I think that we're entering what will be closer to our normal routine.  

We still haven't quite figured out how we plan on picking up Trevor.  Currently, Janelle​ is driving to the school to get him, but we might have him ride the bus home, except on most Wednesdays when he might be walking to church (or waiting at the school for me to pick him up to drive him the two blocks) for choir practice.  Janelle has, however, figured out the little boys' schedule (at least until tomorrow's early release).

As far as my job goes, I can't believe that we are at the halfway point of my first quarter (which I suppose makes it the first eighth).  I've begun to establish my rhythm in my classes, although I still have a couple of things that I need to figure out.  For the time being, I am finally caught up on all of my hiring paperwork and in-services.  Now I just need to get ahead on my planning and grading.

We've established a little bit more normal of a daily pattern at home in regards to eating meals, watching shows, and working on the computer.  Once I get more used to the daily abuse I'm taking through my afternoon cross-fit, I'd like to do a bit more in the evenings, but as is I've been spending the past two days doing a lot of sitting around and moaning.

All said, things are good.  Still, I feel like we're just circling right now, waiting for clearance to land.  I've been breathing easier since Janelle and the boys arrived, but I still feel a bit ... restless, like I'm waiting for the final piece to fit into place.

In the end, I'm trusting in God's plan for us, as He hasn't let us down so far.  I'm also looking at it in the light that my father suggested, that this is an adventure on which we will look back fondly ... once it's over.

At this moment, I would not survive the zombocalypse.  Even the slowest shambling undead from the oldest zombie movies would be able to wear me down and devour my brains.  I'm not talking "I Am Legend" jumpers or even "The Walking Dead's" moving corpses, just your normal, run-of-the-mill brain eaters making me one of their ranks.

This was made all too clear to me today during my first workout after school.  We have nationally certified cross-fit instructors on our staff who offer all interested staff and students free cross-fit training after school.  Our school nurse has been encouraging me to join for the past couple of weeks, and with my family a bit more established into a schedule, I decided to start.

And as a result ... I hurt.  A lot.

Now, I've been told by a number of people that it will get better as my body gets used to this torture, but there is certainly a part of my brain that questions whether they are lying to me out of revenge for some unknown slight on my part.  That said, if I want to outlast zombies (or even the next few decades), I need to work on making my body more of a temple and less of a ruined shrine.

So often the readings from mass resonate with me, but I was particularly struck by a portion from today's second reading from James.  In it, he says: "If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them,
'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, '
but you do not give them the necessities of the body,
what good is it? "
This, to me, sums up the problem with those politicians who attack, rather than expand welfare, with those who claim to be Christian but then hide behind the saying: "God helps those who help themselves," and those who argue that being poor is a choice and thus they don't need to help.  Our intentions do not make up for our lack of action.  I know that there is more that I can do in this area as well.

Meanwhile, Janelle​ got her first good view of Mount Redoubt today.  It's an impressive sight, with a ghost-like quality about it.  Due to the optical effects of our curved world and atmosphere, this mountain can appear larger when you are farther away or be visible at the top of one hill, but not the next.  Yet it is always there.  There's a metaphor here, but I think I'll let you come up with one on your own.

While we have not found our home up here in Soldotna, we owe a great deal to the many people who helped us get this far. I sent out my thanks to John McKnight IV, who helped us in so many ways, today. However, I didn't want to leave out the many others.

Special thanks go to my father, Greg Marks, who funded our move, allowing us to make make this transition without accumulating debt in doing so. He also has provided valuable advice and help. Those special thanks also go to my mother, Cheryl Swanson Marks, has done a tremendous amount of work, from large scale projects to completing tiny details that make a big difference. She has done so much despite being quite upset about our decision to move away.

My daughters, Alex and Katrina, also gave up a great deal of their time this summer to help us with this move. They sorted, packed, and helped us move, as well as helped with the younger boys. It's quite hard to be so far away from them, and we hope they will want to get summer jobs up here.

My sister, Katie Holton, has also put in a great deal of work as well as given sound advice in getting our house ready. My other sister, Jennifer Wallingford, provided food to sustain the movers. Steve and Alana Tuckey agreed to house Katrina in our absence, helped load our stuff and clean, and provided money and more to us. Melody McKnight also traveled here from Wyoming with John and her daughters, Shelby and Lilia, to give us a wide range of assistance. Candice Murphy gave up days of her time to help my wife sort, clean, and pack. Jenni Leckrone and her husband, Richard, drove out here on more than one occasion to help us pack and clean. Mary Malewitz and her husband, Steve, gave us food for our journey as well as help in fixing and cleaning the house after Janelle and the kids left. Jerry Little, Robert Williams, Deb and Phil Clark, and Howell (I'm not sure I spelled his name correctly, and I can't remember his last name) all gave us their time and energy to get us going or to help out after we left.

