Gratitudes

As I have been following Joanna's lead in posting gratitudes this month, I have also been experimenting with changing the way I pray. I have been trying to follow my Grandma's example and learn to pray for specific things instead of just asking for "blanket" blessings. So twice this month, I prayed for very specific things that we needed and both times, our prayers were answered out of the blue. Plus after spending a day fasting, I was very blessed with such a feeling of comfort and hope, and the next morning, we received the answer we had been praying for.

So that is my gratitude posting for today - the Lord blesses us with such tender mercies and we need to be so aware of them.

I have started a gratitude journal as President Eyring talked about in conference - just so we can always remember the times when we have had our prayers so completely answered.
Gratefully, Charlotte

Tuesday Gratitudes

1. Finally a nice person to talk to at the Division of Seniors
2. Alicia and Justin home safe
3. chili peppers from New Mexico
4. A new company training to do assessments for next year - HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
5. Comfort from the Holy Ghost after a day of fasting
6. A hard working, diligent husband
7. chocolate chips
8. aspirin
9. good doctors
10. new medicare RX program - YAY

Hooray for Mondays

1.Mondays are a good day at our house - it is Brian's day off.
2. Pinesol cleaner
3. A sweet husband who cleaned up my kitchen for me
4. bamboo knitting needles
5. a competent and nice assistant at the pharmacy who goes out of her way to get it right
6. Old friends who still remember you
7. Ensign and New Era Magazines
8. Have I mentioned that I'm thankful for DVR (TIVO to some of you)
9. Alicia and Justin come home tomorrow
10. short hair

Charlotte

Gratitudes for Sunday

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~Marcel Proust

1. The gift of musical talent.
2. A loving, caring bishop
3. A smart, funny husband who looks really snazzy in his new suit
4. A husband who is loved by all the kids at church and at school
5. Chinook winds
6. Rain instead of snow
7. cordless phones
8. Loving sisters
9. Colorful yarn to knit and crochet
10. The teaching of having Attitudes of Gratitude

Bitten by Spaghetti

Mya is just learning to eat people food - we were just going to feed her dog food when we first got her, but soon realized that she wasn't getting enough fats (thank you Justin for sacrificing your freshly oiled shoes for us to figure out she needed more oil in her diet). So now, we feed her our leftovers and the grease from bacon and stuff and she hasn't been noshing on any shoes lately.

Anyway, usually the leftovers are off someone's plate or when we clean out the fridge, but with the kids gone, we had some spaghetti left over on the stove which was apparently still quite hot. Mya went over eagerly to eat it, because she loves spaghetti -- but each time she got close, the heat burned her nose. So she took it personally as an attack and she would back off about a foot away and bark bark bark at the spaghetti, trying to subdue it. Then she would go back for another try and it would hurt her nose again, and she would back off and bark bark bark --then try from the other side. got her nose again, back off and bark bark bark.

Brian and I got to laughing so hard we could hardly stand it. I have to say everyday, one of my gratitudes is funny, loveable, loving pets. I am so glad they are a part of my life.... and thank you to Alicia and Justin for putting up with the new dog. I know it wasn't your first choice, but she adds so much to our lives. I really appreciate you guys accepting her and helping out.

somewhere in the snow, she lost her pretty pink collar. We won't be able to find it until spring. Fortunately, she is so well behaved, we hardly ever need a collar anyway. Charlotte

It wouldn't be November If .......

