Tied to Glendive, Montana

This week I gave my siblings the following assignment:

Think about one of the places you lived in the 1980's, and write about how you are still tied to that place.

I live four different places in the 1980's.

I lived in Kellogg, Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, San Bernardino, California and Glendive, Montana.

I am going to write about how I am still tied to Glendive, Montana.

Glendive is where I moved to after I graduated from college in 1985.  I was hired as the Director of Admissions and Public Relations at Dawson Community College.

I moved into my first apartment, lived there a year on my own, then married PKR over the summer, and he came and joined me there in the summer of 1986.

The Princess was born in Glendive in 1990, and the experience of being pregnant and having you first child in a location always ties you to that place because of the memories of that incredible experience.

I still keep in touch with many of the people I knew in Glendive.  Each year I receive Christmas cards from a variety of people I either worked with or went to church with, keeping up on their lives and their families.

Through Facebook, I have reconnected with many of the kids we had in youth group while we were youth group leaders at our church.

Many of the lessons we learned in church from our Pastor have strengthened our faith in God, and have stayed with us throughout the years.

The work I did at the college helps me in my current position, helping students and parents prepare early to attend college.

I'm tied to the spirit of Glendive.  The people in eastern Montana had a certain way of looking at life, and dealing with life that has always stayed with me.  They never gave up, even when they were dry land farming throughout years of drought.  Even though the oil slowly dried up, and the railroad slowly quit stopping as often.  They had a spirit I admired.

I loved my time in Glendive, and I'm glad PKR and I were able to start our married life there, and I will always have ties to that wonderful town, and the wonderful people who live there.

Finding God's Country Everywhere I've Lived

Time to get caught up on Sibling Assignments. A couple of weeks ago, IEG gave us this assignment:

"What do you consider 'God's Country' and why?"

Raymond Pert's is here and IEG's here.

I am glad I have lived a few different places in this great country of ours, and have managed to consider each place God's Country.

My first 18 years were spent living in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. The Silver Valley from 1963-1981 was a lot different looking than the one of right now, but it was my home, and beautiful just the same.



Even though Kellogg's hillsides were bare of trees, living in Kellogg was a wonderful experience, and I'm glad I grew up here. You felt safe. People looked out for one another. You started kindergarten with about 25 kids, and most of them graduated from high school with you. You established traditions. And, I didn't know much else besides living in Kellogg. We didn't venture far from the valley while I was growing up. Sometimes to Spokane, and a once a summer trip to Orofino. Other than that, we stayed in Kellogg. Even traveling 15 miles to Wallace was a big deal to my folks.

But I longed for adventure. I liked going new places, and seeing new things.



My second home was in Moscow, Idaho, while I attended the University of Idaho. The beautiful rolling hills of the Palouse, and the U of I campus had a beauty all their own. The years at college were foundational as I grew closer in my relationship with God, and trying to figure out who I was, which really made it God's Country for me.


One summer, I lived in California. I worked at the International Headquarters for Campus Crusade for Christ, and lived at Arrowhead Springs, and worked in San Bernadino. This again was God's Country, because of the work I did, helping spread the "Good News" in all that I did that summer. I found beauty in the desert, in crowded Los Angeles, and Disneyland. I found God everywhere that summer, and again grew closer to Him. I also realized that summer that I loved PKR, and he was the man I wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with. I attended the 1984 Summer Olympics that while in Los Angeles, and enjoyed watching the USA Basketball team play (Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, among others). I still keep in touch with some of the people I lived with that summer.

After college, my first job was in Glendive, Montana. My dad always said Glendive wasn't the end of the world, but you could see it from there. I lived in Glendive from 1985 to 1991. While we lived there, eastern Montana was experiencing a drought. This is a problem when the type of farming you did was dry land farming...no irrigation.

But you found a tough and genuine breed of people in Eastern Montana. Those farmers and ranchers taught us plenty about trusting and having faith in God and many of the things we learned in the Glendive's Evangelical Church of North America have been the foundation for our Christian faith throughout the years.

