Winter Weather: Treat Comes to Georgia

As a homeschooling family the weather in Georgia has been a big topic for us this past year. Georgia slipped into a drought this past summer and a lot of us were put on water restrictions. There were even reports of the "water police" coasting through neighborhoods to catch those who attempted to break the water ban.

The weather grew colder and my children had their eyes on the radar daily hoping for snow. We live in north east GA and snow is a big treat for us. Sadly last year we didn't get any. Plus usually when we do the snow rarely lasts a day or even hours!

We were at our local homeschooling group Tuesday and the children were freezing! The talk of snow was buzzing through the group and before the homeschool group began a teacher prayed for God to bring snow. The children also joined in on the prayer. Wednesday morning our local weather showed the possibility of sleet and snow in the forecast!

My three kids & I huddled around the fire place during our morning lessons. They had fun shivering in the cold while I collected the wood to feed the fire. We kept our eyes on the radar & we were shocked to see to all the "stuff" rolling in from Alabama to Georgia. I was also shocked to see the hour by hour report snow that night. Still I had my doubts. I have learned in the past not to get too excited about snow.

I kept my husband posted about the coming weather. He works about 20 minuets away and I was worried about his drive home. The local weather alert was saying that drivers should be careful on their way home and watch out for patches of ice on bridges. We just don't see this much down south and I tend to worry during times like this. But, he arrived home just fine and he took over feeding the hungry fire.

Then as we were just sitting down for supper my husband announced it was snowing! My kids and I rushed out to the deck where he was stacking wood and snow was falling down pretty hard! The children were going wild and it was a sight to see. We had trouble coaxing them indoors before they froze. We promised we'd go out after we ate.

True to our word after we gulped down out supper, dressed warmly, searched for gloves that hadn't been worn in a long time we rushed outside. By now the back deck was covered with snow and my 8yr old daughter plopped down to make a snow angel. I snapped a bunch of photos hoping they'd turn out since it was dark. We all tossed a few small snow balls, tried to catch snow in our mouths and just had fun then we went inside to warm up.

My oldest daughter couldn't wait to get on the phone to call her best friend. I could hear her scream across the house as she yelled "It's SNOWING!"

We kept checking outside expecting the snow to have stopped but to our surprise it kept falling. We took the kids out again around 9pm to play in the snow that was now about maybe an inch & half thick. I snapped more photos as the kids threw snowballs at each other, tried hard to make a snow man and had the time of their life. We shivered in the cold and enjoyed the beautiful view of falling snow.

Again it was hard to draw them back inside. The kids were shocked by how wet they were we came inside. They laughed at the snow flakes melting in their hair as they slipped off their wet mittens.

The snow stopped falling about 30 minuets later and an hour later it seemed all the snow that had piled up on the deck was turned to slush. We hoped some more would fall and eagerly waited for morning to see if more would be found. I again worried some about the safety of the roads for my husband's trip to work in the morning.

I resisted the urge to peek outside in the middle of the night hoping against hope for more snow. This morning though when I peeked out the roads looked wet like it had rained all night. Gone were all the signs of the fun we had the night before.

I knew my kids would be disappointed when they woke up. My 8yr old was the first up and she informed me in an almost angry voice that it didn't snow again. I knew there was no cheering her up. She also informed her 6 year old brother. But my oldest daughter who is 11 reminded her sibling that to be thankful that it did snow and we did get to enjoy some winter fun. I have to agree.