Little Dresses

What an awesome day! Nine of us ladies and two men spent six hours together sewing little dresses for African and Nicaraguan children. This is the first time I have organized something like this and I must say that it went extremely well! 

In a few weeks I am headed to Nicaragua on a medical mission trip. I have been with the team several times before and have always enjoyed serving with them. Much of the time is spent in orphanages and rural villages providing medical care. However, another large part of the trip is clothing the children. So, the idea came to me one day while I was sewing and thinking about my upcoming trip. Why not gather together with friends and have a sewing party?! 

And hence today was born! 

I work with all of the people who came today and my clinic graciously offered to let us use the conference room for our dress making celebration. I just think it is so awesome that everyone was eager to help. Stacy, in the above picture, even bought loads of brand new Old Navy clothing and shoes for me to take. THANKS, STACY!

Today we made a total of 22 dresses and I must say, they are absolutely adorable. As a matter of fact, it went so well that I am going to continue organizing similar events for other causes. There was so much selfless giving, joy, and peace cultivated today that I want it to continue on.  

It was a real pleasure spending time with these women and having my mom there made it even more perfect. She was a real help with all of her sewing knowledge and her humor. 

It truly feels good to serve others and when you do it among friends it is just that much sweeter.  When like minded people get together you really can accomplish many good things. 

And a big thank you to Dr. Hambleton (aka, Dr. Buttons and Bows) for making a last minute sewing dash to restock our ever dwindling supplies! 

 So, Nicaragua, here I come! And, I bring with me lots of beautiful dresses made with much love! 

Thanks Ladies! I had so much fun! 

Merry Christmas, We Watched Hachi!

Merry Christmas! What a great way to start the holidays, with the arrival of my mom. She made the long journey (almost 24 hours with the layovers) to spend Christmas in Juneau. Although she just got here, she has already seen more than Ian and I have, at least more shopping stores.  

On her first official day in Juneau, my mom put on her big girl pants (as she likes to say) and headed out to conquer Juneau. I had to work and was a little skeptical about leaving her alone in a new place. Well let me tell you, she did very well on her own! I called her mid morning to check on her and she had already made several friends and had hit all the hot spots.  When I got home, I found her walking down the street with gifts and fresh baked bread in hand.

I took my mom to hike Mendenhall Glacier after work on Monday. This is the view on our way to the glacier. It was like a little winter wonderland. The large pines were covered with  snow and it was just gorgeous. We just love Juneau, I believe it is one the prettiest places in Alaska. If you ask my mom, she will probably agree. I think she is already looking for real estate. 

Behind my mom is the glacier. You cannot make it out all that well, but when the sun hits it is is almost turquoise. We are actually walking on the lake in this picture. It is a popular place for skate skiing, snow showing, hiking, etc. I am hoping to take her out later next week for a little cross country skiing followed by glacier climbing...I TOTALLY think she has it in her!

And we stumbled upon an iceberg. In the summer these float around the lake creating a canoe obstacle course.  In the winter, their main purpose is to give refreshing licks (see below). 

And no, her tongue did not get stuck. 

Happy times, yes indeed! Nothing brings the spirit of Christmas except a tear- jerker, right? After finishing my Christmas sweet potato and spinach quiche we settled down to watch the true story made movie, Hachi.  It is worth the rent so I will not create a spoiler alert, but lets just say that it's emotional roller coaster left us needing a nap afterward. Ian thought it was funny how my mom and I were sobbing. Just can't help us animal lovers. 

These are the Christmas gifts that I made for my mom. The paper pieced cross has three beads down the front with the letters "W B F"- Walk By Faith. These beads actually came from bracelets that we made together when I went to Germany in high school. We both wore them and promised not to take them off until I made it back. I found them when I was home a few months back and thought that it would make a great memory quilt for her. 

This is the second art quilt that I made for my mom. For those of you who know her, she is  a real cat lover. I had a lot of fun putting this together. 

This is my Christmas gift, a tree! I just loved this little felted tree and have big plans for it. Ian and I don't usually do gifts, so this was a real surprise from my mom. I was telling her about this artsy shop across the street from our apartment and how they had this little tree that I wanted to get.  Of course, she went the very next morning and bought it for me.  Its super cute!

