July Update

Thank you so much for all the prayers and support.

It has been a very busy and tiring time but I am so glad that we are able to be home with my Dad. My Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer in mid June and has 3-6 months to live.

My employer has been incredibly supportive and I am taking FMLA leave for awhile so that I can spend all the time that I can with my Dad.

Paul is awaiting the start of the Nursing Program at UAA in 2009 so thankfully is able to be here with the family and with me. The last few months have been very challenging with everything that is going on with the family and I am so thankful for his support and positive can do attitude.

I flew to SD at the very end of June and then Paul flew in a couple of days later so that the entire family was together for a trip that Dad wanted to make while he still could. All ten of us left for Vegas so that we could see the Grand Canyon. On July 3rd, Dad went into the hospital in Vegas. He was released and we spent a quiet 4th together at a house that we had rented in Vegas. Then on the 5th he took a turn for the worse and was put into the hospital. The cancer has spread into his bones and the hospital in Vegas was not very good. We were scared that he would not make it out. We looked at getting him medevaced to Mayo Clinic but instead took a commercial flight that got us in sooner. After two days at Mayo clinic they were able to stabilize him and Paul, Mom and I flew back to Vegas with Dad in order to allow Dad to complete the mission of the trip--see the Grand Canyon. We were able to all take a helicopter tour of the western side of the canyon and land in the canyon and hike around. It was incredible.

Dad was very sick though through the trip. It was so nice to fly back into Sioux Falls on Sunday and be somewhere we knew the hospitals and if possible recover from "vacation". Dad went right from the airport to Sanford Hospital and is hoping to be released today or tomorrow.

Paul and I will be returning to AK the last week of July so that I can work and Paul can move our stuff (our landlord is selling our condo). We will be coming back to SD then for ???.

The cancer is moving much faster than expected, and the family is hoping to just be able to spend as much time with dad as possible.

A Book for Dave

Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you have heard the unfortunate news that after seven plus years of fighting cancer, our beloved family member, Dave Swier, has decided that it is time to let the cancer take its course and prepare to take his place in God’s heavenly home. We accept this news with hope, faith, and thankfulness: hope that miraculous things will happen; faith that God knows best regardless of the final outcome; and thankfulness that we have more time to spend living, laughing, and creating memories with the man who has played such an important role in each of our lives.

Much laughter and happiness is derived from the recollection of old memories and from the discovery of new stories about a loved one. Our family asks that you share in this laughter and happiness with us by contributing a favorite memory or memories you have about Dave. We plan on combining all of these stories and snippets into a book that will be printed both as a gift for Dave and a cherished collection for the family. We will be printing the book in the middle of August and are therefore asking that you send us your responses before August 8. If you have any pictures or other things that you think would make a nice contribution to the book please send us a copy of those as well.

Each of you has been important in our lives and has made a rich contribution to Dave’s life. We appreciate all that you have done for us and are thankful for your continual prayers and support.

Sincerely,



The Swier Family

Art Show at Kaladi Coffee

I brought my art to Kaladi Coffee for a show for the month of June. It was really exciting and pushed me to finish a lot of paintings that I had been working on.

The show was very successful and all but two sold. I would like to do something like this again. The down side is that my house looks so quiet with nothing on the walls.

Painting

So what have I been doing while looking for a job? Well I have started painting again. I copied Van Gogh's Almond Blossom's (a favorite). Here it is!

I am working on a impressionistic rainy night scene from a picture that I took in Brussels but am struggling with this painting.

Iditarod

Sheri came to visit Paul and I. She brought our cat Titana and we all (not the cat) went to the Iditarod. While at the Iditarod we discovered some "real" Alaskan men on 4th Avenue. We enjoyed reindeer sausages and the snow sculptures!

Off to Africa

Last Wednesday my friend Tanya left for Africa. I have been friends with Tanya since somewhere around the 7th grade and she has been talking about going to Africa since 1993. Well she is there. I am so excited. She is already having such the adventure. You have to check out her blog at:http://beautifuladventure.blogspot.com/

Here is the family eating with Tanya in Georgia at her fav spot in May.

Hair

Paul's Hair--Yes it is the longest that he can ever remember it being. It is really funny--there have been a lot of people that have not recognized him due to the hair. It is quite the opening discussion item.

