Just the Essentials

 Right now we are in the process of moving. Well not right now since I am taking the time to write this but Tizita is napping so I need a quiet activity to pass the time. C.O. and I have moved between six different house in Brevig Mission in the past ten years but this is the big move. This time it’s more than just across town, this time it’s a 500 mile trek for our household.

As we pack up, we have to decide what is coming with us, what is trash, what can be sold and what can be given away. It’s a daunting task for sure but it’s good for the soul. 

I have been trying to learn a little more about photography. (This may seem a bit of a tangent but bear with me.) Last Christmas C.O. bought me a beautiful Canon camera with interchangeable lenses and all that fancy stuff. I still don't know much but I try to pick up what I can here and there. One of the places I’m learning valuable tips is on the Digital Photography School blog. The writer had a post this winter about the amount of photos in most people’s collection. Due to the advent of digital photography it is easy to accumulate photos quickly. The challenge of the post was to go through and delete most of your photos. If, for instance, you spend the weekend visiting your grandmother and you take 200 photos. Sort through them and choose the best 2 or 3 to keep and delete the rest. It seems radical doesn’t it? The reasoning behind this is that you will discover what photos are most special or pleasing to you and what you’re left with are images that highlight your personal style of photography.

It really got me thinking about what photos mean the most to me and why. At the time I read the post, my photo library had 22,000 photos from the last 10 years. Yikes! So, I looked at each of my photos with a critical eye and started deleting. I must admit I kept many poor quality photos because of the special memories or for the stories associated with them. However, I am proud to say that I have whittled my photo collection down to just 7,000 photos. Over the span of a few weeks I deleted 15,000 photos. Crazy right? I think there’s more that could go but then Tizita came along and I have run out of time on this project for the time being.

So back to the business of moving. Sorting through my very best photos and tossing the junky ones is similar to sorting through all of our possessions. Since we decided to move I made up my mind that we are only taking the most important things we own. Stuff that’s not very good quality, rarely used, not my style or irrelevant to my life is going, gone, good-bye.

While moving is stressful and a ton of work, I do appreciate the cleansing process. It is easy for extraneous items to build up in our lives and moving is the perfect opportunity to clear the clutter. It has also been a good chance for me to decide what is essential. Honestly, if everything we owned burned up or sank to the bottom of the ocean we’d be sad and disappointed but our lives wouldn’t be any less rich or wonderful. But barring any disasters we have successfully pared our material possessions down to just the essentials. And it feels good, really, really good. 

~AnnMarie 

Fair Trade

We have certainly done our fair share of bartering and trading during our time in Brevig Mission. C.O. has gotten paid in wild berries, ivory carvings and even babysitting time. Our most recent trade involved the parka I made for myself a few years back. I won't be needing it at our new location so instead of letting it collect dust in a closet I decided to sell it.



The family that expressed interest in it also happened to have a broken down dirt bike that had been driven by their boys. C.O. has been wanting to get Harold a dirt bike so this seemed like a the perfect opportunity for a trade since the value of the bike and the value of the parka were about the same.



I think everyone was happy with the deal.

~AnnMarie

Winter Has Loosened Its Icy Grip

Have I mentioned that it's been a tough winter? It's been terribly cold and windy without a respite for months and months. Just last week (as in May 14th) it finally warmed up enough to be comfortable outside. Which certainly brightens my spirit and it also means . . .



the kids are out in full force,



folks are gearing up for a month at spring camp,



and parents like myself are fighting the battle of cleaning up a perpetually muddy child.

The Day the Harlem All Stars Came for Breakfast

The news was all over facebook: Brevig Mission Traditional Council had received a grant for the Harlem All Star basketball team to come right here to Brevig. Everyone kept calling them the Harlem Globetrotters, which they weren't, but it was in the same vein anyway.

We eventually learned the whole story of the The Harlem All Stars. The team and it's program was started by Meadowlark Lemon. Jeffrey Moore (pictured below) is the grandson of an official Globetrotter as well. So I guess you could say they had strong ties to the famous Globetrotter team.



