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March 29 Sifting through the rubble I found out a couple of days ago that they were going to let some of us go through the church and salvage things from our closets. There were 4 wards in our building and each one had about 300-400 people. Out of the wards are different organizations and the leaders of those organizations are the ones that were supposed to go in. Currently I work in the Primary organization which is basically the program for all the children from 18 months to 12 years old. This morning my daughter Rachel wakes up and is sick. I think it's the only time all year she's really gotten sick and had to miss school. I can't take her with me so I call the other lady that's going to go with me to see if her daughter can babysit for an hour. She can. We're supposed to meet there at 12 noon with all the other leaders and go in together. At 5 minutes to, I get a phone call that I have to drive. We end up all going to the church. Rachel and the babysitter are just going to have to wait in the car.
I've driven by the church several times and it looks terrible. Walking into it was even worse. I notice all the burnt rubble and feel the wet carpets. The smell is very strong and made me glad I had a mask on. The windows are covered in ice and it's quite chilly inside. I realize after I walk inside that I didn't have the foresight to bring a flashlight. Of course there's no electricity and the only light is coming from the windows and doors. Actually there was some light coming from the gym area. That was pretty wierd because the light was from an open ceiling that had burned down. We can see well enough to get to our closet and open it up. Everything looks fine except a few things that were wet. We left all the books and binders that were on the shelf. Even the brand new hardback primary song book. We had a lot of big plastic containers with stuff inside. We took most of that stuff out to our cars. It was impossible to tell if the things in the containers smelled like smoke when we were still inside the building. I checked on the kids in the car and found that Rachel had been puking in the bowl she had. Poor babysitter! I took care of her and then hurried back to help. Everything we keep will have to be thoroughly washed. A lot of the stuff we took out will still need to be thrown away. I walked into the Primary room and saw the piano there. I played a little tune. It still worked. Then we walked over to the nursery area and pulled out the toys. A few things will be able to be washed but I just took pictures of most of it for an inventory of what we lost.
I watched church members all working together and packing up stuff that could be salvaged. I looked down the hallways and into some of the rooms. I couldn't help but think about how many memories I have in that building. Some of the things in the closet have been in there for years. In a way, it will be nice to start fresh and not have so much clutter in there. It still made me sad as I looked around and realized how much had changed.
Two of the wards will meet in one of the local high schools. Two more of the wards will be in the middle school. We'll use the schools for Sunday services only. All the week day activities are still to be worked out. While it is going to be an inconvenience for the next 1-2 years, I do think that people are made better and stronger as they live through adversity. If nothing else, it will make us appreciate the new building we get and maybe not take it for granted as much. March 28 White Chocolate PopcornWhite Chocolate Popcorn 1 1/2 pound almond bark or white chocolate 3 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter 2 Bags microwave popcorn ( I use 2 1/2 to 3) remove the unpopped kernals 3 Cups Rice Krispies 2 Cups Honey Roasted Peanuts Melt the bark and PB together in microwave. Mix the popped popcorn, rice krispies and peanuts together. Pour melted coating over popcorn mix. Stir until coated, pour on a cookie sheet and let cool in fridge 15-20 minutes. Break up into smaller pieces. March 25 Church on fireI've been living the last week down at our house in Kenai. We have no internet, phone (other than cell) newspaper , cable tv etc... We could have all that stuff there but since we don't live there all the time we don't. When I'm away like that I really feel "out of touch" with the outside world. We were at our cabin when the tsunami hit and killed 1000's of people. In 2001 we were living in Sammamish but had no cable television so it took a while to find out about the world trade centers being hit. This past week I got a message on my cell phone that our church was on fire. I was immediately shocked and wanted to know more about what was happening. I couldn't of course because I had no cable television and internet. Thank goodness I had my cell phone and was able to call and get more information from friends. The church is still standing (for the most part) but is completely unusable. Today we are meeting for a short church service at another building but with 8 congregations it's going to be very cramped. The leadership of our church will be meeting with the school board tomorrow to try and work out some temporary arrangments to rent some of the schools for the next 6-8 months. All the high school aged kids meet regularly at 6am every school day for early morning seminary. Now that the church is gone they will be going to individual houses that are near the church and have their classes there. Week day activities for the youth, scouts and cubscouts will either have to be held at individual homes or other places in the community. We use our building a lot and it will be hard to get along with out it for the next while. I think sometimes it's easy to take things for granted until they're gone. During the fire, some of the other church leaders from other faiths approached our church leaders and told them that they were all praying for us and we could use any of their churches. I was happy to hear that and very grateful. That kind of attitude hasn't always been the case. Anyway, I'm back in the land of internet, cable tv and newspapers. I got these photos from my daughter in Utah. Truly sad!
