Sun!

Today I skipped out on all the need/want/have-to-do's on all my lists.  I went to visit with dear friends and meet a new baby.  It was WONDERFUL!  To top it off, the sun was bright and warm.  I of course had my "real coat" with me, but I only wore a long sleeve shirt with a down vest.  I felt so light.  I was seriously relishing how warm it was and how maybe spring would come sooner {as long as I don't look at the __ feet of snow on the ground, in piles EVERYwhere}; after all it was so warm {I would have guessed high-30s/mid-40s}.  Then I saw a thermometer.  At that point I questioned my sanity.  It was 19*.  Yes, that is above zero and not a negative number - but seriously?!  19* is still a LONG ways from melting.

I needed a break from the computer and when I'm home I don't see the sun in my apartment.  So, since I was out, my children were with my mom, and the sun was shining - I drove.  I didn't do my normal start at point A, and do errands in a line and end without back-tracking.  I kind of lost the ability to care, the sun was in my eyes and it was "warm".  In the end, I checked in with mom - all was fine at home, but she & a friend were getting to sew.  I was almost tempted to go home and sew.  In the end, I got a coffee, went to the highest parking lot in town, and parked.  I sat in my car, looking at this view, with warm sun in my face and my eyeballs were very happy.  I had planned to read some stuff I needed to get through, but instead got to catch up with a friend from out of state.  {the wonders of cell phones :-)....}

We are blessed to live in Alaska.  In spring I do wonder why I choose to be here - but look at that view!  I could have turned in pretty much any direction and the view was the same - fresh, crisp, white snow on mountains, glistening to the point of hurting your eyes.  Alaska is home, even though I have heart ties in Wisconsin where I spent several childhood years (so I have a strong all things farm pull),  I have lived most of my life here.  While I'd love to see/shop at some of the wonderful places I see posted about {antiques, fabric, home decor, etc.}; I'd really miss Alaska.  I do really wish we had spring though.  :-D

Just so you know - I'm not totally a pessimist....
  -- Snow storm on April 26, 2008 ... Alaska in April
  -- Snow in April, 2009 ... April Fool's or not?
  -- Not trusting warm in mid-March, 2010 ... SPRING! (maybe, but probably not)
Uh, huh...I'm just finally learning.  Enjoy it in the moment, but don't depend on it staying :-D.  Yes, I am thick skulled and slow to get this -- but this is the last three years' records....so, I still wish we had spring and think in the future I just need to plan to go see spring elsewhere.  I can see the flowers, smell the flower, and feel the warm sun; then come back and be content to wait until Memorial Day weekend to do my planting :-D.

Flower trees in Alaska?

I love, love, love flowers and flowering trees. I got this ingrained love for flowers from my Grandma Keller and my mom taught me to always appreciate fresh flowers in doors as well. All I am trying to say is I come by this craving very naturally :-). This fall/winter/spring have been insanely crazy, way too busy, way too many things happening and I have been aching {desperate} for flowers more than usual.

While driving from Juneau a week and a half ago I kept seeing white bushy trees as I drove. Do you see the lowest row? I wondered as I drove what they were - even though I love to look at trees, I don't know their identities....to me they go into just 2 categories - pretty or not so much...

Some had a red-ish tint....

I decided it must be the pussy willows and wondered if I'd see them when I got home.

[side note: This photo is just 'cuz it is so pretty.]

See my side mirror?...that's dad towing a boat behind me.

This was my view for a lot of hours - two days of driving 7-8 hours, in a truck all by myself, with no radio, no talking, no questions, no phone, no computer, no people interaction = a very happy April :-). Little did I know how much I would need this [re]charge for the week to come as opposed to recouping from the weeks past. As always, God's timing is perfect!

Back to what I was originally going to say when I started this post (a couple hours of homework and multiple loads of laundry ago...) When you're a bit (or a lot) delusional and a lot desperate for Spring these look like flowering trees when you drive by them. It is something sprouting, but it doesn't look like the buds we usually see. I think it is the pussy willows - I need to stop and take a close up photo, but for now this is the best I have. Out my living room window I see our usual leaf buds. May 1: I think our spring is here to stay - we had a day this week that hit 70*, yes we had snow/hail/rain yesterday and it's been chillier the last couple days; but that was in April - it's May now :-).

