our sojourn...

a new look

2012-02-04T17:00:00.000-09:00

This past Friday morning I met with a dear friend, Ella Embree for breakfast and she showed me how to reformat my blog, hooray! It actually was surprisingly easy and something I have been meaning to do since I got married 2.5 years ago! So I am in the midst now of giving my blog a new look with more current information. If you read my blog and have a site yourself let me know so I can add it to my contacts on the side bar . . . I am about three years behind on that and I know there are new blogs I a missing and would love to keep up with!

returning to "normal"

2012-01-24T20:15:00.003-09:00

Praise the Lord, it's been exactly one month since my dad was diagnosed with ITP and today he was given a "green light" on getting back to normal so to speak. A quick update on the past week. Last week Wednesday was his 4th and final IVIG treatment. If it didn't work they were going to look into new treatment options.

He had his 4th treatment Wednesday, went in Friday for a platelet count in hopes he'd be at 400,000 if all was going well. And the roller coaster ride went for another crazy loop, his numbers were at 145,000. It appeared the treatment was not taking like it should be. So he came home and waited until today (Tuesday) for another blood work up. We were assuming and preparing our hearts for a drop as he had had no further treatments or means to push his numbers up. Much to our surprise and joy his platelet count was at 160,000 today! This means his body produced 15,000platelets over the past four days on their own! The doctor was pleased to say the least and said he doesn't need to come in every couple of days any more.

The plan right now is for my dad to go in once a week for a blood work up and as long as his numbers stay fairly stable he's good to go. He's been back at work and doing most of his normal routine activities which is encouraging to all of us. Praise the Lord for this news today and a stable bill of health for my dad! Thanks for praying with us through this.

dropping again . . .

2012-01-16T10:30:00.002-09:00

I just got an update call from mom a few minutes ago. My dad's platelet count this morning is at 69,000. His last IVIG treatment was on Monday so after one week he dropped significantly in his numbers. They are doing his third treatment right now, it takes about 4 hours and then we'll see what the docs have to say. Apparantly his body is still rapidly killing off platelets and the IVIG treatment is not going to be the hoped for "long-term" treatment plan.

One thing that continues to come to mind as I reflect of the past three weeks since this all started is this is no surprise to God. He knew this was coming, we didn't. He knows the outcome, we don't. He knows the cause and the "right" treatment, we don't yet. Bottom line though, God is in control and we can TRUST Him. That is good enough for me. And so the testing and waiting game continues . . .

January 11th

2012-01-16T10:00:00.004-09:00

I apologize for getting behind on dad's updates. Last week I posted on facebook but neglected to update my blog and realize some of you only get updates through my blog. Last week Wednesday was dad's last hospital visit of that week. Just a quick recap . . . the days start to blur together so it helps me keep things straight in my head too.

Dad went in last week Monday the 9th and his platelet count after one treatment had gone up to 78,000. They went ahead that day and did a second IVIG treatment. Wednesday the 11th he went in and his platelet count was up to 172,000! The normal range for platelets is between 140,000-350,000 so he made it back to a normal range. This was a TREMENDOUS answer to prayer! The doctors decided to wait and do two more treatments this week to spread them apart some as they seem to be working.

As it stands now he will go back in today, January 16th, for another blood work up and likely his third IVIG treatment. I guess the treatment will depend on his numbers. They still do not know the initial cause of his ITP but the treatment they are using seems to be working and that is HUGELY encouraging. Doctors said last week he will probably have a treatment today (1/16/12) and Wednesday (1/18/12) to "bulk up" his count.

Dad has been feeling more energetic the past several days. He put in a half day of work Saturday and was able to go to church yesterday. He may start back working half days the end of this week or next week. I will try to post again later tonight when we get the results from his visit today. Thanks again for praying with us! There is power in prayer!

Great news!!

2012-01-09T19:26:00.002-09:00

Today my dad went in for his regular blood work up and his platelet count was 78,000!! Woohoo!! It appears that the IVIG treatment is working. Our family was thrilled to say the least to hear his numbers went up so much. He's still short of the normal 140,000-350,000 count but doctors said they don't know what his count will get to. He will likely have a new "normal" but be in a safe and functional range soon where he will be off "house arrest."

As it stands right now dad will go back in to the hospital on Wednesday for another count and possibly a third treatment. He's hoping to get the go ahead this week to leave the house, go outside for fresh air and be able to go back to work in the near future. There are still steps to take and things to figure out like the reason this came on in the first place but things are looking up!

Thanks to all who have been faithfully praying with us through this time! Please continue to pray awhile longer as we wait for some more answers and a future treatment plan. Thank you Lord for Your healing touch and for extending our time with our dad, I am forever grateful.

good news!

2012-01-06T16:59:00.006-09:00

We have some really good news from today's doctors appointment. My dad's platelet count this morning was still low 2,000 (no surprise). We DID get results back from his bone marrow biopsy though and he does NOT have leukemia or any form of cancer, praise the Lord! Cancer was a "worst outcome" scenario so we are grateful to have that option ruled out. :) What the doctor shared with my parents today is that my dad has ITP which is incurable but treatable. They also said because of his continued low count platelet infusions and steriods are not helping him.

Dad had his first of four possible IVIG treatments today which in essence is a high dose of platelets with antibodies to fight whatever his body producing that is killing off his platelets. Statistically 75% of people who get this treatment respond positively to it. He had his first treatment (4 hours long) today and will go back in Monday for another blood count and a second treatment. If he responds well to the IVIG treatment they may do a third round on Wednesday. The doctor doesn't know if this treatment will work but he said there are other options to try if it doesn't. We are hopeful that it will take and we won't have to try other routes but the Lord knows.

We feel like there was progress made today in that cancer was ruled out and options for treatment were discussed so that is encouraging. Thanks to everyone who is keeping tabs and praying faithfully! We appreciate it more than I can say. Please pray through the weekend with us that my dad's body will respond favorably to the IVIG treatment.

more steriods and waiting . . .

2012-01-03T21:31:00.002-09:00

So we are still playing the waiting game. My dad went back in this morning for another blood count and a bone marrow biopsy. His platelet count was at 2,000 even after a direct steriod IV drip yesterday. The docs had a pow-wow this morning and are concerned at the low response to treatment so they are going to fast track his biopsy in hopes to get his results back by Friday and not have to wait the regular 10days.

A blessing today, his biopsy went really smooth and was not all that painful. I called dad tonight after work and he said he hadn't even taken a tylenol yet b/c he was feeling pretty good. THANK YOU for praying even in the little things and steps along the way.

The plan for now is for dad to stay home until Friday morning. They've given him enough steriods to do a daily dose at home the next two days. Friday AM if his number is not 50,000 he will do an IVIG (immune globulin). We also hope for some answers and direction from blood work and bone marrow results.

He does not need blood donations at this time. The platelet infusion didn't work so, for now, they're going with steroids for treatment. Thanks for your prayers.

low platelet count

2012-01-02T12:30:00.003-09:00

My dad's platelet count this morning (Monday) was 1,000. They did a steroid drip at the hospital before they let him go to try and stabilize him. Something is still rapidly killing off his platelets. He should be stable through tonight with the steroid drip that he got today.

Tomorrow (Tues) he will go in for a bone marrow biopsy and hopefully we'll have some some results and answers from his blood work last week. The bone marrow biopsy takes about a week to process so we won't know results from that until probably next week sometime. Please keep praying with us for answers this week and for his platelet count to go up and maintain. We are requesting no visitors until we know more about what is going on.

Thanks for loving us through prayer! We are grateful to be in HIS hands!

visitors :)

2011-12-29T16:59:00.003-09:00

Just wanted to say a big THANKS to all who have called and those who dropped by Tuesday at the hospital and at home the past couple of days. It is encouraging to our hearts to hear from you! Thanks for your kind words and prayers, keep them coming!

In regard to visitors, some people have been asking about that . . . my dad CAN have visitors drop by the house but we ask that you not come if you have been sick recently or are feeling sick (even a little). Our request would be to just call ahead to make sure someone is home and that my dad is awake. Feel free to call too during the day, your words of encouragement and concern are welcome and have been a blessing! Thanks for being there for us and for walking along side us as we wait to hear more.

15,000 platelets and counting . . .

2011-12-29T10:01:00.002-09:00

Praise the Lord! My dad's blood work this morning showed his platelet count to be at 15,000! His count TRIPLED since yesterday morning! This means the steroids are kicking in and doing what they are supposed to be doing . . . stopping his immune system from killing off all his platelets. He's still extremely low, his numbers need to get up to a minimum of 150,000 but he's out of the "very critical" number range. Yea!!!

The doctor did not do another infusion today because things are starting to kick in and increase. He is scheduled for another blood work up on Monday morning and he'll have a bone marrow biopsy on Tuesday. Also another answer to prayer he slept 5 hours last night, 2 hours more than the previous night! Thanks to all of you who are praying! Please keep praying as we wait for answers and future treatment procedures. We are grateful!

platelet count

2011-12-28T22:30:00.005-09:00

So this Christmas holiday has proved to be more eventful than we expected. Christmas Eve my dad noticed a localized rash spot on his upper leg that turned into a huge rash down both legs and feet mid Christmas day. Being that it was a holiday weekend he couldn't get in to see his doctor until yesterday, Tuesday. He's been totally healthy for weeks and even ran 4 miles on the treadmill Monday night after work before heading to bed thinking nothing of his red spots.

Tuesday morning he went in to have his doctor look at the unusual rash on his legs and his doctor recognized it right away as something characteristic of ITP a short abbreviation for a crazy long medical term (Immune thrombocytopenic purpura). His doc had him go in for blood work which showed my dad had an extremely low platelet count. I've learned a lot in the past 48 hours about blood and platelets, for those medical people reading this you know more than I do about parts and functions of the blood.

Nutshell 101 on blood you have white cells, red cells, plasma and platelets. The platelets in our blood are the part that helps with blood clotting. If you have no platelets you can bleed out from an external wound (i.e. cut) or bleed internally and die. Another bit on platelets that I have learned 150,000-350,000 is a normal healthy platelet count. My dad's count yesterday morning was below 2,000! Any platelet count below 10,000 is considered a medical emergency and is critical. If he had not gone in to the doctor that day he likely would have died in his sleep last night never knowing there was a problem other than a rash that was spreading and bruises that started showing up on his body.

In the mix of events yesterday, it seems like a whirlwind, my dad had a TON of blood work done that is still be tested to rule out options but the hospital had two units of platelets brought in from Anchorage to infuse into his blood stream. One unit of platelets is 50,000 platelets so he had 100,000 platelets infused last night around 8:30 p.m. to up his count. All the while the ER doctor and our uncle who is a surgeon said he was not to leave the hospital to even check something in the car b/c a simple slip on the ice or gentle bump on the head could cause a cerebral hemorrhage that would kill him. What??

We are still taking in the seriousness of the situation and have many unanswered questions that Lord willing will be revealed in the days to come as more testing and blood work are done. I've also read up a bit on ITP below I've attached a quick online summary I found:

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura is a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets, which are necessary for normal blood clotting. Persons with the disease have too few platelets in the blood. ITP is sometimes called immune thrombocytopenic purpura. ITP occurs when certain immune system cells produce antibodies against platelets. Platelets help your blood clot by clumping together to plug small holes in damaged blood vessels. The antibodies attach to the platelets. The spleen destroys the platelets that carry the antibodies.

In children, the disease sometimes follows a viral infection. In adults, it is more often a chronic (long-term) disease and can occur after a viral infection, with use of certain drugs, during pregnancy, or as part of an immune disorder.

Right now doctors are ruling out options. When my dad went in this morning for new blood work up (after his infusion last night) his count was back down to 5,000. We were discouraged to say the least to see that in less than 12 hours after his infusion of 200,000 platelets he was back down to 5,000 so quickly. The nurses working with him were also surprised but the doctor said to have him go home and come in tomorrow (Thursday) for another infusion of platelets.

What we DO know right now, my dad is confined to the house 24/7 other than going to the hospital for blood work and testing. His immune system is very weak b/c of the steroids he is on to guard his liver and to try and help stop the immune system from killing off all his platelets. He can't be around people b/c of his weakened immune system and b/c of the bruising (internal bleeding) factor. A simple stub of his toe could be life threatening. He was also told to not even walk on the treadmill b/c the impact on his joints could cause swelling and bleeding. My dad is as his doctor put it "an egg shell" right now that can easily be broken. We don't know what is causing this, it could be his spleen or even leukemia. He will have a bone marrow biopsy next week Tuesday to rule cancer in or out.

Ways you can pray . . . more than anything right now I think I can safely speak for all the Eller family we covet your prayers. Praise the LORD for the doctor visit and initial diagnosis on Tuesday! Without it we would likely not have our dad with us today. Pray for REST for my dad the steroids keep him awake, he slept a total of 3 hours last night and was awake most of the day today. Pray for PEACE OF MIND for all of us in the family our minds are still spinning from all the information. Pray for WISDOM for the doctors and a clear diagnosis by next week so we can move forward with more substantial treatment. Pray for PEACE for my dad to be able to lay low, very low and not get crazy cabin fever being "locked in at home." He is so used to be the contact pastor at WBC and go to guy he's not sure how to be a patient. :) Even last night at the hospital as he was waiting to get his infusion he heard a lady down the hall in the hospital moaning in pain and he got up to help her down to the ER making sure she was going to be okay. He can't help but help other people, he is hard wired for it. :)

As I look back over the past two days I think again about how precious life is. We truly don't know how long we have or how long our loved ones have. My dad shared with us last night at the hospital that God has been impressing a verse on his heart the past 2-3 months. It's the verse that says, "You don't know what a day may bring forth." He felt God preparing his heart months ago for something that was coming our way but he didn't know if it would be one of his kids, his wife or himself. When everything started to unfold yesterday he said it didn't come as a total surprise he felt God gently preparing his heart for this news awhile back.

Life is precious and we hope for a couple more decades with my dad around but none of us knows how long we have. Oh Lord may we live our fullest each day for Your glory that when we see You face to face in all Your glory You may say, "Well done good and faithful servant."

60 things we appreciate . . .

2011-12-02T16:12:00.003-09:00

When my dad turned 60 a couple of years ago I wrote a list of 60 things I appreciate about him. This year for my mom's 60th we decided to do a combine list from all her kids (in-laws included) of the things we appreciate about mom. Some are doubled up because they are so epic and special. We appreciate you more than you know mom! Thanks for all you do and all you have done the past 36+ years we have known you!

