Just Chillin'

Everything I Ever Needed to Learn (or need to continue learning)...

2010-10-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

...I learned in Alaska!

Well, not really. But close! These last few months have been some growing ones, but in a good way. Let me explain.

1. I learned that there is no doctor in Juneau that truly understands Type 1 Diabetes. They all understand Type 2 very well - half the population has it! But since Type 1 is so different, it's been quite a struggle to find a good doctor. I think I FINALLY may have found one. I was super impressed with her during my first visit...I see her again tomorrow - here's to hoping!!!

2. I learned that going down stairs quickly (i.e. tumbling) is not a good idea. Picture this: Me, in heels, at the top of the stairs. Fast forward about .2 seconds and you will see Me at the bottom of the stairs, sideways, shoes and files scattered all over the place. I have no clue what caused the .2 seconds. All I know is that when all was said and done, I had a sprained ankle, sprained wrist, and a broken middle finger. Talk about an awkward finger to break! I was cleared to take the splint off after 2.5 weeks, which I happily did! Which leads me to 3.

3. I learned I am not a very good volleyball player - especially with a broken finger! Some friends and I joined a team (Lakeside Ladies) the first part of September. Out of the 24 or so games that we've played, we've won 2! But oh my goodness! It is such a fun game! I sit and laugh the entire time because half the team knows what they are doing and the other half has no idea what they're doing. I'm in the latter group. It is so much more fun to play than it is to sit out! (I had to sit out because of my finger for the first six games. I was not happy...)

4. I learned (or re-learned) that singing on a worship team is one of the most fun things to do! I joined one of the worship teams at my church. It's quite different from playing with Linda and Dad, let me tell you! The team we have is still trying to learn how to play together. With Linda and my Dad, we sit down and jam - no practice necessary! But it's so cool. I even got to use sign language! It's pretty amazing to be able to worship the Creator with a whole congregation! Love it!

5. I learned (and am continuing to learn) that Alaska is not my home. As beautiful as it is here, and despite the amazing friendships I have been able to develop, Alaska is not my home. I miss my home. I miss my friends and family. I miss the familiarity of Riverside.

6. I continue to learn that being human means you make mistakes. And I've made plenty! It's heartbreaking to see the people I care about make poor choices, or have other people make poor choices about those folks I hold dear. It saddens me to see the hurt people go through. It's sad to see a path friends take end in tragedy.

7. I learned that even though my life continues to be busy and hectic, that patience is not one of my strong points. I find the busyness helps to distract me, but that I am not a patient person. I want to get out of here. I want things to happen now, and not have to wait on anything or anyone. But that's not what God has for me now.

I'm reading through Genesis right now, and the story of Abraham hits close to home. He was promised to be the Father of Nations. But he was getting old, and he and his wife Sarah took matters into their own hands - they didn't wait for God. That's where I am right now. I just want to take things into my own hands and go. But as I continue to read, I read that DESPITE Abraham and Sarah's decision, God still blessed him with many children - he ended up becoming the Father of Nations. I hold that promise close to my heart. I'm still waiting. I'm trying to be patient. I'm trying to wait for God's timing, because deep down, I know it's going to be totally awesome.

8. Lastly, I have learned there is JOY. This whole blog has been nothing but complaining! Even in the trials, in the learning, in the pain, there is JOY. I look outside and see the leaves changing colors and marvel at the beauty of it. I go to worship practice, and my little friend Zach sees me, runs with arms open wide saying, "WORIE!!!!!" I get to hang out with some pretty sweet teens every Tuesday night. I am sleeping with fewer nightmares! God is good! All the time!

Blessings!

Stop the World

2010-08-14T11:18:00.001-07:00

This summer has been amazing in so many ways, trying in so many ways, exhausting and exhilarating in so many ways. I can't believe it is starting to come to a close...although, if you looked at the weather today, you'd say I was lying (at 10:30am, it is 61 degrees. It's supposed to get up to 77. It is so clear and bright, I am wearing a tank top and flip flops!) But, alas, school starts in two weeks, rain is coming, soon to be followed by freezing weather and snow. Remind me why I live here again?

Linda came to visit for three weeks. It was so sad to see her leave! But alas, I guess real life has to happen sometime...Here are some pictures:

We had so much fun exploring. Linda almost died on the mountain, but I'll let her tell you that story...It was very sad to see her go!

Since she left, I have been doing a ton of sleeping! I didn't realize how drained I was. I was always on the go, stressing about what my visitors were doing, trying to fit things in that I thought they would like to do. I really didn't stop and think about me. Not that I am a conceited person or anything, but I didn't have any down time. If you know me well, you know that I love my alone time. I haven't had true alone time since June!

My small group at church talked about the noise in our lives. Cell phones, radios, TV's, computers, traffic, people, etc. It's everywhere - it's near impossible to get away from. But we also subject ourselves to noise too. Where is God in the noise? Is He in the traffic, in the computer, in the phone? Or are we so busy that we forget to listen for His whisper? Do we tune him out like we tune other people out? I know I have. I've been so disconnected all summer from God - I've forgotten where to find Him - where and how to listen to Him. He hasn't gone anywhere.

Today is a beautiful day. Maybe it's a good day to go to the beach and reconnect with my Savior...

Blessings!

Exhausted

2010-07-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

So the last two weeks have been incredible and insane and fun and trying. Let's start with the parents.

Mom and Dad came the last week and a half of June. It was SO fun to have them here! We did all sorts of crazy things - boated to a glacier, watched it calf (spelling???), Ziplined, hiked, played games, and ate out a lot! Oh, and we went halibut fishing! Dad and I loved that, but Mom wasn't a big fan of that...I hated to see them go...there's a reason I've been wanting to go home!!!

Mom and Dad left on the 30th, and my very very good friend Laura came to visit on the 1st! Talk about turn around! The only sad thing about Laura's visit was that it was cloudy and rainy the WHOLE time...literally. But we still had tons of fun. I got to show her around so many places (without the amazing views) and we did the "tourist" thing downtown...We went to Taku Lodge, ate amazing salmon, and got to see a bear!!! We also did Juneau 4th of July festivities, although the fireworks were a day late... It was sad to see her go too - especially since the next day it was super sunny!

The rest of the summer will bring more visitors, but for now I have a little bit of a break. I miss you all and hope that you are all doing well!

Blessings!

Getting There...

2010-06-12T14:33:00.001-07:00

As many of you I have a friend here in Juneau (I actually have a lot of friends in Juneau, but this story revolves around one...) who I've gotten close to over the last six months. We have a great time taking her dog, Murphy, for walks, going to the gym, trying all sorts of different culinary endeavors. This Memorial Day, we tackled the biggest adventure: New York City!

The idea started two weeks ago - literally. She began talking about different places she wanted to visit. New York came up. As we were sitting right there, I said, "I'll go to New York with you!" I was actually completely kidding. She said, "You want to?" "Yeah!" "OK, let's go!" Me: "Great! When?" Stacee: "How's Memorial Day weekend?" Holy cow! That's soon! The next day, I ask for two days off during Memorial Day weekend, and my boss actually granted it! I called Stacee and said, "We're going to NYC!!!" The rest of the story goes like this:

We don't have a plan. When I say we don't have a plan, I literally mean we don't have a plan. I mean, we don't have a map. We don't have a place to stay. We don't know what we'll be doing once we get there. We don't know how we're going to get around the city. We don't have a plan. When I call my Uncle Leo to tell him, "We're going to New York and landing in New Jersey (you should have heard the smile on his face) and then tell him we have no plan (you should have heard the doubt in his voice) he actually began to get very excited I was FINALLY going to New Jersey.

