Eveline Trail

A Few weeks ago we hiked the Eveline trail with one of the mini DTS students from St. Lawrence. She stayed in Homer a couple extra weeks after graduation, so we got to do some hanging out. It was a beautiful day for a hike. My kids love hiking and camping.

August Flowers

These are a few shots of my garden this month. All of these flowers I planted either last year or this year. As you can tell, I love dark red. I have monarda, lilies, impatiens, dianthus, nasturtim, and nemesia all in reds. Strawberries are red too, but they don't count. Another bed is mostly purples and blues.

I finally got my whitney crabapple planted, hoping it's not too late in the season. It's been sitting aorund for almost a month, waiting for the hole to be dug, which is BearHunter's job. We added some of my home made compost to the hole and mixed in some purchased topsoil. THen decorated the base with some cobalt blue glass bottles upside down. I should post a picture of that...meaning I need to take a picture of it first. Then we'll espalier the tree, probably not til next year.

I love gardening. -Calla Lily

Canoeing Trip with BearCub

Late in May, Bear Cub turned four on a three-day canoe/camping trip with Daddy and one of Daddy’s buddies. Bear Cub loved it. He constantly played in the lake, trying to catch tiny sucker fish with his hands. He’d dabble in the water, ankle-deep, until too wet and cold, then come back for a change of clothes. I finally had to make a boundary of rocks to keep him out of the water for awhile. He didn’t cross the line, but he did move the rocks into the water! He caught several rainbow trout with his pole and we cooked them over a fire. I’m sure this is a memory he won’t soon forget.

New Dog

We found a small dog in California that fit our want list criteria, so we brought him back with us. We named him Mocha, but I keep calling him by my son's name which is similar. So we might yet need to change the dog's name again.
He's a 2 year old chihuahua mix. We think he's got schipperke and possibly terrier in that mix. FOr a chihuahua, he's amazingly quiet and calm, unless a group of junior highers is in our house - which happens every Monday night. He's pretty well potty trained. Except that BearHunter is gone for 10 days right now on outreach, so I'm the sole caretaker of dog, toddler, preschooler, woodstove, meals, and self! And our first morning I took him out right away for a pee, while I gathered some firewood. Then he pooped inside 15 minutes later....I should have waited for him to poop outside. His favorite toilet spot is the kids' room. Partly it's where we hang out the least, and mainly because he's peed there before and the scent is probably hanging around.

I never liked dogs. But my husband has loved them his whole life, sleeping with his dogs while growing up, etc. I had hoped to get some kind of animal companion for my son when we moved into our own place. And early this winter, I got the inner drive to research dogs. Hunting for the elusive perfect breed for our family. In any case, I think GOd was preparing me to get this dog, it seems He hand picked it for us. I just needed time to warm up to the idea and feel confident in the choice when we finally met him. We had only a few hours to decide if he would become ours. The dog was probably already in a shelter when my desire began. We found him at his second shelter, a non-kill location that saves animals off of death row.

He has turned out to be a great dog for us, considering all the potential problems we could have discovered with a used dog (that doesn't sound right, but he wasn't a puppy). And I'm thankful not to be dealing with a puppy's needs right now. My two human kids require much care and energy, a puppy would have sent me over the top or simply been neglected and poorly trained.

We received a lovely crib from friends in California. We got it set up in hte kids room. So we're one step more ready for when an adoption happens for us. We're just waiting on an Alaska mom to choose us. That's all in God's hands too. He'll have to provide the finances for it. But we strongly believe it's God's will and his leading for us to have come this far in the process.

For such a time as this (January post)

We've been in California for almost two weeks now. We've come down here mainly to reconnect with our missions supporters.
Yesterday we made the drive up to CalaLily's family. Along the way we stopped at a couple of walmarts looking for a kennel for our new family dog@!!! That's another story. What happened at one Walmart is the main story today. We'd stopped at the outlets hoping for a dog shop and tried Walmart since that was the first place we saw. BearHunter stayed int eh car with thekids while I hopped in for a brief look for a kennel. I was waylaid by sippy cups, my kids' cups are starting to leak when tipped over. As I was looking at the sippy cups, I heard a heavy knock and gasp behind me.

A man was lying face down crumpled on the floor. The woman with him wasn't sure what was going on. I went straight over and got down to his face which was already bleeding. His glasses which had cut him were falling off and I don't remember if I removed them or she did. Anyway,we had no idea what had happened. I helped support his head, and prayed a brief prayer with my hands on his head. He began seizing repeatedly. I and his sister supported him through it. He'd never had a seizure before. I just rubbed his back and stroked his head,and spoke reassuring words. the sister was audibly upset and afraid but the EMT's arrived very soon and took over. I then touched the sister on the shoulder and told her she had done a good job. I know in tense fearful moments, some reasurance can go a long way. She seemed to be near tears when I said that.
Then I got up and went back to my shopping. I had no nervousness the whole time. Only later did the thought occur to me that the EMT's might want my observations of the event. But there was a woman in scrubs who'd been describing the situation on the phone, so I bet she could provide any needed information. They didnt' have the size kennel I wanted, so we hopped in thecar and I didnt' feel like trying any more stores. So we got back on the freeway and continued on our journey. My husband suggested that perhaps we stopped there just for that man. In God's timing. Perhaps.