30 Things We Appreciate About Mom
(Dave and Aimy)
1. EPIC Birthday Cakes
2. Time
3. Constant reassurance that no matter what I ever did you would always love me
4. Memory verses as a young child in Kentucky
5. Letting me pronounce the word “ex-tellent”
6. Birthday Cookies at age 3 – Thirty Six Hours?!
7. Importance of family (reunions)
8. Great Thanksgivings
9. Love for people
10. Always being my advocate and defender
11. Giving me money toward a down payment on my house
12. Being supportive of career changes
13. Homemade pizza
14. Greenbean casserole 
15. Time with Grammie
16. Wonderful Christmas days
17. Sugar Cookies
18. Reading Where the Red Fern Grows
19. Teaching me to always tell the truth
20. Teaching me generosity
21. Teaching me to tithe
22. You love children and are a wizard with them, it’s truly amazing
23. You are proud of me always
24. You love and are supportive of Aimy
25. Demonstrating the importance of prayer
26. Organization
27. You had Dave (have you seen the size of his head!)
28. You raised him to the man he is now
29. You fought thru breast cancer so you can be around for many many years
30. You love the grandpuppies even though you are allergic to them

30 Things We Appreciate About Mom
(Anita & Ben)

1. Elaborate birthday cakes!

2. Cooking together

3. Your faithful prayers

4. Girl movie nights!

5. Mary Kay and make-up

6. Giving me your time

7. Tea Parties

8. Shopping dates

9. Reading Little House on the Prairie Books

10. Ringlets and ballet recitals

11. Making me learn to play piano

12. Your gift giving to others and to us

13. Your organization it definitely rubbed off . . . on me at least!

14. Phone calls any time of day when we are miles apart

15. Anne of Green Gables & BBC parties

16. Visiting me in college to give a little perspective

17. Always encouraging and challenging me to do my best

18. Being an example of a godly wife & mother

19. Time

20. Teaching me to be a good hostess for company

21. I appreciate how welcoming you have been to me from the first time you met me

22. Welcoming us over to your house anytime we need a relaxing game night or warm conversation

23. Assuring us that we have a willing babysitter when the time comes

24. Giving me counsel and insight when I don’t understand woman issues

25. Saying yes to me when I asked to marry your daughter

26. Raising such a godly daughter

27. Always treating me like family

28. Organizing the best Burdine family reunion that I have been to,
also the only Burdine reunion I have been to

29. Helping make our wedding flow smoothly

30. Praying for me before we met

31. I appreciate all the tears of love you have shed for me (It started when I asked to marry Anita, it continued at the wedding and has continued since.)

Happy 60th!

2011-12-02T15:55:00.011-09:00

My mom turned 60 on the 25th of November. We had a big surprise party for her over at the Dodd's with a 50's theme. I think I can say the best part for us kids was that we completely surprised her, not an easy feet for a mom who knows everything! We had 50's music, trivia, decorations, and even a casserole potluck in honor of the 50s . . . yep, the 50's were known as being the era of casseroles. Canned soups like cream of mushroom, cream of chicken and golden mushroom soup came out in the 50's changing the menus at home. Duncan Hines also came out with the first boxed cake mix along with frozen TV dinners and frozen pot pies. Who knew? We had a blast and ended the night with ice cream cake a lovely chocolate bunt cake (from the box of course) and root beer floats to add a "soda shop" atmosphere to the evening. Happy 60th mom! We love you!

Thankful for . . .

2011-11-24T07:09:00.005-09:00

Last night we had a pie and praise service at church. I actually got there about 45 minutes late waiting for my pie to finish baking, long story. During the service our senior pastor Ethan Hansen shares a little intro and then church family is asked to come up and share what they are thankful for as they feel led. When they are done sharing they light a candle in a huge cross that is up front as a reminder of what Christ has done for us on the cross.

Being so late I didn't know how much of the service I would actually experience so I quietly slipped in the back, found Ben sitting mid way down and squeezed in by him. I had no intention of sharing. Just this past week I have been thinking, wow it's already the holidays! It's that time of year to be writing Christmas letters reflecting on all the great happenings of the year etc, etc. I hate to even admit this but I struggled to think of things I am thankful for, this has been a challenging year personally and as a family (for Ben and I). As I listened to singles and families share the Lord overwhelmed me with things that I have to be thankful for and I was humbled to consider my discontent.

There were a couple of testimonies that really prompted me to share. One was a family, two youth and their mom that went forward to share said they are thankful for their parents, a father who is not a Christian but they hope and pray he will be someday and a mother who loves the Lord deeply and is a one year cancer survivor. Lord, thank you for my godly husband that is a spiritual leader who loves me deeply. Thank you for my own mother who is celebrating her 60th birthday this Friday and is a 7 YEAR cancer survivor.

Another young family went forward to share and the wife shared how thankful they were for their children (two daughters up front) but also their 5 month old son. It sounded like they had complications in his delivery but that's not what got me so much. She started sharing how she was thankful for their first son and what a joy and miracle it was to watch him grow over the months through ultra sound on and on and on and on. All I could think was "Please stop sharing!" My heart was breaking, I sat with tears streaming down my face. Yes Lord, the joy of mother hood, the joy of watching a child grow in your womb. That is one of the greatest desires of my heart presently and I thought, I have no idea what that experience is like. The ultra sounds I had this September showed that we miscarried, there would be no child only the hope of one for 8 weeks.

Thankful? Ugh! I was going to have to share because I AM thankful. God has shown me this year through our miscarriage some life lessons that I had lost sight of, one God is in control, I am not. As much as I like planning HE is the Master Planner. Second, His timing and His ways are best and I have to and choose to TRUST and REST in that. When I hear friends who have multiple children say "I wish I had a boy" or "I wish I had a girl" I think really? Hmmm, I wish I had A child. But even in that statement and frame of mind I am just as discontent as the mothers who wish for one more boy/girl etc. Lord thank you that you KNOW the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4-5). Thank you that YOUR timing is perfect. Thank you that I CAN TRUST you.

As I went up front to share I said that I am thankful for my mother's life that she is still here to share the holidays with and there is hope post cancer (for women sitting there) my mom is a 7 year cancer survivor. This also has hit new the past couple of months because two of the teachers I work with have been diagnosed with breast cancer and they are both starting chemo this week.

I am thankful for brokenness because if I am being honest I am broken. I don't have a cute little Christmas card idea this year or something crazy exciting to share that I just can't wait to get written on cute stationary. In reality I have had health issues since the end of July that I am still battling with. Even in that though I am thankful for my health. Thank you Lord that I do not have chronic pain or illness. I know several friends that do. I am grateful for the health that I do have.

Thank you Lord for the husband you have blessed me with. One of the fruits of the Spirit that I am the WORST at is PATIENCE! All my life it seems God has tested my patience maybe in hopes that I will GROW in that area? I am thankful that I waited 31 years for God's best and that I have a godly, patient, tender man that I could have never hoped for or imagined. For all the youth ladies reading this TRUST in God's timing and be PATIENT for God's best it is absolutely worth it!

Another thing God impressed on my heart the past couple of months post miscarriage has been new life. As much as I hope for new life in our family through a baby I hope and pray even more for new life in Christ for close friends and family members. I cannot imagine my life without Christ. Thank you Lord for the cross. Thank you for choosing me to be a child of the King. Thank you for the blood you shed on the cross for MY sins not because of any good I have ever done (Rm. 3:23; 6:23) but soley because of your LOVE for me (Rm. 5:8).

Allison & Ben

2011-11-21T21:19:00.014-09:00

The Jim Burdine family (minus Ben the new groom, I know poor representation with my picture taking skills, Carrie I need lesson!) This is my mom's older/younger brother and his family. His oldest daughter Allison got married October 8th in Willamsburg, VA, absolutely beautiful location and wedding! Lynn, Katherine, Allison, Jim and Frederick Burdine

Me and Britt . . . we are holding "wedding wands" I guess it's one of the latest crazes in the wedding world. We waved them at the bride and groom as they left the church and then we took them to the reception and people danced with them, sounds weird but it was really pretty fun

yes, and there was dancing all night long, the tutus made it to the reception it's amazing what you'll do when you're wearing a tutu :)

Aimy (my sister-in-law) and Katherine (Allison's sister)

an inside story and tutu dance just for Allison :)

Eller family

Beth made a guest appearance on the wedding day :) Missed you Beth!!

party favors at the luncheon hosted by the Burdine aunts, Tammi had a professional cake decorator friend do bride & groom sugar cookies, they were incredible!

The Burdine girl cousins at Allison's bridal luncheon, she wanted everyone to wear hats to the luncheon we loved it!

October 8th my cousin Allison got married to Ben Tillman in Williamsburg, VA. It was a BEAUTIFUL location and venue. Allison is one of the 10 Burdine cousins on my mom's side . . . the side that does BIG triennial reunions across the country. Three of the ten cousins are married now and our reunions are growing. It was great to meet Ben for the first time and get to know some of his family. We are looking forward to initiating you in the family officially at our next Burdine reunion Ben! My Ben couldn't make it and our cousin Beth is currently overseas on her second deployment but everyone else was there for the celebration. Fun memories!

prank on KGB

2011-10-24T21:04:00.007-08:00

As I was heading home from work tonight about 7:25 p.m., we had a late day with parent conferences, I was shaken up by a softball size rock hitting the passenger side of my windshield. It was one of the moments where everything happens so fast you're not sure how to process it all.

I had just turned off Fairview Loop onto KGB and about 1/4 mile heading south when the rock hit. I heard a loud thump, shatter and glass sprayed across my face and front. I thought at first it came from a truck or car passing by but there were no cars around me. It had been lobbed up from the right ditch, probably some nutso teenager looking for a fun kick. My less sanctified self would like to kick that teenager or whoever it was.

So I pulled off at Three Bears, parked and called 911 to report it. They said they've had other instances just like that in that same area over the past month or so. NOT FUNNY. Just a heads up to all you who drive down KGB on a regular basis the stretch between Three Bears and Fairview Loop is fair game for crazies. Be careful and report to the Troopers if anything suspicious is going on, they are keeping it all "on file" supposedly and looking for kids in that area.

a Kroon wedding . . .

2011-08-06T16:14:00.008-08:00

Gunner and Joani (Hannah's brother and Keet's oldest sister)

Ben and Brittany (Keet's brother and sister)

Mr. & Mrs.

All through high school, college and now as adults I have known the Kroon clan. Ben, Joani, Kep and I went to WHS together back in another era of life . . . my 15 year reunion was this past May!! Since our high school days we've all gone to college, some of us have gotten married, one is on Broadway, and some have kiddos running around keeping them busy.

Last night Keeton Kroon, the youngest of the Larry Kroon clan got married up at Hill Top ski resort. All week it has been pouring rain in south central AK. It was not looking like a good weekend for an outdoor wedding but to our surprise it cleared up mid day in Anchorage and Keeton and his bride Hannah had a gorgeous evening for an outdoor celebration! It was a fun night to see lots of friends, some up from out of state visiting for the week. Congrats to Keeton and Hannah! We love you guys!

dollar bill

2011-08-06T16:01:00.002-08:00

Ben and I were tackling organizing our shed this week . . . spring cleaning came late for us this year. He pulled out a big three step stool that had been wrapped up in a garbage bag from our wedding. When he took off the big sticker stuck to the top step we found another wedding bill stuck inbetween! Two + years later we are STILL finding dollar bills that my family so cleaverly hid EVERYWHERE in our stuff. Talk about a GREAT wedding "prank"!! It is super fun to find MONEY even years later that people hid for us. Great memories, thanks Burdine family!!

Eagle

2011-08-06T15:47:00.002-08:00

This summer has busy, busy as expected when you're doing full time youth ministry. Ben was out a couple weeks in Kokrine Hills, a bush village, doing a youth camp for native Jr/Sr. high kids from surrounding villages. A team from Los Angeles teams with us to put on the camps. In total there is a 10 day junior high camp, a 10 day senior high camp and a 10 day discipleship camp follow-up for kids that make commitments during the previous two weeks or previous years. I was home holding down the fort during this stint of trips working summer school. Thought it would be nice to make a little extra working part time for 5 weeks. Work was good but it sure made the summer fly by!

A week after coming off of Kokrine another team of youth drove out to Eagle, I got to go with on this one :), and did a VBS along with service projects for the locals there. Ben and I went with the team in 2009 two weeks after our wedding before heading back down to CA. It was a great week of ministry and a fun time personally for me to reminisce about my high school days at WBC when we used to float the Yukon River from Dawson City, Canada to Eagle, AK. Eagle has had a major face lift since the spring 2009 flood which took out the first couple streets, homes, and buildings in Eagle. Our youth did a fabulous job putting on VBS and we had no car problems . . . that may be a first ever!

Ben has been working like crazy this week post Eagle to get VBS up and running which is this coming week. It's our last big push to wrap up the summer of big events then fall settles in, ahhhh we can't wait! I have been catching up on some much needed sleep and getting things (i.e. groceries, cleaning etc.) done before I head back to work next week. Life is a bit crazy for us these days but we are grateful to be doing ministry and to both have great full time jobs that we enjoy. God is faithful.

gardening . . .

2011-07-18T19:27:00.005-08:00

butternut squash in front, tomatoes and some zuchini behind

I've harvested our rhubarb once already this summer and it's ready to be harvested again, last year I got 3 harvests out of the season

my hanging baskets have taken off this past month

lettuce starting to come up

our first tomato fruit

fresh basil

This year I am doing my first garden. A little of this and a little of that, some flouwers and some veggies. This post is in response to a request made by my cousin Beth who is serving her second term over seas. Enjoy! We love and miss you! Thanks for helping me get it going this past May.

weddings!

2011-06-18T22:11:00.006-08:00

Erin and her sister Caitlyn who was her maid of honor

Erin, OB and my dad

Johanna, me, Erin, Amanda, Emily, Mayerly

Becky and her dad

Two of my former youth girls from Wasilla Bible got married this past week. Becky and Chris got married in her parents back yard on a GORGEOUS AK summer morning! Erin and OB (Oba) got married on the military base in Anchorage yesterday on yet another GORGEOUS AK summer afternoon. Both girls were stunning brides!

It's hard to believe 4 years ago I was attending their high school graduations. The group picture at Erin's wedding is myself and Amanda who were youth leaders to all of the girls in that group. Three in that group are now happily married! God is so good! What fun memories! Love you both and wish you the best in marriage!

Company

2011-06-18T21:35:00.009-08:00

the Niednagel family at Crow Creek Mine

Jonathan, Peter, John Mark and Ben heading out to bear hunt

husky pups at the Iditarod Museum

sledding in the few patches of snow that were left

hiking at Hatcher's Pass

paddle boat races at a friend's cabin in Big Lake

Stephanie, Annie, Benjamin and Daniel at the glacier

Luke's bear

The end of May and beginning of June was a fun filled busy time with guests, guests and more guests. After my cousin Beth left to go back to Seattle to prep for her deployment some friends of ours, the Niednagels, from Los Angeles came up for nine days to visit.

