Rudstrom Family Blog

Tizita's Growing

2012-01-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

The staff at the transitional house where Tizita is staying e-mail us photos every other week or so. They sent us a few pictures of our little girl today. I can't believe how much she has grown and filled out in less than four weeks!

~AnnMarie

The Beetles of Ethiopia

2012-01-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

We saw a lot of interesting vehicles during our stay in Ethiopia, including quite a few old Volkswagon Beetles.

Some of them were trying to look tough,

some were flashy,

but most were just basic transportation.

C.O.

Lalibela, Ethiopia

2012-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Lalibela was our most memorable destination and the highlight of our trip, other than meeting Tizita of course. Simply arriving in Lalibela was a treat.

The road coming into the town twists and curves up and down hills and valleys. Cliffs are scattered with homes and buildings and there are livestock and people walking everywhere.

Tourists travel to Lalibela primarily to see the rock-hewn churches.The 13 churches were made during the reign of King Lalibela in the 13th century. The churches were not built but rather carved out of stone. It took a true visionary to look at a huge section of bare bed rock and say, "let's turn this into a three story, elaborately decorated place of worship. Pick up your rock chippers guys and let's get carving."

The churches are, in my opinion, one of the great wonders of the world. They are every bit as impressive as the pyramids of Egypt. Not that I've ever seen the pyramids but I have a good imagination.

This is the view from the top of the Church of Saint George. It may be difficult to see the perspective here but these things are huge! You can see people in the shadows standing at the base of the church to get an idea of the size.

Here's the view from the base of Saint George looking up. This structure was the last one in the series to be carved and the most elaborate of all the churches.

Again check out the tiny people in the shadows to get a little perspective of size.

Inside there were columns, staircases, relief artwork, various rooms all carved out of solid bedrock. We were in awe.

The churches are connected by a series of tunnels and walk ways. This tunnel was long and completely dark for most of the way. We had to put one had on the person in front of us and the other on the wall to stay oriented.

Notice that Harold is barefoot. Any time we entered a church we took our shoes off as a sign of respect for the Holy place. Our tour lasted all day and we were able to visit all 13 churches.

For dinner we headed out to, Ben Abeba, a one of a kind restaurant still new to Lalibela. Frank Gehry eat your heart out man.

We arrived just before sunset to catch these spectacular sights.

We had a very nice dinner for about $15. The business is a collaboration between a Scottish woman and a man from Lalibela. The menu is small and a bit odd but surprisingly delicious. The very simple food was just right for those of us prone to "traveler's" stomach.

Our Ethiopian Tour: Days 1, 2 and 3

2012-01-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Ethiopia well before our court date to adopt Tizita. We wanted a chance to see some of the amazing country we had heard so much about. Getting a taste of Ethiopia and it's culture will be very important in future conversations with Tizita about her birth country.

Day one of the tour began in Bahir Dar. We arrived by plane and were met by our local tour guide and driver. Throughout the journey we were impressed with the quality of our tour guides. They were knowledgeable, friendly, spoke excellent English and were truly enthusiastic about the information they shared with us.

Stop number one near Bahir Dar was the Blue Nile Falls.

After a short hike, we rounded the bend and came upon this view.

Once upon a time the Blue Nile Falls were even more impressive but due to a new hydro electric dam, the amount of water doing the actual falling has decreased. There's a lot of mixed emotions surrounding this but at any rate we found it a wonderful hike and a beautiful view.

I wonder if the cows appreciate the view?

Fisherman in a Papyrus Boat on Lake Tana

The following day we took a boat ride across Lake Tana to visit the monasteries that date back to the 14th century.

After our couple days in Bahir Dar, we drove 175 km (about 100 miles) to Gondar. The drives from place to place were just as interesting as the destinations themselves.

The list is endless of things one can carry on one's head. Our favorite was a stack of mattresses about 8 mattresses deep. Unfortunately I could not snap a photo fast enough of the mattress man.

Our driver bought Harold this goofy hat. All the guides and drivers seemed to enjoy Harold. With all the horseplay and goofing around it felt like we had two kids to keep track of!

The main attractions in Gondar are the medieval buildings. Medieval architecture isn't what you normally think of when you think of Ethiopia but as we discovered, this country is full of surprises.

The Rudstroms visiting the palace of King Fasilidas.

~AnnMarie

Want to Help?

2012-01-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

A few people have recently asked if there was anything they could do to help us out with Tizita's adoption. All the prayers and good wishes have been a great help and encouragement to us, so first of all thank you for that. But there just happens to be a way for you to help in another capacity. The orphanages that care for waiting children need help obtaining some basic supplies.

The transitional house that Tizita is currently staying at asks that families bring donations to help cover some of the costs of caring for the children. We brought a few things on our last trip but would like to help out even more.

Unfortunately, donating via the Rudstroms is a bit of pain due to our remote location but there are a few options if you're interested.

1) Shop in person and ship it up.

2) Shop online and have the company ship for you.
or
3) If you live in Brevig, just drop it by our house

Our address is:

AnnMarie & C.O. Rudstrom
P.O. Box 85105
Brevig Mission, AK 99785

If you'd like to go with option two I suggest www.drugstore.com , they will ship to us for free if you spend $50 or more. I looked and they have quite a few options for formula and diapers there. And if you're an ebates member you will also receive 6% back on your drugstore purchases.

Update: A friend of mine had trouble with drugstore.com, they said the contents were too heavy and they would charge extra for shipping. Amazon , however, worked well for her.

It can take up to a month for items to reach us both through the USPS and even drugstore.com so we wanted to make sure and get this information out to you as soon as possible. We will hopefully be going back to Ethiopia sometime at the end of February or early March which is surprisingly just around the corner.

The basic donations need list:

diapers of all sizes
formula with iron
infant and toddler clothing
your extra plastic grocery bags could also be put to good use

*Diapers and formula are a higher priority than clothes but clothes are just plain more fun to buy.

I'm not sure how many of you will send donations but I'm going to think and hope big. No matter how much is sent to us we will find a way to get it to Ethiopia. One of the adoptive families traveling at the same time as us had waivers from the airlines to check extra bags of donations for free. So excess baggage shouldn't be a problem.

Please spread the word and share this with anyone who might be interested in donating. The gifts of others before us has helped our adoption and sweet, sweet Tizita. I pray that we (you and I) can be a blessing to those who are still to come on this amazing journey of adoption.

~AnnMarie

Seattle Too

2012-01-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

On our way to Ethiopia we spent two days in Seattle to break up the crazy long journey a little.

Of course we had to go to the top of the Space Needle

to get this wonderful green screened family photo

and drink overpriced wine in plastic cups.

Being Christmastime and all, Santa was chillin' at the Needle as well.

And then we saw the Oscar Meyer Weiner mobile, that was fun.

Harold's Five!

2012-01-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Son!

Harold's 4th Birthday
Harold's 3rd Birthday
Harold's 2nd Birthday
Harold's 1st Birthday

Introducing Tizita

2012-01-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

We passed our court hearing on Monday, January 2nd making our daughter Tizita officially a Rudstrom. Unfortunately it takes about 2 to 4 months for the U.S. embassy to issue her a passport and travel visa. So, we still have a bit of a wait until we are able to take the munchkin home.

Let's spend a little time getting to know the little darling shall we?

This is Tizita Rita Rudstrom.

Tizita is the name given to her by the police who found her.

Tizita means "memory" or "to remember fondly" in Amharic.

Harold was the first to discover that Tizita has ticklish feet and that placing stuffed animals on her head also makes her smile.

She is a total cuddle bug (the opposite of Harold),

she yawns when she's tired,

and scratches her nose when it itches.

Tizita is very comfortable in her daddy's arms. In fact, when she babbles she says, "da, da, da, daddy". We will be working on associating "daddy" with C.O. first thing when we have her home.

And most news worth of all, Tizita has recently changed her relationship status from "single" to "family of four".

Lost in Translation

2012-01-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

We were surprised to find that many people in Ethiopia speak English quite well. English is taught as a class in the elementary grades then high school classes are taught completely in English. Despite this, English is still people's second language and a few translations are, shall we say, creatively interpreted.

Who can say, "run on sentence"? This was some very helpful information about why we absolutely cannot pay for our hotel with a check.

This system of lock and key was brand new to us. The doorman demonstrated and there were these very helpful instructions and yet for some reason we struggled every time we tried to get into our room.

Warning: This toy may lead to underage "inebriety".

The very pregnant mommy here is fortunately "happily" about her situation.

Ummm, is "Japy" in any way an acceptable adjective?

