Meeting the Buyse Family

About five years ago we received a call from our adoption agency, Christian World Adoption. They told us about another family in Alaska that was in the process of adopting a child from Guatemala and that they had a few questions for us. C.O. and Montey had talked briefly at that time but we had not kept in touch. Harold came in October, their daughter came the following January. 

We got another call last winter from CWA that the Buyses were considering adopting again. This time from Ethiopia! They are planning to adopt a sibling set in fact. As we were passing through Anchorage during our bush living days, we were never quite able to connect. But now that we live within a reasonable driving distance, we planned a date to meet for lunch.

Over Labor Day, our two little miracles were introduced. They were so busy being five year olds, I don't think they realized how cool it was to meet each other.

The Buyses are a lovely family with a big heart for adoption. I hope that we will continue to see them over the years as our children grow. It will be valuable for our children to know there are others out there growing up in similar situations. I'm pretty sure we will be the only two families in Alaska with Guatemalan and Ethiopian children calling eachother brother and sister. =) We pray for a smooth adoption process, that the paperwork will go through as quickly as possible and that God will prepare the Buyses for their children and the two future Buyses for their new family.

~AnnMarie

Our New Home That Doesn't Quite Belong to Us

We have finally moved into our new house in our new location of Soldotna. We put a bid in on this three story, three bedroom, two and a half bath place sight unseen while we were still vacationing at the cabin in Minnesota. Fortunately, when we met the house in person we were just as happy with it as we were with the pictures.

We don't have much in the house right now. Our worldly possessions are still in Brevig Mission in our container van waiting for the barge to pick it up. The kids have been keeping themselves busy learning how to do hand stands and making paper airplanes since all their toys are packed away.

The new Rudstrom dwelling is nestled in the woods on a two acre lot on a gravel road less than ten minutes from the business of Soldotna. It's a complete turn around from our 600 square foot house on the sea without a tree in sight for miles and miles.

We have already met one of our neighbors. Iris and family live across the road and invited us over to meet their little goats. They have all kinds of cool stuff at their house, kids and dirt bikes and 4-wheelers and tractors. They seem like great people to know.

There have been some complications along the way of becoming home owners. The bank has not been willing to give us a loan until I produce my first pay stub at my new job. I've started work, I'm under contract for the school year, we have excellent credit, very little debt but they still aren't sure if we are trustworthy enough. Fortunately, the seller was understanding enough to let us move in, rent the place and wait for my pay check at the end of September so we can close in early October. What a relief!

Stay tuned. I've been very busy living, blogging very little, experiencing a lot and I can't wait to share little snippets our life here on the Alaskan road system with you all!

~AnnMarie