The past few days have started in sub-zero temperatures.  This has been cold enough that I needed to switch my normal winter gloves with the polyester-lined leather dress gloves that I usually only wear with my Sunday coat.  It has been cold enough that I'm starting to wonder if we need to install the types of engine heaters that we used in Fairbanks and start plugging in our cars every night.  It has even been cold enough that I've seriously considered getting remote engine starters as I've been having to let Mera run for five or more minutes to give her a chance to defrost the interior frost build-up.

The temperatures have been low enough that the continual fog that comes off the icing Kenai river has been quickly accumulating on the nearby trees and pathways, making them look like glittering crystalline statues.  Meanwhile the chill can be felt through our rental's window casements and walls.  Thankfully, our heat comes from a boiler that pumps the heat through the floor.  While generally quite effective, this method does leave one particular tile near the bathroom window shockingly cold.

The boxes with our cold weather clothes, which I had hoped to only unpack in a new home, are now coming out.  My loving wife, Janelle​, was kind enough to switch out most of my short sleeve shirts and place sweaters in their stead.  Generally, both work and our rental have been warm enough, but even thinking about the cold makes a comfortable sweater sound like a perfect idea.

Ranger and Satin, our two cats, seem to have adjusted fairly well to their move up.  They didn't enjoy the trip itself; both were significantly down in their weight when they arrived and it took a change in cat food for them to recover.  However, since then, they've both been playful and affectionate.  In fact, I am continually surprised every time I remember that Ranger is fifteen years old now.  He certainly doesn't act his age as he still chases cat toys and makes surprise attacks on Satin.

Considering Ranger's playfulness, I think that Satin is with the rest of us in wanting a bigger space.  There just aren't enough places to hide from Ranger or the boys.  I think her favorite spot is on my and Janelle​'s bed while one of us is reading.  She can be quite insistent that we show her the affection that she believes she is due.

Since Ranger's adventure outside (which ended with him hiding terrified under the car), neither has shown much of a desire to go out.  They don't rush the door or meow for us to take them with us.  Which is just as well considering that the temperature has been sub zero the past couple of mornings.

Even though having pets limited our renting options and caused Janelle quite a bit of difficulty on the way up, I'm really glad that they made the trip.  While pets can be a hindrance to travel, an occasional nuisance, and a bit of an expense, the calm and affection that they bring more than makes up for any troubles.

As today's first reading and Gospel dealt with the "end times," it was only fitting that today's homily would also deal with this matter.  There were two points on this matter which deeply resonated with me:

First, people so often focus on the idea of Armageddon that they don't focus on getting their day-to-day lives in order.  We have issues that we need to deal with now in our lives: things left undone, forgiveness not yet given, love not yet reciprocated.  Rather than spend our time in worry and fear, we need to focus on the good of the world and our roles in bringing more good to the lives of those around us.

Second, along that same idea of not worrying about the end times, Jesus says, "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  Translation: We don't need to worry; God will take care of it.  To bring Gandolf into it "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

So, for those of you who are cross-referencing the daily news with the Books of Daniel and Revelations, please send your worries up to God and spend your lives doing the best with what God has given to you.  The end of the world may come at any time, whether in some grand cosmic battle or in a sudden deadly accident.  One way or the other, it's how we live our lives that matters.  I, for one, would rather live in joy and praise than in condemnation and fear.

The sun doesn't seem to move in a line from east to west anymore.  Instead, it's more of a small arc along the southern horizon.  In the next five weeks or so, as we head toward the winter solstice, that arc will only become more pronounced as our encounter with the sun becomes less and less.  Already this week, I had a couple of late days at work which kept me in darkness on both my drive to and from the school.  I need to make certain that our family takes good care of ourselves as we get less of our vitamin D from our time in the sun.

