A Little Attitude Goes a Long Ways

School is around the corner.... August 18 is the start day for the Fairbanks area.  I ordered year two curriculum from "My Father's World."  We are excited to think about new books coming and Spanish immersion classes on the computer!  If anyone is interested in what we do in detail when it comes to homeschooling, you'll just have to leave a comment or check out www.mfwbooks.com  It's a great site if you're considering homeschooling or just curious about what we are studying.

I could write a book about all the different ideas we've tried but we've finally settled on "My Father's World."  It's a good balance of unit study, great reading books, a small amount of text book style books, good science, and truthful history.  It also has a strong emphasis on getting the Bible translated into other languages.  It also works well with multi-age families.  Although, I must be truthful and add I have really struggled to fit it all in for the past half of last years school.  I'm sure it has to do with baby dropping one of his naps and my wild and adventurous lifestyle that will not always be so wild and adventurous....

Anyhow, we are looking forward to receiving our big box in the mail.  Until then, we are going to enjoy the rest of our summer because we know Winter is around the corner.  The leaves are already starting to change! 

Upside down laundry basket doubles as a play stove!
All you need is a permanent marker...

Enjoying homemade cookies and an afternoon of quiet play and sunshine...

So what does this post have to do with "A Little Attitude Goes a Long Ways?"  I always remember the teacher telling us over and over again that a little glue goes a long way!  I wish I'd been told more that it's all about a good attitude having the power to defeat most of life's hardships along the way!  Even just a little good attitude begins to change your outlook on life in the most profound way! 

Christians and the world alike control their own attitudes.  It's called self control.  Anyone can have a great attitude when things go their way.  It's when things don't go their way, or things get overwhelming, or negative that the fruit of the Spirit really begins to shine!

Inside and Out Cabin Pictures: Ground Level

For those of you wondering what the interior of our cabin is looking like these days, here's some up to date photos, uncensored and not airbrushed...

Children washing the dog in the foreground

Living room/library/school/play room

Photos sure clean things up nicely don't they?  The carpet looks great!  It really is nice.  Before this carpet there was a painted plywood floor.  It was painted with Kilz brand paint, the type that seals in smell and mildew because seven dogs lived on, in, and around the cabin previous.  We wondered after we bought this cabin if the smell would ever go away and it did.  We still find traces of animal hair that sift down through the floorboards on occasion. 

In case you're wondering why there's a loveseat in front of the door... the door has been lovingly sprayed with foam to keep the cold out and it is one of those projects that has always been "on the back burner."  Now that Winter is around the corner I'm assuming it will stay foamed shut till next Spring!  No matter, there's no porch out there anyway.  It rotted away. 

One more word about my living room... a year ago it was also my kitchen, bedroom and nursery for the baby.  It's come along ways.  There used to be a bathroom in the corner with the world map hanging on the wall.  Whoever was here before us left evidence in the form of some black sewer pipe sticking out of the floor.  Nothing like a can of spray foam and a little bit of sawing to fix that.  Slap on some carpet pad and new carpet, and pull a couch over the top and poof!  A wonderful living room in which to dwell.  Wouldn't I be a great writer for a home remodeling magazine?! Oh, let me add one more detail about remodeling:  cardboard works great when you don't have the skills, time, or money for tongue in groove pine. Check out the cardboard I cut to cover the blue Styrofoam walls from the window to the wall, floor to ceiling.  It worked great and I hardly notice that it isn't wood!  I couldn't stand to look at the blue Styrofoam a second longer!  Power of association, I guess. (If you haven't read previous posts, blue Styrofoam is what everyone uses for their outhouse toilet seat.)

Anyhow, along the wall that the large couch sits, was my original kitchen.  We washed and painted this makeshift unit that was already here and put the Coleman cook stove up on the counter, along with a 7- gallon container for our water and a basin to wash in.

Our first kitchen, August 2010, in the corner of what is now the living room.

Who needs stair stepping exercises when you've got the real thing?

 We're still in the living room at this point...  notice the foamed door to the left?  Someone built these stairs right across one of the beautiful picture windows!  They cut through a major supporting beam to do it.  It works.  We added a baby gate for safety, not in the most usual way, but it works as well.

This is a TOYO stove made in Japan that runs on #1 grade diesel fuel. 

