Tonight as we each said a little something during bedtime prayers, this is what Gwyneth prayed:"...have a good day way up there, and please protect the whole earth..."
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prayer
Tonight as we each said a little something during bedtime prayers, this is what Gwyneth prayed:"...have a good day way up there, and please protect the whole earth..."
☺
Beautiful Saturday
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Today was such a beautiful day! After gymnastics and lunch we went out to the local farmer's market.
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I could go broke there! So many wonderful things to see, smell, taste! Ahhhh! We purchased some local raw honey (after tasting every kind she made!) and I picked up a soy wax candle made locally. It burns cleaner than petroleum based candles, and is a renewable resource. It smells heavenly! I picked the "Apple Jack n Peel" scent. David and I really liked the "Caribbean Coconut", but they were all out. Maybe next time.
On our way out we stopped and bought some fresh kettle corn! YUM!
On our way out we stopped and bought some fresh kettle corn! YUM!
(Gwyneth had just taken her first taste of kettle corn in this shot. She wasn't sure of it at first, then she asked for another bite, and is hooked like mommy! ha!)
Oh, she is also wearing my sunglasses here! Bug eyes! Too cute!
I have only tried store bought kettle corn one time, and was not impressed. That stuff is NOTHING like fresh! I am now convinced that fresh kettle corn is the best popcorn in the world! We watched as the man made it too. He stirred it in a big kettle with what looked like a wooden oar. So cool! I will be dreaming for a week of that heavenly goodness! hee! hee!
After the farmer's market we went back down the road a little to Creamer's Field . This area is a former dairy farm turned migratory waterfowl refuge. BEAUTIFUL! We couldn't have gone on a more perfect day! Sunshine, blue skies, white puffy clouds, and green trees! I took our little point and shoot along on our hike. I'm SO glad I did !
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We had such a wonderful afternoon! We will be going to these two places a LOT this summer!
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perpetually late...
We seem to be late on just about everything this year. I've struggled to keep up with birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day! (I'm ashamed of that last one!)
We had Gwyneth's actual birthday party on April 14th. 2 weeks after her birthday! We intended to do it on the 7th... Easter weekend, but she got sick. This is the second birthday that she has been sick around. The first time was her 3rd birthday. Since she was sick around Easter, that also cut into our annual egg dyeing tradition! But nonetheless we did in fact dye eggs. A couple days ago. And we only dyed 5. We switched to organic grain fed eggs a couple months ago. They are brown. My mom insisted you could still dye brown eggs. Well...they didn't turn out so well. I think we got a bad box of dye. And the glitter paint that came with it was all dried out. Gwyneth had fun making them look silly anyway. She didn't mind that it was late, or that the paint was dried out...she just enjoyed the process!
The other night I had a real hankerin' (hee hee) for Chinese food. Rather than order it to go, spend $20, and not have any control over how it was made or what type of ingredients they used (i.e. conventional produce as opposed to organic), I made a trip to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make some of my favorites:
Fried Rice-made with brown rice, sans eggs or meat.
Spring Rolls-vegetarian
Potstickers-vegetarian, with tofu (I was not aware they contained tofu until we sat down to eat and I bit into one. I refrained from telling David until after he had finished all of his. ha! He said he would have eaten them anyway, since they tasted so good.)
It turned out to be a most delicious meal for only $10 and made with all natural mostly organic ingredients! YUM!
My mother's day was very relaxed and sweet. We went to church, and after the service the kids handed out a goodie bags to all the mother's with a magnet with "God's Promises for a Woman's Heart" on it, and a Ghirardelli chocolate square. Gwyneth made the neatest work of art in children's church, framed and all! (She does some of the best crafts at church!)
I received two homemade cards, one from David and one from Gwyneth, and a box of Dove Dark Chocolate assortment. Mmmm...
For dinner we had King Salmon that a friend of ours gave us. I had never had salmon, outside of salmon cakes my sister and I used to choke down when we were little. (LOTS of ketchup!) I am not a fan of fish. This King Salmon was milder than most fish I have eaten, but still had a little fishy taste. I will try it again, maybe prepared differently.