As I'm talking with my mom, she reminds me Becky (my cousin) lives in New York. So Becky and I start talking on Facebook. She offers us a place to stay (THANK YOU!!!!!!!) and offers to show us around a bit. Perfect! Our own private tour guide (no map needed) and a place to stay! Bring it on!

So we pack and get on a plane to get to Seattle, still no plan, mind you. We overnight at Seatac (Terminal A has the best benches to sleep on) and get ready to catch the flight to Newark. By sleep, I mean rest - I didn't sleep. With all the lights and the vacuums and people going from one terminal to the other, there was no way I was sleeping.

We “got up” at about 5 in the morning…actually, closer to 4:30 – we had coffee by 5 in the morning. We laughed at how terrible we probably looked from our rough night, but our excitement about New York couldn’t taint our mood at all! We got to the terminal we were supposed to be at, and luckily got on the plane (It was sold at capacity, but a few folks didn’t come, so we got on!). Before we knew it, we were off to New York!

As we were flying, about 3.5 hours into the trip, I looked out the window and saw hundreds – quite literally! – of lakes. I thought to myself, ‘We must be over MN....’ Sure enough, the captain came on and said we were flying over MN, and that we would be coming into some turbulence for the remainder of the flight. Man, he wasn’t kidding.

We continued flying, and I looked out my window and saw this massive body of water! ‘We made it!!! We’re here!’ is what I was thinking. However, our captain came on and dashed my hopes: “We’re now flying over Lake Superior – this is why we have all this turbulence.” They don’t call them “the Great Lakes” for nothing! My word, they were huge!!! And there were Thunder Bumpers everywhere. It made for an interesting ride…

So we arrived in Newark right on schedule (not two hours in advance like I thought originally…) and the adventures began. Oh man. Becky had given us directions on how to get to a place she had picked out to pick us up from. Problem was, we had no idea what we were doing, where we were going, or a map to speak of. We learned that the “people in red” are very helpful. Our directions said to get a train ticket from the airport to Penn Station. Great! How hard can that really be? So we see all these folks lining up at a kiosk that we assume is for train tickets. So we wait our turn, and the man in red comes over and gets our ticket for us and tells us to get off on the third exit, go down the stairs, and get on the train to Penn Station. How hard can THIS be? So we get on the AirTrain, and Stacee wants to get off at the first exit because there is a sign that said, “Penn Station this way”. I tell her to wait to get off at the third. She questions me but decides to trust me (good plan!) and we get off at the train station that leads us right to the train! We walk on, the doors close, and we’re on our way!

By this time we’re giddy with exhaustion and excitement. We’re in New York!!!! And we’re on a real train! With a man who punches tickets and everything! Our directions tell us we’ll be on this train for about 35 minutes, but to get off at Penn Station. We ride for about 7 minutes and the conductor comes on the loudspeaker and says, “Next stop Penn Station Newark.” Crap. Our directions don’t tell us if it’s supposed to be Penn Station Newark or not…not good. I try to call Becky, but she’s not answering. So we make a split second decision and begin to gather our things together. Another passenger looks at us and says, “You don’t want to get off here. Trust me. You want to get off at Penn Station New York.” Ok…I guess we’ll have to take this guys word for it. So we ride on.

We arrive at Penn Station New York (with no idea that we are under NYC…). Our next direction tells us to get a Metro card and get on train E. Metro card, no problem. Train E, a bit of a problem. What I didn’t know was that Becky uses “train” and “subway” interchangeably. Not helpful when you don’t know what you’re doing. So we’re looking for train E. There are plenty of signs for Subway E, but none for train E. So we call Becky, and she confirms that we want Subway E. So I tell Becky we’re getting on the Subway, and we’ll call her when we get to Jamaica Station.

We arrive at Jamaica Station, leave the subway and make our way to the street. Now, being a girl from the LA area, I know a little bit about places that are not safe. The area around Jamaica station was not safe. I There are bars on all the windows, trash on the street, and we are quite literally the only two white people on the street. Plus, we have baggage – we have targets on our backs that say, “TOURIST!!!” Stacee is super excited: “We’re in New York!” I haven’t had any sleep in about 52 hours at this point, and knowing how LA is, I know it’s a bad situation. So I tell Stacee, “Stacee, we are not having fun yet. We need to be paying attention. I need you to walk like you have a purpose, don’t be nice, and pay attention. I will tell you when we are having fun. Right now is not the time.” So I call Becky – she says she hasn’t left her place yet. Not a good thing. She tells us to go get dinner. I’m thinking, where are we going to get dinner? We don’t have a map, we’re in a bad part of town, and have no idea where there is food. Not good. We go in a Subway Station to get sandwiches (fitting, I know) and order sandwiches. As we are sitting eating, waiting for Becky to come, we get many stares (we ARE the only white people…) and a man comes in with a handful of pills that he offers the customers in the store. Like I said, not a good place…I finally call Becky after not hearing from her in 45 minutes. She said that she missed us and is turning around.

Long story short, kinda, We find Becky and begin our crazy adventure in New York…I’ll post more on that later…

NYC

2010-06-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I recently got back from a quick trip to NYC. Pictures are up on facebook, and I am working on a post for the trip on this blog...check back in a few days for more!

Lately...

2010-05-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's been busy! So much has happened, but too much to write about in great detail...

Let me sum up:

-Job = Insane (on so many levels...)
-Preschool = 3 weeks more! Need I say anything else?
-Youth Group = all-nighters, prom, me speaking = AHHHH!
-Friends = doing well - for the most part...A couple are going through some really rough times.
-Family = the parents have adopted two kittens - Strat and Telly. They're super cute!!! I wish I could be there!
-Uncle Leo came to visit! Had fun showing him around Juneau, but kinda sad that it was so cloudy. Looking forward to the rest of that family coming in July!

That's about it! Short, and sweet, but a summary of life these past few weeks! Hope you all are well!

Love you!
Blessings!

News Flash: Easter Beagle Reaches Juneau AK!

2010-04-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

I can't remember a time I have ever sat in a full Easter Sunday service at church. Actually, I should say, I can't remember a time I have ever heard and Easter sermon preached. Seriously. I've been going to church all my life, and never once! I love the Easter songs, taking the offering, greeting everyone Easter Sunday. But when the pastor gets up to the stage and begins the sermon, me, my siblings, my Grandpa and Bill would sneak out of church, and the fun would begin.

Actually, the fun began a few evenings before Easter Sunday. My family would go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and do "the Easter Beagle". Grandpa got bags and bags and bags of jelly beans, robin eggs, and peanut m&m's. We would put some Easter grass in baggies with a note, and then fill the bags with the candy. We got an assembly line going, and made fun of people who were falling behind. Of course, when each new bag of candy was opened, you would "check for ugly candy" and dispose of it right away...I even remember picking out the black jelly beans because Grandpa said they were not an "Easter color". We would spend a good 2 hours putting these things together and just wait for Easter Sunday.

So, back to church - well, sneaking out of church. My siblings, Grandpa, and Bill would sneak out of church and meet at Grandma's car to get the Easter Beagle candy out. We then went around the parking lot and street along the church and hung the bags of candy on the driver-side mirror. It was the Easter Beagle's way of saying Happy Easter! It's a tradition I grew up doing, and has now become part of my Easter tradition.