One area that really grew on us while living in Glendive, and we came to appreciate were the "Badlands", and Makoshika State Park, located in Glendive. It had a very particular beauty all its' own, and we absolutely loved it.
After Montana, we moved to Meridian, Idaho, outside of Boise. The Treasure Valley again brought us growth in our relationship with God. We grew a lot in our faith and trust and understanding of God, and learned alot while in Meridian. But then, it was time to return to my roots.

In 2000, we returned to Kellogg. And the Kellogg of 2000 looked much different from the Kellogg of 1981, when I had lived here permanently that last time. The hills were now filled with the trees that were planted on the hillsides while I was in high school. The wetlands were emerging. There was no more smelter smoke. But God was still here, and that is because the spirit of the people remained the same. I still had many connections to people in this valley, and this is where a part of my heart and soul had remained all these years. And now I continue to enjoy life here in God's Country, the Silver Valley, the place I have always considered home.

Living in a Dry and Parched Land

Yellowstone River, Montana

This week's sibling assignment was given to us by Raymond Pert. The assignment for this week is What do you enjoy or love about the rain?

I never thought much about rain growing up in the Silver Valley, a mining community whose largest employers, the mines, didn't care one way or another if it was raining on the ground or not. All the natural resources came from underground, and raining or not, it didn't affect the outcome of the final product.





This wasn't the case during my years living in eastern Montana in the latter part of the 1980's. It was quite an eye-opening experience moving from a mining community, to an agricultural community, whose farmers relied on a good rain season because they were dry land farmers.





Every day, there would be talk about the weather. Either it rained too little, or if it did rain, it wasn't at the right time, or it rained too much.





But through this whole experience, I came to appreciate the rain. It was not longer just something beautiful to watch in the mountain valley of my youth. It was now a necessity that people relied on for their livelihood.





I remember the first year I was in Glendive, and part of my job was a college recruiter for the local community college. That winter had a decent amount of snow, because I remember driving in it.





But the following years, the snowfall wasn't as good. I remember PKR and I took up cross country skiing, and we had to drive to Yellowstone Park the winter of 1987 because that was the closest place to find snow. And it was so dry, there were elk just laying around the town of Gardner, Montana, where we stayed.





I found an old New York Times article about the drought dated July 7, 1988. It was comparing the Montana drought to the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. One of the farmers interviewed in the article was a man named Carl Hopkins, and this is what he had to say:





''I've been in this country since 1912,'' said Mr. Hopkins, an 85-year-old rancher who built a 320-acre homestead into a 16,000-acre grain and cattle operation 190 miles east of Billings. ''I've never seen it like this, not even in '34. My God, look at it. It's as bare as a dance floor.''





I remember traveling across I-94, and seeing the dry river beds in the summer. The parched ground. The hot, dry winds blowing across the prairie.





And it made you appreciate a good rain. It made you realize how much depended on the rain. When the sky finally burst forth with a good rainfall, you thanked God because your prayers were finally answered, and some crops may be saved after all.





Living along the Yellowstone River in Glendive made for an interesting view. My first apartment looked over this muddy river, a bit different from the river I was used to, The Coeur d'Alene River.





The first year I lived in Glendive, the river froze over, and, in the spring, the river "goes out" a term I had never heard before. It is an amazing sight. When the ice on the river starts breaking up in Miles City, the word gets to Glendive faster than the break up, and you know it is coming. Pretty soon, huge ice chunks are crashing and breaking their way down the river, and finding solid ground along the banks. Then the water starts running again.





Unfortunately, this only happened one year, the first year I moved there, the spring of 1986. In the years following, at least until April of 1991 when we moved, the winters were always too mild to even freeze the river. I will never forget the first witnessing of the "going out" of the river. And I think some of those ice chunks didn't melt until June.

So now, I enjoy the rain for two reasons. One, one of the most beautiful sights is to watch a thunder and lightening storm in the mountains, with the lightening flashing brightly, lighting up the whole valley, and the rain coming down in torrents.

And I also enjoy it, because each time the rain falls, I know it is fulfilling its obligation, to provide moisture to a dry and parched land, wherever that may be.

The Princess Turns 17 Today

The birth of The Princess was quite memorable. PKR and I had decided to start a family, and found out in December of 1989 that we were expecting a baby.

We were both very excited, and one of our favorite things to do was take our big cat Lynx and dress him up in baby clothes and wheel him around in the stroller. He was around 20 pounds, so he was a good substitute!!