And our favorite story from the trip, "The Banana Fruit". We ate at a nice restaurant at our hotel in Gondar. They had a three course meal menu with a few options for each course. The dessert section listed, orange zest cake or banana fruit. C.O. assumed the banana fruit was another type of cake but was sorely mistaken. I laughed as I ate my delicious orange cake.

~AnnMarie

2012-01-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

During the 1970s and 80s the Russians were in Ethiopia. They are no longer there, but their cars are. There are thousands of these old Lada 1200s that are still being used as taxis. Some of them are in nice looking condition, and the owners have them customized with all kinds of chrome accessory's.

C.O.

A Taste of Ethiopia

2012-01-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

We are back in Brevig Mission after a wonderful time of traveling to Ethiopia and meeting our daughter for the first time. I'm overwhelmed, jet lagged and not in any shape to do a proper post. So for the time being I will share some photos that do an inadequate job of capturing the beautiful and amazing country of Ethiopia.

~AnnMarie

An Unconventional Christmas

2011-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

This year promises to be an unusual but amazing Christmas holiday for the Rudstroms.

We found out just a couple weeks ago that we are scheduled to meet with a judge in Ethiopia on January 2nd to officially adopt our little girl. A few days before the court date we will spend some time at the orphanage and finally get to meet her. It will be so good to see that girl face to face!

The timing of this court date couldn't have worked out any better since Christmas break starts tomorrow. This gives us a couple weeks to travel around the country before our adoption appointments.

As you can imagine, the past few days have been a flurry of phone calls and e-mails to people all over the world. But at last, airline tickets have been arranged, hotels have been reserved and a tour has been booked. We leave Brevig Mission on Saturday, we'll spend a couple days in Seattle then begin our flight to Addis Ababa on Tuesday evening.

After a little research, we learned that Ethiopians do not celebrate Christmas until January 7th. Though we're a little disappointed that we won't get to experience a traditional Christmas celebration in another country, I'm guessing we'll get over it somehow and through our best efforts manage to have a nice day.

According to our itinerary, on Christmas Day we will be in Gondar, Ethiopia to "visit the 17^th centurymagnificent castles, registered as world heritage by UNESCO, the swimming poolof King Fasil, the Debrebrihan Selassie church (highly decorated with muralpaintings) and church of Qusquam established in the 18^th century byEmpress Mintewab." Phew! That's a mouth full and an eye full.

Harold was very disappointed when we said we would not be in Brevig for Christmas this year. But we assured him we would celebrate early at home and find a way to make Christmas special while we travel as well.

I think this will be a good chance for us to remember that Christmas isn't about a specific date, where we are or who we're with. Jesus came into the world and this is what we celebrate, the time and place are just details

Wherever you are and whomever you're with, we hope you have a very merry Christmas!

Love,
The Rudstroms

Music Lessons

2011-12-11T20:07:00.001-08:00

This fall I started giving Harold piano lessons. He is doing very well and genuinely enjoys his time at the piano. If you follow our blog you may have noticed videos of Harold rockin' some tunes here and there but we felt it was time for formal music training as well.

There are definite challenges to living in a remote location such as bush Alaska. One such challenge is finding opportunities for enrichment activities like music. Fortunately I have a musical background and am able to help out with this. We are doing our best to provide these "extras" so our children will be well rounded and prepared for wherever they go and whatever they do in life.

~AnnMarie

Somewhere in the World Today

2011-11-30T21:47:00.001-08:00

Somewhere today there is a little girl who came into the world one year ago.

This little girl has no home, no mother, no father or no brother to call her own.

But somewhere, thousands and thousands of miles away there is a mother, father and brother waiting,

waiting to call her daughter, sister, honey, cutie, sweetheart, darling, my baby.

Thanksgiving Weekend 10 Years Ago

2011-11-27T16:41:00.001-08:00

I was thinking the other day that it has been ten years this weekend since C.O. asked me to be his wife. I had been teaching here in Brevig Mission for a few months and missed him terribly from the moment I said good-bye at the Minneapolis airport. I was completely excited to have him come for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. C.O. was scheduled to arrive in Brevig on the Friday before Thanksgiving. That would give us a week and half together before he had to return to Minnesota.

Unfortunately, an on time arrival was not meant to be that weekend. Due to stormy weather, the planes were unable to fly on Friday . . . or Saturday . . . or Sunday . . . or Monday! Instead of being together those four days, C.O. spent days and days in the Bering Air lobby waiting for hourly weather updates while I called him crying every two hours or so.

C.O. finally arrived Tuesday in the middle of the day, during my 3rd and 4th grade math class to be exact. Seeing him at my classroom window and popping my head out to say "hi" wasn't quite the dramatic and emotional reunion I was hoping for but I was awfully glad to see his face none the less.

After school ended we went for a walk down on the beach. It was there that C.O. popped the question and presented me with the ring he had made for me. It was bitter cold and windy; we didn't linger.

Here we are, ten years later, still in Brevig Mission, living on the beach of the Bering Sea just a few hundred yards from where C.O. proposed. I never could have guessed it would be so.

~AnnMarie

If Only Dora Knew

2011-11-23T16:18:00.001-08:00

I just had to chuckle after seeing one of my students in this kuspuk.

Kuspuks are a traditional Eskimo shirt made from a cotton fabric.

This one happens to be covered with Dora the Explorer, the Spanish instructor and Hispanic friend to children far and wide.

If Dora only knew how far her influence has reached.

~AnnMarie

Oomiak

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am a boating enthusiast (some would say nut) and I enjoy looking at and learning about all types of boats. Recently I traveled to the community of Gambel for work and while I was there I had a chance to look at some of the skin boats that they use there.

Gambel is located on St Lawrence Island, way out in the middle of the Bering sea. Gambel is one of the villages in this area that actively hunts bow head whales. I think that a lot of the hunting is now done from modern aluminum (Lund) boats, but there appears to still be a few traditional oomiaks being used.

All of the boats that I looked at were constructed the same and were basically the same size. About 24' long, 6' wide, and 3' deep. The keel timber measures about 3"x6" with a separate 2"x2" piece that goes on after the skin. The ribs are 1"x1" and the longitudinals are 3/4"x1 1/2". There is one clench nail at each intersection. The ribs are mortised into the gunwale piece, which measures about 2"x3". The ribs are made in halves and overlap slightly at the keel.

All the boats have a motor well in the same location, to one side of the keel about 5' from the stern. A small outboard motor can put dropped into this well. The outboard is used for traveling to and from the hunting area. When hunting they try to be as quiet as possible and they use a simple sail for propulsion. The sailing rig uses a wooden mast about 4" in diameter and 20' long. The mast is supported by a hinged mast partner that allows the mast to be slipped into place horizontally and then stood up.

This boats are what I would call "modern" oomiaks. These boats use metal fittings and a few other manufactured parts. Traditional boats would all be lashed together without any screws or nails. Many of the boats still have a covering made from split walrus or bearded seal skin. Some of the boats are covered with some kind of synthetic material (nylon, etc) covered with a few coats of thick paint.

C.O.

Cool, Clear Water; A Happy Ending

2011-11-17T22:15:00.001-08:00

Maybe it was good to live without running water for a few days. It makes a person grateful every time you are able to turn the water on with the flick of a wrist.

We didn't have water for about three days. During that time we had figured out a system for drinking water, how to cook and how to do the dishes. Taking a shower or doing laundry was quickly becoming a concern however. By the middle of third day, I had had enough.

From the time C.O. got in on Friday evening, until the wee hours of Sunday morning, he had put in about 24 hours of work to help restore water to the water plant. He wasn't alone of course, the city workers along with many other volunteers put in as much or more hours. Helping out with this project was very motivating for everyone, the incentive being the ability to flush our toilets and take showers this winter.

It was a pleasant surprise after the city and traditional council meeting on Monday night to learn that the city was willing to pay the volunteers for their work. In fact, the hours all the guys put in will be applied to their water and sewer bills. Our bill for the next three months is already paid for AND we have running water.

I'm so glad to report that this story has a happy ending.

~AnnMarie

Without Water

2011-11-11T16:00:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning to discover that the water from the tap was coming out as a mere trickle. Oh boy, was it just our house or the entire village? I walked Harold up to the babysitter's before work when I discovered it was everyone and that school was canceled for the day. I was thankful to have the time to put the house back together after all this storming and flooding business but I would much rather have running water than a day off.

