The One Where I learn I Can No Longer Play Twister

Yep - this is the day I learned I can no longer play Twister. It's time to start some serious stretching routines. LOL 

I was lazing around enjoying my solitary morning when I heard littles ones running up GG's ramp and the doorbell rang. I was expecting them. The boys were here to hang out with me while CoRielle made a Costco run. They arrived before anyone else was up, though their dramatic announcement of their arrival ensured GG was soon up. I set them up with a movie while we got GG through the shower and on to breakfast.  Charles was more interested in helping with GG's blood pressure than the movie. 

Danny enjoyed a bit of toast. 

Benny was happy for a bit of screen time. 

After GG was settled in with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, the boys and I went outside for an hour. Yes, it DID rain a lot today. I need a rainsuit like the boys'. 

Michael had his weekly chiropractic and massage appointment. Stacia is teaching some classmates Japanese and met with them today. I think Allie was having a down day in their room.  Everyone was busy - and I got to play with the boys. 

Our first stop was to feed the chickens and collect eggs. We also walked out to the woods, the meadow and all around the yard. They played on the slide, TRIED to talk me into jumping on the trampoline in the rain, and checked out the garden.

Tossing scratch

Danny and Charles had fun playing in the playhouse. It didn't take me too long to realize they were pretending they were working in a coffee drive through. 

"What can I get you, Bachan?" 

Benny was thrilled to find a worm. Danny was not. Benny ran the worm out to the strawberry bed. 

Everything is so GREEN. I am glad Michael mowed the lawn yesterday. It was ready for the rain today. This is as far back into the woods as we could make it. 

The devil's club is taking over! I don't know what else we can do to try to kill them! 

Michael has suggested turning that dip in the yard into a memorial flower bed.

These two 3-year-olds were not thrilled about going into the wilder parts of the yard....so we didn't go far. 

We came back in and had an impromptu tea party. Hot chocolate for Charles, Danny and Stacia. Chai tea for Benny and me. The boys were happy Stacia had enough time for a quick cup before she ran out the door. 

Stacia and Allie decided to take Millie out to the river. They had a fun time...Stacia ran to counseling and Allie organized dinner. 

We watched a couple of episodes of Scorpion. I worked on dough throughout the day so I can bake a bunch tomorrow. 

We are still up...it's  midnight and the sun just went down. Summers bring their own challenges for some of us. It's far easier to sleep in the winter. LOL 

Beautiful Summer Day (and STOOG)

I could write a beautiful post about putzing in the garden and dinner with several of the kids...but *I* would know it's not authentic. In a bid for authenticity, as I'm allergic to hypocrisy, my counselor says I've tended to allow too much access to my heart to people who are not responsible with that access.  I've been working to find a healthy level of authenticity.  In other words, if someone, who hasn't seen me in months, wants to know my deepest thoughts, I may not share them all. However, if I choose to write a blog, for my own spiritual well-being, I don't want to put a "church face" on it. I'm allergic to church-face.  Figuring out this tension has slowed down my blogging.  My counselor has said that my authenticity has most likely been helpful to others, but I need to be looking in this season to what is helpful for ME....me, me, me.... I struggle with all the self-focus. 

The truth is while I can show the fun photos, today was a day fraught with STOOG (Sudden Temporary Onslaught of Grief). Look at the things I'm learning this year. ::snort:: This is a helpful little word as it describes a condition with which I am becoming familiar. Pull up behind a red 4-Runner - STOOG. Decide to have a fire tonight - STOOG.  Oddly, hear his greeting entering the house - STOOG.  It seems a host of new memories arrive with each changing season...always changing, always the same. I had hoped this was a "first year" phenomenon, but I'm hearing from some who lost their loved one years ago that this continues. 

I woke with one of those dreams of which I don't give details. The awareness that Josiah is gone. The sucker punch as I realize all we lost and all we miss...and tears flow. Michael sleeps. GG eats and reads. The girls sleep. I head to the garden. 

The seeds, plants and weeds are not uncomfortable with STOOG. I am so happy the kids prepped the garden. It's a ton of work but it's a safe place to be and feel and remember and grieve. 

See those cucumber starts? They are my future pickling cukes. They'll go into the hoop house which may be ready for use on Thursday. Would YOU up-plant them to bigger containers or plant these little starts right into the soil in the hoop house? 

Since the peas and lone bean, we planted are doing well, I planted the rest of the row down the trellis with beans. I planted carrots along the outside edges of the bed. The greenhouse sides are placed over the seeds to keep the birds away, provide the greenhouse effect and speed things up. I remove them when the seeds sprout. 

