Windy with a chance of being snowed in.

Our Christmas tree did come on time and so did pretty much all our gifts. The Wednesday before Christmas Tom called me to tell me that we had gotten 6 new packages! Yay! But when he went to the front desk of the post office to pick them up it was closed even though it should have been opened. There was a sign at the desk that said, "We will be closed Dec 22th and Dec. 24th." What?! Plus they had been closed the Saturday before. One of the package claim slips said the package had been received 2 days before. Keep in mind we had been going to the post office every day. So Tom knocked on the door until someone came. They said that they were behind in things so they needed to be closed to catch up. They gave him some of his packages but said the others were too buried and he would have to come back tomorrow to get them. Tom asked if he could go look for them and so she said he could. He found them quickly on the top of the piles.

Here is our little Christmas tree and the window behind it plastered with snow.

In other news we have been having a lot of crazy wind.  Gusting up to around 55 mph and not getting much below 30mph. Because of this most the teachers who were headed out for Christmas were stuck here longer than planed. One teacher and her husband, who must have been inspired, left a day early and just missed the delays. All the others who had planed to go out Friday afternoon or Saturday had to wait until Monday. This wouldn't have been so bad but because it is such a busy time to fly many of them had to wait a few days in Anchorage or other layovers for an available seat. Most of them got to their final destinations almost a week late.

When Tom and I were deciding when to come down we were both feeling a little aprihensive about going home for Christmas. This is why we decided to go home for Thanksgiving instead. When I ended up going home early I thought that, that must be the reason but it looks like we were blessed in more ways than one.

'Twas the day before Christmas and all down the street, Nothing was working not even the heat!

Christmas eve we woke up to find our power had gone out. This had happened a few days before and was out for a couple of hours. Ever sense then we had, had several flickers and brief periods of no power so we were hoping this would be the case again. The power outage might have been due to the all the wind we have been having. Around 9am after the power had been out for about 4 hours Tom called the power plant. They said there were about 14 homes that were out of power and they needed to send in a line man from Barrow. He would be coming in a search and rescue plane and would get here as soon as he could.

When I was a kid I always thought it was exciting to have the power go out but with it being pitch dark and slowly getting colder and colder in our apartment some of the excitment turns into frustration. Not to mention all of our Christmas activities would be difficult without light or electricity. We of course have some flash light and a hand cranke lanturn but the dim light from those is not enough to do much of anything. As far as the heat perdiciment goes things were not too bad. Although it was -10 degree outside our small apartment did well to hold in the heat. I has tripple paned windows. The back door has two doors with an entry way in between called a "kunichuk" and the front door leads to a hallway that also has a kunichuk. We all dressed warmly and were fairly comfortable most of the time.

At 1pm Tom called again and found out that the line guy had been unable to get of the ground yet. We started making plans for Christmas at the school. As soon as we got too cold we would head over to there. The school still had power but even if it hadn't they have a back up generator. Later the principal called and informed us we could stay at his home which was all the way on the other edge of town. We had, had the school vehicle but the matenance truck wouldn't start that day so they had come to borrow the one we had. (He still has it) I wasn't so excited about a treck accross town in the extreem wind and cold and was really not excited about spending Christmas at the school.

Around 2 or 3pm we saw hope; a line truck drove by our window . By 4:30 our power began to flicker and then came back on. At first we didn't allow ourselves to believe it but we soon began to celibate and clean up our messy house to get it ready for Christmas. We have not had any trouble with our power since but our heat never came back all the way back on. Luckily, as we discovered last year, we are able to heat our apartment just fine between the oven and a small space heater. Hopefully they will come take care of it soon though.

From the Land of No Sun

I guess it is time to update our blog since it has been almost a month since our last post. We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving in Utah with family. It was especially good to have Tom with us again. We all miss him so much. Chalyse would talk about him all the time and kept asking to go home to her Daddy. He flew in on Thanksgiving morning around 7:30 a.m. and then we all went to breakfast together. After a short nap we went to my parents for dinner and then Tom's parent's for dessert/birthday party. There are tons of birthdays in November and December on both sides of the family and we celebrated 3 Coxson nephews' on Thanksgiving.