 We heat most of the cabin with this little heater.  In the children's rooms we have electric, oil filled radiant heaters.  The kitchen and room where we bathe also have these type of heaters.  The coldest the kitchen and bath ever got was 42 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not bad for being minus 40 F outside!

A bath room in the making...

This room used to be where the old forced air furnace dwelt.  The old water tank also lived here along with mounds of animal fur and bits of moldy dog food.  We parted with the furnace one day last fall when a piece of it literally exploded near my husbands face!  The timing mechanism was not functioning correctly.  It built up to much combustible fuel and when it did ignite, BOOM!  A metal cap came flying off just to the left of Daddy's face and out into the hallway.  I heard it and came running!

August 2010, looking at the old furnace and orange water tank

This bath tub is the one I shed tears over... we had been living at a campground for almost a month last August, when we bought this cabin and anything looked better than that.  We were hiking 200 yards through the trees to get a shower and use the restrooms while camping.  Which isn't really too big of a deal when you're just camping for fun.  BUT  when you're camping because you're homeless and trying to find a job and a home with five children in tow, it is very hard. 

2010 Kitchen in the sun while camping...

2010 Kitchen after a good rain...

So why would I shed tears over a bath tub?  It was up on two by fours and plywood just over a foot off the floor.  It was a damaged, scraped tub with a few cracks and some duct tape sticky patches that really bother me as much as I TRY to ignore them!  I know that Debi Pearl says in her book, "Created to Be His Help Meet," that I am to tuck in my lower lip and follow my visionary man but I couldn't hold back any longer!  After I cried I told my husband that I really was thankful for a place to bathe in at home but this whole trashed cabin, remodeling thing wasn't what I had imagined...

When we bought this cabin, there was no water.  We filled up containers in town and hauled them out.  We bought a family pass to the local swimming pool for showers.  We all felt humbled trying to shower in public and still be modest.  But we were so tired and exhausted from working and living that I reached a point of not even caring anymore but just happy to be clean once or twice a week if we had the time!  We did laundry at the local mat once a week averaging about $20.00.  This was two triple washes and drying time.  We've really learned how to cut back on laundry!

We had cold water into the kitchen two days before Thanksgiving!  We had a bath tub in at some point and were heating big black canners half full of water on our propane kitchen stove.  Then into the tub unit they were dumped and out it came into a five gallon bucket! 

August 2010 kitchen to be...

The kitchen now!  Complete with my dream child height counter
so they can mix and make and bake a cake with Mama!

Beautiful cabinets installed extra high for more shelf space...
lots of dishes on the counter...

Handsome husband cutting the homemade pizza on my
beautiful slate topped dining table

We have all learned so much and grown so much as a family this year.  As hard as this year has been, I wouldn't trade it for anything, for in it, my husband got saved one afternoon and a week later two of my oldest children were crying tears of repentance and called out to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I repented of my ungrateful attitude towards my husband, the military, family, etc, you name it!  Revival starts from within!  It spreads like wild fire within a family and there is so much power in repentance!  It's not popular and it doesn't sound exciting but what an adventure awaits those who dare! 

P.S.  Our lives aren't perfect.  We mess up daily and sometimes hourly.... but we love, forgive, and press on in the grace that God provides.  What a trip life is when following Jesus Christ.  It never ends.  So, our time here on earth doesn't last, for some it's already over before it hardly gets started but it's just a drop in the ocean of time.  We all have to die.  We can't avoid it.  So embrace life and play hard and play fair and be thankful and forgiving and tell everyone you love that you do love them and don't forget about your enemies as well.  The battle is over, we know who wins.  Join in the victory before it's all over.

University of Alaska's Museum

Look at these beautiful blooming flowers!

A monument to the Alaskan outhouse, complete with a blue Styrofoam toilet seat.

An Alaskan brown bear: 8 feet, 9 inches tall!

Wild swans in Alaska!

Feeling some polar bear fur...

Fish trap!

I took this picture for my younger brother, Rainy, because he built a fish trap when we were kids.  It reminded me of how much fun we had down by the creek swimming, fishing, or snapping green beans in the heat of the summer.  One of the funniest memories of that creek is when my Dad threw a crawdad towards my Mom as a joke to watch her jump.  AND did she ever because somehow the creature held on with its pincher claws and was dangling and flipping on her leg.  I believe it attached itself to her red neck swim wear at the time... ha ha ha   I am laughing now.