This trip originally started as three fathers and their oldest sons coming up for a week to bear hunt with Ben. We talked the Niednagel crew in to an entire family vacation though! Soooo, The Niednagels came for 9 days and crashed with us at our place. It worked perfect, the parents took our spare bedroom and their 5 awesome kiddos crashed up stairs in the youth room that is filled with 12+ couches. They loved it!

Jonathan (the dad) and his two oldest sons spent a good part of their time out in Willow bear hunting baits Ben set up weeks prior. Stephanie and I took the younger three kiddos and toured around the area hitting Matanuska Glacier, Sutton fossil mines, Hatchers sledding and hiking, and the Iditorod Museum. The bummer part for the Niednagels is they did not end up getting a bear but two other groups that came up did. We did sneak in some family trips one to Crow Creek Mine, one to the AK Wilderness Center out past Girdwood and a day out fishing.

Rick Holland another friend from LA and a Rick G. from Kansas both came with their sons as well during the same week (arriving and leaving at various times). Rick G., his son and Rick Holland's son Luke all got bears so they were pretty pumped! Ben and I also got to take Rick H. and Luke out on a successful King fishing trip the day they flew out. It was a whirlwind couple of weeks but we loved having time with everybody! Hopefully they will come again and soak up even more of AK!

surprise party!

2011-05-23T11:18:00.008-08:00

very cool, thanks Jim and Lynn

John and Tammi sent a very cool scrapbook with pics and Scripture and a HILLARIOUS "feline" picture pillow with pom poms . . . Beth will be sure to put a pic of Cleo in it :)

the 30+ crowd

the two 30 year olds in the group, Ben's 30th was in April

My cousin Beth is up visiting this week before she heads out on her second deployment to the Middle East. Last time was to Iraq and this time to Afghanistan. She is an ICU nurse for the Army.

This past winter she was transferred from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC. We prayed for a transfer to Fort Richardson in Anchorage BUT to our dismay that didn't come through . . . HOWEVER, she did make it to Madigan Army Medical Center in Seattle, WA. That's as close to AK as you can get w/out being here. We were pumped to have her close for the next three year stint and soak in some long weekends together. Shortly after her transfer she was given the news of a pending deployment, bummer. Big bummer. But we will pray her through this deployment as well.

After some begging and twisting her arm we (Ben and I) got her to spend some of her precious pre deployment leave in AK before she leaves. Beth turns the big 3-0 on June 8th so we had a surprise Burdine birthday party for her Saturday night. Some of the other cousins, aunts and uncles mailed b-day packages to my parents for her to open to celebrate together across the miles.

Beth is my cousin from my mom's side of the family . . . the family that does HUGE triennial reunions all over the country. I LOVE that our family is close like this and pulls together to do special things for each other even across the miles. Thanks Burdines! And thanks Beth for spending some of your time off with US! We are LOVING IT!!

Graduation

2011-05-23T10:56:00.003-08:00

It's high school graduation week! Here are a couple pics from Houston High's graduation this past Wednesday. Garrett Elder, one of our youth guys was the valedictorian for HHS. For those WBC people looking at this you'll recognize Heidi Doner with him. Garrett is commercial fishing this summer at Clam Gulch with Peter and the Doner clan. Small world. :)

ballet

2011-05-07T22:51:00.007-08:00

Emma, me, Cheyanne

the Stahle crew

Connie, Hannah, Grandma Hogan

This morning I went to a ballet recital in Anchorage that one of my youth girls, Cheyanne was performing in. I actually ended up knowing several girls in the recital some from FBF and some from WBC.

Years ago I was in ballet and I LOVED it. I'm not artsy in many aspects of life but I love, absolutely love music and dance. One of my favorite "fun" things to do is go to performing arts events and recitals. My parents and I drove in to Anchorage together b/c they wanted to see the Hannah Stahle and Emma Burris perform.

Cheyanne, one of my girls here at FBF is going to Utah for two months this summer to a ballet academy to study ballet with professionals and do some performances. Yep, she is AMAZING, leaps and bounds better than I ever was. Emma and Hannah are incredible too. It was a morning well spent!

This is a random after thought, as I was posting I remembered a time when I used to baby sit Hannah and her older brother Wade when they were first born. Now Hannah is just shy of 6'0" and is a junior in HIGH SCHOOL! When did that happen? She is a beautiful, accomplished young lady. I can't believe she will be graduating next year!

green thumb?

2011-05-07T22:30:00.003-08:00

So I am attempting my first garden this summer. I'm optimistic but not setting my hopes too high because I kill most house plants. My one bonus to doing it is there are several people at FBF (my church) who are master gardeners and they have promised to help answer my questions and give pointers as I set out the end of this month to move it all outside.

Not wanting to out do myself my first shot at it I started my plants inside the beginning of April but I'm cheating and planning on buying flowers from a green house to put out in the yard. I have three beds around our house (youth building) that supposedly do really well. Two of the beds are south facing and get tons of day light all summer. Soooooo, we'll see!

The pics are of my winter squash selection (butternut and spaghetti squash) and tomato plants. I'm also planning on planting summer squash, zucchini and lettuce along with an herb garden.

Sunday shooting . . .

2011-05-07T22:14:00.006-08:00

Alyssa and Colton

my handsome hubby

A couple of Sunday's ago Ben and I spent the afternoon with his relatives in Willow shooting. His cousin Luke bought a new place that is being "remodeled" gutted and rebuilt is more descriptive, but right now it is the perfect place to go shooting b/c there is no one out there and you can shoot into a gravel pit 500 yards out. We had a great time sighting in a mass artillery all the Conner cousins, aunt, uncle and grandmother were there. It's rare to have the whole crew together with work schedules and slope jobs. We loved our time together!

Girl's Retreat!

2011-04-19T20:37:00.017-08:00

This past weekend we had a high school girl's retreat at the Sunset View B&B in Big Lake. It was awesome!! Vangie and I got the idea this winter and we ran with it. I actually based a lot of it off a one day retreat we did years ago at WBC. We had 4 sessions: Home and Hospitality, Friendship, Purity/Dating, Faith and Life.

Linda and Vangie did a fantastic job presenting on things from setting a table, cooking a meal, etiquette (I learned a lot) and welcoming friends in your home (even if it's just to sleep over). Amy Elder and I did the session on Friendship and we talked about 4 seasons of friendships (spring, summer, fall, winter) and how to break out of cliques and/or stop putting up walls that hinder friendships from happening. Kathy, Courtney and Cheryl did an excellent talk on Purity. A highlight being an anonymous Q&A session they did with our youth guys on what they look for in a godly woman and what they do and don't appreciate about how girls present themselves (i.e. pursuing, being desperate, dress, etc.). Anita Bacon and I wrapped the weekend up with a session on Faith and Life. I emphasized the importance of worship and being immersed in the WORD of God and Anita B. did her usual bang up job of how to share the Gospel. Anita Bacon is one of the most evangelistic minded people I have ever met. She did a really neat short study getting the girls to DRAW out their 3-5 minute testimony and then had them share.

In retrospect it was a bit of a whirlwind weekend, very packed with LOTS of good info! When we do it again next year I think we'll leave a little more down time in the schedule but the girls LOVED it. That was the hope, that they would be loved on, encouraged and challenged in their walk with the Lord. Thank you Lord for a blessed weekend!

I only got pics were of the first session b/c my camera battery died. If I get more group pics I'll post them later.

finishing touches . . .

2011-03-26T20:59:00.006-08:00

"Give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love" Psalm 107:8

"May all who enter as guests, leave as friends"

Today we wrapped up the finishing touches on my living room make over project. I bought some wall shelves at Target a couple weeks ago and we got those hung and decorated this morning. The vinyl sign on the wall "May those who enter as guests, leave as friends" was a gift from Ben's mom a couple of Christmases ago. I loved the idea but hadn't hung it yet because I knew we would be moving out of California where we were at the time. It is the perfect addition to my make over project! Thanks Dorothy!

Other "finishing touches" came from a Blessings Unlimited party I had at my house when Ben was gone to his conference in Los Angeles. For those who are not familiar Blessings Unlimited is like a Pampered Chef business but the products are things for your house that have Scripture on them. The idea behind the business is to get Scripture in your home in different ways. With most Christian book stores being closed now online shopping or this business is one of the only ways to get this type of stuff.

The vase with the red flowers came with two signs one says "Peace" and the other one says "Light," both have a different verse written on the flip side. Another great feature about the vase is that you can flip it upside down and it doubles as a candle stand/holder! Love it! The table runner was another Blessings Unlimited product, this one my mom bought me. Thanks mom it is PERFECT with our living room theme, okay maybe it's more MY theme than Ben's but he loves the final outcome.

All in all I am enjoying the finished product and feel like it is much more homey now.

pillow project

2011-03-18T23:42:00.003-08:00

As part of my living room make over I decided to copy Pottery Barn's pillow case pattern to recover some of the throw pillows on our couches. The colors of our living room are green, brown, cream/tan and red as the accent color. Back in the fall I looked into buying two pillow case covers from PBarn only to find that they would cost $30 on sale and charge an additional $30 to ship to AK. Really, $30 shipping for 8 oz. of weight? No way. Ridiculous. Another true confession I am not a seamstress. In fact I think I've sewn something with guidance using a sewing machine two times in my life.

For this simple but technical project for a non-sew-er I went to the professionals for assistance, Pam and Marlene Kroon. As luck would have it they were having a quilting, sewing week together so my sewing idea fit right in with their plans. Wednesday I went over to Pam's house to meet with my seamstress mentors and we wipped out a pattern in a few minutes and a couple hours later I was driving home with two new pillow cases that cost me approximately $7.00 a piece to make. Not bad. It feels great to make something you really want or like and save a ton of $$ in the process. Thanks Pam and Marlene for your assistance! The pillows fit perfect with my living room make over!

introducing my Ruger 308 . . .

2011-03-18T23:26:00.006-08:00

Here my friends and family are the looooooong awaited pictures of my Christmas present this year. Ben bought me my own personalized rifle. By personalized I mean it fits me like a glove! For those who don't shoot or own their own guns, shooting with a gun that doesn't fit your body is like running a marathon with shoes that are way too big. The specs you ask? I have my very own compact, Ruger, model 77, 308, stainless laminate rifle. Even I am learning a bit about ballistics. :) I'm already in the running to be the next Annie Oakley. Okay, maybe not THAT good yet.

This past week was my spring break and Ben and I went out to Willow to go shooting. We . . . by we I mean Ben sited in our rifles. He took his 3006 and I had my 308. I LOVE shooting my gun it makes all the difference in the world to shoot a gun that fits perfect! Due to my competitive nature we HAD to have a shoot off. I know, REALLY compete with a man who has been shooting since he was 4 years old (no lie) and yours truly has been shooting half a dozen times in my LIFE. I wasn't afraid of failure I wanted to see how close I could get to Mr. Shootist himself. Take a look at the groups that were on the target. Ben shot the two right handed diamonds and I shot the two left handed diamonds. We both got 5 shots per target. Two of my top shots went right through each other. Three of his were overlaid. The middle grouping was a free shoot of mine after the competition was over.

living room make-over . . .

2011-03-18T23:10:00.006-08:00

So I have had a bee in my bonnet this spring to remodel our living room. It started with wanting to paint it to make it warmer and more homey which then led to many other ideas. :) A couple of months ago we settled on a color, Athenian Green and I took a Tuesday off (Ben's day off) to stay home and have a painting party. I thought about surprising Ben and painting one one of his trips this Feb/March but being that he professionally painted for years I figured it would be better to do it together and have it look really nice . . . professional. I LOVE being married to a handy man!

We also, as you will see in this post, got a print framed that we got a couple of years ago with wedding money. I've been wanting to hang the picture for several months but knowing we were in transition moving to CA and back to AK I waited. Ben LOVES the picture as any serious hunter would. I've done other work this week to "remake" the room but I will post that a little later. I'm not a Joani Kroon/Curtis or an Amanda Bacon the home making queens but it is fun to test the creative juices and make your home feel more welcoming and more like us!

Blake and Natalie

2010-12-31T15:24:00.006-09:00

last minute reminders before the ceremony

Blake, Natalie & Ben

Courtney and Amy Elder, Blake's sister and mother

running out to their gettaway mobile, a snowmachine, BRRRR!!!

About the "marrying" part of my last blog . . . well it turns out Ben got to practice his pastoral skills this week performing his first wedding for some friends of ours at FBF. Ethan Hansen, our senior pastor was lined up to officiate Blake and Natalie's wedding last night but a family emergency came up a week ago Thursday.

Ethan got a call from his brother in Dallas, TX saying their 16 year old son, Ethan's nephew, was killed in a car accident. Ethan's parents had just arrived two days prior to AK to spend the holiday in AK with the Hansens but all that changed quickly in a matter of hours. The grandparents flew out immediately to TX and the Hansen's left this past Sunday.

Blake and Natalie called Ben last Saturday and asked if he would offciate in Ethan's place. Of course Ben accepted and was honored to be asked. He was a little nervous not having had much time to mentally prepare for the ceremony but he did an awesome job! Blake and Natalie are happily married and Ben is greatful all went well with the last minute change.

I know I am biased but I must say my husband is a natural, truly when it comes to being a pastor!

Ordination Sunday

2010-12-26T15:54:00.007-09:00

Yep, I'm about a month behind again in blogging! The first Sunday in December was one that we won't soon forget and we want to share with family and friends. Ben was ordained officially at our church, Faith Bible Fellowship, in Big Lake, AK. He can now as he calls it, "marry and bury" and do all the other things ministers do. He will actually be performing his first wedding this coming Thursday for some friends of ours. We are blessed to be in full time ministry and love being a part of the church family at Faith Bible.

Thanksgiving Pies

2010-11-24T22:30:00.007-09:00

Strawberry Rhubarb

Pumpkin

French Apple

I decided to test my domestic skills this holiday and make all my pies from scratch. Yes from SCRATCH . . . home made pumpkin pie, strawberry rhubarb pie and french apple pie. Homemade crusts, hand picked and chopped rhubarb, fresh baked pumpkin with spices added, but sadly no hand picked or home grown apples here in AK.

I've had success in the past with Joani Curtis' apple pie recipe, a favorite of mine now but I have never tried pumpkin or strawberry rhubarb before. I took the strawberry rhubarb pie and one of the pumpkin pies to a Thanksgiving service at church tonight. I sampled a piece of the rhubarb pie and it was surpisingly excellent! To be truthful I'm not a rhubarb fan so I figured I could try this one out at a desert potluck and someone who DOES like rhubarb can enjoy it. To my surprise I may like rhubarb (with other fruit added) after all! The apple and other pumpkin pie will be taste tested tomorrow at my parents house for Thanksgiving which also happens to fall this year on my mom's birthday. :) Happy Birthday mom!