--Paul singing his favorite road song "Roll On" as we completed our drive from SD to AK in January.

Alaska Creatures

So I had to take a picture of the dogs--I was laughing so hard. We saw them on the day we were trying to find a place to live.

Below is the truck outside our place and a moose--there is so much snow (snowed 20 out of the last 23 days) that the moose are all over town looking for some food.

Alaska--Our First Home!

We have our first home!!

We are so excited. It is really a great place. We went on the marathon let's find a place to live expedition when we arrived. 13 places in one day and what the experience. AK rents are high but what they get for places that look like rats might run out is amazing--quite the cultural eye opener. There are some bad neighboorhoods in Anchorage. One place we visited the door was locked. The neighboor saw us and when we told her that the owner had said that the door would be open she said oh and went inside her adjoining place--suddenly we heard a drill. She opened the front door by unscrewing it from the inside. We stood there in shock--she said that they had problems with vagrants. All this could have been ours for $75o a month!

But we found a condo that the owner had lived in so it is full of all kinds of ammenities--including a cat door. Titana can come back to AK! So we are moved in and really loving our new kitchen. We don't have a table yet or a guest bed but are really looking forward to having Sheri come and visit in March. We had friends over the other night for dinner and to brew a batch of ale.

The top picture is a view out our window in the living room.

Canada

On January 2nd we headed back to AK. We are traveling through Canada. We got to an icy Winipeg on the w. edge an interesting city of mural covered buildings and tree shaped street lights in one district. The towns seem to have a prevalence of A&W's, Tim Hortons, Subways and Boston Pizza's.

The next day we realized that we were in the Canadian heartland. We drove into a town of probally about 500--there were signs all over to the ice rink. The 2 pump (gas and diesel) gas station was hidden behind the elevator. Inside next to the cooler there were hockey sticks for sale. Inside the one cooler was penicilin for cattle and Pepsi.

We've seen moose and caribou and a handful of roadkill on the side of the highway being enjoyed by the ravens.

Finally we arrived at Illiad sp? Hotsprings. We walked over the snow covered boardwalk to the hot, hot, hotsprings. The water was great so hot you couldn't get near the source. A huge pool in the woods surrounded by snow--magical. It made us think of the trip we had taken to Fairbanks and visited Cheena Hotsprings a few years ago.

The morning we left the lodge near the hotsprings we were driving and there in the morning light along side the road was a herd of around 100 buffalo. They appeared to be smaller than the SD ones.

Then we just kept driving and by and by arrived in AK and are staying at Ken and Sue's!

WE'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

We arrived back in the states and stayed with our friends in Minneapolis and then with Chris and Annie at their place. It's great to be back.

So we will be spending some time in SD celebrating Christmas, hanging out with the family and proving that we are the Settlers of Catan champions!

We've spent a lot of time at Sheri's new house--so exciting and such a great place!

Then for Christmas day off to Chicago for a very nice Christmas with Paul's family. We really enjoyed it and it was the first holiday that I had celebrated with his family in Chicago.

London--Brilliant!

London is such an incredible cities--one of our top favorites so much that we want to see. We could spend a month here--except for the bloody exchange rate.

We spent Sunday morning just wandering off for an English breakfast of a soft boiled egg, beans and toast and then went to Harrods--it was crowded but a lot of fun. We shopped or I should say browsed through out the store. We pressed our way through the massive and very impressive deluxe food department, lighting department and furniture. Then we took a break. We sat in massage chairs and got a nice after shopping massage. Then after going downtown to see the lights and some really good pizza and went back home to our room to do some laundry.

Paul went to check if the washer was free and I followed him into the hallway--the automatically closing locking door swung shut behind me and locked. Leaving me in a short skirt and t-shirt, shoe less and Paul in his boxers a t-shirt and his papooches(slip on rubber sandals). We tried to call the # for the apt emergency to let us back in a 20 pound charge but the guy was so drunk and just said basically whatever. So then we tried the locksmith who could do it for around 170 USD.

So turning to option 3--break in. We pushed the garbage can in front of the window and climbed up and examined the situation. Our flimsy picture window was solid except for 3 little windows at the top which opened out and closed by two latches each. One of the latches was open so we could pry up a corner of the window. Armed with a broken spatula and some wire taken from a horrendous fake poinsettia stuck in a wire display that looked like it had been there for a decade or more we went to get the window open.