The team flew to Nome, then drove the Nome - Teller highway to Teller where they hopped in a basket sleds pulled by snow machines, they wrapped up in tarps, then drove eight miles across the sea ice to Brevig Mission. I could see them coming from our kitchen window so I popped out to greet them.



The whole operation didn't seem organized as well as it could of been. One slight oversight was a plan for feeding these guys three meals a day. So, the first morning they were around we invited them over for breakfast. Harold and Tizita were a little shy of our visitors at first but they eventually warmed up to them. Harold brought out his boxing gloves which helped break the ice.



The All Stars did a couple shows games over the weekend.



There was quite a bit of shenanigans,



some audience participation and a whole lot of fun had by everyone.



On Saturday afternoon the team held a basketball clinic for the kids and youth. Harold was a little young for it but was allowed to join in. Dante took Harold under his wing and helped him along with the exercises and drills. It was very sweet to see.



Though they weren't quite the Globetrotters, it was still pretty cool to have this team in town. All the kids in town treated them like celebrities. The Harlem All Stars did ball tricks, put on a silly show and even entered the gym to Sweet Georgia Brown. What more could you ask for out here at the edge of the Earth?

~AnnMarie

Tizita's Homecoming

Four years ago when we began our journey from Brevig Mission to Guatemala to get Harold we created a video of the journey. Each year on Harold's Gotcha Day we watch the video and tell Harold the story of how he came to be in our family.

So of course we had to make one for Tizita as well. I have had "Your Song" sung by Ewan McGregor picked out to accompany the footage for ages. I think the lyrics are just perfect for capturing the feeling of finally being united with our baby girl. I can watch it over and over and not grow tired of it. It will be sweet to share this with her each year as we remember her Gotcha Day.

Big Fish

 

Mother's Day

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.

Author: Unknown

Tizita the Alaskan

It was wonderful to be able to welcome Tizita into the United States with style but I thought it would also be important to specifically say, "Welcome to Alaska." Alaska is part of the United States but everything is . . . well . . . different here.

Nothing says Alaska like a pair of seal skin mukluks.

Step one of one's initiation into Alaska is to make peace with being bundled up. At first Tizita pretty much screamed and wrestled with us every time we got her snowsuit on but she is getting better and now seems excited to be going outside.



Spending the first 16 months of her life in an orphanage didn't afford Tizita many experiences with being in a car or a car seat. Well it turns out living in Bush Alaska doesn't either. She has however, gotten very comfortable on 4-wheelers and snowmachines.

She has had the opportunity to see some nice and dead wildlife during her time in Alaska. I wonder what she thinks of it all?

I laugh in the face of man eating mammals!

Big deal, I can open my mouth like that too.

What's with this lady and dead animals?

We are happy to report that Tizita likes musk ox meat and tundra berries. It's a good start toward developing an Alaskan palate.





She still has some things to learn about this crazy life but there are signs that she will be one tough Alaskan chick.

~AnnMarie

My Prom Date

At Brevig Mission School all students are welcome to attend prom. Each age group has their own time throughout the night to come and enjoy the prom festivities. C.O. already had plans with the other lady in his life so Harold was my date for the night.



Once we got there we ran into these ladies. I think he was reconsidering his choice for a date. The competition is stiff around here man.



It was certainly a fun filled evening. We did a little dancing,



had a friendly limbo competition,



and grooved out to the Hokey Pokey.



The evening finished up with snacks and we called it a night.



Well Harold called it a night since he was about to turn into a pumpkin but my coworkers and I continued on as chaperones. I sure am going to miss these ladies next year.

Employed

Deciding to move out of Brevig Mission and away from the security of having a job took a leap of faith. I had to make a decision about my contract with Bering Strait School District by mid-February. There is really no way to have secured a job by then but I declined the contract and hoped for the best. I wavered between confidence that I would get a job because of my many years of experience and having doubt that there would be a position for me. But C.O. and I knew that either way, God had a plan and would care for us as He always has.

Fortunately I didn't have to wonder too long, in April I landed a job on the Kenai Peninsula. This was the only district I applied with since we are certain this is where we want to live. I am so thankful to have found a job this early in the hiring season. Many schools do not do their hiring for another month or two or three. It has given us peace of mind about moving and some direction for where to buy a home.