Obviously, the weed barrier I tried the past years has been ineffective. This grass is horrible. I cleared out a bed that looked like this - forgot to take its photo and then realized I had another like it.LOL 

Look at the difference between the two beds. I planted beets, covered them as I did the previous bed, and I planted ONE zucchini in the corner of the bed. NEVER again will this family be force-fed 90 zucchini a day... Day after day after day. 

I took care of the chick weed in these two beds. This could be a daily chore. I am considering straw between the plants. Some think it's a waste of time. What say you?  I thought it would hold moisture in and may keep weeds down? 

If we were eating dinner at home, I would harvest some of the asparagus....I've been collecting boxes. This baptistry/garden bed has been used for compost. Weeds are taking over. I covered with boxes for now. I was envisioning branches and such in the bed....then covered with topsoil and some flowers or lettuce this year. We'll see what I end up doing. 

Dreaming of flowers 

I planted bush beans in the greenhouse and will see if the beans do better outside or inside. It seems most things grow best under cover in Alaska. My last garden job of the day was to wash all these containers, so they are ready for future use. 

At some point Michael came out and began mowing.  This involves the push mower, riding mower, and if we're doing it "right," the weed eater. It's a job. 

The chickens love mowing day. We give them lots of grass clippings to sort through. We really want to move them for a bit and reseed their yard. 

Michael was still mowing when it was time for us to go to dinner. Krista and Nolan meet at various places on Tuesday night. When we can, we join them. Jamin has joined them, as well as Carrie, a time or two. It's fun and casual. Krista is jetting off to Hawaii, Guam and Hawaii for the next bit of time, so I really wanted to be sure to make it tonight. Michael opted out as he was determined to finish the yard because rain is predicted tomorrow. 

Nolan and Krista

Some weeks we head to Anchorage or Eagle River. It's been fun to try new places, but tonight we were in our very own philly place. The girls have had a class on Tuesday night, and it was fun to have them join us. 

Allie, me, Stacia

Allie and Stacia went out for a quick ride when we got home. The sun is up until nearly midnight...long, long days. 

Stacia and Allie 

This has been a beautiful summer day. I feel good that we got projects done before the predicted rain and we took time to play as well.  And, yes, there were more tears than the "norm," but that in itself is also normal these days. LOL 

Happy Birthday, Krista!

The day began with lots of tears and ended with lots of smiles!  That's our norm in this season. 😏

Today is Krista's birthday. We knew she was coming over in the afternoon to interview Michael for her doctoral thesis, or maybe it's a dissertation. Y'all she's going to be a DOCTOR in October!  

Stacia planned to have two friends over for an art day. One ended up getting ill, but they'll try to meet up again with her, and Stacia, Allie and Lorelai had a fun afternoon. 

KrUke's kids came out with Krista. They rode bikes, jumped on the trampoline, hung out.  When the girls were free, they took them out to the bike trail by our house and they all enjoyed a nice long ride. 

Krista ran the kids to Elwood's for a Dole Whip and took them home as they didn't want to top the day off with a meal out. We all met her and Luke's parents at Red Robin in Wasilla. 

Krista moved up here after she finished her Master's degree in VA. It has been such a blessing to have her here. I learn to be intentional in my relationships from Krista. She always has fun plans and ideas to pull us all together.  She sticks with those who are bristly, and I have seen her sit with those who want to simply sit, while running marathons with those who function better with activity. She is a unique gift-giver; the best gift-giver really. She's constantly dropping things off for me to deliver to various neices and nephews. On top of the fun and joy - Michael loves to sit and chat ministry/chaplaincy things with her.  He has really enjoyed being her editor for papers and such these past few years. Krista blesses our hearts in so many ways. We are prepping our hearts for their pcs in 2025. 

Krista and Mona, her Mother in Law

This is her first birthday since losing her childhood partner in crime,  adventurous  misbehavior,  adventures. Krista and Josiah were 18 months apart. She was petite, he was quite large for his age as a baby/toddler...for years people thought they were twins.  They had a tight bond as children, one which they maintained and were growing since she moved up to Alaska.   We are thankful she is nearby, and we could spend the afternoon/evening with her.  We also loved the chance to spend more time with Mark and Mona!

Mark and Michael 

...and how can you go wrong with never-ending fries???? Check out GG's beard...he is starting to LOOK ALASKAN! 

These two have been busy enjoying their college break. They've both got resume's together and plan to enter the job market shortly. 

Stacia and Allie 

Happy Birthday, Krista! We were happy to spend the afternoon with you. I just realized you won't be home for the family gathering this month which celebrates your birthday! This makes me even happier we had tonight with you. 

We LOVE Sundays

 The week was busy. I know Michael usually has 2 or 3 "early days" and then he crashes. I was surprised he didn't have a crash day during the week, but this morning was a big crash day! His alarm went off. He didn't get up. I waited 10 minutes; I couldn't budge him. I waited another 10 minutes, and we were at the point he had 20 min to get up and ready before we had to leave...he stayed home.  He was still sleeping when we got home at 2:30 p.m.....and stayed there until nearly 4. I am hopeful this is just what his body needed. 