Lamaze class was also fun and interesting. I have very ticklish feet, and I swore PKR would never be able to massage my feet as they suggested. But it really didn't feel that bad. The lower back massages were definately my favorite.

As July approached and the temperature went up, the swelling in my ankles also increased. My doctor advised bed rest because of the preeclampsia I was experiencing. So I was now expected to stay off my feet.

I remember I had three places in our house that I rested. One was the couch in the living room. One was the hide a bed in the TV room, where I could watch TV. And the other was the bed in the downstairs basement where our computer was located. It was also very cool in the basement.

As the first of August approached, my doctor started talking about inducing me with Pitocin so I could go into labor. On August 6, PKR and I went to Glendive Medical Center, I was hooked up to the Pitocin, and nothing happened. No contractions. No nothing. So we went home.

Day Two, same routine. They hooked me up to the Pitocin. No Contractions. No nothing. So we went home.

Day Three, my due date. Mentally, I was thinking this is the day this baby needs to come out of my body. So they hooked me up to the machine. No contractions. No nothing...but wait. The monitor on the baby shows the heartrate is decelerating. They monitored it for a bit, then, around 9 pm that evening, after spending most of the day in that hospital bed, my doctor said the baby's heartbeat was decelerating, and we had better get it out, so we'd like to do a C-Section.

Here I am in surgery having a C-Section. PKR had front row seats.

At this point, any way of getting the baby out of my body was just fine with me. So I was prepped for surgery, and wheeled into the operating room, and at 10:10 p.m. our beautiful 8 pound 8 ounce baby princess was born into this world in Glendive, Montana.

PKR telling my dad "You have a new granddaughter."

I still remember laying in bed and having the nurse hand her to me, and seeing that beautiful face for the first time, those eyes looking up at me.

Gazing into my beautiful daughter's eyes

The Princess had an interesting first few months. She had a high red blood count when born, so they put her in an incubator for a while to stablize this. Then she got jaundice, and I remember it seemed like her poor heels were poked so many times in the first few weeks of her life.

The Princess in the incubator after she is born.

Then one day, when she was about 2 weeks old I think, I had her on the changing table and all of a sudden she stiffened up and rolled over. Well, even though I was new at this, I knew this was way too young for a baby to be rolling over on her own.

No, she was having a seizure.

I had been warned about this. But The Princesses episode happened a bit different than mine as a baby, or my brother. I remember that first day when the seizures began, holding her in my lap as her body stiffen for about 45 seconds, and then she would cry because it would frighten her so much.

We got her to her pediatrician, who put her on phenobarbital, which helps stop the seizures. I was on this medication the first year of my life as well.

The Princess had an EEG after having seizures.

Even though this condition was well known on my dad's side of the family, we never knew there was a name for it. Because of the imerging access to the Internet at the time, she was able to access medical data bases, and put a name on this condition, Benign Familial Neonatal Convulsions. It was one of the scariest times, those days of having a seizing baby, but with medication and time, the seizures went away and she was fine.

I can't believe 17 years have passed from our time as a young family in Glendive. The Princess hasn't had an easy time with life for the past five or six years, but I look at her now and what she has done, and she amazes me every day. Despite her problems with depression, ADHD, and other anxiety disorders, she has come a long way as she approaches her senior year in high school, planning on attending North Idaho College in a year and pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a performer.

She amazed me this summer as we worked together during the melodrama production. It was fun seeing her develop the character of Kacey the singing Irish lass, and the songs she sang in the review. And to see her face as she would come behind stage because she nailed the song just right, or made the audience laugh was priceless.

She amazed me as she sat and had us rolling on the floor in laughter as she told priceless stories from her week at church camp.

Happy Birthday, Princess. My prayer for you this year is that the beautiful princess both God, me and your dad see each day will look back at you in the mirror every morning, because you are truly a special and beautiful girl, our precious gift from God.

Interstate 90

Tonight I am going to share some thoughts about Interstate 90. It may seem odd to write about a road, but this highway has played a very important role in my life and has taken me to some very interesting places.

