White Horse, Capitol City, YUKON Territory---> "Larger Than Life"

What a last few days.

We have been out of range of any type of internet until now, hence the delay.


5/8/15 Passed a gorgeous Lodge on the shore of a frozen Muncho Lake and decided to stay the night. Man, the wind coming off of that ice was COLD! My husband is crazy, as most of you may know. (Crazy cool that is, that's why I married him :) We went for an evening walk up the lake and he casually had the bright idea to test out the waters, up to his thighs, in ICE. yeah... There'll be videos posted later...The temperature drops quick when the sun goes down. Chadd managed to brilliantly rig up our heater to run in our tent (RV electric hookup with a converter). We slept pretty cozy :) I had my first experience reading the Bible and talking with God while overlooking a frozen lake surrounded by snow capped mountains, while cocooned in a quilt my Grandma just gave us when we passed Goshen. Thanks Grandma!

Driving through northern British Columbia and now in the Yukon, we've spotted 10 black bear and one very starving looking grizzly who appeared to have just crawled out of hibernation on the wrong side of the bed. Black bears are more common here than deer in the off season in PA. They're pretty unconcerned about humans. Only one ran away from us. Don't worry, Chadd and Cyrus are out buying bear spray at the moment from a local Wal-Mart. In Canada we are not allowed to use our firearms even for bear protection. Along the way we also braked our rig to a halt for a mama moose with her calf, several caribou, a very stately dall sheep (picture the mountain sheep with boasting chest and curled thick horns), a Wolf!, a coyote, some white tail & black tail dear, a few mule deer, many wild Buffalo! (including twin calves! wow, I didn't even know wild herds still existed. They are HUGE!! Massive head and immense shoulders, as large as a small car!), one grouse, and two pheasants. Lots of beaver lodges but not beaver sightings. Oh, and Cyrus almost hand fed some bold campground birds who were enjoying his oatmeal more than he was.

Yesterday morning we drove to the AWESOME Lliard Hot Springs!! and spent the morning swimming in the gorgeous non-touristicized natural setting in incredibly warm water after a CHILLING morning. The water comes out of the ground 125 degrees! Wow. God, you are awesome. I've always wanted to dip in a hot springs, and now I have! The dare is if you can stand the heat to swim up to the mouth and place a rock. If you ever go there, you will find two big rocks stacked with a smaller one on top (for me, not for Cyrus). We spent most of the time in the cooler water further from the origin. Cyrus loved it! We met a fun family with twin 3 yr old girls from Fairbanks moving to Dallas with the airforce. The weather warmed up to allow for shorts and t-shirts. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the warm sun and headed on the road again.


Last night (Night of 5/9/15) we slept at a rural turnout of the Alaska Highway with a few camp sites and an outhouse. This time we decided to give our belongings the tent and we took a portion of the trailer for bed. It is a huff of a lot of work and rather scrunched, but warm and safe from bear. And dark! We actually slept in, which was necessary because Cyrus had nightmares much in the night :( He's generally doing very well, that was the second time he woke up and was very scared by his strange surroundings. I will remember to pray over his sleep tonight.) It's been a lot for a little guy with the time change, light till 11pm, irregular sleep schedules, and LOTS of carseat time. But he amazes us with his amenability, agility, and brilliance every day. I think he's growing up just in two weeks time on the road!


The trip has not been angel perfect with everyone always delighted and in perfect agreement. This is to be expected because this is life and this is marriage, and life relationship work is not put on hold just because we're on a massive road trip moving adventure through wildlife-bursting, mountain-dazzling wilderness. But the fulcrum of love and respect brings us back to unity by each of us coming to God than coming back together with repentance, humility, and forgiveness. That's the essence of self and the essence of marriage. I have to know who I am from Jesus, before I can keep my security, significance, and strength in the midst of relationship rubs that really hurt.  I am loved. I am important. I am capable through Him. It's true for me, and its true for you. Know this in His Word, throgh His Voice, and with Jesus-time. Then...forgive forgive forgive forgive....

I am now at a hotel computer in White Horse, Yukon. The wireless internet gives us a very bright warning that it is unsecured and persons may be attempting to steal our information...so I will not be posting pictures today. We're taking a break from camping for the evening. We all had a nice shower and Chadd took us out to the Marble Slab ice cream shop for Mother's Day, followed by a nap and dinner out. It feels good to be clean and organized again. Our stinky laundry is in the hotel dryer, which we could have held off on but Cyrus ran out of clean pants. He goes through clothes a bit faster than we do. It will feel good to sleep comfortably tonight and wake up warm. After which, though, we are excited to get back out in the bush to hike, canoe, fish, and camp, which we will be more at ease to do when we can carry real bear protection in our new home state. We anticipate crossing into ALASKA tomorrow! Yaay!!