Around Here: Week 12

Reading... The Gift of an Ordinary Day after finishing Believing God and all the other books I was in. It feels nice to be reading one book at a nice, leisurely pace.

Worrying... about Logan and his seizure meds' side effects.  He's tired and nauseous and dizzy.  I remember Josh feeling the same way when he started seizure medicine, and it got better with time, so I'm trying to feel patient... but it's hard on my heart.

Still... doing treatments for Wyatt for his Reactive Airway, and hoping that his cough will be completely gone soon.  On the plus side, while we were at the doctor getting a wart burned off his hand (he was so brave!), the doctor listened to his lungs and said they sound alright and he is on the road to healing!

Taking... my kids to the dentist.  They are all cavity free- hooray!  The twins love the dentist's office because they have xbox's and they get to play Minecraft while they wait. Ha! Wyatt loves it cause they have an epic prize box.

Exploring... a new park last weekend with my family.  I am really proud of us for finding new things to love about where we live and for trying really hard to "bloom where we're planted."

Sleeping... 8 hours last night! I can't believe it. Carly slept 10:30-6:30am and this mama is so glad!

Walking... to school again now that the weather has warmed up a bit.  The boys love it and so do I!

Wishing... I could get my eating under control. I just want to eat all.the.things.  My self control and willpower is nil.  I could really use some advice about what works for you if you have any.

Wondering... if Carly is ready to transition to one nap a day. I find that two naps is really cramping our style lately. (I can't ever run errands and I can't do the things I want/need around the house because they're loud and she's asleep.)  By this age, all three of our other kids had transitioned to one nap. For sure by summer she has to be down to one nap because I can hardly keep the boys quiet for two days on the weekend for her twice daily naps. I certainly won't be able to (nor do I want to) keep them hushed all summer long!

Meditating on this...

"There is eternal influence 

and power in motherhood."

-Julie B. Beck

***

Leaving Rural Alaska

Josh packed for days and days and days on end.

Our Sleep Number bed, all packed up

The boys' room

Our room

Our bathroom

Our living room

Our dining room

Books for days...
from both Josh's classroom,
and our personal collection.

Our kitchen

The boys' playroom

Marshall, Alaska
The old airport & rock quarry to the left;
The village in the mid-upper left;
The road to the new airport running horizontally across the mid-upper right.
(Photo courtesy of Josh's old coworker)

Picking up Josh for the last time at the airport.
What a relief to be done with that!

And then the boxes started showing up in Washington!

---------------------

Our time in rural Alaska ended in the spring.  Our house there was left empty, our boxes (24 in total) shipped to us.  Josh beat them home by many weeks.  I have wanted to write this post for a while now, but I can't really put into words what our time in Alaska did for us.  It grew us and changed us in irreversible ways.  It was good and hard and wonderful and horrible.  I suffered debilitating anxiety & depression plus two miscarriages while living on the tundra, but I also rejoiced in being a stay-at-home mom, living in a brand new, beautiful house that I got to turn into a home, and was blessed to homeschool our twins for three years while we were there.  I met and loved and cherished more people than I can count from our time in Marshall, people that will forever be etched on our hearts.  Its confusing to say that some of our family's best times were spent in that village, and then in the same breath to say that it was time for us to leave that place, but that's how life is.

Our boys were ready for more, and our family was too.

We will forever look back on our time there fondly.  Attending Saturday Social every weekend, watching our three blue eyed boys play with a gym full of beautiful brown eyed children whom we had grown to love like our own; cozy Saturday nights spent watching movies with our boys, enjoying pizza Josh made from scratch; Friday night date nights, the boys tucked in their beds, Josh and I together on the couch relishing the quiet... So much family bonding, adventuring and learning.  It feels as if it were all a dream.  Kind of a far away time that has taken on a fuzzy quality.

How did we do it? How did we pack and travel and live like that? How did we manage without a hospital or grocery store? I don't know... but we did.  Somehow that way of life became normal and comfortable.  And I am forever indebted to the way we lived there.  Because now? Now I am grateful for the most trivial things: Consistent internet.  Sour cream.  Fresh fruit.  Walking the aisles of the grocery store.  I am grateful also for our backyard more than ever because of our time spent stuck within the four walls of our home in rural Alaska.  My friend Peter said that the best way to become grateful was to experience periods of deprivation followed by periods of abundance... I find this to be incredibly true. Both in terms of things (mainly food), and in terms of people (ie Josh).  I'm so happy to be living with him again after our year apart.  The small things, like him making the bed so I don't have to, or hugging me after a long day with the kids, bring gigantic bursts of joy, whereas before I don't know if they would have even registered.

