It has occurred to me, that we have not updated our web-site for quite a while, so I thought that I would take it upon myself to remedy this.

Okay, so last you heard, Kirk and Sarah were engaged. They have now proceeded past this point, and were happily married on September 23, 2006. The new Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Hartstrom are now renting a house by the lake in Bridgeport. Kirk still has his job playing with computers for the county; and Sarah is playing with everything at home. They are expecting the first addition to their household to arrive on July 2.

Okay, that’s enough about our married boy. Hmm, now what should I tell you? Let’s see… Melissa went to Australia and New Zealand for a month during Oct. and Nov. She learned a few new words that we don’t use over here in America. She didn’t really eat anything too weird, at least, she didn’t die from anything that I know of, so that is good (come to think of it, she didn’t die at all). Oh, and most important, she learned the Australian bush dance. :-)

Dad is planning to retire from work in August. He has been working for the county for over thirty years now, and figures it’s about time to do something else besides work for them.

Nathan is growing up fast, he is going to be ten this year. Wow, that’s hard to believe. When he was born, I couldn’t quite picture the day when he would be that old. But, now that it’s almost here, it isn’t so difficult. Nathan just got his first dog. The dog's name is Duke, and so far, life was easier without having to look after two little rascals. Duke is definitely Nathan’s dog, he was eating butter yesterday (Butter is Nathan’s favorite thing to sneak when he can get away with it).

Well, I think that ought to do for now, at least there is something new for ya’ll to read. May the Lord bless you today, and may you see His glory around you.

Well, I thought that it might be about time that I should contribute to this web site and figure out how to work it, so, here it goes.

I have had a desire to go into the nursing field for quite some time now, and have been working on getting into it a little bit. About six weeks ago now, I had an opportunity to attend a CNA class in Indianapolis, IN. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I went; I didn’t really know what a CNA did. I had very great visions of rapture of scurrying around an emergency room in my white uniform, at the beck and call an important doctor, and just in general being very needed. As you can imagine by now, it didn’t quite happen that way.

We spent the whole first week in class learning about important stuff to know if you need to pass a test, and pretty much not important after that. We had a very nice teacher however, Mrs. Pat Turner, and she took a lot of time explaining everything so that everyone could understand, and get a good hold of it. Which was a good thing since I was a little rusty on math, and she helped me figure out what I needed to know about it one evening after supper.

Oh, I should mention, there were nine of us in the class, and naturally, working together under a lot of pressure and stress, most of us got to be pretty close. Pressure can turn out a pretty tight group, and I don’t think that there isn’t one of us who wouldn’t stand up for each other.

Anyway to get on with it, after our week of classes, we had eight days of clinical practice in a nursing home. For the first time I think I figured out why they call what doctors do, practice. The first day was a little scary, you know, everyone was afraid that they might sleep past the four in the morning alarm clock, and not have any time to get out of bed, not to mention missing breakfast. It really was scary to get left alone with a resident for the first time, and be expected to care for them. I was shaking in my boots when I realize that I would have to shave my resident. Now, being a girl, I don’t shave my face every day, and I wasn’t all that sure that I could shave someone else’s without cutting them. I started in on him, and realized that the razor was probably about ten years old, and as dull as a fuzz ball. Then came the challenge of getting a new one, which took me a while, but I finally got one. I announced to one of the instructors that I got a new razor, and was going to go finish off my resident. I just about finished her off she laughed so hard.

I came to love all those old people in that nursing home, the little old lady who still wore her red lipstick and was the sweetest thing ever, my little old man who couldn’t do much of anything for himself, the feisty lady upstairs who swore at everyone, and made, um, interesting but not very appropriate comments at lunch, and everyone else there. It struck me one day that you cannot take care of someone, even for a short time, and not love them. When they look up at you with their helpless eyes, you know that they are relying on you, and the only thing you can do, is give them Christ’s love, and care for them as you would for the Savior himself.

My time at this class has taught me so many lessons; it is simply amazing how many things God can teach you in one short month. The biggest lesson that He taught me was to rely on Him and trust Him. I can be very independent sometimes, and think that I can do things on my own, but, the truth is, I cannot do anything except through Christ who strengthens me. Through that month, I had to depend on Christ from the moment I got up, to the moment I fell asleep. I don’t think that I have mastered that lesson yet, but I think that I got a good way into it.