First thing I did was have Harold and the neighbor boy shovel some snow into tubs for me to bring in the house. Melting snow is really not the most efficient way to get water but I was looking for a quick solution. Some people regularly collect rain water or have a large garbage bin with pond water at their house on a daily basis but we prefer the stuff that so conveniently comes from the tap. That left us high and dry, literally, in the water department.

The snow worked fine for little jobs like making oatmeal.
Step one: fill a small pot with snow, bring to a boil.

Half way through the day, the Crocketts offered to bring down some water for me. It was immediately put to use since the toilet was in serious need of a flush. Sorry it that's a bit too much information but water is mostly used for getting rid of ick. Ick in the bathroom, ick on our dishes, ick on our bodies and right now I'm feeling pretty ick to be honest.

Hand sanitizer, baby wipes, paper towels and disinfecting wipes were very, very useful today.

C.O. picked a few of these up during his shopping run in Nome today. Oh ya, my husband finally made it home after missing out on this, this and now this. He really did feel bad about not being here. He made it up to me by bringing home Subway subs so I didn't have to cook dinner and make more dishes that would then have to be washed . . . with water . . . hot water.

These are C.O.'s bags to prove that he is actually home.

It was a great sense of relief to have him pull up outside the house on the ATV. Unfortunately, he was home for all of two minutes before he took off to see if he could help the water and sewer crew work on this problem. His engineering background, mechanic experiences and all around problem solving skills will be of great help I'm sure. He came home quickly for dinner and was right back at it. I think it is going to be a long night for all those guys.

People are getting a little worried around town. Will it get fixed? If so, how long will it take? Will we spend the winter without running water? Geesh, I hope not. I sure love showers and flushing my toilet.

It wasn't so long ago, 9 years to be exact, that people in Brevig Mission lived without running water. In fact, a few people on the beach still do without. So, we'd all survive, we'd all manage but once you have this luxury we call running water, it's really hard to go back.

~AnnMarie

Flooding

2011-11-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, this whole arctic hurricane wasn't any more impressive than a bad arctic winter storm. Some areas such as Nome, however, did get hammered pretty bad though. The more worrisome part of it all for us in Brevig Mission was the potential for flooding.

I thought I'd share some early morning photos of the water levels.

This is our house.

There's lots of water on both sides of it.

Normally there is little to no water on the north side.

I usually walk across this stretch on my way to work.

Our boat is on the farthest to the right. It was moved up to a safer level by some friends in town.

C.O.'s shop shows up on the right of the photo, a little farther to the right is our house. As you can see, we sit on a pretty narrow strip of land.

The neighbors working to keep the roof on.

Waves coming up in the front "yard".

~AnnMarie

Preparing for the "Arctic Hurricane"

2011-11-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

When I found out this storm was coming, C.O. was already on his way to Elim to work for a few days. If only I had known how bad it was going to be I would have insisted he stay home. C.O. is wishing he was here, not that he's worried, but we wish he was here to experience the excitement with all of us.

We live about 300 feet from the ocean on a beach rock spit of land between the Bering Sea and the Brevig lagoon. Usually, I adore living on the beach for reasons such as this. But the last couple days have been a different story. I set about preparing to evacuate the house in case the flooding was as bad as they predicted, while C.O. started calling in favors from some friends of ours.

A few guys came down to the beach to pull our boat up onto higher ground and move all the broken machines that were waiting for Rudstrom Repair to, well, repair them.

I then made a list. Lists clear my head and help me stay calm.

Notice the milk and cookies? Very, very important in emergencies.

Some food to bring up to Amy's house. Amy lives at the top of the lagoon and was kind enough to let us stay with her.

A day or two's worth of clothing and necessities, one such necessity being a craft project.

I also brought some important paperwork to my office at school. The blue folder holds our adoption paperwork which represents two years of work and many thousands of dollars. And one of the manilla envelopes holds Harold's citizenship certificate that is pretty much irreplaceable.

In phase one, Liz and I put everything on counters, shelves and beds so nothing was left on the floor.

After the water had risen a few more feet, phase two began. More people were enlisted to help put more of our stuff in tubs and haul them to a storage area near the school.

This morning I was feeling pretty confident that the worst was behind us. However, the water has been rising all day and is expected to crest this evening. Thus, the second phase of moving stuff out.

Will it all be as bad as predicted? I doubt it but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I can see the beach from my classroom window now. I watch as the water rises, say a few prayers and wait.

~AnnMarie

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

John Prine Wrote a Song About Us

2011-10-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

We blew up our T.V.

threw away our paper

Went to the country,

built us a home

Had a lot of children,

fed 'em on peaches

They all found Jesus on their own

Spanish Pipedream

John Prine

Download this mp3 from Beemp3.com

Gotcha Day Take Four

2011-10-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

The first hour that Harold was our child, four years ago in Guatemala, he was incredibly hungry. His foster mother, in her great distress over saying goodbye to Harold that day, had forgotten his formula. By the time the formalities of the "transfer" meeting were over, we had one fussy baby on our hands. Room service was the surest and fastest way to get food to our room and into the belly of our chubby little guy. That is how it happened that Harold had french fries and tortilla soup for his first meal as a Rudstrom.

During our most recent trip to Guatemala, we stayed in the same hotel as we did on our first trip and called room service. Shortly after, french fries and tortilla soup were delivered as we relived our first minutes as parents.

On Saturday we once again relived our first day as parents. We cuddled in bed in the morning telling Harold our memories from that day. Saturday the 22nd was Harold's fourth annual Gotcha Day, a day to celebrate.

We experimented with fondant,

invited some oh so fun people over,

ate some delicious food and watched our adoption journey video.

Happy Gotcha Day young man. We are thankful for you each and every day.

Gotcha Day 2010
Gotcha Day 2008

Tundra Tea

2011-10-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

One cold wintery day, my friend Darla offered up a new and wonderful hot beverage for C.O. and I to try, tundra tea. Since then I've had a little thing for this steaming hot goodness. It tastes like what I imagine the tundra would taste like if you could bend down and gobble it up. When we're locked in by snow and ice, it's a wonderful reminder of warmer days out in the countryside.

Tundra tea is more commonly known as Labrador Tea. Here is a cute, little Labrador "forest".

This year we decided to collect and save a bunch for ourselves. This way we don't have to show up at Darla's house with sad puppy dog eyes begging for a cup.

After pulling off the leaves, we put them on a piece of parchment paper to dry in the food dehydrator. Darla just puts the whole works in the freezer until she's ready to brew her tea, but we are white folks and like to make things more complicated than they need to be.

We use this lovely little tea pot to make our loose leaf teas. It just happens to be the very first thing C.O. and I bought together as a couple. Isn't it cute and classy at the same time? Our very favorite feature is that it never, ever drips from the spout when we're done pouring. This makes my engineering minded husband very happy.

Throw those leaves in the strainer.

Add boiling water. Psst! Electric tea kettles are the bomb if you drink a lot of hot beverages.

The tea turned out a bit weak, but still very tasty. I added some leaves to the water just for visual interest in this photo. Oh and I don't recommend sugar for this tea. Usually I cannot drink coffee or tea without copious amounts of sugar but tundra tea is different, sugar detracts rather than adds to the taste.

I found this blog post by a gal up near the Brooks range mountains who talks a bit more about Labrador and how it is used by Inupiat people in her area. Check out the rest of her blog as well while you're at it. It's worth reading.

~AnnMarie

Another Man's Treasure

2011-10-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

Nome isn't the only option for shopping around here. Another favorite of ours is . . .

the dump.

Honestly people throw away the craziest things.

C.O.'s love of scavenging is rubbing off on our son. Harold manages to find all kinds of useful stuff.

C.O.'s been needing a new tank for his shop and found a perfectly good one just waiting for a good home.

C.O. has come home with all kinds of other wonderful treasures: pots and pans, copper to sell for scrap, lumber, metal for making thing such as this, plumbing fittings and ATV and snowmobile parts.

Normally I'm not too crazy about going to the landfill because of the smell, but since it's getting colder and starting to freeze up, it hardly even stinks.

Certainly can't beat the view from our dump.

". . . all kinds of good stuff dear."
"There's a trailer hitch ball, they're worth $20!"
"The trailer's full, I'll get that on the next trip."

-- Quotes from C.O. during our latest dump run.

~AnnMarie

Boat Wake

2011-10-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Groceries and Lumber: Stocking Up

2011-09-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday we took a little trip to Nome to do some grocery shopping. We took our boat over to Teller, borrowed a truck and drove into town.

I checked things off my grocery list as I filled the cart.

It's best not to look at the total and just hand over your plastic, sign quickly and move on.

