Exhaustion

has set in.

I'm tired. Very tired.

The moving truck comes tomorrow, which means I must now unplug my computer and pack it.

I hope to be able to buy a laptop this week...........

but for now I'm "unplugged".

I'll probably sneak off to the library to check e-mail and cruise blogs if time allows.

Otherwise, I'll see you all "on the other side" in a few weeks!

If you think about it, pray for us!

It's liberating........

to sell practically everything you own.

Our life has been relegated to 25 boxes, five Rubbermaid totes, and 7 suitcases (we need a couple more BIG ones, if anyone out there has some they no longer need).

We have a few more bigger items that I am putting on Craigslist, but other than that it's all gone. Our garage sale was a HUGE success on Friday. We had beautiful sunny weather and lots of people stopped by. Saturday, not so much. It was rainy, windy and COLD! We did sell a few things, but by early afternoon it was very evident it was time to close up shop.

All of our housewares are packed and awaiting pickup this week by Roadway to begin their journey. It will all go by truck to Tacoma, then by barge to Anchorage, and finally by air from Anchorage to Kotzebue. We are hopeful that it will all arrive within a few days of our arrival there!

We are still in our house, albeit with no furniture other than our mattresses. Sometime this week we will be heading out of here to stay with friends and family for the remainder of our 12 days here.

Over the past few days we have been blessed by so many people who have stepped in to help with all the work that needed to be done. My in-laws came for a couple of hours one day last week and helped with packing. My friend Meleea also came over for a few hours to help with packing. On Thursday my friends Val and Kelly came and spent a good portion of the day helping me get set up for the sale! Then Thursday afternoon my sister Kris arrived and set out to work. And let me tell you that there is NO ONE that can work like Kris. She is amazing. Productive, decisive, motivated and strong. She spent the whole weekend working for me. Directing what needed to be done. On Friday my mom came and she worked right along with Kris. My mom is a self proclaimed clean freak. So you know that underneath my stove and fridge were cleaned as well as the shower knob in my bathroom!
Thank you so very much to all of you for your help. I was feeling completely overwhelmed by the task at hand last week and now I feel like life will be completely manageable and likely enjoyable these next two weeks. We are blessed by you!

We might be CRAZY.......

Go check out the latest pictures on Cathy's Blog.

Alright Elena..................

Here it is. The moment you have all been waiting for.

Right? I know you've all been sitting next to your computers waiting for this:

We are MOVING!

What? You say no big deal? People move all the time?

Well, people don't actually move all the time to where we are going.

We are moving to Alaska.

Okay, so people do move there.........

But we are moving to Kotzebue, Alaska.

Ha Ha! See you've never even heard of it, right?

That's because it is a village of about 3000 people located 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Yep, I said 30 miles North of the Arctic Circle!

There, see the red dot? That's where we're going.

Here it is from the air:

See that strip of asphalt running through the bottom right corner?

That is the airport runway, on which Alaska Airlines lands 737.........

So I expect that ya'all will be coming to visit me sometime because you've always wanted to go to Alaska.

It's a long story on how this came about, but it is a good one, in which God has a mighty hand.

Sometime in the very near future I will be sharing it with you, but for now I have the monumental task of sorting, selling and packing up our house to focus on.

But soon, very soon I will give you the REST OF THE STORY. (RIP Paul Harvey!)

In the meantime, I leave you with this

(it is the blog of a gal that lives in Kotzebue. Go check it out, you'll be amazed and might even think we are certifiably crazy!

**We are leaving in 2.5 weeks and in that time we have to sell or get rid of nearly everything we own. the company that we have taken a job with provides furnished housing, so we are taking very little more than our clothes, the boys' toys, linens and kitchen stuff. Other than that, it all goes. We are having a giant garage sale this Friday and Saturday from 9-4, so if you are in the area, stop by! We also have a very cute house for sale or rent and two cars for sale!**

This pretty much sums it up right now

My good friend Brenda sent this to me on facebook.
I've listened to it five times tonight for no other reason than the fact that it describes exactly where we are at.
It's worth the five minutes!

It's Big

I've been absent again.

My brother-in-law David noticed. As a matter of fact he sent me this message on Facebook:

February 20 at 10:22pm

Hey Trish,


Do you have blog writer's block. Haven't seen anything new lately. Just making sure you are keeping your time between FB and your Blog world even!!


David

I haven't replied yet so here it goes:

Hey David,


Yep, I've had writers block. Actually there is lots to blog about as you know, it's just that the things that I have to blog about aren't quite ready to be told to the whole entire world yet. You know what I mean? Soon though, very soon. God is opening doors as we speak. He has a plan and while it seems kind of wild and crazy to us, Dave and I know that it will be God's perfect plan. So as soon as we are ready to reveal, I'll have more to blog about. Until then, I'll just blog about you. Oh and by the way David, this girl loves comments on her blog more than she loves messages on her facebook, so since you read it you might as well comment on it.

Love,


Trish

Here's David.

He's a great guy. He married my sister about 9 years ago. She had two little girls from a previous marriage that he took in and has loved and provided for as if they were his own. He whole-heartily stepped in to raise those girls. He and my sister have since had another little girl so he is now daddy to three girls!

