Let it Snow!!

So, we're working on our FOURTH snow storm in a week - yes folks, we woke up this morning with more snow falling (it has since turned to rain).  Our last snow storm, Sunday night, left us with a hefty 12 inches of the light powdery stuff and I had a very interesting experience that I wanted to share.

I went outside after breakfast to face our driveway, which is just big enough to park 4 cars (2 x 2).  Now, I realize that it's not a big driveway by any means.  We have a snow scoop, which makes the job pretty easy.  The difficulty lies with our almost 4 year old.  She loves to help and her method of helping is to wait until I have filled the scoop with snow, then she climbs on.  In the process of climbing into the snow scoop, she knocks half of the snow out.  She then rides to the top of the mound of snow that I am making, then falls out so I can empty the snow, then rides the scoop down.  It makes for a very long process.  In addition to that, every once in awhile she has to get the sled out and take a few runs down the mound of snow - her little "hill" (pronounced "hee-uhl" that would make any southern mother proud).

As we were thus in the process of cleaning out the driveway - we were about an hour into the project and hadn't even cleared enough to park a car, I looked up and saw a guy park his truck out in front of the neighbor's house across the street.  In the back of his truck was a snowblower.  I assumed that he was there to snowblow the neighbor's driveway, so I continued to fill another scoop with Liliana.  The guy unloaded his snowblower and parked it next to our driveway.  He jumps through the 2 feet of snow at the beginning of the driveway and hands me a card.  He told me his name was Michael and that he was from the Kindness Center and was there to clear my driveway for free.  I looked at him and told him that would be appreciated.  Thirty minutes later, the driveway was clean.  He wished me a Merry Christmas and said that he was happy to do my driveway for me so that I could spend more time with my daughter.   

Why he picked me to help, or why he was driving down our road, I don't know.  I do know that it was one of God's Tender Mercies, giving me some help that I needed at the time.  I later looked at his website: www.thekindnesscenter.com .  He goes around to different middle schools in southern Maine and gets the kids to do different activities to promote kindness.  His story is on it, explaining why he does what he does.  I have thought about this whole experience a lot and has helped me to think about how I can help others more.