Love the Sun. Love the Snow. Love Homeschooling.

My chair is covered in fresh beautiful snow again!

I love this view out my "front" door.

Isn't the sun shining through absolutely gorgeous? The picture does not do it justice.

I love that because we homeschool the kids get to take full advantage of the snow and sunshine. Spelling can wait! :) After all, this is the day we spend a lot of hours in the car waiting for each of the kids' activities - so Vince did his spelling between cross country skiing and youth group, while Christine went into gymnastics. We started a new math curriculum a few weeks back - one that Vince finally likes. By his choice he spent over two hours doing math today! I'm so thankful we have the flexibility to do things in a different order and on "weird" time schedules.

Besides that we want the dog worn out so he'll sleep and not bark at night. That is so much easier to accomplish when it's beautiful out. Because of our homeschool schedule, the kids can choose to go out to play when it is days like today. They love it.

Hickory is trying to climb in the hole with Vince. It is so sweet, Vince has his hand on Hickory's paw - is that to hold him back from climbing in front? Christine is building her own fort on the right side; I believe the plan is to meet and go straight back to under the trampoline that is behind the snow pile.

I know today was windy, but thankfully for a couple hours this afternoon the wind did not hit this portion of the driveway. The kids were only going to go out for a half hour, cause it was cold and windy... Two and a half hours later, when it was time to leave they wanted to know why I was calling them in. Couldn't they "pleeeeeease stay out longer"? "Please, can't school wait. We'll do it later, when it gets dark. We promise!" ... AS IF I would call two happy kids in from playing well together, outside, in the fresh snow, with the dog, to do school. I think not! :) When I said it was time to leave for skiing they couldn't believe how much time had gone by.

What a perfectly wonderful day!

(I got a note from Zach tonight. Things are slowing a bit for him, he has even gotten to go swimming for 20 min. a couple times. He said just remembering swimming made him feel better. He is ready to go home to Jane and the kids; he is there another week yet though. Matt has pictures and more info on his blog.

Overwhelmed. In blessings.

(Zach is on the left, the black vests are life jackets)

(don't know anything about this photo, except Zach sent it to dad tonight; so, I'm assuming it is the Bahamas, isn't it gorgeous?!)

These pictures are to show you the extremes what of my brothers are seeing right now. I am very proud of both my brothers. I am proud of how they have both grown into wonderful men following hard after what they believe God wants of each of them. I am blessed to have family. Family I can turn to. Family I love. Family I miss. I am blessed to have not just one brother, but two brothers I am proud of. I am overwhelmed in blessings tonight.

Both of my brothers were trained to be pilots, they started out thinking they would serve in missions together. They made difficult choices to take different paths with their pilot training. Both working in missions, with different views out their cockpit windows. Today Matt is in Alaska, thankfully just down the road - more on that later. Zach is in the Bahamas - on his way to Haiti to help with the relief effort there. Zach left West Palm Beach, FL this morning, flew all day over water and is in Stella Maris, Bahamas tonight, and heads to Port-au-Prince early tomorrow morning. They had heavy headwinds, so they only made it half way. He is flying with Samaritan Air! My mind has worked (unsuccessfully) to really grasp this ALL day. My little brother is flying a R44 helicopter with a big mission, to help with a relief effort in Haiti that we are seeing on TV!!!!!!!!! (and my baby brother flies his plane to land on glaciers, in the bushes, wherever is needed, taking whatever is needed to whomever - an Alaskan Bush Pilot) My brothers are having incredible, huge adventures!

They have prayed me through hard times, stepping up at different times to help with decisions and my children (both before they have even had their own), walking along side me. Today, I am feeling incredibly small. We have such an awesomely HUGE God. Today as I drove in the driveway I thought "Zach is flying to Haiti, Jane is in AZ with the kids, mom & dad are in Juneau - I'm so glad Matt & Samantha are just up the road and aren't in Chile like they were this time last year!" I think I would have just curled up and cried!!! Have you heard about Louis Giglio? Watch the few minutes here, but this video is worth buying; I have it and think of it often. It is so amazing and puts our earth's life in perspective with what is really around us. We are so little and insignificant in the realm of life, the grand scheme of everything; so NOT the center of the universe like we'd like to think we are.
I am learning about feelings. God means for us to feel; He invites us to be a feeling people, fully feeling. I really like this description, "Feelings are the internal reactions generated by our own interpretation of people, events and life experiences." (Me, an Evangelist? by William McKay) I don't typically have a shortage of feelings, but I do not usually express them. Over the last couple of years I have been learning to let go enough to really feel and allowing expression of the feelings in me. It is my nature to thoroughly enjoy something, but not necessarily express it. This has been a work in progress. I am thick-skulled, aka stubborn according to my parents :).

