Alaska Pics, finally.

Well, for all you bums that like to spoil my vacation by begging for pictures.....they're finally here. Honestly! You'd think this normal everyday life--I'm holding a big grudge that I've had to do schoolwork the whole time I'm here. And you know, mothering never ends, and I've repacked our suitcases a zillion times, done piles of laundry, etc. And because I refuse to sit around and watch a barely post-partum woman do the chores (she's never made me feel obligated, seriously), I've helped with the food prep, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher who knows how many times, and of course, the funnest job of all--cuddled baby David.

I took today completely off from schoolwork since Keith took a vacation day to spend with us. He took us flying (wasn't that convenient, Mom, that I didn't tell you that BEFORE we went?!!) over the mountains and the Knik Glacier. Amazing is the only word I could think of. I was very bummed, though, that I didn't have my camera (or so I thought...it was at the bottom of the bag, and I kicked myself--hard--when I found it in there afterall). It's so hard to describe the mountains that go on and on. I thought there was just one chain of them, behind those mountains are rows and rows more, as far as you can see. The glacier was spectacular, a beautiful blue color. It was very fun flying right over Pioneer Peak, by far not the largest peak in Alaska, but still over six thousand feet.

After landing briefly in Palmer, Jacinda picked me and Carli up and Shaela and Howard Keith hopped on the plane and flew some more. We took a picnic lunch to meet the rest of the crew in Anchorage. Sat about a wingspan under the approach of many inbound flights, including some 747s which look huge that close. Driving up to that spot, we saw 2 moose about 10 feet away. We went to the Alaska Wild Berry Company to shop (Found an incredible Mother's Day gift for you, Mom! Don't you wish you knew?!!), and then on to the Anchorage Zoo, which is a tiny little thing, but beautiful and upclose to real Alaskan animals, such as Grizzly's, black bears, wolves, polar bears, etc. All of the animals have been rescued and nursed back to health.

Ok, now for the pics. I'll try to give a quick explanation prn.

Above, view out the east window on a clear day. There are mountains on three sides of Palmer, and it's stunning!
We went up to Hatcher Pass when we first got here. It was not snowing in Palmer (10 minutes away), but definitely in the mountains. It was still breathtaking.
Carli got to see Uncle Keith in his big car carrier. Someday I'll tell you about his trips to Fairbanks in -50 degree weather....there's a lot of considerations that take place even beyond survival when you're in the kind of weather. He's also a Flight Instructor out of Elmundorf Air Force Base, and a captain in the Civil Air Patrol, so we're definitely proud of him!

Back up to Hatcher Pass on a clear day. A totally different kind of beautiful. The buildings above were part of a gold mining camp not so long ago.
Olivia. This is about the only picture that turned out of her, though she looks not so great! She'd just pulled her bow out and the wind was wrecking havoc with her hair.
Carli at Hatcher Pass
Glen went with Keith on a run to Fairbanks. This is in Denali State (or is it National?) Park. Denali means "The Big One" referring to Mt. McKinnley
Hoke giving Livy some love.

Baby David. Man, I'm going to miss him when we leave!

Glen, Jeffery and Carli
Couldn't resist including this picture of Cinda. She looks great only 2 weeks post partum (at this point), and from the look on her face, she must have been teasing me about something.
Shaela and Oliva are quite the buddies.
We went on a little walk with some of the kids, and this was one of the views. Absolutely breathtaking in real life. Again, pictures don't do it justice.

Carli on the "hike." By this point she was pretty bummy since she'd been playing outside with the cousins all day.
The moose we saw up close and personal this morning.

Anchorage skyline. A little hazy today.

Carli at the Alaskan Wild Berry Company.

Daddy and Olivia. I loved this pic of her. And you can see that Glen's vacation has really produced some nice-looking results. I think his goatee looks terrific. :)

Carli and Jeffrey (along with a friend, Katherine), and of course a black bear.

OK! You all happy??!!! I've been at this computer for two hours!

Alaska!

Well, my camera needs to charge before I can upload any pictures. I know that you all are waiting in breathless anticipation, but hey, I'm on vacation, so I don't HAVE to do anything (except my schoolwork, keep track of my kids, do our laundry, help around the house, enjoy the scenery, bond with Baby David.....).

Wanted to let you all know that we are alive and (very) well. Glen and I took the girls today to Seward for a boat tour. The drive along the bay with the mountains to boot was just incredibly breathtaking. On the tour we saw (in order) sea otters, eagles, mountain goats, seals, 3 humpback whales (tails and all!), sea lions, 2 gray whales and porpoises. Carli was thrilled, of course.

So that's a nice little bone to throw to you lurkers! Sorry that I haven't been quick with pics, but I've been having hard enough time just keeping up with schoolwork. So if you want to see what we saw today, go look up Resurrection Bay and Seward, AK.