 
March 16 A thought on character
A person’s true character is defined best after enduring a conflict or personal tragedy. That is the time we can see what kind of person they truly are. Imagine a flood sweeping through a community. On the one side of the character spectrum you have people that are looting, taking advantage of the circumstances for personal gain and blaming others or God for their circumstances. On the other side of the character spectrum you have the heroes. People who would give everything they have to help others, including their own lives. Those who thank God for their trials and try to figure out what they can learn from them. I think about people in my own life who have had a lasting impact on me with their examples of high, moral character. There are a couple of people that stand out. One is a good friend of mine who lost her husband a few years ago and the other is my Dad. At some point I may write about my friend but for now I want to talk about my Dad. His birthday is this Sunday and I’ve been thinking about him and his life. He has certainly known his share of adversity. Having grown up through the depression he knows what it’s like to go without many luxuries we now take for granted. He worked hard on his family farm as a young man and was never paid. I remember him talking about vagrants who would stop by frequently asking for something to eat. Their farm was next to the railroad tracks so this happened fairly often. They always had a bit of work for them to do but would always feed them well and send them off with extras. My Dad was blessed with the ability to provide for his own family when he grew up. For 40 years he developed and operated his own egg farm. Despite the numerous trials he endured with this, his character remained strong and was a great example to those around him. For instance: 1) There were 2 fires on the farm. The first one, started by lightening, burned down one chicken house. The other one started in the attic of the egg processing plant on Christmas Day. Most of the damage for that one was limited to the stock of egg cartons. Replacing them in a hurry was not easy. 2) They had two floods. The first one you can check out the full details on: http://mitchowl.spaces.live.com/ Feb 8, 2007 archives for Linda’s blog on flood of 62. The other flood was when the Teton Dam broke. We didn’t get hit with water but we did take a lot of people in to live with us. Dad took his “honey wagon” (I don’t know why they called it that…) around and sucked the flood water out of people’s basements. He did that until it broke down and couldn’t be used anymore. This was costly for him but he never charged anyone for the help. 3) There was a power failure in one of the brooder houses. It was full of partly grown baby chicks. All 13,000 smothered and died. He had to get a backhoe to come in and dig a big hole just so they could bury all the chickens. That was a very devastating blow to the farm and was more or less the beginning of the end. They just couldn’t recover from that. That happened on Mom and Dad’s wedding anniversary. He has always tried to be honest in all his dealings with people. When they lost the farm, he managed to pay everyone money that he owed them, even though he did not get money that was due him by other people. I always respected my Dad for doing that rather than taking the easy road and declaring bankruptcy. He had to find other work to support his family when the farm was gone. He hated most of the jobs he had including delivering fertilizer to farmers, working at Deseret Industries, and pulling mobile homes with my brother Ron. That was just way too stressful and you can check out a story about that on: http://myspinonit.spaces.live.com/ for his March 4, 2007 blog. He also drove charter bus which he didn’t like and worked for Greyline and drove school bus which he did enjoy. Despite the headaches on the farm and other jobs he’s had, there were other trials and tragedies to be endured. Maybe the biggest personal tragedy was in December of 1956. The whole family had been sick with the flue. Gary, their 18 month old baby, was particularly cranky and that was unusual for him. The Dr. told them that he would give him a penicillin shot and to take him home and put him to bed. The next morning, Dad got up, fed the chickens and came back in the house and found Gary, dead in his crib. It was devastating to the family. He didn’t blame God for taking away his son. Dad told me that he resolved right then that he needed to get his own spiritual life in order and not take it for granted. My brother Keith was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the road. The kid on the motorcycle was on a borrowed bike, showing off for a girl. Keith was in the hospital for weeks and was in a hospital bed at home for longer than that. There was no settlement. The kid and his family were not sued. My Dad has also had his share of physical maladies. He’s had operations on his back, for his hernia, on his gallbladder and his prostate. He fell off a 3 story building on the farm into a pit and sustained broken ribs and a cracked pelvis. There have been other injuries as well. Last September he found out he had Lymphoma. The last few months have been difficult as he’s undergone chemotherapy, numerous blood transfusions and medical tests. It is currently in remission but he is at high risk for leukemia and will never fully regain his health. He has said that he wants to stay alive as long as he can but he is willing to go if it is the Lord’s will. I have always felt like my Dad was a man of high moral character. Throughout his life he has dealt with each hardship and trial with strength and virtue. These last few months as I see him dealing with cancer I’ve been amazed at his ever positive attitude and his gratefulness to God for all of his blessings. I hope that I will be able to endure the many trials I will have in my own life with the same morals and high character that my Dad has displayed. I love you Dad! Happy Birthday!!
