Happy 4th of July!

To those of my reader-friends who are American - we are so blessed!  While I don't like all that has gone on recently, we do still have so many freedoms to be thankful for.  To all of my reader-friends, regardless of whether you celebrated today or not - I hope you all had a blessed day and are having a wonderful summer!

Wow!  I can not even believe how long since I've stopped to post.  Not because I haven't wanted to, but.because.I.just.couldn't.  Now I'm going to ramble lots to catch you up a little bit :-).

First of all, our time at the cabin was AWESOME, cut short {I'll explain in a minute}, not slow and restful - as anticipated, but just the idea I might get to stay for the month made it worth it.  I miss spending more time there.  We might make it back down this year, but I'm not sure.  I promise to go back and post more pictures from our time, but today I wanted to address 4th of July -- and I finally have the moment of time.

So.  I am part of a political family + my dad is a state legislator + this is a campaign year + due to re-districting, dad's district GREATLY changed this year = I have no "control" of my life this summer.  {I know that I know regardless of campaign status (or not) the illusion of control in my life is delusional - He has a plan, a perfect plan for my life.}

I am campaign manager, designer, organizer, shopper, planner, do'er.  My mom has been my side kick/second half, but for obvious reasons doesn't want to be the one planning things for her husband.  BUT we make an awesome team - she calls people, talks to people, is capable of small talk, and genuinely is energized and enjoys being in groups/crowds of people.  I do not do any of the previous mentioned things well.At all.  I can design, plan, organize, send an email to nearly a 1,000 people; but, please, please, please - do not make me make phone calls, chit chat, or hang out in a crowd.  This arrangement has worked amazingly well for us.  So, while I say I am the manager, etc - I.could.not.do it without her her being right there too.  As for running a campaign - my dad knows how to do that and he says what he'd like.  I plan it.  Mom helps me orchestrate it & actually pull it off.

I can get the plan on paper.  Communicating execution of said plan does not come as easily for me.

{I need to interject a side note here - my kids LOVE the political side of things in our life.  They are stoked to be part of the campaign and freely give ideas - good ones, ones we've implemented.  I am biased, but God did give me two of the most amazing children to love, cherish, and attempt to teach them as much as I can about Him, so they can go on to lead amazing lives.}  So, while some of you may think, "those poor children"....think "poor April" :-D!  I am the one in five in this household who does not get a thrill out of what we are doing.  My problem, my choice, it IS my life {& isn't likely to change :-)}.

That said.  I got to go to the cabin.  Mom stayed here to be my hands & legs.  In the 2.5 weeks I got to be there dad went back and forth three times - at 5 (flying) -10 (driving) hours of travel time per trip.  However, my time at the cabin was.NOT.spent blissfully reading books, learning all the software I've been waiting to learn, getting my websites up and working, walking, seeing life slow down, or just being.  

Remember that post on One Scary Thing? ya -- been on facebook a ton lately (not for blog, but campaign).  Got my dad all set up and "teaching" him how to use it.  He's getting pretty good too :-D.  Yesterday he took pictures, posted them and commented - and I never said a word! 

Two days before leaving for the cabin we learned dad had an opponent on the same ticket.  Someone who is known in the area that is new to us.  All of a sudden, a campaign summer became a hardcore campaign summer.  The significance of the same ticket is the election date moved from November 6th to August 28th.  This is a drastically different "plan of attack" - as in all campaigning in two months rather than waiting two months, then campaign for two months.  So, my time at the cabin was spent finalizing many things, including getting mini business cards, 4x4 square handouts, and parade flyers designed, ordered for printing {and holding my breath the online companies I picked were good}.  SCORE!  God was so incredibly gracious.  Three for three!  I ordered three products, from three different companies, all three were good!  I am a touch & feel person, so I was concerned how the paper would feel and what the colors would look like.  I used moo.com for the minicards, premiumcards.net for the 4x4 square handout cards, and 48HourPrint.com for the parade flyers.  {another side note:  I LOVE the smell of paper and ink....the flyers from 48HourPrint.com still smell soooooo good!}

Look!

<--  <-- I made that!  This is the backside of the flyer we handed out today in the parade.  The idea was my dad's.  He wanted his info on the one side and The Declaration of Independence on the other side, with notes for why it's important for we Americans to remember today.  

