Going into the Dark

Grace and greetings.

Here it is Tuesday, 18 November, and as far as I understand, the sun has risen and set for the last time in 2008 in the Arctic Circle. Yet this afternoon, the sun seemed to be up long enough that it should come again tomorrow, but we will wait and see. Last year, I was surprised that even on the days of December, it seemed like the noon time was twilight; I had been expecting a complete darkness.

Alaskan Politics may have come to a place where we can turn the page; our Governor is back in the State; and it looks like that even though we may have a new Senator; though we still have the same Congressman. It is frightening that we almost re-elected a Senator who was convicted of seven counts of corruption. But even after the verdict was handed down, our Senator Ted Stevens, proclaimed his innocence, and then campaigned during the last several weeks stating that he had not been convicted of anything. He was going by his legal understanding that conviction is only AFTER the sentencing, so therefore he had not been convicted yet...The scary part is that it took two weeks of counting ballots before a winner was announced. Now, comes the time to wait and see if Senator Stevens will ask for a recount.

In the meantime, our Congressman, Don Young, is under investigation, but Alaskans seemed to turn a blind eye and re-elected him, after all, he has not been officially charged of anything...yet.

Then there is our Governor, Sarah Palin, who just several short months ago was unknown to the rest of the nation, but is now on the center stage, setting herself up for a run for the White House come 2012. I was very surprised to find out how far right her beliefs were, and very scared that she is a serious candidate for the next election. She has even thought of running for the Senate if there was to be a special election if Ted Stevens won and expelled by the Senate. She may even run again fellow Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski when her term is up.

Through all this fun and excitement, Kim is still at Providence Hospital. It has been confirmed that the pneumonia is now in both lungs. Now they, the doctors, are debating when she will have surgery to remove cysts in her lungs. The calcium buildups are from old infections and the scaring of her lungs are permanent. The cysts are large enough, that they are rubbing on the lining of her lungs, and eventually, if left alone will puncture her lungs. When they go in, they will have to go through the chest or back, and she has a good chance of losing up to half of her right lung. Right now we are just waiting to hear from the surgeon as to a date, then Sam and I will join her in Anchorage.

Until then, we are a little more than a week away from Thanksgiving, to remember why we are thankful for the wonderful gifts from God, our Creator. Concerning Kim, the fact that she is still around is something of a miracle. Your thoughts and prayers are asked for and welcomed.

Peace and blessings.