Welcome to the Last Frontier!

Oh, wait. This isn't Alaska, just western Illinois! You could have fooled me, though - everything is covered in an inch of ice, thanks to an ice storm that came through several days ago. We arrived yesterday afternoon to ice and broken branches everywhere, including some of the neighbors' tree on my parents' garage. It's also -3 degrees here, without the windchill. I can't believe it! Usually it's WARMER here than our house. We regularly have snow when we leave our house, only to arrive at my parents where we feel almost as if we could be wearing jackets!

Anyhow, my parents (who are pastors) canceled church this morning because of the sub-zero temperatures. Their members are mostly elderly, and some of them were still without power from the ice storm. Out of concern for them, my dad decided it would be best if they all stay home and not try to navigate the ice.

As for us, we ended up at the (unheated) warehouse where my parents are running their church's Christmas give-away from. Toys and clothes needed sorting, and some children had not received very much through the Angel Trees. We spent hours supplementing what had already come in with the extra clothes and toys that were there. When we were all cold enough that we couldn't take it any more, we went and had dinner. There's still LOTS more to do tomorrow!