I loaded up GG and the girls and we headed to Eagle River for church. We've started a new series on calling and it promises to be great. You can watch Pastor Brian kick off the series here.  You are called! Am I spending more time developing what I am instead of who I am? Am I willing to accept the cost of walking in my calling? Disentangle purpose from calling. Purpose - who you are meant to be; Calling - what you are meant to do.  God calls us to SURRENDER to Jesus and to PARTICIPATE in His redemptive work in the world. Prepare for your calling. Character always precedes calling; calling comes with cost; character allows you to pay the cost of calling.  

It was a "small" day for our family at church...I only needed to save 11 seats...I've had to save 20+ some weeks. GG was a bit disgruntled, "Why do you move further back each week?" ::snort:: A few weeks ago, we DID begin moving from our 2nd row seats as our babies are more alert. HOWEVER - big day today - both Josi (CyRi) and Noah (JaRissa) enjoyed a service in the nursery! Maybe we'll please GG and move forward again. LOL 

After service our group and Carrie and the girls went out for lunch. JaRissa and KrUke went out to put up campaign signs.  We laughed when we exited the restaurant and found a big sign up. 

Photo via Krista 

Luke & Jared - Photo via Krista

Liv showcases the sign - photo via Krista 

Earlier in the week Carrie had given Luke Josiah's bike. It's a bike made for a tall guy. It made her happy to think of someone Josiah loved enjoying the bike. Krista sent this photo of their trial run with the new bike. 

Kaelyn, Rylin and Luke - photo via Krista 

Jamin and Jenni were out enjoying Alaska on a zipline. They stopped by for a couple of hours. GG went to bed. 

Allie and I had discovered a series called Scorpion.  We introduced it to Stacia and enjoyed a couple of episodes and then called it a day. Oh, yeah, there was Sunday night ice cream in there somewhere. LOL 

A Rainy Saturday with Friends

There have been dear families we've met over our years in ministry. The F family is one such family. We enjoyed attending church together, we've had them over and they've valiantly tried to have us over.  We always have a great time when we pull it off.  

There are many blessings in our current season, we thoroughly love ACF, but this has been a season of compounded losses. One of the losses we have grieved is the loss of most of the community we had built over the past 7 years. We no longer automatically see most on a weekly basis, which naturally results in a loss of community. All that to say these invitations mean much. 

We had planned to go over at Passover...we have rescheduled SIX times...until today NO ONE WAS ILL, and we actually got together. Rebekah and I have enjoyed many laughs over the constant rescheduling.  We pulled up and Morgan began jumping up and down. 

Oh.my.heart. I can't tell you how good it was to get my arms around this girl. 

These two are precious. Morgan ran and got Michael a Dandelion for his hair - and he wore it - while he chatted with Jason as he BBQ burgers and dogs. 

These guys played an amazing game of tag in the RAIN...the harder it rained, the faster they ran! 

Jon, Andrew, Leah, Allie & Stacia

Jason, Rebekah, Michael and I caught up while the kids also caught up, played tag, games and made music.  We ended our time together with a rousing rendition of "The Belly of the Whale" by all the F kids.  Alas and alack once again - not one photo of many of us...I threw off myblogging groove and am getting back into it. LOL 

We have had a busy week and spending the afternoon with this sweet family was a great end to the week. We are now going to complete our day of rest with hot drinks, blankets, books and/or Britt Box and REST...

And this blogging thing...I had hoped to catch up May by the end of this week - but we've had a busy week. I count it as a success to have kept up with blogging this week....expect random back posts from time to time over the next weeks. 

Super Full Friday

Another morning when I had to be sure to get Michael up and at it and GG up, showered and fed by a set time! LOL  

I'll throw in a quick medical update for Michael, he has had more follow up labs. We are expecting results and new medications any day.  

Stacia spent the night at Carrie's last night and will spend the day with Liv and Josi today. 

My cousin, Darla, IS IN TOWN! What? Darla lives in Luisanna. I've not seen her since Gram's funeral though we've kept in touch via Facebook. Dennis and Darla have been on quite an amazing trip....up the west coast on a train, cruising to AK, busses to Denali, cruising to Canada and then on to the train again and closing the circle on their way home. So often people go on an Alaskan cruise and think we'll be able to meet up with them...but y'all Alaska is a BIG state and there are parts where most cruise that would take us DAYS (and current passports) to meet up. It's always a bonus when people take Alaskan cruises which go into Whittier or Seward...a few hours from us.  We were excited to know Dennis and Darla would be in Anchorage for a day before heading to Whittier to catch the cruise ship. 

