Friday, July 9, 2010

Yes, another day has gone. I am actually writing at 1:30 a.m. on Friday. So, we could call it Thursday, if we wanted. BUT - I don't really want to go backwards. I am thinking/hoping/praying that Friday will be better than Thursday, and Saturday will be better still.

Today was a very emotional challenging day. At least the afternoon and evening were. But, now that is behind me. I had good conversations with both the psychiatrist and the therapist this afternoon, and the therapist thought it would be beneficial for me to converse with Elizabeth on the phone. So she called me around 6:15. And, she started off with crying and saying that it was time for me to come get her now. That she didn't like it there, that people were mean, etc. I won't go into more detail here, but suffice it to say, it all made me very sad. It ended with her running off the unit where she is. So she had to receive a consequence for that. But the nurse called me about 20 minutes after our conversation and let me know that Elizabeth had not settled yet. Then she called me another 1/2 hour later, and she had finally settled. And, I just called and asked it she had gone to sleep and for this moment in time she was asleep. I am going to do the same pretty soon.

Tomorrow - today - Friday - Vince, Matt and Jordon will hit the road towards the Arctic Ocean. Woo Hoo!!! They are excited. It will be an adventure, that is for certain! Please pray for them all. If he has a connection he will update. I just don't know.

I meet with staff at the hospital tomorrow - today @ 11:30 a.m.

Thanks again for standing alongside us. We appreciate it.

jennifer

Day 17 - An update

Thanks to each of you for your prayers. It is amazing to know that God cares about the details. Here is a copy of the post to facebook:

Thank you all who posted and those who didn't post for your prayers. We feel them and we appreciate each of you and the prayers. For an update, Elizabeth and I will be flying out of Fairbanks and into Anchorage in the morning (I guess it already is morning) where she will be admitted to a child psychiatric hospital for a 2 - 4 week period. Vince will continue on with the boys, cause it would serve no purpose for all of us to just sit around waiting for treatment. Within a week or 10 days or so, they will be in Anchorage, so we can be ready for the family counselling portion of the hospitalization. Please pray for details. I will have to find someplace to stay for the time period, plus have a car to use. I know God will provide, because it is amazing to see his provision so far. Please continue to pray. Thanks.

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8:00 a.m. on Wed 7/7/10 - we are awaiting a call for our travel orders. Then we will head out - - - Praise - Elizabeth slept really well last night. Praise - for some friends who have already contacted friends in AK for helping us out.

This is kind of a God thing, for several reasons:
1) we booked an RV park last year for this trip that is within a block or two of the hospital where Elizabeth will be.
2) we went to Fort Wainright Army Post for the emergency care, and as such, the transport will be covered by our insurance. So we don't have to pay for the flight for Jennifer or ELizabeth. And since it was initiated there, we are certain that our insurance will cover the hospitalization. If it had been done in Whatcom County, it is most likely that it would have not been covered well, if at all.
3) I'm sure there is more, but we ARE thankful that she will get the help she needs.

Vince will be doing his best to post updates as he revamps the itinerary and knocks out a couple of spots that we were traveling to. He says - be prepared, his writing isn't as good as mine :) Will be in touch.
Again - thank you for thoughts and prayers.

Prayers Please

We have kind of lost track of days - to be honest with you. Our last trek of Whitehorse to Dawson City was a bit interrupted. During that trip our daughter tried to jump out of the vehicle (while we were going down the road at 45 mph), and since then, has revealed that she has tried several times to end her life. We beat-footed it to American soil and now we are here in North Pole, AK. They saw her at the ER of the Military hospital here last night, and now we are just trying to figure out what the next plan of action is. Please pray for her, please pray for all of us. Thank you.

Day Thirteen - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

We hit the road running this morning. We had a list of what we wanted to accomplish today and by the time we got back to the RV, we had done most, I think one was left undone.

First off, we went to the Transportation Museum. We saw lots of different modes of transportation, from really old train cars and some trucks and cars, all the way to airplanes and such. The most notable thing was a weather vane outside the museum. It was a plane - a real plane.




After that, we went to the Beringia Interpretive Center. The information presented and the displays - amazing! There were so many things there that made me think of the Ice Age movies.


Our next stop was the Copperbelt Mining Railway Museum. I was glad we went to this, but it was not so exciting or intriguing as some of the other stuff. But the train ride was fun, even though it took at least 20 minutes to go 1.6 km!!!


After that we headed off to the Yukon Arts Center where Elizabeth and I went around and saw all the dolls that Aboriginal women had created. They were made to exhibit at the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver. Unfortunately, the boys just weren't interested in that, but Elizabeth and I sure did! She thinks she would like to live in Alaska because of the great clothes they get to wear. Of course she said that yesterday about another time period at a different museum yesterday!



We went on the trolley that goes beside the Yukon River after that. Great fun, and the conductor (?) for it was a lot of fun. He is actually a transplant from Texas. You would have to truly LOVE it to live in a place like this. It is so remote - beautiful, but remote!! But, hey they have a Walmart!


