Prescription for Finding Home in Alaska is the story of a young, Mennonite girl, transplanted from from the flat-land prairies of Kansas to the remote, tundra, and mountains of Alaska. She searches for home against the backdrop of village potlatches, school in a Quonset hut, the fragrance of wood smoke, Native friends, a doctor-daddy who creates adventures with a Bush plane and hunting tales, and a mother who makes the tastiest moose roasts and has what it takes to homestead. A detour into childhood depression is added to the mix.
Woven into her journey are the perspectives of her three siblings, mother, and father. As a family, they face lack of conveniences, isolation from extended family, freezing temperatures, and unknown hardships—oftentimes with an attitude of humor, ingenuity, optimism, and sense of adventure.
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Table of Contents
- Chp 1 — The Making of a Homesteader
- Chp 2 — We're Not in Kansas Any More
- Chp 3 — In the Bush
- Chp 4 — Blowin' in the Wind
- Chp 5 — Fantasy Land
- Chp 6 — The Cold House
- Chp 7 — Homesteading Takes Root
- Chp 8 — Introducing Visitors to Homestead Life
- Chp 9 — Just the Beginning
"The Denver blizzard was raging, so I grabbed your book and spent the next three days cozy beneath a blanket, in front of the fireplace, reading it — from start to finish — I couldn't put it down! You have a wonderful story and I love the way you write with all the vivid descriptions. I felt like I had shared your Alaskan experience with you (and the weather outside helped, too.) I hope you keep writing!"
"I couldn't put your book down, but read it from start to finish! I liked the footnotes that added details, and the flashbacks between Alaska and Kansas. The contrast was fascinating. I'd visited Alaska so could imagine some of the geography, and I'd grown up in Kansas so identified with your family roots back there."
"After a rough day, I reward myself with your book. I crawl into bed, push aside the day's events, and lose myself in your easy-to-read, heart-warming stories. Your book is good therapy!"
"Thank you for sending us your newest book Prescription for Finding Home in Alaska. I took it with me on a recent trip to Moldova and Poland. I intended to read it while waiting at airports and during the flights. While at the airport in Moldova, waiting for the plane to board to Budapest, I was intently reading about your life in the Cold House. Somehow, I was so focused on the book I missed the boarding call and repeated calls for "Mr. Smith". When I looked up and thought that it was strange that they had not started boarding yet I noticed my plane taking off! I had missed my flight! Oh well, after being interrogated by airport security and put in a holding area until the flight landed safely in Hungary, they let me go and I caught a flight the next day."
