Snowflake Bentley

For as long as I can remember, snow has fascinated me. I have always loved winter over summer...fall is a close second to winter only because the weather gets cool and you can bundle up and curl up with a big blanket. Not to mention the fact that my Caramel Apple Spice tastes better when there is a nip in the air. When snow falls at school, I take my kids outside with magnifying glasses and black construction paper and let them look at the intricate designs of the snowflakes falling and point out that no snowflake is ever going to be the same...I have to keep myself from launching into a "you have been uniquely created by God just like these snowflakes" chat with them, but I get as close as a public school teacher can these days...and probably even push the envelope a little bit because it is what I truly believe and so desperately want them to know that important truth. I just find snow and snowflakes to be the most peaceful and stilling form of precipitation. It makes people be cautious, it makes people stop and take a break...it makes people go out and have fun! Snow is just by far one of my most favorite things.

Ever.

I've had a book sitting in my classroom ever since I started teaching that I don't think I've ever purposely looked at...to be honest, I'm not even sure where it came from. But,I put it out on some little shelves every January because it has something to do with snowflakes...and well, January in an elementary classroom means you're talking about winter and decorating with snowmen and wishing for snow days. (Which, p.s. by the way, we have again tomorrow. [and the teachers rejoice]). Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got sick and had to leave in the middle of the day...no lesson plans ready because we were supposed to be doing the assembly for the whole school the next day and the plan for the day was to practice, Practice, PRACTICE...so one of the TAs came up to help me out until a sub could get there and she asked if I had read Snowflake Bentley to them yet...I hurriedly said no and then left. Fast forward a few days and I found an activity on main idea with the story of Snowflake Bentley as the passage...so we worked on it because I knew they had already gained some background knowledge (SCHEMA!) on the topic...long story short (let's not lie, probably long story longer) I went to go look up some of the pictures that Snowflake Bentley so nicely left as part of public domain...check these out:

Seriously? Like the most beautiful things I have ever seen. If I ever find prints of these, they will become mine and hang on my wall for forever. (If you want to know more about Snowflake Bentley, go here.) He really did capture some amazing pictures of what I think is some of God's most creative work. Simply stunning in my opinion. And to look out and see literally TRILLIONS OF MILLIONS OF BILLIONS of these beautiful flakes...never to be seen in the detail like that of which Snowflake Bentley caught...but nonetheless just as creative and uniquely created...well...that's just almost overwhelming. So while some of you are going stir crazy...I for one am enjoying the time with friends, my mom's homemade hot chocolate, my laptop doing homework, my markers grading papers and my pajamas...and enjoying the beauty that God has seen fit to flutter down on us in the form of TRILLIONS OF MILLIONS OF BILLIONS of unique little flakes...Oh, and of course enjoying no alarm piece of the puzzle, too.