a whole week. The only problem was that I didn't learn how to do it myself. :-)
Thank you so much to the Redepenning family for making so many wonderful memories for our family.

This is a cute one of Hezekiah. He didn't mind that he had missed the morning of snow fun. He just joined in as soon as we got home.

The power was on again just before 4pm. So we were very thankful to be able to have a warm dinner that night.