I have not had time to write a post that has been floating in my head for 3 wks now...New Year, New living room, New Life, New Schedule. In a nutshell, we have had New Year's, I have cleaned every corner of my house in the form of organizing every room, rearranging my living room, and we have new life in our house due to a new schedule. I decided against all economic, earthly sense to quit the part time job I had started last fall. I am not going to go into detail of any of this now, because I feel like it is all old news - besides, life is so refreshingly peaceful. However, the funny thing is - we haven't slowed down at all! I'm not sure where working fit in. My school started after Christmas full speed ahead, with many days having homework due and often both classes having something due on the same day - 2 and 3 times/week! The rest of the kids' school work came and we've been doing homeschool each day too. Vince is loving cross-country skiing, his coach told him today he is ready to advance to skate skiing, even though he's barely started and only comes twice per week. We need to work on getting to the Saturday practices, they kind of can be an option now. I say 'kind of' because Matt is building and Vince is working with him on Saturday's. We'll have to see what we can shift, so Vince can possibly work other days per week and ski on Saturdays.

Over the last several years I have had time on my side. I usually had time to do whatever came up, I was the one who's {is that a word? how else would you write it?} schedule was the easiest to fit something into. That has all changed so much this last school year. ... These last couple years I have spent a lot of time being overwhelmed, over done, over tired, just over. We went from the hectic campaign schedule into a wonderful, fun filled summer. Full of family time and me working a couple different jobs for a couple weeks, into me starting full-time school and a part-time job out of the house, but homeschool was still a need and the house walls were starting to close in around me for lack of things at home getting done. I don't do 6 days a week out of the house. Give me 6 days straight in the house anytime & I'm good, but that much running and I was past my last thread of sanity.

All of this is to say - in a round about way... I have become a leaking, sloppy sponge. I am so fully blessed, I feel like I am oozing. I have not felt this refreshed or peaceful in a very long time. Overwhelmed. I have been feeling overwhelmed, but I am now feeling peacefully overwhelmed. There are so many blessings in our lives. My cup is running over today. Without spending any more of your time in paragraph after paragraph of explanation I can't begin to list all the blessings we are enjoying right now. All for His glory, for His good purpose; and there is so much yet to come.

(please ignore all spelling, punctuation, and horrible sentence structure - I'm tired & my thoughts are racing much faster than my fingers can type and my heart and mind are tripping over each other to race for what is going to come out my fingertips...tomorrow [OK -later today] starts another very full day.)

Beautiful...Wonderful!

The Cove in fall with snow coming down the mountains.

Fireweed in the fall.

Vince & Hickory creeping up to scare the seagulls.


All of us by the big rock.

This is the first time I've seen fall at our cabin. It is wonderful. Our cabin is finished & so wonderful cozy to hang out in. Here's the view out the window by my bed, where I'm sitting and typing this. We are so blessed to get away for a couple days & enjoy such wonderfulness :).

Leaves, Flowers, & Sun...

Our leaves are all open & wonderful -- even though they make breathing difficult, it's worth it. :) The sun has been out & warm, we had some rain & it warmed back up again! I have to admit when it started to rain I was holding my breath & hoping, hoping, hoping the springy/summery weather would come back & it did. :)

I was able to get some flowers for my deck & start making my 'corner of the world' to enjoy sitting outside. I'm so happy. It is always amazing to me how therapeutic it is to dig & play in the dirt. I know you can't see the sun hitting this corner - but it is where the sun hits first each day. It's getting earlier, about 1:30-2 that the corner my chair is in has sun. I just took these pictures & it's 10pm - so the sun is hitting the tree tops all around, but not on my deck anymore.