After that we went to this place - Klondike Ribs and Salmon for an early dinner. It was around 4:30, and we had seen the groups of people waiting outside the restaurant last night - so going early was a good choice. Well, each of the kids (and Vince) ordered the Buffalo steak. I (not as adventurous as they) ordered ribs. Well, Vince, Matthew and Elizabeth truly enjoyed theirs. Jordon - not so much!


WOW - I just went and re-read yesterday's post. I think I was half asleep when I wrote it. There were a few things that just didn't make sense - even to me.

So yesterday we went to McBrides Museum - we saw a ton of animals there - figuratively and literally! Here's a pic or two from there.

Then we went to a place called The Old Log Church.

Another stop today was for milk. I absolutely choked the other day in Watson Lake where the milk was $6.99 a gallon. YIKES - and no - I didn't buy it!! So, since this town has a Walmart, I bought that and some bread. Much more reasonable there than anywhere else.

And that concludes another day. I made the kids go to bed early - they were not really happy about that!! It's 9:30 and all are asleep - except Matthew, he thinks this is way too early. And after I sign off, I will be on my way out. BECAUSE, tomorrow we depart Whitehorse, and head on up to Dawson City. It appears as if there is a lot to do there, as well. Hopefully we will have an internet connection there as well.

Thanks for reading and commenting! We appreciate that!

Day Twelve - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Another day on the road. We left Watson Lake about 7:15 this a.m. We didn't do too many stops, as the museums and such that we want to go see, we will catch on our way back. This short stretch of road is one that we will repeat.

We got into town about 1:15, and our first stop was an RV repair place to see if they could help with the bed situation. But - they couldn't. So we continued on. We went to a bunch of museums and such. Tomorrow we will continue on - there are at least six more places to go.

We didn't see any animals today, except from some birds! Well, that is that. More tomorrow

Day Eleven – Watson Lake

Well – it is Canada Day – July 1st. Which was pretty inconsequential for us, actually. The community that we are in had a few things going on – but it was raining, so we didn’t take in any of the events. We did go this morning to the local store that doubles as a department store and a gifts/souvenirs store. Had some quaint things in it. I decided that I am going to collect pins this trip. I wish I had decided this earlier – but better late than never. After that we went to the Northern Lights Center. There was a 50 minute light and laser show about the Northern Lights and other constellation stuff. Unfortunately, Elizabeth got quite motion sick during it, so I took her out. Just another part of her sensory issues. It was nice to see the northern lights however, since we won’t be seeing them *for real* as there is no real darkness at this time of the year.

Oh yes – we woke up to an empty RV park this morning. And we didn’t even wake up really late. But it was pretty empty anyway.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center this morning also. They have a program going on with a passport type booklet and you go to different places, have them stamp it and when you get 10 stamps you get entered for a couple oz of gold, if you have 20 stamps, it’s for five oz. So, not just for the drawing, but for the information of different places to go, we started that today as well. It is for the whole area from here up to Whitehorse and then some other places as well. We updated the GPS with those destinations and will stop along the way – adding to what we had planned – lots of museums and different things.

Tomorrow we head to Whitehorse and we will get up early and head on our way. Oh yes – we actually entered the Yukon Territory yesterday, not whenever it was earlier that I had mentioned. We will go in and out of Yukon Territory and B.C. about five times tomorrow before we actually enter the official border of Yukon. OK - back to today. After lunch, we went and saw another (sort of) museum. It was at the air terminal, and what it entailed was pictures of how aviation played a part in the history of this area.

Then we went to the Sign Forest. It was simply amazing. It was started by a homesick soldier who posted a sign from his hometown. Since then it has grown to the (truly) forest that it is today. We saw signs from all over, many countries, and most states and provinces represented. And that concluded our day of sight-seeing. It’s time to move on – so tomorrow we will come to you from yet another place.

Day Ten – Watson Lake

We had planned to stay at Liard for 2 nights, but one can only go to the hot springs so many times. So, we decided to cut it short and head to Watson Lake. We got in here around 5:30 this afternoon. This morning we went to the hot springs and had lunch before we left. This afternoon, we enjoyed seeing a bunch more animals on our way here. Today we saw a bear, more bison, a deer – bounding through the forest – I think that is it. Such fun. I could watch them forever!!

Our campground here is superb! They stack you in like slices of cheese. There is no room between the spots. I think the purpose is just to get you in for spending the night and then moving on. BUT – the laundry room (where I am posting this) is immaculately clean, as are the rest rooms. It is really refreshing to be at a place that shows that they care. If any of you head up this way, or are interested, it is called Downtown RV Park. It is walking distance to all the touristy stuff – which we will do tomorrow. Right now it is almost midnight and that is when this picture was taken. Can you believe how light it is outside??!!??


I can’t wait to let you know the fun that we take in tomorrow.