Ice Round Two
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Come morning, the trees were hung with ice, as they already had been by early the night before. Everything was glazed in it, just as it had been six weeks before. It almost seemed as though the sun had forgotten to rise that morning. But later it did behind gray and misted skies. The whole scene was a beautiful thing to see and matched the soundtrack to The Merchant of Venice, which Collette had put on for the morning.
Meanwhile, Carrie was having much difficulty staying asleep until the proper morning hours of rising, waking up anywhere from 12:45 to 2:30 and not being able to fall asleep again. Jet lag was a curious thing.
And Frances’ basketball game had been canceled, had been canceled from the night before. Although the roads were only wet. But as the weathermen were predicting, there were two more rounds of ice on the way.
Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby were all over the CNN headlines that morning. Collette did not want to consider any of the chilling things that might have happened to both boys during their captivity, mentally or physically. People often asked why things happened as they did. In God’s sovereignty, it seemed that the kidnapping of Ben Ownby led to rescue of both boys. “Bad” things made out for the good in the end. Who was man, to question God?
Later in the morning, OLeif walked across the street to talk about breaking the lease on the apartment, one of the less-pleasant aspects of moving from apartment to house.
And Carrie was considering alternative schooling plans for her next degree: study abroad in Africa or the Middle East, Arabic, philosophy, etc. There was always a world of possibilities in the realm of study.
Early in the afternoon, before the next wave of rain, OLeif and Collette went out to purchase Rubbermaid containers in preparation for the potential move. Although they must have finally purchased the house, because someone had affixed a SOLD sign to the original sign in the front yard.
And Valentine’s Day decorations were already up in the stores, a month in advance. Candy hearts and chocolates and heart-shaped boxes of little red, white, and pink hearts to stick on cards and windows…
Then they had a late lunch at Denny’s which was crowded with lines practically coming out the door. It wasn’t until Collette heard a dad talking about the power outages to his kids that she realized that most of the people were likely there because they didn’t have electricity to fix themselves lunch.
Afterwards they drove out to the little house to check on any damage from the ice on the trees. One smaller branch had been downed, but everything else seemed secure. The world was a beautiful place. The mist still hung low in the skies under a great expanse of gray.
The evening was quiet, at least for awhile. Another box of oranges had come in the mail. And Collette wore her big cozy red robe against the cold. OLeif giggled, and said she looked like Kirby, bundled up in it.
“If our life and death do not show the worth and wonder of Jesus, they are wasted.” – J. Piper