Moose droppings look like a herd of rabbits stopped in the same area.  One of the younger moose decided to have his meal (we think it was a him due to his large waddle--which is not a walk, but a part of his neck) in our back yard today.  While we have seen other moose near our yard, this was the first we have seen in it.  We think he walked from our front to our back yard as the road just outside the driveway was covered in moose droppings.

Finally, clear skies mean gorgeous sights and cold weather.  Without the clouds to insulate the little bit of infrared radiation that we get from the sun, much of the heat from the sun's rays reflects back out into the depths of space.  It certainly makes me appreciate our technology even more.

I awoke to a clear, crisp, and cold morning.  Without even going outside, I was certain that we were in the single digits.  Amazingly, while looking out of our north-facing kitchen window, I caught a glimpse of green that I first thought must be light reflecting on some low-hanging clouds.  Then I realized that the light was flickering too fast and that there weren't any clouds.  It wasn't a particularly strong aurora, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Our new frost shields have made defrosting the cars much easier, but they brought a new problem: interior frost.  As Mera is a hatchback, the frost-shield gets stored in with the rest of the cab's atmosphere.  When the car heater or even the sun's rays get the cab warm enough, the frost that came with the shield condenses on my windows (particularly the rear window) to the point that I now have to take a couple of paper towels to the rear window after I return home from work or have beads of ice droplets form on it overnight.  

Hopefully this and other concerns, such as whether we should get engine heaters, will be solved once we can buy a house with a heated garage.

We are nearly halfway through November.  Halloween is nearly two weeks in our past and Thanksgiving is fewer than two weeks in our future.  Snow is on the ground here and looks to stay there for at least the next week.  I had hoped that we would have moved into our permanent residence here by now, let alone had our house sold by this point.  I am not coping well with the idea of possibly being in this tiny space through the holidays.  I can feel the load and tension across my neck and shoulders.  

I remember ordering toys through the mail and having to wait that indefinite 6-8 weeks, all the while checking the mail in a constant state of wary hope and disappointment.  I get that same feeling every time I check my phone and email now.  It's one thing to say that this is part of a bigger plan that has greater rewards for patience and that we will look back on this time at some point in the future with fond memories, but it's quite another to live through the moments now.

I know ... I know.  There are those who live for longer periods of time with less.  There have been tighter times in my own life.  I should be more grateful for what I have.  In these things, I obviously need more discipline.

For all-in-all, life has been going very well.  Our new staff Turkey Trot performance has been coming along nicely; in two weeks, we should make quite the debut.  Trevor​ is doing well in all of his classes except math; although, I hope we will see an improvement in that class tomorrow.  The other boys have already been invited to birthday parties and other similar events for children their age.  Janelle​ has us all going to a mothers' group meeting tomorrow (dads and kids have been invited to dinner).  My job has been largely enjoyable (and passing by so tremendously fast).  We've already become a part of our new church--it sounds like there are several events where they want me to sing in these next couple of months.

I need to be more aware of the blessings and less focused on what I don't have.  It will just take more adjusting on my part.

We take time on this day to thank all of our veterans who have served our country.  It is the hope of many that this day will remind us to take better care of our veterans, not just once a year, but every day, holiday or not.  I, for one, am glad that our nation's attitude towards veterans has improved since the time of Vietnam.  Now, I would like for our government to pay more than lip service to making certain that our veterans are better cared for both in the field and after.

Rather than waking up to a world covered in ice as the weather had predicted, we found ourselves with another couple of inches of snow covering cars and country.  Thankfully, just yesterday we had picked up windshield covers, so the snowfall was not really a chore.  Instead, it brought a gorgeous white coating to my drive.  With the help of my parents, Janelle​ was able to get a set of studded tires today so that she can also better enjoy miracles such as this morning.  

While I may tire of snow and cold by the time we come to March (or even April), I fondly remember the Novembers of my youth as being snow covered, and so days such as today fill me with a pleasant nostalgia.  We had been warned that the winters have recently seen less snow that Michigan.  I only hope that these past few snows have demonstrated that this winter will be different.

