Josiah and Carrie's Gender Reveal

 Keeping this secret has been so hard! CyRi will do a big reveal while were dip netting in a couple of weeks...but I can now share we got together earlier this week for a gender reveal! Blue or Pink - which will it be? 

Several showed up to represent either team blue or pink. Carrie, wisely dressed in both colors! LOL  We DO have a lot of little boy gherkins running around...pink would be so sweet....but we're thrilled with either. 

Danny and Charles are solidly team blue! 

The moment of truth!

Liv, Carrie, Josiah

Yes! Look at all the pink! Liv couldn't be happier to be a big Sister, and Josiah and Carrie are an awesome girl mom and dad. 

Jamin brought a new yard Jenga set. 

Livie...big sister in waiting

Growing a Girl Tribe

I puttered around all day...I have a baby tomato out in the greenhouse, the young chicks keep going in with the big girls - and it's not a happy place. This means I run outside at random times throughout the day to rescue hens which don't realize they need rescuing. That'll preach.  I simmered chicken broth (and faked out all in the family who thought I was cooking something wonderful), I cleaned...just putzed around. 

Stacia ran up to the Butte with Jenni and Millie. Millie enjoyed getting out. 

Women's Bible study, Life Group and Men's Ministry are taking the month of July off (maybe into mid- August). HOWEVER, youth group is still meeting. Several of our youth moms drive quite a distance (which is why we moved Ladies study to Wed nights) and we decided we wanted to hang out anyway. I don't have one photo! I don't know how those famous you tube channel creators run around with a huge video camera and mic on their shoulder out in public. LOL  

Imagine a corner booth in a 24-hour local diner (the only one in our town) four of us laughing and connecting. Two mid 30-year-olds (Melany and Krista), a late 50-year-old (me, I can say that for another year) and Joann - well I wouldn't hazard a guess but she's the wisdom in our midst. It was a sweet time. The highlight of my day. I've been praying for "all the ages." Friends a bit older than me and friends younger than me....and it's happening! Michael (and I) always says everyone needs a Paul to be investing in them and a Timothy to invest in....and it's a happy place to see this type of community growing here...it just took longer in civilian soil than it does in missionary or military soil. LOL 

My "love tank is full" as Twyla, a friend from our time in Japan, used to say. I spent hours with Jenni on Monday, family on Tuesday and these gals on Wednesday...Lindsey mentioned the girl tribe before she moved. I've been thinking about the phrase. I love the #girltribe God is building as we linger in Alaska. No, I have not felt the urge to move yet. ::snort::

Bre sent these photos of milestones in their home! Today's photos happen to be all girls - in keeping with the #girltribe theme.  Bella has been sending us updates on this tooth for some time now. It's out! Isn't this a sweet 7-year-old smile? 

 

Trudy, 7 1/2 months old, started eating "solids" today. Lady thinks maybe she'd like to share. LOL 

And Annie, this girl not only beats Grandma at Memory but today she beat MAMA!!!! She's got quite a memory. Her 4-year-old sparkle brightens up even an Alaskan rainy summer day! LOL 

Yes, it is a rainy day. I'm learning to embrace this year's odd rhythm. A sunny day to RUN, WORK, PLAY in and then a few rainy days to putz around in and sip and read...it's good. Allie says these are "gorgeous perfect days." I'm not THERE yet. I think 80 degrees is more in the gorgeous, perfect range...but 70's are delightful and the rhythm is fun. LOL 

4th of July 2023

 Our monthly family celebration occurs at dip netting in July...but everyone has had such lovely long weekend... many ended up congregating out here on the 4th! We are always happy to have Gherkins come home.  Bre and Larissa have been under the weather, so their families didn't make it.  We gave Krista and Luke a pass - with all the traveling she's been doing they simply need to relax - together. LOL 

The rest of us had the traditional 4th of July pizza...and I forgot to pull out the watermelon and deviled eggs. Ah well.... we were together. We played, we visited, we laughed and maybe there were a few tears. 