March 13 Mind over MatterI just got back from working out at the gym. I try to go every weekday for 30 minutes on the elliptical and then occasionally when I feel I have enough time I’ll do weights. I’ve gotten up as early as 5 or 6 and gone in with my husband but lately I go after I drop my daughter off at school. I’m motivated to try and get into shape but most times I fight the mental battle of going in. Little aches and pains, too much going on, I’m too tired this morning, are all reasons I’ve debated over as I lay there and decide if this is a work out day or a “lazy” day. This morning was like so many other mornings. I got my work out clothes on, dropped Rachel off at school, took my MP3 player and went. As I walked into the cardio room I noticed that there weren’t many people there. That was good. I’m always a bit self conscious anyway. I also noticed that they had the sound system off for the row of tv’s and were working on them. They’re getting ready to install a 2nd row of tv’s so it was all in a jumble. That didn’t bother me because I never listen to the tv anyway. I always watch the screen and listen to my own music. I try to do everything I can to keep my mind off of the exercise. As my mind wanders or a slower song comes on I struggle to keep the pace up and not quit early. About 5 minutes into my workout a lady got on the elliptical next to mine. I thought that was a little odd because there were so many empty machines. That was fine though. Then she said something to me so I moved my earphones to hear what she was saying. She just started up this conversation about the sound system and how hard it would be to work out without the music. I didn’t put my headphones on again. For the next 30 minutes I talked with this complete stranger about exercise, families, goals, tv shows etc… I didn’t think about how many miles I was going or the fact that the difficulty level was set higher than usual for me. My pace didn’t slow down and I wasn’t really that tired when I went over my usual 30 minutes. Truth be told, I could have kept going if my machine wouldn’t have shut down. (I didn’t program it to go longer because I never go over 30 minutes) I was so glad this lady talked to me. I realized that maybe I’m going about exercising in the wrong way. I should think of it more as a social time to catch up on girl talk with old friends and maybe make some new friends as well. With that attitude I will have already won the mind battle and can just enjoy the physical benefits that will eventually come. March 06 Alaskan AdventureHave you ever dreamed of coming to Alaska and getting out there to catch the monster King Salmon? Have you ever had any desire to camp in the marvelous outdoors and to experience the breathtaking scenery of Denali? Well here is the true story of one of our families Alaskan vacations….. The Blessed event started on June 28th, 2004. Kevin's sister Michelle and her husband were visiting us along with John and Isa. Kevin, John, Isa, Scott, Michelle, Jennifer, Lindsey (she is a close friend of Jen and Marie's visiting us from Washington) Michael and Chris left around 3a.m. on Monday to go up to Montana creek to go King Salmon fishing. They had a great time and caught 5 rather large fish. They weren't monster Kings. They averaged about 25 pounds each or so. Still it was quite a lot of fish in the coolers. Marie, Rachel and I stayed at home so we could finish getting ready and I had an appointment I didn't want to miss. I had to grill some chicken for that night too but with all the other stuff I had to do, I ended up forgetting it on the grill and burning them into little black balls. I bought some cooked chicken to go… We coordinated when we'd leave via cell phone and met up with the other group around Palmer. We were heading to Glenallen area where we had some cabins reserved for the next 2 nights. It was several hours away but it was a very pretty drive. Rachel had begun mooing about her tummy hurting but soon we were there. Kevin had spoken to this campground over the phone and reserved 4 cabins at $29.00 each. When we got there they said that was wrong, it was $49.00 each and they weren't really cabins. It was kind of like a big double wide trailer with 4-5 bedrooms on each end and some community bathrooms/showers in the middle. Whatever! We ended up getting 5 rooms and were just happy to finally be there and have somewhere to sleep. Everyone was hungry though so we got out our food and tried to decide what to fix for dinner. I had the cooked chicken all ready so we had chicken twisters that night. We were a little worried about food since our meals were mostly supposed to be cooked over an open fire and there was a fire ban all over. The