PETA

2010-10-25T19:13:00.006-08:00

Okay Burdines, here is the official post. For those who are not Burdines here's the story behind the pics. We decided at our last Burdine family reunion this past June to mix things up and not do a Christmas exchange because it is such a busy time of year and non of us really NEED anything. Instead we decided to do a Burdine/ Grammie Day on September 13th each year in memory of my grandmother (9/13 was her birthday). It's a special time of year for all of us and now we can remember each other in some fun way on her birthday.

So we all were given someone's name and my cousin Fredrick got Ben's name. Little did we know several family members had some input as to what to give Ben for Grammie Day. His arrived a little late but this past week Ben got his first of a year's subscription to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Or as Ben and his family call it "People who Eat Tasty Animals."

I didn't tell Ben what was coming in the mail but hearing through the grapevine I decided to have a little fun too. You see I had Fredrick's name. What did I send him you ask? Being a devoted democrat I did what any devoted republican would do, I sent him a 2011 Sarah Palin calendar WITH all of our extended family members birthdays written in it in sharpy so as to prevent regifting such a treasure. He'll be the most on top one of us all now with all our b-days lined out. We are all expecting emails or phone calls on our birthday now Fredrick. :) I love my family!!

P.S. If you're looking for some good vegan recipes PETA may just be the journal for you! Don't think we'll be making any seeing that we've got a freezer full of moose and salmon.

end of summer . . .

2010-09-12T22:09:00.007-08:00

State Fair

camping

blue berry picking

blue berry pancakes

been awhile . . .

2010-08-23T21:17:00.002-08:00

Between losing my camera cable and just being plain busy settling into life in AK I temporarily dropped off the blogging scene. There is so much to catch up on I have decided to just pick up where we are now or I may just keep putting blogging off.

For all Ben's family and friends out of state our apologies for not keeping you as up to date with life back in AK. We are LOVING being back home! Ben is finally settling in to a more "regular" ministry routine with all the summer youth trips and VBS wrapped up. Between preaching twice a week, planning fall and winter youth events and spending outside time with youth he is keeping plenty busy. I started work a couple weeks ago working full time again as a speech path for my old district here in the Valley. I'm at Snowshoe Elementary this year and have a great staff and much smaller caseload to work with compared to CA.

One really neat blessing we have experienced since being back is a new vehicle. Before leaving CA we checked discount dealerships in WA and ID to possibly buy something cheap in the states and drive it up to AK when we moved. Long story short we decided not to go that route in hopes we'd find a good deal in AK. Specifically we (I maybe more so) really liked the Toyota Sequoia. We were looking for a mid size SUV that is 4WD. There was a decent deal on one in ID but we passed it up. Long story short a few weeks ago we found a Sequoia on Craigs List and the seller was from BIG LAKE! Not only did we get a better deal than the one we saw in ID but the family we bought it from lived approximately 10 minutes down the road from us! An even cooler part was the vehicle came with nearly new snow tires!! We would not have had that extra bonus if we bought it in the states.

God has really blessed us with vehicles just in the year + we've been married. We got a free replacement from a seminary student in LA last year, one that we were able to pass on for free to someone else when we left. And now we have a 4WD SUV that is exactly what we wanted and prayed for! God doesn't have to give us anything but sometimes He choses to bless us not only with what we need (4WD vehicle) but also what we want (Toyota Sequoia). Thank you Lord for your provision!

wedding cake

2010-07-21T17:38:00.004-08:00

Does anyone know where the tradition came from to freeze part of your wedding cake to eat on your first anniversary? It's an odd thing to do but fun at the same time. Last year my mom froze the top tier of our wedding cake (chocolate with raspberry filling, DELICIOUS!) and we thawed it last night to celebrate, a little late, our first anniversary. We had no idea if cake would even taste decent after a year in the freezer but surprisingly it did! I think fondet (fondent??) helps seal it to keep it from getting a lot of freezer burn. Whatever it was the cake was still delicious and even more enjoyable in the comfort of a home a year later when we could both savor eating it.

The best part for us of cutting in to our cake last night at my parents house was what we found hidden underneath. All my mom's family flew up from all over the world literally last summer to be at our wedding, the Burdine side that we just had the triennial family reunion with. Their big thing at Dave and Aimy's wedding was to hide $200 one dollar bills all over their house so they would find them in the weeks and months to come after their honeymoon. They literally were still finding $1 bills a year after their wedding, what a cool idea huh?

Since Ben and I lived in CA and they couldn't hide $1 bills all over our house they had people at our reception come up randomly and give us bills and they hid money in our honeymoon suit cases. Anyway, all that to explain we were REALLY surprised to find a final $1 bill hidden under our frozen wedding cake! Well done Burdines! I don't know how or when that got slipped there, I'm guessing during the reception but very creative! We loved finding it! What a fun family.

family time in WA

2010-07-21T17:03:00.010-08:00

posing by a carved tree trunk at a local park

a picnic lunch at a local winery with Craig and Joan Probst, Craig is like a surrogate dad to Ben

the invisible green screen

the weather forecast for the evening looks sunny

We spent an afternoon with the Mitchells in MO before we flew back to CA to drive up the highway

I've managed to get behind again in my blogging in part because of our move to Alaska but also because I have misplaced my camera cable that lets me download pics in all the moving shuffle. Yep, I have no idea as of yet where my cable is but I am sure it will show up sooner or later. I have several pics to download but thought I'd put up a couple from our time with Ben's family in WA before we headed up the Alcan.

We got to spend two days with Ben's mom and Tim in Kennewick before heading to Spokane for 2+ days with his dad and Tina. Tim is a weatherman for a local news station in Kennewick and we got to crash his station one evening and do a little news shoot of our own, very fun! Thanks Tim! We also went shooting one afternoon with Dorothy and Tim . . . pistols this time. I'm improving my aim more and more. Hand guns are easier than rifles and shot guns b/c you having the "right fit" doesn't matter as much. We've already picked out "my" rifle that will come later down the road . . . a youth size that I can manage much easier than Ben's guns.

We enjoyed every minute of our time with family in WA. Thanks for being great hosts! I've got more WA photos that I'll post later when my camera cable shows up! :)

travelin' north

2010-06-25T16:38:00.006-08:00

time with Joani and Mark in Albany, OR

Allison (Joani's little girl)

Ed and Becky Hultgren (my aunt and uncle)

Erick and Jennifer Hultgren (my cousins)

Bart and Amy Horton helped us finish packing and loading the Uhaul Monday afternoon

We're on our way back to Alaska and have enjoyed staying with friends and family along the way. Monday night we crashed at Becky and Ed's house in Walnut Creek, CA (my aunt and uncle). Tuesday, after a 12 hour day of driving we crashed at Mark and Joani Curtis' house for dinner a quick catch up on life and good night's sleep and now we are in WA with Ben's family for four days before we hit it hard through Cananda. Above are some highlights of our first great road trip adventure together. :) Thanks to everyone for your awesome hospitality! It's been great to visit along the way.

Branson, MO

2010-06-20T12:46:00.010-08:00

Ladies day out shopping

Aimy, Brittany, Allison

Jennifer, me and Beth

Silver Dollar City Amusement Park. . . can you tell we're together??

Girls G3 lunch, we made 7 different kinds of panini a little time intensive but DELICIOUS!

Guys G2 lunch, BBQ on the grill

This past week was the 10th triennial Burdine family reunion. The "Burdine family" is my mom's side of the family. This year we met up in Branson, Missouri for the week. Reunions vary on location being that everybody lives across the country from Washington DC and North Carolina to Ohio, North and South Dakota, California and Alaska. My grandparents started the tradition the summer of 1980 when I was two in hopes that our family would commit to meeting once every three years and stay close despite the distance we've always had. Thirty years later and years after both grandparents have passed away we are still going strong with the Burdine family reunion tradition. It is something we all look forward to and enjoy.

wAteR tiMe!!

2010-06-20T12:30:00.008-08:00

. . . and there were cannon ball, diving and belly flop competitions

Jim's Chou mien noodle pose

Aimy and Allison

Jennifer the toughest jet skier, she flipped off hers had a bloody nose and got back on the rest of the afternoon!

Ben and I

One "stipulation" to hosting reunion is to always have it near a body of water, an ocean, lake or river. This year in Branson we had it on a huge lake that was WARM. We soaked up every minute of water time we had! Two days we rented a pontoon boat to see sections of the lake and one afternoon we rented 3 jet skis to play around on. We had a BLAST!! It was super refreshing and relaxing!

Burdine Family

2010-06-20T12:18:00.008-08:00

Ed, Becky, Erick, Beth and Jennifer Hultgren (Becky is the oldest Burdine sibling)

Jim, Lynda, David and Aimy Eller, Ben and Anita Mosier (Lynda is the 2nd Burdine sibling)

Jim, Lynn, Allison, Katherine and Frederick Burdine (Jim is the 3rd Burdine sibling)

John, Tammi, Alex and Brittany Burdine (John is the youngest of the four siblings)

Burdine G-2 (four siblings)

Burdine G-3ers (generation 3) grandkids

anniversary get away . . .

2010-06-05T19:01:00.009-08:00

Last night I planned an early 1st anniversary get away for Ben and I since we will be on the Alaska Highway driving during our real anniversary (June 27th). It was SO fun, so relaxing and the perfect break in a crazy busy end of the year with work and moving. We went to Santa Barbara to a quaint B & B a little over an hour from our place in Castaic. Some ladies I asked from church recommended this place the Tiffany Country House Inn and it was wonderful!

The B & B we were in had 8 room inside and then a few cottages out in the back yard. The house was built in the late 1800s and had lots of character. It reminded me of a house from Anne of Green Gables (that's for all the ladies reading this that know exactly what I am talking about). To top off the character guess the title of the room we stayed in . . . "The Darcy Room" yes just like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. It was one of two rooms that had a KING size bed, private patio, and huge jacuzzi tub all to ourselves!

We spent the night Friday night, toured around town a little and spent the afternoon today at the beach one last time before we leave So Cal. Sunshine, warm weather, and beaches have been some of the perks to being in California. This morning after an amazing breakfast we spent an hour or so out on our private patio in the sun journalling.

Mark and Merry Doner gave us journals last year as a wedding gift to use to document each year of marriage. Merry shared this with me years ago and I always loved the idea. Each year for 25+ years now they go away for a night or two right around their anniversary and journal to each other highlights, events, and prayers answered throughout that past year of marriage. After they finish journalling they read what they wrote to each other. And so Ben and I have started, what I hope to continue for decades to come, a tradition of getting away for our anniversary and remembering all we have learned, laughed about, loved, and grown through each year we are together. Thanks for the great idea Mark and Merry!

All in all it was a memorable and perfect weekend together reminiscing about our last year together. We've had a GREAT first year!

P.S. I added a picture of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sign b/c it is one of the actual training gyms that Gracie Barra coaches at. Weird I know but Gracie Barra is knows for dominating the sport (the whole family does) in MMA and all over the world. No I am not an MMA fan club member but I know a little about it.

farewell party

2010-05-30T17:14:00.010-08:00

Little Miss Mehringer

Darry and Cathy Duhm (neighbors and one of Ben's bosses at Cragoe)

Molly, Emma Grace and Ben

Darry & Cathy with their happy foursome

Teri White (Bob and Teri did our premarital counseling)

Jason & Tammy (seminary friends from Mississippi)

This weekend we had a going away open house at the Gillespie's house (seminary friends) to say good bye to people we've met while being here in So Cal. There were just a handful of people that stopped by, a lot people were out for the holiday weekend, but it was fun just the same and nice to have time to chat with those who did make it. Thanks Jason and Tammy for opening up your home!

We are going to miss the sweet fellowship we have here. God has blessed us with several life long friendships during Ben's four years and the year and a half I have been here. It's exciting to think about how our paths may cross again in future years Lord willing.

Shag

2010-05-30T16:25:00.004-08:00

Yesterday at while we were spending time with our friends the Gillespies and Duhms I met a new and rather interesting friend. I was standing at the kitchen counter getting something to drink next to Molly who was perched on a bar stool at the counter. Molly is the token girl of four Duhm children, two older brothers and one younger brother all a year apart. Yes a busy house of preschool/kinder children. Just to set the stage a little Molly can rough house with the boys but she is the princess of the bunch. She loves to dress up, wear barretts and tiarras, paint her nails and be . . . a girl.

Standing next to Molly at the counter I noticed a pretty pink sash around her shoulder and looked down to find a strategically tied harness, if you could call it that, where her baby doll was hanging. I was a little taken aback at first sight, partly by the harness and party by the war paint on the baby. Not sure whether to laugh or be horrified I asked Molly about her baby.

She looked down as I asked like she had forgotten the baby was there at all, "Oh yea, that's Shag my baby." Shag for those who are confused by the gender neutral name is a girl. She explained that Shag likes to go places with her. Shag's legs are kind of soar (they are hanging on by a thread) but her arms are okay. I inquired about the fancy war paint (black sharpy) all over Shag's face and foot thinking it likely was one of her three brothers that got a hold of the doll and disfigured it but no it was make-up and the big circle on her forhead was a bruise. I'd have a bruise on my head too if I was drug all over the yard and up and down stairs. Molly's mom Cathy told me that Shag one of her favorite dolls and she takes it everywhere. Funny the things we love to pieces (literally) when we are little.

counting down . . .

2010-05-21T18:19:00.003-08:00

Today is the three week mark. In exactly three weeks from tomorrow Ben and I will leave for the Burdine triennial family reunion . . . Ben's first of many to come and my 10th, yes that makes me 30+ now, still not sure when that happened. So the craze has begun, or maybe just continued. :)

Our days are filled to the gills and life is good, very good, but very busy. Ben is finishing a two week summer class tonight which is the grand finale of his seminary career and we are SO glad. He has worked crazy hard the past four years. I am wrapping up three more weeks of work before we leave on June 12th for Missouri for family reunion. Ben is also finishing up a part time job with Cragoe, a pesticide company he's been working for for the past couple of years. In the midst of all that we are packing up the house here and there and soaking up as much time with friends as we can before we leave.

We are hoping to sit down sometime this weekend and solidify our hypothetical drive to AK a little more. The general plan at this time is . . .

