Ice has blanketed most of northern Arkansas and created quite a disaster. I have talked to several people and the consensus is that no one can ever remember things being this bad due to an ice storm, not even the "old timers" around here. It is amazing the power that mother nature has to completely dismantle our lives in a 24 hour period. Luckily I now have the power and phone lines restored at my house, and am back to life as usual. But I think I've learned a lot through this trial. . . for starters, how to be thankful for all the blessings I have. So often I have heard myself complaining about my house - that its not big enough or fancy enough, but the night we finally got to come home to a warm cozy house, I couldn't have been happier had I been coming home to the Buckingham Palace! I've also learned to be thankful for my friends and family, I missed my friends while cell service was out and I was unable to call. I never realized what an impact they have on my life until I wasn't able to chat with them for a while. I'm also so thankful to have a wonderful family who loves us and welcomed us into their house with open arms, keeping us warm and fed while we waited for the power to come back on. . . and for the family that we weren't with but that I know was praying for us and worrying about us. . . that just means so much. I guess I never stopped to consider that all these things are blessings from the Lord, and can be taken away. Luckily they were taken away only for a short while, but in that time I learned a lot - hopefully I won't forget any time soon!