We really enjoyed the rest of the time spent in Utah. We did the rest of our Christmas shopping and Tom and I were able to go on our first overnight date since Chalyse was born and probably our last for at least another year and a half. It was nice to get away for a short while and the girls enjoyed having a "party" with their Aunt Mandy and Uncle Spencer while we were gone. Tom and I went to Rodizio Grill at Trolley Square and also did some window shopping. We spent the night at Anniversary Inn. We started out in the Phantom of the Opera room but the heat wasn't working so they let us choose any other room that was available. We chose the Swiss Family Robinson room and got to sleep in a tree house and shower in a waterfall. It was pretty cool.    

We were also able to enjoy a little bit of the Christmas season while we were down. Maegan had her annual Christmas party and visit to Temple Square to see the lights. My mom also had a choir concert at the Assembly Hall at temple square so they combined the two. 

One of Chalyse's favorite things to do while we were down was to drive around and look at Christmas lights and since Dad had been missing his new car he enjoyed this too. We had to go to the Festival of Lights twice because the first time we went Chalyse fell asleep right before we got there and we could not get her to wake up. It was worth it though.

The trip home was supposed to only last about 12 hours but ended up being a day and a half. We left Utah at 9:30 at night and all was going well until we got to Kotzebue and found that the Point Hope flights were delayed due to wind gusts. We spent all day in the Kotzebue airport. We had few snacks so we ordered some Chinese. We got two things and it was $45! We were able to nap on the couch a little and the girls were, well...manageable...barely. The airport is first of all filthy, of course, and it has one long staircase that is "off limits to kids"...yeah right. We were glad when people decided to sit at the bottom and block the way up. The Bering Air building where we were is pretty small and was usually packed with people, but every one was very friendly. The natives have a way of taking care of each others' children. It was nice but of course I still didn't want to let the girls out of my sight. Also, people everywhere were feeding the girls. It didn't help that Ellora will always go up to people with food and stare at them until they share. All we could do was pray that they wouldn't come down with anything serious. By evening, we finally were told that all Point Hope flights were canceled for the day.

Here is Ellora playing on the stairs

Happy to have snacks

Luckily we had needed to contact the branch president in the past and had his phone number. We called them up. They were so good to us. They fed us and put us up for the night. They have a little girl who is Chalyse's age, and it was fun for them to play in a kid safe environment; although, I felt bad about all the germs we might be bringing into their home. Especially after that night when Chalyse started throwing up (I will talk about that in a minute). The next day Ellora and I were able to attend the small church in Kotz and then around 3:15 we were finally able to fly home. 

Here is Chalyse and her friend in Kotzebue. They both have the exact same blankie.

It was great to spend so much time with family but we are glad to be back in our own home even though we almost never see the sun because it gets closest to the horizon during nap time (it doesn't peak above it). Soon after we got here I gave the girls a much needed hair cut. I was so sad to cut Ellora's long hair, but it was so uneven because she had lost it in spots when she had her helmet. I cut off about two inches and have cut an inch off before but it is really cute and can still go into piggy tails. Chalyse hair was in need of a trim in the back to even it up but I accidentally cut the same off the front as the back so it is pretty short in the front now. Oops! hopefully it will grow faster after having been cut.

Here are some before and and after pictures of their hair cuts.

Chalyse's before picture

Ellora's before picture

Chalsye's after picture

Ellora's after picture

 

 

 

From the front

The hustle and bustle of Christmas can be a lot of fun but I think this year it will be nice to have a quiet Christmas with just the four of us. The community does do a week long celebration with Eskimo games at the school so we will get a chance to see some of that, too. It should be fun.We bought a small Christmas tree and mailed it up. Oh, I hope it gets here soon. Chalyse is excited for it to get here, too. I suppose as long as it gets here before Christmas it will be okay.