* May 28th Ben finishes work with Cragoe and starts prepping for youth ministry in AK
* June 11th I finish work with the Saugus School District
* June 12-20th family reunion in Missouri (yes we are flying, yeah!)
* June 22nd load the Uhaul and drive to San Fransisco to spend a night with the Hultgrens (my aunt and uncle)
* June 23rd drive to Oregon and spend a night with Mark, Joani and Allison
* June 24-? Spend a few days in Washington with Ben's family
* Get to AK by July 3rd but sooner if possible
* July 4th Ben leaves with Faith Bible youth on their first summer trip (I crash and unpack a little)
* July 18th we both leave with the youth for a week long VBS in Eagle, AK (the trip we went on last year right after our honeymoon)

Ben is going to hit the ground running literally full speed ahead so I am hoping he can soak in some down time before we leave my last couple weeks of work. We are excited for the move and sad at the same time to say good bye to close friends down here. A positive is that we will likely be back occasionally for the March Shepherd's conferences at Grace when we can see people here again. We are so thankful for God's provision, provision in giving us both jobs in Alaska, provision in providing finances to get there (Uhauls to AK are not a cheap endeavor!), and provision in blessing us with sweet fellowship all along the way, here in CA and back up in AK. God is faithful.

fun girl time

2010-05-21T18:06:00.005-08:00

a belated birthday tea

an over cast day in Santa Monica

Last week Thursday through Sunday one of my good friends from Alaska Carrie Lambing stop through for a visit on her way to a photography workshop in Newport Beach. I took Friday off and we soaked in a full three days of girl time. It was a fun weekend filled with sleeping in, shopping, going out for tea, admiring fine art at the Getty, strolling along the beach, and laying out at the lake. Thanks for making the time to stop through Carrie it was refreshing and a great excuse to put off packing!

Graduation

2010-05-16T21:47:00.010-08:00

Tim and Dorothy

Tim, Dorothy, and Aunt Becky

the hood

Jonathan and Stephanie Niednagel (Ben's hunting buddy and the couple I stayed with when I first moved to CA)

Ashley and Reese Mehringer

reception cake a friend made

Rick and Kim Holland (my seminary wives leader and Ben's hunting buddy)

Last Sunday Ben graduated from seminary with his Masters in Divinity (MDiv). He's been going to school the past four years in hopes of moving into full time ministry preaching the teaching the Bible. This was his second round of college after getting a bachelors in Education and teaching in Alaska for 4 years. It was during his time working and teaching in the Alaska Bush that he had a change of heart professionally and was burdened to teach the Bible, not reading, writing and arithmatic to students.

The Lord has brought Ben through a loooooong and TOUGH 4 years of seminary. Greek, Hebrew, Old and New Testament Studies, Hermeneutics, Ordination Prep, Theology class after Theology class the list goes on. Spending this last year married I have seen first hand some of the time and work he has poured in to learning the Bible and preaching and teaching others. He is on the verge of being completely done finishing one last class this summer, Pastor's Home. The best part of his summer class is that he has to take me on a date as an assignment, something he plans and puts together and I "grade" him on how he does . . . it's an easy grade class that covers the heart of pastoring issues, one being a godly and loving husband. Not a bad idea in my mind! The end of June we will be heading to Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake where he will be the youth/associate pastor at the church. We are thrilled to be wrapping up our time here and feel blessed to have a church (in a state we LOVE) to go to as soon as we're done. God is faithful.

Mother's Day Tea

2010-05-11T19:48:00.005-08:00

petifores (sp?)

For Mother's Day we (okay, I) planned a Mother's Day Tea after church because I knew the day would be shadowed and busy with graduation that night. I actually learned about this particular "tea shop" in the newspaper and it turned out to be a really cute and perfect place to celebrate with our moms.

We took our moms to "The Tea Gardens" about 15 minutes from our apartment and had a fun "high tea" and lunch outside in the sun. I had never experienced "high tea" before so it was fun to see how it works. Basically, my the little knowledge and experience I have "high tea" is more than a cup of tea it is an three tiered eating extravaganza. The top tier of the tray they bring out has tea sandwiches (the cute small ones you cut the crust off of), the second tray has scones with a cream spread and jelly, and the third and final tier has a variety of petifores (little fancy deserts) to sample while you drink your tea.

Ben was a little skeptical at first and commented as he drove in the parking lot, "Hey, there's an I-HOP next door!" in secret hopes that the tea shop might be too busy and we'd have to "settle" for omelets and pancakes. He loved the experience after it was over though. I think he'd even go back again . . . if it was for something as sacrificial as celebrating our mothers. :)

It was a really memorable time having both of our moms with us and something that may not happen again for a long, long time (having the two of them together on Mother's Day). We love you Dorothy and Lynda!

Graduation Banquet

2010-05-11T19:02:00.008-08:00

me and my handsome man

Jim, Lynda, Anita, Ben, Dorothy, Tim

fillet mingon

a desert to die for

Kim Holland, my seminary wife table leader (Bible study group)

Bob & Teri White, Ben's seminary advisor and the couple that did our premarital counseling

This past week has been full and filled with fun memories as family flew down to visit and see Ben graduate from seminary. My parents flew down Thursday so Ben and I had some time with just the two of them Thursday and Friday before Ben's mom and step-dad flew down from Spokane on Saturday.

The graduation festivities officially kicked off Saturday night with a formal banquet at Grace Church. They served fillet mingon with mashed potatoes, vegetables a scrumptious salad and a to die for chocolate desert. A couple of graduating seminary students shared their testimonies along with some other faculty sharing about the seminary in general. They also had special music performed by some friends of ours. It was a special evening.

Mother's Day ideas

2010-04-26T16:36:00.003-08:00

Today at work as I reviewed the calendar and holidays with K-2 students . . . preparing to change the month to May this coming weekend I got some pretty cute responses to Mother's Day gift ideas. We go over the day of the week, the month and upcoming holidays. When asked what students were planning on doing or giving their mothers I got the following responses:

* I'm going to get a giant jumping house in our back yard so she can jump in it, but she can't be too crazy because she has a baby in her belly again.

* I'm going to give my aunt a Sponge Bob puzzle. I got a set of 6 Sponge Bob puzzles and they are 100 pieces! That's too many for me. I don't like them.

* (this kid with total enthusiasm, he could not WAIT to answer) I'm taking my mom to see Iron Man II!! It comes out on May 7th.

* I'm going to buy her dinner, chocolate, and candy.

* I'm going to make my mom a painting.

* (little girl's response) I'm going to rub my mom's feet. (boy's response) That's disgusting. Feet stink! (girl's response) MY mom's feet are clean.

* (one of my personal favorites) I'm getting my mom a plasma TV!! (my response) Wow, that's an expensive gift! (boy's response) I have 30 bucks!! (Good luck financing that!)

* I'm going to build my mom a lego city . . . (think's about it) a GIRLY lego city!

* I'm going to give my mom a snail. We have snails all over our sidewalk. (what every mom always wanted)

* I'm going to give my mom a manicure. (Yes, these are southern CA children some of whom have grown up celebrating their birthdays at all day spas as 6 & 7 year olds)

To all the mom's out there reading this, Happy Mother's Day! I'm looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day this year with my mom and Ben's mom in LA! They will both be here that weekend for Ben's graduation from seminary. Yeah! :)

apple pie!

2010-04-25T21:31:00.003-08:00

french apple pie success!

the day after

Being a wife has been a blast to say the least. One of the things I've enjoyed most is expanding my cooking and baking repertoire, particularly baking I love to bake. This past fall I attempted a home made french apple pie, a recipe I got years ago from Joani Curtis. All went well except that I covered the top with foil a little late in the game and the top burned. I attempted my second french apple pie this past week for Ben's birthday and it turned out perfect! Yeah! We had our friends the Horton's over Friday for dinner and desert and it was a hit! Thanks Joani!! I'll blog some more of Ben's birthday later this week too. :)

Reese Mehringer

2010-04-25T15:50:00.002-08:00

Mama & her girl

Reese Mehringer

Ashley and I have known each other for a long time. I used to actually babysit her and her three younger sisters in Alaska and ended up being Diana's (a younger sister) youth leader for 5 years. Now Ben and I are neighbors with Matt and Ashley, small world! Matt and Ashley had their first this past March, little Reese. We are glad she is here after a 40+ hour labor! You're a trooper Ash!

Mammoth!

2010-04-09T10:03:00.008-08:00

The Hortons

Clive and his Pa trying out his new hunting hat

Clive or as I call him "Little Bubba" (Bart and Amy's little man)

cards and John Wayne

Ben and me upstairs in our loft bedroom, super cute and cozy

Schat's Bakery . . . AMAZING bread!

Bart and Ben on the way out of Mammoth

This past week was Ben's and my spring break. We had the opportunity to spend the first three days/nights of it up in Mammoth with our friends Bart and Amy Horton staying at another friend's cabin there. Amy's brother Jesse was in town and got to come with us too. We had a blast! It was super relaxing, super snowy, and super beautiful! The perfect break from big city life.

We played lots of spades and watched two or three John Wayne classics (thanks mom and dad for the Christmas gift) along with seeing some of the sites. For those who don't know Mammoth is a huge ski resort (20+ chair lifts) on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It's right around 8,000 feet elevation and we were feeling it walking up and down stairs and hills. The had 6-7 feet of snow build up when we got there and the night before we left is snowed 3 more feet delaying our drive home a few hours. The guys ended up having to take a shuttle bus in to town to get chains for our cars b/c it was too slippery to move. Rather humorous that two Alaskans were so unprepared for snow.

Ben and I were going to go from their to Yosemite just the two of us after that for a couple more nights but 4 highways connecting Mammoth to Yosemite were closed for the winter which would have made a two hour drive over a mountain range an 8.5 hour drive going south almost all the way back to our apartment or north as far as Lake Tahoe and back down. We opted to forgo Yosemite as much as we wanted to see it b/c the snow was coming down so hard and Yosemite reported having just as much meaning the interstate may have closed as well. We'll have to make the trek back down sometime in the future to explore Yosemite.

good times with family

2010-03-11T20:28:00.007-09:00

Water World stunt show

I don't know if I mentioned it in my last post but I loooooved having my dad down for a week to see our first "home" and stay at the Mosier Mansion Suites. We live in a one bedroom apartment right now so Ben made him a make shift bedroom in our dining room haning up sheet walls. We set up a twin air mattress and had a make shift little table in there to make it cozy. It was so fun!

We stayed up way to late most nights talking and playing cards. Sunday after church we got out to see a little bit of LA taking my dad to Universal Studios. It was Ben's first time going too so we all had a good time out. We went to most of the shows and rides and then wrapped up the night with dinner at Bubba Gumps. Okay we wrapped up the night at home with a final round of Spades . . . which I won. Not that I'm proud. :)

The next day I had to work but dad and Ben had a leisure morning with peach pie for breakfast and a quick drive around our lake (it's beautiful). I got home that afternoon pretty sad that he had left only to find a beautiful floral arrangement on our kitchen counter from non other than the Papa Bear (I've called him that since I was a little girl). Of course I cried. :) Ben is such a tender and carry husband and just hugged me quitely.

We LOVED having you here dad and can't wait to have you and mom down in May! We're also super excited to have some of Ben's family down in May too for his graduation from seminary, woohoo he's almost done!!

Dad's visit

2010-03-11T18:01:00.009-09:00

I think this past nine months has been the longest I have been away from my family. I've lived away from home a couple of times but have always gone back for Christmas. Since our wedding I have not been back to AK to see any family and I have to admit though life is really good right now I do miss them.

This past week my dad flew down to LA to visit and it was WONDERFUL!! He came to see us and to participate in a pastor's conference at our church. Our time together reminded me how much I do miss my family. Married life is amazing and our time down here has been good but I'll admit I am very much looking forward to getting back to Alaska this coming July.

We had some special reunions while my dad was here. Ashley (Ryan) Mehringer and Matt came over for dinner the first night. We had a great time catching up, reminising about AK and thinking of ways to cause preterm labor . . . like long walks, doing stair repeats that kind of thing. Laura warned dad that he better not see her first grandchild before she got to. Good news, Ashley hasn't delievered and is now just one week away from her due date!

Another super cool reunion happened the first day of the conference. My dad was waiting to meet up with Ben when he saw an old friend of ours Fred Gums across the way. Fred and Kamie used to live near us in North Dakota. Their kids David and Marie were our best friends for years. I still keep in touch with Marie. SMALL WORLD. My parents recently flew to Iowa to visit Fred and Kamie for a surprise ministry thing at his church.

Another fun Alaska reunion happened Sunday morning between services. We met up with Chuck and Becca Martin long time friends of ours from Wasilla, AK. The Martins moved to Los Angeles years ago and Becca was actually my connact person to get a job in the school district that I am currently working for. Dad really enjoyed catching up brief as it was with both of them and their daughter Kailyn who is a senior this year. It's amazing to see how God intertwines and uses friendships from all avenues and stages in life to continue to bless us.

Matt and Ashley

Fred Gums

Chuck and Becca Martin

a girl shower . .

2010-02-28T19:27:00.005-09:00

This past Monday I had the privilege of going to a baby shower for Ashley Mehringer (Ryan). Some of her girl friends from college hosted it. It has been fun to be neighbors with Ashley so far from our "home" in Alaska now in the same apartment complex in Los Angeles. It really is a small world.

Ashley and Matt are expecting a little girl, Reese, on March 18th. I went over to their apartment tonight to see the work she's done on the nursery. Her colors are brown and pink. The nursery is super cute and ready for a baby. Can't wait 'till she's here Ashley! :)

Beth is HOME!

2010-02-23T20:35:00.003-09:00

a sweet reunion

Christmas in February

Hultgren family: Meagan and Eric, Nick and Jennifer, Beth, Ed, & Becky

Last August my cousin Beth, an ICU Army nurse, was deployed to Iraq for a 6 month stint. I'm pretty close to all the cousins on my mom's side because of our triennial family reunions but I've grown a lot closer to Beth since living on the East Coast. Beth is from CA but lives and works at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. I remember praying her through her ICU classes and going up to DC for her graduation. This past August the realities of her military job set in when she was sent abroad to Tikrit, Iraq.

We have skyped, emailed, sent letters and packages, and even had a few phone conversations during her deployment. Most of her time abroad was low key and uneventful which is a good thing as an ICU nurse, but there were a handful of events that have forever impacted her seeing war first hand.

Beth flew back to the states in late January to debrief and got to San Fransisco area to see her parents the middle of February. Ben and I drove up to the Bay area this past weekend to surprise her and give her months worth of hugs in person. The Sunday we were there all of her dad's family (cousins, aunts, uncles etc.) came over for a Christmas in February together. Beth gave us an American flag and certificate as a gift and tribute, flying it on December 25, 2009 in Tikrit, Iraq in honor of Ben and I. We are truly honored Beth and we are so proud of you. Thank you for the gift, we will treasure it for years to come.

company!

