Our life has been full of quite a few changes since Christmas. We have "adopted" a new son/brother and Grandpa into our family! Our adopted son/brother came to live with us the middle of January (actually he spends part of his time with us and part of his time with the Hornfischers). His name is Misha. He lived in the dorms last semester and last year and has spent some time with us on and off throughout the past year and half. He also went on a long road trip with the Hornfischers from Alaska all the way down to Missouri for a Young Warriors conference this summer with a bunch of other students. In January we got together with the Hornfischers and decided it would be the best for Misha to live with our families so we made him the offer and he accepted. The girls love him and treat him like a big brother. He is so good with little kids and they are really attracted to his funny personality. Here are a few pictures of our girls with him...
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Laughing and having fun together!
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Welcome to our family Misha. We love you!
We have also adopted a "new" Grandpa into our family. Or should I say, Marina adopted a "new" Grandpa into our family all on her own! Don't worry "old" Grandpas and Grandmas, she still loves you just as much and really misses you. I think she misses you so much and is missing that Grandpa figure living close to her, that she seems to really enjoy and seek out those relationships with Grandpa figures right now. That and she just really hit it off with Tim the minute she was around him.
Here is Marina with her "new" Grandpa Tim. ![]()
You may ask, "Who is this new Grandpa and how did Marina even meet him?" Well let me tell you the story...
Back about 5 years ago the father (Steve) of the area Young Life Leader here, who is on the Young Life Committee that supports Galena Young Life sent out a prayer email to his list of people who pray for Galena Young Life. Tim, who wasn't on Steve's prayer list but was more of a business contact received the email because Steve accidentally clicked on Tim's name instead of the name above it. He did not mean to send it to Tim, but God had other plans. You see Tim and Nancy own a business called Iliamna Air Taxi and they had been praying for a couple of years for God to show them a way they could use their business to further the gospel to places in Alaska. When Tim read the email about Young Life in Galena, he called and asked for more information. This connection quickly grew into Tim and Nancy donating one flight a month for Galena Young Life to use however they need. This means that an 8 passenger Pilatus plane plus our wonderful pilot's time are donated each month to help kids in Galena. Tim has flown out mission teams, over 120 prom dresses (because where are you going to get prom dresses in Galena?), prime rib and food for Valentines dinner for the community, a mechanical bull, bungy run, inflatable movie screen and the list goes on and on. Most of the things listed at the end of this list were for after prom parties hosted by Young Life. A little over two years ago our Pastor and his family arrived in the dead of winter on a very cold day with their belongings on one of Tim and Nancy's planes. He has flown Young Life volunteers from Galena in to Young Life retreats so we can grow and be encouraged in our walk. Needless to say, Tim and Nancy have been a huge blessing to the people of Galena and the GILA students. They have helped Young Life pull off some pretty incredible opportunities for the kids that they wouldn't be able to have because of the expense of travel or of getting things out here.
In January of this year, Tim flew a group of people out here. Some of the people who flew out stayed to do some training with us Young Life volunteers, but some were just here for a tour for about 4 hours. They were people who support Young Life here and were curious to see Galena in person. We had people from California, Colorado, and Alaska. Marina and I helped out with being tour guides and Tim ended up in the seat with Marina while we were driving around. She offered him some of her fruit leather and he said he liked it and then she decided he must be ok if he liked mom's fruit leather! :) (By the way, Marina loves fruit leather and eats it up like candy only it is much healthier!) Anyways they quickly became friends. From that moment on, Marina wouldn't leave Tim's side the rest of the time he was here. Someone in the group mentioned how Tim would make a good Grandpa. Marina then decided to call Tim her "new Grandpa".
Marina's birthday was the next day after Tim left to take some of the group back to Anchorage. Tim came back a few days later to pick up the rest of the group that had stayed to do some training and stepped out of the airplane with a Birthday present for Marina. How sweet is that! Sadly we weren't even there to see him as we were picking up the girls from school. A little while later, I had mentioned in a letter that our house wouldn't get much above 60 degrees since it was -40 outside so Tim and Nancy ended up getting each of the girls a blanket to keep warm in our house. Again, so sweet!