Ducks disaster
Posted by The Oregonian November 15, 2007 21:53PM
Categories: Sports, Top Stories
The Oregon Ducks' hopes of a berth in the BCS Championship Game disappeared on Thursday night as they first lost their star quarterback to an injury and then lost the game.
Quarterback Dennis Dixon, the Heisman Trophy front-runner going into the Ducks' game at Arizona, got his left foot stuck in the turf as he planted it for a cut upfield midway through the first quarter.
Dixon re-injured his left knee on the play -- he first hurt it against Arizona State -- and sat out the rest of the game. Without their leader, nicknamed "the Magician," the Oregon offense never recovered, and Arizona went on to win 34-24.
The severity of his injury was not immediately known, but by the second quarter Dixon was icing his knee in the locker room. Coming out of the locker room after halftime, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said "It's not good," saying there was instability in the knee.
Before his injury, Dixon looked like a Heisman contender. On Oregon's opening possession, he faked a handoff to Jonathan Stewart, then sprinted 39 yards for a score.
But Oregon looked like a different team after Dixon went down. Defensive back Antoine Cason scored on an interception return and on a punt return in the first half as the Wildcats built a 31-11 lead.
Backup quarterback Brady Leaf led Oregon on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive, but the Ducks never got closer than 31-24.
On the Wildcats' ensuing possession, they picked up a key first down on fourth and one, and then an apparent fumble that the Ducks recovered was overturned after an official review determined that quarterback Willie Tuitama was down before handing off to Nicholas Grigsby, who fumbled. That drive led to a field goal that put the game out of reach.
Even seemingly good plays turned sour for the Ducks. Early in the fourth quarter, Kwame Agyeman ran for 40 yards on a fake punt but fumbled it away as he was tackled at the Arizona 22-yard line.
Oregon became the fifth team this season to lose while ranked No. 2. With two losses, the Ducks are almost certainly out of contention to play in the Jan. 7 national championship, and Dixon's status in the Heisman Trophy race is in doubt.

newspaper story

The story about the kids losing having their money stolen from their bank account is in the Homer news... http://www.homernews.com/ The story is under "local news" and is titled
"newlywed account sucked dry in suspected fraud." We were not impressed by the bank manager's hinting that is was some how the kids fault that the account was hacked into. IT WASN"T anything they did - the scam came probably from inside Wells Fargo's system somewhere back East.

Anyway, they made the news. As most of you know, they are in Utah now for a few days and then will head to New Mexico to visit Rhiens and Justin's family.

My second pre-hearing for my medicaid personal care hours (Alicia's job) is Friday at 1:00 our time, so if you could include us in your prayers, we would appreciate it. They cut our hours in half this fall, and we would really like to have those hours back, both for my physical and mental sake and for Alicia's financial welfare. Thanks in advance for your prayers.... as a family we are unbeatable when we stick together.

Love, Charlotte

The Wind Farm

I don't have any pictures yet, but we are working on a project with the Voc Rehab people to get a grant to set ourselves up to make and sell wind power systems. We have excellent wind here in the Homer area and Justin and Brian have the equipment and the know-how to make the turbines. Alicia and Justin are going to study electricity so they will be capable of installing and maintaining the wind systems.

The design so far is to make them in pieces that will fit in a super-cub airplane so that we can fly them to remote locations in Alaska. Our biggest 2 challenges will be making systems that can handle the high winds we get here and getting the batteries and generators shipped up here economically. Brian and Justin both have CDL's so it is possible they could drive them up, but most likely, we will order a huge order and have them sent up by boat.

We are all anxious to get the plans finalized and get the grant. We are writing our business plan and searching for sources of batteries and generators at this time.

It keeps us all busy and excited - when we get our system up, we plan to put up lots and lots of Christmas lights (which is something we can't afford to do while buying power from our local utility). Keep us in your prayers. Charlotte

Money Back

Well, as of this morning it looks like our money is back. I'm not sure what happens now, if they keep looking, or what happens, but anyway our money is back. YAY!!!!!! Thanks for the prayers and support. Love you all. Alicia

Poor Kids

Alicia and Justin had the worst thing happen to them today. All summer long, Alicia had held on to her wedding gift checks - even though I kept nagging her to get them cashed so people could balance their checkbooks, but she wanted to use them for their honeymoon. So she was determined and stubborn and did not cash them until last Saturday.

they went to the bank and put her name on Justin's accounts and they put their well-loved and hoarded wedding money into their savings account for their honeymoon next Wednesday.

this morning they checked their bank account, and some crooks had somehow charged some fraudulent check card activities (there were several - totalling with the bank charges and such, close to $2,000). Completely wiped out everything in their savings account, their overdraft account and their checking account. They had the money in their for a total of 4 days before it was all stolen.

