Baby Adeline, Earthquake, Troopers and more!

This is the crack on vine road, just 6 miles from our house!

Wow, what a year 2018 has been for the Alaskan Yoders!

The most recent being the 7.0 earthquake that struck the morning of November 30. 

I was just loading the kids into the car to take Cyrus to kindergarten.

Adeline and Darius were already in car seats. 

I heard that sound....like someone threw a trash can of bowling balls down the roof.

 I grabbed Cyrus and ran out the doorway to see the tree trunks swaying and my car rocking.

 "It's an earthquake!! It's ok, we're ok... it's an earthquake!"

 I stood beside Darius' door of the car, touching him to reassure him. 

And literally rode it out, and it kept going! Before it was even done shaking Chadd called

 from his job site in Anchorage to check on us. 

My knee caps were knocking but I was laughing and exclaiming. 

I think that's the most shaken up I've been!

It was such a blessing that we weren't inside. Many people's children are continually scared with the after shocks (which are still happening, just had another one early this morning) or loud noises. My children are simply excited. 

Darius says, "Mom, can we go see that amazing crack again?"

My mom and Sasha were in their apartment, which is very old and has a corrugated hard plastic roof over the second story covered porch. It was so loud she thought the whole thing was coming down!

Chadd and my Dad were closer to the epicenter. 

You may have seen their recollection on the news:

The power went out, even to gas stations and traffic lights. 

ATMs, grocery stores, and functioning gas stations quickly buzzed with panicked customers. 

Our house was entirely spared, only two broken glass items and a knocked over dresser. 

Many of our friends had significant clean up of spilled cabinets

 and repairs to broken pipes and more. 

But praise God, no collapsed buildings or severely injured people!

On to other news, we welcomed a GIRL to our family July 9th. Adeline Justice Yoder is a bright eyed delight. Her brothers love her. Three kiddos 5 and under, with one a nursing baby, sure can be hectic at times though. I'm reading up on parenting books and mom hacks to obtain a measure of routine and order! Sand timers, daily routine charts, and consistent rules have been my friends. I hear from my mom friends that this is the hardest stage, and I'm sure glad for the promise of more ease! 

In November we traveled our family of 5 back to Pennsylvania for a cousin's wedding and Yoder Family Thanksgiving. It's so fun to see family again. 

Overnight flights and 23 hours of travel is only something to endure with young children!

The other item of big news is that after a very lengthy and intense application/interview process Chadd got accepted into the AST! To him it feels like his dream come true. He will be leaving 9 years in construction and heading to the Academy February 24th. He will be gone for 18 weeks of training. This is the difficult part, and hence, my extra urgency to establish systems NOW. I know many women have parented and managed a household alone for military deployment and other reasons. But it doesn't make it any easier for me. I welcome advice and prayers...!

My parents and Sasha also arrived to Alaska this fall. It's been so nice to have grandparents around! I'll enjoy it as long as they can stay :)

 Oh, and I got a Caribou! But most of you already knew that from Facebook. My first hunt as the hunter, and our family's first caribou. Right through the heart at 200 yards. I still can hardly believe it. I have a good teacher.

And as they say, once you shoot it, the work has just begun. Oh...My...Word.... that was incredibly difficulty to pack out. Basically imagine looking straight up a steep rocky mountain that would exhaust you on a good day without an ounce of extra weight, then add a 50lb front quarter, and a rifle, AND be 6 weeks postpartum. After fully stating that this is impossible, you simply put one foot in front of the other. When you finally make it back to camp, go back down and do it again. Chadd did a third trip for the rack and hide- which unfortunately spoiled due to us lacking knowledge. This was Cyrus' first real hunt trip. It was next to torture to try to keep his talkative 5 yr old energy quiet! But he was incredible on the 2 trips over the mountain. A solid hunter in training.

We were blessed with our full quota of meat in our freezer this year, including a moose and 65 salmon. If you think we're so lucky, why don't you come up and help process the next 65 salmon, then you might not mind paying $17/lb in the store ;)

After Christmas Chadd will finish the house remodel with the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. He also may go on another winter caribou hunt.

I'ts never boring in Alaska!