LOVE this photo of Danny (2) and Cory 

Watch out for brothers in a car! 

Krista felt Allie needed a Japanese doll (the other girls all have one) and so she brought one back for her from Tokyo. 

Jamin brought yard Jenga. It was GREAT fun and will be added to our yard collection - probably before dip netting. We think we'll simply have Michael cut them out and we'll skip the colors as they are already chipping. 

Cory

Go Livie! 

Liv and Nolan 

Which next?

Not sure who toppled them -  I took the photo so it wasn't me. LOL 

Stacia

Check out Arielle watching from the trampoline. I think she was more nervous than Benny. 

This may have been about the time I got bonked in the head by a tower of Jenga blocks. BUT I got the photo! 

Stacia and Livie went for a walk and found wildflowers for our table. They fit well with the red, white and blue theme of July 4th. 

Uncle Cy stays close while Little Buddy drives. We can all understand Danny and Little Buddy's hilarious interactions now that they are using English words.  Little Buddy isn't always able to get the car to turn 100% of the time...so he'll use voice commands....which Danny is pretty sure isn't the way things are done.

Danny, riding in the bike trailer earlier in the day exhibited his knowledge of prayer. Eyes closed, hands clasped, "No die. Please, no die."  I absolutely LOVE the 2 and 3 yo stage! And 4...

It was a fun afternoon. We spent some time figuring out Dip netting...who is going, who will cook a meal, how many vehicles we'll need and such.  This year we'll have a parking permit and won't have to deal with the city craziness.....we hope. We don't want our limits this year...but everyone wants some...and more than anything we enjoy being together. 

Tea and Shed Raising

I got Dad up and through his morning routine. I left him with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The rest of the house wasn't stirring when I left for tea with Jenni. There are times when you invite someone to tea and wonder, "Will we find anything to talk about?" That was not a problem today. I had never been inside Jenni's home, so we opted to meet there. Her home is peaceful and darling. We talked...and when it seemed the visit was winding down, we got into deeper topics of being an MK, a TCK, and searching for community. We had no problem filling an hour and, in fact, it was 2 p.m. when I realized I had better head home and make sure everyone else eventually got up. LOL The picture below is not taken while sipping tea at Jenni's. Keep reading. 

Two generations of MK's (Missionary Kids)

I arrived home to find Allie and Stacia had received an invite to visit a friend near Houston and were out. Michael wasn't feeling great. After checking out the new paper, Dad opted for a nap. Dad's papers are mailed and are always a day behind with two on Mondays.

I was lazing around reading a book when the girls got home. Allie headed to work. Stacia and Jenni (see above photo) made plans to go to the church and work on Children's things. Stacia is serving a sort of internship with Jenni, our children's ministry team lead. 

KrUke showed up. I hadn't put two and two together....while she was in Guam the base changed some policies which left them trying to find a place for their storage shed. We agreed they could place it out here...and they had to get that moved today. But FIRST....on their recent trip to San Diego, while visiting gas stations to find cacahuate (peanuts) for me she was given the FIRST 2023 PENNY. She seems to win each year - the others are sure it's because she travels more. Michael exchanges the first penny for 5 silver dollars. From here on out each person who finds a 2023 penny CAN exchange it for a silver dollar from Michael. He's done this for years with the kids...and loves that they still find them...looking forward to grandkids finding pennies...and BTW he jingles when he walks because he carries silver dollars around in case someone finds a penny. LOL  

Cacahuates are a treat she first found in Mexico, and I love them. I can NEVER find them in our Walmarts or gas stations. They are peanuts with a crunchy shell. ANYWAY - she was looking in San Diego (thanks Luke and Kaelyn) and while on the search found the penny too. 

Krista has been flying through Tokyo on her trips to Guam. She came home this time with a variety of Japanese treats from Narita airport. They wrap everything so elegantly for gift-giving in Japan. It was fun to enjoy some old flavors...and for Stacia to try out her kanji reading. 