I am going to jump back a little and tell you another part of the story. As some of you know, I get migraines quite often. I don't mention this story for you to feel sorry for me, but for you to have a glimpse into a migraineer's life and how frustrating it can be for them. I use to look at people that said they had migraines and quite often thought they were just trying to get attention. Let me tell you, I have been humbled as a few years after a horse accident, I started getting migraines. They have gotten increasingly worse as time goes on. I had to give up homeschooling our two oldest as there were days last year I would just lay on the floor beside the girls as they were doing their school work, afraid to move or my head would feel like it was going to explode. I would lay there and answer their questions, but not be able to do much else. It was during one of these times, that I decided something needed to change. I wasn't enjoying my time as my head hurt most days therefore I was grumpy and I felt I wasn't doing homeschool justice. Ross kept saying I was doing a great job, but the perfectionist in me didn't think so. It was a hard decision to make and I spent many days crying about it but Ross and I finally came to the conclusion that the girls needed to go to public school so that I could eliminate some stress and focus on my health. I tried a lot of different things this past summer and made a lot of changes in my diet (migraine trigger elimination diet). After the summer, I felt like I was doing a little better. I was still getting migraines but they were not as severe and did not last as long when I got them. I was always tired, however, so I went to the clinic and got my iron tested and it came back fine. As time went on the migraines started getting worse again and the past few months have been quite frustrating for me as I feel I have tried lots of things and am still getting the migraines. I am the type of person who likes to be involved in things, but there are times I feel like I am not a dependable person. I volunteer to help out with something and then have to cancel because I have a migraine that day. We plan on dinner and games with friends, but my husband ends up going alone with the girls because my head is hurting. There are times I miss church, have to cancel the bible study I lead, or get someone else to teach for me for Kid's Club because of migraines. All of this adds up to make me feel scared to commit to something because I am not dependable and may have to cancel. There is medicine for migraines but I don't want to take medicine for the rest of my life and I believe the medicines are not good for my body as I have already gone down that route somewhat and didn't like the results.
During one of my migraines, I was asking God for guidance of what I should do. I was also having a lot of back/neck issues, a tooth ache, and Marina's leg was locking up when she bent it. The Iliamna flight popped into my head so I asked the Young Life Director when the next flight would be coming out here. Tim was dropping off a short term mission team and would be flying back to Anchorage empty. I was having a hard time thinking about going into town and spending all this money on doctors, but I said ok Lord, if you want me to go then please let the appointments work out for the week I will be in town. I called and was able to schedule every doctor appointment that Marina and I needed with only a weeks notice. I decided I had better go. So the next week, Marina and I jumped on the Pilatus with Tim and off we went to town! Marina kept telling everyone before we left, "I am going flying with my new Grandpa!"
Marina waiting to get on the plane ![]()
Sitting in the co-pilots seat, keeping Grandpa Tim company. ![]()
Marina enjoying sitting in the front with her headset on. I am sure she talked Tim's ear off! ![]()
After we arrived in Anchorage, we got to meet Nancy and her mom. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of Nancy. We all decided to go out for lunch. When Marina found out we were going to town, the very first thing she said was, "Can we buy some strawberries so I can eat them?" Well guess what she got for lunch? A waffle covered with strawberries on top!
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Marina and Grandpa Tim showing her strawberry heart waffle. All she ate was the strawberries off the top!
After lunch, Marina and I left Anchorage for where we would be having our doctor's appointments. We stayed with some friends outside of Palmer on the Matanuska River for 3 nights. Thanks Austin and JoAnna for the hospitality! I loved getting to meet your beautiful little girl! It had just snowed and I wasn't being smart and got a compact car to rent with horrible tires. Let me tell you, my experience driving was interesting!
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Sorry for such a long post. I had lots to say. I have had a hard time sharing parts of this post as I don't like to complain or let people know my struggles. I like to be strong and not have to ask for help. A friend spoke to my heart the other day as she stood up in church and asked for prayer for her health issues. She has been struggling with them for a long time and finally asked for help because she didn't know what else to do. Would you guess what, two weeks after asking for prayer she is doing so much better and is not having the health issues anymore. She feels it is because she humbled herself enough to ask for prayer and realized God was the only one that could help her. I have come to this point just like her, where I don't know what else to do. Therefore, I am asking for prayer from all of you. Thanks, I really appreciate it! Who knows, maybe this last trip to town will provide some answers and improvements, but even if it doesn't and I continue to get migraines I hope I will rely on God for my strength.
Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
We have also adopted a "new" Grandpa into our family. Or should I say, Marina adopted a "new" Grandpa into our family all on her own! Don't worry "old" Grandpas and Grandmas, she still loves you just as much and really misses you. I think she misses you so much and is missing that Grandpa figure living close to her, that she seems to really enjoy and seek out those relationships with Grandpa figures right now. That and she just really hit it off with Tim the minute she was around him.
You may ask, "Who is this new Grandpa and how did Marina even meet him?" Well let me tell you the story...
Back about 5 years ago the father (Steve) of the area Young Life Leader here, who is on the Young Life Committee that supports Galena Young Life sent out a prayer email to his list of people who pray for Galena Young Life. Tim, who wasn't on Steve's prayer list but was more of a business contact received the email because Steve accidentally clicked on Tim's name instead of the name above it. He did not mean to send it to Tim, but God had other plans. You see Tim and Nancy own a business called Iliamna Air Taxi and they had been praying for a couple of years for God to show them a way they could use their business to further the gospel to places in Alaska. When Tim read the email about Young Life in Galena, he called and asked for more information. This connection quickly grew into Tim and Nancy donating one flight a month for Galena Young Life to use however they need. This means that an 8 passenger Pilatus plane plus our wonderful pilot's time are donated each month to help kids in Galena. Tim has flown out mission teams, over 120 prom dresses (because where are you going to get prom dresses in Galena?), prime rib and food for Valentines dinner for the community, a mechanical bull, bungy run, inflatable movie screen and the list goes on and on. Most of the things listed at the end of this list were for after prom parties hosted by Young Life. A little over two years ago our Pastor and his family arrived in the dead of winter on a very cold day with their belongings on one of Tim and Nancy's planes. He has flown Young Life volunteers from Galena in to Young Life retreats so we can grow and be encouraged in our walk. Needless to say, Tim and Nancy have been a huge blessing to the people of Galena and the GILA students. They have helped Young Life pull off some pretty incredible opportunities for the kids that they wouldn't be able to have because of the expense of travel or of getting things out here.
In January of this year, Tim flew a group of people out here. Some of the people who flew out stayed to do some training with us Young Life volunteers, but some were just here for a tour for about 4 hours. They were people who support Young Life here and were curious to see Galena in person. We had people from California, Colorado, and Alaska. Marina and I helped out with being tour guides and Tim ended up in the seat with Marina while we were driving around. She offered him some of her fruit leather and he said he liked it and then she decided he must be ok if he liked mom's fruit leather! :) (By the way, Marina loves fruit leather and eats it up like candy only it is much healthier!) Anyways they quickly became friends. From that moment on, Marina wouldn't leave Tim's side the rest of the time he was here. Someone in the group mentioned how Tim would make a good Grandpa. Marina then decided to call Tim her "new Grandpa".
Marina's birthday was the next day after Tim left to take some of the group back to Anchorage. Tim came back a few days later to pick up the rest of the group that had stayed to do some training and stepped out of the airplane with a Birthday present for Marina. How sweet is that! Sadly we weren't even there to see him as we were picking up the girls from school. A little while later, I had mentioned in a letter that our house wouldn't get much above 60 degrees since it was -40 outside so Tim and Nancy ended up getting each of the girls a blanket to keep warm in our house. Again, so sweet!
I am going to jump back a little and tell you another part of the story. As some of you know, I get migraines quite often. I don't mention this story for you to feel sorry for me, but for you to have a glimpse into a migraineer's life and how frustrating it can be for them. I use to look at people that said they had migraines and quite often thought they were just trying to get attention. Let me tell you, I have been humbled as a few years after a horse accident, I started getting migraines. They have gotten increasingly worse as time goes on. I had to give up homeschooling our two oldest as there were days last year I would just lay on the floor beside the girls as they were doing their school work, afraid to move or my head would feel like it was going to explode. I would lay there and answer their questions, but not be able to do much else. It was during one of these times, that I decided something needed to change. I wasn't enjoying my time as my head hurt most days therefore I was grumpy and I felt I wasn't doing homeschool justice. Ross kept saying I was doing a great job, but the perfectionist in me didn't think so. It was a hard decision to make and I spent many days crying about it but Ross and I finally came to the conclusion that the girls needed to go to public school so that I could eliminate some stress and focus on my health. I tried a lot of different things this past summer and made a lot of changes in my diet (migraine trigger elimination diet). After the summer, I felt like I was doing a little better. I was still getting migraines but they were not as severe and did not last as long when I got them. I was always tired, however, so I went to the clinic and got my iron tested and it came back fine. As time went on the migraines started getting worse again and the past few months have been quite frustrating for me as I feel I have tried lots of things and am still getting the migraines. I am the type of person who likes to be involved in things, but there are times I feel like I am not a dependable person. I volunteer to help out with something and then have to cancel because I have a migraine that day. We plan on dinner and games with friends, but my husband ends up going alone with the girls because my head is hurting. There are times I miss church, have to cancel the bible study I lead, or get someone else to teach for me for Kid's Club because of migraines. All of this adds up to make me feel scared to commit to something because I am not dependable and may have to cancel. There is medicine for migraines but I don't want to take medicine for the rest of my life and I believe the medicines are not good for my body as I have already gone down that route somewhat and didn't like the results.