When we were making the decision to leave Alaska, it was gut wrenching.  We felt confused and emotional and unsure.  The way I know that we made the right decision is that I am totally okay with being normal, cliche, boring now.  I don't care that we bought a house in a subdivision with a good school and that we plan on putting the boys in baseball and boy scouts.  I don't care that I'm a stereotypical stay-at-home mom who drives a minivan and makes cookies  for an after-school snack.  Settling into this new normal feels right.  I don't miss the adventure, the exoticness of that life.  It was a beautiful chapter for our family, one I will remember fondly, but it's a chapter that has closed.  And this new chapter? It's going to be just as great.

***

All The Feels

With the move, I expected some misbehavior from the kids.  I expected tears and anger and some big time adjustment issues.  Instead I have only had occasional bedtime emotions.  And only from Wyatt.  I guess the twins are so used to this "on-the-go", constant-change lifestyle that it doesn't bother them in the least.  All those years leaving for Alaska in the fall have paid off.  

With Wyatt what usually happens is this:

I tuck Wyatt in, we say prayers and I sit in the rocking chair to feed Carly.  Then Wyatt rolls around a bit, talks about something random (like earth spinning really fast, "but we can't feel it") or asks me questions (like "Can water sunburn?") then he stops and says to me, "I feel sad." 

So I lay Carly down and scoop Wyatt up.  "Why are you sad?" I ask.

"I miss everybody," he tells me.

Even though it makes me sad that his little heart hurts, I am so, so proud of him for talking about his feelings and I'm so happy that just a hug from mom helps him feel better.  My hope is that with time he will see that we aren't as cut off from our people here as we were in Alaska.  Poor little buddy!

***

Our Farewell

Before we left town, my parents & sister threw us a little farewell so we could see everyone one last time.  Everyone brought items for our pantry (or their favorite cleaning products) which was just the greatest when we got here and had things we needed (like Magic Erasers and Italian Seasoning).  

It was a fun, laid back afternoon of visiting and watching the kids run around crazy!

Rainbow baby!!!

Nephew Ferris

Haha! My dad

Nephew Milo

Ferris & Jack

Wyatt, Milo & Jack

Milo

I am so relieved to be living within driving distance of my people.  After years of being so so far away, we can now plan weekend gatherings, birthday parties and other fun stuff all throughout the year!  I can't wait!

***

The Move

Upon arriving at our house, we immediately began unpacking.  The guys (Josh, his brother & nephews and my dad) unloaded the rest of the Uhaul as my mom and I balanced watching the kids with unpacking what we could.

Even though it pains me to share these pictures because of the mess, I know I will want the before pictures on the blog, so here goes!

garage

living room

As the rest of us unloaded and unpacked, my saint of a sister-in-law continued painting, finishing the last colored wall of the house.  By the time she left, the entire house was neutral and my carpets were totally crawling-baby friendly.

entryway

coat closet

the kitchen

the kitchen

the office/laundry room

the office/laundry room

Aunt Julie even let Jack & Logan give it a go painting.  Seriously, best aunt ever!

This baby handled the entire move beautifully.  It helped that we had extra hands on deck for the first few days.

the master bedroom

the master bedroom

the master bathroom

the main bathroom

the main bathroom

the dining room

The mess of unpacking got (a lot) worse before it got better.  But we are slowly getting there.  I'd say by September I should be ready to share some "after" pictures.  That first weekend, my mom and dad worked tirelessly to scrub every inch of our kitchen and I cleaned the main bathroom top to bottom.  Josh got the garage up and running and he and my dad tackled countless projects to get the house in good working order. 

There are many, many things I am grateful for in our new house. (So many, in fact, that I started a list on day two of living here and almost hit 100 things!) ...but one of the things that has me most excited is this dishwasher! Five years of living in rural Alaska with no dishwasher, having one is sure a luxury I don't take for granted. 

The dishes in this picture were a gift I am also really grateful for.

Somehow we managed to perfectly mix working our butts off unpacking with making special memories while my parents were here.  I was so thankful they were here to help us settle in, and also thankful they got to see where we are settling.  It was really hard to see them go.

A large majority of our first days were spent running to and from local stores.  Walmart and Lowe's in particular.  I was happy to wear sweet Carly, who now at six months, fits like a dream in my Ergo from Wyatt.  My favorite is when she falls asleep in it. She's such a squish!

This week Josh spent just one day back in his classroom preparing for the start of school.  Next week he goes back full time.  I am going to miss him so much, but I think we are all ready for a normal routine after so much happy chaos this summer.  In the meantime, we are rushing to get the rest of the boxes unpacked so we can settle easily into the new school year.

I'll have a few days with the kids to myself before they all start school and I am looking forward to those special days as well.  I know the house buying (closing a few days late and all that) was bumpy, but I am so grateful to have it all finished in time for Josh and the kids to start school.  That was our ultimate goal and I feel lucky to have reached it.

***