Handmade boots!  This is all bead work.  There are many pieces of clothing and moccasins done in this way.

Looking at a bag made from fish skin...

Baby's first elevator ride!  Daddy taking a photo towards the mirrored ceiling.

We had a great time visiting this Museum.  We have a family pass and if you ever come and visit us, we will take you here.  They have dinosaur bones and mastodon teeth and a woolly mammoth skin.  There's evidence that Alaska was once a very nice warm place with North American lions even!  I'm thinking there was a catastrophic event, such as a global, world wide flood that destroyed the nice warm weather here that used to be.... 

A Stroll in the Hills

This bike lane/snowmobile path has permafrost heaves several feet tall. 

Discovering a patch of cranberries...

A close up of wild cranberries, a little on the sour side!

Do you see the posing moose?

Look, I found a puddle to stomp in!

Look, I found a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in caterpillar form! 

 How do these butterflies winter over in 40 below?!  We have heaps of beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterflies in Spring and part of Summer.  I've never seen so many at once.  While my mom was visiting, we saw eight or so butterflies all congregating in one spot over wet mud.  It was the strangest site!  We have no idea what they were doing.  If anyone does know how they survive the winter, let us know. 

Wild raspberries and rose hip harvest...

We went for a stroll down our road today and along side the main highway where there is a paved bike path.  The snow machines use the path in the winter time.  It's only a few minutes walk and it really is beautiful.  The kids love to ride their bikes on the path because the rise and fall of the frost heaves makes it look and feel like a roller coaster.  Baby loves it too when Mama runs down the hills with the stroller and back up again!

Today, we found wild ripe red raspberries, almost ripe wild cranberries and plentiful wild rose hips.  The wildflowers are blooming all around, mostly Yarrow, Fireweed, Beech Pea, and some buttercup like flowers.  Finally, the sun came out today!  It's been cold, for the month of August. It's been around 50 degrees Fahrenheit during the day for the past week or so and dipped to the 30's at night at one point.  Brrrr!  We know Winter is coming but we're not quite ready for it yet!  We hope the sun decides to stay a while today because I have a few loads of laundry out to dry. 

All American Apple Pie Making

First you start with an apple almost as big as you are!

"Many hands make light work!"

Miss Betty Crocker Gerhardt

Sisters!

I was feeling discouraged earlier.  Many things can add to discouragement but there's nothing like adding a little loneliness to the brew to make things a whole lot worse.  I was in my kitchen feeling sorry for myself and alone with no one to help.  Dinner to finish making, dishes to do, counters to clean, table to find... I thought about asking the girls to help but they were upstairs playing so nicely with their little sister that I didn't want to disturb them. 

The guys are never recruited to make dinner or clean the kitchen unless I happen to be gone during the dinner hour which is extremely rare.  We all have work to do and we're always busy.  Each of us has our allotted jobs.  Sometimes they change with the seasons or they change with less than a moments notice, but usually they are dependable work.  We enjoy it.

So I start in where I left off, the homemade cabbage soup bubbling away on the stove, the dishes half done and a pie yet to be made.  I worked alone for awhile and then I realized I really did need all three girls to help or pie making had to be left behind.  So I headed upstairs to tell them that I really needed them to help.  I wasn't mad or upset or put out, I just really needed them.  Funny how just yesterday I was giving them "jobs" to do for the fun of it or just to keep them busy but now I really benefit from their level of work.  They were playing mommies and dress up and said they were just coming down to see if I needed any help!  I would've pulled out my handkerchief then and there, had I one!

So off to the kitchen we marched and had the grandest time visiting and making pie all together.  No one was in a hurry to get it done, we were just enjoying one an other's company.  We all know we need each other and there has to be teamwork to get our daily tasks done.  Every one here has an important role in our family.  This is why we are here in Alaska.  It is hard.  It is demanding and yes, tiring but at the end of each moment spent together there is love, laughter, and good memories.  There is also times of tears and frustration and wanting to quit but thank God He gives us the grace we need as we humble ourselves before Him.  AND if we don't humble ourselves, He will.