Hello world.  Happy Easter!  I think it is safe to say that spring has finally shown her face in Togiak.  This past week it has been rainy and somewhat warm (mid 40’s).  We’ve had a lot of sunshine recently which, combined with the warm weather and rain, is decimating the snow pack.  Over the past few weeks we’ve seen feet of snow melt away.  The tundra has started to peak through and flooding is rampant downtown.  What is so remarkable to me is how fast the snow is melting.  Within one week, travel on the tundra by snowmobile has gone from safe and smooth to sketchy and difficult.  Downtown, the roads are completely covered in water.  So much so, that I felt nervous driving our 4-wheeler through to cross the street.  We only go downtown once or twice a week, but that’s where the post office and grocery stores are, which are a sanity lifeline for us.  Luckily, the water hasn’t stopped us from getting what we need, mail! ☺  

Well, it’s Easter and we’re at home.  We had a big get together with the some of the other teachers yesterday for an Easter dinner.  It’s so nice to get together for a nice meal.  It’s easy to forget what it’s like to prepare a really nice meal.  We get use to eating frozen pizza and chicken and rice dishes.  We are going to finish off the vegetables that we purchased while in Anchorage two weeks ago tonight.  We’re planning on making Momma Myrna’s egg rolls and inviting over a fellow teacher.  It should be fun, and tasty!  

We completed our last vacation day at school this past week.  The school takes off Good Friday, in preparation for Easter.  We got a three-day weekend, which couldn’t have been at a better time because we are exhausted.  We are now down to three weeks left of school.  These remaining weeks are going to be interesting because we still have to get all our lessons in and still get all the remaining activities in as well.  This upcoming week is “Culture Week”.  There will be some invited guests at the school who will teach the students various cultural activities throughout the week.  I’m looking forward to it (Tim) am not looking forward to it at the same time.  It’ll be neat to learn new things, but a pain in the rear to fit all the material I need to teach in the smaller window to time. The following week at school is the final week for the seniors, which means we have to have all our finals ready early. The next few weeks will be a bit hectic, but it’ll be over soon.

On Friday, our day off, we spent a lot of time getting our online personalities ready for publication for adoption.  Kaitlyn found a website called, hopingtoadopt.org which is just another place we can advertise ourselves as a perspective adoptive couple.  

She got the whole thing ready and it is up and running.  You can visit the profile by going to our page at http://www.hopingtoadopt.org/index.php/family/letters/213, more importantly, you can refer us to anyone you know who might be considering the adoption road.  While Kaitlyn was putting that site together, I was building our official adoption website.  It looks pretty good, however, there are a few more things we need to put on.  Hopefully, it’ll be ready by next week.  We are yet to be published on the itsaboutlove.org website.  But, that is out of our hands, as our caseworker has to put us on. Once she puts it up, then that will be the page that birthmothers will refer to when choosing us to be the adoptive couple.  We’re getting close.  Keep us in your prayers, and don’t be shy.  Spread the word like wild fire that we are looking to adopt.  We tell just about everyone now.  The time to be embarrassed or self-conscience bout it is over.  It’s go time, and the only way we’ll become parents is if people know we are looking and ready (and awesome)!  

Last weekend, Tim and I got a real treat.  We were able interact with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in person.  This is something I miss more than I realized. Last Saturday evening, we attended the adult session of stake conference and unknowingly sat right behind our branch president, his first counselor, and their wives.  After the meeting we all went out for pie along with the Petersen family.  Chris Petersen is the branch clerk and his family has opened their home to us on multiple occasions when we’ve been traveling through Anchorage.  Last Sunday we were traveling back to Togiak, but were able to attend church with the Dillingham branch during our lay over.  The Dillingham branch is very tight knit and very friendly to us every time we visit. 

This week at school has been a bit exciting.  It was spirit week.  We had dress up days every day: crazy hair day, white out day, career day, twin day, and fake an injury day.  Tim and I had fun dressing up each day.  Unfortunately the students weren’t very involved.  Each day there was anywhere from 0 to 4 students who participated.  However, I do think the kids enjoyed seeing what Tim and I would do next.  On Twin Day, Tim and I dressed alike.  We wore the most similar clothes we could and with Tim’s help, I even drew a beard on myself.  In between each class, when I would step out into the hall, the kids would just snicker and laugh as they passed by.  They all thought it was pretty funny.  Friday I managed to give myself a black eye with some Crayola markers.   Tim had to endure accusing questions throughout the rest of the day.

Friday night/Saturday morning was the culmination of our spirit week: the Lock-In.  Tim, being the student counsel adviser, was also the adviser over the Lock-In.  I think that out of all the years I’ve known Tim, I’ve never seen him more stressed out.  He was very nervous about the lock-in flopping, but it went extremely well.  We had a very good turn out: 56 kids.  Middle school and high school students were invited.  I think about half the middle school and high school study body was there.  This is a huge percentage for participation in Togiak.  We had all the high school and middle school teachers plus a couple elementary teachers volunteer to chaperone.  All the teachers enjoyed themselves.  The kids behaved themselves.  I never once saw a behavior problem the whole night.  I was shocked.  We locked 56 kids into the school from 10 pm to 6 am, students that usually don’t make it through the school day without behavior problems, and we had no problems!  It was so refreshing.  The kids participated in a 2-on-2-basketball tournament, movie watching, video game playing, karaoke, food relays, and a pie eating contest.  I have a feeling that Tim just started a yearly tradition.