Krista and Luke dismantled their shed, rented a U-Haul truck and brought the shed and its contents to our home where we set about reconstructing it. Stacia and Jenni showed up and joined in - providing a chance for me to rectify the oversight of not grabbing a photo during tea and proving once again one can never be sure what project they will get involved in when they stop by our house. 

Their stuff doesn't fill up the shed and they've said we can move things into it as well. We are not sure how it will handle winter winds...but we shall see. It appears secure.  

I went in to check on GG and discovered it was 8:40 p.m.  YIKES. I made him a quick dinner of scrambled eggs and toast so he could get to bed. His bedtime is ROUTINELY at 8:30 p.m. Jenni headed home. Krista and Luke headed into town to return the truck and pick up some dinner.  Which is how we found ourselves around the table with KrUke at 10 p.m. LOL 

It was a fun day! 

Sunday Randomness

 Just a bit of Sunday randomness. 

I needed to deliver eggs to two friends/customers. The girls suggested make it a girl date. Yay! I'm always game. Picked up a few things at 3 Bears, delivered eggs, realized all our favorite (and not so favorite) coffee huts were closed.  We visited a place I've heard about Little Millers. LOL 

"Relaxing" with Millie in the hammock....

Michael preached this a.m. from John 8. Now THERE is a story of true freedom and redemption. 

GRAND Photo Dump

Here it is: a GRAND photo dump!  Here are photos to darling to lose...which I have not blogged.  All photos are from adult Gherkins...Larissa, Bre, Josiah and Arielle. Thanks, for supporting my habit, guys! 

Mr. Noah has sprouted his first two teeth! Way to go buddy! 

And with the new teeth came his first solid food eating experience. He seems fairly happy with the experience.  

Jared, Noah (5 months), Larissa 

I sense something good is about to happen! 

Game changer! 

Arielle and Stacia treated themselves to a pedicure! Allie had to work. Getting multiple chairs at this place is tough to do. 

Last weekend Josiah and Jamin came over and gave Michael a hand cutting up a big cottonwood that had fallen during a winter storm. 

Annie is 4 - check out her footware - it's genetic

Uncle Nolan went to the park with Bre and kids. They are now neighbors. 

Jojo is always game for adventure. 

2 years old

Bachan is happy to see he still has curls after his haircut! 

Izaak took advantage of the nice weather to prefect Bella and Gideon's biking skills. They were excited to report they can ride without training wheels. This is a milestone worth documenting for sure. 

Izaak & Bella (7 - really?)

Gideon (6)

Yes, we are enjoying Alaska in the summer - even if we have to dodge more rain than typical this summer. 

Up, Up and Away

 Jamin and Michael went paragliding today. Jamin had tried to talk others into going, but Michael is the only one who took him up on it. It must be said here, by Michael, y'all missed out.

The meet up point was Summit Lake at Hatcher Pass. To launch from Summit Lake requires a walk of 100 feet, and that is it. For those familiar with adventures with Jamin, a "forced march" is required. The winds had been perfect all day long at Summit Lake until 20 minutes before we arrived. At that time, it shifted. The Summit Lake launch point was no longer usable because the winds were now contrary. It is necessary to launch into the wind. Tail winds just do not work for this kind of flying. So, this necessitated a different launch point. The next available launch point was at the end of a death march. It is almost like the winds and the mountains knew.

The "other" launch point turned out to be way up on the side of a mountain with many of the characteristics of the Matterhorn. "It is only a 30–35-minute hike to the other launch point," said our fearless leader," and the pack only weighs about 20 pounds." He lied, he lied and more on this point.

We moved to the other spot, but to my dismay, it required driving way, way back down the mountain. For those in the know, our new parking spot was completely off of the dirt road and further down the mountain to a little dirt parking spot. We got out, and he pointed to an itty-bitty windsock way up the side of the Matterhorn or whatever its real name is. It reminded me of Mt Fuji. I sucked down a bunch of water, hoisted the pack that felt considerably heavier than 20 pounds and set off on our death march to the launch point. Yup, 100-foot walk to death march in mere moments of time - Jamin assured me that this was just an unfortunate occurrence because of the winds shifting, but there are theories out there about this phenomenon. Just sayin'...

