Adoption is final!

The adoption was finalized last week, and the next day they went to the Idaho Falls temple!

Our Best Christmas Ever

We had a very special Christmas this year.  The day after Thanksgiving, Alicia had her first miscarriage - also her first pregnancy.  But since the doctor had said that she would never be able to get pregnant, we all took it as a good sign that maybe someday she would be able to.  Then, a couple days later, Alicia and Justin were given a baby to adopt.  The birth parents could not take care of him and their family had known Justin for many years and knew how much he and Alicia wanted to have a baby. 

The baby was five and a half months old, blond hair and blue eyes.  Very healthy and smart and happy.  He isn't afraid to try new things.  Loves to talk to his grandparents in Alaska who are dying to hold him and talk to him face to face.  The birth parents have signed the permanent papers and we are waiting for the court date to file them.

His name is Kade Justin Clark and he is our family's best Christmas miracle ever. 

This is it - Don't get scared now

It is here.  Got here very unexpectedly and very quickly.  The one and only EMPTY NEST.

Alicia and Justin were working on their house which is right next to our house and we were all planning this cozy wonderful life and then Justin got a blessing at church encouraging him to look harder for employment . ...  so he was out walking the dogs and got this prompting to call his old boss in Idaho and his boss said, get here in the morning and I'll put you to work.

So 3 days later, Justin had moved back to Blackfoot Idaho to work for Gale Lim Construction.  he is running their ashpalt plant.  And 2 weeks later, Alicia packed up all their stuff and Justin flew back up and they drove down to Blackfoot together.  They rented a house there - just moved in on September 1. 

It has been, and will probably continue to be, sort of traumatic for all of us.  Alicia has said since she was a little tiny girl that she was always going to live in our backyard and all of a sudden, she is thousands of miles away.  In a way it was good it happened so quickly because there was not as much time for us to lose it emotionally, there was so much to do to get everything sorted and packed.  Lots of deciding what belonged to who and what was staying because she didn't have room or time.

The upshot of that being that her Kirby vacuum stayed, but so did both of her great big dogs.  It was a trade-off.  The Kirby stayed because the dogs had to stay and the Kirby exists to clean up after the dogs who shed all the time.  Saying goodbye to her dog pal, Mya, was the hardest part.  They have been pretty unseperable for most of the 5 years we have had her.  Alicia is her girl.

Alicia has pictures of her boarded up house somewhere - I'll check the other computer to see if they are here or with her in Idaho, but as I was getting ready to write this, I saw the happy exciting pictures of the house being built and the pictures of it all boarded and wrapped and unfinished are so sad in comparison; they are heartbreaking to see.

Today was the last day of charter fishermen for us this year.  Brian works at the middle school as a special education aide during the school year and was still running as deckhand for his friend's boat on weekends for the past few weeks.  Done today.

So, for the first time in their marriage, Alicia and Justin are alone as a married couple and for the first time in our marriage, Brian and I are officially alone as a married couple.  We had a couple years when Alicia was in college, but i don't count those since technically, she still lived here.  It will be different.  We hired a woman from church to take care of me during the day when I need help.  I wanted to do without help, but I guess it really isn't possible. 

It looks to be another really long cold winter - never had much of a summer and of course, last winter is on record officially as the longest and coldest and snowiest winter in Alaskan history.  at least since they have been keeping records.  brrrrr. 

So this is it:  a cold, empty nest in Alaska.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers...  and stay warm.

Still Alive and Kicking

This summer has been full of fish and fish and more fish - but I think Brian is having a good time.  He has been working as a deckhand on a charter boat that belongs to his friend.  On his days off, he goes fishing ??? 

Can't believe school starts in about 3 weeks and then it is back to middle school for him.  He seems to do really well with the middle school kids - they aren't as hardened as high school kids so are easier in some ways to work with...  but he still misses his high school kids and keeps in touch with quite a few of them.