So Tim and I were at school from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm on Friday and then returned to the school at 9:00 pm and didn’t leave until 6:30 am the next morning.  Needless to say, we slept a lot on Saturday.  We didn’t wake up until 2:30 pm, which really confused my body.  We ate breakfast at 4:00 pm and then were really shocked when only hours later it was already bedtime again.

When Tim and I were in Anchorage last weekend we brought back 50 pounds of produce.  We couldn’t help ourselves.  It was like Christmas.  Well, last night, we really enjoyed that produce.  I made fajitas with fresh peppers: orange, yellow, red, and green.  Tim made his green avocado salsa.  Yum.  It was like we were cooking in the lower 48 again!  I will never take fresh produce for granted again.

The testing week was neat, however, it is slightly overshadowed by our weekend.  On Thursday after school, Kaitlyn and I flew to Anchorage for adoption training and food buying.  We were lucky enough to stay with another adoptive couple’s parents.  They are empty nesters who had a spare bedroom.  They were very friendly and welcomed us into their home.  We stayed with them for the whole weekend.  We are very grateful for their hospitality.  

Friday we used the opportunity to shop for food for next year and just hang out.  I can’t believe how much I missed the “big” city.  We walked in a Walmart and nearly cried.  There were so many vegetables, all shapes and sizes.  It was fantastic.  We went crazy, buying about 50 lbs. of veggies.  We filled 3 totes, filled 70 lbs. each of various non-perishable foods and mailed them back to ourselves.  We also bought a bunch of food for a student council activity we’re having at the school this week and stuffed our checked bags with more food.

Friday night we went to an adoption dinner/fireside.  It wasn’t exactly what I though it would be.  When Kaitlyn said dinner, I thought...dinner.  Dinner was actually code for “munchies”. The fireside was different than expected as well. Fireside really meant “birth mother panel”.  This means that we sat and listened to a birth mother’s experience of giving up her child for adoption and what it was like for her.  Surprisingly, it was very informative.  What I learned most that evening was that adoptions are going more and more “open”.  Meaning, that there is much more contact between birth mother (and family) and the adoptive couple.  Without getting too lengthy, it really feels as if the adoptive couple is “marrying into” the baby’s family, or as if the baby’s birth mother’s family is the adoptive couple’s in-laws.  Lots of contact; both families just have to learn to deal with a new family in their lives.

Saturday we were expecting to have more training all day, however, all our training got rearranged and we ended up just sitting through 11/2 hours of it.  We are suppose to receive 10 hours of adoption training every time we want to adopt through LDS Family Services and the purpose of Saturday was to finish everything.  After our 1 ½ training on Saturday combined with the other hours we had completed, our case worker informed us that we were done (or at least close enough) and that everything was ready to go.  

This is where the “sort of” part of the title comes in.  We have finished all the pre-requisites for adoption and can now be published.  Being published means that our profile is on the LDS Family Services website (www.itsaboutlove.org) where birth mothers can search us out.  We aren’t up just yet, our case worker said it would take her about two weeks before everything was up and ready to go.  This is exciting because now we are eligible and things can happen.  It’s bittersweet, though, because it could take just a few months or years before we are chosen.  Oh well, at least we’re available!

This past week has been a good one.  Tim and I were pretty busy with lesson planning, but it all seemed to go by fairly quickly.  At the beginning of the week we were trying to finalize some of our plans for the end of the school year.  Our last work day is May 14th, but we have to be in Anchorage May 23-27th for some classes.  We've been trying to decide if we should stay in Togiak until the classes begin or if we should hang out in Anchorage.  We really didn't want to sit in Togiak for a week after school, but also weren't liking the idea of paying outrageous prices for a hotel to sit in Anchorage for a week.  Our solution: rent an RV for a week!  We found an RV rental for the price of cheap hotel in Anchorage.  So now we have a place to sleep and a vehicle for just the price of a hotel and we get to travel around the state.  We're really excited.  If anyone is interested in flying to Anchorage to go RVing (is that a word?), let us know.

Friday we got a surprise early release from school because there was a funeral.  Normally, I really like early releases, but the kids here just assume early release means they might as well go home right then and not stay for the rest of the day.  The kids that did stay were out of control.  Oh well, it's over now. 

There have been 2 student teachers visiting our school this week.  I guess this is their "village practicum".  One of them has been shadowing Tim and taught one of his classes on Friday.  They are both very nice and we invited them over for dinner on Friday night.  It's kind of interesting seeing some "fresh" teacher's reactions to village education. 

Saturday and today we listened to General Conference.  I love listening to General Conference.  Who couldn't appreciate listening to such great men speak about such great things?  It was interesting talking to our friends here when they asked about our weekend plans.  We told them that we had church meetings and explained that they were worldwide meetings and we were listening to our leaders speak.  They all kind of groaned for us when they heard how long our meetings were, but I told them the meetings are great.  It's been a bit eye-opening being the only members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I've really come to realize how much time Tim and I invest in church and I realize how much I really love it and look forward to it.