Today's homily focused on gratitude.  The widow in the Gospel gives away her entire livelihood which was but a few cents.  Compared to those who gave only from their surplus or who felt proud of themselves for giving large amounts of wealth away, the widow's donation is worthy of Christ's attention not just due to its proportion of what she had (everything) but what it means to give everything we have to God.

The widow recognized that everything she has is from the Lord and thus was willing to give everything to those less fortunate.  Her happiness was in the Lord and she needed nothing else.  She saw the suffering of others and gave everything she had to try and stop it.  Hers was a life of gratitude.

It's these sorts of messages that threaten to fill me with shame for wanting beyond what the Lord has provided.  But the Lord is not looking to blame.  Rather, He is asking us to reexamine our lives and to give everything that we have to his family.  This message is often repeated throughout the Gospels: We must not hide the talents, abilities, and gifts that God has given us, but share them with one another to make the world a better place.  We show our gratitude through sharing these gifts with others.

I slept soundly throughout the night and was surprised when the time showed that it was 7:30 while my mind clearly told me it was four in the morning.  Despite being fooled by the predawn darkness, my body wouldn't let me sleep in any longer ... although I made a valiant attempt to do so for the next half hour or so.  By then, the young boys were up, wanting to eat breakfast and watch the new episodes of "Jake the Pirate" that are now on Netflix.

We Skyped with Katrina​ for nearly two hours, our first video chat with her since she returned to Michigan in August.  I know that she and Alex​ still have a few more years of school and that we don't have a big enough of a place for them right now anyway, but I really would like for our girls to be here with us.  Rather than being cathartic, the call intensified that feeling.  Still, I thank this technology that allows us this type of communication.

We went for our normal Saturday dump run and were greeted by amazingly clear skies and gorgeous mountain vistas on our trip.  We also spent a while at the Soldotna library so that all of us could get local library cards.  Janelle​ and I didn't pick up anything as Janelle is currently in mid series and I am on book six of the twelve young adult books for Battle of the Books.  Trevor​, however, was able to find an Orson Scott Card book that the school library didn't have (our copy is in one of our many boxes either here or in Michigan) and Connor picked up a number of chapter books that involve dragon stories which he and the librarian picked.  Rowen also chose a few.  The library has a large play area for kids and a good sized seating area around a fireplace for its older patrons.  Unfortunately, it does not have as good of a DVD collection as Jackson's libraries do.

We concluded our trip by picking up some more snow equipment, although we did not yet find the windshield screens that my mother has wisely suggested that we get.  For a rather late lunch, we made a rare stop at Subway, using more of the gift cards that Mary Malewitz​ and the choir gave us (as well as a generous buy one get one free promotion).
 
Our early evening was spent unsuccessfully looking through boxes for our missing Wii nunchucks and doing some more reorganization.  We did find a fourth (and more) Wii-mote so that both Connor and Trevor could race Janelle and me.  Unfortunately, without more nunchucks, Trevor had to use the Wii-mote in its "steering wheel" configuration to play MarioKart (as I have been doing.  Much to Trevor's rather loudly-voiced irritation, this allowed Janelle to get second overall and for Connor to come in third.

It's been a good day.

Having failed the test to get my Alaskan driver's licence on Tuesday and knowing that I was going to retake the test on Thursday, I spent an hour or so taking the online practice exam over and over until I hit 16 out of 16 questions--the perfect score.  Thus prepared, I felt extraordinarily confident going to the DMV yesterday.  I had to wait a little while before there was an available civil servant, but was able to quickly move through the paperwork since I had been there so recently.

I was sent to touch screen number one and was finished four minutes later.  When my score and time came up on the screen directly below my first test (where I failed after only nine questions), the attendant looked over at me, surprise evident on her face.  "Way to go, you," was all she could say.

So, I have Alaskan friends, an Alaskan church, an Alaskan job, Alaskan plates, and an Alaskan licence ... I guess that I'm just waiting on an Alaskan home.

