What do you get when you have an Alaskan child who is deprived of secular Christmas stories?  You get to overhear the following  conversation.

My four year old was looking at a piano book earlier this morning and was on the page with the song Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  She noticed a drawing of Rudolf.  She pointed to his red nose and then with a bit of urgency and concern she asks,

“What happened to the caribou?!?!?!”

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After a short pause she answered her own question.

“Oh, he is blowing a bubble out his nose.”

Image via Wikipedia

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Do you think it is time for me to tell her the story??  LOL  Nah, overhearing these conversations is priceless!

This past weekend the ladies from the church we attend threw a baby shower for the baby and me.  I have had many a baby shower thrown for me and my newborns but this was by far the biggest blessing of them all.  I love these ladies so much!

Everything was perfect!  There was a cute little safari theme with little monkeys,  a dessert made especially for me with my favorite ingredients, and an amazing group of loving ladies to share conversation with!  These ladies are there to share joys and struggles and to offer encouragement.  There were even the adorable little baby gifts!

BUT…….

What I loved most…..

about the day was that this baby shower was not filled with the typical baby shower games.  Those can be fun but that is really all they are.  My friend who organized the shower suggested something completely different.  Instead of playing the usual baby shower games we had a time of group prayer.  I had several prayer requests that I sent to my friend and she shared them with the ladies who attended.  It was so amazing to have such a godly group of ladies praying over me, my newborn son, and the rest of my family!

They prayed for our little Nathan, that he would grow into a strong, godly, young man.  That he would come to know the Lord at an early age and live a life honoring the Lord.  That he would be healthy.  That God would be preparing a godly wife for him even now.  They prayed for me and for my husband as we teach and train him.  That I would be patient even amidst sleepless nights.  That I would have compassion.  That I would not grow weary and that I would rely upon the Lord in the great task of being a parent.  They prayed the same things for my husband as he leads our household.  They prayed for our family with our upcoming move. They prayed for our other children, for our schooling, and for there to be a good relationship cultivated between our newest son and our oldest who has already moved out.

It was such an unbelievably sweet time of prayer!  I do not ever recall people praying for our family in such a way!  It is an amazing blessing that I will always cherish!

I think of all the gifts that we received that day the time of prayer was by far the most special, most desired, and most needed of them all!

As I thank the Lord for my new son and my entire family, I will be thanking him for the church family he has blessed us with.

Thank you Lord for each of those ladies!  Thank you Lord, that we can come before your throne in prayer!

Thank you ladies of Faith PCA Anchorage!  Thank you for showering us with prayer!!!

Today is my husband’s birthday.  He is still in Afghanistan but should be home soon.  I miss him dearly.  I am so anxious for him to finally arrive safe and sound here at home in Alaska!  I am so very thankful for him!

I am so very proud of him too!  We found out a week or so ago that he was selected for major and should hopefully be pinning on his new rank sometime around May. He works so hard and gives so much to others!

I love you darling!  Happy birthday!  See you soon!

View of the mountains in Chugiak…one of these is Bear Mountain…taken close to the post office.

Mountains at Mirror Lake…notice the reflection of the mountains in the water.

Pioneer Peak in Palmer…taken from the parking lot at the Alaska State Fair.

Last week the children and I went with some friends to the Alaska State Fair. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! I am thankful we went. We had so much fun. One of the first stops we made at the fair was the veggie stand. Alaska is known for its giant vegetables and I was expecting some big veggies but WOW!

So I thought that I would share a few photos with you.

This pumpkin set a new record. It weighed in at 1,1o1 pounds!

This cabbage is actually in the photo above too, this is just a close up.  I do not know which cabbage weighed the most this year at the fair but this one weighed in at 93.9 pounds.  That is a lot of coleslaw!!

Here is a kohlrabi weighing in at 20 pounds and a 19.6 pound turnip!

Then there was the fun selection of veggie people.  This one was my favorite.

So, how does your garden compare?  Ha, I don’t even have a garden!  We are a large family but I think that veggies this size would even be too much for us!

Last week while taking my mother around Alaska we stopped in a place filled with glaciers.  Here is a shot of one place we stopped right off of the highway.  You can see the glacier in the back.  The trees were green with a few beginning to turn yellow.  The water a very clear green/blue color.  Black pebbles along the beach.  It was an amazing and awe inspiring view to behold and a photo can barely do it justice.  What was so peaceful was standing there taking in the beauty and listening to the waterfalls from the melting runoff of the glacier in the distance.  It was quite a ways away but you could hear the thundering of the water as it fell.  God makes some indescribable scenes for us to enjoy.  They all point to His magnificence.  As I absorbed this glorious site the unfathomable reminder came to me.  Even with all of this beauty, considering all of his creation, he chose one such as I to love and redeem!  Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my King wouldst die for me!

Alaska has some amazing sunsets! This is definitely not the most spectacular but beautiful none the less. Maybe one day I will be able to capture the sunset with the inlet and the mountains also. For now, I will share the ones my daughter took from home last week. Enjoy!  God’s creation is awe inspiring!

Yesterday was a day filled with adventure. It was a memorable day to be sure. I had decided last week that we would be going to Whittier to go berry picking. Yesterday was the only day that everyone in the household was free to make the trip so that was THE day! One lesson learned: CHECK THE WEATHER REPORT BEFORE LEAVING!!