If I have missed anyone who helped us in our time of need, I deeply apologize. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. We thank you from the depths of our hearts!

I didn't get much of a chance to post anything yesterday as we didn't arrive back in Soldotna until very early this morning, having dropped my brother-in-law, John McKnight IV, off at the Anchorage airport.  We owe so much to a great deal of people for their help with our move, and John is one to whom we owe the most.

When he discovered that Janelle​ was going to drive a U-Haul up to Alaska with Katrina​, our little boys, and our cats, he volunteered to drive from Wyoming (where he is still working on creating a living area for himself before winter), help with getting our house ready for sale, load up the vehicles, and drive up here ... all for the chance to see Alaska (he missed out when we last lived up here).  While in Michigan, he remodeled our bathrooms as well as repaired or outright fixed a number of issues.  On the trip up and afterwards, he maintained the vehicles, including replacing the front bearings on the van.  Throughout it all, he provided good company as well as gave us an excuse to explore farther than I had on my own.

I'm quite glad that he made the trip.  I hope that he has safe travels (he should be nearly to Salt Lake by now) and an easy time of getting the housing ready in Wyoming.  I'm certain that he will appreciate some quiet time after over a month around my family, but I think he enjoyed his journey here as well.

While John​ and Janelle​ did get a chance to go fishing, it was just a bit too late in the season for them to get any bites.  Janelle made up for it by cooking up some cod that she caught at the store.

The little boys are greatly enjoying their school.  Connor says that it's easier than he expected and Rowen says that he's getting better at counting to 100.  Both loved the fact that they got three recesses today.

We visited the two homes that I am most interested in.  For both of them, the boys said that we needed to buy them right away.  They didn't seem to understand why we couldn't move into them today.  Our real estate agent was very good with them, even timing their runs around one of the houses.  Both houses have their good sides and bad sides, but I think I'm still siding with the weird one.

Janelle and John plan on driving down to Homer tomorrow before he has to leave for his flight to Wyoming (well, technically Utah) tomorrow night.  I'm a bit envious of their trip.

We have reached the first month of our stay in Alaska, and there's still a question about where we might be staying for the next month.  We are on hold when it comes to buying a house until our house sells.  I may have a line on another house sitting opportunity where we would only have to pay $300 a month to pay for utilities.  The guy only wants to have one person, or maybe a married couple, house sit.  However, at this late point in the season he's getting desperate enough that he might be willing to have us bring in three boys and two cats.  We will know more next week.  I'm a little concerned about the Internet there being even worse than it is here (as it cuts out again) as well as what we would do when we bought our own house.

No luck from this afternoon's fishing trip, but the morning will hopefully bring in tomorrow's dinner.  Connor and I took a walk around the neighborhood and met another former Michigander (from Grand Rapids).  Connor was worried that, now that he knows what to do when he comes across a bear, he didn't know what to do if he meets a moose.  It's enough of a concern that he wouldn't play outside unless someone was out there watching him.

Meanwhile, the boys' first day at school seemed to go well.  They especially like that they get to play on the playground before school.  We will see how they do riding the bus next week.

More issues resolved: After checking with and being rejected by (due to space issues) the two main schools in town, Janelle​ was finally able to enroll the boys in Sterling Elementary.  It's in the opposite direction of mine and Trevor​'s schools, but it ended up having great class sizes (both in square feet of classroom and lower student count per teacher).

John​ spent a good portion of the day replacing the front bearings on our van.  We were told that they would need to be replaced before we left for the Wyoming trip, let alone Alaska, so it's a good thing we finally got that done as they were sounding rather rough.

Janelle and John still plan on visiting Homer and Seward sometime this week before he leaves Friday night.  Hopefully, he will also get in some fishing time as well even though most of the fishing season is over. 

Today was our first day of really getting some time to rest.  Whether it was because of my new mattress or the fact that my wife and sons were safely up here with me, last night was the best sleep that I have had in at least a month.  The rental we are in is still cramped, but it is much more livable now.  Most of the boxes are in the garage, but most of them are still mostly accessible (if not easily accessible) due to a clear aisle running the garage’s length.

We have to be really careful about the outside doors.  We are using the garage as our primary entrance and exit, and it generally works as a kind of airlock so we don’t track in as much dirt and to keep the kitties inside.  Last night, the airlock system failed and Ranger decided to live up to his name, leaving the confines of the rental unnoticed.  It wasn’t until we tried to account for the cats before possibly shutting them into the boys’ room that we noticed he was missing.  A thorough search of the house made us hope that he was hiding in the garage, but he gave us no indication that he was there either. John​ eventually found Ranger cowering under Mera (my Prius), who was parked about twenty feet away from the garage.  When we finally extricated him and brought him into the garage, he was suddenly in a tremendous hurry to get back inside.

