Random Glimpses of October

I keep trying to PLANT a pumpkin patch the kids could wander through...with cider and hot chocolate...and the pumpkins simply don't grow in my garden. I mean I hear of thousand-pound pumpkins but I am SURE those are grown in a greenhouse. Bre made me laugh when she said she took the kids to the pumpkin patch today. Maybe I should just give up and buy a bunch and place them in the garden for the kids to find next year. LOL 

Josi makes a courageous and cute lion! 

Our weather can be fickle - freezing and thawing and freezing again. This can result in fun icicles mostly in the spring but sometimes in the fall too. 

These two try to get together weekly when Krista is in town. One day they went out on the ATVs. 

Michael finished the stairs from the top deck to the bottom deck.

Jared put in an amazing amount of time knocking on doors and chatting with voters in his district. I hesitate to say a number and get it wrong - politics being what it is - but I know it was in the double digit thousands of visits he made.  Here is a shot from a local "debate." We are proud of the race he ran, sad he didn't win...but proud, nonetheless. 

First Snow - Oct 10th

Annie and Lady 

Note - any phone without a "courageous joy" on it was taken by one of the kids. 

Busy Weekend

I slept over at Carrie's on Friday night. This put me in place to be able to hang out with the girls on Saturday while Carrie worked. Ellie, one of their cousins, slept over as well. Josi was up way before Livie and Ellie.  Josi has learned many new tricks since the last time I watched her. She can hold her own bottle, sits alone, enjoys her toys, talks non-stop, scoots around the living room...we had fun. 

Uncle Jared stopped by as he was out knocking on doors. 

The electrician came over Saturday and put in the boxes and hooked everything up. We still need completed railings and steps on the deck...but it's getting closer. Michael had the hot tub full of water and heating...it will be nice to have electricity outside. 

Jamin came over after church to help us figure out all the chemicals and the app for monitoring levels of this and that. It was NOT that long ago Michael, and I were showing our parents how to use computers et al... how quickly the tables turn! We were glad to have Jamin show us the wifi booster and app. Larissa routinely helps us with our IT needs. 

I was TRYING to follow it all!

Jamin & Michael 

Stacia and Allie

Carrie and the girls @Trunk or Treat @ ACF.

Liv as a Stanley Cup 📷by Carrie

Today is Larissa's birthday! What a blessing she is to all of us! She, Jared and Noah also went to Trunk or Treat. 

Noah & the Chick Fil A Crew 📷by Larissa

Noah and Jared📷by Larissa

Jared, Larissa & Noah 📷by Larissa

📷by Larissa

Yes, we DID enjoy the hot tub...crisp 21*, shooting stars and WARMTH. 

GRACE NOTES:

1. Time with the girls...

2. Church. 

3. Hot tub.  

A Fun Friday

The girls and I went out and scattered some RANDOM kindness around our town this morning. Neither had had time yet...and I realized most of what we'd done was targeted. It would be nice to just fling things out there for whoever....We didn't have the emotional energy to risk having to tell the story over and over and so we hit on parking lots. Yes, I will add a QR code with the story to the card by next year. While I went into the lawyers Stacia hit the Papa Murphy parking lot. We headed over to the Urgent Care next and finished at Bishop's Attic. That was my favorite - we left gift cards on every windshield.

We ran out of packets and headed home. Allie was ready for a study break, so we grabbed all the other made-up packets and headed out again. This time we went to the library and parking lot of the Old Alaska Club. 

This was a great pick me up. It was fun to give things to targeted people too. Stacia shared how this was something Josiah would have loved to do with us...and we could imagine his voice and comments. We dubbed ourselves the Kindness Bandits. 

In other events...Krista came over and spent the day yesterday. We did a fair amount of visiting while practicing "art therapy." Michael wanted to move the hot tub...we all tried to help him. It was frozen. Finally he rigged up chains, levers, pullies and he and Krista got it moved. 

Ellie turned 7 months old....

The electrician arrived and put cable in the trench Michael had dug. He didn't put boxes or plugs deckside yet - but it's coming. 

