Friday!!!

I thought my knee felt well enough to run errands. My first stop was counseling. I discovered driving results in pain. I never realized how much knee motion was required to drive. 

I ended up running one errand and leaving the rest. It was a good thing I went home.

Bre and the kids dropped by, can you see what they brought me? A GRINCH nutcracker! I have started picking one up if it signifies something of our year. The year Krista went active duty I found a female in BDUs, one year a gal skiing for Stacia's adventures, one with gingerbread...I love this one. BTW the grinch responded well to love, kindness, community...its not really a story mainly about stealing and hating Christmas.

 Arielle and Benny dropped by so Arielle could help Stacia style her hair. 

Benny went through some training with Millie. It was cute to watch.

In keeping with my enforced resting regime I read another book and Michael made breakfast for dinner.

Stacia Update

Stacia met with a friend and was invited to be one of her bridesmaids. She and Allie will be in two wedding in June...I think one week apart.  It's an exciting season at the Bible College. 

 Stacia is done with this semester! 

She took her last final and scored well. 

There is one class grade she is waiting on, but we are predicting she will continue her 4.0 college streak. Three semesters in a row...and that first year was a doozy of grief, therapy and blech! 

Stacia is on student government this year, enjoying an online friend who is now living in the dorm and taking in person classes, and doing well with grades. She continues to be frustrated about her employment situation...maybe this lesson of living by faith will be a good one for a future missionary. 

Visits of Cheer

These guys dropped by to visit. The boys ran in with a wrapped gift (see Sourdough cookbook above), a chai and some of Cory's coveted Roca. 

"Bachan! We knew you were sad," Danny excitedly shared. 

How can one stay sad with this crew around? 
 

They visited my snack crate, checked in with Papa...and then when Papa left for his appointment, we settled onto the couch to watch "The Star." That's about all the movement I wanted today. 

Mom loved DQ. I didn't feel like going out, but asked Michael to bring DQ home. I thought he'd know immediately WHY - because we don't do DQ. He decided to bring DQ home for the girls and I but opted for Burger King for he and Dad. ::snort:: Instead of Mom's beloved Blizzards we had a bite of ice cream later on. It was a fitting memorial.

I'm debating if I dare get out and try the walking and such to enjoy Colony Christmas. The weather is going to be so much warmer than typical...and I love getting out....but my knee still twinges and outright hurts with some movements. We will see how I'm doing in the a.m. I'm determined to rest and recover.  

GRACE NOTES:

1. Christmas visits from Grands two days in a row! 

2. Stacia is DONE with this semester!

3. Immanual. 

Missing Mom

It's been seven years since Mom lost her battle to cancer  triumphantly finished her well-run earthly race. I miss her.  I found myself lighting an Advent candle she loved, reaching for my journal and my Bible and sitting with memories this morning. 

 There are so many times in this past year when I simply felt a NEED to talk to Mom. She's never had child lost to homicide, or even lost a child, but one feels a mom would be helpful. I feel acutely the loss of an older godly woman in my daily life. I will have to find an older woman and cultivate a relationship with her. 

There are a few things I've typically done to honor her memory at this time of year. I take a meal to someone in need or a widow and I host a Dec 23rd tea for my girls.  I don't think I'll be doing either of these this year, or at least not on "schedule." I'm not quite up to shopping, preparing and delivering a meal today.  The Christmas Eve Eve tea hasn't worked the past couple of years, and I've not even tried for this year. ::snort::  Maybe we'll go to Dairy Queen tonight.  Dad doesn't seem to remember the significance of the day - I don't think I'll remind him.

I still miss mom. 

Blessing of a Knee Injury

 LOOK who came to visit after swim lessons! Bre and the kids dropped by with chai tea for me and hot chocolate for Michael. It was a great visit. The kids were excited to share recent updates with me. Bre and I even managed a chat. They took a couple of library books to the library for me. 

As for this knee thing, the swelling is down, it still twinges if I am getting up or down...and so I spend as much time as possible with it elevated. The ice feels good, though I know it's hardly useful any longer. I am off the Ibuprofen. I can walk around fairly well - just a small limp - going up and down stairs is NOT good at all. We're using this as a trial run to see what we may need to fix or change as we age in place. ::snort:: We HAVE discovered there is not one chair in the living room that is high enough for ease of use if one is suffering knee pain. Mom had adjusted her recliner to sit on a wooden box. I've thought it funny to have it so high, but it's been fantastic this week. 