In hindsight, do as the veterans do. They each brought a water bottle and a snack. There was good cause for both. I am not sure why I neglected this old bit of wisdom (doing as the veterans do, that is), but it certainly would have been wise to have a snack and water before embarking on a death march.

We began our trek up the Cliffs of Insanity (Jamin's descriptor, not mine) with the high hopes of arriving at the new launch point in the previously predicted 30-35 minutes. We arrived in something more like an hour which for death marches, hikes up the Matterhorn and climbing the Cliffs of Insanity is a rather reasonable amount of time. At our last stop, I watched the video that I, apparently, was supposed to have watched beforehand. It was about how to launch, fly and land a paraglider when flying tandem. All of it was just as I had imagined it to be - no surprises, but I could definitely tell that I was dehydrated and low on energy. I was very glad that the trip down the hill would be far easier than the hike up the hill. 

At the top, Scott hooked Jamin into his harness while Chris and I watched. Jamin had the GO-Pro camera strapped to his helmet. With just a couple of steps, they were floating gracefully through the air. Now, it was my turn. It was surprisingly simple to attach everything. With a short bit of instruction from Chris, we began our run down the hill and in just a few steps, we, too, were off and soaring through the air with a breeze in our face and an amazing landscape sprawling out beneath us. This is flying at its very simplest and most raw. No engine to drown out the sound of the wind. The only controls were two handles dangling down from the canopy. I think about eagles soaring through the air (we did see one way above us), and I can't help but think they have a certain justifiable smugness about their place in the heavens. Sweeping through the air, riding the updrafts from the wind as it pushed its way up the side of that now far smaller mountain, I could sense a faint kindred spirit with the eagle. 

There was a point in the flight when Chris asked if I would like to fly. Well, yes, indeed! it was fairly easy to control. You only had to pull on the handle in the direction you wanted to go and let up a bit on the other one. Oh, Chris also mentioned to not turn toward the mountain - always turn away from it. This sounds like wise words to keep one alive. There were many other paragliders in the air at the time. It was a constant adventure to keep them in sight, and, as in all flying affairs, Chris also mentioned to look before you turn. Also, words to live by. 

It took quite a while for us to get to the top of the mountain whereas Jamin and Scott made it up there rather quickly. I think we found a gravity hot spot where we were flying. No other explanation made sense to me.

After about 30 or more minutes of flying, we watched as Jamin and Scott descended to the LZ, landing zone. It was very near to where we had parked - very convenient and no death march to get back to the truck. In just a few minutes, we were also descending to the LZ. We were still a bit high and needed to bleed off some altitude. Chris had taken the controls back by this time. "Do you want a gentle approach or carnival?" he asked. Naturally, I was curious about the carnival approach. It definitely lived up to its billing. More than that, I was totally unprepared for the kinesthetics of the "carnival approach." Nothing flying regular airplanes prepared me for this part of the flight. Positive to negative to positive g's in seconds with a radical change of momentum mixed in just for fun. Truthfully, the g's were negligible, but that sudden change of momentum nearly got me. I am happy to say that no cookies were tossed at any point of this flight nor at its conclusion, but it did take a few minutes for my head to clear after we landed.

At this point, we undid clips, stepped out of the harness and stuffed the equipment back into their backpacks. Once done, Chris had me carry the other backpack. This one held the actual paragliding canopy; this backpack weighed the aforementioned 20 pounds. The other one held the two harnesses and was far heavier. Now, I know... 

Let me conclude by saying, Jamin, thank you very much. This really was a fun adventure. We will have to look into doing this again in the future - forced marches aside, of course. Well, actually, now that I know which backpack is 20 pounds and which one has the harnesses and that I need to bring water and a snack (and warm gloves), I could brave another death march. Let's see if we can bring some others along...