They are both completely crushed. The troopers said some other people in Anchor Point have been targeted as well. We don't know yet if they are doing it thru the bank, or thru the mail or thru the internet, so we don't know how to proceed to pay our bills or anything, and of course, they now have no spending money for their honeymoon and their first Christmas.

Please say a special prayer for them and pray that they will get the money back in time to go on their trip. (they have their tickets paid for and the car paid for, so that isn't in doubt that they will come, it just won't be as fun with this hanging over their heads. ) Thanks, Charlotte

Bumble bee baby wins

It turns out our bumble bee baby won the costume contest at the church and at the community party at the high school. Autumn made both costumes without patterns or anything.

Brian got to carry the kids around at the high school event while he was at work. They had a great time.

Trick or Treaters

My friend Autumn brought her kids over to show us their super cute costumes, and to "trick or treat". They were so cute, I just had to post the pictures of them. They were Winnie the pooh, and a hunny bee, and she made a hunny pot for them to get their candy in. SO CUTE!!

Moose Matters

Just wanted to post a few pictures of dad's moose antlers that he took today, so that everyone can see what he got up north. They had an interesting trip to say the least. . . . . :) Here's pictures of the horns anyway, I think that's probably the only pictures we'll end up with from this hunt.

Peace?

We think we've achieved a certain degree of peace between the dog and cat, at least for now. I heard the cat snoring the other day, and went into the living room, and here he was curled up right in the middle of the dogs bed. The dog even lets him eat her food every now and then - as long as its not the first scoop out of a new bag (she gets kind of testy when he tries to eat her fresh food).

Tok Trip

Most of these pictures are just scenery pictures, although there are a couple of swans, and their butts sticking up in the air as they bobbed for food. If a picture is blurry, sorry, most of them were taken out the window at top speeds. :)


Marty the dashboard moose at the end of the trip.... :)

Here's a huey bringing in a plane that had crashed. It was pretty cool - the biggest thing to happen in Tok the whole week we were there.

Tok School, opened the fall we were living there.

Home Sweet Home

I'm sitting here beside the door watching for Brian to pull in any second now - he is heading straight to work at the school, so I have his lunch ready and he'll run into work, but at least he is home. The kids are stopping in Soldotna, looking for suet to mix with the meat when we make the burger and then they will all be home.

While they were gone, I had the dog's bed in my room at the foot of my bed and she was very good. Then this morning, I knew they were on their way, so I moved it back into the living room and she is just freaking out - trying to figure out how to guard the whole house - she just goes from window to window barking fiercely at every little sound. I assume she will calm down when she realizes it isn't all up to her now. I love the way dogs know when to turn up the defenses.

thanks for all your prayers - Charlotte

The Hunters have landed

Well, after much anxious waiting and pleading and praying and calling, I finally got the call at noon that the hunters had been rescued from the woods and were landed in Tok. The meat is at another airport, so they are waiting for it to be delivered to Tok and then they will all be on their way home.

There was a lot of behind the scenes drama that one of the hunting party created by freaking out and demanding that they send in the National Guard to get them this weekend. It's pretty funny, but caused some hard feelings with the air charter people, who happen to be our friends, so hopefully that can get ironed out. I'm pretty sure they realize it wasn't Brian who was making those annoying freaked out phone calls. We have such a history with these guys - the original owners had kids in school with Alicia in Tok, I taught several of them. Anyway, everyone is one their way home, I think. Love, Charlotte

Graduation

On Friday, I "graduated" from physical therapy - we have been driving in 2 days a week to do physical therapy at the hospital. It has been really good for me - I am getting lots stronger - but it seemed to always take 2 full days to get it done, so we are glad to have the time for other things. I will miss Kerri - she has been great. But she is just here for the summer - our hospital has trouble keeping enough staff on, so they hire traveling people whenever they can. It is a great chance for young workers to see the country and make good money.

Anyway, we will still do the exercises here at home with Alicia helping me. We need to order a set of weights, but we can do that. Kerri taught me how to go up and down stairs with a cane, which I didn't have before. So Alicia bought me a cane in Anchorage last week - and it is really a help. I wish someone had thought of that 10 years ago, it is really nice to know I can go up and down when I need to. (it is still pretty taxing for me, but I least I know I won't get stuck half way up and have to crawl on my hands and knees. I don't mind the crawling on the inside steps, but have really hesitated to crawl up the steps that face the highway - I just don't think Anchor Point and all the tourists are ready to see that - heheh).