Love you all,
Pam

Heaven

Before you start to read this post, go to http://www.hopepublishing.com/html/main.isx?sub=31&workid=1589 and click on "listen in the Hope player." This is the song we sang for choir tonight. It's one of my favorite choral pieces to sing. We do it a little differently (not the same volume the whole way through as is done here), but it makes me feel like I'm standing right at the feet of Jesus before His throne, surrounded by the angels and the "bloodwashed throngs."

Pastor Leeder is starting a series about Heaven in the Sunday evening services, and I realized tonight that I'd never pictured Madeline Kate in heaven. I'm so anxious to give her the best life possible here on earth, but tonight I pictured her in a perfect body...no wheelchair or crutches, no shunt, intestinal trouble, no club feet or feet scarred from surgery, no long scar on her back, sitting on Jesus' lap--swinging her legs!!!! Wow!

On an entirely different note, we have a new nephew! David Elijah Asbury was born this morning while we were in church. I'm so happy for Jacinda that he is finally here! For one thing, the child was supposed to be almost three weeks old when we got there. Now he'll be a whopping 6 days old! His mommy keeps insisting that she'll be really mad if we cancel or postpone our trip, but man, intruding on a home with a new baby for 2 1/2 weeks seems rather presumptuous to me. But oh well. She and Glen were the ones who planned the date! So I'll blame them. I'd hoped for May, but is definitely a blessing that we didn't plan that way, as May may have been out of the picture with me travelling. I'm just glad the doctors are wanting me to go on this trip at all.

I'll try to update this blog with pictures of Alaskan grandeur during our trip!

Easter pictures

This was after church, so Carli's hair was not nearly as cute as when we went to church 4 hours earlier! There was no part in her hair when I combed it that morning! :)

I'll post more pictures later...this house isn't going to pack itself (carpet tomorrow!!!).

Old words, new meaning

Well, of course when I want to post pictures, it's not letting me! Oh, well. Next time.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter Sunday. This was a busy week, to say the least: Choir practice on Wednesday, Maundy Thursday (Communion), two services on Friday (one a community service, and then the evening at our church), Saturday Eggstravaganza for the kids, and then today's Easter celebration services.

We had quite a mix of Easter music today. We started out with a fun upbeat "My Savior Lives," and right from that to "Because He Lives" and then for some more traditional: "Christ Arose" and "Christ the Lord is Risen Today!"

But both Glen and I were totally shocked to the words to "Because He Lives." I knew them by heart, but they sure have a different meaning today than they did a year ago. (I'm not sure Bill and Gloria would appreciate me calling them "old words" in the title of this blog, though.) "How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy she gives. But greater still, the calm assurance this child can face uncertain days because He lives." WOW! I heard Glen getting quieter and quieter beside me, and I knew he was getting as choked up as I was. I'm so glad that I believe these words. What do people do without God to help them face the future?

If we would have lived in the days of Jesus, we would have been one of the families taking their little ones to sit on Jesus' lap, and I believe that Jesus would have looked with compassion on Madeline and healed her. So many people have reminded us that "God can still heal her." I know this is so true, but I'm glad that "all fear is gone" should God choose not to. I know that God doesn't always choose to heal "broken" little ones. But maybe He has even bigger miracles in store for her. Maybe she'll reach far more than she would have if God's plan for her had been different. Whatever His choice, I choose to believe that He is a compassionate God who loves Madeline even more than we do. I'm clinging to that "calm assurance."

Perspective

Glen's new boss at IWU is an older gentleman who has been a missionary in Africa. He sent this response to Glen's email about baby Maddy. He's not the kind of guy who would say, "You think you've got it bad, listen to what happened to me." Rather, he was encouraging Glen that God's grace will always be there.

With his permission, I'm sharing what he wrote. I was laughing by the end, not because it's funny, but because I can't imagine any one of these things, let alone all combined. Thought you'd enjoy.

We have never experienced what you are facing. However, we have seen the Lord provide and care in the midst of many difficult situtions, including a problem pregnancy, being "mobbed" twice and threatened (with spears and rocks thrown, being held hostage, having the car fall through two collapsed bridges, having a pilot get lost in the mountains in the midst of a bad thunderstorm, being surrounded at least three times by hyenas, having a child hit by a car and hospitalized for 7 weeks, being struck by lightning...to name a few. In the midst the Lord has been faithful, caring, present, gracious while at times allowing our faith to grow.

Look what I found!!!!

I CANNOT believe how small Carli was when we had Olivia--yet look at how much more hair she had! If this trend continues, Maddy will be bald until she's 5!

BTW, our neonatologist said that I'll have a C-section at approximately week 37. Carli and Olivia are 2.5 years + 4 days apart. We're not sure the exact date for Maddy, but it's going to be very close to 2.5 years apart for Olivia and Maddy, too. Isn't that funny?