I-90 has been in the local news lately. I think there is a type of "Bermuda Triangle" between the two exits signs in Wallace. Two times during the last two weeks, there have been semi truck accidents that caused that stretch of highway to be closed down. Both times we were having play performances in Wallace, and knew something was up because of the backlog of semi trucks around Wallace.

Here is a funny story my husband shared regarding some of his students last week. On Friday, Kellogg students were put in lockdown because an armed robber was on the run after holding up the Wells Fargo Bank uptown. It had been explained to my husband that the schools were in lockdown because the robber could be fleeing on Interstate 90, and most of the schools were close to the Interstate.

So he tells his students, "You know, I-90 goes all the way from Seattle to Boston, and he could be anywhere along the way, so this may take a while."

"Really?"

Yes, some actually believed they were going to check all along the highway from Seattle to Boston!!!

The Idaho State Patrol have sure been out in force this past week, at least between Kellogg and Wallace. Almost every time I travel east toward Wallace, I see someone pulled over for speeding. I make sure the cruise is right at 75 mph.

I have no memory of there being something other than I-90 traveling through Kellogg. I do remember when it wound its way through Wallace, and you had to stop at the stop light.

We traveled to Spokane a lot growing up, because my Grandma Woolum lived in Spokane. I remember when the Fourth of July Pass was a lot closer to the lake, and you traveled right by Tony's, not above it. You also went by an old run down A-Frame building, but I'm not sure what it was. Then there two different motels. One was pink and set back on the right as you traveled west, if my memory serves me right. Then there was the place with the little cottages. Now it is called the Bennet Bay Inn, or something like that. Oh, what was it called before. Can anyone help me with that one? I do remember hearing a wierd rumor in high school that they hid movie cameras in the cottages and taped the guests. So my senior year, when I was in pep band and we were traveling to either Coeur d'Alene or Post Falls for either the district or state basketball tournament (with them both in North Idaho that year, we traveled I-90 a lot that winter) and as we headed up the pass, I REALLY had to go to the bathroom. I believe Mr. Taylor, our band instructor, sensed the panic in my voice as I told him I NEEDED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. So we stopped at this little motel with the cottages, and I ran out of the bus, and asked the first person I saw if I could use their bathroom. But, of course, all the time, running through my mind, as I was in one of those cottages using the bathroom was, am I being taped? But I really didn't care at that point.

Remember when I-90 took you through State Line, not past it. You would travel right by "The Slab Inn". The outside really hasn't changed that much in 30 years.

Traveling to Spokane to Grandma's house changed over the years. I remember when I was really young, we would always take the Argonne exit to go the her house. As soon as I saw the water tower, I knew we were close.

Then the route changed, and we took the Freya exit. Then we took the Hamilton exit, which turned into Nevada, which intersected with Bridgeport, the street where Grandma lived.

I traveled I-90 to get to my first job interview after I graduated from college, and I-90 got me part way to my first job in Glendive, Montana before I veered north on I-94 by Billings.

I-90 also brought me back to my safe, secure, closed-in little valley when I lived in the "Big Sky Country". I think it was when I got to Frenchtown, Montana, and the valley would begin to form that I knew I was almost home. It was a very comforting feeling for me.

I walked over I-90 almost every day when I attended Kellogg Junior High school, because that was the way to and from school. One game my friend April and I liked to play was waiting for the semi trucks to go under the bridge. There was a certain excitement while you stood there on the bridge and they would speed below you.

While growing up in Kellogg, I never thought of I-90 as a menacing presence, one that would bring all kinds of scary people into my little community.

But, I hear that a lot now. People referring to I-90 as a way for undesirables and criminals and heaven knows what else to pull off the highway and invade our small town and violate our peace and quiet.

I guess that attitude comes with the times, maybe, or with growth, or the way the world is changing around us.

It is too bad.

Christmas Cookie Exchange

The following post is a writing I gave to members of my Huckleberry Book Club with our cookies from our Christmas Cookie Exchange last Christmas.

Tonight has been one of those precious Christmas moments. I had an evening home, and I was able to spend it in the kitchen baking treats for five very special ladies and their families. I mixed, and patted, and stirred and melted and dipped, all while listening to the “24-hour all-Christmas Music” radio station and singing along with Alvin and the Chipmunks singing “Christmas Won’t Be Late”, Michael Bolton’s version of “The Christmas Song”, and “Silver Bells”, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “White Christmas”. To top the evening off, I got to sing a duet with James Taylor singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”.

