And so it goes.....

If you skim through the last 5-10 posts, you have a pretty good idea of what our roller coaster life has been like. Overall, we're surviving even if we're not always thriving. I'll just hit on some fo the "highlights", if you will....

*Mount Redoubt. It's erupting. All the time. We had a trace of ash in Eagle River about a week ago but, so far, that's it for us. Other's haven't been as lucky but, overall, I think it's not been horrible (except for the poor sugars in Homer, they got ashed on pretty good today). Redoubt and I continue to be at odds.. last weekend it kept Clayton away 2 extra days by farting ash all over Anchorage.

*Kara: School has been kind of rough for Kara lately. I think some of it may have to do with the amount Clayton has been gone (and he's leaving next week for Fairbanks, all week)... she doesn't like math (don't know where she got that..looking around, avoiding all eye contact)... and she's still dealing with the mean girls from the beginning of the year. She does, however, have some sweet friends and she loves AWANA and Good News Club so those are always bright spots.

*Clay-Clay: What can I say? He's his normal "high energy" (to borrow a term from Grandma) self. He has run-ins with "Mr Get Right", the paddle, often, but he's still pretty sweet (unless he's throwing his cookie from Miss Kamdon off his plate telling her how gross it is!! another proud, mom-of-the-year moment for me).

*The Cats: They're grouchy and old. Status quo.

*Clayton/Fokker: Still serving his country with a happy heart (well, that's stretching it). He's been gone more than he's been home (and by gone, I mean out of town/state). He is promoting to major next week so that's good. He's leaving again for a week on Monday, that's bad. He had a day off last week and he ran ragged trying to catch up on all the stuff around the house..oh, and taxes. I think he might actually get a break when he deploys to Guam this summer (yes, I know..at least it's not Iraq.. and speaking of Iraq our old compadres, the Spads (!!), are currently in Iraq in case you're running short on people to pray for). We actually had a date last night so that was a rare treat.

*The Mom (me): I'm surviving. I spent about 6 hours across 2 days at my lovely Dentist last week. I had this crown that was 21 years old (broke a tooth eating candy at a youth group all-nighter in high school) that gave up on me.. and when the dentist pried off the old crown, he found even more rotten tooth in my head. YAY! I think he patched me up pretty good (keeping fingers crossed). I just hope he remembers me when he's enjoying his all expense paid trip to Hawaii that I funded single-toothedly. On the upside, I have made some really awesome friends up here who are also in the same boat (MIA husbands, single-mom juggling when that happens). I thoroughly enjoy them and am SO THANKFUL for them.

So, as you can see, we're doing pretty good despite the best efforts of the air force and the volcano :) God is good.