Rest & Relaxation

I returned to the states on 3 September, just in time for the four day Labor Day weekend. After I in-processed with the base , Michael took me down to Valdez for my R&R. Valdez is gorgeous, with mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and wildlife. Valdez is eight hours away from North Pole, so we had a long drive down. After six months where the fastest speed limit is 60 kilo/hour, (less than 40mph) driving at 60mph was a bit scary. Michael said I made him motion sick.

The first day, we took a glacier cruise. Michael is my camera man, but all these pictures are mine. :)

One of the glaciers we approached was the Columbia glacier. It had created so many icebergs, the closest we could come to it was ten miles.
Our very able Captain piloted the boat around several enormous icebergs. Seeing them made me wonder, how big was the one that sunk the Titanic? The Captain announced there are only two other places in the entire world that have icebergs this size: Greenland and Antarctica.

Let's get a picture taken with an iceberg! :)
We did see some wildlife on the cruise as well. Very few of my pictures were in focus, though, so I'll have to get Michael to upload some of his pictures soon.
The next day, we went out looking for waterfalls and then took a hike.

The only wildlife (other than birds) we saw on our hike. This porcupine was really small; smaller than a volleyball. Doesn't it look all soft and cuddly? I was close enough, I could have reached out and petted it. (I didn't, though.)
On our return trip, we stopped at Worthington Glacier. Do you see the black oval to the bottom left of the glacier? That is an ice cave.

Of course, we had to hike out to it. The next picture is actually three pictures stitched together. I didn't take these pictures with the intent to stitch them into a panorama, and photoshop wanted to skew Michael out of shape. This still doesn't do it justice as to its size. Michael is at least twenty feet away, and that's only the top half of the opening. We didn't go inside the ice cave.

Here is the wall of the ice cave, at least, the wall where the roof had already collapsed.
There were several magpies in the parking lot at Worthington glacier. They were cleaning the bugs off the parked cars. One of them was very vocal. I have never seen one that vocal. It chattered non-stop.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

2009 Fair Entries

Michael submitted three pictures to the state fair this year and got ribbons for all three. Last year he only got ribbons for 50% of his entriesSummer Monarch - 5th placeMinto Flats Smoke, Sunset, and Fireweed - 7th place

Title: Best of Show - 7th place (this car received the title "Best of Show" at the 2008 Cruis'n with Santa car show on North Pole.)

2009 Fair Entries

These are Sarah's entries in the state fair this year. She tried a new category this year with some photography. All the entries in pencil art got ribbons. She received 4 out of 5 ribbons this year.

Fluffy

Faces
Cat Nap (yes, this is also Fluffy)
Bear Hug
Abby

Recent Happenings

We are looking forward to Sarah's return home after being deployed for six months. She will be headed back at the end of August; both are extremely excited.

Michael's sister, Michelle, and her husband Tom, have just had child number two. Paul Thomas is the little brother to Benjamin, their first born. Paul is still in the hospital since he has an air bubble outside of his lung that keeps forming, even after the air being released. Please pray for whatever is causing this bubble to heal and also for Tom and Michelle.

BIG SURPRISE

Michael has been keeping several people in suspense over a surprise he wants to tell them, and if Sarah had been home, she would be keeping people in suspense as well. Your time of waiting is over. The time for truth is here. Everyone wants to know what our big surprise is. So, without further ado, we will reveal our surprise. (Drum roll please.) Michael and Sarah… (drum roll drum roll drum roll) are planning to ADOPT.

This is not a split second decision. We have been thinking about it for a while. Nor do we want to adopt because of fertility issues. Instead we are thinking of adopting in conjunction with any pregnancies and births the Lord blesses us with. We believe that all children need a loving, caring home, and we are more than able to provide that home for a child. We’re not just looking into any adoption, but more specifically international adoption. Right now we are focusing on Russia or one of its neighbors. While orphans in the US are placed in foster homes, orphans in the former Soviet Union are placed in orphanages. In Russia alone, it is estimated that there are over 700,000 orphans. We want to make a difference in the life of some of those children.

We won’t actually start the process until Sarah returns from her deployment, but once she’s back on US soil, we plan on jumping in with both feet. The adoption process can take anywhere from about 9 months to 2 years and will include a ton of paperwork. It will also include at least one and possibly two trips overseas to the country we adopt from.

The adoption agency we have decided to use is American World Adoption Association, AWAA. This is the agency that Steven Curtis Chapman used to adopt at least one of his children.

Needless to say, your support and prayers will be much appreciated as we begin this endeavor.