The flowers look so wimpy in their pots right now, but I look forward to them filling out, the colors really being visible & not seeing the dirt.

Last year a friend gave me one of these hanging bags with blue lobelia in it. It was beautiful, thick & bushy. When she gave it to me you couldn't see the bag it was hanging in. This is just to the left of my door, we all got very used to walking out & around (we'd walk out & step to the left to go right) to go down the ramp. So, true to 'old habits die hard' this year since putting my screen door on (our signal that summer is here) we are all walking out & around and moving our head funny to the left when we walked out to get around the bushy plant that isn't there! So, I decided to put Gypsophilia in it. I love Gypsophilia. I discovered it a few years back & haven't been able to find any since. It has the sweetest, tiniest little flowers - I would have chosen white but they only had light purple. I decided purple is good. :) It sure looks funny right now, I hope I didn't hurt it too much trying to get the plants through the little holes.....soon (I hope) our step out to the left to go right &/or the funny 'jerk your head to the left' move will be for a reason again :).

I'm so thankful our Heavenly Father created things of beauty - big, enormous mountains & teeny tiny flowers - for us to enjoy. I love living in Alaska!

April Fool's or not?

So, today is April Fools Day -- that means the beautiful snow we're getting right now is a joke, right? I wish I even remotely believed that! I know we live the best most beautiful state, sometimes I do wish the seasons were a little more definitive & timely, this year in particular I'm feeling anxious for spring & summer, praying we get a summer this year.

I'm finding myself drawn to pictures with green (and I'm not talking dark green but springy, fresh, yellowy greens) - green dishes, green floors, green chairs, green pillows, green blankets, green curtains... quilts with springy colors & lots of green variations. Yesterday I was working on getting a Creative Memories order in & the colors of paper I was looking at all followed the springy colors - not my normal choices. My latest addiction has been reading quilt/craft blogs, so many quilters are using all these bright colors & I wonder how much my addiction is in looking at all the colors. Of course all these quilters live in states where spring has sprung & I think secretly I'm looking for a glimpse of their yard with green grass & flowers poking up. :)

I'm so thankful God doesn't rate me by the color I emit. A lot of what I'm reading & studying these days has shown & reinforced to me I'm not a very colorful person - I'm the steady, boring, introverted personality (I know, this is no surprise to anyone who knows me!). But, this is the way God made me. I'm thankful the whole world isn't like me, but I do have my place 'cuz we can't all be the colorful ones either, then there wouldn't be anyone to enjoy the color. I'm learning there are some things in life I don't have to learn to like, but I do need to learn to not let fear overcome me. I'm so glad God is patient & willing to keep working on me!

I take so much comfort in knowing ... "there is nothing I can do to make Him love me more, there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less." A song, but I don't remember who sings it. I think it comes from a verse too, but I'm not positive. I will have to check this out, but I need to go to hold a sick kiddo who is now ready to snuggle.

We are so BLESSED!

We got another gorgeous snow fall. I haven't measured but it's over 12" of fluffy, pure white, beautiful snow. How amazing to think this is just "my" little corner of the world, and I couldn't begin to count the number of snowflakes. Yet God made them individual & they're each different?! And this is just snow - it melts, has no lasting/staying power, it will blow away (shortly I'm sure), it doesn't have a mind, feelings, nor was it made in the image of God Himself. He made it just for us to look at & enjoy - I don't think it serves any specific purpose, except our pleasure. How good is our God?!!!!

This moose was sleeping in our backyard when I opened my living room curtains this morning at 7:30.

Looking at Pioneer Peak this morning, 8:10am and -2*. Yesterday we could hardly see more than a few cars ahead & definitely no mountains because of the amount of snow falling. This morning was clear, beautiful, gorgeous, cold & sunny! This was such a treat to see. Vince had to be at church early this morning, we don't get clear views like this from our house & I'm not normally out this time of day. After dropping him off, I had time to take pictures, stop in at Fred Meyer's, and went to a dear friends house to drink coffee & visit -- all before church started! :)

Two of the FISHing Crew Puppeteers who performed this morning. They did amazing, it is so fun to see what this group of kids comes up with. They study a certain scripture & write the script. Thank you Marilyn, for taking the time to teach them these skills.