I am pleased to say that I still have not been to a single Easter sermon! This year I got some friends together, and we did the Easter Beagle! I explained to them the story behind it, and they all loved it. So we got together Saturday night to make the bags - 272 to be exact (as you can see from the picture below)

Sunday morning rolls around. The night before it decides to snow about six inches. So here we are, getting ready to do Easter Beagle at church in about six inches of slush in our Easter best. Not ideal, but welcome to Juneau. We were laughing at the rediculousness of the situation. But we did it! It was so fun watching people get the bags off their cars and look at it very confused.

So I'm happy to announce that the Easter Beagle has reached Juneau Alaska! I'm sure my Grandpa is so proud and laughed at us all morning from heaven. But shhhh! Don't tell anyone - the Easter Beagle is supposed to be a secret...

Blessings!

Life in the Fast Lane

2010-03-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been absolutely insane. So many things have happened - some good, some bad. There is so much to write, but I am not going to take the time to write it all...I'll summarize and give you the jist of it all.

Two weeks ago, I stayed home from church because I wasn't feeling well. One of my coworkers called me at about noon. She had news about my former supervisor from Lighthouse. Sonja's body had been found in the water, an apparent drowning. Totally shocked me and devastated me. Although I wasn't super close to her, it was still very sad and heartbreaking. I haven't lost someone in Juneau up to that point...I began thinking of all the lost opportunities and the sadness that her family must be feeling.

Her family came up to Juneau to have a service and to bring Sonja back to Washington (that's where she's from). There are some pretty incredible stories about her family and the conversations we had. Linda, Sonja's mom, told me that I was the only "vibrant Christian" she met up in Juneau, and it broke her heart. She then told me that she would be praying for me. SHE would be praying for ME? She, the woman who just lost her daughter, would be praying for me? Wow...that's crazy.

That same week, I got some sad news about a good family friend back home. It's hard getting sad news and not being able to be home with everyone.

This week, my coworker went to San Diego to get married! So I am living at her house for the next two weeks...taking care of her dog named CHAOS (the name says it all...). So my routine is a bit crazy, but it's all good. I haven't gotten home before 9-10 at night every night this week due to plans and classes. I took a wilderness first aid class over the past three days, and am now certified to give first aid to people in the wilderness...not that I ever want to, but it's good to be prepared, right?

It's been busy, but life is going well up here. I'm really looking forward to the summer when I get to see people from home!

Miss you and love you!
Blessings!

Snowboarding is...

2010-03-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

...SO INCREDIBLY FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went snowboarding with my co-worker and her daughter a few weeks ago. I'm so late in blogging about it because I wanted to wait for the videos to upload - they're pretty hilarious. Snowboarding is not as easy as it looks! I went just before the Olympics, and let me tell you, Shawn White is my new idol...not really, but he gives me something to work towards...

I've never been on a snowboard in my life. The closest thing I've come to a snowboard is a skateboard. Christy used to have two skateboards - one "fast" and one "slow". Christy and I would go to the end of our street to the stop sign, sit down on the skateboards, and push ourselves down the sidewalk, and "wipe out" into the grass at one of our houses. We would do this for hours! It was from these events of my childhood that I got the inspiration for the first video...

Oh yeah, it was great. I spent a lot of time on my knees, back, and face. The hardest part was actually getting up the hill. You see, there wasn't a chair lift. It was more a rope that you hang on to that drags you up the hill (your feet are strapped to your board, so you don't get to move your feet if you loose your balance...). And it did - quite literally - drag me up the hill my first time trying to get up the hill. I held on to that rope for dear life, lost my balance, fell, but neglected to let go of the rope. So it dragged me up a ways, while the lift people below were yelling at me, "LET GO OF THE ROPE! LET GO!!!!" I could not get the hang of it, so the poor ski guy had to hold on to me, run up the hill with me until I caught my balance. Pretty funny...

When I finally made it to the top of the hill (YAY!!!!!!!) I then had to learn to go down the hill. It's not as easy as it looks! "You move by putting your toes forward and heels back." "Bend your knees, point your toes." "BEND THE KNEES! STAND UP!" Oh, it was fun. Like I said, I spent a lot of time on my back, knees, and face.

This video is a little bit better - I actually stay up for a little bit of time...

Snowboarding is pretty incredible. I had a blast!

Hope you all are doing well! Miss you and love you!
Blessings!

My Valentine This Year Is...

2010-02-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

...Wouldn't you like to know! I'll give you a hint: He was breathing as of 4:30 today when I got off the phone with him...he lives in a different state than I do...Portland to be exact...and he's 93 years old!

A couple posts back, I wrote about this old man I met in the airport named Gery. I wrote to Gery when I got back to Juneau, just saying that I hope everything was alright with his heart and his ribs (he fell when he had his heart attack), and that it was a pleasure meeting him. I hadn't heard from him since.

When I got home from work a couple days ago, I randomly checked my messages on my home phone. I never do this...there were about 12 messages on it...One of them was from some man who sounded really old and who I could hardly understand. So I looked at the caller id (my phone saves caller id's) and saw that it was a "Vandermort Ger". I had no clue who this was, so I thought nothing of it.

So last night Kendra, Andrea and I were having dinner and I burst out saying, "I know who that is!" I proceeded to tell the girls who the "mysterious man" was. Since it was about 8:30 pm my time (9:30 pm his time) I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to call him then. I opted to call him on my lunch break the following day (today).

So lunch comes around and I give Mr. Vandermort a call. No answer. So I leave a message saying that I hope he's doing well and would like to talk to him. He calls later in the day while I'm still at work, so now I've opted to call him on my way home from work.

I got off at 4:30 (beauty of working through lunch breaks...) and call this guy up. He answers! We talk for a good 20 minutes. He fills me in on all he has done since January: "I've taken a lady to the hospital, I'm going to meet my friend again in Southern California, I'm still doing counseling with some couples, and I'm building things." I fill him in a bit on what I'm doing: "I work with crazy people, and sometimes think I'm crazy because of it!" He then begins to ask about my boyfriend again. I laughed and told him, "When my boyfriend shows up, you'll be one of the first to know!" He then tells me, "Laurie, I am so blessed to know you. And I want you to know that the Lord's timing is perfect. He has someone for you. You've just got to trust God that he will bring him to you. You're young and beautiful, it'll happen. Just wait for God. The Lord will lead you. Just listen - be sure you listen - you don't want to miss it."

Wow. Sometimes I feel like I'm five again, and just got in trouble by either my Jansen parents or my own parents because I wasn't listening. It's hard to wait for God's timing! On so many things, not just some guy. I want to move back to CA. I want to have a job I actually enjoy all the time, not just some of the time. I want to travel all over. I want to have a relationship with a guy. But as Mr. Vanderwort said, "In God's timing. Just wait for God. The Lord will lead you. Just listen..."

He then wished me a Happy Valentines Day and said, "Laurie, I love ya. You are a blessing." We hung up and I was left with a smile on my face. Yep, Mr. Vanderwort is my Valentine this year.

Happy Valentines Day to all of you!
I love you!
Blessings!

Getting it all out

2010-01-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks for this song Linda! It's great - I'm loving it every time I listen!

As many of you know, there are some changes going on right now...friends' lives are being changed, my surroundings are changing, and there's a lot going on in my head. It's hard to get it all out...