Today has largely been filled with some unpacking, dropping off the U-Haul, shopping (where Janelle​ was teased by the cashier for buying fish instead of catching them), and taking a walk around the neighborhood.  The sun even came out for a little while, which helped us better see the fresh moose prints in our driveway.  

Tomorrow morning, our house should be on the market, the younger boys will be registered for school (and perhaps start it), and John will try to catch our dinner.

In today's mass, Jesus takes the time to heal a man of his deafness.  He walked among the poor and injured, not the wealthy and powerful.  The second reading reminds us that we need to be servants to those who need the most, not those who have the most.  This is not an easy task for us as we, as humans, are so easily attracted to wealth and power, wanting to befriend those who have either in the hopes of having both for ourselves.  Jesus offers us a love that is greater than anything the trappings of the world can give.  He has taken the time to heal us and open our ears as well.  It is up for us to listen to His call.

A note on my updates: Some people have noticed and commented on the lack of pictures in my posts.  That is due to the temperamental and often lacking Internet connection in the duplex that we currently rent.  The few pictures that I have posted have either been off of my cellular data or involved an inordinate amount of swearing on my part.  With even more devices now in the house competing for the limited bandwidth, I don't expect this situation to improve for the time being.  Janelle​ has always been better on uploading pictures anyway.

I only had a few hours of sleep last night before I had to leave at 1:30 am to take Katrina​ to the airport in Anchorage for her 6 am flight.  I dropped her off a little after 4 am, giving her plenty of time to deal with security before boarding her flight and giving me time for the three hour drive back so I could catch a little bit more sleep before singing at mass today.  I am pleased to note that, with the help of three cold mocha drinks and a number of "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me" podcasts, I made the trip without incident.  We were definitely sorry to see her go.

We managed to unload the truck and pick up new mattresses, having left our old ones behind.  We also signed and sent the paperwork needed to list our house.  Our sale price will be a bit lower than I had hoped, but considering the market and the time of year, I'm mostly just hoping to have it sold as soon as possible while still getting enough for clearing the down payment we need for a house.

It's been a full day, and I'm pretty tired.  It's time to test out that new mattress.

Update: It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday, Trevor and I left immediately from school and headed to Anchorage. After a little bit of cell phone discussion, it was decided that all of us (including our friends in Anchorage) would meet up at Costco there. As we were the first to arrive, I set up the membership (executive, of course), and Elizabeth Applebee Larson met us in the parking lot as we dropped of the paperwork. She was our invaluable guide to the wonders of Costco and led us to great rewards while helping us avoid the snares and traps.

We had a full cart by the time Janelle, Katrina, John, and the boys arrived. No impulsive husbands were injured in the making of that reunion. Shawna Jack and her clan arrived shortly afterward. She then led us to Robert Jack's place of employment, Barnes and Noble, where we got to enjoy the store as well as have dinner in its cafe. We didn't get to Soldotna until 1am or fall asleep for another hour after that.

Today, we spent a while unpacking about half of the truck (until we could find towels for those wanting showers) and I gave our new arrivals a quick tour of Soldotna and Kenai. We visited my school (including under-decorated my classroom), Trevor's school, the boys' future (as in next week) school, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Soldotna City Park (including the amazing playground and river walk), Fred Meyer, China Sea buffet for lunch, Home Depot, the Cook Inlet (including the beach and yet another great playground), and St. Elias Brewery. We even saw a moose on the road by where we currently stay. Whew!

Our home will hopefully be on the market this coming Tuesday. I hope that my family in Michigan enjoyed their day celebrating (belatedly) my parents' anniversary and their time at the lake cottage.

It so good to be reunited once again, no matter how cramped the living arrangement.

Update: Trevor and I are cleaning up the house and laundering bedding in preparation for tomorrow's reunion with Janelle, Katrina, the little boys, our cats, and driver/builder extraordinaire John McKnight IV.  Tomorrow night will be exactly one month from my last night with my family, and despite Janelle's threats of killing me on sight, I am tremendously anxious to be with them again.  Anxious enough that Trevor and I are planning to leave immediately from school and meet them in Anchorage.  Hopefully, we will also get a chance to meet up with Elizabeth Applebee Larson, and  Robert and Shawna Jack.

Their trip today has been the most impressive of any of the previous days.  They've seen amazing sights as well as a variety of wildlife (Katrina's count had them seeing four bears, at least two that I know of were grizzlies).  Tomorrow, all except the very beginning of their journey will be in Alaska.  In my opinion, the best sights are yet to come.  

In Michigan, our house is undergoing its final preparations before our realtor takes pictures and puts it up on the market tomorrow (hopefully).  From some of the pictures that I've seen, I hardly recognize the place.  I know that there is still more to be done, but I am amazed at what has been accomplished.  Thanks so much to everyone who has helped with the house and the move, most especially my parents Greg and Cheryl.

I have Les Miserables going through my head again ... "One Day More!"