I Forgot to Mention...

Even though this post will be before the last post, I had to tell you all two things:

1.  I get to go home for Thanksgiving/Mom's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!  You have NO idea how excited I am...54 days and counting!

2.  The headline news today: Police Chase ends in Wetlands.  Go to this website for the full story:  www.juneauempire.com/stories/092608/loc_337188362.shtml

If that website doesn't work, just google Juneau Empire, and it's the first story that comes up.  Basically this guy was driving under the influence, got in a "high-speed" pursuit with police (mind you, high speed is about 40-50 mph) and went through the guardrail into the wetlands.  This is big news!  They shut down the ENTIRE road to downtown for this!  Juneau folks would get a kick out of Southern California...

Anyways, just wanted to throw those things out there!  

Blessings!

It's Coming...

This week has been quite busy, both in good ways and, shall we say, interesting ways...

It started on Saturday.  I woke up to go to work, went to turn on my car, and it wouldn't start.  I didn't think it was the battery because the lights and the radio turned on.  It was just the engine - the most important thing - that wouldn't start.  This was not good.  Bri was already at work, so I couldn't ask her for a ride.  I knocked on Connie's door, and asked if she could give me a ride to work.  I'm SO thankful for my landlords.  As she was taking me to work, I got to thinking how I was going to fix this.  I worked from 8am-4pm and then from 12am to 8am, which means I had less than eight hours to sleep before my next shift.  How was I going to figure out the car in that amount of time?  While at work, I called Bri and figured out she would get me from work, and she would call her "car" friend and have him come over to look at it when we got home at 4.  4 turned into 6, and he couldn't figure out what was wrong.   Mark (landlord) charged the battery (apparently it was a bit low), but it still wouldn't work.  So Connie offered me her car for the evening so that I could get to work.  I had all day Sunday and almost all day Monday to figure out what to do.  Problem is, when your car doesn't work, it adds a lot of stress to everyday life, so you don't get a whole lot of sleep.

We went to dinner at the Harris' house on Sunday, and I mentioned that my car was broken.  So Uncle Willie said he would come over Monday to look at it.  He came over, but by that time, I had left for work - just missed him!  So Tuesday (my day off) he came over and said it was the battery.  I don't know why folks don't listen to me when I say it's not the battery - that the lights and radio work, so it can't be the battery.  Anyways, he took the battery back to his house, charged it fully, came back and installed it again, and the car didn't turn on (surprise!).  He was about ready to give up too, when he noticed a button down by the pedals in the car.  He pushed the button, and the car started right up!  Apparently, it's a reset button.  Since then, the car has worked, but I freak out every time I go somewhere because I'm afraid it won't start and I'll be stranded somewhere...haha!

Work continues to be an adventure.  We have nine kids right now, and one of them is the biggest handful I've had in a while.  There is no controlling this kid or his mouth.  He is one to speak/act before he thinks, which gets him into a lot of trouble.  But the kid refuses to take responsibility for anything.  It's all I can do to stay calm and collected around him.  I've done pretty well so far, and he leaves on Tuesday, so hopefully I'll be fine until then.  It's amazing how much patience one kid can take.  

I still haven't gone shopping yet - it's on my list of things to do very soon because....

WINTER IS COMING!!!

I'm scared, oh so scared.  The tourist season officially ends tomorrow, so all the downtown shops are closing for the winter.  Some stay open, but the majority of them close.  Downtown becomes a bit of a ghost town during the winter.  I went on a walk on Wednesday.  It was simply amazing.  It was one of seven sunny days we've had all summer, and it was beautiful.  As I walked around the lake and by the river, I saw the mountains through the clouds.  Up at the very top was fresh snow - DunDunDun!  When the snow comes for the first time on Thunder Mountain, it means there's about one month before snow in Juneau.  That puts us at Halloween-ish time.  It's going to be vastly different from the Halloween's at home when you're outside all night at about 70 degrees!  But the walk was beautiful - here are some pictures:

As I was walking, a song by Paul Stephens came to my mind (Paul Stephens was the student worship leader at APU for about three years - he has an album out - it's pretty good!  Also, his myspace page has a few of his songs - check it out!).  The song is, "No one Like You" and the last part of the song repeats this:

"There is no one like you; no one in heaven or earth, no!