I bribed Gwyneth with chocolate, and the chance to play with my paper parasol to get a picture of us together. David got a couple good shots. It's like pulling teeth to get Gwyneth to actually stop and stay still for a photo these days!
It was rainy and cold (38°) today up until now. It is 8:40 PM and the sun is shining bright and beautifully! After gymnastics we took a walk through a local nursery. We saw some amazingly beautiful plants. The flowers in the photo above happened to be my favorite. We came home with three 3" pots!Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there who are currently, have been, and will be mothers! It is the most amazing privilege! God has blessed me with an incredibly bright, creative, energetic, and loving little girl! I would not trade it for the world!
D-O-N-E!
Gwyneth is done with school! Yeah! She just finished up the last pages in her grammar book! Yippee! A week before the kids here get out of school! Yeah for SUMMER!
Walks...
Since the weather has warmed up a bit lately we've been taking more walks. We are blessed to live in a housing area that has a lot of sidewalk, and trails. The pictures a couple posts down were taken in a part of the trail that is fairly wooded. We love the fresh air and blue skies. We don't get too hot yet either. Such a change from Texas! I am loving the cooler weather, and the extended daylight!I love the blue sky in the above snapshot. I actually took the shot to show you all down south the fire hydrant. Notice the steel rod extending from the top? That's so the firefighters can find the hydrant if the snow gets to be over six feet deep or so. Bizarre! (For a bunch of down southers' like us! ha!)
Tomorrow is FRIDAY! Pizza Night, and maybe a good movie! If I'm not back here before it's over, have an AWESOME weekend everyone!
Contentment
Phillipians 4:6-7 - 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
We have come to the decision that visiting back home for my brother's wedding is beyond our financial capabilities. We do not have the funds we originally thought we would have.
The house we are living in was formerly military housing until last week. We signed a year lease under the impression that the transition from military to civilian housing would be a smooth one.
Not so...so very much not so. We paid the first months rent out of our own pocket rather than borrow from the Army (advance housing money) and have to pay them back. Well...we won't see that money back until we complete our year lease and move on from this house. It's really screwy...I still don't quite understand how they work. I was under the impression that we would be reimbersed and we were going to use that money to purchase plane tickets. Not so. I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I know that if we were in a civilian job we would not have some of the benefits the Army offers. (i.e. housing money to offset the cost of rent, incredible health benefits, we also get a little extra money for living in a remote location.) But somehow they always seem to do just enough to benefit their military agenda. Not really inprove the soldier's quality of life and that of his family. It's always just enough. Maybe that is the object lesson here. Maybe God is telling me to be content in what I have...but I don't want a whole lot!
I don't want fancy cars, top of the line clothing, jewlery etc...I just want enough money to be able to see my family, and experience Alaska!!!
I was so overwhelmed yesterday after finding all this out. Not sure our decisions would have been different had we known all this. We arrived here mid freeze, and housing was not open...we had to find a house quick...this is where God has put us, and now I need to concentrate on what I must learn from this...
Despite not being able to see my family for what could possibly turn into close to 2 years (we last visited in July '06) I need to try and focus on all the blessings God has given us.
We have come to the decision that visiting back home for my brother's wedding is beyond our financial capabilities. We do not have the funds we originally thought we would have.
The house we are living in was formerly military housing until last week. We signed a year lease under the impression that the transition from military to civilian housing would be a smooth one.
Not so...so very much not so. We paid the first months rent out of our own pocket rather than borrow from the Army (advance housing money) and have to pay them back. Well...we won't see that money back until we complete our year lease and move on from this house. It's really screwy...I still don't quite understand how they work. I was under the impression that we would be reimbersed and we were going to use that money to purchase plane tickets. Not so. I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I know that if we were in a civilian job we would not have some of the benefits the Army offers. (i.e. housing money to offset the cost of rent, incredible health benefits, we also get a little extra money for living in a remote location.) But somehow they always seem to do just enough to benefit their military agenda. Not really inprove the soldier's quality of life and that of his family. It's always just enough. Maybe that is the object lesson here. Maybe God is telling me to be content in what I have...but I don't want a whole lot!
