Frozen But Not Forgotten

The sun rising on Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley),
Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level.
This is the view over a frozen lake from our friends family cabin!

Following our friends out to their cabin

 
Most of you are probably welcoming red buds and thunderstorms as silver white winters melt into spring; Or perhaps, as a semi cooler season tempers out to a mild ambient weather until the blistering heat returns... But here in Wasilla, Alaska, we've barely tasted above-freezing. While there are huge patches of brown grass showing through in some sunny yards, we are still driving UP into our driveway onto the packed snow, passing a Daddy-son snow fort in our front yard made out of chunks of concrete-style snow. Last week I drove over a lake for the first time. Locals plow a road across for speedy access in the winter. Even though we saw a jeep drive over the lake right before us, it's still a bit unnerving looking down out of your car over clear ice with cracks as big as your hand.

The Johnson Cabin

Driving on a road over a frozen lake

 

 "Break up" in the valley can occur anytime from late February to April. But I've heard it can come with a false spring, temps as high as 60, only to cry "tricked ya!" with another couple feet of snow with sub-zero temperatures. But this has been a "good" winter with sufficient snow and cold for snowboarding, snow machining, sledding, and all the other  sports so loved. We've had the chance to do some of each along with a nice weekend at our friends family cabin. Chadd bought me a pretty pink snowboard and I'm still hoping to use it on the south side of the mountain for spring boarding at Hatcher's Pass. 

I really didn't mind the winter too much. The worse part was the WIND. My word, I'd take -15 and stillness over 26 degrees with a 40 mile wind that cuts though all clothing and threatens frostbite to any sliver of bare skin. That was the only time I really couldn't take the boys outside. Along with the wind came snow drifts. I remember as a child joyously constructing a fort and slide tunnel in a drift up the side of our barn in the storm of 1996 in Virginia. This wasn't quite as gleeful. The wind blew snow over our previously plowed driveway until it completely buried it. You couldn't even see where the drive had been. I am chagrined to say I foolishly attempted to back the car across to make it to Cyrus' last indoor turf soccer practice. This blunder was followed by the next 45 minutes digging it out only to drive it back to where it had just been parked. This wasn't your nice fluffy snow easily pushed aside with a four-wheeler plow. It was solid packed snow you can nearly walk across. Even our neighbors snow blower couldn't crush it. It took an hour of chopping and tossing with metal shovels in the dark after the boys were in bed, with a break to catch our breaths and watch the northern lights dance slowly in the sky. It reminded me of a time when Chadd and I furiously dug a channel for the rising water from a downpour in Haiti to prevent the basement from flooding. Good times. 

Chadd shoveling, or chopping, our driveway full of drifted snow.
My hand nearly froze from the wind taking this picture,
till I quickly put it back in it's glove and went back to helping him.

Cyrus learned to clear off the walkway as a chore (or a punishment), sometimes several times in a day. I'd have helped him more but ironically our snow shovel is still buried somewhere in the snow...

Alaska is year round adjustment: The boys are now starting to go to bed while its still light and we put on snow pants for warmth to attempt to bike on the icy paths.Yet most of life is pretty normal. We've almost finished the kitchen remodel and have a handful more areas to complete before we list our home. If we get it ready by May it'll be a 1 1/2 yr flip. Not too bad. You may ask our plan after the sale. It is flexible, but may include renting an apartment and building our next investment from the ground up. 

The biggest news of the quarter is Chadd quit his employed job at Taylored Restoration to strike out once more on his own. The new business: Apex Building Soutions, LLC. Check us out on facebook. Chadd's networked a lot of connections and area know how after 2 years here working construction. Some of the design adjustments for building in an earthquake-prone arctic region are quite interesting. I'll have to let him tell you about that. Once the website is finished we'll hit the advertising hard and see where the Lord takes it!I've stepped up to working 2 days every week and 3 days every other. Still enjoying my job immensely. Darius still comes with me but he'll be joining Cyrus at our fabulous babysitters soon. He's almost walking and just getting into everything. He turns 1 April 8! Wow. A whole year...

 Even in Alaska it's easy to nestle into the daily routines of making a living, enjoying and surviving the preschooler years, and improving life around you. It takes a trip out to the back country or a walk through silently snowy woods to whisper a question, "What am I really about?"  What's MY purpose in the hustle and bustle here and there. Do I contribute more than just wiping diapered butts, doing pap smears, and endless cleaning?
I taught my first mother-daughter class for young girls about their changing body and body image. This time I used a curriculum called Maidens by His Design and held it at my workplace. It went fabulously! We had 11 daughters and their moms who were thrilled.

While we were visiting PA for Christmas
a friend of mine challenged me to find MY
own personal style. Here it is: I call it
Sporty LumberJill (trademark pending...)

And I finally felt I made a difference in the world again! I'm excited to do more classes for this age group and older. It thrills and "empassions" me (my word). And this is what God is about: What makes YOU come alive. If that's all things mothering- AWESOME. If it's opening a bed and breakfast GO FOR IT!! ;) If it's having a voice through publishing books, or teaching art, or making a crowd of people laugh - Do it! Of course we have to work the details and bring home the bread and butter, but God designed people to spread His life by being the best YOU  you can be. 

Well Chadd, Cyrus and Darius are out for a chilly four-wheeler ride and will return at any moment cold and hungry.  Until next quiet moment with nothing urgent--stay warm, and stay ALIVE!