As many of you know by now, I am moving yet again! Hopefully I will stay in this new place for a while. I'm renting a one bed/bath apt from Amy's parents and am SO excited that I finally can have my own space! While living with people have some major benefits, I can't even begin to tell you how good it will be for me to have my own apt. It's a super cute apt, and my current roommate is going to help decorate it. So, for all you that need a place to stay when you visit Juneau, give me a call - I'll have a sweet place! ;-)

One of my roommates is getting married in May. Very excited about that! She's actually walking down the isle to this song, so we've been listening to it quite often...haha! It's been fun watching her and helping her plan this wedding. She is so excited and it just rubs off on you.

My job is going well. I still have no idea what I'm doing or what I'm supposed to be doing, but that makes it even more interesting, right? I am continually surprised by the folks I work with and the different levels of "crazy" we get to deal with. It's a fun job, but as always, I'm so ready to move back home!

Preschool is going well too. The past two weeks have been huge challenges: last week I was on my own with 11, and this week I had Shawna back with 15! And for some reason, these past few weeks, the kids have had an extreme excess of energy. We're thinking because it's been so yucky outside, they haven't played outside in a while. Whatever it is, I've been praying constantly for patience with them! They're an exhausting handful, but they're pretty fun too...

That's about all I can talk about now. So many more things are happening, but too much to write in a blog, and some I'm not quite ready to talk about. But know that I truly am doing well, and am making the most of the time I have up here. God is doing incredible things and teaching me amazing lessons that I would not be able to learn in other places or situations. For that I am grateful.

I love you and miss you!
Blessings!

Saying Goodbye

2010-01-04T23:31:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in Seattle Airport as I write this, thinking about the amazing trip home I just came from. So many cool things happened, there are WAY too many to put in a blog. I got to see many of you that read this blog, and that was so amazing for me!!! I miss you all so much!

I've come to accept the fact that Juneau will never be home to me. I'm not sure that anywhere other than Riverside will ever be home. I live and survive in Juneau right now - that's about the best I can say...VISITORS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!!!!

Travel story...We got to Ontario airport early because of the "extra security" measures that were supposed to happen since the Christmas Day airplane incident. This "extra security" took all of five minutes. When I say five minutes, that's the amount of time it took for me to take off my shoes, slide all the stuff through the x-ray thing, and get my shoes back on. Yeah, there's no extra security...So I had about an hour and a half before my flight even boarded. I sat in the handicap section, and soon there was a man who was wheeled right next to me. I didn't think much of it. I then heard him struggling a bit, looked over, and saw that he was trying to get something out of the bottom of his carry-on luggage (which was on the floor). I offered to help him, which he accepted. As I sat back down in my seat, he started talking to me. He asked me where I was going, and I told him Alaska. He then asked me what I did in Alaska. I told him that I worked with mentally ill adults. He said, "Oh, I kinda do that too. I work with disturbed kids, and try to help them from getting mentally ill." The conversation went on to him telling me that he was a retired minister, just celebrated his 92 birthday, and that his wife had been gone for about three years. He said he was lonely, but that he was glad he got pushed next to me so that we could talk. I asked what kind of minister he was, to which he replied, "Nazarene!" I smiled and said that I grew up Free Methodist. We laughed and he said, "I have people very close to me that are Free Methodist! We are very similar in doctrine - I'm very glad to meet you!" We continued talking, and he asked, "So what does your boyfriend do?" I was a bit taken aback...I told him, "I don't know! I haven't met him yet!" The man said, "What? How old are you?" I told him 24. "You are beautiful, and you're telling me that no man has snatched you up yet?" Again, we laughed. He told me stories about his life, going to Pasadena City College to become a minister after hitch-hiking from Ohio with $138 in his pocket. Seriously, this man has some amazing stories. But every story ended, "It just goes to show that God is good. He takes care of us - all you have to do is trust." He asked what my life plan was, to which I responded I have no idea. He told me, "Here is my prediction: You will be married in three years, maybe have a baby on the way. You will be in some profession helping people, but maybe not what you're currently doing. And I think you'd make a fantastic ministers wife." He wanted my address so that he could write to me, and said, "Please stay in touch! You blessed me today!" As he was wheeled to board the plane, he grabbed my hand and said, "You're wonderful. I love you!" What a way to start the morning!

Got to Seattle about 1/2 hour early. I walked around the airport for a bit, and was able to call a few people. As I was on the phone with Laura, three men came through my gate area, spread out, each of them with a head-shot of a woman. They kept the head shot rolled or folded up. One went to the counter and showed the picture to the woman there and pulled out some sort of ID. At this point I'm thinking FBI or undercover cop (at east in my fantasy world...). The three of them just hang out on the side of the isle, walk near stores, etc. Then one breaks off and meets a police officer walking down the isle. They talk, he joins his guys again, and the officer goes off in the distance, but is still visible down the isle. All of a sudden, the three guys look down the isle, and slowly start walking down, a bit spread out. I'm totally excited at this point, and want to know what's going on!!! I change my position, and turn around to walk. They watch a woman go into one of the restaurants and one follows her in. The other two walk, one on a cell phone. I then see the police officer walking down their way. The woman comes out, and the lead guy shows her his ID and starts talking to her. Shortly after they begin talking, she walks away, and the guys start grouping with the officer. Apparently they had the wrong lady. (Side note, that lady they stopped is now sitting next to me in the plane as I write this!)

So the officer resumes her position out of the way, and the three men walk through the terminal again. They again pull out the picture of the woman they're looking for and go about looking for her. Again they talk to the people at the counter. The counter then pages a lady. She immediately goes to the counter. One man goes to the counter, turns to the other two, and nods to them. (Another side note - I am right in the way at this point, so I figure it's a good idea to move out of the way...) The lead guy shows her his ID and asks if they can talk to her over out of the way (Oh, and the officer is really close also...) They take her away, but still in eye-shot. One of the three guys is still standing a bit away from the rest of them. They begin to look through her bags, and pull out a large zip-lock bag from her bag that have many pill bottles. The lead guy takes the pill bottles and pours the pills out into his hand. They then grab all her stuff and take her into a door to the side of the airport. I figure that's the last I'll see. Oh no...

About three minutes later, the three guys are carrying all her baggage and the officer has her gloves on and is escorting the woman down the isle in handcuffs!!!! Talk about exciting! Now I want to know what it was officially for...Maybe it will be in the paper or something.

Never a dull moment while traveling Alaska Airlines!

I already miss home terribly! Can't wait till I see you all again!

Blessings!

Prayers

2009-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting, rough week. Lots going on, and a lot of friends that are going through really rough times.

It started with this article: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/1048813.html

While I can't say why this is such a big deal, it was a pretty horrible piece of news to get last Tuesday. It pretty much consumed my thoughts for a good two days - it was very hard to focus on anything at work, and I constantly was checking the news for any updates. But God is good...

I then get the email from a good friend who is having a rough time with a relationship she is in, and have spent a good part of the week just listening to her. I'm not sure what to say half the time, but sometimes it's good to just be there.

I had a really long conversation with another friend who has opened a can of worms that is going to be pretty rough to face, but needs to face. Stinks for that friend, and again, I don't know what to say. I know what I want to say, but that's not always the best. I'm learning to just listen...God is good...

I got to work today and was catching up on weekend news on CNN.com.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/14/oregon.missing.hikers/index.html

As I was looking at the Mt. Hood hiker search, I saw the pictures of the folks missing. I thought to myself, "Wow - that looks a lot like Steve!" Then I saw the name: Anthony Vietti. Hmm...that's the same last name as Steve...So I looked at Steve's facebook page. Sure enough, one of the guys they are still looking for is my friend Steve's brother. Things don't look good, and they are running out of time to find the other two. The family still has hope, and is asking for anyone and everyone to pray for a break in the weather, and to keep Anthony and Katie safe. God is good...