Alicia is now in the Relief Society presidency and Justin was just called to be a counselor in Elder's quorum presidency, so they are busy.  Brian is still avoiding the ward for now - I think he is waiting for some old grouchy people to die before he goes back.  But Charlotte's medications have been changed and she is headed back to church and will have another calling soon. 

Alicia and Justin are building their house on our property.  It will be a cute house for them and a major step for them.  Alicia has only lived away from home while attending college and Justin has never had a home of his own.  It will be hard to have them so far away - it's probably 100 feet away from the house.  What will we do when we want to change the tv from cable to dvd watching ???  I can picture the many phone calls :  I push what button on what remote ?? 

We have not had a summer again this year.  This winter is on record as the coldest and snowiest winter in my lifetime in Alaska and now this summer is on record as the coldest on record.  People are literally snapping and going crazy.  I can relate, but so far, we have held it together.

Alicia and Charlotte have been able to work on quilting and crafting a lot this spring.  Since February, they have pieced 21 quilt tops.  Waiting until the kids move out to turn the downstairs into a quilting room that is just tables lined up where we can pin quilts.  We have been going to the church for that - which is 25 miles, one direction (50 miles round trip), which was fine when we were doing one or two quilts a year...  but we are on track to make 50 quilts this year.  That is just too much driving back and forth at $5.00 a gallon of gas. 

I'll see if Alicia can post some pictures of fish and her house and maybe some of our quilts.  Happy Summer..

Blake

This picture was taken in 1983 - Alicia was 3 and Blake was 12.  Charlotte was 30 and Grandma Lusk was 70.

Blake at age 2.

Blake at age 21

Blake in 2nd or 3rd grade. 

Christmas 2011

During the holidays, we blog as an extended family on our other blog:  http://family-christmas.blogspot.com/


I have posted a few posts this week.  Sometimes, you have to guess which family member has posted.  We'll work on that so it isn't so confusing.  You can usually tell which one are mine because we mention Alaska or our names or something. 

Happy Christmas to you all.  Love, Charlotte

Daddy's Obit

Name: Theodore Herbert Whisler Gender: Male Age at Death: 81 Date of Birth: 3 May 1929 Birth Place: Williams, Oregon, USA Date of Death: 11 Jan 2011 Source Location: West Jordan, Utah, USA Spouse: Marilyn Walker Children: Sandra (Susan) Richmond CA, Charlotte Carper (Brian) of Anchor Point AK, Debbie Lund (Bob), Sandy UT, and Earlene Rhien (Scott) Farmington NM Parents: Earl Whisler [Doris Edna Hedgepeth] Full Obituary: Theodore H. Whisler 5/3/1929 ~ 01/11/2011 Our loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather passed away January 11, 2011. Ted was born on May 3, 1929 to Earl Whisler and Doris Edna Hedgepeth in Williams, Oregon. He graduated from Lakeview Oregon High School in 1947. He attended the University of Oregon and Southern Oregon College. He went to work at Safeway Stores at the age of 14 and worked for them for 9 years. He then fulfilled a dream by becoming a Police Officer in Medford, Oregon and worked there as a shift commander and started their Identification Division. In 1959, he went to work as an Insurance Adjuster for the worlds largest Insurance Adjusting firm and spent 35 years handling property claims, then went to work for the Travelers Insurance Company where he retired. He married Marilyn Walker, later divorced, and they were the parents of 3 daughters. In 1978, he married Carole Davis whom had a daughter. He is survived by: his wife, Carole; daughters, Sandra (Susan) Richmond CA, Charlotte Carper (Brian) of Anchor Point AK, Debbie Lund (Bob), Sandy UT, and Earlene Rhien (Scott) Farmington NM; 8 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Saturday, January 15th at 2:00 p.m. at Redwood Memorial Mortuary, 6500 South Redwood Road, West Jordan, UT, with a viewing one hour prior to services. Online condolences at www.memorialutah.com