Alaska According to Marie

Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings. –Jane Austen

Grandma and Grandpa Van have come and gone already. Seems we were waiting for their arrival for months and months and then before you know it, they are already back in Florida and their having been here would seem only a dream but for the pictures.

I have a beautiful and fun family. They are such a source of strength and love to me. The thing with families, especially great ones like I have, is that before I even know that I am doing it, I am taking them for granted. My nephew Tucker called me at work today to give me the bad news..."Marie, guess what I saw. I saw a dead bird with his head out." "What?", I hesitantly replied. "Yes. A dead bird by the bird feeder with his head on the grass.... are you coming here for lunch?"

I don't think he realizes the social blunder of mentioning a meal with what sounds like the grotesque demise of a bird. I'm sure his intention was to find out when I would have nearest opportunity to come and see his discovery for myself. I'm actually very pleased that when he saw something so impacting as this, one of his thoughts was to call me to participate with him in it.

There are so many people in our world who don't have the blessing of a family like mine. Not even close. I wonder about children I've read of that are considered only as an expense and can be callously sold away as slaves, or stolen to be used as soldiers. And some that can be in even worse predicaments than that. There is so much about life that I don't understand, but I do trust God. My heart hurts for these little ones across the world (and sometimes we find that they are much closer to home than we'd like) and I wonder at what we, what I can do to be a source of protection, justice, mercy, grace, peace to them. I hope I never neglect an opportunity given me to extend myself like this.

And I am so grateful for my safe and sound upbringing. I am so thankful that my parents, and their parents before them, wanted to please Jesus in the way they raised their children. I thank them for loving me so selflessly, so sacrificially, so completely. I see my sisters raising their children and continuing that tradition. May God bless them.

And may God bless me with a heart and mind that doesn't forget the less fortunate and doesn't forget to be thankful.

I had such a great weekend! Matthew and I went on the Twin Peaks hike from Eklutna Park. We saw sheep, baby birds, squirrels, a ptarmigan and best of all... 3 Grizzlies! We saw a sow and two cubs! They were so cool. They were across the valley and at about our elevation and we had a great view. We sat and watched them with Matthew's binoculars for about an hour. Then we finished up the hike to the top and enjoyed the view for a few minutes before the cold urged us back down the trail.

On Sunday I went with Mom and Kim to watch Klint race in Anchorage. He did well, for as long as the 4-wheeler lasted. He was able to get first place on one race and the cool thing about that was that it was while he was riding a stock machine. Nothing fancy was done to it. His own machine is currently under repair and so Calli let Klint use hers. It's just a clean, stock Yamaha 4wheeler. And he did great on it! But I guess all those modifications that are done to racing 4-wheelers are needed since it didn't take long for Calli's machine to start having problems with the intense riding that racing requires.

So.. as far as I know, Klint currently has two machines under repair.

Yes, I had a very enjoyable weekend.

Yesterday I finally bought a zoom lens for my camera. I went out to the little su last night to take some pictures and am very pleased. I wish I had it when we saw the bears. Oh well... next time.

"A punch should stay like a treasure in the sleeve. It should not be used indiscrimately." ~ Chotoku Kyan