"Bright" and early this morning I heard Cory outside. He came to fill in the electrical trench. I didn't realize the boys were here until I went outside to let the chickens out. This is Clancy (or Gimpy) our pet chicken. She's walking much better, but the others have rejected her. She isn't fast enough to escape them. 

They came inside for some orange juice and toast....and a visit with me and Millie. 

I'm heading into Eagle River for a sleep over with Carrie and the girls. I'll hang out with the girls tomorrow while Carrie works. 

GRACE NOTES:

1. Time with Allie and Stacia. 

2. Cory's young back and kind heart.  

Super Fly Cy the Chick Fil A Guy

 Anyone who knew Josiah knew he loved Chick Fil A. Chick Fil A was the first job he had. He learned great management skills at the company, he mentored many, and developed into the leader and man he would be as he worked at Chick Fil A.  He moved from TX to Seattle, WA to be part of the start up there. One of his biggest disappointments was not making it into being an Owner/Operator for Chick Fil A. BUT - if he had he would never have moved to Alaska, met Carrie and Livie and we wouldn't have had the wonderful opportunity of living in the same location!!!! God knew. 

Alaska, in fact, seemed to be the one thing he loved more than the dream of Chick Fil A back in 2016.  As we put together candy packets last Saturday someone mentioned (Larissa?, Jamin?) that it was too bad we couldn't find a way to give away Chick Fil A sandwiches in Josiah's honor this week. I agreed. Then I had a lightbulb moment. 

Our boys and our friends 2 boys became best buds back in San Angelo, TX. In fact, Debbie called them the Fab 5. When we moved and left Josiah and Jamin behind, Debbie and Steve were pivotal in providing "family" for the boys. Josiah was older than Steven and Michel, but he always reached out to them and loved spending time with them. When Michel was a junior, Josiah convinced him to work at the store he managed. Years went on, Michael became an owner operator of Chick Fil A. He currently owns a Chick Fil A in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Fab 5 continued to meet even after they all began moving from San Angelo. There were trips to FL, HI, AK...weddings... there are better photos - but here's one I can easily put my hands on.  This was taken when the boys and Steve and Debbie came up for Josiah's wedding. 

Steven, Michel, Jared, Josiah, Jamin 

It was a natural to reach out to Michel. I was so glad the idea was mentioned. I contacted Michel and Alyse, and they were on board.  They went in on it with us and we catered a mentoring workshop for teens. How perfect is THAT in Josiah's memory?  Here is Michel sharing a bit last night. 

They passed out the chicken sandwiches and a copy of the card Larissa created for us to use with our acts of kindness. 

Alyse & Michel

They sent a darling photo which is precious to me of them and their 8 kids in flannel each holding a photo card.  We won't post the photo of the kids online - I'm not sure the adoption is final.  In the past year I've heard many stories of young men (mostly) sharing how Josiah mentored them at a time when they felt pretty low and then got them a job...at Chick Fil A, Walmart, and his final employer.  Mentoring was a core value for Josiah. 

If any of you are ever in the Chick Fil A in Little Rock - stop by and tell them we sent you. ::wink:: 

GRACE NOTES: 

1. Friends that remember and love Josiah. 

2. More art therapy with Krista. 

That First Anniversary

 Honestly, we made the best of it we could, put the best face on it possible, but Oct 23rd is going to be our least favorite day of the year. I'm thankful to have this first anniversary in the rear-view mirror. This day could generate about 6 blog posts and I'm not sure how I'm going to divide it all up. Let's see...

We ALL had a hard time sleeping on Tuesday night.   Early on Wednesday the doorbell rang. Walmart delivery. Someone had sent us an assortment of juices, blueberry muffins and apple fritters (Josiah's favorite).  It wasn't long before 10 smoothie bowls from a local spot were also delivered. The texts, emails, breakfast items were totally unexpected. You all are the best. 