2010-02-23T20:12:00.009-09:00

Cirque du Soleil

me and my handsome man :)

an afternoon spent at Oxnard Beach

Scene from the Terminator

3-D Terminator show

Marilyn Monroe made out of thousands of Jelly Belly's

Chocolate lovers piggy bank

Kari Smith, my college roommate from MN came to visit for a week this month. I was super excited for her to hang out with us in our new home (apartment) but then got sick the day before came. We ended up laying low around the apartment the first 3 days but did get out and do some fun LA sightseeing. We surprised her with tickets to see Kooza, a Cirque du Soleil performance. The contortionists were crazy! There were several acts that blew me away.

A couple days before she left we also got to check out Universal Studios. My teacher discount place this year (2 month deal) is to Universal. I get in free and can bring up to 3 friends/family members for half price. One of the perks to working in So Cal. We had a full day of shows, window shopping and soaking in the sun!

During some of our down time while I recouped she taught me and Ben to play cribbage. We love it! Thanks for making the trek out here Kari! I'm so glad you came!

Red Woods

2010-01-18T17:03:00.005-09:00

Ben and I drove up north to soak in our three day (MLK Jr. Day) weekend. We spent it at a B&B called The Log House Lodge just a few miles from the entrance to Sequoia Nat'l Park. The couple that owns and works the B&B go to Grace Community Church (where we go) and give 2 nights free to Masters Seminiary students and their families. We had heard about it awhile back from seminary friends that have gone up so we made the 175 mile road trip and experienced it for ourselves. We had a GREAT time! The change in scenery being the mountains near snow was awesome for Alaskans! The hospitality and food Mauriene fixed was out of this world.

We spent Saturday driving up and touring around Three Rivers (a small town boardering the park). They had a cute candy, trinket, ice cream shop right on the river. Later that night as we settled in to the B&B Mauriene set us up with a movie of our choice on their big screen projector TV set up. Ben chose "The Quiet Man" as he is slowly indoctrinating me with John Wayne theology. Next to the Bible my husband quotes more John Wayne movie lines than anyone else I know. Sunday we woke up to an AMAZING breakfast that we devoured before heading out to Sequoia Nat'l Park to see the Sequoia and Red Wood trees. I saw them years ago at a family reunion in CA so I have a vague recollection of them but Ben had never been.

The humorous/frustrating part of our trip was today. We bought a 7 day pass and planned on going yesterday and then again today. This morning those plans changed as we got to the park entrance and were told we had to have chains on our tires or we could be fined. CHAINS?? The park ranger must have been misinformed, it was RAINING outside. We did a double take, "Chains, really?" The ranger joked about our AK plates and not being "prepared." I responded as graciously as possible that we lived in LA where we see rain about 6 days a year. At the same time I was thinking do people in Southern CA even know what chains are? Apparently. The ranger then kindly gave us a brochure that had several places in town (about 10 miles back) where we could rent chains for about $100 a day. The unsanctified part of my flesh ached to go into the park just to smite ridiculous CA rules. We asked a ranger on our way out how high the "fee" was for not having chains and he said it was pretty sizable so we left.

Yet another winter in So Cal story. We can't wait to get back to AK. :) We do think we'll probably go back to the park in the spring when things warm up so we can see more of the park (parts were closed off for the winter) and the Crystal Caves. It IS a beautiful area, well worth the visit! We were tremendously blessed by the generosity and hospitality of the Landry's (B&B) too. Thank you!

Katie

2010-01-11T20:56:00.004-09:00

Katie Conover a good friend from AK had a two day layover in LA to hang out and catch up this past Friday/Saturday. Katie and I worked together for 5 years in the Mat-Su Borough School District in Alaska. This year she's taking a year leave of absence and traveling around the world . . . literally. She has traveled a lot previously, lived and taught overseas a few years so she has a huge network of friends to visit and stay with. Last semester was primarily spent touring Europe. This semester she's heading back to Australia, New Zealand and all over Asia.

I took Friday off to soak in a couple days of adventure with her. I picked her up and we headed straight to the beach! Yes, all those Alaskans reading this, the beach is perfect in January. We didn't swim but we waded in the waves and layed out in the 70 degree weather. She made Ben and I stir fry that night that was AMAZING! Thanks for making time for a visit friend! Can't wait to see you back in Alaska next fall!

Ryan & Laura

2010-01-08T06:58:00.003-09:00

Wednesday night some friends of mine from Columbia International University (CIU) came over for dinner. Ryan and I started at CIU the same semester, fall 2007 and he had just started dating Laura (long distance) at that point. Now they have been married a year and a half and are making plans to head to Indonesia in April 2011 with New Tribes. They are going with a team to work in MK schools as well as with the natives.

Ryan is originally from So Cal so this is his home turf. They are back for the holidays visiting relatives and friends as well as fund raising. It was great to see them again and introduce Ben. It's crazy to think of how much has change in 2 years! What a blessing and small world that paths cross over and over. We hope and pray the best for you Ryan and Laura as you continue to prepare for Indonesia.

Christmas in Washington

2010-01-05T20:01:00.010-09:00

A pre-Christmas run to Costco, the boys "had fun" (maybe made fun) with Dorothy using her electric scooter cart. They do come in handy when you need 'em.

Mike and Nala (Karly's new puppy)

all the stockings were hung on the window sill with care . . .

Tim and Dorothy Christmas night

Dorothy and Tim gave me Settlers of Catan for Christmas, woohoo!!

Ben, Grandma, and Dorothy at Red Robin

target practice

2010-01-05T19:36:00.010-09:00

Nala, Karly's new puppy coming along for the ride

Karly and I

Mike, Tug and Karly seeing who would hit the pigeons first

lock and load

my attempts at hitting clay pigeons, I'm not shootist yet

Ben taking some shots at clay pigeons

Making Memories

2010-01-04T20:21:00.004-09:00

I was met by Santa in the driveway when I got to Spokane, Ben's dad dresses up every year as Santa . . . he fits the bill so well people all over hire him to come to their homes, orphanages etc. for kids

Santa & Payton (Tina's grandaughter)

Mike gave Ben one of his bows for Christmas, Ben can't wait to use it in AK

Our first Christmas together :)

The Mosier kids at Bob and Tina's house Christmas morning

Aunt Lori, Aunt Wendy, Dorothy (Ben's mom), and Grandma Laura

Family at grandma's apartment on Christmas day

Ben and I got to spend two weeks together with his family in Spokane, WA. Our time was filled with family and friends and many memories. Ben left a week before me (his semester ended and hunting season was still open:) and enjoyed some guy time with his dad and brother out at his cabin. His brother and a friend both got deer but Ben did not much to his chagrin. He had a great time though just hanging out and bonding.

I got in the evening of a big Christmas party (friends and family) at his dad's house. We spent most of our first week with his dad and Tina and then most of the second week with his mom and Tim. I got to meet all of Tina and Tim's adult children and grandchildren this trip which was a blessing. They are a lot of fun! We had many late night game nights together.

We also got to visit some friends one in particular Clide an older gentleman Ben used to work for that is in his 80s and is dying of stomach cancer. We were blessed to visit and pray with him as it may be the last time Ben will see him. Clide is anxious to go home and meet the Lord.

Ben's mom suffered a rare and rather random injuring two days before I got there. She tore a muscle attached to her Achilles heal while bowling and had to get around with a big detachable cast while we were there. We loved our time with her and enjoyed laying low watching movies, playing games (yes we are a game playing kind of couple) and eating lots of holiday sweets.

Another highlight for me was an afternoon out shooting clay pigeons and targets with Ben, his brother Mike, sister Karly, neice Charli, and dad.

60th Birthday

2010-01-04T19:55:00.003-09:00

Between work, finishing up an online class and traveling over the holidays I have gotten a little behind in the blogging realm. So much has happened I want to recap some and share with all of you.

On December 18th my dad turned the big 6-0. Yep, he's sixty and soaking it in! He now qualifies for senior benefits one of the biggies being free AK fishing licenses the rest of his life. What more could a man ask for? Ben and I would have loved to have made a quick trip up to AK to celebrate but it just didn't work so we celebrated from CA. One of the "gifts" I sent him was a scrapbook thing that had "60Memories with My Dad." It was really neat to pull together as I reflected over the past 31 years of my life with my dad. I thought I shared a few with you . . .

MEMORIES WITH MY DAD

* Leading me in the believer's prayer in my bedroom in ND November 1984
* Hiking Crow Pass with the Skvorks and Bairs
* Fishing for blue gills together in a little inflatable raft in ND (elementary school)
* Memorizing the 50 states and capitals together in 4th grade
* Reading Keys for Kids every morning over breakfast in ND
* Hearing him preach again for the first time in five years at WBC
* Having him fix my hair in pony tails when mom was out of town, braiding was too complicated
* Teaching me multiplication tables with soup crackers at the kitchen table
* Making Mickey Mouse and letter "A" (Anita) pancakes for breakfast, mmmmm!
* Letting me eat brownies and pie for breakfast (mom was not overly impressed but I was!)
* Bringing flowers to my office at Larson Elementary to cheer me up
* Sharing a heart and passion for people who do not know the Lord
* Friendly family running competitions :)
* Deep sea fishing together in Kodiak where I caught my first two halibut
* Praying with me as a child and an adult, I love praying together
* Walking me down the aile this past June

You ARE the Papa Bear and I love you very much! Thanks for the memories!

Winter in So Cal

2009-12-13T19:09:00.003-09:00

Some of you may be asking, "Do they HAVE winter in Los Angeles?" Good question. I'm learning it comes in the form of a "rainy season." I thought I'd share some fun cultural differences for this Alaskan transplant in So Cal this winter.

Last week Monday they closed I-5 at our exit due to snow about 10 miles north. We live in Castaic a small town trucker stop. I happened to be driving home about 10 p.m. that night from a women's guest speaker deal at a friend's house. By that time there were 18 wheelers parked all along the shoulder of I-5 for about 5-7 miles down from our exit. It was NUTS! When I got off on my exit (the last exit open) there were hundreds of 18 wheelers parked EVERYWHERE. It was something out of a movie. Trucks were parked facing each other in all directions in the MIDDLE of the road! I could barely drive into our apartment parking lot. The next morning I got out just before they re-opened the highway and 200 + 18 wheelers made a mass exodus out of Castaic. Winter in Southern California.

A couple days later at work a co-worker came up to me in the lounge to show me a picture his son from San Fran emailed his I-phone. He was so excited to show me this picture saying, "Check out what my son emailed me this morning from San Fransico!" The look of surprise and confusion on my face caused him to respond, "I know, crazy! It was 40 degrees this morning in San Fran. Can you imagine?" My look of surprise and confusion came from processing that the temperature in his son's car said 40 degrees ABOVE zero and I wondered, "Is that cold?" I just nodded and said, "Wow!" Not for the reasons he thought I was saying wow. Winter in Southern California.

Another difference is the rain. The pull out snow plows, no lie, to "plow" the water on some parts of the interstates and highways so roads are not too slippery. Plow water?? Really? Hmmmm, and they are experiencing a deficit in the state budget? I can't imagine. Recess is indoor as well as lunch. All activities are outdoor in CA b/c 99% of school days are . . . sunny. Kids are wearing down coats and boots to school now. The funny part is by 3:00 p.m. when school gets out it is 60-70 degrees most days. I remember having outdoor recess in elementary school unless it was 10 below. If is was 9 below we went out, no if's, an's or but's about it! Winter in Southern California.

The sad part of it all? I've adjusted to southern weather being out of AK 3 years now (part of my time in South Carolina). The rainy days here DO feel cold to me and I even used my umbrella this weekend when it was sprinkling! I used to go running in shorts and a T-shirt in 50 degree rain in AK! I'm going to be in for a rude awakening next winter when we're back in Alaska!!

Christmas trees

2009-12-01T16:36:00.008-09:00

notice the JD stocking under the bar area . . . thanks Burdine cousins, a perfect wedding gift!

a festive table runner for our coffee table

Mistletoe bears that we got on our honeymoon in Denali and the cinnamon pine cones

"O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches . . ."

Ben LOVES colored lights so they boarder the bar area and light most of our living room too, I love that he enjoys decorating :)

This past Saturday Ben and I went out and bought our first Christmas tree together. He was determined to get a real tree and the only option other than Home Depot was to drive north about an hour and cut one down in a "forested" area . . . desert. I was all for Home Depot easy out being that we're not in AK yet so we did it.

I have to say Home Depot's stock impressed me. This is one of the fullest live trees I've seen in a long time. It's a Douglas Fir . . . I highly recommend them if you're on the hunt for a good live tree. We got it early b/c Ben leaves for WA December 11th and I leave a week later when I finish work on the 19th so we wanted to be able to enjoy it awhile.

I've also been enjoying decorating the house with additional bits of holiday. I highly recommend adding cinnamon pine cones to your Christmas decor, they make your house smell festive and fresh!

Thanks mom and dad for the Christmas packages! They came ON Saturday while we were decorating, perfect timing. We hung both ornaments on our tree along with one we just got. The tree is a little sparse decoration but I've got 31 years of Hallmark ornaments waiting for us back in Alaska. Can't wait to see our tree all decked out next year!

Pizza competition

2009-11-28T20:06:00.013-09:00

Round one of the evening's taste testing

Our official ballots

Let the cooking begin!

Mark and Ben cooking the meat for their pizzas

Sarah and Ben working on their own pizzas

sculpting our Pilsbury dough

the first place team hard at work with Thanksgiving leftovers

first pizza in . . . we had the oven working over time that night

Ben and my pig pizza

Larry giving his "winners" speech

Of course there were activities and "events" planned throughout our Kroon Thanksgiving. One was an annual kickball game. This year it was rather humorous. No team scored so we "tied" at zero zero. It was fun to play though. The last time I remember playing kickball was in middle school. Good times.

Sarah and Teagen came up with a new idea/tradition they want to continue to have a home made pizza competition. SO, Friday night we all went to the grocery store to get secret ingredients for our pizzas and then took over the kitchen making 7 pizzas. It was crazy, crowded and a blast! Most of us worked in teams. The pizza's were scored on three areas, presentation, originality and taste. Ben and I made a pig shaped pizza with pepperoni, yellow peppers, and olives (for the mud). Ben Kroon made an Italian sausage and veggie pizza, Sarah Kroon made a cheeseburger pizza that took second place. Marlene and Sarah's mom made the first place winner and most original unique pizza by far. They used Thanksgiving leftovers to make a cream cheese, turkey and cranberry pizza. Surprisingly it was REALLY good, more of a desert pizza flavor but very tasty. Mark and Joani made a chicken and some kind of specialty cheese pizza that was fabulous (my favorite) and took third place. Larry and Brittany pulled up the rear with a Papa Murphy's pepperoni pizza and BBQ chicken wings as an appetizer. We had Henry Weinhard's root beer to wash it all down.