Paper, plastic or cardboard? Some really sturdy cardboard please.

All of our groceries fit nicely into these four boxes. That's nearly $100 per box.

Harold enjoyed his break from the ordinary.

We also made a stop at the lumber yard. You don't even want to know how much that cost. ~~Multiply the grocery total by 3 and subtract $100.~~ *breathing deeply*

Harold and our credit card were pretty tired by the end of the day.

Into the boat went the supplies and back to Brevig.

~AnnMarie

Hand Made Fishing Line

2011-09-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

This was completely Harold's idea and design. He saw some screws lying about and was inspired to make a halibut style fishing line. He had C.O. cut rope and strings to just the right length, then put this together, complete with an anchor made from some scrap metal he found.

Harold and his friend walked down to the ocean and threw the line out. Harold was hoping to catch "fish, a whale and maybe even a shark!"

I think the line looked a bit smaller in the ocean than what Harold was imagining.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

Harold left it out all day and checked it after school. Still no luck.

~AnnMarie

Cooking in Bush Alaska

2011-09-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Our friend Angie, also a transplant to Brevig Mission, started a blog recently about cooking in Bush Alaska, hence the name Cooking in Bush Alaska. I was pretty excited when she asked me to contribute to her project.

What makes this cooking blog different from the millions of cooking blogs out there is our remote location. The byline is "creatively avoiding food boredom in a land far away from full-service grocery stores and fresh ingredients."

So often when I'm cooking or baking I don't quite have the right ingredients, so I have to make do with whatever I have in the kitchen. Though not recommended, a common substitution technique for me is to find something that's at least the same color as what I'm supposed to be using. Sometimes successful, sometimes disastrous. That's the kind of stuff that will give this cooking blog some heart and soul.

Cooking in Bush Alaska could be useful for those of us living in the bush but also for anyone living in a rural location who doesn't have the convenience of a grocery store nearby.

We talk a bit about making the best without every ingredient in a recipe, appropriate or sometimes crazy substitutions, using locally harvested food and the various ways we get our groceries.

Take a look when you get a chance. I've already tried two of the recipes Angie has posted and loved them! She's pretty talented in the kitchen and with her camera. The photo and food pictured above are her handy work. See what I mean? Pretty talented huh?

Stop by, I think you'll enjoy it and happy cooking!

~AnnMarie

Adoption #2 : A Referral

2011-09-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

About one week ago we received great news concerning our Ethiopian adoption. We have been matched up with a little girl. Finally!

Our paperwork has been in Ethiopia for over a year but we began the adoption process nearly two years ago.

It's been a long wait, but by the grace of God not unbearable.

At this point, we can't share any photos publicly, which is torture since she is BEAUTIFUL with the biggest, brownest eyes and adorable grin.

We cannot share any personal information either which makes sense since we have no legal connection to her at this point. It would be creepy and weird to start talking about and posting pictures of a kid that isn't ours. But not to worry, once she's home you'll be overwhelmed with "we think our kid is the cutest" photos.

We have been warned to guard our hearts concerning this particular child. Referrals are lost from time to time due to changes in circumstances.

If all goes well, it will be about 6 to 9 months when we are able to bring her home. We will be traveling before that point to meet her and appear in court to say we want to complete the adoption. Our best guess for the first trip is sometime in December.

I know many of you have been praying for us. We are so grateful and continue to ask for your prayers.

There's a long road ahead of us emotionally and financially. Also remember this dear little girl who's life will be turned upside down as she adjusts to a completely different environment and home life.

~AnnMarie

Fall Colors Despite the Lack of Trees

2011-09-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

You might think that since we lack trees here at latitude 65 that we also loose out on all the amazing colors of fall time. The tundra, however, is alive with color this time of year and I adore it! True, there isn't a towering maple waving it's autumn foliage over my head but the mini forest with it's explosion of color is equally inspiring.

It's hard to believe that less than four weeks ago I took the tundra flower photos, complete with irises. Time apparently moves along at warp speed in the far north.

And last but not least, a stunning fall morning sunrise.

~AnnMarie

Harold the Entertainer

2011-09-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

An Original Composition from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

From concerts to puppet shows to quirky insights;

Harold entertains us daily.

~AnnMarie

The Long Weekend

2011-09-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

loaded boat

two hour cruise

set up camp

hearty food

warm sleeping bags

blueberries gathered

campfire

Teller visitors

long naps

fishing

fall colors captured

sleeping bag wrestling

home again

warm shower

memories

~AnnMarie

A Happy Little Door

2011-09-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

Some excess paint and a blank canvas inspired this piece of sunshine.

During

Before

~AnnMarie

Fishing Trip

2011-08-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Harold and I went fishing. Our friend Kenny and his son Ernie came with us. We took our boat "up river" to Imuruk Basin and into the Agiapuk river.

It is about a 40 mile trip and takes two hours. Along the way we took a break and threw rocks in the water.

We saw some friends leaving there cabin so we stopped to visit with them for a little while.

The best place to find the pike is in the shallow areas of the river delta away from the main channel. Kenny and I actually had to get out of the boat and pull it through a narrow channel by hand.

Once we made it through the narrow part we drifted with the current and fished in the shallow water. When we found the fish the action was very fast and exciting. The pike grow to enormous size and are very aggressive. With all four of us fishing I never seemed to have time to take any photos.

Ernie took a nap on the way home.

We had a lot of fishing action, but had a hard time getting them all in the boat. Next time we need to get stronger line and a landing net. In the end we came home with four pike that measured 24" to 30"

C.O.

Tundra Flowers in Bloom

2011-08-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

~AnnMarie

Guatemala the Return: Part 2

2011-08-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

I hopping in and out of current and past experiences in blog land here, it makes me feel like a fancy best selling author or something. Anyway, we spent the first two weeks of our Guatemala trip in Antigua studying Spanish. The final week we spent aboard, "Las Sirenas", a 40 foot catamaran sailboat.

"Las Sirenas" from the land

On deck of "Las Sirenas"

We cruised for a couple days on the Rio Dulce River followed by some time on the Belize Barrier Reef and Islands. Along the reef was where Harold and I first experienced snorkeling, C.O. having previous experience on a family trip to Hawaii. It took a little while to get Harold to warm up to the whole experience, but once he figured out what to do we could hardly drag him out of the water.

Our time aboard the boat wasn't perfect, we were a bit sea sick, terribly hot, at one point I had an allergic reaction to conch and C.O. accidentally touched a fish that made it feel like shards of glass were stuck in his hand. But we survived and lived to tell of another adventure.

~AnnMarie

Iceland or Brevig Mission?

2011-08-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

This music video reminds me so much of the Seward Peninsula. Filming actually took place in Iceland but it could easily be Brevig Mission. It captures the rugged beauty of the land and how amazing it is to be a kid in a place like this.

~AnnMarie

Guatemala: The Return

2011-08-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it was two months ago that we returned from our trip to Guatemala. None the less, I want to share a bit from our time there.

Instead of staying with a family this time around, we opted to rent an apartment. We are so glad we did, it was great to have our own place and it was adorable!

Then there was also a huge backyard with ancient ruins for a backdrop.

Just like two years ago, we took four hours of Spanish classes in the mornings and used the afternoons to tour the area. Each of us had our own language teacher, even Harold who had the best time of all. His teacher took him around town and to her home to play with her grandkids. He went to the circus, the market, on chicken buses, on tuk-tuks and to a McDonald's birthday party complete with pinatas. What an awesome way to learn a language!

We also celebrated C.O.'s birthday during our first week of class. It was very special and great fun. The director bought him a cake and all the teachers sang him multiple verses of "Feliz Cumpleaños". Just when he would go to blow out the candles, they'd start singing again. Much giggling ensued.

Being our third time in Antigua, we know our way around pretty well and even know a few people around town. It's an entirely different travel experience to return to a place you've come to know fairly well.

~AnnMarie

His Water Skiing Debut

2011-08-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Harold turned out to be a water skiing natural. It probably helped that he was coached by a couple of experts, his dad and Grandpa Mac. They began by pulling the ski rope and running along the shore to help him get the feel for getting up on the water.

It took a few tries but . . .

in no time he was skimming along the surface.

Once he was able to get the skis up along the shore, he graduated to being pulled by the boat. Up he went on his very first try. What a kid.

~AnnMarie

Mud On My Face; Back To Bush Alaska

2011-08-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Greeted many familiar faces at the Anchorage and Nome airport.
Drove 70 miles by 4-wheeler through dreary, drizzly weather.

