Dear Daniel

. . . This morning my snow turned to sleet. In a few hours, it had covered our windows with bumpy sheets of ice. Then the sleet turned to rain. Living in Southern California, you probably wouldn’t know this, but snow and rain make a terrible combination . . .

Dear Daniel,

It has snowed several more times since my birthday, and the snow on the ground keeps getting deeper and deeper. So when I woke up this morning and saw that it was snowing again, I thought that the snow was here to stay. But then the snow changed to sleet.

I’m sure you’ve never seen sleet, so I’ll describe it. Sleet is rain that freezes on its way down. It looks like tiny balls of ice, only about a millimeter or two in diameter. Each one is a frozen raindrop. It’s not hail, which is larger and is formed by frozen raindrops being blown back up into the cloud and getting covered in another layer of ice. This process gets repeated until the hailstone is too heavy to get blown back up into the cloud again. At that point, it falls to the ground.

Sleet is not as potentially dangerous as hail, but it is far more annoying. If hailstones get big enough, they can kill you. But no one in their right mind goes outside in a hailstorm. When I lived in France, I once got stranded outside in a hailstorm. The hailstones weren’t very large, but they really hurt when they hit you! I was in the middle of Vichy’s main square, too far away from any building where I could get shelter. There were a few young trees in the square, and I rushed to one, pressed my face against its trunk, and held my backpack on top of my head, shielding my cheeks with my arms at the same time. I stayed like that until the hail let up for a bit, then I ran as fast as I could across the square to the nearest building. As soon as I got there, the hail started again. That’s what hail is like, but sleet is different.

I remember the first time I saw sleet after moving here. I was walking somewhere with George, and at first I thought it was snowing. Then I realized that the “snow” was falling much too quickly. Then I decided that it was rain, until I noticed that the “raindrops” were bouncing when they hit the ground! I was so puzzled. It was like nothing that I had ever seen before. It was most like hail, but the stones were much too small, and besides that, there was no thunderstorm, which is essential for making hail. With a thrill, I suddenly realized that it must be sleet, something that I had only read about in books. “George,” I bubbled, “it’s sleeting!” He raised his eyebrows in puzzled amusement, as if to say, “And what did you think it was doing? And why in the world are you so excited about it?” Now that I’ve experienced sleet a few times, I can better understand his lack of enthusiasm for it.

Sleet stings when it hits you, like tiny needles pricking your skin. Sleet collects on the ground and then somehow freezes together, turning sidewalks and roads into treacherous, icy nightmares. And unlike hail, sleet gives you no excuse to stay indoors, because although it is inconvenient, it is not dangerous.

So this morning my snow turned to sleet. In a few hours, it had covered our windows with bumpy sheets of ice. Then the sleet turned to rain. Living in Southern California, you probably wouldn’t know this, but snow and rain make a terrible combination. The air temperature can be just above freezing without melting the snow on the ground, but as soon as it starts to rain, all that beautiful snow starts to turn into muddy slush. That’s what happened in Kyiv this afternoon. It was still chilly (about 33F), but everywhere you looked, there was watery slush on the ground and water dripping off trees and buildings as the snow and ice melted in the rain. In weather like this, you have to be careful not to walk too close to the buildings. As the thaw continues, pieces of snow and ice detach from things and fall to the ground. And you don’t want to get hit by an icicle falling from sixteen stories up! As the saying goes, “You wouldn’t even know what hit you!”

This bad weather gave me a wonderful opportunity to test out my new winter boots. Because my feet were always getting cold, this year I looked for an especially heavy-duty pair. They look like a pair of Ukrainian farm boots, which is a bit awkward in a fashionable city like Kyiv. But I’ve never paid much attention to fashion: I have my own style, and at the moment, it includes a thick-soled pair of fleece-lined sheepskin boots. Not only did they keep my feet warm today (which didn’t surprise me, since it wasn’t very cold), but they also kept them DRY (which shocked me, given how deep some of the puddles I had to walk through were).