We left and it was a little cloudy and a beautiful morning. By the time our family hit Anchorage it was raining and raining hard. The sky looked clearer down the Turnagain Arm so we kept on moving. It did clear and stop raining for a short time. But by the time we reached Portage and the Whittier tunnel it was raining HARD!

I began to think that we should just skip the whole berry picking adventure and spend some time inside the dry Portage Glacier visitor center but my entire back row was BEGGING to drive through the tunnel and one child in particular was almost in tears saying we were supposed to go and pick berries.

Well, for our van to go through the tunnel to get to Whittier it is a $35 toll. But we did after all drive an hour and a half and the tunnel is fun. I didn’t want the children to feel like it was a wasted trip and to leave totally disappointed so we went. My one year old’s excitement was worth the $35 all in itself! She had wide eyes and her jaw was dropped as we traveled through the tunnel (about 2 1/2-3 miles long). She closed her open mouth long enough to say “mountain, mountain” a few times. The tunnel goes through the mountain.

It was still raining heavily on the other side of course. We traveled the short distance to go toward the berry picking site. We stopped at the portapotties and the thankfully COVERED picnic tables for a quick lunch. Then we headed a little further up the hill. The older children were asking if we were really going to go and pick berries while the almost 4 year old was crying “I want to pick berries now!” I chuckled and said, “Let’s get out. I am sure we will only be here a few minutes but we can pick a couple of berries and then go.”

We put on our rain jackets then grabbed the bear spray and the buckets. We headed up the small hill toward the berry bushes. It is POURING down rain now, don’t forget. I am not talking sprinkling or just a light rain, I mean POURING! The path that is usually clear and dry with maybe a few puddles was a RIVER! Up the hill we went trying not to get our feet soaked. Once the path leveled off it was better. We picked and ate a few berries and then moved further down the path.

Now, I had forgotten that there are waterfalls along this path but last time we went it was not raining. The water hit the ground and flowed right along the rock wall. There are bushes there about six feet between the rock wall and the path and very little water from the waterfalls even made it to the path. That was not the case yesterday! The water was flowing out on to the path and made a nice little river down the path! We are talking some pretty fast moving water here!

For most of the trek we could find a small patch of path that was not covered in water or was only about 3 inches deep. After walking for about a half an hour we came to a point where the water was going to be above all of our ankles and decided to turn back. Now if for some strange reason you think we were not soaked enough let me tell you that my almost 4 year old decided she needed to add tears to the pot! “We don’t have enough berries yet!” she cried. In fact, she almost sat herself down in the river upset! Thankfully, we saved her little bottom from being completely soaked by catching her before she hit the ground. It is true, we only had about a handful. I assured her we would look for more on the way back down the trail toward the van. Now apparently, we had been far too focused on the water and the trail because we did find more berries on the way back. Her sisters all added their berry stash to hers to make her feel better. By time we reached the van we had a couple of cups to show for our trek. Not enough to really DO anything with but she was happy. That is what mattered.

I was rather disappointed that we didn’t have a successful day of berry picking. I was also not overly thrilled about looking like drenched rats either. BUT, it was actually fun and it was a day that the children and I will remember forever! We were making memories and it was definitely an adventure! BUT next time I will check the forecast! LOL

We drove down the mountain with everyone comparing the level of soakedness (yeah I know…but it is a word now!) they were experiencing! We all had a good laugh! Those who didn’t take showers that morning definitely received one that afternoon. We stopped at the little donut shop to get some hot coco ($30). As we sat waiting for the tunnel to leave Whittier we sipped our hot coco and snacked on granola bars. It had been a good day and one that was soaked with adventure!

It was raining so hard that some of the photos wouldn’t even turn out. But I do have a few to share!

Heading up the trail.

Where do we step??

Runoff from a waterfall.

One of the waterfalls.

LOOK-A BERRY!

]]> http://mamaarcher.com/2010/08/05/soaked-in-adventure/feed/ 3 http://mamaarcher.com/2010/07/09/snowing-cotton/ http://mamaarcher.com/2010/07/09/snowing-cotton/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:59:30 +0000 MamaArcher http://mamaarcher.com/?p=3394

Over the past couple of weeks it has been snowing cotton!  The cottonwood trees are releasing an unbelievable amount of seed into the air!  It is pretty to look at but talk about allergies!  I thought I would share a bit of our cotton snow storm with you.  In the first photo you can actually see some of the cotton falling.  Oh, and another point of interest, I took these photos at 11:30 pm on an overcast day.  Just to give you an idea of the daylight.

For the first time in a week I have seen the sun!  What a perfect first day of summer!  It was WARM and sunshiny!  I am even a little sunburned!  Thank you Lord for such an amazingly beautiful day.  Today was one of those days that make the long Alaskan winters so very worth it!

My neighbor called and asked if the children wanted to play in the slip-n-slide.  I was unaware they had one.  She explained that she had an Alaskan slip-n-slide and it was going to be a great time!  So we headed down the road.  To make one AWESOME slip-n-slide all you need is a big tarp, stakes, liquid soap, and a sprinkler.  A fun time was had by all!