I'm in the permanent rotation for organ playing at church. It is usually once, sometimes twice a month. It is keeping me on my toes, I practice at least an hour a day. I don't know why I resisted practicing so much when I was young - I really appreciate the break in my day, when I can just sit and devote to music. ( okay, Mother, so I don't do my scales for 20 minutes a day, but I still play them sometimes. I always think of you in the kitchen, yelling out, "I haven't heard any scales yet today. You can't just play fun stuff.") I found an old hymnbook in the church library that has the songs in the keys I learned them in when I was young - some of them are much easier for me to play in that book, so that will be a help on some songs. I just never have mastered playing with sharps, which the newer hymnbook is excessively full of.
Have a wonderful Sabbath day. Love, Charlotte

Waiting for the Meat

Well, Mya, Heathcliff, Scruffy and Charlotte are here at home alone waiting for the meat wagons to get here. Brian called by satellite phone on Friday afternoon and said he needed Justin and Alicia to drive to Tok to meet them Saturday afternoon - they had too much meat to fit in the Durango ( I told him to take his pickup and not my Durango, I was right - although, he pickup is 15 years old and probably too old for the trip). Anyway, Alicia had to teach a class at the scrapbook store until 11:00 Friday night, then they got up early and drove to Tok. When they got there, they found out, there was too much wind to fly, so the guys were still out at camp.

Sunday morning, Brian called Alicia from the satellite phone again, and said the cloud cover was too low and for them to just empty out the Durango and drive back home. They left me a message that they were coming home empty, so I called them back and told them to go back to Tok and wait for Brian to come out. Justin's work is slower this time of year, so he can take a day off and they had been wanting to explore that country up there, so they turned around and went back to Tok. I called the airplane people and she said that they had called them and said the wind had shreded their tent and they were cold and wet and wanted OUT OF THERE -ASAP. So they were first on the list to get picked up as soon as the clouds got separated from the fog. They just needed it to warm up a couple degrees and they thought they could get them out, hopefully this afternoon. It's 3:00 and I haven't heard from them yet, so don't know how it is going.

It is beautiful here, a little fall like, but clear blue skies and just enough breeze to be comfortable. But there are 2 typhoons headed here tomorrow - one after the other, so if they don't get the guys out in the next few hours, they could get stuck in there for a while. Good thing they have plenty of meat to eat - I suppose they can rig some kind of shelter to keep them dry if they have to.

anyway, they got 2 big bull moose, a big grizzly bear and a wolf. (we don't eat the bear or the wolf). The other guys with him are from New Mexico, so I don't know how much of the meat they will take with them - sometimes they like to take a lot, and sometimes, they just come up for the fun of hunting. Brian has been wanting to kill a Toklat Grizzly bear for a long time, so I'm glad he finally got one. He says he isn't going back to this spot to hunt next year, so this might have been his last chance to get one there..... we'll see. He's been going there successfully for a long time. It is hard to give up a great hunting spot like that. But he wants to fly in a little farther north and learn a new country.

So, we got meat for the year - it just isn't home yet. Charlotte

Garden Goose

The goose got into the garden a couple of weeks ago, and ate all the leaves off of the broccoli and some other plants. When he started out the evening he was just eating the leaves off the Brocco-flower, but since no one liked it we just let him eat, figuring that he'd get tired and leave. The next morning dad got up, and Heathcliff had apparently been eating all nigth, and he had eaten almost all the leaves off the plants. So we chased him out, so that the garden could finish growing. Then monday we harvested the last of the broccoli, then opened the gate so that the goose could finish eating the garden. He's been having fun the last couple of days. Now he's moved onto the brussel sprouts. He even sleeps in the garden. :)



When I went out to try and take pictures of him sleeping under the brussel sprouts, he jumped up and tried to pretend he wasn't doing anything, and ran over away from the plants. He's very funny.