happy couple

its been a long week of wonderful visiting here in the north country.
my dad and joan came to see us and managed to tie the knot while they were here.

congratulations you two!! i love you both very much. thanks for making me a part of your special day.

foster care rant

squeaking in with just a few days left in the month of may-
there is still time to mention national foster care month!

i have often wondered why it is that we are rarely shown anything positive about foster care by our media.
most stories are generally done to sensationalize the negative aspects of the system and those few horrible people who have slipped through the screening process to further hurt these children.
this only acts to link negative connotations with the concept of caring for some of our nations most vulnerable children.

wouldn't it be a service to report on the success of kids and families who have been united by foster care?in our country, adopting from foster care is often overshadowed by stories of foreign adoption.
think angeleena, (i love angeelena, and brad, oh brad, the x-rated dreams.... sorry, i digress.... )
i am hopeful she will have the foresight to consider a waiting child from our country. the media attention could start a much needed surge in this domestic adoption choice.

dont get me wrong, i have nothing against foreign adoption, its just hard for me to hear people express their fear that adopting a child from foster care is too much of a risk.
after all, what is really known about the beautiful little girl from china and her prenatal care? or that amazing romanian boy who languished in an understaffed orphanage for months?

it saddens me that foster children are often portrayed as "unfixable", coming with too much damage or baggage. truth is, there are simply no guarantees in life and every adoption will have its unknowns. is this really any different from having a biological child? isn't it all a roll of the dice?
in the end, there is the commitment of parenting. it is love, stability and guidance that helps a child to become a functional member of society.

as anyone who knows me can attest, i am strongly committed to spreading the word that foster care is a needed and valuable community service of sorts. these children are the future citizens, neighbors and friends of our communities, and currently, there are over 513,000 of them in custody, many needing adoptive homes across the united states.

if youve ever thought about opening your home to a foster child, please know; no matter how much time you have to commit, you can do something positive to change the life of a young person forever.

if you want to learn more, please click here: foster care month

green

well, the leaves are finally popping out around here.
everything is getting so green and beautiful. in response to all this bloomin' both jade and i are dripping and running like crazy. jeff is generally the allergy guy in the family, but something about alaska blooms vs. colorado blooms makes me and jade sneezy and grumpy.we had this unfortunate mom moose in the yard the other day. she paid us absolutely no mind as she munched on every new leaf and shoot in the woods surrounding our house. i feel sorry for her as i have a hunch these quills will begin to fester and drain as her body tries to force them out.
it would be tough to be a moose.

happy mothers day

i hope all of you mothers, mothers to be, mothers who want to be and even mothers who are and arent quite sure they want to be..
have a wonderful sunday full of love, attention and affection.

ive been tagged

well, it happened. i was tagged by, judy another ak. blogger. check her out! she's living my alternate life and making artwork full-time. someday.....

so, i am supposed to tell 7 "interesting things" about myself and then "tag" seven other bloggers.. im not sure about tagging others, but here are some things about little old me.

1. i dreamed of moving to alaska for about 20 years and finally made it happen last august.
2. i attended a different school every year until i was 15, my parents never owned their own home and we lived in maine, california, colorado and new york from the time i was 7 to 11.
   
3. i made a mandolin (although i dont know how to play) with a wonderful luthier, michael hornick of shanti guitar fame, the week after my mother died. it is probably my most cherished possession.
   
4. i am probably the most anti- organized religion person around but, i am an ordained minister in the universal life church in modesto california. if anyone else would like to become one, i can ordain you (: yes, there is a story here......
   
5. i always knew i would adopt a child from foster care and i am incredibly proud to have done so (and would spend time encouraging anyone who has any desire to do so to take a chance on one of these "waiting" kids.)
   
6. when i graduated from high school at 17, i moved to boston to attend the art institute . i saw too much grateful dead and dropped out after 2 years. i still hope to illustrate a childrens book someday.
   