Overloaded a boat with that 4-wheeler, a trailer, luggage and 7 souls as we motored across the bay.
Drove into Brevig Mission about 9:30 p.m.

Invited over to a friend's for a late dinner, "We'll be right over, just let us wash the mud off our faces."

Hugs, hugs and more hugs from the kids we saw around town.
Had friends from Nome stay the night our first day back in town.

Ahhh, we're happy to be home.

*Rudstrom Family Blog to resume regular updates, hope you all didn't give up on us.

~AnnMarie

The Next Step

2011-05-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well, the only logical thing to get after cross country skis are water skis. These were the last pair Harold's size at L&M the other day. We can't wait to get him behind the boat but for now the lakes in Minnesota are still pretty cold.

Side Note: We will be leaving for Guatemala on Saturday and will be returning in three weeks. We plan to leave our computers in Minnesota and will not be blogging or in contact via e-mail or facebook. We’ll post a bit about our trip when we get back. Adios mis amigos!

~AnnMarie

One Big Small Town -- Love is All Around

2011-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

There’s about 600,000 people in Alaska and over the past nine years, we have gotten to know quite a few of these people. No matter where we go throughout the state and beyond, we run into people we know making Alaska feel like one (big) small town.

We left Brevig on Saturday night in pursuit of summer vacation and once again drove our 4-wheeler the 80 miles into Nome. There we met my brother John and good friend and college roommate Mollie for dinner at Airport Pizza.

The restaurant in Nome and the flight to Anchorage was filled with friends and acquaintances. During the flight, Harold drew a picture and delivered it to his Uncle John. Our friends a few rows back let Harold play games on their iPad. From Anchorage to Seattle we sat across from the kindergarten teacher in Teller. From Seattle to Minneapolis we sat in front of Dana, my roommate my first year in Brevig. These stories are not uncommon as we travel within and out of Alaska.

All that just to say, we live in a unique place, have come to know and love the people around us. We have even convinced some loved ones from our past life to join us on this crazy adventure. I just realized Harold is growing up thinking that knowing half the people in the restaurant and on the airplane is normal, but it’s just not for most people. But in our small (big) town love is all around.

~AnnMarie

Harold's Preschool Graduation

2011-05-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight we celebrated Harold's graduation from the Head Start program in Brevig Mission. Harold has learned so much at school this year: academically, behaviorally and socially. We are very thankful for his teachers and all the hard work they put into his class throughout this school year.

Harold is technically not old enough to enter kindergarten next year but since he has passed all of the academic standards associated with preschool and has done quite well on his state tests, he has been exited from the program. One of two things will happen next school year, he will either enter kindergarten early (with his mom as his teacher) or he'll begin his first year of mechanic's apprenticeship schooling at Rudstrom Repair (his dad being the instructor). The paperwork for early entrance into kindergarten hasn't been officially approved and won't be looked at until Fall. He's definitely ready so we're hoping that everything will work out in that respect.

I shot a little footage as the graduates were taking the stage. Harold's the sixth one in line, acting shy as he buries his chin into his chest.

Head Start Graduation 2011 from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

Cute, cute, cuteness.

I Blinked and Nine Years Went By

2011-05-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

My very first group of students graduated from high school this evening. I had them as fourth grade students in 2002 as a first year teacher back when I didn't really know what I was doing. Those were tough days of immense growing pains. But it turns out, they survived, thrived and made it through . . . and so did I.

~AnnMarie

A Beautiful Day For Kupshuk(ing)

2011-05-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Many Thanks

2011-05-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

The principal at Brevig Mission School, Robin Gray, has been with us for six years now. Next fall she will be moving on to her next job in education working as a director of special education in another part of the state.

Because of her years of service and the positive impact she has had on the school and students, we wanted to say, "thanks" with a surprise party.

For the past month or so, the ladies on staff have been working together to make a t-shirt quilt for Robin using various Brevig Mission School t-shirts.

We think it will be a wonderful way for her to remember her time here in Brevig Mission.

She was also given some beaded earrings, a sweatshirt picturing dry fish and an angel wall hanging made of seal skin. All ring with the culture and talent of Brevig Mission.

We all wish you the best in the future Robin!

Happy Graduation! (aka Mother's Day)

2011-05-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Harold woke up this morning and yelled, "Happy Graduation Mom!!!!!!" He has his special occasions a little mixed up but he sure is exuberant about the whole thing.

He also informed me that he loves me thiiiiiiis much.

So I say, Happy Graduation to all you mother's out there.

Ptarmigan Hunting

2011-05-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

Harold and I decided to go ptarmigan hunting. But first we needed to put a new chain and sprocket on his snowmobile. Here he is tightening the bolts on the exhaust.

When we finished working on the machine we went out cruising on the tundra and shot one bird.

C.O.

Gus Brown

2011-04-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

I traveled to the village of St. Michael recently. While I was there I borrowed a friends ATV and went out exploring. Out on the tundra near the edge of town I spotted this marble monument.

I don't know anything about Gus Brown but I do know a little bit about St Michael's history. Back in the gold rush days (around 1900) St Michael Alaska was a busy town with as many as 10,000 people. Prospectors coming up to Alaska to look for gold would take a sailing ship up from the west coast of the USA, then to travel into the interior of Alaska they would get on a paddle wheel type steamboat and head up the Yukon river. St Michael was the place where everyone changed boats. It has a natural harbour to provide protection from the ocean and it is close to the mouth of the Yukon.

C.O.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone,

but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther

Just the Highlights

2011-04-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

I normally don't like to do a multi-topic blog posts but life has just been that way lately. A little of this and a little of that has made for some pretty full days.

More Handwork

I finished the hat and mitten set I have been working on for Harold. I thought they turned out pretty sharp looking. He has to grow into the mitts but at the rate he's going . . .

A New Addition

My coworkers, Steve and Angie, adopted a beautiful little girl from here in Brevig Mission. Some of the ladies from work threw a shower for her over the weekend. We are very happy for them and their baby girl.

Johnny's Musical Debut

As you may or may not know my brother John has quite the musical talent. Lately he's been writing some of his own music and recently made a recording of his work. Last week his first album, "Movin' On" which includes traditional and original music was released on iTunes. He's got a Bluegrass/ New Grass kind of sound. I think it's great but I'm a bit biased. Why don't you go ahead and get your own copy and see what you think. Psst!--> Click here to purchase.

Summer Plans

Summer plans are shaping up nicely. Plane tickets are purchased, reservations are made and our calendar is filling up. We will be in Minnesota the last week of May, then on to Guatemala for three weeks and back to Side Lake for July and part of August. We are looking forward to our journey and the chance to see our Minnesota friends and family again.

A Touch of Spring

Our Full Circle Farm produce boxes had daffodils for sale last week. Without hesitation, I added them to our box and enjoyed their cheery little faces for a while.

The Whole Hog

And last but certainly not least, we bought a hog . . . the whole hog. We've had a hankerin' for some tasty pork products around here. We finally took the leap and ordered the "Whole Hog Pack" from Mat-Valley Meats. I think we have enough to last us for a while now.

What's the news in your life dear readers? We'd love to hear from you.

~AnnMarie

A Little Encouragement: An Adoption Update

2011-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

It's been about a year and a half since we started the preliminary work on our second adoption from Ethiopia. Our paperwork is in Ethiopia now, we are in the process of being approved as adoptive parents and being matched with an orphan. The beginning phases of the process take longer for us than most people due to our remote location. And now that our case is in Ethiopia there has been a slow down in the referral process. Adoption cases do continue to move along and we are hopeful that they will pick up again soon.

One of the Christian World Adoption staff members recently traveled to Ethiopia to coordinate with the Ethiopian staff members. He came back with small gifts for each of the waiting families and a letter of encouragement. It was nice surprise to find these in our mailbox this week.

It has been and will continue to be a long journey. By the grace of God we are not anxious about our current wait but we do look forward to meeting our little girl someday soon.

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day." Habakkuk 2:3

~AnnMarie

Alappaa! (It's Cold)

2011-03-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

A group of junior high students in Elim, Alaska put this adorable music video together. Elim is about 150 miles southeast of Brevig and is the village where my brother John has taught for the past five years. The kids and their teacher Jon (a different John) did a great job putting this together.

And people really do use "Alappaa" around here . . . a lot . . .

it being the arctic and all.

~AnnMarie

Iditarod Craft Fair

2011-03-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I was super excited to be a vendor at the Iditarod Craft Fair held at Old Saint Joe's Church in Nome. After years and years of dreaming about having a table and selling my fur wears, I finally did it. It was wonderful! I had an amazing few days hanging out at my table.