Larry was hillarious. He had a speak all written out on his napkin ready to go for first place and gave it anyway even after taking last. We were STUFFED to the rim with pizza by the end of the night! Ben and I took off back for home shortly after. We were glad to be a part of the first annual pizza making competition. Great idea guys!

Thanksgiving blessings!

2009-11-28T18:29:00.017-09:00

The Kroon crew

Ella on the trampoline (Ben and Sarah's little girl)

Allison (Mark and Joani's little girl, she was 2 weeks old at our wedding)

little Miss Allison with her looong eyelashes, she is a cutie!

Mark, Joani, Ben and me

Ben and Sarah

Teags and Britt being . . . Teags and Britt :)

Grandpa Kroon and Ella

Grandma Kroon and Allison

Bean bag toss, Ben and Ben were a team and Teags and Brittany were a team

A group of us playing a new game called "Bang" it was addicting! We played for about 5 hours!

This Thanksgiving was filled with blessings. The biggest blessing and change is it was our first Thanksgiving married!!

On our way to the Kroon's to celebrate the day I got a text from Ashley Mehringer (Ryan) saying that our friend Amy (from a previous post) had her baby boy. Over the course of Amy's pregnancy doctors said they suspected their boy would be born with Down's Syndrome or hydrocephalas (water on the brain). We all have been praying A LOT for a healthy baby for Amy and Bart. We found out that little Clive was born 2 weeks early 100% healthy! A HUGE Thanksgiving blessing!

The day continued to be filled with blessings as we got to Ben and Sarah Kroon's and started a two day reunion. Joani, Mark and Allison were down from Oregon. Brittany, Lary and Marlene came down from Alaska and Teagen drove over for the day too! We had a big Thanksgiving feast and party at Sarah Kroon's parents place in San Pedro (Southern LA). Larry said part way through the day, "Who would have guessed 10 years ago we would all be celebrating Thanksgiving together in Southern, CA?" It IS interesting where life takes you and how paths continue to cross. This was definitely a memorable 1st Thanksgiving together. Thanks Kroon's for inviting us to celebrate with you!!

A Christmas Carol

2009-11-13T23:21:00.003-09:00

This week Ben and I had a date night and went to see the new Disney 3D version of A Christmas Carol. I have to admit I was disappointed by it. The computer graphics were amazing but the humor was a little crass and it was pretty scary for being a cartoon/kids movie. I felt heavy at the end, not what I expected. There was a kid behind us during the movie that cried off and on throughout it because it was too scary. Also, for those who don't know it's in 3D so it costs about $5 more than a regular movie. I would not recommend spending the time and money to go and see it. Check it out when it comes out on DVD and watch it before you let your kids watch it, there are some pretty scary parts.

baby shower

2009-11-13T22:55:00.008-09:00

this is not from the shower it's just a fun pic of me and Amy at church a couple of Sunday's ago :)

Ashley, Amy, me

Amy and Ashley

Tonight Ashley Mehringer and I carpooled to a baby shower for our friend Amy Horton. Amy is one of my closer friends in CA. Our husbands used to be former roommates early on in seminary and now they are expecting their first child. Thought I'd post some pics from the evening. Amy and Bart (her husband) are expecting a boy December 8th. Ashley Mehringer, for those Alaskans that know her is expecting a girl in mid March. It's baby central down here!

One of the women that helped host the shower had her husband (a professional chef and cateror) come and cater the whole thing. We had AMAZING food!

rigatoni

2009-11-13T22:40:00.003-09:00

Last Friday Ben decided to surprise me when I got home from work with a homemade hot meal on the table. He called his mom and got one of his favorite recipes from her that morning and had it all planned out how the evening would go. The only glitch was that I got home an hour earlier than I had planned on getting home so dinner was not "on the table" as he had envisioned it but he did go grocery shopping and was excited to make a hot meal for me to say "thanks" for the meals I make throughout the week. It made my night! It was such a blessing and an act of love to come home at the end of a busy week and have him get a delicious hot meal together.

What did he make? Rigatoni . . . rigatoni pasta with spaghetti sauce, chunks of pepperoni and fresh mozzerella. He also bought garlic bread to go with it to have a "two course" meal. Whenever I make a meal that has more than one item (i.e. meat with a veggie and bread or a veggie and rice) he says I made a three course meal. He comes from a simple bachelor menu so I let him go ahead and think that I am really outdoing myself by making "three" and "four course" meals. :)I am a huge fan of pasta so this was right up my alley and is now a new favorite of both of ours. I had never had this particular recipe before and it was great! I truly am married to a GREAT man. He treats me like a queen. We both laughed at the pictures because they don't do it justice but trust me, it was a great meal!

cookies

2009-10-29T18:48:00.005-08:00

a sampling of my final product, nice orange color frosting don't you think? :)

Candy Corn . . . are like Twinkies to me, you don't eat them for months (or years in the case of Twinkies) and then you take a handful to remember what their sugary goodness is like. It only takes a few and you remember why you don't eat them on a regular basis, toooooooo sweet! Twinkies are just an all around gut bomb. How did I LOVE them when I was a child??

We're having a "fall festival" at both of the schools I work at tomorrow. It's kind of an alternative to full fledged Halloween. A bunch of teachers were asked to sign up to provide baked treats for an auction so I volunteered. The treat we make is supposes to have a fall/Halloween theme so I decided to go with sugar cookies. Somewhere along the way in college I bought some Halloween cookie cutters so I went to town tonight.

It was a little strange because I think this is the first time I have made sugar cookies (decorating the whole 9 yards) outside of Christmas baking. It's an Eller family tradition to make Christmas sugar cookies on Christmas Eve and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" together. I finished tonight and had the urge to put on "It's a Wonderful Life" a couple holidays early to reminisce. Here's to fall!

a hunting mishap . . .

2009-10-25T21:23:00.008-08:00

WARNING: Mom, you may want to skip this entry. It contains graphic images. :) Just giving you a heads up. This is for all family and friends that want to see evidence of Ben's run in with a deer.

This past Monday Ben took a "short" study break to help a buddy pack out and clean a deer he shot. The deer was about a 5 mile drive in the mountains away from his buddy's house, Jonathan. He figured he'd be gone for about 2 hours and get back home to study in no time. Well, that's not exactly how the afternoon turned out.

Ben got to Jonathan's and they drove out to the spot where he had been hunting. Ben hiked down to the deer and found that it was not actually dead just injured. The front legs were broken and it was stuck in an area of thick brush dying. Neither Ben nor Jonathan, both experienced hunters, had guns just knives to quarter up the deer and pack it out. Ben took it upon himself to knife the deer in the heart/lung area and let it bleed out quickly. No big deal, it was just a deer. As he pinned the antlers down, however, the deer turned his head quick the opposite direction and gored Ben's left calf. The antler poked right through his double lined carhart pants.

It all happened within a matter of seconds so Ben didn't think much of it until he looked down later and saw blood dripping out on his sock and shoe. The inner lining of his pants was rather wet by this time too. Ben and Jonathan went ahead and packed the deer out and drove back to Jonathan's house where Jonathan stitched him up at his kitchen table. No, Jonathan is not a doctor he's just has a kit at home to stitch up his hunting dog when he gets stuck in barbed wire, he figured a leg can't be that much harder. Ben said each stick had a different knot. Jonathan had perfected his stitch knot by the 7th stitch. We have good health insurance through my job but Ben said Stephanie, Jonathan's wife, was offering complimentary juice at their house so how could he pass it up?

Ben called a doctor friend from seminary after the mishap and got a prescription for heavy duty antibiotics to fight infection. The first couple days he walked around the house like a gimp. Now his hobble is less noticeable but he's still pretty tight. He has said you never notice how much you use your calf until you injure it. His doctor friend said he should be back to normal in 4-6 weeks. I think he's planning on cutting the stitches out himself tomorrow night. Not the way I would go about it, but hey, I'm not a man.

life is precious . . .

2009-10-19T18:14:00.002-08:00

In my seven years of speech pathology and more than 400 IEP meetings today was the hardest IEP meeting I have been a part of. Right now I work at two schools for an elementary district in Northern Los Angels. One school I'm at I work in two SDC (Special Day Class) programs for children with multiple severe disabilities.

This morning our team had an IEP meeting for a little boy in one of the SDC classes. This particular boy is one of the sweetest students I've ever met. You wouldn't know it by looking at him now but last year this time he was in a typically kindergarten class, walking, talking, making friends like all the other kindergarten students at our school. It was about this time a year ago things started changing for this boy physically and mentally. Within the past 12 months this little boy has changed from a typical K-1 student, talking, playing at recess, making friends, eating and misbehaving like typical kindergarten students do to barely being able to walk, eat and talk. He is nearly nonverbal today.

About a month ago his parents took him to a pediatric neurologist but a formal diagnosis was not given because of extenuating circumstances. For other strange and unusual circumstances his medical diagnosis was actually given this morning at our IEP meeting. These parents were told this morning that their son has a rare aggressive degenerative disease that will eventually lead to death. I had a very difficult time staying composed during our meeting. My heart ached for this couple and their sweet boy who sat next to mom at the meeting rolling his toy bus on the table.

My mind reeled as the meeting went on thinking of all the cases I have worked with over my career. The closest thing I can compare this to was back in college when I had an internship at a long-term care facility on a dementia floor. I worked with two women in particular that left an impression on me. One was in her early 50s and one was in her mid 80s. I wondered then as an eager therapist, "What goals do you set for someone who has a progressive degenerative disease?" With adults fighting dementia and Alzheimer's speech-language goals focus on maintaining memories for as long as possible and creating strategies to maintain those memories. I remember vividly the husbands of these wives coming to visit every day not knowing if their wives would recognize them that day and the joy and tears on the days they did remember their husbands.

Today I set a goal for a little boy who 12 months ago could walk, talk and hang out with friends. Now he can barely babble words. This little boy finds joy in babbling when he has the strength and can use other augmentative devices to communicate wants and needs. When I have my language group in his classroom and we sing songs he lights up like a firefly and gets a huge grin on his face showing his enjoyment and love of music.

Today my perspective changed, or maybe just put back in place. Life isn't always about making a lot of progress, being the best, getting the best grades, having the best kids, being the perfect parent etc. Life is more about making the most of the time we're given. I couldn't help but think during my IEP meeting this morning what this little boy's parents wouldn't given to have 10 more years with their son. His doctors don't know if they will even have 2 more years at this point. Today I was reminded that life is precious.

Cereal

2009-10-18T15:42:00.002-08:00

Ben and I were picking up a couple things at Target this week and came across some good old fashion sugar cereal Boo Berry and Franken Berry. I grew up in ND eating these cereals along with other sugar favorites like Count Chocula, Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. Just to reminisce about old times we bought a box and to my surprise they're pretty darn good . . . as a desert that is. :)

friendship

2009-10-08T11:03:00.007-08:00

Kari, me, Danita in Valdez, AK

Charleston, SC

trip to CA to meet Ben after we got engaged . . . movies and skookies, the way Friday nights were meant to be!

posing at the Getty in LA

Kari and I have been friends since 1998 when I moved to MN to start my speech path program. She has become one of those life long friends that will always be dear to me. We've made some unforgettable memories over the past 11 years . . .

* Roommates in college at St. Cloud State University
* We led Bible studies together through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus
* Prayer accountability partners for years even long distant
* Taken MANY road trips all over the country
* Flown to MN, AK, SC, CA back and forth to see each other almost every year since college
* She's been adopted as a surgate daughter into the Eller/Burdine family, my parents email her almost as much as I do
* Kari was my maid of honor in my wedding this past June

I am grateful for friends like Kari where you can always pick up right where you left off even if you haven't called in 2 or 3 months. She has been a blessing in my life! Thanks for the fun week in MN Kari!

fall break

2009-10-07T14:12:00.008-08:00

Kari and me on a walk in Duluth, I LOVE fresh air!!

the beginning of a beautiful midwest fall

the draw bridge in Duluth, MN

SCSU campus

the student center at SCSU

This week I have a week off of work b/c of fall break. The district I work for has a two month summer instead of three so during the school year we get a lot of extra time off one being a fall break. Ben has class and work this week so I took the opportunity and cheap flight deals to fly out to MN and see my college roommate Kari for the week.

It has been a great break from work and BIG city life. Funny how Minneapolis seems "small" in relation to LA, it's all a matter of perspective. We spent time in Duluth at a friend's lake house, AMAZING relaxing. We drove through our old stomping grounds at St. Cloud State on our way back down to the Twin Cities and we watched some EXCELLENT Major League baseball. The Twins just won the division title and are in the World Series starting today in NY. I grew up going to Twins games having lived in ND for 9 years and then went to several in college. This is the final season at the Metrodome. The team is moving to their new "home" at the Target dome next year.

It's been a fun walk down memory lane and a great week of R&R and girl time! I miss my man for sure and am looking forward to seeing him on Friday but it's been a fun break from the work scene.

fall in So Cal . . .

2009-10-01T19:39:00.004-08:00

tiny piles of leaves in a dry and barren desert land . . . thankfully its cooling down this week to the upper 80s, it was 106 last week!

neighbors expecting :)

Dinner date to Claim Jumper . . . AMAZING food and AK type atmosphere, our favorite restaurant

Teagen

2009-09-20T15:51:00.004-08:00

fish and chips anyone?

Teagen and Ben . . . notice the big flock of gulls and pelicans behind, the boys had fun chasing them shortly after this was taken, it was a mass exodus

Yesterday Ben and I connected with a long time friend of mine from Wasilla, AK . . . Teagen Kroon. I've known Teag for years as family friends and through ministry at Wasilla Bible Church. He's living in southern LA now b/c he got the lead role in a major upcoming Broadway production!

He is super pumped about it and we are excited for him too! It was awesome to reconnect and hear first hand how all of this has played out. We got caught up over lunch at a fish and chips place in Santa Monica then we swung over to the beach for a little ocean time.

He'll be in LA the next two years preparing for the show and then performing. The show opens in LA December of 2010 so we're bummed it wasn't one year earlier while we are here but we may have to swing through sometime next year. We'll see! Best of luck to you Teag!

nesting . . .

2009-09-13T20:59:00.008-08:00

We have had some new additions to our home over the past week so I am posting this for the moms and grandmas that are interested in seeing our place. :) All of our bedding was a gift from the Burdine family (my mom's side). Aunt Tammie mailed a package to us a few weeks back with the matching sign "As for me and my house . . ." Thanks for helping make our house a home guys! We love you!

We bought a couple of tables for our living room with wedding money and hung up the amazing Alaskan quilt Ben's grandmother Laura made for us. We love it! It makes our place much more homey! We also bought a few more games for our collection b/c we enjoy having game nights with our friends and with the Korean youth group students.

Alaska bound!

