My Parents

I've been meaning to write about this day - and I need photos for this blog post - so I'll do a joint post.

Dad was honored for 50 years of ministry with Open Bible Churches on 22 October.  Mom will be 50 years next year, I believe.  They were unable to be at National Conference, and so Gary (Regional Executive Director) presented it to them with Pastor Kirk at their local church.  I'm so thankful to Sherri for taking photos and texting them (though I'd forgotten to turn my volume down and it was distracting to those around me at church. ::snort::)

Gary (left) was my youth pastor. When I graduated, and came "home" from the Philippines before family, I lived with Gary and his dear wife. 

Many may not have known that mom was in a lot of pain this Sunday. The doctors had declared her cancer free a month ago, and assured her she'd injured her back. The pain was growing and she was taking pills.

I posted the following on Facebook last week.

Mom was declared cancer free a month ago. Fast forward to this Monday (30th of Oct)  and she was admitted to the hospital where we were told her breast cancer had metastasized to the spine (or "the lesions are attached to the spine"). She will be having biopsies on Monday. We appreciate your prayers as we wrap our minds and hearts around this, for Mom's pain control, wisdom for her wonderful doctors, and an accurate diagnosis/treatment plan to be put in place next week. Janice Simmons Townsend (Mom approved this message).

 Later last week Mom went back to the hospital and they discovered she has a lung infection. Antibiotics should make her comfortable.

Today, she will be having more tests. We appreciate your prayers during this time.

We Ate All Day

I believe this is the last post I will label "Alaskan Fall." I KNOW it is fall according to the calendars...HOWEVER...when I see snow on the ground, high temps in the 20's and predictions of high temps at 18, 11 and 9* - I call it winter.

We woke Sunday morning to snow. It was beautiful. We were warm and cozy both at church and here at home. There still isn't a LOT of snow. We'd like another good dump so we can play in it.

It's official - the weather is crazy up here. In one week we've had sun, fog, frost and snow! We are thrilled there has been NO RAIN. ::snort::

 There are big windows at church through which one can see the mountains which surround the church. They were beautiful this morning.

Today was our first potluck at  Matanuska AG. We enjoyed the chance to chat with  more people than a Sunday morning accommodates.

We got home a couple of hours before the kids arrived for our weekly extended family dinner.  Stacia suggested we use Gma Jan's fancy goblets for dinner - so we did. It was a good solution. I don't have enough "normal" glasses for the family and we've been using disposable. This was nice.  I was glad we'd chosen a quick meal to throw together. I made two salads when prepping for the potluck. We steamed rice and made a pan of BBQ meatballs, Marinara meatballs and plain meatballs. I had made mousse ahead of time too - it was a deadly hit. Far too rich for the portions I had set out.

It's always fun to relax together at the start of a new week. 

Bella and Uncle Cory 

 Nolan handled the devotional part of our night this week. He did a great job. He was a natural!

How a Non TV Family Ended up with a BIG Screen TV

Our day went a bit catty-wampus. We have been considering our entertainment options since we moved into the house.  We had thought we'd use the family room as a family room - but it's really  more of CoRielle's living room. We don't want to be down there waking up baby S with our games and movies. We were looking ahead to Mom and Dad living in the basement apartment - or renting it out as the case may be...so we decided it was wise to put our "stuff" upstairs from the beginning.

We really have no wall big enough upstairs for our previous movie screen which is 8ft 6 in x 6 ft 2 in.  We researched a pull down screen. We've been unimpressed with the hours of life in the projectors we've purchased. We tend to replace them (or wish we could) about once a year.

However, we've not had a TV in our living room for over 32 years. We've never had cable.  When we considered the prices a flat screen TV was cheaper.....and is rated with 100,000 hours of use as opposed to the average of 5,000 hours for the projects we were researching.

In the end we decided we'd get a TV, not get cable, and treat the TV as a  screen for our movies/Tim Hawkins and Wii. Of course, they tried to sell us the newest X box which has a 4k player on it. Nope.  I got cold feet when Michael looked at the biggest screen which will fit on the wall. We shelved the purchase.

Two things happened to convince me it was a good thing to do....1. Michael shared he wanted the big TV because his vision is getting bad...and we heard this can be Parkinsons related.... 2. It was on sale. ::wink::  It's always about principles vs rules in our home and our principles will remain in place. LOL

To make this happen Michael had to find Jamin at a shooting range and trade vehicles. Then he drove in to Anchorage, purchased it, drove back to the valley and dropped off the TV, and then back to Eagle River to switch cars again.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed the view as the fog finally lifted in our part of the valley. 

They made it back with  a TV in tow...

I desperately needed to go grocery shopping. It was dark and late when we left to go across town to Walmart. I couldn't put it off as Sunday will bring a potluck and an extended family dinner.  When we made it home, I baked a dessert for each of  Sunday's events and headed to bed.

Afternoon/Evening in Anchorage - #WYFF

Woot! Friday. We drove in early and checked out a TV at Best Buy.  We didn't purchase it because it wouldn't fit in our car. We wanted to sleep on the decision just a bit longer! LOL 

We met JaRissa, Jamin and Josiah at Panda Express and then we went to the movies!  

It was fun to have some time with the Eagle River bunch....and we liked the movie. Win/Win. 

Frost

After the fog, or in the midst of the fog, came frost. It is beautiful! 

We were warm and cozy inside, busy with school and Japanese lessons......and gazing out the windows.

 Michael had a swallow test today. They wanted to do a new one and he is having more trouble. They offered a new therapy, for which he now qualifies. He would go in 5 days a week and they would attach electrodes to his neck and give him "mini shocks." The thought being it would strengthen the muscles needed for swallowing.  

He opted to try "traditional swallow" therapy. We'll get that set up for next week.  We are happy to have speech/swallow/cognitive therapy set up with a VA approved source. The saga began with them saying there were none in Alaska. Sort of like we were told there were no Motion Disorder Specialists either. I think it's the first answer one has to push through to find the right resources. 

 If we could only use one of these for a Christmas Tree this year. We want to buy an evergreen and plant it in the yard.....but I was hoping for  bigger than table-top this year and I assume that's all we'll be able to find. We've been looking but having seen any bigger to buy now. 

Even moose poop is pretty when decorated with frost. 

We ended our day with life group and youth group.  Another full Wednesday. 

Fog

So....what is an Alaskan Fall like? This week it was foggy, frosty and snowy.  It was sort of fun to have this sort of fog on Halloween. LOL  The view from the living room was surreal. 

The fog doesn't bother Bella (18 m). She's recently taken to changing her baby's diaper. 

As for Halloween? I bought a huge bag of candy. We had three groups. That's IT. One of the groups was Cory and Arielle - snuck out their door and came around and rang our bell.

The fog lasted four or five days.  I have no idea if this is normal for the area. We'll find out.

Monday Visits

Poor Bella is a bit under the weather 

Josiah came out for a visit with us and Beth.

We enjoyed lazing around, eating and visiting.....Jared and Larissa came out in the evening and brought Roscoe. What a cute puppy!!!! His bread is trained to fight bears - he'll make a great hiking partner for Rissa next spring.

I was sure there would be snow on the ground for Halloween. I remember that always being the case when we were assigned up here....but no snow is in the forecast for tomorrow.