T 

You know how it goes with holiday pictures, someone always has to take a bad one, or two......I just wanted one good Christmas picture with Ian.....But for some reason the little princess just could not keep his eyes open. The flash was hurting them too much. So, we kept trying.......

And trying.........

And trying.....

And finally, we got one!

He was not all that thrilled about my attempts (and humor) at his lack of photogenicity. I think it was mostly because I was taking him away from his Christmas gift from my mom, a rare vintage book.  My guy just loves his books!

 In all, we had a very wonderful Christmas at home. I am so happy to have my mom here with us.  So Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

The Beauty of Juneau

 It has been a while since I have posted anything new, not because of any lack of new Juneau adventures, more because of them. We have really begun to get into a good routine here. Ian recently started his new job in behavioral health. Although he tries to run from this, this type of work always seems to find him.  He likes to say that he will have been in behavioral health for two years and they promised they will let him out soon, haha!

The best part is that we work right next door to each other so he can join me on my bike rides. Unfortunately about a month ago I had a major wipe out and had to get 8 stitches in my right knee. I was going down hill, hit a patch of ice and totally crashed. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet as I might have gotten more stitches in places other than my knee. Although I was prepared to do the suturing myself, my staff encouraged me to get outside help.

So, since the spill I have not biked to work (it really has taken me all this time to not only get my courage back but to be able to use my knee entirely). We are going to be getting studded tires soon as I still want to continue biking as much as possible.

We also have found some great skiing trails. The other week I went with a friend to the ski on the glacier. This was really cool until we hit some water and our skis froze. A little nerve racking, but my Juneau born friend ensured me that this was just run off from the stream and that the lake really was frozen...uh huh.

I have also re-found my love for sewing. Below are some recent projects. I am really getting into art quilting as your imperfections turn into masterpieces! It is great because I don't measure anything and just cut away. I made this Russian Orthodox church quilt for Ian, I was really proud of it.

You can't tell from the picture, but I even sewed on little beads for the door handles. The picture represents Alaska: the fireweed plants, ravens, rolling hills, sea and cliffs, and the Orthodox church.

As a matter of fact, I organized a ladies sewing day for the end of this month.  We are going to be making little dresses for African and Nicaraguan children. So far I have had a huge response and am really excited to  do this project. I came up with the idea as I am going on a medical mission trip to Nicaragua in January and will be taking the dresses we make with me.  A nurse that I work with even bought boxes of brand new Old Navy clothes and shoes for me to take! It was such a thoughtful gift!

We still love Juneau. There is so much to do (hiking, skiing, going to plays / theatre, etc) but also because this town does a lot to help others. We recently joined up for Big Brother / Big Sister and will soon be getting our Little.  Some may even say that this is our attempt to try out the kid thing (still not sure that we want one of our own yet) but mostly we are doing this because we really want to become more active in others lives. It is just too short not too.

I am still really enjoying my job. We see a lot of pathology so just when I thought I had this medicine thing figured out, I realize that I still have a lot of learning to do. Thankfully I am still able to use many of the skills I acquired in Aniak, just not the chest tubes or intubations, whew! That is one of the best things about my new job, I CAN SEND PEOPLE TO THE ER!!!!!! Yeah! My colleagues are super and I am really happy to be here.

My mom will be coming in two weeks and then we are headed to Pennsylvania for my brother, Blake's wedding. Soon I will have another sister to add to the family, Gretchen. She is absolutely wonderful, loves my brother very much, and has a true beauty radiating inside her. I cannot wait for her to be a Ringenberg and to have a new scuba diving partner!

Blessings!

Juneau

So, our new baby may not be flesh and blood but rather nuts and bolts. Regardless, the "birth" was well thought out, quick, and costly....although it will hopefully not take us 18 years to pay off like most children do (at least I have been told)

Yes, we have officially crossed over. From a Honda Foreman all terrain vehicle to a more comfortable and heated ride, a subaru outback. Some may say into liberal / hippy territory as well (Dave Dean) but really, it is extremely well suited for Alaska (everyone drives a subi!) and for our new lifestyle: off roading and bike trails....yeah!

