New Adventure of Life

One month... Today we have been in Trapper Creek for a month. It has definitely been an adventure to getting here. Here's the story on how we arrived here.  First I am going to start with back in December 2021 we came to visit our friends that had just moved out here to Trapper Creek. For the week or so while we were gone James and I were starting to feel a little discontent in Bethel, but we weren't sure what we should do or even where we would move if we could. Once we got back to Bethel within two weeks of being back we found out another set of really good friends were leaving to go to Wasilla. It was hard have two sets of good friends leave within six months of each other. It was just hard because we had been praying about if we are suppose to move and God was telling us not yet.   From December to April we all had that nasty c- bug, my dad passed away and we had to travel to Michigan for his funeral. While in Michigan at least 20 out of 22 family members all were sic...

                                                                                                                                                          January 3, 2022  Dad,  When Kim called to tell me that you were not breathing and that the paramedics were working on you in the kitchen was one of the hardest phone calls I received. Listening to my sister fight back her tears just to make sure I knew what was going on. Later on I ended up being on FaceTime with everyone while the paramedics continue doing their job of work...

  This year has been quite a year for us.  Living during a pandemic while losing you income while starting your own business has been hard.  I know for everyone everywhere this pandemic has had an effect someway or another.  For us it was hard when James' company went bankrupt and closed their doors. This was income for eight and a half years. Losing your income and insurance is hard. During this time though James has worked at making a dream become a reality.  And at the end of November James opened A Little Leaven.  Opening  the bakery has been an adjustment for us. We are still working things out, but we have had a few sales. James is selling danishes and he is hoping to sell doughnuts soon. While yes he is working I am also searching for a job to help supplement our income.  This has been a season of trusting God. We have not gone without. Things have been provided for. We have been living month to month which is hard to do. We lived like this...

It's hard finding  a good spot to start talking. I had some things written, but then decided that I didn't need to share that stuff. Honestly I have been wanting to write for awhile, but I've struggled with what to write about. I mean I have a lot of thoughts that run though my mind, but I don't ever know what to really right about.  Today though I am going to share some songs that have spoke to me this summer.  At the beginning of April this year James' company he worked for filed for bankruptcy. Everyone was let go except a small crew to help make sure nothing happened to any of the planes while they went though this. James and two others workers here in Bethel were left on. So now James had become the go to person for the base here in town.  His schedule also changed. Instead of two weeks on and two weeks off he went to an eight hour five day week. It was a big adjustment for us a family, but it was nice too.  We had no clue on how long James would be working...

Dear Grandpa, It's been almost a year since I got the phone call that you passed away. I remember that day. My alarm had gone off at 6:30 in the morning because I was suppose to babysit at 7:45. I heard my phone going off just before 7 and it was my moms specialize ringtone. I didn't answer it because I wanted to sleep more. I hadn't been sleeping well because I was pregnant. Not sure if my mom or dad told you. Anyways right after my phone stopped ringing I heard Robin call me. It was her specialized ringtone. the thing is our phone service is weird out here in Bethel. I haven't had their special ringtones work in quite awhile. Thinking on it now it was most likely a God thing that the ringtones went through. I don't keep my phone in my room at night so it is easier to ignore. Anyways when I heard Robin's ringtone at 7 in the morning I knew it was something serious. James happened to be out in the kitchen and reached the phone first. He had to tell my that you...

My last post was about James' medical issue.  I posted as my Facebook status about the lab results, but I thought I would just write it here as well. A couple of weeks after the blood work was drawn James got a call from the doctor that it turns out he had to major virus's. One of them was parvo and the other was the strain that can cause mono. The recovering is anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months.Since we don't which one was the worse we planned on him have to deal with the symptoms for up to 6 month if not a little longer. James ended going back to work the Tuesday after Memorial day. My mom came for up for a visit during the beginning of June. A few days after she left James and Payton went to Anchorage for Payton to get some fillings done. Also his mom and Grandma came that weekend. Which happen to be the week after my mom left.  During this time James was working 10 hour shifts Tuesday-Friday. He was pretty worn out by the time he came home that he had to relax in the ...

About a week and a half ago I posted on Facebook that my family could use some prayers and that when I was able I would share more. Well here is what has been going on for the last couple of weeks. First off, May 21, 2018 we welcomed on third child to our family. We kept it a secret off of social media sites. We had a little boy. Ezra Michael. So the prayer request was mostly for James, but a little about the coming to end of my pregnancy. Wednesday May 9 I ended up having to take James into the ER because his arms were cramping up and going numb and then he was starting to get the chills, but was sweating and was also having a hard time concentrating. We get the ER and I stay in the waiting room since we brought the kids with us. A little while later the doctor comes out to get me and as we were walking to James' exam room she informed me that he was now stuttering. The stutter literally started as he was walking into the exam room. The doctor informs us that she is going to d...