During one of my migraines, I was asking God for guidance of what I should do. I was also having a lot of back/neck issues, a tooth ache, and Marina's leg was locking up when she bent it. The Iliamna flight popped into my head so I asked the Young Life Director when the next flight would be coming out here. Tim was dropping off a short term mission team and would be flying back to Anchorage empty. I was having a hard time thinking about going into town and spending all this money on doctors, but I said ok Lord, if you want me to go then please let the appointments work out for the week I will be in town. I called and was able to schedule every doctor appointment that Marina and I needed with only a weeks notice. I decided I had better go. So the next week, Marina and I jumped on the Pilatus with Tim and off we went to town! Marina kept telling everyone before we left, "I am going flying with my new Grandpa!"
After we arrived in Anchorage, we got to meet Nancy and her mom. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of Nancy. We all decided to go out for lunch. When Marina found out we were going to town, the very first thing she said was, "Can we buy some strawberries so I can eat them?" Well guess what she got for lunch? A waffle covered with strawberries on top!
After lunch, Marina and I left Anchorage for where we would be having our doctor's appointments. We stayed with some friends outside of Palmer on the Matanuska River for 3 nights. Thanks Austin and JoAnna for the hospitality! I loved getting to meet your beautiful little girl! It had just snowed and I wasn't being smart and got a compact car to rent with horrible tires. Let me tell you, my experience driving was interesting!
This was the driveway we had to go down to get to Austin and JoAnna's house. We parked at the top and walked down, as when it turns the corner it gets even steeper. It would have been fine with a better vehicle but our car couldn't make it. The thing is this actually is not very much snow here for this time of year.
This was the gorgeous view of the Matanuska River outside our bedroom window.
After staying with Austin and JoAnna, we stayed with Todd and Kim (friends we taught with in Metlakatla). Marina enjoyed playing with their kids and I enjoyed visiting with my lovely friend, Kim. She is an amazing home school mom that I am in awe over how she does it all. Thank you Todd and Kim. I always love catching up with you! Also thanks for your help as well as those I don't even know their name of for helping get my bald tired car unstuck from your driveway!
We spent four days going to about three doctor's appointments a day. Marina's appointment went well, but nothing was done at this point. The doc said it could be a chip in the joint or her knee cap coming to the side and getting hung up and the popping noise and sound is from it moving back into place. He would have to do an x-ray for the chip but really didn't think that was it or an MRI for the knee but didn't want to have to sedate her at this point to get that done. Apparently she isn't suppose to sit how she was when it would hang up, so he said to train her not to sit like that. We have been working on it and thankfully it hasn't happened again! It was happening quite often so I am thankful it stopped. So much for making the appointment but sometimes it is good just to get things checked out to put your mind at ease.
I didn't really want to share my results of the appointments publicly on my blog, but I have had so many people ask me about my appointments that I thought I would explain some of the stuff I found out so that I'm not constantly repeating myself and so people know how to pray. So here is a summary of some of the things I found out. I went to the chiropractor and found out that my back and neck are pretty messed up so ended up having to go every day that I was there. My neck looks like it has the beginning of degenerative arthritis in it. My mom has this in her back, but I am pretty young to be starting this. I had several other appointments and it seemed that everywhere I went they said this and this are wrong with you. At least I guess I feel like I am not just imagining things and that since I know what is wrong I can try to head down the road of fixing it. One doctor I went to found out that I am extremely iron deficient by doing a more detailed test than what they did in the clinic in Galena. So much so that she said most patients with my iron level, she would be doing 6 IV treatments on, however I was leaving the next day to head back to Anchorage. She said, "Well I guess your not passed out on the floor, so your body has made some adjustments." I am glad she found this as maybe this could be the answer to my fatigue, possibly even to my migraines. She found out that my thyroid is low and my Vitamin D levels are low. She also put me on an even stricter diet than the one I was on, a Paleolithic diet which means I can only eat meat, nuts (no peanuts), and fresh fruits and vegetables. She also did a delayed food allergy test but the results will not be back for a few weeks. At the dentist I found out the aching was not a cavity! Thank goodness! Just a receding gum from brushing my teeth too hard. Oops! At the eye doctor I found out that I have dry eyes so have to take artificial tears.
