Kirk, probably the most flamboyant member of our household, can often be found whistling, but now there seems something more to it. He goes to work promptly at 8 and leaves right at 5 rather than going in early and leaving late. What is going on?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so the picture to the right should explain things pretty well. Her name is Sarah, and she is a very nice young lady. (I don’t know why people keep asking me if she is a nice girl, I guess they just want to hear my very biased answer that, yes she is.) She lives in a little town called Browns Valley, about 40 minutes from Grass Valley. She and I met in 2001 while doing a Christian children’s program. About 4.5 years later in December 2005 I asked her father for permission to court his daughter, and in March he granted his permission and we began the courtship process.

Courtship, what’s that?
Well it depends who you ask, it’s basically a term that we have adopted to mean that we are going to try and follow principles from God’s word the Bible in romantic relationships. For us it translates into two major principles: parents authority, and preparedness for marriage. We are committed to looking to our parents for guidance, counsel, and instruction in the process. Scripture clearly teaches that we are to honor and obey our parents, and I know that mine certainly have more experience and expertise about relationships of this type than I do. The second thing that courtship means to us, is that we began this relationship with the idea of a possible marriage at the end. We both chose not to seek pleasure in temporary dating relationships during our youth; rather we chose to save romantic relationships until we were ready for marriage.

How it happened
Well because of our previous commitment to courtship even though I first became interested in Sarah in 2001 (and just recently found out that she became interested in me at the same time), nothing happened until very late in 2005. I wasn’t ready for marriage four and a half years ago, and I knew it. Because I waited, I now have my parents’ wholehearted approval, her parents’ wholehearted approval, and even my grandparents blessing in this relationship (well, blessing might be putting it mildly, lets just say that Grandma would probably shoot me herself if I backed out of this thing). The Lord used those years to teach me some maturity and responsibility, and draw me closer to himself. In fact, it’s been neat to see all the lessons the Lord taught both Sarah and I through during that time of waiting. I was also able to do some practical stuff like get a good job, save some money, and make progress on a college degree. The Lord brought us to the point where this is no longer just my idea, or Sarah’s idea, but God seems to be blessing it and confirming that it is His idea. I started out by asking her father for permission to court his daughter. He had some questions for me, and we ended up corresponding for about three months. Then the day arrived; he gave me his permission and blessing to court Sarah. So I asked her if she would allow me to court her, and she graciously replied that she would.

The Juicy details
OK, admit it, you skipped all the other stuff and went for this section first. It’s actually kind of boring to tell, thought I’m enjoying the process. She thinks I’m great, and I think she is great. We are talking about topics like our relationship with the Lord, family harmony, finances, having, raising, and educating children, roles of husbands and wives, and other important, but not real juicy topics. We are mostly communicating by e-mail, but we call and visit each other too. (Ok, by my best count we sent close to 93 e-mails to each other in the last 45 days, plus 14 chat sessions, and I’m not sure how many phone calls). We are saving our first kiss for marriage. Neither of us has courted anyone else before, and if I get my way never will, so it’s full of the excitement of something new, and the hard work of digging ditches to lay a firm foundation for our future together. Our families have decided that we are both twitterpated (it’s a term from the movie Bambi – don’t worry about it, I didn’t know what it meant until I looked it up either.) I think it means we are starting to daydream and spend more time thinking about each other than the tasks at hand.

So, What Happens Next?
I really don’t know the answer to that question. In general the process goes something like, courtship to engagement to marriage. Basically our goal in this courtship is to determine beyond a shadow of a doubt if this is the Lords will for us. What the timeframe is for the whole process, I don’t know, but based on the typical efficiency with which I try to get things done, I’m not imagining the process taking too long.

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

I don't know about Jack, but I get to be a dull boy with all work and no play. I recently decided that I needed to complete a degree program for a BA in Christian Communications that I enrolled in over two years ago. My goal is to finish by April 14th, and to meet that goal I've spent just about all my spare time studying hard. I've completed a course on the four gospels, a course on scientific creationism, and a basic English test so far, and I have about 8 more courses and four more tests to go.

However, a fellow has to take a break sometime. So pictured is me, sledding on a warm sunny day in shorts and short sleeves. I don't normally wear my hat backwards, but it added to the effect of the picture. I admit that snow boots look dorky with shorts, but have you ever tried to wear flip flops in the snow?

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

Imagine that you are 21, love history, and got a job offer to work at the Bodie museum for the summer. Well, that was me this spring, (and of course I took the job.) My name is Melissa and I grew up in Bridgeport, California, about 21 miles from the Bodie State Historic Park. Because I did not grow up very far from the park my family would come here now and then. I loved being in Bodie; my imagination would run wild, bringing the 120-year-old town to life. The idea of working in a place that is “haunted with history” was very exciting.

Working in the museum I see hundreds of people a day. Besides all of our American visitors we also get a lot of foreign tourists. But no matter where they are from, Bodie has a way of captivating them. It becomes very important for some of them to express their feelings about this place. I often hear, “I love this place!” One day I had a couple with very limited English explain what they had written in the guest book to me because they had written it in French. (I can’t read French.) Others are just happy to be here. I even had one family tell me about the “western movie” they were filming and for firearms they were using water guns. That sure feels nice on a hot August day.

I also love working with the many children that come through. The Junior Ranger program is designed to help children 7-12 years old learn about the history of people, plants, and animals of the California State Parks. We had about 821 children earn badges this year, almost 200 more than last year when we had 626 children. In 2004, Bodie also had the highest participation in the entire Sierra District of State Parks. The program in Bodie, being self-guided and geared for self-discovery, is a great way to help children learn about Bodie and find out what they already know. Some of the questions that the children answer are, “How much were miners paid per day?” “Would you have wanted to live here in 1879 when there were lots of people?” “Name some of the things you saw at the school house that we do not use today.” Some of the answers to the questions are surprising, to say the least. Under the question of something new that you learned about Bodie, one girl wrote she had learned that in Bodie you could buy a girlfriend. Surprised by this answer, Amber, one of our park aids, asked her how she had learned that. It turns out that while her family was watching the video on Bodie, she picked up on the word “prostitute,” not knowing what that was she asked her mother for an explanation.

The museum has two beautiful horse-drawn hearses, sometimes however they are not immediately recognized for what they are. One boy came into the museum, saw the hearse, and started exclaiming, “Look, a police car!” When he got closer and saw the casket inside, he said, “Oh, wait! It’s a funeral thing.”

But some of the children learn about other things besides Bodie. One day a little girl asked me how much a post card cost. I told her that it was 40 cents plus tax. She looked at me inquisitively and asked, “What’s tax?” “Oh boy,” I thought, “how do you explain tax to a little kid!” “Well…” After attempting an explanation she looked at me for a minute, then said, “Oh.” A little bit later she was back with a book and wanted to know how much it cost. I told her and all of a sudden she got an “Oh, I know” look on her face, and said with a huge smile, “Plus tax!”

Working in the museum could be challenging some days. It is somewhat of a balancing act to answer the radios, phone, questions, and tend the cash register simultaneously. Sometimes it is just hopping with people (800 or so), other days it is very quiet. (Like a ghost town!) It is fun to talk to many of our visitors. It is especially exciting to talk to those that have roots in Bodie. Helping others understand what Bodie was like, infusing them with its wonder, is very rewarding.

I enjoyed working here in Bodie and although I am sad to leave, I am glad to go home for the winter, but I hope to come back often. After all, there is still a lot about Bodie that I do not know, perhaps some I never will. What amazing things we would learn if these old buildings could talk. But as it is, they like to remain somewhat mysterious about their past. So Bodie will always be “haunted with history.”