First Sunday in Spring?

An odd thing happened to Stacia this morning. She fainted. Ears muffled, vision black and down she went. She was WHITE... devoid of color. About 10 minutes after the incident, she looked better, and I took her blood pressure. It was on the low side...88/65.  I was staying home with Dad today due to Shingles, so we kept her home too - just to watch her.  

We enjoyed playing a new game: Pickles to Penguins. OK - so the girls and I enjoyed learning a new game. Michael was tired and said he'd rather just sit and watch. Games with little strategic sense or logic are not Michael's favorite games. 

KrUke and the kids (we assume) rang our doorbell and dropped off spring gifts! SPRING. I am taking this as an official sign it IS Spring...that and the time change...we still have much snow...but we're calling it. Spring is here....Alaska style. LOL 

Checking out the spring gifts from KrUke

Hope you had a good Sunday. 

Educational Update

Intellectual with a touch of mischief! These girls ROCK! 

Allie has submitted her final assignment for her current two classes. She is 1/2 way through her AA degree. She made an A in both classes.  She's actually made an A in EVERY class with the exception of Math and Introduction to Screenwriting. Not too shabby! 😏 A highlight of this semester for both Allie, and Michael, is her 100% in her final Apologetics paper. She and Michael spent much time discussing concepts and then she wrote and wrote, and he edited, and she wrote more, and he edited more. She plans to fully enjoy her well-earned Spring Break. 

Stacia has received an A in her first class at Global University and has registered for her second class. This one is on computers and our hope is it will make the rest of her course work easier. She is also considering the various training options available to her in addition to Bible College.  Her trip to Hawaii put her a bit "behind" where she wanted to be in her high school course work - but she only has a few appendices to read to be done with high school. She will continue to take Japanese tutoring twice a week until she graduates from IDEA.  At that point she will have completed her high school Japanese lessons. Her plan is to continue with Japanese lessons and tutoring through college as she prepares to move to Japan. 

Krista has completed her first class on her journey to a Doctorate in Pastoral Counseling. She made 197 out of 200 possible points...an A. Go, Krista. All those hours alone in airports and strange cities are paying off. 

Izaak, Bre's husband, is steadily knocking out classes in his master's program and will shortly complete his Masters. I can't remember the exact title...I know it has something to do with counseling and drug recovery. 

Nolan is steadily working towards his BA in Business. 

Carrie is beginning her studies to get a BS to go along with her RN licensing. 

Friday - Whew!

We love FRIDAYS! It's not just the pizza and family....it signifies the end of a busy week! Michael is gone at Man Camp...this meant Stacia and I did NOT go to breakfast this Friday morning.  The boys were both working, and I don't leave girls for Dad's morning routine. Once Dad was up and the morning routine finished, Allie took over at home while Stacia and I went out for a LUNCH study. LOL The girls have humored me and worked hard to get two weeks of study done in one week, so they are now on schedule with Bible Babes, a week ahead of our local study. It is such a help for me to talk through the material a couple of times with the girls before going through it on Wed. nights. An added bonus this week was seeing an old friend at the restaurant. 

Michael reports good things from Man Camp where Dave Roever is speaking.  A personal connection is that Dave Roever was brought in to speak at Michael's first military assignment and at his last military assignment. It's amazing Dave remembered Michael from Beale AFB. Dave (and his wife) has such a powerful testimony. I was sad to hear Brenda has passed away, it brings home the passing of time. 

The chickens are enjoying Michael's care - even while he is gone. They are enjoying some weather in the 30's and 40's. 

It was a lot of WORK to dig down through the snow and clear a bit of ground for them. It's much easier now to reach them with food and water. LOL  I appreciate his work as well. 

We delivered dinner to a lady and her granddaughters who needed a bit of help.  Dad is surviving Shingles in good stead. It hurts and he doesn't understand WHY he hurts until I remind him, he has shingles.  I think he's having a lighter case than many. 

We ended our night relaxing together. 

More Photos from Gherkins

 It's just been a day of monitoring Dad's symptoms, finishing up a quarter of school for Stacia and Allie, chores around here for Michael and I...and Bible study/youth group tonight. 

But look - photos from adult Gherkins! All photos in this post were taken by others.

 Oh, these two darlings! Josiah (BreZaak's) reads a story to Trudy. 

Bre's text with this sweet photo came at the perfect time - a time when I needed a bit of a glimpse of something outside of our walls. LOL 

Jamin stopped by to change out of his realtor clothes into jogging clothes. He's training for some crazy marathon thing again....and was going to run up Lazy Mountain...which he proceeded to do. 

Krista and Luke enjoyed exploring the state from the back of snow machines. 

Reno got to go to work with Krista. 

And, these folks are home, and sharing memories of a place far, far away. This was Danny and Little Buddy's first trip to the beach. I am not sure about Benny. I know it's the first time they've traveled as a family of five. CoRielle spent weeks doing sensory work with Little Buddy and it seems to have really paid off and made this an enjoyable experience for all. 