I will be working at Sterling Elementary School in the community of Sterling about 12 miles East of Soldotna and 150 miles south of Anchorage. It is on the road system and seems like a neat rural community with beautiful surroundings. You can see some photos here on Google Images, doesn't it look sweet? It reminds me of Minnesota but with mountains peeking up around every corner.

I was hired as a Kindergarten/1st grade teacher. I might teach first grade, I might teach kindergarten or possibly a combination of the two. It depends on enrollment. I have experience with both grades which helped make me a perfect candidate for the job.

I'm pretty excited to work there. The principal has been amazing to talk with and the school has a great reputation. It has about 160 students and is a NASA Explorer School. I'm not sure what the NASA thing is all about but it sounds cool!

My excitement has burst for the moment as I have a huge stack of paperwork to fill out for the new job. But this too shall pass and I will survive filling in my name and social security number a hundred times over. I can't wait to meet my new students and coworkers this August.

~AnnMarie

Memory Lane; Waiting for Harold

While we were waiting and waiting and waiting to take Tizita home, I started thinking back to the months we were waiting for Harold. The entire adoption process for Harold was only 18 months, shorter than Tizita's adoption by a year. So it was a bit easier to be patient but we were still a little anxious for him to be home especially after they e-mailed these photos:



This was one of the first pictures we got of Harold. He was good looking from the very beginning.




We didn't have a blog and there wasn't facebook in those days so we sent the photos off via e-mail to a few friends a family. One of C.O.'s college friends photoshopped that Dew bottle in there. Once upon a time C.O. was a crazy Mountain Dew addict. It's bad, bad stuff boys and girls. But it did make for a great gag photo.

Harold and his foster mom

This one earned him the nickname, "Mondo-Baby."




After this, we called him "The Little Fat Man" and we realized he had curly hair. *awe*




And finally we called him "Handsome Harold."


I am beyond releaved that there is no more waiting for us. We're together, we're a family of four, everything is as it should be . . . for now anyway.  ;-)

~AnnMarie

Poor Baby

Getting emergency(ish) medical care can difficult in rural Alaska because of the cost, the possibility of poor flying conditions for air transportation and the logistics of booking flights. Throughout our time in Brevig, we have been fortunate enough to avoid any last minute medical issues. That was until a couple weeks ago. We only had Tizita home for a few days when we noticed a large lump had formed on her jaw.

We called one of the PAs in town to come down and take a look right away. After examining Tizita, our PA made an appointment for us at the hospital in Nome. C.O. and Tizita took a trip into Nome the very next day. Though the pediatrician wasn't sure what it was exactly, all the scary stuff was ruled out. The doctor's best guess was that it was an infection. Tizita was put on antibiotics and we were told to wait a week to let the medicine do it's job.



Despite the medicine, nothing changed for the next week. We were contemplating our next move when these military folks arrived. A team of medical professionals including doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists and a veterinarian came as a part of Operation Arctic Care to tend to the needs of people in Brevig Mission. We had met some of the team informally as they arrived to set up camp at the school. The doctors noticed the problem with Tizita's face immediately but we set up an appointment to see them officially later in the week.

About that time the lump started getting larger, the skin started turning red and it was obviously bothering her. The military doctors said she needed to get to Anchorage right away to have it operated on. C.O. made airline reservations, arranged for Harold to stay with our friends and was down to Anchorage in a matter of hours.

I happened to be in Anchorage already for a job interview when C.O. and Tizita arrived. I picked them up at the airport in the evening and we went straight to the ER at Providence Medical Center. We were checked in sometime after 11 p.m. which was the beginning of a very, very long night.

The first thing to deal with was getting an IV line in Tizita. She apparently has very small veins that are hard to reach. She was stuck and poked by a three nurses quite a few times before they were finally able to get a vein. It took well over an hour and it involved wrapping her up like a mummy in this sheet and three of us holding her down. It. Was. Awful.



Sunday morning Tizita went into surgery to have the abscess drained. The doctors in Nome were right, it was just an infection. The problem was that it was so hard that the antibiotics couldn't reach it. So, surgery was the only option.