We stopped by Carrie's and dropped Allie off to spend some time with Stacia and the girls. It's a good thing we did as Allie was the only one who thought to take any pictures all day long. LOL  The four girls and Willow headed out to walk to Liv's new school. 

Enjoying nature

Josi will be 4 months in a week 

I LOVE to see this bond developing! 

Michael, Dad and I went to lunch with Dennis and Darla and spent some time catching up. We headed to the Alaska Fur Exchange as there were some souvenir items and artwork Dennis wanted to find and this was the recommended location to shop by others on their tour.  I was impressed with the wooly mammoth tusks...

I am kicking myself for not getting a photo of all of us.  Our next stop was Earthquake Park. We dropped Darla and Dennis off at the Captain Cook Hotel and went to pick up Allie. 

We pulled into our driveway and noted Cory was around somewhere. We couldn't find him; we could hear Danny's voice...they brought over some starts and came back to help plant them. Cory and Michael put up a trellis in one of the gardens. They decided NOT to use the wooden trellis' we brought from Carrie's after all.  Danny took helping very seriously - again I must remember to take photos! He watered the beds I've planted. He cleaned out pots I wanted to up-plant some of Cory's starts into. He helped me plant a couple and then was off and running. 

Allie ran and got Lady, BreZaak's dog, and took her on a walk to the river. 

We finished our lunches for dinner...

We were surprised to discover while putting GG to bed he hadn't realized who Dennis and Darla was. I had told him we were meeting up with his niece today.  It was sad he wasn't 100% sure even after we reminded him of the connection....Mom's brother's daughter from Luisana and her husband...

I spent a few hours with my heating pad....and we watched a couple more episodes of Young Sheldon. Stacia got home about 9 p.m.  It was a good day. 

Busy @ Carrie's

The highlight of today was helping Carrie get some projects done at her home. Cory and us 5 congregated on their home with tools and truck. The first order of the day was moving a patio table and treadmill from her garage to more useful locations. We met their neighbor, Tyler, who also attends ACF church. He came over and helped move the treadmill up the stairs...this allowed Michael's bad back to avoid lifting. 

To be honest, Michael didn't feel he needed help. Cory and I overruled him...and in the end Cory admitted it was heavy and he was glad Michael didn't tax his back. 

While Cory and Michael put together the table and the treadmill, the girls and I moved piles of "stuff" previously collected in the yard to the driveway. Carrie's Dad came and he and Jamin loaded the truck. Jerry, Carrie's Dad, took 2 loads to the dump. When Josiah and Carrie bought the house, the previous owners per agreement left a variety of things to dispose. They were gardeners, Carrie is not. 

Even Josi came out and enjoyed the fresh air and activity. 

It was quite a process watching Cory and Michael move a glider into Josi's room and the treadmill into Carrie's room. LOL  I am always amazed how things usually CAN fit around corners when one is motivated.  

We also went through a shed with Carrie and brought some of Josiah's outdoor gear to our home where everyone will be able to borrow it as they would like. While the guys put things together and loaded the truck for the dump, the girls visited with Liv and snuggled with Josi. I missed photos. 

GG and Josi

We ended up benefitting from the previous gardeners. We brought home a compost thingy (looks like a big bingo pot), couple trellis', Josiah's outdoor equipment, greenhouse siding, canning supplies, and LOTS of cardboard! 

Stacia spent the night in town so she can be with Josi and Liv tomorrow. Allie, GG and I headed home to finish dinner and meet Jenni. Jamin had to get back to work.  Michael and Cory loaded up the truck, drove home and unloaded the truck. 

It was a gorgeous day today! The skies were striking this morning as I sipped my cuppa chai in the garden. In the morning. Before any work. It doesn't happen if I wait. LOL Look how GREEN everything has recently gotten. 

I knew the day was going to be busy and didn't plan to spend time in the garden today but sitting out there led to weeding the strawberries, finding a couple more spears of asparagus and a strawberry, and planting 3 tomato plants and some sugar snap peas.  There is something to the "relaxing in the garden" theory. 

Do you wonder what we are going to do with our new gardening finds? The trellis' will go right into garden beds. The cardboard is going to be placed in the garden walkways and covered with mulch. Michael plans to take the greenhouse siding and make little covers for several beds to extend our growing season. CoRielle may take the composty thing...if not it will be good for mixing our own soil amendments in future years. 

We enjoyed dinner and an episode of All Creatures Great and Small with Jenni.  

Michael began drawing up deck plans. It's become apparent I am challenged when picturing blueprints.  I need to go outside with a measuring tape, rope and cardboard to lay things out. LOL 

Allie, Michael and I found something to watch on Netflix after GG went to bed. 

It was a good, productive, beautiful, long day...mixed with moments of longing and missing Josiah...just about where we should be at this point of our new journey.