Sunday, January 11, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska, 3:33 a.m.~

Dear Journal~

Jenna Aurora here.  Can't sleep; too keyed up about things.

Health pretty good, but not easy to try to do things with just one good working hand, or trying to get around with one good working leg.  Have fallen several times when attempting to use my crutch to go short distances; nearly broke my nose the last time I fell.

This is when I hate being a hemiplegic!  I wouldn't wish this kind of thing on anybody!!  It's the pits!!

Bills are being paid, but we are still struggling.  With a hungry husband, two very active little boys (they'll be two and three this year; they're sure growing up fast!), and a house to maintain, it's not easy.

We've had a problem with frozen pipes here.  No kidding.  It's been brutally cold here, even in Anchorage.  Temps have been in the minus zeros to teens, and it's even too cold for me (and I'm part Inuk)!

It's been far worse the further north.  In Fairbanks, which is in the middle part of the state, temperatures have dipped as far as MINUS thirty five (for the HIGH!!), with lows in the MINUS fifties to sixties at night!!

I can only imagine what it must be like in Barrow, the northernmost city in Alaska.  BRRRRR!!!  All of a sudden, my blood has turned into a block of ice!!

Not good when an Inuk gets cold! Not good at all!!  LOL

We did have our cat, "Hisser", but he got hit by a car back in October of last y ear.  I wish we still had him; he was so warm and fluffy!  It felt good when he'd lie across your legs, stretched out a country mile! 

I just thank God we still have our Husky, "Aurora".  That's better than nothing, but a 70-pound dog of solid muscle sure makes the legs go numb (in my case leg; I can't feel one of them! LOL)!  It's no wonder I've fallen so much!  D*** dog!!

The auroras have been very active this year; have seen some mighty spectacular displays.  I've been taking pictures, even videotaping some of the events.  May be posting them to YouTube in the very near future; I'd like to share a part of Alaska with others on the Internet, and YouTube would be a good way to do it, I guess.

I still go to YouTube once in a while; just not as much, thanks to the kids (the big kid, Michael, and Kenai and Mattaq).  Also the puppy keeps us busy.  (Some puppy; the puppy weighs 70 heavy pounds! LOL)

I'm happy to report the boys are growing well; my older son (Mattaq) is walking, talking up a storm, delighting us with his adventures, and Kenai is trying to talk.  There's speculation he may have inherited my deafness, but we're not so sure yet.  He goes for another hearing test within the next few months with a specialist; he'll give us the specifics then.

I hope not; one deaf person in the family is enough!!  Yet if he does end up being deaf, I can teach him how to talk with sign language, and he'll do fine! 

Being deaf is not so hard; at least I don't have to hear all the ugliness of the world!  (There's times where I wish I didn't have to see all the world's problems; maybe then being blind as well as deaf would be a good thing??  You may never know!)

Michael is working at the bar on weekends; he's been there since we moved to Alaska.  He loves it.  I love him being home with me during the week; if I ever need help (with myself and the boys), he's there, and that's a very comforting feeling.

That way, if there's ever a problem, he can help right away.

I'm just glad nobody's been sick.  The worst thing to happen are my falls.  I've been sporting so many bumps, bruises it looks like I've been abused (or at least gone a few rounds with Oscar de la Hoya)!  It's terrible!  I am tired of falling down so much!

This is when I wish the walls (let alone the floor) were padded!!  LOL

Well,  the light by the boy's room is flashing, so that must mean one of them is up.  I will go for now; until later, this is Jenna signing off!  Bye and God bless!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Alaska, Jenna Aurora.  :)