The two goodies I am sharing with you come from two parts of my life. The first is the Graham Cracker Toffee Bars. This recipe comes from a cookbook I received while living in Glendive, Montana. Glendive represented a simpler time in my life. In many aspects, my life was built on the foundation started in Glendive. I drove my first car to live in my first apartment and work at my first career in Glendive. The first years of my marriage were spent in Glendive. My first child was born in Glendive. In many aspects, many of my personal beliefs in my Christian faith were formed in Glendive.

This recipe is simple. It has only five ingredients, and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. But the results are very delicious. Please enjoy.


Graham Cracker Toffee Bars

15 to 20 whole graham crackers
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
1 ½ cups butter
½ cup pecans or walnuts
1 12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

Line cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with crackers. Combine butter, sugar and nuts in sauce pan. Cook over high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and stir constantly for 5 minutes. Pour over crackers. Place chocolate pieces in double boiler and melt over boiling water. Spread evenly over toffee mixture. Cool and cut into bars.

The second recipe is a bit more complicated. There are more ingredients and more steps involved, and the ingredients cost more. I discovered this recipe while visiting my sister this fall, and watching with her one of her favorite cooking shows, “The Barefoot Contessa”. She made this recipe on her show that day, and it looked so good I tracked down the recipe on the Internet and am sharing it with you today.

Just like the recipe, my life is more complicated these days. There are more ingredients, and life costs more, and there are more steps involved. I am on my fourth car now. I am living in my sixth home since being married. This house is bigger, and full of a lot more stuff. I am now on career number seven or so since my first career move in Glendive. I have now spent 20 years with Paul as husband and wife. We now have three children. I am thankful for the things I learned in Glendive regarding my Christian faith, because I often have to lean on those Truths as I wrestle with answers to life’s complicated questions that can often shake my faith.

But often Christmas brings all that is important back into focus. How God sent His Son to be born in a simple manger, to a young, scared girl who realized she was giving birth to the Savior of the world. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is after Mary is informed by the angel Gabriel that she is giving birth to God’s son, and Mary is so accepting of what is ahead of her, with her response, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."

When seemingly impossible or seemingly insurmountable circumstances come my way, I want my response to be like Mary’s, accepting of what life is bringing me, and moving on, realizing the hard times will birth something even greater in the future.

So the Pecan Squares (actually for you they are “Walnut Squares”) are representative of the now, the more complicated life I now lead, with the many aspects and layers I deal with every day. I hope this recipe also brings enjoyment to you and your family this holiday season.

Pecan Squares

Crust: 1 1/4 pounds unsalted butter, room temperature 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3 extra-large eggs 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping: 1 pound unsalted butter 1 cup good honey 3 cups light brown sugar, packed 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 pounds pecans, coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, beat the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, until light, approximately 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Press the dough evenly into an ungreased 18 by 12 by 1-inch baking sheet, making an edge around the outside. It will be very sticky; sprinkle the dough and your hands lightly with flour. Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Allow to cool.

For the topping, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, and zests in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until the butter is melted, using a wooden spoon to stir. Raise the heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the heavy cream and pecans. Pour over the crust, trying not to get the filling between the crust and the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Cut into bars and serve.

I’ve enjoyed our book selection this month, “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. In the spirit of this book, I’d like to make my own entry into my own encyclopedia.

Huckleberries Book Club

This is a group of women I meet with once a month to discuss a book we have read during the previous month. It started out with SD, JR, VG and myself. Later MV was added. VG left us in the spring of 2006, and MG joined us in the fall of 2006. We gather together each month sharing a potpourri of gourmet delights, accompanied by either a glass of red or white wine, coffee or tea. We are lucky if we spend 10 or 15 minutes on the book discussion. The other 1 hour and 50 minutes of our time together is spent solving the world’s problems. I so appreciate these women in my life. We belong to a special tribe….one comprised of readers, thinkers, lovers, friends….each month we provide a shoulder for each other to lean on and share ourselves from the heart. We draw from one anothers lives.


Thanks to all of you for the special part you play in my life. Merry Christmas!!!