While those “balls” weren’t all bad, they still had a lot of emotion involved.  This was something very good, an answer to prayer really.  Remember when I talked about an international trip?  Vince was one of three who went as a work team to the Philippines to help my brother work on their new house.  He was gone three weeks.  He had an amazing time.  Since getting home from the airport we have listened to stories for a couple hours {I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface.} and seen his several hundred photos.  I’m so excited for him {especially now that he’s home :-D!}; it was my idea, it was planned suddenly, and I had convinced myself the Philippines weren’t too far away {in order to ease my heart with Zach & Jane being there}.  After all we share water….HA!  That delusion lasted until just over half way through his flight from Vancouver, Canada to Hong Kong…ya, less than 24 hours from his departure I was questioning my sanity big time.  I will write more about the last month – but for now I’m going to keep it short and share some of his pictures with you.  These are things he saw with his own eyes, in real life. Enjoy!

Isn’t it gorgeous?!

Apparently, these are totally usable/used, they will bail the water out, 

fill it up with people {a LOT of people, as in 20 or so!}, 

and head on their way up the river.

a Jeepny — a common mode of transportation

He took these with his iTouch4 — he also took many videos so he could share the sights and sounds with us.  He did an amazing job with documenting the trip and I’m so happy to have him home!  I can’t wait to pour over his pictures some more.  He took some amazingly picturesque pictures, for someone who isn’t “really into taking pictures” and used an iTouch because he didn’t want to carry around a camera.  I will share more of my favorites as time goes on. 😀

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Are you cleaning out closets but have some favorite clothes you don’t want to really get rid of? (I admit, I have piles of clothes that are just good material and pretty…for that perfect something, some day.)

Last fall while in the cleanout process of my son’s clothes I came across several t-shirts that were his favorite and he hadn’t wanted to tell me they were too small because he didn’t want me to get rid of them. When he finally decided to ‘fess up he said, “Can’t you make them into something to put on the blog?” I had to smile – he didn’t want them to go away and the most enticing thing he could think of was to associate it with the blog.

So, we came up with t-shirt pillows for his bed. He is a “nester” when he sleeps; he creates a nest of blankets and pillows every night before going to sleep :-).

All I did was sew across the bottom and the bottom of each sleeve*. Leave the neck open for stuffing. I had him use poly-fil stuffing and stuff them to the thickness he wanted; then I stitched the neck closed. *Because I had matching colors of thread for each shirt I did not turn them inside out to sew. I just did a stretch stitch at the bottom over the previous seam.

This was one of those projects that took so little time and effort (maybe two hours for all four?), yet made my boy so happy. It is several months later and he still has them on his bed :-). He often brings this project up to other people too, telling them what I did. How fun is that?! I scored as a mom!!! 🙂

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In the past I have ripped ideas out of magazines and then piled those ideas to be filed….funny thing, when I wanted to do a project I tend to not be able to find that idea at the moment and it becomes a cleaning project instead of a creation project. Anyway, my children often hear me say {right before, during, or after discussing a current project}, “I saw this on Pinterest”.

We make most of our gifts for Christmas and my son’s Christmas gift to me so this wonderful sign. He wood burned “I have a pinterest interest” on a burl of really cool wood :-D… I love it!

{source}

Here is my take for putting fun vinyl on our washer and dryer. We don’t have pretty front loads – but I made it work anyway. I went with the state of the clothes as they enter each machine – “dirty” and “clean”.

I obviously have lots to learn on the the right size to make a photo for putting on the blog, without them getting “pixlie”- (and why did the Pinterest photo come out ginormous!?). I used the George font that came with my Cricut for cutting the vinyl, and I couldn’t figure out how to block out the laundry soap name.

I have not been compensated for any of this. This post is not meant to be an advertisement or promotion of anything – except the fun of re-creating what I’ve seen on Pinterest. 😀

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Yesterday morning at 9:10 the dump truck came with a load of gravel. The guys went to get the back hoe & it was time to work (play?).

Here is the kennel all set up & ready for Hickory to come…quite the plush set up :).