Besides giving you a chance to test if your shoes are waterproof, a partial thaw like this has another plus: it can create icicles! I love icicles. They’re beautiful, like fairy castles made of the purest crystal. Today I noticed that a row of icicles had grown overnight above our living-room window. They may have completely melted away by tomorrow, but at least I got to enjoy them today!

Love, Sharon

. . . I don’t feel like a real adult yet, but I’ll be 30 in 3 years. When I was your age, I thought that all grown-ups were in the same category. I assumed that all of them felt capable, confident, and that they never felt intimidated by other grown-ups . . .

Dear Daniel,

Today is my 27th birthday. Doesn’t that sound old? I don’t feel like a real adult yet, but I’ll be 30 in 3 years. When I was your age, I thought that all grown-ups were in the same category. I assumed that all of them felt capable, confident, and that they never felt intimidated by other grown-ups. But now I’m 27, which sounds old enough to be in the grown-up category, and you want to know a secret? I still lack confidence. I still feel shy and intimidated around certain people. And I still look up to people who are older than me. I guess that doesn’t mean that I’m not grown-up yet, it just means that there aren’t two simple categories of people like I thought when I was a kid.

I’m still sick. If I’m not better by tomorrow evening, I will have been sick for a full week. The last two mornings I’ve been awakened early by diarrhea. We finally called the doctor yesterday. He put me on a very strict diet (no protein, no fat, no fresh fruits, no vegetables — just hot cereal, rice, dry toast, and baked apples) and prescribed an antibiotic. I’m also drinking a Ukrainian electrolyte solution. (Things like sweating a lot or diarrhea destroy your body’s electrolyte balance.) In America, we have Gatorade and other sports drinks to do this job. Here in Ukraine, we have Regidron, a powder that you put in water. It tastes awful, so I added a packet of Kool-Aid and sugar to it. It still doesn’t taste good, but at least it’s drinkable! So as I type, I’m also sipping my Regidron.

Usually Georgie gets up early on my birthday and makes me breakfast in bed. So last night he asked me what I wanted for breakfast in the morning. I laughed. Oatmeal? Rice? Dry toast with no butter or jam? How exciting! In the end I decided on baked apples, but since my illness woke me up before him, I’ll probably make them myself. Another birthday tradition is going out to a nice restaurant for dinner; of course, that’s not happening this year!

So it sounds like a great birthday, doesn’t it? But you know what? God knew what a bummer of a day it would be for me, so He sent me a special gift. When I opened the living room curtains shortly after I got up, I couldn’t believe my eyes! You know what I saw? Snow! And not just falling through the air, but starting to cover everything in white! It must have been snowing most of the night to do that. It hasn’t snowed since the last time I wrote you because it’s been too warm. Two days ago, the temperature actually got up to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. But today, on my birthday, when I’m sick and unable to do the things I usually would, when I’m far away from many of my beloved family and friends — God sends me snow to remind me that He’s always with me, and He remembers that it’s my birthday.

The snow usually doesn’t stick this early. We’ll get some snowfall here and there, sometimes starting in October and through November and December. But we often don’t get enough snow to make the world turn white until just after the New Year. So the weather today really is special. It’s out of the ordinary. It’s God’s special message to me.

He did this for me once before. Remember when I lived in France? Well, that year also I was sick on my birthday. Besides that, it fell on a work day, so I was sick and teaching. Plus, no one knew it was my birthday, so no one even said “Happy Birthday” to me all day long. I had planned to attend a classical music concert in the evening, but after my last class, I felt too sick to go. I went home, prepared a sick person’s meal, and got into bed early. The only thing I had wanted from the day was snow. But though I had prayed for it, it hadn’t snowed. As I settled myself in bed for the night, I glanced out the window, and in the slanting rays of the setting sun, I saw the snow beginning to fall. Suddenly I could sense God’s presence with me in that lonely room; He put His arms around me and said, “Happy birthday, dearest Sharon. I love you so much.” I started to cry because I was so touched. And that’s how I feel about this snow today.

