Greg Nothstine has built a name for himself around proficiency with a blanket -- luckily for his new daughter, Ravynn Faith. Greg's type of blanket is the 100-pound kind, the walrus hide kind that plays floor for people with the guts and trust to volunteer for a blanket toss.
And though Greg is gearing up for his longtime role as leader of Rondy's Eskimo Blanket Toss -- 3-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the carnival -- now he's showing his skill with baby blankets, according to his wife, Gloria. "Actually, he's better than I am with folding a blanket and wrapping her in a blanket," she said. "He always wraps her snug as a bug. He's a master at that."
Fatherhood has come to Greg, 33, after a young adulthood of celebrity stemming from his prowess in Native Eskimo Olympics events and his activism for Native sobriety. He is sobriety movement coordinator for the Alaska Federation of Natives and holds several other leadership roles. Gloria, 25, grew up in Soldotna, and is a UAA sociology major and employee of Cook Inlet Tribal Council.
The two met under the mistletoe at a New Year's event and became parents six years later, almost to the day. This seemed to be the last laugh for the baby, who in utero had teased her parents by keeping her sex secret through five ultrasounds.
After dinner on New Year's Day, ...Gloria's...water broke after they returned home. The scene shifted to Alaska Native Medical Center, with 15 anxious relatives waiting and Gloria in the awesome experience of her first birth.
When the baby was born, she was spontaneously named by Greg, whom Gloria heard make this pronouncement: "I'm just ravin' about Ravynn, 'cause she's such a ravin' beauty."
On February 2, the [Ravynn] was given her Inupiaq name, Aklasiaq, at a ceremony at Our Lady of Compassion Care Center [where both the Kingikmiut of Anchorage and King Island Dancers performed in the naming ceremony.] At that ceremony, grandma Sophie Nothstine gave the baby a hand-crocheted blanket. In four or five years, she'll probably start to get used to a more unique kind of blanket -- the 100-pound, walrus hide kind. But this weekend, look for her on the sidelines.
1 comment:
thats cute!
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