Today did not go as planned – and Vince handled it very well. We were here this morning & then we needed to take dad into Anchorage to pick up a van (it has front end damage) that he got for parts for my van….All this went fine & there was 50/50 chance he could start the van and drive home. The animal hospital had my cell # and was to call me when it was time to pick up Hickory, we knew we had until 5:30/6 to pick him up. We got to the junk yard & got the van – the guy started it & drove it out to dad, no problems! It was just 3:15, we were doing really well on time & very happy about this. I was supposed to stay right behind dad – easier said than done, but I was managing. We got on the highway & weren’t even to the Muldoon exit when I noticed dad was smoking from the left side, but the exhaust was on the right…so I called dad & told him. The heat gauge was fine & he couldn’t smell anything so he decided to keep going — he ended up taking the Arctic Valley exit & pulled over. We hoped we could make it to Eagle River to get some water. …. not so …. Dad took off down a frontage road (? I don’t know we were parallel to the Hwy, but couldn’t see it) & was following but there was a large work truck between us. A couple miles down the road I saw dad pulled over again.

The only usable fluids I had were a gal of windshield washer fluid & the kids’ water bottles. As fast as he poured those in they poured out on ground on the opposite side of the engine. Dad called Zach & he was able to drop what he was doing and bring the truck & trailer in to pick up the van — Zach to the rescue.

side note: Here is Christine on the side of the road waiting. Can you believe what I let her leave the house in today? Yes, that is jeans with a skort on top of them, and a long sleeve hoodie with a t-shirt on top. I think her thinking was if it got hot she’d be prepared…but they were in the wrong order… 🙂

As time ticked away it became obvious I was going to be taking Vince by myself to pick up Hickory….we were all nervous & it was a very quiet ride from the Ft. Rich exit to Palmer. But we did it, I didn’t get sick when she was telling us stuff, we got him in the van and drove home all by ourselves. For those who don’t know me – this is huge! We got home, Dad & Zach were here and Jane & the kids were here – so Hickory still got a grand welcome. 🙂

The kids checking out Hickory in his kennel. Vince is in the kennel with Hickory while he checked out all the corners.

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At 3 you accepted a sister into your life with no problem.

You are creative with your resources.

String, scissors, and duct tape have been your staples for many years.

You love swimming.

Your favorite place to ride has always been the front of the boat.

You like to be goofy.

You are a hard worker & you love to read!

You work hard next to Bumpa for hours and as soon as you sit down you grab your book to read.

You are tenderhearted and truly enjoy being with young children.

You love and miss your cousins too.

Love those eyes.

Love that smile.

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Vince with Vladimir.

We spent 15-20 min with Vladimir outside. He was very calm, but we had intentionally decided before going we’d check him out but not do anything until we’d ‘slept on it’ & my dad came home on Sat afternoon & could give us his opinion. It was very hard to leave him. We went to Anchorage to pick up something for Matt, went to Bear’s Tooth to watch Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian movie, then to Barnes & Noble for an hour to read all we could on Husky’s. We did buy a collar & leash, to make it seem more real. When we got home I was checking different listings again & found a another dog – a light colored sheperd/lab/husky mix…but it was female & a 5 month old puppy! I called on it, but someone else was set up to look at her, I gave my name & number – they’d call if the others didn’t take the puppy.

