2011 April »

Feeding A Small Country

Apr 302011

Share As we piled the groceries onto the conveyor I could see in the cashier’s eyes that he wished we’d gone to another line. Seven gallons of milk, ten loaves of bread, six boxes of waffles and two jugs of peanut butter the size of a small Volkswagen…and that was just the beginning. “Is this tax-exempt?” he asked as I continued to add to the teetering heap. “Huh?” I asked, confused. “Are these groceries tax-exempt?” he repeated. Then it struck me. He thought we were an organization, like a church or a school or some other large capacity building not [READ MORE]

Things Anthony Says

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Apr 292011

Share When Anthony came to us he was six years old. That very first day we knew we were in for a challenge. But we also knew we were in for quite the vocabulary treat. I’d had him for about six hours when I handed him a cup of soda and he said, “Oh…it just aerated up my nose!” Since then I’ve been keeping track of the best ones. These are 100% true and accurate… Anthony: “It’s a good thing they make antidotes for people who are allergic so they don’t swell up and pop.” Me: “People don’t pop.” Anthony: [READ MORE]

Children Will Remember

Alaska, Alaskan, backwoods, cabin, children, remember No Responses »

Apr 282011

Share As parents, we spend our lives trying to be good enough. Trying to keep up. We worry that we’ve failed. We worry that we’ve screwed up our kids to the point of no return because somehow we’ve not been good enough…as parents. But let me explain something. Our children will not remember their childhood the way we think they will. They won’t remember if your hair was doing that ‘woohoo’ thing at their Christmas concert. They will remember that when they entered the gym, their eyes scanned the bleachers and locked with yours. They won’t notice if they found [READ MORE]

One Night On Tustumena

Alaska, Alaskan, backwoods, boating, cabin, tustumena lake No Responses »

Apr 272011

Share The world is so wide here, I can see clear into yesterday from where I stand. This lake was once, a lifetime ago, home to trappers and homesteaders; those with a spirit adventurous enough to journey the miles of wilderness and settle here, in this pristine land. It’s said they followed the river to its source, or came across the Harding Ice Fields from Seward on walking trips that must have taken weeks or months to complete. I try to imagine the courage it took to set out, no maps, no predestined results, to go by. When I come [READ MORE]

Adoption Pending

adoption, Alaska, backwoods, foster, foster care No Responses »

Apr 262011

Share He came to us in the summer, four years ago with a chip on his shoulder, a mouth with no filter, and a yearning for something solid. Just six years old, he’d seen things…oh yes, he’d seen some things. The parents’ rights have been terminated. The threat of reunification is long past and his memories are beginning to fade. Visitations stopped long ago, thank God. Oh, the confusion that must cause in the child who so desperately wants the parents in that little room to be just like the ones waiting in the car. We’ll sign the papers, he’ll [READ MORE]

More Family…Less Candy….Easter, 2011

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Apr 252011

More Family...Less Candy....Easter, 2011

Share Hit the cabin in the hills this weekend with six kids, not a bad way to spend Easter. Less candy…more Family. Sixteen miles up the dirt road and only passed one rig coming out, gotta love that kind of seclusion. We arrived to find more mud and less snow than we thought, and had to hoof it in the driveway carrying our gear. You ever want to find out how useless a nine-year-old is, ask them to carry something more than six feet. He’d have died in the snow bank, whining about how heavy the socks he was [READ MORE]

Just Another Scenic Sunday

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Apr 242011

ShareIn case you’ve never seen Alaska…or just need a little piece of home!(click READ MORE to view the rest) Russian River, Cooper Landing, Alaska Caribou Hills, Ninilchik, Alaska Skilak Lake, Sterling, Alaska Mount Redoubt, from Ninilchik, Alaska

I Live Here…For Now

adoption, Alaska, backwoods, children, forever, foster, living No Responses »

Apr 222011

Share One boy turns to the other and says, “Just because you live here, doesn’t mean…” “I live here?” the second boy interrupts, a broad grin spreading across his face. It’s not the first time I’ve witnessed that moment, that dawning of understanding that there is a difference between ‘staying’ somewhere and ‘living’ somewhere….especially in the life of a child who has experienced both. I’ve seen it many times in my years as a foster parent. The child will nonchalantly say, “Next summer can we hang a swing from that tree?” Or, “Can I have that doll for Christmas?” It’s [READ MORE]

Without A Paddle

Alaska, backwoods, kasilof, tustumena, tustumena lake No Responses »

Apr 212011

Share Sandi and I had escaped, kid free…which says a lot considering between us we have twelve children…and were laughing our way across Tustumena lake headed for Nikolai Creek to spot some grizzly bears through our telephotos. We intended to stake out the creek until dark if we had to, just for the perfect shot. Photo, that is… We’d pulled the boat across a shallow section where the island connects to the main land to avoid going all the way around. Well, I pulled and Sandi took pictures. We eyed the weather and the water, and shot out across the [READ MORE]

A Letter To My Spouse

Alaska, backwoods, letter to spouse No Responses »

Apr 202011

Share I was thinking about us today. Remembering those years when you had hair and I had a waistline. Back when we sat, feet to feet on the couch, scheming our next adventure late into the night. It was a time when it all seemed doable and barriers were more like speed bumps than impossibilities. When, in the naiveté of our youth, we still believed that we were different, better, smarter than all those who’d come before us. We thought…no knew… we’d make it where others had failed. We’d raise our kids better; spend our money more wisely; work harder; [READ MORE]

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