So I've had a lot on my mind. While none of these things directly affect me, it's happening to people that I love. So, if you wouldn't mind praying for these friends, that would be amazing.

As the Newsboys have said, "When hope is lost, I'll call You Saviour; When pain surrounds, I'll call You Healer; When silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart."

Blessings

Water to Wine + Preschool = Hilarious

2009-11-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

It's been quite some time...not a whole lot has changed, and not much new is going on. But I do have a couple updates...

My replacement at JAMHI came! She has taken over my caseload, leaving me to be the first Clinic Case Manager JAMHI has ever had! It's pretty sweet being able to help form this position and giving my input. I am so incredibly blessed with this job - it's entertaining, fun, new, and I get to help people! Honestly, what else could I ask for? Ys, it is incredibly difficult being away from home, and I would LOVE to come home, but I am here for such a time as this, and that needs to be OK.

Winter came. There is snow and ice and everything. It's not nearly as bad as last year, but man alive, I still don't like it. It's crazy. Our house has the beginning of icicles. Welcome to winter.

In other news - the reason for my title - I have the best preschool story to tell!

This week's lesson was Jesus' first miricle - turning water to wine. How do you explain this to 3-4 year olds? What is a good visual aid? How do I show them that God is great? That God is a God of miracles? What a miracle is? Oh man, I was up for a challenge...

So for the visual aid, I got juice powder and put it in an empty cup. I then took a pitcher of water and poured the water into the powder cup and told them, "Jesus told the servants to pour water into the 6 stone jars, and then serve it to the party guests. You know what happened? The water turned to wine! And some of the guests said that it was the best wine they had ever had!" As I was telling them this, the powder water turned to juice - a miracle! The kids LOVED it! "Woah! It's like magic! That is so cool! Let me see!"

That wasn't enough. After that, each kid got to make their own "wine". They poured the water into their cups with the powder in it, and were simply amazed (Ah, to be a kid again...). They had juice with their snack and all was well...until the parents came.

The typical question for any parent to ask their kids when they get out of Sunday school is "What did you learn in Sunday school? How was it?" That Sunday was no exception:
-Dad: "Joey, what did you do in Sunday school today?"
-Joey: "We drank wine!"
-Dad: "You drank wine?"
-Joey: "Yeah! It was the best wine ever!"
-Dad: Looks at me with a questioning look. "Wow! Who else made wine?"
-Joey: "Um, the teacher!"
-Dad: "Oh yeah? Who else?"
-Joey: "Lola!" (She's another girl in the class)
By now, I am PRAYING that he gives the right answer - to show that I actually taught them something...
-Dad: "A long time ago - who made wine a long time ago?"
-Joey: "Um...." Blank stare...silence...more silence..."God!"
Close enough..

KIds are great. They love the simple things in life. Their understanding of things is so concrete and basic, and just when you think you're not getting though to them, they surprise you. At this age, it's not about the complex concepts. My job is to teach them that God is great. That God loves them. When was the last time I actually stopped and got that basic in my own walk? God - MY God - is great. My God is the God of love! Woah...

Blessings!

DAT Team

2009-10-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

Many of you saw my Facebook status about the DAT (Disaster Action Team) call we got last Tuesday and have asked questions about it. It's really not all that exciting...but it was my first call out - that WAS exciting!

I was at youth group watching my kids play the tapioca game on Tuesday night (side note: the tapioca game is disgusting! Way fun to watch, but way gross...) Amy said, "You know, Jessica (youth leader) would really be upset if we got a call tonight..." (Another side note...Amy used to get all sorts of fun calls when it was just her responding. When I started to be on call with her, there have been no calls.) I laughed, because I was on with her, so what are the chances of us going out on a call?

HA! So, back to the tapioca game. I was outside, Amy was inside. Outside = 38 degrees; inside = 77 degrees. Who do you think is the better servant? Just kidding. So I'm freezing outside when Amy comes out all decked out in her gloves, scarf, jacket, etc and smiles at me. I knew right then. "No way! No way!!!" Amy smiles and says, "Yup! We've gotta go." So we get in her car and drive.

Along the way, she says, "K, so we have three trees that fell on a house in Switzer." (For those of you who don't know, Switzer is a mobile home park in Juneau." The winds were howling, so it wasn't a big surprise. Apparently the family was fine, but since the winds were still blowing, they were afraid to stay in their house overnight. I asked if we had an address, and Amy said, "Well, I imagine it's the one with three trees on it! But yes, we have an address." Ha Ha, Amy...

So we pull up, and sure enough, you can't miss the house! Three massive trees just toppled over onto the mobile home. Funny thing was that you couldn't even tell if there was damage! We went inside, and the family is sitting around the table, someone is cooking dinner, three boys are watching TV, and they're all doing just fine! The father of the house was taking a nap earlier in the day when he felt the house shake. He checked if everyone else was alright, and everyone else seemed good, so he went back to sleep. It wasn't until their neighbors called a few hours later that they realized three trees were sitting on top of their house!

Our job was easy. We called the local motel and got them a place to sleep for the night. They were grateful and that was it! Here's the article about the event:

http://juneauempire.com/stories/101409/loc_504603915.shtml

So that's my story! Fun times in Juneau!

Blessings!

Long Overdue+Downtime=New Post

2009-10-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. So much has happened, and I don't even know where to start. I guess that's why I've been putting off writing for so long. It's as if I am at a loss for words...hmmm...

I started teaching preschool sunday school at my church. What an adventure. So the first Sunday was a "meet-and-greet" with the kids and the teachers. I was there, ready to meet some of the little ones. Scared to death...That Sunday, I met five little dudes. Some were shy, but two of them were chatty-chatty! It was pretty funny...I got to thinking that I would have my hands WAY full - and I only met five kids! I thought, "I can handle five preschoolers...that shouldn't be too hard. Heck, I was a nanny for seven kids under the age of five! I can SO do this!"

The next Sunday came. I had spent about three hours in the classroom Saturday to prepare, to get my wits about me, and to try and figure out what I was going to do. Sunday rolls around and kid after kid after kid came in the room. 11 kids later (thankfully I had Seanna there to help me!) we were starting Sunday School. Let me tell you, that was the most exhausting 50 minutes of my life! Maybe not of my life, but surely of my week. Preschoolers have the attention-span of a gold fish. That's not helpful when you have a room full of toys, a Bible story to read, a craft to do, and 11 kids to keep track of. What a morning! It was wild. I'm glad I'm doing it. I will learn a ton!

The following Friday was spend with my friend Crystal and her new puppy Copper. We went on a walk (in the rain!!!!!) and got soaked. When we got back to her house, we made tacos and played games with her sister-in-law. Towards the end of the night, I started getting an itchy throat. I went home and took some meds and tried to sleep. Not so good...

All through the night, I tossed and turned because my throat was hurting, I was achy everywhere, and I could hardly breathe out of my nose. The next morning (Sat) I felt like a train had hit me. I literally did not leave my bed all day. It was horrible. I think I drank a mug of chicken noodle soup - that was it. I debated whether or not to go to the ER, but I figured I had the flu and they couldn't do anything anyways. So I called Seanna and told her I was sick and would not be able to teach preschool (Again, I am SOOO thankful for her! She took it all!) Sunday wasn't much better. I called in Monday to work and only worked a half day on Tuesday. As I am laying in bed writing this, I am still sick and will be going to the doctor on Monday (hopefully...).

