Alaska (in pictures)

Here are just a few of my favorite photos I have taken. I have lots more to share as time marches on. Not everybody is able to make it up here to visit, let alone live, so I hope you enjoy!

Above are a mommy moose and her baby. Right in our back yard!

The Matanuska River as seen facing west from a recreational area. The seasons were just beginning to change from summer to fall. So gorgeous! This is fed from the Matanuska Glacier.

Another photo of the Matanuska River - closer up this time.

Here's mommy moose again! Isn't she so pretty? I can't believe I was so close (neat and scary at the same time!)

The view from our (temporary) window this afternoon as the sun started setting. Spectacular, no? There is beauty even in the depth of winter!

Ouch! Are you for real? Really?!

What a week it has been. What a week. I got in a minor car accident due to the vehicle fishtailing and I was unable to get it back under control in time. In unrelated news, the car broke down the next day by dropping it's third alternator in a couple of months. Wow! I've heard tell some say "Just shoot me!" to these kinds of weeks. But I know better. I belong to Jehovah God and he will take care of us. It is going to be a long haul through this mess but we have a lot of positives coming from it as well. Well, that's the way I see it. I wish it hadn't happened. I truly do. I was trying so hard and being so cautious, yet it still happened to me. I guess that's why they call them accidents. As far as positives, I can't really explain how I see it that way but suffice to say I've always been a "glass half full" kind of girl.

Other than that, it is a deep deep cold winter here in Alaska. I will try (I know, I know...you'll believe it when you see it) to get some pictures of the snow and trees and the moose that are hanging around the house we are living in as housesitters for the winter. I will watch for them on my day off tomorrow. I am adjusting...slowly but surely. I am not sure I would ever have chosen to live here and had no desire as much as Joe did to come. But once we get our own home, get Joe some steady permanent employment I think things will look a whole lot different and we can finally breathe a bit. Of course, all the while being chased down by that "roaring lion" looking for a tasty meal. I'm not looking for a deep breath but I would like to catch mine for a second to be sure. You sure can get the wind knocked out of you or feel knocked down if you let yourself feel that way.

I miss my family and friends and my Bearsy boy who we left in Burns and would give anything to be back home again. But I have a feeling Jehovah is going to do great things through us and with us here. I just know it, And we are all on the "menu" no matter where we live. So I'm gonna dig my roots down and bloom where I'm planted and welcome the blessings from Jehovah that I know are in store for us.

I am fine after the accident and the car can be made to run again. This too shall pass. I am so grateful for that. Mistakes can be corrected but life lost? That's a longer term problem that can't be fixed in a body shop or auto shop. I love you all and so sorry it's been so long between postings. I just have gotten a case of the winter blues a bit and am also working a lot at a fabulous job at Home Depot. I truly do love it there!

Until picture posting time, I leave you with this thought:

"I always am careful to look at my glass half full because if you look at your glass half empty, it might as well be empty all the way." Mattie Stepanek

(The quote will mean so much more if you look up some information on this amazing young man and what he faced in his short life.)

"Silent Lucidity"

It is just a quiet, dark night with the weather turning rapidly to winter here in Alaska and hubby asleep next to me and it is making me feel reflective and peaceful. I'd better quit typing as the clicking of the keyboard is probably not conducive to a good night's rest. I should really post some photos soon but pictures could never do justice to the pure beauty I get to see here every day. I treasure little moments like this.

Caution: Flagger ahead!

Yep. That's right! I took a flagging course at the suggestion of my hubby so that I could have another option for the work search here in the big AK. And guess what? I passed! Although, it's pretty hard to fail I'm told. So my first job flagging comes up in a few days when I flag for the opening day of the Alaska State Fair. Yikes! Wish me well!

Greetings from....ALASKA :)

Hello everyone out there in blog land. So sorry it's been such a long time in between updates but we've made it up north to the beautiful valleys and mountains and outdoors that is Alaska. Our house finally finally sold and we packed up and moved it on out a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful drive up here through some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen (especially BC, Canada). And a problem free trip, too! Yay!

It has been quite the adjustment for me but I am getting the hang of things up here and it helps when I look out my window and see mountains and mountains and mountains and rainbows and serene beauty. For now, I am looking for work and Joe is working on find a more permanent working situation but he is busy with the job he has now (real busy!). There are so many job openings I've applied to that I hope to hear back soon on them.

I took lots of pictures of our trip and will be posting some under a separate entry. But for now, good night from Alaska (so says my new driver's license and new license plates). I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us here! I miss my Bearsy boy something fierce and am finding it a bit difficult worrying about him since his new family is moving to an apartment (so I heard). I pray that he goes with. I don't know how I can help him from up here if they can't continue to care for him. He is a good boy and I love him and wish he were here with me where he belongs. But sometimes life takes turns down roads you didn't know were there and you find yourself recalibrating your destination. I just feel so bad for the baby boy. None of this was his doing nor ours. It just had to be this way.

I do miss my home and the feeling of the sun streaming in my lovely room in the morning and how it wakes me up. Here the sun never goes down really at the moment so I have to use blackout curtains and am having a hard time adjusting to a normal schedule. I miss being able to drive down the street and be with friends and going to work. I miss my Oregon life basically. It wasn't perfect and it was not a decision we had much choice in, but for better or worse those four walls on Quincy was our HOME and my haven. I am sure I will get used to being here in time. It is a wonderful opportunity for us. And, don't misread me, I am enjoying it. It just wasn't my first choice. We will be living in our own home sometime in the not too distant future and perhaps that will help me to feel at HOME once again instead of a temporary resident in an alien land.

But sometimes the alternate choices make for the best decisions after all.

See you soon! :)

Friendship and Love

Don't ever doubt that every single one of you, my brothers and sisters given to us by Jehovah himself, have been invited into our lives for a reason. For the joy you give, the support you provide, and the hugs you hand over. There have been many brothers and sisters come and go in our lives, either we move or they move, that we have lost contact with. Then there are others we hold tight to and never let go. You know you are of that latter category if you are reading this post.

So no matter what happens, whether it be good, bad or ugly, you are stuck with us in your lives forever. So just get used to it ok? There's nothing that can be said, nothing that can be done, that will ever take you away from us or out of hearts and love. Friendship and love are worth far more than anything that can be thrown at them. I mean, who are we to not support and love each other when Jehovah God has given us to each other to do precisely that? We love you all!

Perspective Please

We seem to be getting hit with a ton of junk - delay on selling the house, lots and lots of money going to repair bills for the vehicles and such (another costly repair reared its ugly head just this evening!). All of which has us wondering - will we and how do we get to Alaska? We've spent all our traveling savings on repairs and these unexpected things that a bit of stress creeps in on us. And then I think ahead to Saturday...and the memorial of a dear friend I've known for about a third of my life. She fought well and held strong for such a long time and yet death waited no more when the cancer took over. And then I think "Who am I to complain about money, vehicles, and not getting my new glasses and sunglasses as planned?" I am healthy, happy and safe and sound and (almost) warm in my home tonight with my hubby working hard to find work in Alaska and move our family. Lives come and go every second on this planet. But for what she has taught me in life and death, I want to say "Thank You, Betty Dozier. I will always love and cherish you. Thank you for the reminders and perspective. See you on the other side of this system, dear sister!"