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.

A few more pictures of SLI

Here's three more pictures from Gambell.


The Walk for Life that we organized, mostly young people joined us. WE walked one mile across town, from the school to the church.

A carver friend of ours showing one of the carvings that I bought. Frequently carvers would stop by the church to show us their latest carving and find a buyer. The teacher's housing is probably the other most popular spot to find buyers. Sorry, I don't know how to rotate the picture upwards.

Squeakums enjoying some playtime on the school's new playground. It's a nice one.
And this year roads were put in around the town, for their ATV's. Now you can drive faster, not that it's necessary. Everything is within a mile or so. Before the trails were through gravel which still is what all the side roads are made of. It's a lot faster to walk on the hard road too. NExt year the plan is to cover it with asphalt or something.

Saint Lawrence Island

Upon our return home, BearCub's accent increased! His 's' sound has become 'sh.' Though now almost two weeks later he goes in and out of the accent...so perhaps it's starting to wear off.

Pictures:
1. Dinner with some local foods: Whale blubber raw and cooked (mungtuk) - it's not too bad when it' pretty fresh, just rubbery texture. Nice dipped in soy sauce. Also had bearded seal.

2. A couple friends that came by frequently to visit.

3. The mounain behind the village, you can see some of the coffins above ground there. THe graveyard is nearby. I understand that due to the frozen conditions sometimes coffins are placed onthe rocks.

4. Games with some of the kids, might have been an afterschool time or sunday school hour.

5. A few drummers during a traditional eskimo dance on the weekends.

6. ONe of the boys that came by, the boys love to wrestle.

7. Photo taken from the beach back toward the housing.

8. Praying at the beach facing north, this is also where I saw Russia from on a later day.

Back in Gambell

I, Calalily, saw Russia the other night. The horizon was clear at sunset, so I ventured out across the gravel paths to the beach where I could clearly see snowy mountains beyond the water. It's 40 miles from here.

I gave a haircut to a local friend here. My first time on curly,wirey hair. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it works.

Half of our YWAM team has colds. But taking Tuesday as a day of rest helped, so we could catch up on some sleep. Our next big event is Saturday's Walk for Life that we're planning, at the last minute.

BearCub, our 3 year old, is homesick still and reminds us daily that he's ready to go home. SUddenly in the last two days he's picked up the local accent, probably from playing with the kids here. It's the intonation that's so noticeable. RoseCheeks is fairly happy, but way out of sync in her sleep cycles and diet. She has a real hard time going to sleep at night and is very hungry, not eating the food we have here very well. At first she was constipated - there's hardly any fruit or veggies on our menu. Most food is what we could ship up here and light weight if possible. So rice, bisquick, canned soups, etc. We brought some apples and oranges to give away, in an extra cooler. They've been popular. A couple evenings I've cut up apple slices and shared them with the kids visiting us in the evenings. The apples are eaten as fast as I can cut them.

Being here a second time means some people recognize us. The young people are more trusting of familiar faces, so this time the youth are opening up to me when two years ago none of them did.

Got to get back to the crowds and changing RosieCheeks diaper.