People are wondering if it is H1N1. To be honest, I have no idea. I do know that H1N1 is not being tested anymore up here because so many people have it. They are saying if you have at least two of the symptoms, you probably have it. If that is the case, then I have H1N1. But who knows for sure. I'm hoping it's going to be gone soon...

In other news, fall is here - kinda. We've gotten fresh snow on McGuiness and the three towers, and a bit on the other mountain near the glacier - not sure what that one is called...No fresh snow on Thunder yet. So we still have at least a month before the snow hits us. However, we did have our first frost! I woke up Tuesday morning and had to warm up my car and blast the defrost so my windshield would thaw and de-ice. It was pretty crazy. That's another sign that winter is coming...

I hope you are all doing well! I love you and miss you!
Blessings!

Can't Decide on a Title...

2009-09-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

...So you can decide for me! The choices are:
-"Back to Real Life"
-"The Longest Post of All Time"

A lot has happened recently. Well, not a lot, but...well...yeah, it's been a lot. But it's been good! I'll start with last weekend.

I got off work around 2 pm on Friday to leave on a "vacation" with three of my girlfriends here. I came back to the house to grab my stuff and wait for my roommate to pack so we could drive to the ferry terminal to leave. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 3 pm. Did I mention that my roommate had not packed? Did I mention that she did not get to our house until about 2:20? Did I mention that we were supposed to leave at 3? Did I mention that it takes about 15 minutes to get to the ferry terminal? Did I mention that she had not packed yet? Did I mention that she didn't get home until 2:20? Did I mention that the ferry was supposed to leave at 3? Did I mention that this was a bit stressful for me?

Good news! We made it to the terminal with time to spare! Not much, but some. We went on board to stake our spot for the next sixish hours. Then we explored the ship. It was pretty fun! We went and watched "Kung Foo Panda" in the movie theatre on board, ate dinner, played Nertz, Hand and Foot, and Reversal. It got darker and darker as the night wore on, which made us really tired (besides the fact that it was Friday and we all had long weeks.) We pulled into Skagway at about 10:30pm, drove off the ferry into a town we didn't have a map for, that does not have street lights, and set out to find our hostel. Let the adventures begin...

The great thing about Skagway is that it is a small town. By small, I mean there are about 700 people who live there, it's about four blocks wide and about 22 blocks long. And, it is a grid layout, so no turns anywhere. We found our hostel fairly quickly. We go in, check in, and are told to go to room 2. (Side note - up to this point, I have no idea what it means to stay in a hostel.) I go up to room 2, open the door, and see a guy sleeping in one of the beds. I jump out of the room, shut the door, and say, "They made a mistake - there's a guy already sleeping in there!" The other ladies laughed at me and explained that is the way a hostel works. So I quietly open the door again and sneak into the room. We begin to unpack when the owner comes in and says that his wife made a mistake ("See! I told you this wasn't right...") and that we needed to move to a different room. So we move to the bunk house in the backyard. It's not much better...there are two people already sleeping in there, with two other people's stuff already in some of the beds. One of the guys came in, introduced himself as an Israeli who was making his way through Alaska. I'm thinking, I am not going to sleep with all these strangers in the room....

I was right. Didn't sleep well at all. I was up when Mr.-Sleeping-Next-To-Me came in at about 1am and again when Mr.-Sleeping-Next-To-Me woke up and left at about 5am. Every time Mr. Israel moved, I woke up. Finally, at about 7am I gave up trying to sleep, got dressed, and went to explore Skagway while talking to mom. What a fun town! It's an old western mining town, with old buildings with so much history, boardwalks, and semi-paved roads. Even the churches were tiny! When I went back to the hostel, the girls were just getting up. We packed our stuff, did our chores, and then went to explore Skagway. We got to the Presbyterian church (if you want the full story, call me - there is too much to write) and looked around at some of the other fun shops. We then decided to get a move-on to go to Whitehorse!

What a beautiful drive! The terrain and climate was so incredibly different than that of Juneau. It was so dry, there was dry dirt (not mud!) and some amazingly gorgeous trees! There were mountains everywhere, and lakes, and glaciers. Truly beautiful.

We got to the border and passed through with no problems. The border patrol laughed because we told them we were going for a "relaxing, quiet trip to Whitehorse". Apparently, Whitehorse is not known for being quiet...

Along the way, we all got to talking about our "expectations" for this trip. We learned that we're all broken ladies, with a lot going on, and were just looking for some peace and the sense and understanding that Jesus loves us - just as we are - and that we don't have to fight and work for that love. We can be kids - not adults that have everything figured out. Just a time to rest, to heal, to love, and to live. It was a struggle throughout the whole trip, and something I think we are all still living through. But we are going there, and we'll make it. This song became the "theme song" for the trip:

We arrived in Whitehorse, so excited to be in Canada! Anna, who went to college in Canada, was especially excited. We went and got our money exchanged, and then set off to find a map, and plan out our next two days. Our main focus was to find the Dairy Queen. So, you have to understand that in Juneau, there are really no fun options for food. So, when anyone who lives in Juneau goes out of Juneau, you look forward to two things: real shopping and real food. So, Dairy Queen is "real food". We got to the visitors center and asked where the Dairy Queen was and got devastating news: IT CLOSED!!!! Apparently, the owner got cancer and had to close it. I know - so not a good reason to close DQ, but such was life. So we went to Quizno's instead. Not as good, but still, different, real food! We putzed around Whitehorse, went hiking next to an amazing river, and then went to Pizza Hut for dinner (again, real food. I know, my standards have dropped...)

We stayed at the Hot Springs that night. We got to our campsite and began setting up our tents. We had two two-person tents to set up. As Anna and Kendra were setting up one of the tents, Anna says, "I think we can all fit in this one!" So, we put our sleeping bags in the one tent, and the sleeping bags fit, but I wasn't sure it was going to be the best night sleep...The other thing we didn't take into consideration was that we could fit four people in the tent if you put them in the short way rather than the long way. So, all night, my legs were bent because if I straightened my legs, they would have been outside the tent! We were cozy, and I don't think any of us were cold! We practically slept on top of each other. But, I did not sleep because we were in bear country...in a tent...and I was on the side. So, if a bear were to go after the tent, I would have been the first to go. Oh, and we had a campfire, but in Alaska, you don't wait for the fire to die down before going to bed because it's so wet, nothing will catch fire. But we weren't in Alaska - we were in Canada. So I was freaking out that the forest would catch fire. Not good.

We woke the next morning, shopped around Whitehorse some more, and then left for Skagway. We got cinnamon rolls at a bakery along the side of the road that had AMAZING cinnamon rolls! We got back to Skagway and decided that we wanted to sleep that night (seeing as we had to be at the ferry terminal at 6am the next morning) and splurged and got a real hotel! The hotel was typical old west with spiral staircases, leather chairs, old candelabras, etc. We went hiking around and saw some incredible scenery. Went to an old bar for dinner, and had a great night. And we slept SOOOO well!

Early the next morning, we got on the ferry (after not being able to find our tickets...) and were off to Juneau. We slept for half of the trip because we were so tried. We played games and continued to talk through the remainder of the trip. The captain cam on and said, "If you look out on your left, you'll see a baby orca swimming around." Sure enough, on the left, this little orca was just coming out of the water and in the water. It almost looked like a salmon spazing out, but it wasn't. Then, a little later, the captain came on again and said, "If you look on your left, you'll see a pod of humpbacks." Now, humpbacks are pretty cool, but when you see them all summer, it's not really all that exciting. But we looked anyways. Just as we turned to look, a full-grown humpback completely breeched out of the water - 100% out of the water - and plunged back into the water. It made such a huge splash!!! Way cool - loved that! Surprisingly, those two whales were the only wildlife we saw on the trip (other than eagles and squirrels).