next day was somewhat uneventful. We did try fishing for Kings in the Klutina river but it is a very fast moving river and the fishing was very slow right then. Even if we did manage to get a fish on, most people were using a 100 pound tess line to get them in. Since the fishing was so poor we decided we'd do a little exploring. We ended up driving 2 of our vehicles down this 4wheel drive road for 25 miles to look at the klutina lake. I have pictures of the water we drove through and the almost impassible roads we drove on. Kevin and Scott were having fun. Michael had fun when we was asked to wade through the water to make sure it didn't get too deep to drive through. We saw a porcupine up close and personal and I think that was probably the highlight of that "adventure".
The fire ban was lifted to some degree and we were able to cook tin foil dinners that night. The next day we packed up and planned on driving north to Paxson and then West along the Denali Hwy to Denali Park. Then Scott, Michelle, John and Isa would stay at the park and the rest of us would go home and process that fish etc… The scenery was very much a disappointment since the forest fires they've had up there completely filled the sky with smoke. We did stop once or twice to picnic and fish. I was standing by the river when a bird flew overhead and pooped in my hair. I wasn't very happy about that but at least we were going home and I'd be able to wash my hair and shower tonight!! We got to Paxson for a quick potty/ice cream break and then got on the Denali Highway. It's called a highway but in reality, it is 133 miles of gravel, windy roads over hills and through valleys and even a 4-5000 foot summit. We started looking at the clock and estimating what time we'd get back into Anchorage. We wouldn't get to really visit with Scott and Michelle anymore so we decided that we'd leave them and just go straight home. Then they could take their time and stop to look at things etc… Kevin left first with Jen, Lindsey and Marie. I was 2nd to leave with Michael, Chris, Rachel, Smokey (our dog) and Dottie. (John and Isa's new puppy) I was driving along just fine and making pretty good time. I was probably going between 45-50 mph most of the time. Then I start hearing some bad noises. I pull off the road and sure enough I have a massively flat tire. It's not only flat, it's completely busted open. We look all around and I finally find a spare tire but have no clue how to get it down. Pretty soon Scott and Michelle drive up and he helps change my tire. What a life saver. Michael keeps saying that it couldn't get any worse. Then we decide that they will follow me just in case. We drive for about 4 more miles and I start hearing another, pretty bad sound. I pull over and find another flat tire. I have no more spares. I'm at mile 90 of a 133 mile gravel road in the middle of nowhere and we have absolutely no cell phone service. I'm quite certain that Kevin must be off the dirt road by now and I can't call and tell him I'm in trouble. The only thing we can do is all pile into John and Isa's little car and try to drive out of there. It is a little car too. Chris, Rachel and Dottie lay in the back on top of all the stuff back there. John, Isa, Michael and I sit in the middle seat. (this is NOT a very wide seat) We were almost sitting sideways so we could all fit. Scott drove and Michelle sat in the front with Smokey on the floor with his head on her lap. Rachel's crying because her belly hurts and she's hungry etc… (She did manage to pee outside by a rock and that was a big accomplishment) Michael was saying that, "At least it can't get any worse…" He got slugged for that one. We drove like this for another 5-10 miles and came upon Kevin. He had been sitting there for 1 ½ hours with another busted out tire. He had a perfectly good spare tire, but when they sold him the truck, they lied to him about having the jack and all the tools necessary to get the tire down. He had no way of getting at his tire. Some guy had stopped to help him and they got his spare tire and were trying to get it to work. It didn't really fit but with a lot of desperation and adrenelin, they managed to get it on there anyway. Kevin gave the guy $100 for his time and trouble and we promised we'd deliver the tire back to him when we got it replaced. It did ease up our riding conditions somewhat. Some of us could get out of the small car and ride in the truck. We drove around 25 mph for the next 25-30 miles all the way to Cantwell. By then it was around 8p.m. and everyone was exhausted and starving. We managed to find a place we could rent a couple of rooms in and they even had a restaurant open. We had a really nice dinner and then the Bells