On top of the designing - I was planning, organizing, having mom gathering supplies for the parade.  Who will walk with us?  Can we get more t-shirts printed?  How much candy?  (We ran out last time?  How much has our area grown?)  Getting the right colors of balloons, streamers, etc.  How will we decorate the van? {Dad has a step van that is used as the mobile campaign office.  It has yard signs, big & empty interior - perfect!}

Enough rambling.  The parade was this morning.  It went amazingly well.  We had 30 of  us walking, handing out candy, handing out flyers, blowing bubbles, and carrying yard signs.  Me?  I pushed my niece in her stroller - I actually despise having to walk up to people and them candy or a flyer.  I asked a month ago if I could please have my niece, so I would have a stroller to push. {sigh}  I remember the first parade I was ever in - I was 12.  I wore a long white dress and rode on the top of the Toyota Land Cruiser we owned at the time.  I hated it then.  Then 12 years ago I started being in them again - for legislator friends.  I have watched two parades in the last 12 years: 2004, we were living in Wisconsin taking care of my grandpa; and 2010, I was doing school full-time and working, I just simply couldn't deal.  My kids did though, just not me; besides, my dad didn't have an opponent that year.  We haven't been in a parade(s) every year, but enough years with more than one to easily cover.  I actually walked the longest parade.EVER.two weeks before my daughter was born.  Duh!   {I remember not thinking much of it, until overhearing comments.}

ALL of my time has been trying to keep up with the bare minimum of life and making sure everything was good to go and ready for today.  We did it!  I actually went to bed at 12:20 this morning, with basically everything done -- candy mixed, bags filled, shirts sorted by size, everything organized and gathered by the front door -- got up at 6:30am showered/got ready, made coffee, ate breakfast -- with time to spare, to the point the five of us sat around just hanging out.  Mom, dad & I drinking coffee, and just visiting for the last 15 minutes before we loaded the van and left (it was too wet to load last night).  It was AWESOME!  God was so good to us, it was 47* and drizzly (after dumping sheets of rain last night) this morning.  However, it did NOT rain on us, I did wear two shirts, a scarf, and my down vest {can you say 4th of July in Alaska?!} while walking....but it was comfortable.  

Not too hot, not too cold (okay, I'm kind of lying here - it was chilly), and dry.

So, ya.  That's been life around these parts for us lately.  I'm sorry I left you all hanging, but I am back.  :-)  I'm looking forward to getting to slow down a bit.  We still have lots scheduled, but the insane time crunch isn't as looming, now that we're past the 4th - mostly because the whole concept of parades are hard for me.  From here on out, the crowds are small in comparison :-D!  There will still be lots of work to do, but it's starting to feel a bit "normal" and not all first-time activities.  I still don't expect to post as often as I'd like, but I do expect to be able to actually take the time to read the blogs I miss so much.....

What our last 48 looked like...

November 4, 2008, is here at last! The day I have been awaiting. The reason our life has had many interesting twists & turns over the last year. Pretty much every day, mostly every waking hour (including several sleeping hours), and many hours that should have been sleeping hours have been completely consumed in preparation for today.

7:00AM Nov 3rd

We'd already been on the side of the road for an hour & had several hours ahead of us. It was sooo cold - I believe it was hovering at the 0* mark. The kids have been so incredible, I wish I knew better how to express what I'm feeling. I'm too tired & don't have enough vocabulary, but my God sure did bless me abundantly above & beyond what I could ever imagine or hope for in two children.

7AM - 6:30PM, November 3rd

Vince so thoroughly enjoyed being on the side of the road waving & working to get honks from cars that he didn't want to leave when I went home for a 3-4 hour break from the cold & other campaign errands. He was greatly rewarded by getting smiles, waves & honks from the drivers of 2 different cars sporting Obama bumper stickers - he was so thrilled!

3PM, November 3rd

... it's back out to the side of the road for us. For this second time, Christine enjoyed stationing herself with the heater close by.

5:40PM

A sign made entirely on her own. It says "If you love Wes then vote Yes". She was very proud of it and wove it proudly, especially after dad put it on a stick just for her.

5:45AM, November 4th
It was significantly warmer this morning, right around 20*!

Thank You, Lord!!

We knew Sarah would be coming by at any moment. We got to be standing on the side of the highway when her motorcade went by. We even succeeded at getting a honk from one of the drivers in the the motorcade! :-D

8AM

Enjoying Hot Apple Cider under the heater, a well deserved break... we also had cinnamon rolls, morning rolls, and coffee. A very yummy treat for very cold people.

8:30AM

An absolutely gorgeous sunrise to top off the morning. We decided to head home earlier than originally planned this morning. We were cleaned up, everything packed & gone by 10AM.