There's a writing technique that I was taught to use when I want to add more description to a scene that I'm writing.  In short, the idea is to take a moment that you want to capture and view it from all angles (kind of like one of those slowed-down action shots in the Matrix).  You consider all of the senses when examining that moment and try to write all of them down.  In the end, the scene should take at least as long to read as it would take to actually exist in reality.  Now, as a tool that can be used for revision, "exploding the moment" usually creates more detail than a writer actually wants to use in a story.  It is always easier to cut than to create.

Anyway, I haven't practiced this technique in a while and something about sitting down at my computer today made me want to give it a try.  So, here we go:

The thirsty gurgle of the dishwasher draining into the sink blankets Janelle's voice as she reads the boys their bedtime story behind the closed door to their bedroom.  At the moment, the only other sounds are the occasional patter of rain outside and the arrhythmic click of Trevor's mouse as he electronically crafts his character's equipment in Minecraft.

With a twinge in my left ankle reminding me that I take much longer to recover now than I did in my youth, I step towards my chair in the corner of our beige-painted dwelling.  My left hand grasps my chair, feeling the rough denim of my winter jacket which is heavier than the green lawn chair on which it is draped.  I turn it so I can maneuver myself between it and the two mahogany-colored TV tables that support my monitors.  I deftly rearrange the fuzzy black Simpleposture seat cushion so that it lines up with the front of the chair in a way that will let me sit in relative comfort without my tailbone playing in painful symphony with my ankle.

With my left foot slowly pushing away the cables for my headset, I reset the chair to its original position and carefully sit down, slightly adjusting how I am sitting to get the full benefit of my cushion's curves.  I pull my keyboard to my lap, its cord briefly catching in the crack formed by the uneven height of the TV tables.  Feeling slightly like I am now sitting in the cockpit of my own starfighter, I press the power button of my computer and am rewarded by the satisfying snap that it makes.  I then turn on my monitors by finding their power buttons more by feel than sight, enjoying the convex contour of the first and the rectangular resistance of the second.  

I lean back into my chair; my fingers automatically land gently on the home keys of my ergonomic keyboard.  My palms press on its vinyl rest, keeping the keyboard secure on my knees.  Despite the tiredness caused by the virus I'm fighting and my restless sleep these past two weeks, a wave of contentment--possibly fueled the ice cream I had recently enjoyed which now sits coolly in my belly--washes over me.

I know what I'm going to write today.

We got to see the aurora last night.  It wasn't strong enough to take any good pictures, and I was a little too disoriented at the time (having been woken up in the "wee" hours of the morning) to truly appreciate it.  I was just awake enough to be happy that I was awake and got a chance to see it.

Janelle​ informed me that Connor was upset this today when he realized that we weren't going to have Thanksgiving with the rest of my family as we have in the past.  I have to say that I agree with him, but that was one of the consequences of this move that I knew I would have to face.  At this point, I'm praying that we will be out of this rental by Thanksgiving; however, it's looking more like that's not God's plan for us.

I failed the multiple choice Alaska driver's test on my first try yesterday.  I was irritated with both the test and myself.  Some of the questions were poorly worded, but I also should have taken more time to read through them carefully.  I had to wait at least a day before I could try again, and due to choir practice today, that means I will make my second attempt tomorrow.  I've spent a while reviewing the online materials until I could pass the online test (which is made from the same randomly generated question pool) with a 100%, so I should do better.

A fellow teacher was a part of a multi-car pile-up yesterday that sent eight people to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries ... including himself.  He broke his femur; thankfully, his son was not injured.  I pray for his quick recovery and in thanks that the accident was not worse.

Despite the icy roads, I am still just in awe of my drive.  While I would prefer to live on a road not quite as dangerous as the one we are on (or that my coworker is on), I still would prefer to live out of town to get to be more a part of this wondrous natural setting.  God really knows His decorating.