As far as health goes we are all doing fairly well. The girl have had something very strange. I wish I had realized it before we left Utah, but they both seemed to be doing well at the time. It started with Ellora and Chalyse caught it about a week later. They will get sick and throw up for a day or two or even just a few hours then they will have really bad diarrhea for about 5 days or so although Ellora's first bout lasted for a week and a half. Then they get better for a few days. At first I just thought that they were catching something new each time but it is now clear that this is a pattern. I am fairly certain that they have Cryptosporidium. It is the "swimming pool" parasite. It is transferred only through the feces and usually in water. I think Ellora got it either from the water here in PH or a public bathroom. You know how toddlers touch everything. Then since I bathe the girls together Chalyse caught it. It doesn't seem to be harmful except to cause dehydration but they have been doing just fine with that. It supposedly goes away by itself with in a month or so. It has been about 5 weeks for Ellora but the last time she was sick it only lasted for a day.

The last time Ellora was feeling sick she went into Tom's and my closet and fell asleep on a suitcase

Gratitude Remembered

Aside for moderate fatigue and morning sickness I have been feeling pretty good this week. I have to apologize for allowing myself to become so negative these past couple of months. I have been focusing on all the things that were going wrong and was failing to show the proper grateful attitude for the many, many blessings I enjoy in my life.

I am so grateful for the restored gospel and feel incredibly blessed to be a member of the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am grateful for knowledge of where I came from and who I can aspire to be. I am so very eternally grateful for the atonement performed by the Savior that can redeem me from my faults, and sins. I am grateful for the overwhelming power of prayer. I have had innumerable prayers answered from  small and seeming insignificant ones to life changing help and guidance. 

I am so grateful for my wonderful and serving husband Tom. I am grateful for the modern technology that allows me to be so close to him even though he is so far away. I so am grateful that he cherishes me and loves me eternally. There is no one else in existence that I would rather spend eternity with. I know that I was guided to him by divine power and that I am so blessed to be his wife. I am still trying to figure out what I did to deserve such a wonderful man.

I am grateful for two beautiful daughters and for their fun personalities. I am so grateful for every happy moment they have. I am blessed to be so close to them and watch them as they grow and discover in pure wonder the miraculous word around them. 

I am so very grateful for the sealing power of God that seals me to my family. I know we can be together forever in immense happiness and joy if we but live up to the Lords simple commandments.

I am grateful for the health that I do have and for the ability to care for my daughters most of the time. It is a blessing to be so needed by someone and it bring some of the greatest forms of joy that can be found in this life. 

During this last general conference for the church President Thomas S. Monson gave a great talk entitled The Divine Gift of Gratitude. This would be a perfect time of year to read it with your families and enjoy the words of a living prophet.

I Am Greatful For A Bed

For the first couple of weeks we have been in Utah we have been sleeping on my mom and dad's couches. It has been nice to have all the help but we were ready for a little more space of our own. Mandy and Spencer are living in the apartment that we were in for the summer and they have an extra bedroom so we moved in with them for the rest of our time here. We were able to set up Chalyse's bed that was in storage and Spencer's parents let me borrow a bed from there house (Ellora is still in a play pen which she is used to because that what she had at home too). After we were all done, Chalyse was talking to Mandy and she said, "Mom has a bed and Ellora has a bed and Chalyse has a bed. That's great! That's Lovely!" I am glad that she is happy. It has been hard for the girls. When ever we are home in the evenings Ellora will ask to go, i think she wants to go home. Chalyse is often saying lets go home to my Daddy. I am glad that they like their Dad and their home so much.

Haha

Ellora has a new flu this week. She has had diarrhea for about 5 days, and threw up once or twice a night for 3 night s in a row. She seems to be feeling a lot better but of course today I am sick with the flu.

