Cruise to Victoria for a Day! August 22nd 2009

So, I won a day cruise to Victoria off of the radio. I called in to a particular local radio station every single day for a week and often had 5 or 6 phones from work calling at once. I would hear "you are caller number 1"—"you are caller number 4"—"you are caller number 5"—"you are caller number ..."—whatever...you get the picture...I was never caller number 10! Every day I was a lot of numbers, but not caller number ten. That is...until Friday.

On Friday I heard the phone ring and ring and ring and was about to hang up when I heard "hello?"...I hate when radio stations do that to you...like ask WHY you are calling. SHHEEESH! Just tell me if I have won or not. Don't make me explain why I am calling. Well, I said my name and like a bumbling idiot also said that I hoped I was caller number ten... YES! I was caller number TEN, and the enthusiastic radio personality congratulated "Jenny from Lynden" on winning the cruise!!!! Very ridiculous—but somehow I no longer cared how cheesy they were about it. I WON! Then the music started. I could hear the fan fair music through the phone (and on my radio in the other room). I was caller number TEN! ME! I won the cruise to the San Juan Islands. I sighed a very happy and content sigh as I hung up the phone after "they" got some more of my "information". I was so very excited to share my news. I was so very proud of me. And a great day it was!

What did I win exactly? It was a day cruise on the ocean around the San Juan Islands and to Victoria where we could spend 5 hours on shore taking in the sites and then at 5:00 meet back on the boat for dinner on the way back with high probability of seeing whales! Oh yes! It was going to be a great day.

We left pretty early in the morning for the station and the boat ride was quite pleasant. A friend of mine from At Home America who used to sell with me was also on board with her husband. They were making their trip a mini overnight getaway! Very fun. We chatted with them most of the way around the islands and then went our separate ways when we reached shore. It was a bright and sunny day—not at all as cold as we were expecting. In fact, once we reached Victoria the coats and sweaters came off as we were both sweating. We had a lot of fun walking around.

We ate lunch at Milestones! Our favorite restaurant there. It is a tradition now for when we go to Victoria. We have been three times there and have always enjoyed the food. It always seems to mark a Milestone in our lives too. Well, this time was just a good relaxing FREE trip for us and we were celebrating. Lunch was delicious as always and since we have been so many times before and we did have a bit of time restraint we decided not to actually site see too far off the inner harbor. We walked along the water and watched multiple amazing street performers doing incredible feats of immense danger and were quite entertained. The street peddlers trinkets and gifts were also entertaining. Lots of amazing talent on the streets in Victoria.

5 o'clock came fast on our little trip and we headed back to the boat. We had our picture taken and watched for wales as the sun set with dinner. Although the buffet style dinner was not spectacular (although Miles liked the salmon) the whales were and that made up for it. The sun was going down the there were several whales pretty close. They were all Orca whales and the Captain on the boat shared stories about them as they had been around the water there for years and years. There were a couple of baby ones that were not so very small but oh so fun to watch! It was an amazing day!

Montana Vacation! JULY 31st -AUGUST 9th

YEAH! It was finally time for Miles and I to just get away! It is our only real vacation of this year and although I did not have any vacation or sick time my work was gracious enough to let me still get the time off unpaid. We were so excited We stayed in Leavenworth WA at the KOA for Friday night and then drove straight up to West Glacier Montana to the KOA. We stayed there through Wednesday when we then drove to the East side Glacier to the other KOA and stayed there until Sat when we drove home. Oh my goodness what a fabulous trip. Miles and I had 13 hours up and back of visiting and it was wonderful! Our weather was pretty great too which allowed for some great wildlife sightings. Yes, i got to see my bears- several of them actually on our long hikes including Grizzlies!! We had one serious confrontation with a Momma black bear and her two cubs. We accidentally got between her and her babies on the trail and she was not too happy with us. She 'fake" charged us on the trail to let us know of her not so impressed mood and we let her know we would continue on the trail and let her (and her babies be) It was so exciting. We were so close! Athe pictures are incredible!

I have many fond memories of family vacations to Glacier. Grandma and Grandpa Eklund were in Kalispell and we often visited them growing up. Miles however had never been there and it was so great to be able to show him all the places that I remember and love. We went into town one of the days and went by Grandma's old house and and Kehoe's Agate shop as well. While in town we had dinner with my ol friend Esther and her husband Daniel in their beautiful home. I have not seen her since our wedding! It was so lovely to be able to catch up with her after several years.

In Galicer, Miles and I took many many hikes along the Going to the Sun Highway. We visited and hiked Logan Pass, Iceburg Lake, Many Glacier, Avalanch Lake, trail of the Cedars, and many many others. There were way too many pictures to post so we uploaded them all to PICASA.

http://picasaweb.google.com/milescustis

Enjoy!!

God's Child- Holdyn is HIS and In HIS Hands!

I just had to post some updated pictures of my adorable nephew Holdyn.

Holdyn came to live with Miles and I for a while recently. I was named his legal guardian after he came home to Joshua's place after a weekend visit at his mother's and Holdyn was covered head to toe in bruises. The baby had been beaten to a pulp and of course Joshua had to report it to the police immediately....knowing full well that meant he would become a suspect and that Holdyn would be taken away. Did you know that 95% of those who report a child's abuse are the actual abusers themselves? I had no idea. Well, of course Joshua did not touch his baby in this way as Holdyn arrived with all these bruises. We took lots of pictures. I was there after he called the Sheriff who drove over immediately. The Sheriff surveyed the situation and put Joshua's heart at ease that he believed Joshua's story and would do whatever he could to keep the baby with me (family), but since Joshua is not on the birth certificate he is legally not related to this child. Holdyn has been in Joshua's care over 90% of his little life. Joshua is the father..no doubt in any one's mind..but legally he has no rights.

The Sheriff gave us a police escort to the ER where we remained from that evening until morning. Thankfully after every test imaginable done to poor tired, restless baby, and a very rough night of stress and a whirlwind of emotions both Josh and I we were relieved to report the ominous dark purple bruises had left no long term injuries. However, Holdyn was placed under "protective custody" and placed temporarily in my care. That morning, I took him home from the ER to live with me until things could get sorted out. His safety was my number one priority. Now a criminal case Social workers, court dates, more examinations, and photographs galore, Holdyn was with me 24/7. I took the week off work...he was my baby nephew and although stressful and a whirlwind of emotions i was so happy to have him in my care. I had him one week and needed to go back to work. Thankfully my mom was in town after a vacation with dad in Victoria BC and she stayed with us another week so I could go back to work. My work has been so gracious with me allowing me to take additional emergency leave without having any vacation or sick time accrued to cover the time loss. I am so thankful. I am also so thankful my Mom was here. It was wonderful having her around. I could finally breathe easier and sleep at night as I was so worried and stressed out as to Holdyn's future and well-being. it was all so sudden and crazy it still makes me tear to think of how bad off he looked in the ER that first night. ..and yet despite it all his little smiles just melted my heart and i remembered God's hand in all of this. The following Thursday was awful. My mom had to go home and as i had to go back to work having missed so much with my recovery the short weeks ago, I had to have him replaced with Foster Care. Holdyn and I both cried the entire way down town Bellingham to Child Services . It was awful.....but i knew it was the only option for us at this point.

The night before my Mom and I documented counted LOTS of ways (confirmations) of God's hand throughout this entire ordeal. Holdyn is God's child and no matter what happens I have to remind myself of that...that Holdyn is HIS and God takes care of HIS children. I don't have to like the circumstances, but He is God's and I can trust he is in the BEST hands of all.