Grandpa Dan, Grandma Susie, Aunt Trudy

Many of you are nature lovers. I see it in your Facebook posts, in your yearning to hike or garden or travel. Some of you live on the waterfront with your crab pots and boat at the ready. Some feast for months on the yield of your gardens and the beauty of your flowers. Some are always on the lookout for a road you have not explored or a river you haven’t yet fished. Our Her of the Month, Irene Sandberg-Philips, is a woman who fits all these descriptions—well, except the crab pots!

Alaska born and raised, Irene’s family lived in Anchorage when the population was less than 50,000 and many unpaved roads that left you “chewing the dirt with your teeth when you got where you were going.” Her family was loving, adventurous, musical, and  quick to laugh. Both sets of grandparents lived near and played a significant role in Irene’s life. She remembers Grandpa Dan’s beautiful voice and standing on his feet as he held her and danced her around the room. It was Grandma Susie who taught Irene to bake bread and tell time in the many happy hours they spent together. Her grandma was a welcoming person whose door was always open, and Irene benefitted by meeting many remarkable people who had found their way to Grandma Susie’s door. Her loving attitude and joyful spirit greatly influenced Irene.

Grandma Myrlie with her sled team

Then there was Grandma Myrlie, her father’s mom, who was well know in the area as a sled dog musher and someone who helped form the Alaska Sled Dog and Racing Association. As a little girl Irene sometimes got to help her cook up food for the dogs, load it into a wheelbarrow, and take it to the dogs.

Theirs was a celebratory family life, complete with talent shows and lots of music. Her mom was active in local theater and she and Irene’s aunt loved to entertain in community events with a clogging group.

Irene’s family built a rustic cabin on Big Lake, which was accessible only by plane or boat. With an outhouse, no running water, and, for a time, a blanket for a front door, it was a place of many wonderful memories. When she was 12 years old, she was allowed to stay at the cabin with only her Siberian husky to keep her company. (By that time the blanket had been replaced by a real door.) “There were bears in the woods. The neighbor had told me not to worry about the bears. If they came around I should just bang the pots and pans.” Armed with that bit of wisdom, Irene had a worry-free time at the lake, feeding a small moose that visited her,  swimming in the frigid, clear lake water, and crawling on the slippery rocks to see the fish.

Irene with two young cousins

She loved walking in the forest after a snow, “when you can feel the crunch under your feet and the freshness of the air on your face, so that it takes your breath away. The silence is so peaceful and beautiful.” Another joy was the beauty of the Aurora Borealis, which she saw often, and heard once! (Did you even know you could hear the Auroras? See the note below for more information.)

When Irene was a junior in high school her father’s job transferred him to Seattle. She left behind her beloved Alaska, but not the confidence and sense of adventure that had become a part of her life there. Those qualities—and a home near the shores of Lake Washington, where she could swim and boat—helped smooth the transition to the big city.

High school and art school behind her, Irene married and moved to northeastern Washington State, where they bought 11 acres of wilderness property on the Pend Oreille River and set about building a home for themselves. They cleared the land, cut down aspen and pine trees, peeled them with a draw knife to create the logs, and built a rustic cabin. Here they lived, without electricity or plumbing, for two years, while they built a three-story log home (with all the amenities), on the property. Besides the river, there were creeks on two sides of the house. Water? check Trees? check Wildlife? check Space to garden? check Aahhh, just right!

Irene’s daughters dancing in their lo cabin

During those years in the woods Irene was able to give her two girls the kind of life she had known in Alaska. The children could play outside for hours, safe and happy—swimming, fishing, exploring. Though their home was isolated, they had a vibrant church community and it was common for them to share meals together or all bring their instruments for a rousing time of music.

Angela in her flower garden

Her girls were middle schoolers by the time they moved to western Washington to be near Irene’s mom and her Uncle Ray and Aunt Trudy. They found a rental on the water at Warm Beach.

Both of Irene’s daughters are married now to wonderful men and they both live where they can raise chickens and tend gardens.

Angela has a passion for flowers and several times a week during the growing season she puts bouquets on her flower cart for people to buy or delivers them to those who need a bit of cheer. She also works for a local flower grower. She’s a mom of three, and she and her family spend as much time outside as they can, and they love to hike.

Hiking with Sally’s family

Sally’s passions for hiking and for seeing an end to human trafficking has led to her to become a Freedom Fighter with an international organization called Rescue Freedom. As a way to raise funds and awareness for this issue, she participates in strenuous mountain hikes, using “what they love to fight what they hate.” Her husband and four boys love to be outside exploring the world with Sally. She and husband Ben are also on the Worship Team at church.

Irene teaches art to Sally’s kids one afternoon a week. Recently she sent the boys to the woods to collect leaves, sticks, and other objects so they could use them in art projects. Yes, the sounds like Irene the nature-lovin’ grandma.

Irene, daughters in Alaska, 2020

You might say Irene is the middle link of a five-generation (so far) chain of loving, adventurous, musical, quick to laugh people who love nature. Her desire for her grandchildren is that they have faith that God is taking care of them in every season of their lives, and out of that faith they will have courage; patience to wait and anticipate that every season of life has blessings; and wisdom to go the way they should go, God’s way.

This is the heritage Irene received, this is the heritage that she has passed on. May it continue strong in all the future links of this amazing family’s chain.

I found a video about the sound of the Northern Lights that you might enjoy and another video that highlights the beauty of the lights.)