Alice and the Door Mouse

Here are the pictures that I took on Halloween. I didn't get any really good ones of Chalyse because the lighting was weird, or she had taken off parts of their costume. My mom took some pictures too so I will get them from her and post those as well. 

Bethany was Cindy Lou Who

Hats and Coats

 Ellora likes to go to the closet and try to pull down my parky. She loves to get on my back underneath it. I got it down and let the girls  cozy up in it.

 When Bethany lost all her hair everyone gave her hats. The "kids" enjoyed trying them all on.

 

Way to go Austin

It has been so nice to have so many helpers around. My mom has five kids living at home and they have each been so good with the kids. The oldest my little brother Austin has been especially helpful and the girls have really taken to him.

For those of you who do not know yet Austin has been called to serve an LDS mission in Honolulu, Hawaii.

I am so proud of you Austin. You have turned out to be such a great guy! I know you will be bless greatly for serving the Lord and keeping his commandments.We will miss you but I am so glad that we have had the chance to see you before you go. We love you!
.

There's More

I was beginning to feel better and was finally able to get out of the house for a little while but as fate wouldn't have it. On Tuesday night Ellora woke up with the stomach flu. Then Chalyse and I took our turns in quick succession. I think that we got it at the airport or on a plane. We were lucky though, I looks like we will all be better in time for Halloween.

Pictures for Dad

I was going to Email some pictures to Tom but I figured that I would just post them so you all could enjoy them.

 

 Grandma's giant carrots 

 The girls eating zingers. Chalyse said "grandma made cake last night." 

We had to explain that they came from the store.

 The girls screaming while they eat cake

Ellora playing the piano with Grandma Jana

We love you Dad!

The Perfect Storm

I have been so blessed. I have such a wonderful hard working husband. I am also so glad to live in a time when health care is where it is. True we have a lot to learn still but I am sure that all of you know several people who would not be alive today were it not for modern medicine.

For those of you who have not heard yet I am pregnant. I am about 8 weeks along and am due around June 1st. At the beginning of my pregnancy I was feeling great. Not even feeling very morning sick. I slowly began to feel dizzy and tiered, both common side effects of building a baby. As it got worse I looked for advise and found that it could be low iron, low blood sugar, or dehydration. All of which can usually be taken care of with a change of eating habits. After this did not work and I was continuing to get worse I decided to go to the local clinic to get my prenatal lab work done. In Point Hope there are no regular doctors or nurses just certified health aids.

If I was low on iron it just took a simple test and they could give me a prescription to take care of it but my iron level was normal. They did find evidence of an infection, though. They gave me a type of antibiotic that was very specific to that type of infection. Despite the antibiotic the next day I was much worse and could not even get up off the couch with out feeling as though I might collapse.

Over the next few days this came and went. Some days I had the energy to take minimal care of the girls, meaning feeding them and making sure they didn't kill them self but Tom would usually have to come home at the end of the day and wash the dishes, clean the house and put the girls to bed. On other days Tom had to come home and feed us because I couldn't.

Tuesday night I got really bad again this time with a high fever so I decided to go to the clinic again. The health aids found that I had lost some weight and that I was very dehydrated. After 3 health aids and 7 pokes they managed to get an IV in me to rehydrate me. After the IV I was still feeling pretty rotten but the woman's health practitioner was visiting. She checked to make sure the baby was in the right place and she was even able to find the heart beat! She gave me a few ideas to why I was feeling sick but said that is was probably just because I was pregnant. She suggested going to where I could let some help me take care of my girls but this was not the first time the thought crossed my mind. Tom had taken a lot of sick days and we didn't know anyone else who didn't work during the days so after praying we decided that I needed to be closer to family and doctors. As my condition was only worsening I left as soon as I could with the girls.

Before I left, Tom gave me a blessing. He said that God would place angels in my way to help me on the trip. The nurse practitioner was on the same flight out of the village. She was very helpful with the girls. After we landed I needed to take my luggage and the girls across a parking lot to check in for our next flight. Out of nowhere one of the pilots for Bering came over to take my luggage over for me. All along the trip people were very helpful and we arrive the next morning very tiered but very glad to be done with our journey.