7. my first job was at the bonanza. i was the salad bar girl and my coworkers called me "little polly purebred"
   

so since i have been blogging, i have found so many interesting and amazing people out there. my brother was the original push (if he can do it, i can!) along with my friend and neighbor mary up there in the poudre canyon who said "i hope you will keep a journal of this move and all your adventures in up there" (thanks mary!)

i get inspiration from reading blogs by others in healthcare like tundra pa and dinosaur. they are really doing it!fat doc is just plain funny!
soule mama lives in maine and checking in on her makes me feel like i am visiting an old friend. open window is a blog written by a woman who is about to adopt a waiting child from the foster care system (:
alaska cooks always has a great recipes to share and beautiful photos. (he is responsible for the bread recipe i bragged about to all of you friends) laura is also a fellow alaskan and takes great photos of her adventures, as is northerngirl. i also check in on eat man drink water way over there in the hudson valley of new york.

whew, maybe i should get off this machine and do something a little more productive!
cheers!

birthday par-tay!

we had a festive time on sunday celebrating jades birthday with some really great kids and parents. we lucked out and spent a great deal of time outside, soaking up the amazing sunshine and blue sky. good fun was had by all.

by the end of the day it was becoming obvious that the cough and cold jade has had hanging on was taking its toll on his immune system. this was him after his guests left.


today, he was diagnosed with left lower lobe pneumonia. yikes!
is this pathetic or what?










not to worry, aside from a poor appetite, and slightly decreased activity level, he is still running circles around his parents and on the road to recovery.

just news

well, things are waking up here in the great state of alaska. yesterdays daylight report boasts over 16 hours, with sunrise just before 6 and sunset just after 10 pm. although we still havent seen the mercury climb over 55 degrees. i'll be sunbathing when we finally hit 60.
after the coldest march on record, its truly amazing how relative temperature can be.jeff has just returned from a quick and productive trip back to colorado where spring is full on. the flowering crabapple tree at the riverhouse is about to bust and the cache la poudre is beginning to pick up some speed at nearly a foot on the rock. i'm sure the boaters are antsy.

the house hunt continues here in the mat-su valley. prices are obscene and the condition of most houses are dated and dumpy. its kind of depressing.
we have been so spoiled by this location tucked beneath the talkeetnas and the moose range. its a bummer the owners dont want to sell to a nice family like us!!
our brilliant idea of soliciting other land owners in the hood didnt pan out- although we did get a response from a nice sounding couple who will begin building on their land soon. they too relocated from colorado.

summer plans are shaping up fast, it seems from here to september it will be a constant barrage of activity.
speaking of... our newest addition is a 1977 jayco travel trailer. i am remiss in not having a photo of it, will post later. we're thinking maybe we'll just live in it. (:
special thanks to r & l for passing it over to us when l's folks were looking to unload it.
it sleeps 8 (but as les pointed out you have to have some serious organization to pack everyone in there "bunk's one and two, load up! now three, hop on in...)
its got everything you need for some serious car camping. even a little stove and gas fridge.
jade is pretty excited. we even ate birthday pizza in there just for fun. call me old, or practical. i love it!

we now have some confirmed visitors on the calender.
the ink is dry and tickets are purchased for the other l.b. who arrives on memorial day weekend for a whirlwind tour of southcentral alaska. yippeeee!!
we are planning on heading down to seward on an afternoon cruise and of course hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale, otter, sea lion, puffin and glacier. (but we'll settle for good company and the beauty of the little ocean town.)
dad's reservation has not been changed from pencil to ink as he has yet to purchase tickets, (hello, dad, are you reading??) but he and joan are still threatening to come in a mere 3 weeks just before l.b. arrives.

we are practically counting the days till the morris's arrive in early july. we'll be taking summer vacation with these great friends and attempting to pack in talkeetna, in hopes of glimpsing the great mountain, homer, to share the charm of halibut cove and mossey's farm, seward, to hang out with r, l & l and then the coastal train back to the valley for hiking at hatcher pass, hanging out and visiting the musk-ox and reindeer. (there are kids involved, what can i say?)

whew, throw in some big head todd, bela fleck and hot tuna and i'll say summer is looking like a pretty good reward for making it through that long dark winter.

did i mention the mosquitos are already buzzing around?? they are big and slow and freaking me out.