My knee injury has been a blessing! It's impossible to keep moving and rest and elevate a knee. I think I may have finally crafted a life which doesn't require escapism for self-care. ::snort:: I was able to easily cancel a few appointments and clear a week. I have nothing outside of the house (driving would still hurt with the up and down motion of braking, I think) until Friday's counseling appointment. I have enjoyed visits from those who have stopped by.  I LOVED having the house all to myself on Sunday. I've taken naps. I've finished several books I'd started:

• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
• A Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser
• Experiencing Grief by H. Normal Wright
• Did I Say the Right Thing by Mitch Schultz
• Reread Several Terri Blackstock and a Vera Stanhope book
• and started Unoffendable by Brant Hansen

I've gotten almost all my Christmas shopping done - and we don't do our immediate family gift exchange until Jan 6th - epiphany. I'm also ready for the extended family gift exchange. It's been a blessing.

Stacia had her second final today. She is getting A's in every final and paper at this point. She's most worried about the one coming tomorrow...Alaska History. Names and dates are a challenge and history is NAMES and DATES. LOL 

Nolan came over tonight. We enjoyed Rice Bowls and watched The Grinch...we discovered the word "automatic" on dishwashing gel is an important one indeed. 

I do need to force myself to pay bills rather than luxuriate in my reclining. ::snort:: Find a few moments to REST in the midst of this busy season - it's great for the soul! 

GRACE NOTES

The whole post. 

GREEN December?

 Ah man - it's WARM up here. It's been in the mid 40's. I've not seen this before up here in DECEMBER, but I'm sure old-timers have! LOL  Last year we had 3 or 4 feet of snow on the ground by this time. This year? We had a respectable amount of snow but we've had over a week of temps in the high 30's and 40's....

We need a bit more snow in November to make the sledding run...and I'm glad we didn't because it would be melted by now anyway. Look at this. 

The chickens are enjoying the warmer weather. Several of them started molting late and the warm weather is nicer. No frostbite in sight. 

Michael has been able to finish the bottom steps on the new deck with the warm weather. I think he may put up a temp fence for Millie. The quick electric fence I envisioned morphed into a huge fence around the property and several extensions so that will happen in spring. LOL 

I am starting to fear we will have a muddy Christmas rather than a white one....c'mon snow. 

Icy Days

Thursday morning, we woke to warmer temps and ICE! Of course, this happens every time temps warm enough to melt snow and then FREEZE again. Allie tried numerous times to get out of the driveway. It simply wasn't happening. Note the nose of her car is pointed to the ditch and not the top of the driveway! I began to fear she would take out the fence. She spent the unexpected day at home working on her online courses. 

Michael graveled and sanded our driveway better than the city does the roads. We are all very grateful. We can get out of the driveway with ease...and walk to the cars without sliding. 

And, finally, Allie made it out of the driveway. 

Stacia's Team Won! and more...

 Stacia and Makenani, her friend and fellow classmate, have been preparing for a debate in one of their classes.  You can imagine the angst when they were required to debate "Alaska should NOT have a comprehensive financial plan."  This was not an easy topic to research and Stacia wanted the other side of the debate. 

They won the debate! Yay! Makenani came by for celebratory ice cream and be introduced to the Emperor's New Groove.  Do we know how to celebrate or WHAT? LOL 

Millie, Makenani, Allie and Stacia 

Stacia has a couple of papers to turn in which are in the editing phase and the upcoming week is FINALS WEEK.  We're looking forward to having her around home a bit more for the next few weeks. 

I spent the day putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations. This involved lugging boxes up and down the stairs as I determined to decorate the basement too. I did keep the decor to a minimum this year. 

I did get the tree UP - sorta - but need to trim it. This is my final bit of decoration. I will spare you all the other photos. 