I had gone home by this point to get back to work and take care of Harold. The Arctic Care Team was still in Brevig when I got back to Brevig and were anxious to hear about Tizita. The sincerity of all the medical folks was touching. The even asked to see her one more time before they left.

We had only had Tizita for nine days when she had this problem and was then gone for the next six as she recovered in Anchorage. Our time apart was very difficult, the flights were expensive and the whole ordeal was taxing on our family. This is another reason why it is time for us to move out of rural Alaska. Having easy access to medical care will be a huge relief.

But in the mean time, we couldn't have been more pleased with the quality of care and the kindness shown to us by the staff at the Brevig Mission Clinic, by the military doctors and nurses with Operation Arctic Care and by the amazing staff at Providence. Thank God for all these wonderful people!



The last day the Arctic Care folks were in town, the Black Hawk helicopters flew over our house to pick them up and take them home. Tizita and C.O. ran outside to take photos and wave their goodbyes.

~AnnMarie

A Sweet Little Baby Shower

Saturday was a special day for Tizita and me. My coworkers threw a little baby shower to welcome this baby girl into our lives. 



At times like this I appreciate the resourcefulness of bush dwellers. Pretty wrappings and supplies aren't something we keep on hand so we just make do. For example, Misty had one of our coworkers make me a corsage from tissue paper.



It was a hoot to see what was used for wrapping packages. Karen hand stamped a paper bag with gingerbread men, Misty chose to use butcher paper, Angie repurposed her daughter's Easter basket wrapping and Elizabeth used one of her throw blankets to tie up her gift. She wanted the throw back though.



We seemed to have had an explosion of little girls amongst the teaching staff this year. About a year ago, Zoey (far left), was the only little girl among the teachers' kids. Now we have a whole bunch of sugar and spice and everything nice.

Thanks for the lovely afternoon ladies!

~AnnMarie

The Donations Journey

Before we left for our second trip to Ethiopia we put out a request for donations for Acacia Village. Acacia Village is the facility in Addis Ababa where Tizita and many other children wait for their adoptive parents to take them home. Donations such as these help ease the cost of maintaining the home.

The response to our post was amazing! People from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho and Alaska send diapers, clothing, formula and money to give to the orphanage. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We were so proud to be able to bring such a sizable amount of supplies on behalf of the friends and family of the Rudstroms. It was especially amazing considering that people had to first ship them to Brevig Mission somewhere near the edge of the Earth so they could make their way over to the other edge of the Earth.



The folks at Bering Air were generous enough to waive the extra baggage fees for the donated supplies. Alaska Airlines was equally as kind. Alaskans are just kind of nice that way.



The donations got a little driving tour of Washington D.C. during our layover on the way out. No one seemed to wonder what we were up to in Alaska, D.C. was another story. The taxi drivers and hotel staff were a little more curious about our diaper boxes and rubber maid totes.



We used some of the money that was donated to buy formula in D.C. Turns out formula eats up money at an astounding rate. We spent $200 on formula and decided to save the other $120 of donated money for excess baggage on Ethiopian Airlines if they weren't willing to waive the fee.

The day of our flight, we stepped up to the counter of Ethiopian Airlines and asked if they would be willing to cover the extra baggage for a good cause. The agent checking us in didn't say a word, he just shook his head "no" sternly. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to argue with so we just let it go. It was right about then that C.O. pointed it out to me that extra baggage cost $150 per bag. We were allowed two check in bags each which meant we had two extra pieces that would be charged. $300 was quite a lot to add to the cost of transporting these items. I was feeling a little sick to my stomach but had no choice but to accept Ethiopian Airline's policy.

When the ticketing agent finished checking us in, we waited for him to ask for payment. Instead, he handed over our boarding passes and said, "Have a nice flight," and sent us on our way.  Bless his heart and what a relief! God put just the right person in that place at that time.



The donations made it to their final destination at Acacia Village in Addis Ababa. The remaining $120 that wasn't used on excess baggage costs will be sent to the home to be used for day to day expenses.

Again thank you to everyone who had it in their hearts to give to children halfway around the world and to ease the cost for the families who are waiting to take them home.

~AnnMarie