It's been so long since I blogged. I have started some multiple times, but never finished. Today I want to finish one. Monday February 19, 2018 will probably be one of the toughest days I have had in a long time emotionally. My mom calls me around 6:50 in the morning, I decide to ignore the call because I wanted to get a little more sleep before the kids I was watching came over. I figure I would just call her back later. Less then 10 minutes later my sister calls. This is when I new something was wrong. (Side note, they both have personalize ringtones and my phone was in the living room while I was in my bedroom.) Anyways I get up to go answer, but James had beaten me to my phone. He gets off and tells me that my Grandpa Green had just passed away.  I was not prepared for that. It has been a year in a half since I last saw him. So I broke down and just started crying. My poor kids had know idea what was wrong with their mommy. I had only a little bit of time to really cry until ...

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I don't know if it is because I love the fireworks or because it means my birthday is in 26 days? Or both?Or is it because of what we are celebrating? But anyways I love the holiday. Growing up my family and a group of other people always went to downtown Grand Rapids to watch the fireworks. We would get there between mid afternoon and early evening. We would sit in the same section of grass every. There would music playing all evening until the start of the fireworks.  During the fireworks they would play the patriotic music. My favorite song to sing  was "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. Hearing everyone sing along to the song was just amazing.  While we would wait for the fireworks to start we would all play card games and munch on the snacks that we bought. When I was younger we also went to play on the big red button. As I sit here tonight watching my kids color I can't help but think of my fami...

January 11 will be one year since my great uncle Richard passed away. I had been wanting to write about him several times in the past year and I just never did. So here I am now.  Last year I got a phone call from my parents say that uncle Richard isn't doing good and he probably wouldn't be with us much longer. Sunday January 11th I got a phone before I left for church. I knew right away what it was about. It was my dad telling me that uncle Richard passed away a couple hours ago. It was a hard thing to hear. This was the first relative that passed away while I was living in Alaska. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to Michigan for the funeral and it was hurting me inside. I had a 2 month old and an almost 2 year old. We also couldn't afford for me to go. The rest of the day I just cried on and off. I held my babies closer. I kept singing hymns that I hadn't sung in a long time to Emma while I was trying to get her to go to bed. I remember that the kids were h...

So I have attempted to write several times, but then I get interrupted. Anyways we had a good time in Michigan and Illinois visiting our family in August. We're so sorry that we didn't get to see everyone. Especially the family and friend in Illinois. We were only there for about 3 days and had to sort though our belongings in my husbands aunts house that has been there for the last 4 years. We are hoping to be able to visit longer in May/ June when we come down for my youngest sister graduation at the beginning of June. What new for us is that we have a crawler. Emma is crawling everywhere. She has been following Payton around the house. They love to make each other laugh.  Emma also got finish her physical therapy that she was in. She was actually measuring ahead for her age. When we first started this she was measuring about 3 months behind in some things. I saw that is a big improvement. Another thing is James is going to be traveling for work for two weeks in October. ...

Less than a month until we leave to go to Michigan. One of my younger sister is getting married in August so we're traveling down for the wedding.  I'm so excited. I just want to pack now, but I can't. I want to buy some stuff, but I can't because I want to buy stuff in Michigan.  I am just happy that we get to go on a small vacation. We also will stop in Illinois and see some family there quickly. We will spend some more time there next June when we come back down for my youngest sister high school graduation. Now for some updates on the family. James has been working overtime for the last few weeks. Tuesday will be the last day of overtime and then he goes back on his normal schedule. I have grand jury every Thursday this month. Payton is just growing. Not just in weight or height, but also in knowledge. His vocabulary is get big. He is starting to make long sentences. It's amazing watching him grow. When we sit down at the table to eat a meal, he'll stick o...

So let me start out that I love my kids. But I am ready to go crazy. Emma for some reason has decided to start waking up in the middle of the night multiple times. This has been going on since the end of February and the beginning of March. At first I thought she was going through a growth spurt. It is the end of May and she is still getting up multiple times. I have a feeling it's because she doesn't get enough to eat. She is still eating every two hours and she is almost 7 months old. I have tried giving her baby food since she was 4 months old. She won't eat it. After awhile I kinda just quit because baby food is so expensive here and she was acting like it was hurting her stomach. Well I  decided to start trying again and she still won't eat. I have no idea what else to do. I have to something figured out by July since I have grand jury every Thursday for that month and I need to be able to give her some other things to eat besides breast milk. Payton has back tra...