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We had a great time getting to know each other and loved spending time together. Loved seeing God's creation and learning to appreciate the simple things in life.

This week I start two new things. Well, one was last night. I am helping in the youth group at my church. I have a group of freshman girls that I care for. It was pretty fun being around kids again. They're so funny and love having fun with each other.

The other thing I start is teaching preschool Sunday School! I'm not sure about that one, but it should be fun, right? I'm excited, nervous, and thinking "What am I doing? I'm crazy!" So pray for me! I'll need it!

Hope all is well with you! Love you and miss you!

Blessings!

There's a reason it's called Jumbo...

2009-08-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, and I've truly been meaning to write about my weekend. However, since I am so late in writing this blog, that "weekend" was about two weeks ago! I'm recovered now, and actually set some time aside to write.

It all started Friday night. I got home from work, was exhausted, and really looking forward to eating some simple dinner and then going to my room to watch a movie. I had just finished dinner, taken a shower, and was crawling into bed when my friend Crystal called asking me what I was doing. She said that she and Amy were going to go out to the Boy Scout camp and hike around. Even though I was exhausted, just had a shower, and really looking forward to that movie, I said I would go. So here it's 7pm and we're just starting out on a hike...let the adventures begin...

We get way out the road to the trail. Oh man, was it beautiful!! There was a thick forest of trees, the river right beside it, and a little island thing on the other side of the river. There was a huge tree that fell down on the island that cast some shadows. Me: "Look! There's a bear!" Amy: "There's no bear over there." Me: "Yes there is! Look!!!" Crystal: "That's just the shadow of the tree. There's no bear." Me: "Oh yeah. I see it now. Just kidding!" Amy: "Wait, there really is a bear over there!" Me: freaking out a litlle..."No there's not! It's just a shadow!" duh! Amy: "No, really, there's a bear over there!" Crystal: "I see it! Oh look! It's fishing!" Me: "I don't want to look." But I look anyways. Just then, this bear (yes, it was there!) picked up a salmon out of the river and began to eat it! It was pretty cool. But I was still freaking out.

We continue walking, making loud noises so that the bears wouldn't come to us. We got to a beautiful clearing and there were meadows everywhere. The sun was beginning to set, the mountains in the background, and the ocean right in front of us. As we kept walking, there was a stench about us. It was bad. As we kept walking, we saw the reason: there were so many dead fish, laying there, rotting!!!! I don't know how they got on land - I probably don't want to know - but there they were, dead and rotting. Well, here's a picture of that...

We hung around for a while, and then decided it was time to go back to the car. Crystal: "See Laurie, there are not many bears around here..." As she is saying this, I look to my right, and about 50 feet away, this bear pokes its head up out of the grass and just looks at us. Me; really freaking out at this point..."YOU MEAN LIKE THAT ONE RIGHT THERE?!?!?!!" Crystal: "Yeah! Oh, he's cute! Get your camera out!" Me: "WE ARE NOT STOPPING FOR A PHOTO OP!!! THAT IS A BIG BEAR, IT IS CLOSE TO US, AND WE ARE LEAVING NOW!" Amy: "He's eating, he's happy." Me: "I don't care. We're leaving now." Crystal got my camera, started taking pictures, but they didn't come out. As we're walking back to the car under the forest of trees, we are talking and laughing (me - I'm still scared to death that there are more bears around). We get so close to the car, and I hear something in the bushes right next to me. I look over, and Crystal puts her hand on my back and says, "Just keep walking." Two things I notice at this point: 1. She is not letting me look at what it was = not good. 2. She is talking louder than usual = not good. We get back to the car, and I say, "That wasn't a small animal. What was it?" Crystal says, "It was about a 1 year old bear." Amy: "We didn't want to tell you cause then you'd really freak out." So, all this to say, I was standing 4 feet away from a little bear!!!! Oh man. Then Crystal tells me that the Boy Scout trail is known for the bears. Not cool.

Here are some more pictures from that trip:

So the following day, some co-workers and I decide we're going to hike Mt. Jumbo. I'm thinking, it's a decent hike - the hike book says it's a "most intense" hike, and the round trip should take around 10 hours. So we get our water bottles, juice, lunch, home-made granola bars (thanks Jenn!) and start the trail around 11 am.

The trailhead is in between two houses - no joke. There's this little sign that says it's the trailhead. Welcome to Juneau...So we begin the hike, and it's a little steep in places, but overall not bad at all. I'm thinking, yeah! I can do this! 10 hours of this - no sweat. Soon we get to this amazing waterfall with a little bridge. So peaceful! We're all still pretty happy at this point. As we keep on walking, we come to what we fondly named the Stairs of Death.

Once you get past the stairs of death, you get to the board walk. The boardwalk is at a steady incline, but nothing too unbearable. It goes through this meadow. It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings, in the Marshes. There was this quicksand type stuff everywhere, beautiful flowers, and grasses and small trees. Beautiful! So we hike through the marshes and get to the trees. Now the fun starts...

I kid you not, this was the trail - for about 2/3 of the trip! Intense hiking all the way up! My friend and I kept saying, "K. I think I can see the top! Almost there!" We get to the "top" and see that no, there is another mountain. Oh man. This went on for about 4 hours or so.

When we broke timberline, we kept thinking, "There is a big rocky stump up there. We can't possibly be going that far up. There's no way!" Oh yes, let me tell you, that is in fact the top, and yes, you hike to the top. And what an amazing view it was:

I was in awe of God's artwork! Simply amazing.

So after being up there for a while, we started the crazy hike down. I always think that going up is so hard to do, but it is going down that kills! It took us a little over two hours to get off that dumb mountain! Well, when you have trails like this, you'd understand why:

When we got to the bottom, we could hardly move. We staggered into a pizza place, sat down, and none of us were very chatty - we were so tired! Let me tell you, for the next week, I could hardly move! My legs hurt so bad! But what an amazing experience! Lesson learned: When a mountain is called Mt. Jumbo, it's called Mt. Jumbo for a reason!

I miss you all!
Blessings!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!

2009-07-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd actually enjoy fishing. I mean, seriously. Who likes sitting on a boat for hours, with a piece of string in the water, waiting for the CHANCE to actually catch a fish? Why would anyone do this when there are mountains to climb or planes to jump out of, hikes to go on, people to meet for coffee? I don't get it. Let me rephrase that...I didn't get it.

Then I went fishing for the first time in my life in the wide open ocean on Sunday! No, it wasn't "Deadliest Catch" style, but it was crazy. I actually have a licence and everything! So Amy and I get on the boat with Dick (captain) and wait for the rest of his family to get there. We start up the boat to get it warmed up. Pretty soon, there is white smoke/steam coming from the back of the boat. Dick looks at the boat, the engine, etc, and can't find anything wrong, but decides to turn off the boat until his family gets there. And we wait...And wait...And I'm thinking, "The waiting has begun even before we get in the ocean!"

So the family gets to the boat after some time waiting. Dick goes to turn on the boat and it doesn't start. No good. All the lights and radio and GPS things work, but the engine won't start. (Sound familiar? I think this problem follows me...) After dinking around with a few things in the engine compartment, there is still no engine starting. So, they decide to use the little engine that goes on the back of the boat - the reserve engine - instead. That one works just fine, but it can't make the boat go fast and it's much more difficult to steer. But hey, we're going fishing, and nothing can stop us!