Don’t ever forget how much God loves you, Daniel. You know that He sent Jesus to die in your place. And even though that’s enough to prove His love to you for all time, it doesn’t end there. He wants to show you His love every day in a thousand small ways. Look for them and praise Him!

Love, Sharon

P.S. Of course, since I’m sick, we had to cancel the birthday party to which we were planning to invite all our Ukrainian friends. We’re going to try again in December for George’s birthday (12-05-75).

. . . For me, the weeks between the time when the weather turns cold and the first snowfall always seem very long. I’m like a little kid; I just can’t wait for the snow to come . . .

Dear Daniel,

It finally snowed today! Since I last wrote you, it “warmed up” a bit. (All that means is that the temperature didn’t drop below freezing for about a week, but it was still cold.) The last few days it has been really foggy, but there has been no snow. We live on the sixteenth floor of a sixteen-story apartment building, and when it’s foggy, we can’t see anything out the window. It’s like we’re in the middle of a cloud. It’s kind of fun, but it’s not snow, and snow is what I’ve really been wanting.

For me, the weeks between the time when the weather turns cold and the first snowfall always seem very long. I’m like a little kid; I just can’t wait for the snow to come! Most of the adults want there to be as little snow as possible, but not me! I get so excited when I see the first flakes start to come down. And all winter long, whenever it’s snowing, it makes my day. I guess that it’s because I grew up without snow, so I’m not tired of it yet.

Today was a very stressful, hectic day. I had a bunch of editing to do for my job in the morning, and I was so busy that I didn’t even have time to take a shower or eat lunch before I had to leave home at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. But when I glanced out the window just before running out the door (I was late), I saw that it had started to snow, and suddenly I felt so light and happy inside!

It snowed for about thirty minutes, and the flakes were big fluffy clumps of hundreds of snowflakes all stuck together. It looked like thousands of little pieces of lace drifting down to earth out of the sky. I don’t think the snow will stay on the ground, because the temperature is a few degrees above freezing right now, but maybe it will snow some more tonight. If the temperature drops overnight, the world could be all white in the morning!

Love, Sharon

. . . The first hard frost usually comes early - before the leaves have finished changing colors! This means that most of them fall off the trees while they’re still partially green, so you never get to see the hillsides covered in red and orange and yellow. This year was different . . .

Dear Daniel,

This year I got to see my first Ukrainian autumn. The weather here changes so quickly from warm to cold and back again that sometimes it seems like we only have two seasons: warm and cold. But this year was different.

I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I’ve always wanted to live in a place with the four traditional seasons. I wanted to enjoy snow and cozy winter evenings with a mug of hot chocolate, I wanted to see the explosion of blossoms that comes with the spring, I wanted the warmth of summer, and I wanted the crisp air and blue skies of autumn with the reds and golds of the changing leaves.

Ukraine definitely has the snow, and we’ve got enough blossoms in the spring (although sometimes the snow comes back after the flowers have already bloomed), and the summers can get pretty hot and humid, but I’ve never seen a colorful autumn before. The reason is that the first hard frost usually comes early - before the leaves have finished changing colors! This means that most of them fall off the trees while they’re still partially green, so you never get to see the hillsides covered in red and orange and yellow.

This year was different. We had warm weather for most of September, and even in October, it stayed above freezing! So the leaves have had time to change to their autumn colors. Most of them are yellow; I guess red leaves must be from different kinds of trees that aren’t very common in Kyiv. But it has been beautiful!

Now it’s starting to get really cold, with temperatures below freezing every night. I’ve switched from my autumn coat to my heavy winter coat. (It actually weighs somewhere between 10 and 15 pounds, if you can imagine that! Walking uphill in my winter coat is very good exercise!) If the weatherman knows what he’s talking about, we should get snow soon! I’ll be thinking of you when that happens. I’ve never made a snowman before, so this winter, we’ve decided to make one with Stepan and Olenka, a married couple who are good friends of ours.

Love, Sharon