It has been awhile since I last wrote. I mean I have attempted to write, but  I seem to just lose my train of thought or one of my kids need my attention. Sometimes I feel that I have so much to say, but when I come to write it out I can't get it in the words that I want it to. If that makes any since. I also have been losing sleep most nights. I'm not purposely trying to give excuses, but it's true. I am at a stage in motherhood where my two year wakes up in the middle of the night and joins James and I in bed. My almost 6 months old wakes up in the middle of the night still if she goes to bed before 9:30. It's worse on the nights that James has to be up early the next morning for work. There are days that I am barely awake until the afternoon. Sometimes I set an alarm on my ipod just to make sure I'm awake just in case I start drifting off to sleep in the morning. That mostly happens when Emma is taking her nap and Payton is watching Curious George. The last week...

Well this is another attempt at starting a post. My life feels crazy tight now. The last time I posted I was still pregnant.  November 1, 2014 I had little miss Emma. It's been fun and exhausting so far having two kids. Payton is getting a lot better with her than at the beginning. Emma has been teething that last month or so, but know teeth yet. I don't expect them anytime soon though. She has been waking up screaming like she is in pain and if you rub her gums she calms down so at least we know her issue. Her first 3 months she was colicky. That has gotten a lot better. Payton just celebrated his second birthday this month. It's hard to believe that James and I have a two year old. He has been a big helper with some things. He loves to try helping me burp Emma. I personally think he likes "hitting" her with out getting into trouble. He does it gently by the way. Anyways we have been trying to figure out how to help him sleep at night. He won't sleep throug...

These last two weeks have been hard on me. I have been feeling stressed, overwhelmed. and all together just about every other emotion out there. One thing happens and then the everything just down falls from there. I know in my last post I talked about faith and how I was dealing with getting all these bills. Well this should be the last week of my "stress" on that part. Everything I know will work out and I sit here trying not to let it bother me. We go into Anchorage this coming Friday. I am so ready to go and get a little break. Even though it's only going to be twos days. I just need it. I need a break from my everyday schedule. Payton is starting to figure out that there is a change coming. He has been naughty a lot more. (In my opinion) I'm also very hormonal so that might have a play in it. I feel like I lose my temper more with him in last couple weeks than I have in a really long time. It hurts me when I lose my temper. I feel like a horrible mom. I often h...

As I am sitting watching Anne of Green Gables I keep thinking on what is going in my (our) life. We keep getting bills that we have to pay and they all happen to be due around the time we go to Anchorage.  So as I pay bills I see our grocery money slowly going down. I have been trying not to worry or stress, but last night was my breaking point. Over the weekend I was figuring out our account and how much bills we have to pay. While in church yesterday listening to the message I all of a sudden thought of another bill that we had to pay that I didn't know how we will pay it. During the message my pastor was talking about how God provided manna to the Israelite's for 40 years. He knew what they need and provided that. So here I am stressing about how we are going to make it without going in the negative and our pastor ends his sermon with God provides. I know that God provides. It's just hard to see what little money we have get used up. We have never gone without. We have a...

It's been a couple months since I last posted. Sorry about that. Well here is a little update. I will try not to forget anything, but can't guarantee that with my pregnancy brain and lack of sleep. :)  June was just a normal month until the last Sunday of the month. James got a phone call while he was working. Who knew that phone call was an answer to our prayers. Someone called and asked James if we were looking for a place to live. He felt that he should call James. Total God thing! James told him  we were. So this person told James that he had a 3 bedroom apartment coming available the first of August. Works for us. Anyways we met up with this person to look at the place a couple days later. It won my vote as soon I saw we had a washer and dryer :).  It was in our price range if we had to pay any utilities. We have to pay water and electric, not a big deal. Our fuel for heat is included. Oh another plus is that our landlords are believers and run one of the local rad...

For those who don't know, James and I are expecting are second child in November. Now we are in the process of looking for a new place to rent since we are going to outgrow where we live. I am hoping we can find a place by the end of summer. I am ready to move.   To give a little update on what we have been up to since I last posted.  We went to Aniak to butcher the moose that James got at the end of February.  Found out that I was pregnant the weekend we got back from Aniak. March was a pretty quiet month for us.  April kicked off with us going to Anchorage for a week with my mother-in-law for a vacation.  Had my first prenatal appointment.  House/dog sat for some friends. Now that brings us to May which we went back to Aniak just before mothers day for our cousins High School graduation. James left the Monday and Payton and I left the Tuesday after Mothers day.   James and I celebrated four years of marriage Now we are ...

My baby is one. It's hard to believe that a year has gone by already. He has grown so much in that year. He now has 8 teeth. Four on top and four on bottom. He is crawling like crazy and has learned to walk along furniture. He still hasn't decided to walk on his own yet. But i'm sure it will come to him soon. Payton makes James and I laugh all the time. We love him to pieces. Happy Birthday Payton!!! Mommy and Daddy love you! The day he was born. Yes he knocked the fan off the red ladybug box and the lamp and everything else of the orange tote so he could sit  on it.   Like father, Like son. When the flash goes off their eyes close.