Sunday night edit - Friday, Stacia was home, and I was able to get out of the house and run errands.  I came home and baked sugar cookies and made some truffles...which I planned to take to BreZaak's and decorate and dip and have a tea party with them while Bre went to a tea party. Unfortunately, all the up and down seems to have tweaked my knee. The top of my kneecap is swollen. I woke up in horrible pain Friday night and knew it wasn't going to work to watch 5 kids.  I've spent Saturday and Sunday simply resting, elevating, icing and taking Ibuprofen around the clock. The swelling is going down, I can walk with twinges instead of tear inducing pain.  Ironically, I was able to finish reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer - recommended - as I laid around. I hope to be up a bit more on Monday.  Everyone else went to church today. The girls went on to Anchorage to a Japanese Rice Pounding Festival and Michael and GG went to Carrie's to do some maintenance jobs for her. 

Allie's Next Steps

We've kept Allie's college plans fairly quiet.  This allowed time for her to sit with the plan and be comfortable with it before it was voiced far and wide. Some are sure to have picked up on the fact she is no longer at the local Bible College and is taking online courses.  This allows her to work full-time and save up for the next stage of her college career. (Our commitment to Allie's future remains the same but this program has outstripped our fixed income!) LOL She is also taking every online course she can for her prerequisites to burst through the continuance gate and be able to apply to a specific cohort. This, and living at home, is keeping the cost of her degree down.

Over the course of this semester, it has become apparent she will need 3 cinematic courses she cannot take online. We thought about her taking a semester at UAF...in the end Allie was worried her credits wouldn't be accepted (they DID make her retake a Bible survey class as it wasn't THEIR Bible survey class so there is merit to this concern). 

And so, Allie applied to be a residential student at Liberty University. The goal is for her to take a semester in Virginia, get those pesky cinematic courses completed and be onsite to burst through the continuance gate and apply to the cohort of her dreams. She will then come home for the spring and summer and return after being accepted to start the 2-year cohort - the plan is the fall of 26. 

We were thrilled when this announcement came today.  Allie has prayed and researched various programs. Liberty has an excellent program and once accepted into the cohort she will be working on real-life projects and networking within the industry...as she pursues a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production & Creative Development Storytelling (with an emphasis on screenwriting and directing). 

Anyone who knows Allie will see how this integrates her passions for writing and film and simply FITS with her creative personality and her desire to be a voice to her generation. We are proud of her! We do not feel any of her college steps have been wasted or "mis-stepped." Her first year of online transfers completely. Her second year at Alaska Bible College gave her the confidence she can handle residential college work, allowed her to make some dear friends, earned some transferrable credits, did some hard work in therapy, and she was here when the unthinkable occurred last October. This year is full. Next year will be light and then she'll be fully ready to chase her dream! 

Alter Egos

 We ordered a couple of costumes from Danny and Benny's birthdays. They didn't arrive in November. I really prefer shopping local and cutting down the long waits at the post office in November and December...but alas, somethings are not available locally.  They didn't arrive together; the magician's costume finally arrived today! 

Danny has long been MARIO - with a costume he will soon outgrow. Danny has begun saying he is Luigi...and he makes a darling Luigi. Did you catch the red mustache in the above photo. My heart! He wasn't 100% sure what he thinks of the stuffed belly. 

CoRielle got a set of magician's tricks for Benny's birthday. He has taken great joy in tricking me, displaying his sleight of hand...I decided he needed a magician's costume. He rocks this one and it makesthe tricks just that much better. 

I believe Ellie Rae is getting her first tooth just as Benny lost his first! 

Charles was at therapy, so I didn't get to visit with him. It was great fun to drop in on Arielle and these three. I miss the built-in weekly time I had to connect with the boys and Arielle when I watched them during her staff meetings. 

Another highlight of today was connecting with Brenda at her home for tea and conversation. I love coffee shops, but meeting at a friend's home does lend itself for deeper conversations.  It was a blessing to be able to connect in the midst of this busy season.  There are very few whom you can text in the morning and say, "I'm running errands today may I stop by for tea?" and they say, "YES! Come." 

GRACE NOTE: 
1. Tea and conversation at a dear friend's home. 

2. A moment of connection at  CoRielle's. 

Fun Day with Josi

Livie went sledding with Uncle Jared and Uncle Jamin yesterday afternoon/evening. 