Being in one place all day long in a town that is over run with visitors has it's advantages. It's pretty likely that most everyone will wander through the craft fair and art displays at some point. It was wonderful to visit with people from around the region that I have met over the years. I got to reconnect with old friends and get to know some acquaintances better. It was also very inspiring to be around other artists and crafty people. I came home with many new ideas and enthusiasm for creating new and interesting things.

Me and my load, waiting for the plane.

After paying for a plane ticket, a table at the sale, food for the week and excess baggage I'm fairly certain I didn't actually make any money. But I was very excited about the experience and hope to do it again next year.

The very best part of my trip was getting to spend time with my very good friend, Mollie, who recently moved to Nome in January to work at the hospital as a nurse. She spent three weeks with us in Brevig last October, enjoyed the area and decided to pursue work in Nome. I love that she is on this amazing adventure and that we're close together again after spending the past 12 years thousands of miles apart. It was wonderful to stay with her (sans family) and relive our college days together. She's doing great and loving life and work in Nome. I hope she stays forever. *^-^*

The craft fair took up a majority of my time in Nome so I didn't do very many of the numerous Iditarod-y activities around town. We did, however,watch a few mushers from the middle of the pack cross the finish line. A siren, loud enough to be heard all around town, goes off about 20 minutes before a musher arrives. This give people enough time to get geared up and ready at the finish line to cheer for the finishers. By the time the middle of the pack rolls around, not too many folks are rushing out there. It's a shame people's enthusiasm is dying by this point, the dogs and mushers have come so far and accomplished quite the feat. Each one of them deserves to be celebrated.

As I had mentioned earlier I was pretty inspired by other people's work at the craft fair. Saturday night, when all was said and done, I hit one of the shops that carries furs and dropped a bit of money to buy an otter and sheared beaver hide to make C.O. a new hat. His old one,"Big Red", was getting kind of shabby. I decided to make him this super DE-lux version. I came home on Sunday afternoon and had this hat finished for him by Sunday night. Inspiration does wonders for productivity!

I'll see you again next year Iditaroders, same time, same place.

~AnnMarie

Bumped Into Santa in Nome; He Gave Me His Card

2011-03-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

Regular Mucus - OK, Green Mucus - Bad

2011-03-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

This was posted on the door of the Head Start.

C.O.

Snow Blower

2011-03-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

I snapped this photo of a large snow blower when I was passing through Nome last week. This is an amazing machine. It was grinding up hard chunks of ice and snow and sending them flying a couple hundred feet. The blower actually takes so much power to run that there is one engine just for the blower and another engine to make the vehicle move. If you look close at the photo you can see that both the front and rear wheels steer. This allows it to "crab" or drive sideways.

C.O.

Make Your Own Fun

2011-03-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

We do not have a lot of entertainment options in the remote area that we live. You have to find ways to make our own fun.

This past weekend I stayed with my friend Roger in Nome. He knows how to have fun. He also lives out on the edge of town where the neighbors are far apart.

This first photo shows his 40 lb anvil with a fuse sticking out from under it.

This video shows what happens when Roger lights the fuse.

C.O.

How to Raise an Extreme Sports Fanatic

2011-03-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Extreme Skiing from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

Afternoon Commute

2011-03-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

Some people complain about their daily commute; mine couldn't be better. I especially love the middle part. :-)

Commute from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

~AnnMarie

Family Fitness

2011-02-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

As part of my New Year's fitness resolution, I decided to start doing an outdoor activity over the weekend in addition to my weekday workouts. Part of that resolution was to include C.O. and Harold to make it a family affair. Sometimes we ~~ditch Harold~~ opt for a babysitter and sometimes we go out as a family.

We've been blessed with an amazing winter this year. The weather has been warm enough and nice enough to get out and enjoy our surroundings.

We've done some hiking . . .

and little ice skating too.
After a January thaw followed by a cold snap,

we had this amazing ice on the lagoon just a few

paces from our back door. We took advantage

of the smooth ice quite a few times.

*Photo courtesy of Mary Crockett

But our most popular activity by far has been cross-country skiing.
*Photo courtesy of Harold

~AnnMarie

Ice Fog

2011-02-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

Ice fog came to call

Spooky mist surrounded us

Left a frosted world

Happy Love Day

2011-02-14T05:45:00.000-08:00


A Honeymoon Kiss

To his Coy Mistress

by Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day;
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood;
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust.
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.
Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball;
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Man of the Year

2011-02-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

C.O. will be traveling to Juneau today to be recognized at the state level for all the hard work and effort he puts into maintaining the Head Start facilities in our area. He will be attending the Alaska Head Start Association's 2011 Statewide Conference to accept the Maintenance Person of the Year Award.

We are so proud.

Here's what the award winner brochure says about C.O.

"Charles "C.O." Rudstrom has been our maintenance go to guy for over 5 years. He lives in the community of Brevig Mission. He fills our oil tank so that the building will be heated. He ensures that pathways are clear of snow so that children and their families can enter and leave the building. Not only does he do maintenance in Brevig but he is willing to travel to our sites. This past fall he boated across to Teller to fix the previous winter's frozen sewer pipes that caused quite a mess under the building. In the winter time if there are problems he snow machines across the bay. In emergencies he will travel (2 plane rides) to our other sites which include Gambell, Elim and Shishmaref that need maintenance work done. Not only does he do site maintenance work he does work by telephone. If he is unable to leave Brevig he will get on the phone with whoever is calling and he walks his way through the issue (to at least maintain it until he can get out there).

C.O, has taken the time to get to know each and every one of our buildings. He calls around to companies to find the best deals on materials. He also takes old materials and fixes them for future use as back up pieces. No task is ever turned down from fixing children's furniture to leaky toilets to broken sewer pipes to figuring out why buildings are consuming SO much energy. He always has a smile on his face and welcomes anyone and everyone."

C.O. blogs about his various jobs and projects here.

~AnnMarie

Exchange Student

2011-01-30T11:54:00.000-08:00

This past week we had the priveledge of hosting a cultural exchange student in our home. He came from the far away land of Anchorage. "But they're from the SAME state!" you might be thinking. This is true, however we live in an extremely diverse state. There is a significant difference between the culture(s) of Anchorage and the culture(s) that exist in rural Alaska.

16-year-old Ambrose came as part of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange program. Five students from West High in Anchorage along with their teacher Mandy Morell, traveled to Brevig Mission to attend school and learn more about the lifestyle of bush Alaska. In exchange, five students from Brevig will be traveling to Anchorage to stay with the families of these students to find out more about city life. It is an amazing opportunity for both parties.

*Please excuse Harold's face. All the kids were doing it.

Angie Alston was behind getting Brevig involved with this program. She did a wonderful job of finding cultural experiences for the Anchorage students. To be honest we hardly saw Ambrose, he was busy going from event to event. He saw Eskimo dance, ivory carving, went sledding down the mountainside, ate traditional Eskimo food and attended open gym each evening. The girls in the group even tackled a kuspuk making project.

This morning while Ambrose was packing up, he secretly wished the plane would be weathered out so that they could stay "just one more night". A good sign of a successful program.

~AnnMarie

How to dress for stormy weather :: A morning workout

2011-01-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

I posted this a few years ago but it's worth sharing again.

Gearing Up from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

I secretly love stormy weather and being bundled up to protect against the elements.

~AnnMarie

Eskimo Kisses: They're Real

2011-01-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

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Eskimo Kisses: They're Real from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

Click, Clack, Giggle: Kids On Skis

2011-01-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten Skiing from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

. . . click, click, TEACHER!, click, click, I'M COLD, poof, laugh, AHHHH, click, click, TEACHER HELP ME UP, click, click, giggle, giggle . . .

The sound of eleven kindergarten students skiing for the first time.

Ages 4 and Up

2011-01-13T22:54:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we celebrated Harold's 4th birthday. It was a day that opened up many new possibilities for Harold. On Monday he could not have played with his new tent or attempted his new puzzle. We pointed out the age "restrictions" on his toys and he very seriously assured us he's four now and able to use them.

We decided age four was just the right age for a pair of skis as well.

Mom and Dad had some pretty serious preparations to do before the big day. Preparations included baking three forms of chocolate cake, making a donkey for a party game and blowing up balloons. Harold had a total of three parties, one at school, one with kids and one with adults. Phew! Between the parties, phone calls from grandparents, awesome gifts and the outpouring of love on Facebook,

Harold had a pretty amazing day.

Happy Birthday Son!

Go Baby Go!