I don't want fancy cars, top of the line clothing, jewlery etc...I just want enough money to be able to see my family, and experience Alaska!!!
I was so overwhelmed yesterday after finding all this out. Not sure our decisions would have been different had we known all this. We arrived here mid freeze, and housing was not open...we had to find a house quick...this is where God has put us, and now I need to concentrate on what I must learn from this...
Despite not being able to see my family for what could possibly turn into close to 2 years (we last visited in July '06) I need to try and focus on all the blessings God has given us.
- we have a roof over our head, heat included in the rent during the freezing winter.
- we have plenty of food to eat...never lacking.
- because we are not able to leave Alaska this summer, we can experience all this area has to offer: camping, Gwyneth may go to day camp, the local farmer's market, Pioneer Park, wild blueberry picking, fishing, a trip to Anchorage, maybe Seward. The possibilities are endless.
a batch of chocolate chips cookies...
& homemade Mac'N Cheese.
Sunset at the Park
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I took these with out point and shoot camera and they were a bit grainy, so that's why I made them pretty small here. Would like to do this again with my SLR and better lenses.
Misc...
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On a walk last week. Love all the trees!
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Life is staying fairly full for us... But not too full...
Well maybe for David. He is working some long hours, due to an inspection of sorts at the hospital and is busy with school as well. He is also going to an NCO board (Non Commissioned Officer evaluation of sorts...TEST... hee hee) this coming month too! He had a physical fitness test this morning (he passed) and his whole section is moving to a new hospital in June. He's quite a busy guy.
AWANA
AWANA is on a break until the fall. Closing ceremony and
awards were a couple weeks ago. Gwyneth was the only SPARK who received the review patch this year. That means that she went through the SPARKS handbook twice. She memorized 31 Bible verses (recited them all twice) and can recite all the names of the books of the New Testament. We are incredibly proud of her!GYMNASTICS
Gymnastics is going good. (The video above is from March when Gwyneth climbed all the way to the top of the rope! One of the skills you must attain to join the team.) At the end of the season (end of March) Gwyneth was evaluated by her coach and it was determined that her and two other girls on her team would be able to advance to level 3. Level 3 is not necessarily a competition level gymnastics. Level 4 is the first official level of compulsory competition in the USA Gymnastics competitive system. She will have the chance to go to Anchorage at least once this year and do a sort of competition. She is surprisingly very excited about it. Not too nervous. She is doing incredibly well at keeping up with some of the more advanced girls. Her practice times increased. She goes 3 days a week for 2 hours at a time. (Our financial commitment increased as well...)
I'm keeping busy taking Gwyneth to and from all her activities. We go to the library and the grocery store a lot. ha! I'm cooking more often...just about every night. I've cut out most of the junk. Incorporating more vegetables (real, whole foods!) and buying organic when possible. I've learned a lot about food and organics...Also about some of the dangerous ingredients in some of the things we use daily...i.e. makeup, hair products, cleaning products...it's incredible!
KNITTINGI'm still knitting...I finished David's scarf! (will post a picture soon.) After many breaks, and what I thought were mess-ups, and many trips to the yarn store for help from the very friendly and knowledgeable store owner Janene , I can proudly say it is finished. I love it! It's SO soft!
I am currently working on a bag for me. It's going to be knit and felted, and will replace my current bag made of PVC. :o)
The weather is warming up here. It is currently 51 as I type. It's reached 60 a few times these past few weeks. We got our first rain in 6 months the other day. It was nice. It kinda cleaned the streets up a bit. Now my car is a different story! ha! All the ice and snow from winter did a job on it! We'll get it cleaned soon enough!
We are getting close to 16 hours of daylight now. The sun rises around 5AM and sets close to 11PM! It's the wildest thing!We put Gwyneth to bed and the sun is still shining bright! I've been having a hard time going to bed with the sun still up. We are going to be wimps and make some curtains for the bedrooms. Most native Alaskans have no problem with the prolonged daylight, and sleep just fine without shades. We're not quite there yet!
I hope to get back to posting more regularly again. I've taken a lot of pictures and am thinking of just posting a couple a day...We'll see!