I started my diet while in town and enjoyed the availability of all the fresh produce. The first time we went into the grocery store, we were walking by the vegetables and Marina shouted out, "Chives! Can we get chives!" You see we had chives in our garden in Montana and then transferred them to my parents garden when we left. The last two summers while at my parents, the girls would go and pick chives by the handful and munch on them till we couldn't stand their breath! I had to tell her those weren't chives, but green beans she was pointing at. She requested some. Who can resist a kid who requests fruits and vegetables instead of candy. I got them for her and she ate them raw! Funny girl!
After my appointments, I drove back to Anchorage and stayed with some other former Metlakatla teacher friends. I am glad I was able to stay with them as they are moving out of Alaska at the end of this school year. It is so cool to see friends and be able to pick up where we left off, even if it has been a long time since we last saw eachother. Thank you Metta and Chris. Sorry, I was so busy but I enjoyed the little time I did have with you! On Sunday, Metta and Chris had a Birthday party for one of their sons at the Museum in Anchorage. It was our first time going there and it was pretty fun. They have a great section for kids to explore and learn. For some reason I didn't take very many pictures at the museum. I guess I was busy chasing Marina around and having fun with her!
Ross was actually in Anchorage the same weekend as me, but he was super busy with the Iron Dog exchange program (I will post about it in the next post and explain it more). We only got to see each other briefly one evening. Marina and I went to the hotel where Ross and the kids were staying. I told her she was going to get to see Daddy, but there was also someone else she would get to see and it was a surprise. We walked in the door and there was Uncle Reid! He was there with a group of students as well. Marina enjoyed her short time there getting to wrestle with Uncle Reid. My hubby also got a surprise from me. As I walked in the door he was slightly shocked! This is what he saw...
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| Marina is practicing her pilot skills so she can be like Grandpa Bruce and Grandpa Tim! |
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| Watch out we're going down for a landing! |
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| Yep, I got my hair chopped. This is the shortest I have had it in a long time. I was ready for a change though! |
As I was thinking about my grocery shopping while I was in town, I started thinking this diet is fine and dandy while I have access to fresh stuff here in town, but how am I going to pull this off in Galena? I love meat, vegetables and fruit but its not very practical and very expensive to eat the fresh fruits and veggies in the bush. Just as I was starting to feel discouraged, Tim texted without even knowing about my new diet and said, "Get as much stuff as you want and bring it by and we will get it to Galena." You see, Tim was leaving from Iliamna to go back to Galena so they got my stuff to Iliamna on flights with empty cargo space as well as Marina and I as passengers on Monday morning. We were able to see some new country and it was so beautiful!
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| On our way from Anchorage to Iliamna. The mountains went on and on and were spectacular! |
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| It is hard to see in the lighting and snow but this is the little town of Iliamna (population 109). It is located by Iliamna Lake which is the largest lake in Alaska and eighth largest lake in the United States, covering about 1,000 sq miles. |
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| Getting ready to leave from Iliamna to Galena. Marina was glad to see Grandpa Tim again! |
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| Some more mountain views. Mt. McKinley is in the distance in this picture. Lots of mountains compared to the rolling hills of Galena! |
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| A view of the river systems from the air. |
We greatly enjoyed our trip to town, even though it was very busy. I am so thankful for how God provided wonderful friends to stay with, safety on the road, and especially for Tim and Nancy's generosity. If it wasn't for them, I would probably not have been able to go to the doctors in town. When we got home Marina said she wanted to go back to town and started to cry while she was saying, "When will I ever get to see Tim again? Am I not ever going to see Tim again? I want to fly to Montana and see Alisa and Kelsie." I assured her that she would be able to see Tim again in a few months and I didn't know when we would be going to Montana but we just had to wait and be patient.
Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.