So, to sum it up, now I have a piece of paper that doesn’t really look important that says that I passed a test. I also have lessons in my heart that I learned, and won’t ever get a piece of paper for, but is even more important.

Mr. Bob Norcross was the director of the program, and he encouraged me all the time. For one thing, he is very funny, and gave us all something to laugh about, but he also made sure that we learned everything we needed, not only to pass the test, but also to be the best CNA’s that we could be. Although, I came into his office and cried enough that he did decide that he needed to get a box of Kleenexes to keep in his office.

Well, that just about does it, and maybe, I will write again when I have something worth writing about. :-)

-Carissa Hartstrom

Despite the passage of time, some of the more adventuresome activities of the youthful members of our household, and the increasing age of the rest (They don’t know that I’m writing this, please don’t tell them ;-) ) the end of this year finds all the Hartstrom family alive and well.

The patriarchs of our household continue to do well. Dad, (Keith) is thinking of retiring here sometime in the near future. I guess I would too after working for the county for more than thirty-one years. He continues to enjoy woodworking projects, and is also having fun with a new black powder rifle he just bought. Mom (Beth) is still mother to our little (but quickly growing) Nathan and that is a full time job in itself. Both Mom and Dad continue to be involved in selling health supplements, and promoting wellness stuff.

Erik (27) continues to live in Sacramento with Beth’s parents Rod & Eleanor and practice family law. As a rabbit trail, both Rod and Eleanor are grateful for Erik’s presence as their age is increasingly telling their bodies to slow down. Erik is starting to get into estate planning, and is enjoying that part of his profession very much. He also continues in his efforts to bring the firm where he works into the current century with computer technology.

Kirk (24) happens to be the know-it-all who is writing this letter. He is close to finishing his first year working for Mono County in their Information Technology Department. He has also found time to climb to the top of the 12,264 foot local Matterhorn Peak, and hike to the top of Half Dome with Carissa. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for him living at home with his family again, but he’s managed to do his share of dishes, vacuuming, and firewood cutting.

Melissa (22) spent her summer working at Bodie State Historic Park this year. It was lot of fun for her talking with the people who came through and learning about the history of Bodie. She also announced one day that she had discovered that work was “work”! No one has talked her into marrying them yet, so she continues to live at home and be involved in our community. She also traveled this spring to Michigan with her sister to learn chalk art and to spend some time with some of her friends who are back in the states that she met in Taiwan.

Carissa (19) did a lot of stuff this year. She traveled around and did Vacation Bible Schools, worked a few months with her sister at Bodie, and traveled to Michigan with her sister to learn chalk art. She also traveled to Texas for a six week class called STEP on outdoor skills and emergency preparedness.

Nathan (8) keeps growing, and some people think he is an angel. Some of us who spend more time with him know better. He is talking a lot, and loves to go on hikes. He will get a road map, study it intently, and then point to some out of the way place and say, “Go hike!” He enjoyed getting to play T-ball this spring, and still loves his therapy riding. Mom is looking for a dog with herding instincts to help keep him out of trouble.

Our whole family (minus Melissa, she had to work) had the grand opportunity of spending several weeks on the road as we traveled back to North Dakota to visit Dad’s relatives there. It was fun to see how the old people didn’t change much, and all the young people grew up since last time we were there some eleven years ago.

In closing, we are doing great, and we hope you are too. No, none of us kids are married yet, and if you have any big ideas, please save them, we have enough trouble sorting out the ideas of our own. :-) God is still the faithful Lord who mercifully looks down on our little family. We pray that you would learn to love Him as much as He loves us.

The Hartstrom Family

Carissa, Kirk, & Peter Bangen hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park last Monday.

It was a 17 mi round trip journey, and about 4,800' of altitude gain. Melissa and her friend Jessica spent the day in a less strenuous examination of the valley floor. It was very beautiful and October is a great time of year to visit Yosemite if you want to miss the crowds, as long as you didn't want to see huge waterfalls - they are pretty dry this time of year.

This is the one more entry to add to the growing list of blogs on our family website. My sisters are standing here watching me type this yet they don't have a thing to say to add to it. They are just sitting quiet. I guess I'll have to quit writing because I can't think of anything else and they don't appear to have much to add, except for the fact that they talked to someone on skype for 2.5 hours thisafternoon. I wonder if that had anything to do with them being at a loss for words. They wanted me to make sure that I mentioned that the person they were talking to was in africa, and that they have not talked to her since July.