2011-01-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

For the week falling between Christmas day and New Year's Eve there are daily races, games and raffles sponsored by the city of Brevig Mission and the traditional council. The great part is that there's a little something for everyone. There are numerous types of races and categories for all ages. Can't walk yet? No worries, you can still join in.

"The Carrot"

Even baby's proud of himself. =D

~AnnMarie

We Like Meat

2011-01-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

We never completely finished processing all the meat from the musk ox C.O. shot last fall. Dealing with the meat and the hide all at once can be a daunting task. So we threw some big chunks of meat in the freezer to process at a later time. Christmas break allowed us the time we needed to make our final meat treats.

Homemade Musk Ox Jerky.

Step 1: Grind Meat

Step 2: Add seasoning

Step 3: Extrude

Step 4: Dehydrate / Cook


Harold's cheeks get bigger when he's concentrating.

The rest, we canned. We're big fans of canned meat. We save the toughest, less choice cuts of meat for canning. Cooking under pressure breaks down the fibers leaving it ultra tender. Also, the meat is thoroughly cooked, so it makes a good last minute meal. Just throw it in the microwave or in a stew and heat.

First pack the meat and add some seasoning of your choice.

Be sure to add at least one tsp of canning salt per pint.

Then cook in a water bath until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 170 degrees.

Wipe the rims clean before adding the lids.

Cover in the pressure cooker and bring to 11 pounds of pressure.

Cook for 90 minutes.

The final product! The house smells delicious.

It's best to wait a few weeks before eating.

It takes a while for the flavors to peek.

Our go to resources for projects such as this.

~AnnMarie

Christmas Memories

2010-12-26T13:28:00.001-08:00

Christmas Memories 2010 from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Love,

The Rudstroms

The Christmas Program: A Holiday Tradition

2010-12-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Thursday was the night of our school's Christmas program. It happened to be the first one in which Harold was a participant. He and all the students did a wonderful job of singing and entertaining their families.

For most of you, multiple photos and videos would be as enjoyable as pulling teeth. Grandmas and grandpas, on the other hand, can watch videos to their hearts content here and here*.

I would, however, recommend watching the video below. It was put together by a couple of the high school teachers and ended up being an impressive production. It's a fun glimpse into the life of our school.

*and if all that wasn't enough for you, there's more on the school's blog as well.

~AnnMarie

Christmas Quilt 2010

2010-12-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

Our 6th annual Christmas quilt.

The kids fabric paint a quilt square,

I sew it together,

names are placed in a hat,

and one of these little cuties takes it home.

~AnnMarie

Now You See It, Now You Don't

2010-12-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

11:58 a.m.

3:57 p.m.

We are still 15 days short of the winter solstice.

Our days will continue to get shorter by about 5 minutes per day until then.

~AnnMarie

We Traveled South of the Tree Line For This

2010-12-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

This being the first time we have had a real Christmas tree, we were lacking a tree stand. C.O. got resourceful and made our stand from an old cable spool. We're unsure if one would call this recycling or upcycling as we are not up on our trendy speak around here.

Harold is at the perfect age for decorating. He carefully analyzes each ornament before placing it on the tree. I realize, sadly, that one day he will not be quite so enthused about such things. So for now, I will appreciate these moments.

Don't you love how children decorate the tree?

You can't see them all here, but there are six ornaments all hanging on one branch.

Leave it to my mother to find an Eskimo nativity set. (Love you mom!)

So many ornaments tell a story. This angel brings back memories of a Russian missionary who flew to Brevig Mission to sell trinkets and raise money. The poor thing barely spoke a lick of English. She came around carrying a binder with a written description of why she was raising money. She was all alone, didn't have a place to stay and was being followed by a pack of curious children. I don't know who put her up to this but they apparently didn't realize her trip could in no way be profitable. We took pity on her and bought an ornament.

Bring on the Christmas season!

~AnnMarie

Santa Came Early (I think I'm in love)

2010-12-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

I have been longing for a for a camera of quality for ages! Finally my wish has materialized. Santa (my husband) picked out this fancy Canon Rebel with interchangeable lenses, HD video, other features I don't understand and so much more!

I really don't have any idea what I'm doing to be honest. I have dreams of being able to take amazing photos and then to edit them all artsy and cute. *sigh* My goal is to just pick it up daily and spend a little quality time together with my Canon. We'll see what becomes of it. Hopefully the blog's photo quality will be kicked up a notch.

Here's a couple of my favorite photos so far, amateur I know . . .

Harold's Feet

Ernie's Laugh

~AnnMarie

Tough Times Too

2010-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Life in Brevig Mission is good, our lives are happy and blessed. This blog has become a place to share and record those good times and unique experiences.

It would be inaccurate, however, if we gave the impression that life is all lollipops and ponies around here. The past few years has brought greater sadness and shock than I ever thought I would experience.

We love our lifestyle and know without a doubt that Brevig Mission is where we are meant to be. We hope to be supportive and a light to all those around us, just as people here support and teach us. But it's not always easy, we have had a particularly difficult past few weeks. Multiple tragedies have left many with great loss and unimaginable heartache. Many prayers are needed for our little town.

October's Loss
November's Loss
December's Loss

~AnnMarie

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

by: Annie J. Flint

Amongst the Trees

2010-11-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was spent in Elim, Alaska with my brother John. We were thankful to have made the two flights from Brevig to Nome and Nome to Elim in time for Thanksgiving festivities and some quality time with Johnny.

Thanksgiving morning, we took some time to hike around town in search of some good sledding hills. We found a couple good spots and had some pretty exciting rides. Sledding: the perfect pre-dinner activity.

As in Brevig, Elim hosts a village-wide feast in the school gymnasium. It reminded me a lot of Brevig feasts minus the reindeer stew, personally one of my favorites. However, Elim amazingly had huge containers of watermelon, a perfect treat for ending the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I'm not a huge fan of pie as desert, pie is better left for breakfast in my opinion. Watermelon however, was very light and refreshing. The feast experience was very nice and we were able to chat with a few folks from around town that we have met over the years.

Friday, shortly after sunrise (around noon), we went for a snow machine ride through the woods. As you can see, the major difference between Brevig and Elim is TREES! How exciting to be in the forest, if only for a little while. Part of our ride was actually on the official Iditarod trail. C.O. and I have a dream of one day taking our children on a snowmobile trip from Nome to Anchorage along this very trail. That's a long way off however as it is probably best if we wait until their teenage years for such a journey.

The main goal of our outing was to find a Christmas tree for our home this holiday season. What a treat it will be, to have a real pine tree to decorate (and smell)! We will be taking our Christmas tree wrapped up in a tarp as luggage tomorrow on the plane. That will be a first for me.

Harold convinced us that he needed a smaller tree of his own.

We obliged.

There's about 40 rings there.
Though the woods are reminiscent of Minnesota,
the trees here have to work a lot harder at survival.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

~AnnMarie

Surgical Enhancement

2010-11-22T06:05:00.000-08:00

Before

After

Winter's Here

2010-11-20T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hard to imagine that just a few days ago, the ocean looked like this.

Harold Counts to 10 in Inupiaq

2010-11-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Inupiaq 1-10 (more or less) from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

I think he missed a couple there but he's close. They are such big words coming out of a little person! As you can hear, many Inupiaq words are a mouthful. In school, Harold practices counting to ten, color names and a few other Eskimo words and phrases. Won't be long and his Inupiaq vocabulary will surpass ours.

~AnnMarie

Changing Seasons

2010-11-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Halloween Fun

2010-10-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been way too much fun! The Halloween celebrations began on Friday afternoon at school. The kindergarten and head start joined together and did a few fun Halloween activities together before the big parade and costume contest. I even had a costume of my own for the first time in, oh, 12 years or so.

Anyone recognize this character?

Harold the ferocious lion.

Turns out, adults don't want to be left out of all the Haloween fun. The bingo hall hosted its annual costume contest for those 18 and older. What a goofy fun lovin' crew of monsters, zombies and kooks.

It was fun trying to figure out who was who under all the disguises.

Then time for a little bingo with the added bonus of a pile of candy to carry through all the daubing (is that a real verb, daubing?).

Then the moment Harold had been waiting for . . . trick or treating (a.k.a. the great candy exchange). It was a blast to be with him on his first ever trick or treating experience. I don't think he quite understood the magnitude of what was about to happen. He was ready to go home and eat his candy after the first couple houses. I had to convince him to continue on and explained that the bounty would be so much greater if we kept on going. He did catch on soon enough but we pretty exhausted by the end of the night.

Happy Halloween:

hope it was your best one yet.