all went to Denali where they had reserved a couple of cabins (nice ones, not rooms in a doublewide) and we went to our rooms and crashed. I did shower first but unfortunately they had no shampoo. I had to abandon EVERYTHING at the van since there wasn't any room to take it. I had to wash my hair (and the bird poop) out with a bar of facial cleanser. After the shower I got to put all my dirty clothes back on since my extra clothes were sitting 43 miles back on the Denali HWY. The next day we were able to get our tires replaced. We found a tire shop "Alaskan style". The guy had 100's of tires and they were scattered all around his yard. He had an old school bus in as sort of a shed. He was quite helpful though and didn't gouge us too badly. Scott came and picked up the kids so they could hang out in their cabin (checkout was at noon and we did NOT want to stay another night) while Kevin and I drove back down the Denali Hwy to retrieve the van. We were very careful to drive slowly and take our time. We were very happy to find the van still there and were even happier to fix it and drive out of there. By the time we picked up the kids and dogs and got back on the road heading home it was after 3p.m. Anchorage was still 240 miles away and we lived on the other side of town. The kids were all mooing about wanting to go to the youth activity that night. We drove home as quickly and safely as possible and they managed to get to the church only 1 hour late. I look back on our Alaskan adventure and think about the scenery we didn't see because of forest fires, the 70 pounds of fish we had to throw away because We couldn't get it frozen soon enough, the youth activity that I was in charge of that I had to flake out on, the planned work day that Kevin missed, the load of stuff I was going to donate to ARC but wasn't home to leave it out, and of all the extra money it ended up costing and wonder if I would do it all again. I've decided that I will absolutely not do it again….. until this summer!! "Fish on!!" March 01 "You cut me, coach."Don't mind me, I'm just venting...
In about one week, basketball season will officially end at my kids school. The season is soooo long that I must say I'm really glad it will be over. Marie will be finishing up her 3rd year of playing. She's one of the better players on the JV team and usually starts. She a bit discouraged about not being on Varsity and wonders whether or not to even try out next year. She loves the game though so I'm leaving that up to her.
Michael is another story. He's a Freshman this year and has never really played basketball before in his life. He tried out for the team on a whim and was cut. He was happy because that meant he could pursue other interests. About a week after practice had started he gets a phone call from the C team basketball coach. He said, "Michael, where are you?" Michael told him, "You cut me coach". The coach said that was a mistake or misunderstanding and he needed to come in right now. We found out later that another kid had quit the team so they called Michael to fill the gap. Michael is 15 and about 6'2". We're pretty sure that's why he made the team. Anyway, Michael went to every practice and gave 100%. His skills improved rapidly. He is naturally athletic and has always been a star on the football team. He's also very smart so he was able to learn quickly.
I've sat through almost 3 months of basketball games and enjoy watching my kids play. Playing time this season averaged about 4 minutes a game for Michael. In spite of that he would rebound really well, scored about a dozen or so points, and had very few mistakes on court. Last night was one of many frustrating games. The kids games were at the same time so I went to the first half of Marie's and then the 2nd half of Michael's. Michael only played about 3 minutes in the first half and not at all the last half. I didn't even get to see him play. I feel so bad for my kids when they sacrifice everything else in their lives and it seems to go unnoticed by the coach. It's not like his teammates are much better than him either. There've been quite a few times that we've lamented the fact that he got that unexpected phone call from the coach.
Another thing that is a little irksome is that besides having games/practices 6 days a week, they are expected to sell raffle tickets and raise $500 each! Varsity is supposed to raise $1000! Ok, so maybe I'm on the wrong side of an attiude change but to me that seams a bit excessive.
Will Michael try out for the basketball team again next year? I'd say that's got about as much chance of happening as the temperature here turning warm this week. Brrrr!
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