It was a blessing to sit and process this season of seconds, Sunday's sermon and life with Carrie. 

And today.... a full day with Josi girl! Livie had school and Carrie had work. Josi is nearly 10 months old. 

She's learned so many new tricks. She's a busy little girl these days. She crawls, loves her toys, feeds herself AND she goes down for naps like a dream. LOL  

Livie came home briefly but left for a game night at their life group. It was a great mini-vacay with the girls. 

GRACE NOTES: 

1. Time with the family. 

The Long Weekend

 Black Friday and it was -1 degree outside! There is nothing I needed bad enough to go out. I wanted to make myself go out because I wanted to join the girls shopping...but honestly, I wanted more to begin taking down fall decor and to think about Christmas decorations.  

The festive Christmas feeling changed for me the year Mom died on Dec 12th. I just haven't been into it as much as I used to...and I was quite ready to skip all decorations last year and this year...but it seems my family that doesn't really like to decorate DOES like to have it decorated.  THIS year I knew I would be spending Sunday in town with Carrie and the girls and Monday watching Josi and then visiting with Liv when she got home from school....so I needed to make progress Friday and Saturday or it wasn't happening until Tuesday or later....

All that led me to stay home and start taking fall decor down. My goal for the day after Thanksgiving was to get the fall stuff done and the tree up. I didn't make it. I DID get everything DOWN. I cleared a little spot Saturday morning for Dad to eat. ::snort:: 

I missed Black Friday. Not to worry our area has Shop Small Saturday (or some such S's) and the girls were going to do that too. Guess what? It was STILL ridiculously cold to park and walk for hours. Allie and I decided, "No."  I STILL didn't have the fall stuff PACKED nor the tree up. I dreaded putting our big, beautiful tree up. It's TOO BIG for our small living room. It takes over...but we like the lights...I told him I'd like to get a "pencil tree" as it would fit the spot better. Also - quite honestly - I decorate my tree with pictures of the kids through their growing up and it really was quite painful to see one little boy smiling up at me last year. I'm SURE I WANT it up - but it hurt. I thought maybe in the family room where we'll be eating and hosting.  He agreed. My goal on Saturday was the same as Friday "Get the fall stuff packed away, and get the tree up."  

Krista and Stacia met Arielle in town for more outdoor winter shopping. I made plans to meet them at one of my new favorite places, "Sweet Gypsy" for lunch. 

Stacia, Krista, Arielle shopping in negative temps

Stacia came home but Krista, Arielle and I had lunch. Mona, Luke's mom, and sister joined us. It was  great holiday fun! I was ready to head for Wasilla to hunt up a pencil tree and Michael had seen a Black Friday sale on a patio heater he wanted me to pick up. I realized the girls were home studying and GG wouldn't have to come out but maybe Michael would like to. He did. We headed out. We found a pencil tree...it shocked me that a skinnier tree would cost so much money...and then I saw the Grinch tree....and Michael saw the Grinch tree...and it made us giggle. It appealed to us. It fits in the spot. It came with lights and decorations. I got the tree up! 

While Michael put the patio heater together I packed away the fall decorations. I also baked some pizzas which was a good thing as Stacia had a friend over for dinner and studying....

Millie is unsettled and moping around as everything has been moving and changing.....I feel bad for her - though she IS much quieter. 

Sunday morning, I began an advent study. 

We ended up taking 3 cars to church. The girls wanted to come home immediately after lunch. GG ended up driving in with me and home with them. Michael brought the truck and came over to help Carrie clear out Josiah's fishing, snow showing, hiking, guns. We are going to become the family's "Outdoor Rec." Going ice fishing, come check out what you want. Jamin and Jared came to help Michael. I brought the van in as you know I am enjoying my mini-vacation.... afternoon/evening discussion with Carrie, playing with Josi and catching up on blogging while she naps. It IS lovely! I get to do it again in a couple of weeks. I'm a blessed Bachan.  

December? I am trying to figure out how November went so very FAST!!!!

GRACE NOTES:

1. I am loved well by God. My relationship with Him brings me hope - even in the pain. 

2. It is such a blessing to have time with Carrie and the girls!