So, we set up to meet dad at the pound on his way home from the airport – 6pm. Vince had decided he didn’t really want Vladimir, but wanted to show Bumpa what a nice dog he was. He was leaning towards holding out for a Golden Retriever & being able to name it himself, but not sure he wanted to wait that long either. Vince was getting concerned that I’d change my mind or we ‘just wouldn’t get around to it’ – ‘it’ being, getting him a dog. He had to come to grips with the fact he had no reason to not trust me for my word & sometimes it’s hard to wait for God’s best, not what we think is best. We had discussion on how I’ve been praying about this & I knew without a doubt God had the perfect dog waiting for him. How we’d have to not jump & grab just any dog out of fear of the idea going away, but to really be deliberate about what we really wanted for life. When we got to the pound, Dad had gotten there a couple minutes before us. (Now, if you know my dad at all you’ll know why we responded the way we did. If you don’t know my dad, just know we have a lifetime of good reason.) The first thing he said was “Why didn’t you tell me about the Golden back there?” I answered with, “because there isn’t one”. He said “no, seriously there is a 1 yr old, male, white Golden back there, I was just there & saw it.” I thought – yeah, right a ‘white’ golden?! come on, I’m not going to fall for that! Well, after a bit of convincing on my dad’s side & me deciding it must be because he must not be available for adoption (I’d checked the system again to see if there was anything just before leaving to go to the pound) – he took us to the white Golden Retriever…. A 1 yr old, male, not named, Golden Retriever…oh, how I wish I’d had my camera. I have a mental photo, but couldn’t ever begin to describe the look on my boy’s face. I should have known…my dad has gone to the pound 3 times to get a Golden Retreiver & there’s been one each time! The story on this dog – someone had come & dropped him off in the pound’s night drop box. They’d called & asked why it wasn’t listed on the system & the pound was saying they didn’t have him. Finally, the original owners said “we put him in the green night drop shed, behind your building”, but that isn’t the night drop anymore so no one had gotten him out, so this puppy was without food or water for 3 days. They’d just gotten him on Friday & we have to wait 5 days before he becomes available for adoption (why he wasn’t in the system yet), but we were able to put a deposit on him & tomorrow we’ll go pay the rest. Since it was the owners that brought him in & called to get him found, we’re figuring they won’t come claim him… Thursday he’ll go to be neutered & we can pick Hickory up Thursday afternoon. Dad & Vince have started working on where the kennel will be and know where they’ll be putting the run. This is real – in just 48 short hours, Vince will have his own dog. I’m sure this a process he will remember for the rest of his life & he will always know and be convinced – God is in the details of our lives, big & small.

Last night we had Vince’s birthday party…a carhartt theme (thank you Matt M, it was the perfect idea!). It was a fun evening of dad grilling burgers & hot dogs and friends & family.

How sad is it – I sent these out by email! (& yes, I had the wrong date…)

what do you think of these colors for a birthday cake?

All of my time telling the kids to not have their feet more than a few inches off the trampoline, or if there are lots on then they need to stay with bums on the trampoline…. So what does Uncle Zach do?! Yes, that is a full body length above his head! Brothers – gotta love ’em!

A batch of girl cousins … 🙂

A batch of kids in Carhartt – what fun.

Vince & his cake. :)…

I have come a long ways, there was a day I wouldn’t have let this go. It was truly ugly, in a cute kind of way…I loved Mary’s explanation – it’s a stone washed, well-worn label! Once I had that in mind it was OK. I am blessed, I feel younger now than when he was born. Life is good & my boy has successfully turned 12!

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Anyway… Matt called me this morning in true “Matt fashion”, he called at 8 – the first words out of his mouth were “Did I wake you up?” Was he asking out of kindness or kind of hoping he had? 🙂 I don’t know & I’m not so sure there wasn’t a note of disappointment that I answered with a ‘no’. He was actually calling to see if Vince would want to go flying with him today. Of course I said yes he’d go – thinking in my head “what fun, it’s an absolutely gorgeous day”. Matt said, “OK, I’ll be there in 10 min. He needs to be in full snow gear we’re going to the glacier”. I said “OK, I’ll pack him some food too”. Proof I’d been up for a while – there was conscious thought happening (those who know me knows it takes me significantly longer to get to this point than most people).

Now, Vince used to be awake most everyday by 6:30 or 7…that has changed… 🙂 I figured he was awake and even if not, he’d wake up quick considering what he got to go do. Lets just say I have had the pleasure of waking him up on numerous occasions lately, this was one of those times. Well, Vince was dressed in snow gear, had his breakfast, lunch, book & camera in hand, and was in Matt’s truck, maybe even getting close to Palmer – all before he ever really woke up! 🙂 When he walked out the door his head was still drooping, I had not yet actually seen his eyes & I hadn’t heard a whole word out of him yet, mostly just half words or sounds. They went & played on Knik Glacier, from the amazing pictures he took – he woke up & thoroughly enjoyed it all!

He even took this picture just before take off – just for me. When he was showing me his pictures & I said “oh, that is so cool” – his response was “yea, I know. I took it for you.”
:)! He did wake up thankful to go flying & thinking kind thoughts towards me.

Flying to the glacier.

Landed on the glacier.

Matt digging the hole, on the glacier.

Vince peeking out of the hole, on the glacier.

Self portrait of a very happy boy, in a hole – on a glacier!

You can check Matt & his many adventures out on www.blueiceaviation.com. Yes, I am biased – but it is truly a wonderful experience to “go play on a glacier”. Matt is a wonderful pilot & totally trust worthy!

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