Mittens...

I want to thank Terrence's parents for sending us a whole bunch of mittens. When the weather started getting cold I was worried about all the kids who didn't have any mittens or gloves. We tossed around the idea of a mitten drive, Terrence's coworker Kari tried having one a few years ago at the court house here in Bethel, not surprisingly there was a whole lot more taking than giving. I gave out the new mittens yesterday, it took about two minutes to hand out all of them and they had sent us a lot. A lot of the kids wanted to take home a pair to their younger sibling, which is really sweet, but didn't help me in my mission to cover every bare digit in sight. It is really upsetting to see how many kids do not have gloves. Especially, on days like today when the windchill is -28 degrees. In these temperatures your joints, including those in your fingers, really start to ache, not to mention how cold your skin feels. I am going to look online and see if I can find some bulk mittens. If anyone comes across some real cheap, like at a Salvation Army or Big Lots go ahead and buy them and I will reimburse you the cost and shipping. It is just too cold for hands to go uncovered.

Thankfully, most of the kids have jackets. I ordered James' new jacket yesterday, it is supposed to be good for temperatures down to minus twenty and has some kind of fancy windproof shell. Even with his super new jacket he will still have to wear long underwear and several layers on cold days. The cold isn't so bad as long as you have the right kind of clothing. Even I, who am wimpy in the cold, am managing. -Megan