When we got to church at 8 this morning the plowing crew was already done! They had all the sidewalks shoveled & all parking lots plowed, which resulted in HUGE snow banks. After church/Sunday School, going through most of worship upstairs & then watching the FISHing Crew puppets the kids were more than excited to not be quiet any more, they wanted to jump out of the van & play.

The boys running laps to get rid of "extra" energy.


True Alaskan girls

Who cares that it's only warmed up to 18* & they're dressed for church? It made me smile & I enjoyed that it didn't slow them down in the least. They're using my snow scraper/brush to dig in the snowbank.

Tonight's sunset (took the picture at 5:30pm) - we now have daylight until pushing 7'ish.

A Wonderful Day!

We were blessed yesterday with big, beautiful snowflakes falling all day. It made for a beautiful winter wonderland. Today was clear, sunny & absolutely gorgeous! So we went to Hatchers Pass just for some spectacular pictures.

"Please, can we be done with pictures & get in the van now?"
I feel like my Heavenly Father totally gave us a most amazing gift; it was a wonderful, perfect end to a yucky month.

Okay -

...so, Christmas, New Years & half of January are done already!

Here's a quick photo update of the last little bit of our lives....

This holiday season I had the privledge of taking each of the kids on separate dates. I took Christine to the Nutcracker at the PAC & Vince to the Third Day concert at the Dena'ina Center. It was a fun treat to be able to splurge on making these memories this year.

My baby is growing up...

This poor young moose was eating the berries off the bushes in front of the living room window. He got the Christmas lights wrapped around his nose - he didn't seem to notice, but we sure got a kick out of watching & waiting to see if he'd get it off. After watching for about a 1/2 hour my brother came up to the other door & spooked the moose. All he could see from the deck was the tree at the corner going nuts - he thought Vince was doing something. The Christmas lights ripped off the tree & snapped in at least 3 sections- one section stayed attached to the tree/bushes, we recovered one short section hanging from the lilac tree on the side of the house & the moose made off with the rest.

We had a "for real Christmas tree" this year! For those who don't know this is actually a very pretty Alaskan tree & yes, it is about 9.5 ft tall and 2.5 ft wide.

The beautiful Mt. Mckinley on Sunday.

Have I mentioned before that we live in an absolutely gorgeous state?

Fall has come & gone...

We had a wonderfully gorgeous fall!!!!

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Looking towards Hatcher Pass.

The glacier in the center is usually gone by early August ... However, this year the glacier never finished melting. I took these photos on Sept 20th, you can see the glacier is still significantly there & the "termination dust" (looks more like full blown snow to me) isn't quite down to it.

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The colors were truly amazing - these are in front of dad's office. It is so amazing to me that God made so many kinds of foliage in so many variations of color - just for our eye pleasure. The leaves changing color doesn't help the plant. The colors don't do anything - it does signal the change of seasons, but it isn't like we needthis signal - it's cold! Yes, it is what the trees do - but He made it so we could be "part" of the process, just by looking and enjoying. The trees & plants do so much we can't see, but He wanted us to have this enjoyment. It is a blessing from Him & Him alone to each of us individually. Even though we all see the many colors they touch each of us differently, meaning something different for each of us - so it is a very individual & personal gift.

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The kids having fun in the leaves. They took turns burying each other & jumping out of the pile of leaves. I love seeing & hearing them have so much fun.

Alaska in April

Here is the sunrise over Wasilla Lake yesterday morning.

Sarah & I went into Anchorage for the IDEA curriculum fair yesterday (why I was anywhere near Wasilla Lake at 6 in the morning). It was beautiful & "warm" for spring in Alaska. We knew there was a forcast of sleet, but that didn't seem like a big deal, (besides, maybe they're joking - it's the end of April).... When we got to Anchorage it was starting to sprinkle a bit, by the time we parked & walked to the Egan Center it was slushing - when we left at noon it was snowing & collecting. We had planned all along to stay in Anchorage late - with the snowfall, we stayed really late.

This is just after 5pm, we'd been at the mall a couple hours. Of course, the snow scraper was taken out last week with the arrival of sunshine....but Sarah brought a 2nd pr of shoes, just in case & boy did we use them.

Yep - flip flops!
A new use for Alaskan girls in spring.