It was dark and very chilly. I stood beside the garbage can barefoot and braced it as Paul climbed on top of it in his boxers and started the break in attempt. We would run inside every 10 minutes to warm up. There was this incredibly nice Australian girl who brought us a baileys drink and me some boots and a sweater. After around 2 hours of attempts we managed finally to get the window open and then get the center window opened. The whole window flexed as Paul climbed up and straddled it. He sort of had to roll through the window as there was not much clearance. We were so excited to be back in our room.

Two mornings later we awoke to a knock on the door--the drunk was there to let us in. Such prompt service!

Beer, Chocolate and Belgium

Antwerp

What a beautiful city. The bells harmoniously ring out through town--melodious beautiful songs. I must drag Paul past all the window's filled with scrumptious chocolate displays. The smells of waffles and frites (fries) greet you as you pass the numerously tempting stores. We stayed in this little B&B above the owners sculpting studio.

We visited a pub with around 500 beers on offer around 900 if you count by year. It was fascinating--some beers primarily dark ones--age very well so we had a Belgian Trappist from 2005 and 1990 to taste the difference. Amazing.

Brussels

We met up with some friends of Kimberly's--Vincent and Maud. They are incredibly gracious hosts and showed us so much of Belgium. We enjoyed the Christmas lights and beer in Brussels followed by an incredible cheese and wine dinner. We had chosen and sampled all these different cheeses that morning from a delightful cheese shop a few blocks from their home. So much fun!

We made day trips to Brugge and Gent--charming medieval cities in Belgium. All the towns have little Christmas Markets set up--some with an ice rink in the center. Selling mulled wine, frites and all kinds of Christmas things.

The meals that we had in Belgium have been the best continually that we have had in Europe. The Belgium people really know how to eat.

Amsterdam

From unique cafe's to the red light district--we have had quite the tour. Just getting nine people all onto the same bus, train, tram or boat can be quite the challenge but we didn't lose anyone. Further more no one was hit by a bike--quite the accomplishment in this city of 700,000+ people and 1,000,000+ bikes. Amsterdam is such a picturesque city with the canals, 16th century canal houses and 1,500 bridges.

Yet we saw a lot from the incredible Van Gogh museum to all the neighborhood cats--"you know meowers" that Sheri found waiting in many windows. Annie learned the mechanics of the automatic toilets--with the help of mom. We all learned that sometimes the outside of the cup does matter. We laughed a lot and discovered many reasons why loft apartments--while very stylish--may not be the best family residence.

Thanksgiving--Paul and I discovered that Turkeys are hard to come by here in Amsterdam. So we had Thanksgiving chicken--mom made it taste great! Mom had come supplied from the states with the other things that we weren't sure that we would be able to find here like cranberry jelly and marshmallows for the sweet potatoes. So we had a fun American Thanksgiving in Holland!

The guys went to Rotterdam for the day to visit the largest port in Europe while the girls went to the quaint village of Delft to see the pottery and the catherdrals where the royal family is interned. The final day we all went to Haarlem and took a tour of the Corrie Ten Boom house. It was quite the moving tour listening to the conviction that the family had that led them to rescue Jews and lose four of their family members in concentration camps as a consequence--such a story of belief and acting on your beliefs.

Then it was time to say goodbye. I am so glad that we will all be back together soon to celebrate Christmas!

European Vacation--Swier Style

So everyone arrived in Amsterdam. It is really nice to all be together. We have been wandering the city exploring the museums and the countryside. What an experience--taking the train and bus everywhere and learning how to get around the canal maze. The weather is warmer but with rains scattered through out the day--we are prepared and make quite the umbrella laden procession on the streets. Speaking of the streets no one has been taken down by a bike yet but there have been many close calls.

Dad's business associates took us on this grand day tour that encompassed the north and east side of the country and some great Dutch food as well. It's quite the thing to be in a country that you can cross in under 3 hours.

We are staying on the northern side of the city in a loft--its very exciting and in a historical ship building area.

Today we toured historical museums and that very historical area known as the Red Light District. Tomorrow we are off to the art museums.

So that's all for now but will update more as able!