Danny

Benny, Danny, Little Buddy 

Cory and Arielle 

Arielle and Stacia

His happy place

Sweet Family 

Danny & Stacia 

This little one was so SAD to be back in Alaska. I know the whip lash feeling and can only hope we help him find the joy of being in Alaska again. LOL  He told me he didn't want to leave Hawaii. 

Hawaii has a way of stealing one's heart...in the same was as Alaska, though for different reasons...we are now dreaming of a giant Gherkin Hawaiin trip. It could happen. Not sure which island would be best....their experience was far more rural than ours on waikiki. 

BTW it WAS 34* today and things are starting to melt. We still have 6 feet of snow or so outside. Of course it's packing down now...but there are bare roads. I am hoping it's break up/spring. I usually call it wrong...and old timers will correct me...but maybe it's break up? 

Look Who is Home

 Stacia made it back to the valley around 8:30 or 9:00 this a.m. Millie really IS happy, but she must pout before showing her excitement. 

Allie had arranged her school load, so she had the day off. There were cups of hot drinks, visits, souvenirs....and then...when I had all the "things" done around here, we headed over to the next town. Our library roof collapsed and we've been told they can't simply repair the building. Hoping for plans soon on the way forward, because a community NEEDS a library. ANYWAY, we headed over to the next library where our card is accepted. I had a book on hold that was delivered there. We came away with armloads of books. We usually hit up our local library at least 3 times a week...we don't want to have to drive over so often....BUT before we could find books, we needed to turn our books in. We looked on the way in, at the front desk...no book drop. I finally told them we were refugees from the collapsed library and couldn't find their book drop. She asked if we'd seen the big penguin when we entered.  Ok. 

We got home in time for Allie to head to work. Michael has been busy clearing snow. The snow from our roof falls into the chicken yard. Actually, ON TO the fence and broke it.  It's been quite a climb to get into the chicken yard and then down into the coop....the path in the back was totally gone.... now it's looking civilized again. 

The gate will be able to attach to the near pole and the wall of snow will keep them safe from Millie a bit longer. We'll repair the fence as soon as the snow melts. Michael is also moving snow away from the coop so the girls have a bit more room to free range...they do not like the snow at all. 

Stacia had plans to stay up all day. The afternoon hours got her! LOL Millie was happy to snuggle with her. 

She got up for dinner and went to bed fairly early. She'll be good as new tomorrow. I hope. She and Allie have plans to carry out. LOL 

Grandpa actually says he feels good. I think his case, while nasty looking, is not as bad as others I've heard of. He is on meds which are supposed to lighten the effects of the shingle. He has turned down the Benadryl for itching all afternoon. 

Gherkins Out and About

 While we stay close to home others near and dear to us are out enjoying themselves. Josiah and Jamin went to participate in a high school friend's wedding.  Jared stayed home as Larissa's father and step-mom are visiting.  Krista and Luke were out exploring, I think with snow machines. Look at this sweet photo of our Noah Bear and Larissa out in the Alaska weather.  We had plans to join the fun on Sunday, but alas, shingles. 

📷by Larissa 

Carrie and Livie went to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. This means our outside lights will go dark when the last dog reaches Nome. Spring is on it's way. 

📷by Larissa 

📷by Larissa 

We continue to get little glimpses of Stacia's trip to Hawaii. Early morning walk with Benny. 

📷by Arielle 

Oh.my.heart! He's a little surfer dude! 

📷by Larissa 

And then Monday happens. I had a few baby-sitting gigs with Bre on the calendar that they've opted to change in an abundance of caution. This allowed me time to catch up on some of Dad's paperwork, our bookwork and housework.  Michael DID begin dealing with the wall of packed snow blocking the chicken yard....but I love this photo I caught of him and Grandpa. 

I love Stacia's dedication to Bible study...during the boy's quiet time. 

📷by Stacia

I'll leave you with this glimpse into Allie's day of school. Note where her left hand is. Millie is missing Stacia a lot today. She is going to be so happy to have her tomorrow. 

Our Weekend Adventures

Dad has shingles. This is not fun. Our weekend plans to spend time with babies came to a screeching halt. While Allie and Michael went to church, GG and I drove around trying to find an open urgent care clinic. It seems many urgent cares are now "mostly family practices" and close on the weekends. Huh? 

Millie enjoyed a visit to the groomers, though we need to do a lot of training on how to properly ride in a car. 

I was able to sit and catch up with a friend from our active-duty days. We both served in PWOC leadership (military women's ministry) and met at conferences or such. She now lives in the next town over. 

Michael replaced the kitchen faucet. It was more complicated than expected but it's oh so nice to have it done. 

Allie and I brainstormed an idea that seems to be unexpectedly taking root, we also read books and watched an episode of White Collar. 

How was your weekend?