The Thrill of the Hill: Chief and the kiddos took to the hill near our house Sunday morning. This picture appeared on the front page of today's Northwest Arkansas Times.

Winter has FINALLY arrived!

"Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down ev'ry idol, cast out ev'ry foe;
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, let nothing unholy remain,
Apply Thine own blood and extract every stain;
To get this blest cleansing, I all things forego—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, look down from Thy throne in the skies,
And help me to make a complete sacrifice;
I give up myself, and whatever I know,
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, for this I must humbly entreat,
I wait, blessed Lord, at Thy crucified feet,
By faith, for my cleansing I see Thy blood flow,
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, Thou seest I patiently wait;
Come now, and within me a new heart create;
To those who have sought Thee, Thou never saidst no,
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

The blessing by faith, I receive from above;
Oh, glory! my soul is made perfect in love;
My prayer has prevailed, and this moment I know,
The blood is applied, I am whiter than snow.

Chorus:
Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow;
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. "


The weatherman was right this time!
When we first started hearing reports of snow in the forecast earlier in the week, I shrugged my shoulders along with everyone else and thought, "yeah, right! I'll believe it when I see it." By Friday evening, though, it was apparent that winter weather was, indeed, finally going to make it to Northwest Arkansas.

I had begun to think that for us here in the corner of the state winter was a thing of the past. It has been at least two years since we've seen a decent snow, and my kids had never even been on a sled. We were not disappointed!

With the snow blanketing everything in sight, the words to the old hymn printed above have been running through my mind over the past couple of days. We had a great conversation with Rachel over breakfast yesterday regarding the righteousness we have in Christ. No matter how dirty our past, if we've trusted Him for the forgiveness of our sins, He sees us as dazzling white as the pure snow. "That's pretty amazing, Mom!" she said "I can't think of anything whiter than snow!" Ahh, a little theologian in the making :-)

They had lots of fun yesterday making snow angels and jumping on the snow-laden trampoline (what a sight that was!) and this morning Chief took them sledding down Heartbreak Hill, a slope near our house so named for the power walkers (myself included) who have nearly collapsed taking its challenge on muggy summer mornings. It's just perfect for sledding though, and all four of them came home later in the morning cold, tired and very happy. Andy Shupe from the Times was there snapping pictures, so be sure to take note of the photo of Chief and Sara that was on today's front page!

The Potter Place Christmas 2005
Chief Potter, Sara, Gavin, me, and Rachel

I can't be outdone!

So my friend Lisa emails today with a link to her new blog and I start thinking that it's high time I found something to do with all those spare hours on my hands (ha!). Blogger makes it very convenient ... within five minutes, here I am, laying my soul bare before the world.

I've actually been "lurking" on the Internet for a long time, reading the thoughts of all my friends, enemies, and a bunch of people I never even met before. Chief Potter has been saying for awhile that I should blog, but I just couldn't ever find the motivation to get started.

So thanks, Lisa! Can't imagine that anyone out there (except for my mother) will actually read this drivel, but you just never know ...