~AnnMarie

_||_

2010-10-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

TOMS on the Tundra

2010-10-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

My coworker friend, Barnabas, introduced me to TOMS shoes this fall. I had never heard of TOMS until I noticed Barnabas wearing them at work. (My life is a bit sheltered from main stream culture these days.)

I was attracted to these simple little shoes right away AND I later found out they're working for a good cause. "One for One" is their motto, for every pair of shoes sold, a pair is given to a child in need. Over a million shoes have been donated since the start of the company in 2006. Awesome!

I jumped right on ordering a pair for myself. I was tempted to buy Harold a pair of Tiny TOMS (the name is too adorable) but resisted the temptation. Now, if you should happen to visit the Brevig Mission School, you just might find a pair or two of TOMS proudly roaming our halls. The first ones this far north? They just might be.

Folks post photos on the TOMS website of the shoes being worn here and there. We thought the tundra would be a unique place for TOMS to be seen. So on Saturday, we did an official photo shoot. Good times but to be honest we did froze our patooties off! I think the pics turned out pretty neat.

Credits:

Photos taken by C.O.

Artsy fartsy editing done by Barnabas

On a side note, check out Barn's blog if you get a chance. Just the title cracks me up, V-Neck in Alaska: Going where no v-neck has gone before. He's got some great photos if you'd like to see Brevig and the surrounding area from another perspective.

~AnnMarie

Silk Screening

2010-10-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take a silk screening class at the school. It was offered through UAF's Northwest Campus and held at Brevig Mission School. It would have been silly to let this opportunity pass me by. I mean, a real art class practically at my front door step. I'm telling you, Brevig is the land of opportunity people.

Our professor/ teacher/ a.k.a. the professional artist was Jody Isaacson, who traveled all the way from New York state to be with us. She was awesome (!) to say the least and a great lady to have around the school for a while. Though she did work with the teachers and staff, most of her time was spent teaching high school and middle school students how to create, design and print their own t-shirts. I was very impressed with how the students' work turned out and they were pretty proud of their creations as well.

After a long week of working with students, Jody's real challenge began . . . working with the teachers. ;-) We spent one evening and the entire weekend learning silk screening basics and creating our own designs. I decided to get in way over my head and do a rather complicated (well complicated for an amateur) picture on a large piece of fabric. I intended it to be a table cloth but since that didn't exactly work out, I came up with a back up plan. Anyway,

the process:

I started with a concept. This photo, taken in Teller looking toward Brevig, was my inspiration.

I then created stencils for each "layer" of the picture. One for the sky, one for the water, one for mountains, rocks and lastly grass.

First I printed the image onto newspaper print to see that it was indeed what I was envisioning. Then the image was printed on the registration that was used as a guide for placing . . . bleh, never mind, it's too hard to explain. It just went something like this:

"Ta-da"

My final product:

on paper

on fabric

So instead of using it as a table cloth, my vision for the fabric images (there are 3 total like the one above) is to have C.O. make me some wooden backs the exact size of the picture and have the fabric wrapped around the wooden boards. Each picture turned out slightly different so I think the three of them displayed together would look kind of neat.

I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I had a lot of frustrations along the way to be honest, but in the end it was worth it. It worked out as well as it did due to Jody's patience and positive, constructive feedback along the way. My coworkers were also very kind and lent a hand when they could. Thanks everyone!

~AnnMarie

3rd Annual Gotcha Day

2010-10-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that three years ago today our lives changed forever. This beautiful child was handed over to us to care for and love. Turns out there's a whole lot of people who love him as well.

Happy Adoption Day Harold, we're so glad we gotcha!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Making Friends

2010-10-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

We have been active on our blog for about three years now. RFB has been a nice way to share our day to day lives with our friends and family far away. An unexpected bonus to blogging has been the opportunity to connect with some folks we might not have otherwise known.

One of these connections that come to mind is Nancy M. of Southern Blessings. Nancy is very sweet and has been probably the most consistent commenter here. I hope that our paths meet someday Miss Nancy M. =)

More recently we "met" Anita of Living the Alaska Dream. Anita is originally from Minnesota and is someone I know of but don't know, ya know? She takes gorgeous photos that do an amazing job of capturing the beauty of central Alaska. My hope is to someday take pictures that are at least half as lovely as hers.

Then there's the G family. One of my coworkers, Zach, moved to Brevig last year to teach math. Around the time Zach got the job, his folks were searching for information about Brevig Mission and happened upon our blog. Since then, they have been keeping up with our posts. About a month ago Marla and Bill G were in Brevig to see their son and we were fortunate enough to have them over for a visit. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear about some of their interesting jobs and adventures. It made us feel pretty special (maybe even a little famous) that they knew about some of our shenanigans through the blog.

Shortly after meeting the Gs, we received a box in the mail with all kinds of goodies from central Illinois. It was from Marla and Bill and was filled with fall treasures. We're enjoying it all very much and are still smiling from the kind words that also came in the box.

So thank you to those of you who follow our blog, to those who comment and let us know your thoughts and to Marla and Bill for your kind words and thoughtfulness. You have brightened our days and been a true encouragement.

~AnnMarie

Seal Hunting: A Dramatization

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Starring: Kusugluk, the mighty hunter

Co-starring: Whaley as "the seal"

Surprise Visitors

2010-10-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

We had a fun surprise this weekend when we received an unexpected call from our friend James. He said he just happened to be at the Brevig airstrip and was wondering if we'd be up for having some visitors. Of course! Of course we would! Harold and I quickly buzzed out on the 4-wheeler and took James, his father and his friend Nate (the pilot for the day) back to the house for a little visit.

James' parents came from Texas all the way to Nome to spend some time with James, Amy and their two sons. For a real Alaskan adventure, the guys decided to rent a plane for a few hours and do some sight seeing around the Seward Peninsula. Since they were in the area, they decided to drop in. We are sure glad they did and we feel pretty darn special to have guests arrive via private aircraft.

~AnnMarie

Jacking up the House

2010-10-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

We needed to jack up our house to fix the foundation and to make room to insulate the floor. Luckily we have a friend from Nome that is a house mover. Roger, his son Amos, and Roger's friend Tim drove up to Teller and then took their boat across to Brevig.

The first step to raising the house was to dig holes under the edges so we could get the jacks underneath.

Roger brought his air jacks with for the project. They are basically heavy duty rubber bladders that you inflate with an air compressor. We lifted one side of the house at a time, using four of the air jacks. When we were done with the project the house was almost 2 feet off the ground.

Here is Roger, eyeing up the house while he adjusts the pressure in the jacks.

Teacher! Teacher!

2010-10-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

These two little darlings, who happen to be my students, showed up at my door the other day. They had found rocks ~~more or less~~ shaped like triangles, squares, ovals etc. They were so excited, they just had to bring them to me right away. It's times like this that make a teacher's heart happy.

~AnnMarie

Berry Picking Face

2010-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Daniel Lee

2010-10-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

We recently welcomed a second little godson into our hearts. It was an honor to stand up with Kenny and Christine when Daniel was baptized a couple weeks ago. We celebrated with cake afterward and look forward to watching this little man grow in his knowledge of the Lord.

Pastor Brian writing down Daniel's baptismal information in the church's big black book.

~AnnMarie

Beautiful Faces, Beautiful Places

2010-09-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

More visuals from our magical boat trip up the river. Photos courtesy of Amy Norman.

~AnnMarie

Nome and Home

2010-09-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, it was time for my folks to head back to Minnesota. Since our boat was done and ready for the water, we decided to motor over to Teller then drive the Nome-Teller highway. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and fall colors were in full swing.

It was sad to say good-bye to my mom and dad at Alaska Air but once again, we enjoyed their visit. They have been to Brevig enough times now that it just feels normal to have them around. They're getting to know quite a few folks around town, they go out and about without us, help with projects around the house and even volunteer at the school. I was surprised at how many times people asked if they'd be back in the spring. I guess everyone is used to seeing them on a regular basis.

Since were were in Nome . . . we took advantage of what the big city has to offer. We did some shopping, ate out and visited with friends. James and Amy put us up for the night, fed us, and all those other good hospitality sort of things. We were able to meet their beautiful new baby, Archer, and his big brother Justice.

On our way out of town, we stopped by the home of more friends, Melinda and Cam. They recently completed the construction on their house and had some left over flooring they were willing to donate to our cause. We are excited to see what we can do with it to fix up our flooring at the beach house a bit.

On the way home I couldn't stop thinking about how thankful I am for friends and family who make our lives so rich.

~AnnMarie