And, thanks to Ian we even negotiated two bike rakes (yet to come).  However, I am still hoping to ride my bike to work as much as possible as our new apartment is only 3.8 miles away. In attempts to be more green and just to enjoy the beauty of Juneau I am going to venture into the daily drizzle and get my wheels on!

Most of you may know that we moved to Juneau in October.  It was a rather quick and unexpected move for us, but a good one nevertheless. Our time in the bush was wonderful, I would do it again, but the universe has opened up another possibility (and thankfully a much healthier one) for us and so we have welcomed it with expectations and love.

View from Apartment

I am definitely going to miss aspects of Aniak, mostly the people. We have established many close friends and I still think of them often. Living in such close proximity has its way of creating family that bypasses bloodlines (although almost everyone native to Aniak is related somehow).  Our dear friend, Randy, is closer to finishing his cabin so hopefully we can make it back next year and see him.

But, as Ian says, we are not saying goodbye. For somehow in this space-time continuum (or lack thereof) I know that I will see them again. It may possibly be at a large banquet table where we can all share the journey we took to get there.

Downtown Juneau

So, I blazed the trail into Juneau 1 wk ahead of Ian to establish our home and find a car. Not to down play his part. He basically packed, cleaned, and settled everything in Aniak, and I am extremely grateful for his job well done! I know it was a TON of work and will reward him with many yummy gluten free / vegan dishes when he comes home.

Our new apartment is downtown above some shops. It is VERY cute and actually quite fun coming from rural Alaska. I haven't been in a store for a while (except for the 4-6 hour visits to Joann Fabric every couple of months) and it is right across the street from the public library. Ian is going to be in a pseudo-heaven with so many books so close to his home!

Ian in the Library, his second home. 

Our Apartment

I know it seems rather ironic that a 25 year vegetarian (now gluten free vegan) would live above a fur gallery....It is rather strange for me as well. Maybe I can do some PETA activism when the tourist season picks up?

But it does overlooks the harbor / ocean and behind us are large mountains and waterfalls, yes, waterfalls thanks to all the drizzle Juneau gets. The other day I was driving around and there was a huge rainbow coming across the snow capped mountains and what appeared to be out of the waterfall. It was so pretty!

Perhaps the best part besides the view / location is that it came furnished so we could just move right in. Due to the cost of moving in Alaska, and our desire to live more simply, (how does one always seem to acquire so many  things anyway?) we sold everything except some clothes, books (of course), and my favorite Jane Austen DVDs. So, having a furnished apartment was a total find.

On the first night, though, we had an unexpected guest. As a matter of fact, he or she enjoyed our garbage so much that they kept coming back. Just after we walked up the steps to our new apartment, Ian looked out the window and a large black bear was rummaging through our trash! We couldn't believe it! After all of our time in Aniak we only saw 1 bear about 200 yards away. First night in Juneau,  a bear so close that you could smell him!

Bear Eating Our Trash

Bear on top of dumpster

Stange enough, though, we did not see him while we walked up the stairs? How could we miss him? Thankfully, our encounter was from a window, and so was the next nights encounter, and the next. He has been coming back every night and leaving us with a lovely surprise in the morning.

Though the pictures are not very good, you get the point.

In addition, there are many hiking / bike trails and ski trails available so we will have plenty to do. Oh and did I mention that there are TWO fabric stores in town?!?!?

So, here is our new place. As more comes we will update the blog with posts.  They may not be as rugged as before, but hopefully interesting still.

And just a final thought, there is a wonderful Alaskan cruise that takes you to Juneau should any of you be interested.  If you haven't quite gotten into your bikini in several years, or if you have and are not sure why it has shrunk so much, you can clothe yourself in your favorite corduroys and turtleneck to take in the last frontier with us. Of course if you come in the summer months, you could still ditch the bikini for a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a raincoat; often much more flattering for the like.

Our open door policy still stands, RSVP is still recommended though!

Blessings,
Sarah