Since I was up before the sun - not a hard thing this time of year - I decided to head over to the cemetery. I knew the day would be bustling and I knew I needed some quiet time. It began to snow as I drove up...I was not deterred. I sat on my blanket beside Josiah's grave, in the snow and waited for a spectacular sunrise. Um...what a dud! I guess you don't get spectacular sunrises when it's snowing?  It was so foggy the big mountains disappeared. 

The glass vase had frozen. The red flowers had to be retrieved again. I chased them into the neighbor's yard... I briefly thought how nice it would be when Josiah's memorial stone finally arrived. 

I did enjoy processing in the snow with a nice big mug of tea! 

I knew others would be arriving at our house and so I went home. I thought GG would be up and have had breakfast. It was after 10 a.m. I got home to a quiet house. Allie was gone. She had gone to the cemetery to find me. We passed each other. I got GG up and fed.   Krista and Nolan each stopped at the cemetery and then arrived at our house. 

Krista brought "art therapy." I have failed at "Lego therapy" but today she had a bit of everything for everyone. Michael got up and delivered packets to the police department and chiropractor's office. Stacia got up and visited the cemetery. Arielle arrived with coloring pages. 

Bre and the kids passed out packets at the local pool, a carwash and a parking lot. Arielle and kids covered story hour at the Train Depot. 

Bella, Jojo, Trudy, Annie, Gideon 📷by Bre

📷by Bre

Meanwhile Stacia received a surprise at the cemetery. She noted all the things were pushed aside. There were two people hovering over Josiah's space. She was ready to deal with this indignity...and then she discovered they were installing Josiah's memorial stone. She texted and Michael and I went out to see it. 

We were honored when Carrie asked us to do the research on which cemetery to use, she asked only it be in our town and have a view of Pioneer Peak.  When I narrowed it down, Michael, Carrie and I met with the employees and selected a space. Then we drove into Anchorage and collaborated on the memorial stone we'd like. We wanted it to tell a bit of the story of who Josiah was and how he lived.  I think we succeeded. 

The vase means my times of chasing flowers across the gardens will most likely be far less often.  It has all the typical features...but it has a heart shape in honor of Liv, "Super Fly Cy" as that was a name Josiah always joked about being known by and a name he convinced Livie to call him, the photo is great, the etching is from a photo of him fishing.... and the verse...I think we got it all on there. Michael is still shaking his head and how much Carrie, and I managed to fit onto the stone. LOL 

We let Carrie, and others, know the stone was in so they wouldn't be surprised as Stacia was. We hadn't been told it had arrived. I think they noted the date and made it happen. What a nice surprise on a hard day.  The visiting continued at the house....Carrie and the girls stopped at the cemetery and then came to the house. 

Josi and Liv 

📷by Carrie

Josiah's Girls 📷by Carrie

They just got home from their Florida adventures, and it was so good to see them. 

Bachan and Ellie

Arielle had come over solo in the morning. Cory arrived with the boys about the time Carrie and the girls arrived. 

Danny, Josi and Arielle

Allie, Stacia and Livie had the first snowball fight of the season. 

Charles, Danny & Papa

Jared and Jamin arrived. We had sandwiches, visited and were just together. Some went on walks. Bre arrived and then took kids to AWANA and then came back for another bit. 

Carrie, Jamin, Arielle, Cory, Jared and kids 

Jamin & Ellie

Jared & Josi - 📷by Carrie

During this time Jared received word from the Regional Directory of Josiah's previous employer. He sent a copy of the letter he sent to associates telling them they could wear jeans and flannel to work on the 23rd and that they were giving everyone the day off after 4 p.m. He also said some very nice things about Josiah and shared a slide announcing the renaming of the conference room at their regional office. 

It was a good day. I was deeply touched by how many have offered acts of kindness in Josiah's memory, how many reached out to say they were touched by Josiah's life and miss him still. 

We didn't share memories or talk about Josiah a lot today...we simply were together as we walked through another difficult day. A couple of us prefer processing solo and that was o.k. too!  It was hard good. 

GRACE NOTES:

1. We are still standing one year later. 

2. Having so many in one place was a blessing this year.