The Doctor here in Utah told me that I was the perfect storm. Pregnant, an infection, a virus, and he diagnosed a second infection. He gave me a new antibiotic and said that when my infection and my virus clear up that if a am still feeling dizzy and low on energy that it is likely just the pregnancy. Hopefully when it does I will feel well enough to return home with Tom. He will be down for Thanksgiving.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

I'll be home for...Halloween?

As most of you know already, Camille and the girls are back in Spanish Fork. Camille got sick and needed medical attention that she couldn't get here.

When the truck came to pick the girls up to go to the airport, Chalyse got scared. I told her that if she's scared, she can sing "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" and it will make her feel better. She sang the song to herself to the airport and most of the way on the first flight.

I told Chalyse that she needed to be a big help for her mom on the way home. She said she would. She told Camille that she wanted to sleep on the airplane, and she slept for a good part of it. That was probably the most helpful thing she could have done.

Animal Sounds

Like the Rings on a Tree

I love general conference! It is such a blessing to gather to hear the words of the living prophets. One of the talks that stood out to me is the one that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, gave entitled Of Things That Matter Most.

  President Uchtdorf talked about the rings on a tree. He said, "One of the things we learn from studying the growth of trees is that during seasons when conditions are ideal, trees grow at a normal rate. However, during seasons when growing conditions are not ideal, trees slow down their growth and devote their energy to the basic elements necessary for survival." He drew a connection between this and flying an airplane through turbulence saying that "professional pilots understand that there is an optimum turbulence penetration speed that will minimize the negative effects of turbulence. And most of the time that would mean to reduce your speed." He says, "It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions."

So what does this have to do with life? 

Presedent Uchtdorf says, "When stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking somehow that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be...

"Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.

"It is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Overscheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a point where milestones can become millstones and ambitions, albatrosses around our necks."

So what can we do?

Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”

Pres. Uchtdorf said, "There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions." He says, "We would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."

What are those things that matter most?  

President Uchtdorf talks about our four key relationships we have. First with our Father in Heaven, second with our families, third our fellowmen and last ourselves. He advises us to strengthen and maintain these relationships and gives some great advice on how to do this.

He then invites us to rejoice in the pure restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful that in this world of so much confusion and question that I have been blessed with that pure but oh so powerful truth that God lives, that He loves me! He truly sent His Son Jesus Christ to atone for my sins. I often get overwhelmed when I read something that explores things that we do not entirely understand. We live in a world that is so full of questions or guessing. It is a relief to have the opportunity to read the scriptures and know that it is not full of questions but answers. In this I can find peace and survive the struggles and hardship that my life may hand me.

Monday Activity, The Color Train

Chalyse loves to line things up and call them choo-choo trains. She also likes to collect similar objects from around the house. She really enjoyed this simple activity.
The Color Train:

Line up a row of cups, bowls, or lids. I used the rectangular plastic baby-food containers. This will be your train. Then go around the house or rummage through the toy box to find objects of of the same color to put in each car. A red car, a blue car, a purple car etc. Here is our color train:

Also use this activity to help teach counting and numbers. Use beans, buttons, small toys, cereal, or anything else small enough then put one in the first car, two in the second and so forth.

Writing the number or color on the car will help your child begin to recognize how it is written.

Cute Girls

 

Many people at the school keep telling Chalyse that she looks just like Shirley Temple. The vice principal gave Chalyse one the the Shirley Temple cups that she collects. She said it came out of a cracker jacks box about 80 years ago.

Here is Chalyse doing her best Shirley Temple. Tom calls this dress her Shirley Temple dress.

Chalyse helped Ellora umuk her baby

Chalyse and her quintuplets.

Cozy babes. (Two of them are real.)

Ellora posing in her stylish leggings.