It's later the same day - what a day! Emma wasn't sure what to do in the snow this morning. She walked around gingerly, shivering. Another dog had apparently been in our yard (huge paw prints everywhere) so Emma had check those out. Whenever she was standing still, she held one back paw up in the air so it wouldn't have to touch the snow. At around 11, Miryam called to see what we were doing. The electricity had been off for awhile by then. I was actually having a lot of fun reading about my 11th grade angst, but David said to invite them over. He actually went out and shoveled a path up our steps, across the street, and up Shaya and Miryam's steps to their front door. They were pretty surprised when they stepped out and had a clear path to our front door!

Their house doesn't get as much light as ours because it's an attached house (duplex), plus it seems to stay colder than ours. Baruch Hashem we could light our gas stove with matches, so we had hot tea. The four of us played mahj jongg for awhile, then I heated up the chili I had made yesterday - what a great lunch on a day like today! The sun actually came out for a little while and the electricity came back on around 1. After lunch we played Hearts, and the guys beat the girls pretty soundly. They left around 2:30, but we all agreed that it was a fun way to spend a cold, snowy afternoon.

David just read the news online and he said that highway 60, the road leading up to our yishuv (and many others, including Beit El) is closed to traffic because of the snow! Parts of it had up to 8 inches, and the road winds around a lot of hills. And we're only halfway through the snowstorm - they're predicting that by the end of tomorrow (Thursday) we're going to have twice as much as we have now. Our chances of getting to Beit Shemesh on Friday are looking more grim by the moment.

David's team leader at work just called to tell him not to come in again tomorrow. Sounds good except that he probably has to take two days of vacation for these snow days and he only gets ten for the whole year (which has to include chol hamoed). David really has needed this time off, though, so he's not unhappy. It's almost 5 and so far the electricity has stayed on, but I'm sure it will be off most of this evening. We're all bundled in layers of clothing, and Emma has burrowed under her blankie on the bed in the guest room (where my computer is). I sure hope it doesn't get too cold tonight!