2009-09-13T20:47:00.002-08:00

Once the school year started our schedules have gotten busy as usual with a new year and my blogging has gotten a bit back logged. Soooo, the post is long overdue but better late than later. :)

I think it's been a month ago now, Ben got a phone call from Jim Leach the chairman of Faith Bible Fellowships elder board asking us to consider coming on full time next summer as the youth/associate pastor. Both of us have talked at length about how we would LOVE to end up back in Alaska or the Rocky Mt. area somewhere. Alaska was our number one desire and hope but we weren't sure with timing, opporunity and the economy what would open up where.

As you can imagine we were blown away by the call being that it's still almost a year out, but elated that FBF would ask us to come on board the ministry there. After talking with each other and praying more of a, "Thank you Lord for this dream job for us." than a "Do we take this job?" prayer Ben called Jim back and accepted the position.

SO, we will be moving back to Alaska permanently next June/July! We are thrilled to be heading back to Alaska where we can serve in full time ministry in an area we LOVE! I can't WAIT to hike, smell FRESH air again, blueberry pick, grow a garden (eventually), and yes learn to hunt with friends and family all over the Valley.

The timing of this job is also a huge blessing for Ben (and me) because it takes pressure off him having to candidate in the spring and wondering if and where jobs will open. It's ideal for me as well b/c I can work for the Mat-Su Borough School District again and transfer in my years here in CA. Thank you Lord for your continued provision!

We can't wait to get back to Alaska!

Fires

2009-08-30T21:07:00.004-08:00

Yes, the fires are back again in Southern, CA. We hit another hot spell this past week of 100+ and the fires have taken off. This morning on the radio they said over 36,000 acres have burned this go 'round. We live about 20 miles from the closest fire, so far so good for us now. It has been smokey to say the least.

On our way to church this morning the radio station we were on said it was going to be in the hundreds the next few days with 35 mile an hour winds and 3% humidity. The broadcaster then commented that cardboard probably has more humidity than 3%. It is so dry and the wind is not helping.

I remember the fire in Big Lake in 1996 and how crazy that got. Our hope then was rain. In the 100 degree desert, however, there is no rain. Things are crazy to say the least in So Cal. Pray for families, schools and the people fighting the fires here.

Korean Ministry

2009-08-29T21:35:00.003-08:00

The day after Ben and I got back to CA we had a dinner/interview with Pastor Lee about a youth pastor position at a small Korean church in Santa Clarita. We'd known about the opportunity since this past spring. Another seminary grad and friend of Ben's was the former youth pastor told us that they would need someone new to fill in when his sem buddy left this summer.

Long story short the dinner went well. We had the opportunity to meet Pastor Lee, his wife Michelle and daughter Sarah (who translated most of our conversation) and he asked Ben to be the new youth pastor of their church. It is a small church of about 11 families. They rent space from another church on Sunday afternoons and Friday nights. Most of the first generation Koreans speak only Korean and all of the second generation students that we work with speak English fluently.

So for the past month we have been settling in to a new ministry here. We go to our regular church Sunday mornings and then drive to the Korean church in the afternoon to do a Bible study with the youth. Every Friday night we have youth group with about 6-10 junior and senior high students.

Being that it is a small church there is not a lot of pressure to plan major events and/or keep office hours. Ben gets a small stipend each month but our main reason for taking the position was the ministry experience it will give Ben. He is enjoying the transition from preaching at the drug rehab center last semester. This job allows us to get to know and build relationships with the students and it is a more consistent ministry opportunity.

the little things . . .

2009-08-20T18:22:00.003-08:00

Several people have asked me recently how I like married life. I have to say the longer I am married the more I love it. I know we are still in the "honeymoon" stage but every week we've been married, even on our honeymoon I have gotten to know Ben better and see aspects of his character that I didn't know or experience before that I love. He is SO patient, giving (to me and to others), tender, and helpful. I have marveled at how truly perfect we are for each other. We balance each other out so well.

Some of the people (friends, co-workers, family) that have been asking me, "How's married life?" have shared after my comments that it only gets better with time. I know marriage is going to have its ups and downs but it is a sweet gift from God. Those 31 years of waiting for the right man paid off in full. I have an amazing man of God that blesses me daily.

One fun "little thing" he did for me today was surprise me with an electric toothbrush. You may think no big deal, it's a toothbrush, but I've never had one and I commented a couple times about his saying it would be nice to get one some day. When I got home and washed my hands in the bathroom this afternoon I saw a new electric toothbrush plugged in next to his! That made my day!

I want to remember and enjoy even the "little things" in marriage. It's the "little things" that make things extra special. Thanks Ben! I love you!

family

2009-08-20T18:16:00.003-08:00

Last week I got to spend a day with my cousin Jennifer. She was down from Northern California to stay with a friend that had surgery. We went out to lunch, spent the afternoon at the pool and then she came over to our new apartment to have dinner and play the bean game with me and Ben.

I love having family all over the country. I have now lived in three states where other extended family live, SC (near family in Charlotte, NC), MN (for college), and now CA. Ben and I are looking forward to the triennial Burdine reunion this coming summer!

Thanks for hanging out Jennifer! We hope to see you again while we're in CA!

Wedding pics!

2009-08-13T14:56:00.016-08:00

the first time we saw each other . . . unforgettable, thank you LORD for the godly man you have given to me I am a blessed woman

fancy footwear!

some things never change

a personal favorite

Communion

Unity candle . . . being united as One in Christ

My dad coming up to do our vows . . . definitely an Eller moment

Lee and Trisha Mitchell the couple that introduced us . . . THANK YOU!!

the giving of the bride

Hedge of prayer over me just before the ceremony . . . thank you LORD for sweet fellowship

Our super sweet flower girls Charlotte and Morgan

Psalm 34:1-3 the passage Ben read to me when he proposed

Our wedding party

the boys

the girls

I am finally getting to the BIG post of wedding pics! Katie "Tegeler" Anaya was our photographer and I have to say she did an outstanding job. We got a great mix and variety of color, black and white, sepia, and various tinted pics that are awesome! Thanks KT! I'll add more pics in the days to follow.

Provision

2009-08-06T22:19:00.008-08:00

Some of you heard while we were on our honeymoon Ben got a phone call from one of his roommates letting him know that his car had been stolen. We literally had just gotten to Denali Park on the second stint of our honeymoon adventure and the call came. He only had liability insurance being that it was an '88 Thunderbird that well, did it's job of transporting Ben to and from class but wasn't the most reliable car in the world. So we were out of luck on getting any money back and out of a car that Ben needs to get to and from work and class being that we work in different corners of LA.

The great part came about a week later. Ben was online checking the seminary postings where sem. guys and people from Grace Church (where we go) post things online to sell like Craig's list only personal and REALLY cheap. He happened to find a car online that day for sale for $1700 OBO. He called to check and see if it was still for sale. Long story short, he knows the guy from class and after the guy heard the story of his stolen car he said he give it to us for FREE!!

Praise the Lord for his abundant provision! We definitely had not budgeted this early in the game for a new car and now we have one that is BETTER than Ben's old car! God is so good! We are SO thankful! We are now the owners of a 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Family

2009-07-31T10:43:00.005-08:00

Grandma Laura (second from left) and her three siblings at the family reunion

Dorothy, Danielle and me

from left to right: Ben, Mike, Aunt Lori, Karly, Tyson (Lori's son)

Ben and me gettin' the gear ready!

Mike and Danielle

Dorothy (Ben's mom) soaking up the sun!

During our time in Washington we had a family reunion with Ben's mom's side of the family. It was great to meet the Conner side and get to know people better. We had amazing food and several rounds of the "bean bag game." It's a game Ben's great uncle made and it is addictive!

Yesterday we took advantage of the crazy warm weather and floated a section of the Spokane River with Ben's mom, Mike (his brother), Danielle (Mike's girlfriend) and the two of us. It was beautiful and relaxing. We even hit a couple sections that had some good rapids. We are sad to say good bye today but are looking forward to getting settled back in Southern CA. I'll post pictures when we get back.

Washington Reception

2009-07-29T15:51:00.009-08:00

Brothers

Kristy, Evan (Ben's best friend from childhood and a groomsmen), Ben and me

Our "first dance" was at this reception, Thanks Tina!

We've spent the last week in Washington visiting Ben's family. This past Sunday his dad and Tina held a really special reception for us at their house. I got to meet a lot of Ben's extended family for the first time along with life long friends that he's grown up with. They also had a dance for us since we couldn't dance at our wedding. It was really special. Ben also got a personal favorite wedding gift, a new (to him) Colt Kodiak 44 Magnum. His close friend and surrogate dad Craig gave it to him as an "heirloom" gift. I don't know anything really about guns but his brother was drooling over it and is glad that Ben will be leaving it this year in WA b/c CA is so tight right now about owning and transporting guns.

Eagle

2009-07-29T15:40:00.011-08:00

The night before Ben and I were scheduled to leave Alaska and fly to Washington to spend time with his family we were encouraged to change plans. We had dinner that night (July 14th) at Ethan and Chris Hansen's house and through conversation Ethan got excited about having us go with their church, Faith Bible Fellowship, the following week to Eagle, AK. They do a one week VBS and several service projects. This year in particular was a heavy service project year due to severe flooding in May when the Yukon River rose to a record high and chunks of glacial ice literally crushed a large part of the town. Eagle is a bush community with a population of 150.

We were excited to be a part of this ministry and Ben was put on a crew to replace/rebuild the giant cross at the top of a bluff that overlooks the town. Interesting bit, my last trip to Eagle was my sophomore year of high school when I floated the Yukon River from Dawson City, Canada to Eagle with Wasilla Bible Church. I clearly remember what the town used to look like but it has all been washed away now. I also remember floating down seeing the once HUGE wooden cross at the top of the bluff. That was our big marker that we paddled toward before we set up our last camp. It also had since rotted and fallen over.

Cool story, while we were there a couple traveling "through" (Eagle is on the way to nowhere) from Switzerland noticed and commented on the cross we errected and how awesome it was to have that as a symbol in their town. I hiked up the bluff with the boys on their final trip to get pics and I must say it is likely a hike I will never do again, crazy steep and scary!

I will post pics of the flood and cross when I can get my computer back online, until then I am catching up the narrative b/c SO much has been happening in our lives this past month!

Talkeetna

2009-07-29T15:36:00.008-08:00

Post honeymoon Ben and I drove up one Saturday afternoon with good friends Sarah and Ashley Brown and kiddos to the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival. The experience was true to Alaska . . . very red neck. It's like a mini Alaskan state fair with a "moose dropping." For those who haven't been people can buy lackered moose droppings (something like $2-$5 a piece) with a number on it. They are given a copy to keep with each one they buy. Later in the day someone flys a plane up over an open field there with a large target on the ground and literally drops thousands of moose terds from above. There are cash prizes for closest to the target, farthest, etc. Alaskan, that's all I can say about it. :)

Honeymoon

2009-07-29T15:30:00.011-08:00

Ben and I wanted to stay in AK for our honeymoon b/c we LOVE Alaska and we haven't had much time recently to soak in a beautiful Alaskan summer. We split our time between a cabin in Sheep Mountain and a cabin in Denali Park. The weather was incredible! At Sheep Mountain a long time friend from high school, Matt Keller tipped us off to a GREAT hike, Lion's Head off the Glenn Hwy. I have to say it was one of the most scenic Alaskan hikes I have ever done. While in Denali we went to the Alaska Cabin Night dinner theater, compliments of the Burdine girl cousins, thanks girls! I had been a few times before with family and friends from out of state but this was Ben's first time and he loved it! He LOVES Alaskan history.

June 27, 2009

2009-07-14T14:05:00.002-08:00

Our wedding day! We ended up having our wedding inside due to predicted rain and hail storms later that afternoon and I have to say our "plan B" back up turned out as good or even better than our original plan A. The day was perfect in my mind. It started with pictures outside at Bob and Connie Stahle's house. They live on a lake and it was sunny earlier that day so we took advantage of the weather and scenery and got some great pictures.

One of my aunt's made a suggestion that night before to have the ceremony in the center of the "sanctuary" gym at WBC which proved to be really beautiful and intimate. One of my uncle's who is an engineer bought lumber the day before and he and couple of the men in the family built a stage and two sets of stairs from scratch just in time for the rehearsal that evening. I have an AMAZING family!

The entire day was special and memorable. A couple friends told me prior to take occasional snapshots of the day in my mind so I would remember things later. I have several in my mind and am so thankful for such a special God centered time of celebration. Thanks to all who came to celebrate with us and make the day memorable! We love you!

I don't have any of my own pics of the wedding yet but will post some when I get copies and CDs from friends. Stay tuned! :)

Bridal Luncheon

2009-07-14T13:58:00.003-08:00

During our wedding week my aunts from out of state, Tammi (NC), Becky (CA), and Lynn (ND) hosted an amazing bridal luncheon for me at Evangelos. They did everything very southern style, flowers, party favor chocolates, special cake etc. It was such a treat I felt like a queen. Women from both sides of the family came along with women in the wedding party. It was a special time of fellowship and time for families and friends to mix and get to know each other. Thanks so much ladies!

blessings

2009-07-14T13:49:00.003-08:00

Our new desk

Our new kitchen table, the perfect size for a little dining room!

Four days before I left to fly back to AK to start final wedding preparations Ben got a call back from a seminary posting he'd checked into inquiring about some furniture. Long story short the Saturday before I left we met with the family for breakfast and they gave us a fouton, huge desk, nice dresser drawer, two lamps and a toaster for FREE! I woke up that morning with my nesting woman's mind thinking about some of the amenities I'd really enjoy having to make our new little apartment more of a "home" and 30 min. later literally Ben called and said this family he emailed that had posted furniture on the online seminary postings called and wanted to meet us and may have some stuff we'd want.

What a blessing! Later that afternoon in our running around we stopped by another seminary friend's house that was moving out and we bought their kitchen table for super cheap! Our Saturday turned into a furniture day that has nearly furnished our place even BEFORE we left to come back for the wedding! God is faithful and we are thankful for his many blessings!

Another cool blessing, a week later while Ben was settling in after I left his roommate gave him a big new bookshelf that he didn't want so now we have a new bookshelf too . . . for FREE! Amazing! Thank you Lord for your provision!

Wedding Location

2009-06-26T09:56:00.002-08:00

So the week has been filled with friends, family and wedding plans! All in all I have to admit I have yet to be really "stressed." Today we made the final weather call and we decided the wedding is going to be INSIDE at Wasilla Bible Church. There is a 40-50% chance of rain tomorrow in Palmer and that's too high for our comfort zone so everything will be at the church. We'd rather be dry and have all our guests dry than be married in a down pour which is very possible considering the weather this past week.

For all you reading this today or tomorrow morning pass the word on the wedding is at the church! See you there!! I'm getting MARRIED!!!