There is no one like you; no one in heaven or earth, no!

There is no power like yours; no power in heaven or earth, no!

There is no power like yours; no power in heaven or earth no!

There is no King like ours; no King in heaven or earth, no!

There is no King like ours; no King in heaven or earth, no!"

Simply a beautiful song, with so much truth to it.  It's easy for me to see God in creation here.  Juneau is truly one of His masterpieces.  But at the same time, there is still so much sadness and loss here.  I'm sure people who actually look at me on my walks laugh at me because I always have this goofy grin on my face - the joy of the Lord fills me!  I hope you get a chance to see Juneau in your lifetime - you too will be amazed!

Hope you are all doing well!  I miss you so much!  Love you!

Blessings!

It's flooding, and this blog is stuck...

It's been a while...that's always my excuse.  Sometimes I just forget to update the blog.  But mostly, it's because nothing really exciting happens.  Seriously.  My nights are spent at work, and my days are spent sleeping.  Not a really exciting existence right now...But here are a few stories...

It's raining a lot here.  And by a lot, I mean it's actually flooding.  And by flooding, I mean you can hydroplane on the roads up here right now.  I know this...I've done it.  I love it though.  It's getting cold, folks are getting ready for winter, and I still have no clue what I'm doing in Juneau.  More on this later...

A few nights ago at work, a kid (not one of ours, and one too old to stay at CS) came in with a really messed up face.  He was mad and hurt and cussing left and right.  He said he was a friend of one of the TLP kids and that he was at a convenience store next to CS when two girls in a car started honking at him.  So he got in his car, and started to drive away.  The girls followed him, and kept tapping his bumper and going in front of him and slamming on the breaks.  So he got out of the car and asked them what their problem was.  One girl came at him from the front, the other from the back and beat him up.  Aparently the girl in the back had a rock in her hand and slammed it in his face.  When he got to me, his jaw was swollen, he had the start of a black eye, his lip was split, and his tooth was barely hanging on.  I gave the best first aid I could, but the kid really needed to see a doctor.  I encouraged him to call JPD and go to the hospital, but he insisted that he had no money and that he couldn't pay for the hospital visit.  I assured him that that wasn't what he needed to worry about.  He wouldn't take pain meds because "they thin my blood".  So he left with an ice pack on his face and a few bandaids on his hands.  Two hours later, he shows back up and says he can't sleep because of the pain.  I told him he needed to call the police.  Finally, he called, and they sent a fire truck, ambulance, and police officer (thank goodness my kids slept through the whole ordeal!!!).  He didn't go with the paramedics ("I can't pay") and made a report, and left.  That was a fun night...

I went over to a friend's house tonight for dinner, and met two more people!  Crystal (my friend) called and said she was making dinner for some people and wanted me to come.  So I went over there to see Ralph, who I actually met on Friday at the Gathering.  (Side note about Ralph...he is the brother of one of the original piranha's!)  Nice guy...And then I met Amy.  She's really fun - spunky, and enjoys having a fun time.  So we had dinner and played Apples to Apples.  So fun!  Ralph left early because he's staying at the end of the road.  Get this: he parks his car and then walks 2.1 miles to the camp he worked at all summer!  Um, PS, it's dark.  Not fun.  Anyways, Amy, Crystal and I stayed and talked for a while.  They're both coming over to my house on Tuesday and we're going to go "winter shopping" to get boots and warm winter stuff.  So good!  At least then I'll be a little more prepared, yeah?

On my way home from Crystal's, I saw a young black bear run across the road.  I was not to happy about that.  Connie (landlord) told me yesterday that there's a few bears around our house that are getting into stuff, growling, and the like because there's no fish in the stream.  So, apparently, bears turn to the garbage, houses, animals, small children for food before hibernation.  Made me real happy.

A few nights ago, Bri and I had her family over for dinner and games.  It's the first time they'd been over here since we got furniture.  How crazy is that?!  It was such a good night.  So much laughter and good food and people.  We're gonna do it again soon.  We did a lot of Grandpa Jim's puzzles - there was laughter, success, failure, frustration and elation.  Too fun!  Here are some pics from that:

So that's my life thus far.  I've gotten about four hours of sleep in the last 36 hours, so I'm going to bed now.  Hopefully I'll sleep for quite some time!  I love you all and miss you!

Blessings!