Now, you may have caught on that there is something big going on here and let me just say that it is BIG. I can't quite tell you what yet, but if you happen to have my phone number or e-mail and want to inquire that way, I will be more than happy to tell you what is going on. We are excited and scared but we know that God is in control. More to come soon!

The Face of Nine

My sweet valentine is 9 today!


Dear Ben,

Nine? You are growing up to quickly. I cannot believe that nine years have passed since you made your appearance into this world two weeks early. You were not due until February 29, which means that had you been born on your due date you would only be TWO!


Nine is big. It means that you are almost into double digits! It means that you aren't really a little boy anymore, but not really a big boy either. It means that some days you will still hug and kiss your mom and some days you'll have none of that.


I have really enjoyed watching you grow this year. You are trying new things and are making great choices. You are a fantastic student and do a great job in school.
You are a good friend to everyone, but have also done a fantastic job in choosing your closest friends. I love the boys you hang out with!


You are funny and witty and always quick to smile.


You are compassionate and forgiving.


You love Jesus with all your heart and this year you were the one who prayed with Cooper to ask Jesus into his heart. That is something I will never forget!


You are a fabulous big brother, even though your brother gets on your nerves and into your stuff sometimes. When I make you two hold hands and look into each others eyes and say "I love you and you are my best friend" after a fight, you say it so easily.

Ben, this year I pray that you will continue to grow into the wonderful boy that God has planned for you.

I also pray that you will not grow to big to sit on my lap sometimes!


Happy Birthday Buddy! You have brought us so much joy these last nine years.



We love you bunches!

Mom, Dad & Coop

Never trust a five year old with a secret

Alternately titled: Hit em where it hurts

Alternately alternately titled: I'm gonna get real here

Not that I'm not always "real" with ya'all, it's just that I recently had a conversation with my friend (in real life) Meredith about blogging and how hard it is for me to share my life here and then my other friend (in blog life) Meredith went and posted this. I mean, I tell you all the funny stuff and every once in a while I tell you the junk (yep, I have junk), but I rarely go to deep here. It's because I have a wall. I have a wall in real life and I have a wall in blog life. And this wall keeps me from allowing people to get to close. I hate this wall. I want to be more transparent to everyone not just my few close friends. I'm working on breaking my wall down, but it's thick and tall and strong.................
and what is it with TWO different Meredith's bringing up the same subject within 24 hours of each other?

So my real confession:

I fed my five year old McDonald's today.
TWICE!
The first was an arranged hookup at lunch time, we met some friends there.
The second? Well perhaps it could be called poor planning?
Whatever it is, it happened.
Ben's birthday is on Saturday and I left the gift buying to the last couple of days because that is just how I operate. I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather and by later this afternoon it was apparent that I was not getting better, but am likely going to end up with the crud, so it became necessary to get my tail in gear and get the birthday stuff done while Ben was at his theatre classes tonight. So off Cooper and I went to the only mall in our area that has Lego store for one particular requested gift. A Lego key chain.
(Yes, I drove 30 minutes to go to the Lego store for a $5 Lego key chain).
After that Cooper and I ventured over to Toys R Us to pick up one more gift. I figured our timing was good in that spending a few more minutes shopping would enable us to miss the rush hour traffic getting home. Ummm, yeah, WRONG. We got back on the freeway headed North and pretty soon we were sitting. At a complete standstill. Oh and did I mention my gas light was on and had been on for about 10 miles? So as we approached another freeway that would take us by a Costco on the way home, I decided to jump on it so I could stop and get gas. Well, that freeway was backed up too. So there I sat at 7:15 pm on a backed up freeway with a very hungry five year old and an empty gas tank, oh and I'm getting sicker by the minute. So off the free way we go where I find the first drive thru and gas station that I can.
And that my friends is how I came to feed my five year old McD's TWICE in the same day.

Now about the secret. On the way home I had a very serious discussion with Cooper about not telling Ben what his gifts were. I told him that they were a surprise and that Ben would get to open them on Saturday, so he only needed to keep the secret for two days. Since Cooper only knows what the two gifts we picked up tonight are, I didn't think it would be that hard for him to keep them a secret for less than 48 hours. Wrong again. As soon as we walked in the door Cooper said "Dutter, me and mom got you a Lego key chain and I got one too."
I was fuming. I had just gone over with him in the car that we were going to tell Ben nothing!
I told him how sad I was that he told Ben, but he didn't seem at all remorseful. It then dawned on me that I needed to "hit em where it hurts" and that taking away his Lego key chain (I told him he couldn't have it until after Ben's b-day) would be the best punishment for his crime. When I told him that would be his punishment he started crying, sobbing actually. Very quietly, but huge, great big alligator tears.
I think he's remorseful now.

Overheard in the back seat of my car......

**girls name has been changed to protect the innocent

Cooper: "Dutter do you think Julia** is cute?"

Ben: "No, she has plaquey teeth."



Apparantly good dental hygiene is on the top of his list of important qualities.......

I love Jesus but I drink a little too