9AM - Working together.

The kids didn't want to leave the side of the road; they would each take a side and hold the big, huge signs up on the side of the road. I on the other hand was a wimp & VERY ready to go! Two mornings & and an afternoon/evening was more than enough for me. The kids have been amazing troopers through all this activity.

11:45PM, November 4th - THIS CAMPAIGN IS ALL DONE!

YES! Election coverage is saying 7 of 7 Precincts have reported & dad won with 78.81% of the vote.

To not completely ignore the the disappointment that hovers over our victory...I am not pleased with our nations decision for our President. I believe we are in for changes like he said - just not the change those who voted for him thought they'd get. I'm so thankful I serve a God who is not shaken, who is the same yesterday, today & forever - regardless of what it looks like here on earth. There is so much comfort to know that somehow, God will be glorified in/through this. I'm going to bed now & am so excited this is all done and God will give us His strength to get through the days ahead.

Only 7 more days!

I got APOC done - faxed & receipt confirmed by 12:30 today - and they still aren't due until midnight tonight.

So, because those were done & turned in...

My day was actually very productive, relaxing and enjoyable. My pantry had become OUT OF CONTROL as you can see by the first two photos. It has been driving me seriously nuts - I couldn't even put stuff away, let alone get something out. Forget being able to remember what I wanted once I pulled the curtain back & saw my mess! What you can't see is the top shelf - I had a case (3 big cans) of pumkin propped on the shelf & leaning on the door jam, of course this was centered & well above my head. I remember thinking, "this is stupid" if these fall they would really hurt and/or it might break/crack my floor. The scary thing is - I thought (I can specifically remember) going back & moving them...but they were still like that today when I started to pull everything out to clean. Must have been one of those many times I couldn't remember what I meant to do....? I hope my brain fully returns - and quickly :).

the shelves....


and the floor in front of the shelves -
This is really embarassing & I'm only posting this because a friend asked me to & right now my brain is numb enough to actually follow through - scary!

What my pantry looks like now - :) - I'm so excited!!!!

There's nothing on the floor in front of the pantry either - I can find what I need & I'll even remember what I'm looking for (I hope!). I'm really excited to almost be back in control of 'my own' life. I know I'm not really in control of 'my' life, but I will gain a significant element of control back and I'm ready to be a full-time stay-at-home, homeschooling mom again. I look forward to waking up & not having a specific plan for the day - or at least knowing our plans should stay as-is & not have to be ready to drop everything at a moments notice. I'm so looking forward to 'just' being with my kids, doing school, baking, cooking what we want to eat, and working on Christmas projects (as soon as I figure out what we want to do).

I have one more big clean-out project I'd like to tackle before the day...The closet - we can't even walk into it past the door, which means it is 3/4's chuck full and the 1/4 we have our clothes in is a horrible mess. I need to clean out clothes & put away summer clothes. Pull out the rest of the school stuff & unearth my scrapbooking stuff. I have my sewing machine out, but can't find all my quilting stuff...I can't believe I haven't really quilted, sewn, or scrapbooked in almost a year! Just one week left & 4 of the days are spoken for - so it should go quickly. If I can get the closet done before next Tues, it will be a joy 'cuz I haven't been able to do 'my life' stuff for so long, it feels like a break. If I have time I'd love to clean out under my bathroom sink too - I'd feel like we were in a new place & it would be so relaxing for mid-week to take a deep breath & just enjoy! If I don't get this done until after next Tues - then it'll just be another chore. Funny how we can be so fickle on how we look at something :), I know, I play such silly mind games with myself... Thank You Heavenly Father, for loving me anyway, for not giving up on me, for using me to Your glory, Your pleasure, You have "filled (me) with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."Phil. 2:11

Being political

In case you haven't heard me say it lately - I'm really ready for November 4th! This is one of the many projects I worked on this summer, with 5 of my most favorite kids in the whole wide world wearing it. This was at a fundraiser last week.

Just in case you think I'm grumbling - I really, truly am not - BUT I am REALLY ready for NOV. 4th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This year has been overly full, I am grateful for all the Lord has taught me & the path He has carried me along on. I've learned lots about myself (& others). Notice I said He carried me? I said that because we (He & I) have definitely traveled some paths that if it'd been up to me I wouldn't have gone that direction, or I would have quit. I'm so thankful to be at this end I trust, pray, and hope that I don't waste the lessons I learned.