We leave the harbor, and immediately cast the lines. I've never done that, and it was quite entertaining to learn the "fishing jargon". They baited the hooks (I wasn't about to get smelly right away...) and we were off...at about 2mph. We trolled our way towards a few islands around Juneau with not one fish biting. This was going to be a LONG day...

Then, we started to see some eagles flying around and diving down toward the water. It was very cool! Then Nicole (one of the family) yelled, "WHALES!!!!" Way off in the distance, there were lots of spouts going off, and we could see the backs and tails of many Humpbacks. Very cool. Immediately, Nicole and I became much more interested in the whales way off in the distance than the fishing going on right below us. Nicole begged her dad to get closer to the whales (at 2 mph, mind you). So we trolled toward the whales. We realized that they were feeding - I have yet to see bubble feeding up close, but from far away, it looked very cool! We followed the whales (at 2 mph) for a while, and then they left. But in their place was a small pod of porpoises! They were pretty cool to see too. Nothing like what they have at Sea World, but very cool to see in their natural environment.

Still no fish. It's been about four hours, and we've seen some beautiful islands, whales, eagles, fish, and are just enjoying the sea breeze. I'm up top of the boat when Dick yells, "Laurie! You've got one!" I tell him that he can reel it in, but he says I have to do it. So I hurry down the ladder, grab the reel, and start reeling. I have no idea what I'm doing and have about four different people trying to explain to me what I should be doing. Pretty funny. The fish gets so close we can almost net him, and his gills rip and he gets away. It was fine - it was only a pink - and I can say I've reeled a fish! It was pretty intense! I then began to think that fishing is kinda like working in an emergency room: it's hours of nothing to do followed by minutes of intense, fast-work to do! Pretty fun.

So we continue to troll around islands (I learned a lot about the islands and the ocean on this trip!) and saw a few seals, more eagles and whales, and just enjoyed the time on the water. About three hours after my near-catch, Dick yells out, "Amy, you better get down here!" So Amy, being the experienced fisherman she is, goes down and proceeds to reel and net a pink salmon! It was very cool to see the entire process all together.

All in all, it was a very fun day! I think I enjoy fishing! At least, I enjoy going out on the boat and relaxing on the water...

Hope you are all doing well! Love you and miss you!

4th of July Pics - Scroll Down for the Blog...

2009-07-06T18:56:00.001-07:00

Life in a Northern Town...

2009-07-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, another song. While this is probably not the best song to give a glimpse of life in a small town, it's one I like. So bear with me...

The 4th of July. At home, it's not really that big of a deal. You may barbeque, may swim, probably will get a sunburn, and maybe watch Rubidoux burn. You may even wear red, white, and blue. But it's certainly not as big as, say, Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving. At least not in my family. There's nothing wrong with that! Everyone who knows me well knows how much I don't like fireworks. I don't like the heat or the sun, so staying inside is just fine with me! But we forget, don't we. We forget the reasoning behind the 4th. On facebook, some friends put quotes about the 4th and freedom up. I was blown away:

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." ~ John Adams 1765 Thank you to all our troops who sacrifice all of the above to ensure freedom. Happy 4th of July! Let freedom ring!

The 4th of July is the biggest holiday here in Juneau. Maybe it's because it's the only holiday that has a CHANCE of decent weather - no snow or rain...Well, the no snow is a guarentee...People go all out. Cars are decorated, families match in their red, white, and blue outfits that they can only wear this time of year, and barbecues are going everywhere!!!

The festivities started July 3. In Juneau around this time of year, it doesn't get completely dark. So, to set off fireworks, they wait until midnight on the 3rd (I guess that's technically the 4th...). So we went to Amy's aunt and uncle's house for hotdogs and to hang out until it was time for the fireworks. We had a great time. Then the fireworks. They shoot off the fireworks off a barge in the middle of the channel here in Juneau. There's mountains all around, so the boom echos through the mountains. The fireworks weren't anything to write home about, but the way cool part of it was the echo. I wish you were here to experience that with me!

Then, we had the 4th of July parade. It was similar to the one last year, with the floats and the bands. They had one alum high school band that was so fun. They were all playing, trying to keep in step, and taped a piece of yellow duct tape to their skirt/shorts/pants so they were all "matching". And, there were bagpipers! That was my favorite! It was great. Again, people in the parade stopped along the route to say hi to people along the sidelines. Welcome to small town! Everyone comes to this parade. There's serious street closure downtown and families come out early in the morning for a prime spot. It's very fun. As we walked back to the car, we walked through the old graveyard downtown. It was very interesting, and VERY old. We found the graves of Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris - two of the founders of Juneau! I put the pictures in the blog above this one, so hopefully this isn't too confusing...

Amy and I then went to her house and made shish-kabobs. We make mean shish-kabobs, let me tell you! We both got sunburned (yes, we get sunburned in Alaska too...) and were so tired. We watched a movie and then went to bed. Getting up for church the next day was tough, but even that was good.

I'm so glad for freedom. We are so blessed, and we don't even think about it! I truly hope your 4th was safe, enjoyable, and memorable. You are loved and missed!

Blessings!

Real Life Revised...

2009-06-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

I've done three blogs in about two weeks...needless to say, there's been a lot of life changes happening. It's been crazy here, but I think it's good. Only time will tell. I just have to trust (and we all know how much I love to trust...)

The house thing is the same! This is a good thing. I have three of the four roommates staying fairly consistently at the house. It still seems really strange to me to think that someone is paying for rent, and then doesn't stay at the place they are paying for. Does this make sense to anyone else or am I on my own in this?

The weather has gone back to "Juneau weather". That means it thinks it's sunny, but there's enough cloud cover to not quite need the sunglasses, and then it rains. Actually it sprinkles, but if you're from SoCal, it rains! But it's not consistent. I rains for about five minutes, quits for ten, rains again for ten, quits for an hour, you get the point. I must say: when Juneau doesn't get rain in a while, the people here get pretty grumpy! They need the rain! I find that I miss it too. I love hanging out in the rain!

I was supposed to start my supervisor position today. Instead, I went to group therapy with my girls and let them know that I was resigning from JYS. They were not happy with me, and cried a little. I tried to explain that I truly do care for them and that I am not quitting because of anything any of them had done, but that it was something that I needed to do for myself. I also told them that I would be checking up on them, and wanted to come by weekly to play games with them and read a book or something. We'll see if I'm a friend or foe tomorrow...

So, I quit my job because I got a new job! I'll still be in Juneau, but working for JAMHI (Juneau Alliance for Mental Health Inc). It is working with adults with psych problems - depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, dual personalities, etc. I'll be a case manager over there, working on treatment plans, getting them to and from appointments, teaching them how to function, etc. Should be interesting and a challenge! If you have more questions, please call me and ask! There's too much to write in a blog...

More changes! This week, I've really been praying and asking God to give me wisdom, endurance, and understanding for all these crazy things in my life. Then, on the radio, a song came up (yes, another song!) Third Day's, "Take It All". Recently I've been struggling with the reality that people are expecting too much of me. I can't be everything to everyone, and it's feeling like that is what is happening. I am so tired of trying so hard. I am tired of people assuming that since I am a "strong" person, I can handle a great deal of things at once. I can, but sometimes (in the midst of life changes...) it's too much. And then I think and wonder how much of this I bring on myself. How much of it is my own expectations of myself? Like I said, it's been a struggle. All that to say, this has been my theme song for the past few days...

Love you and miss you all!
Blessings!

Amazing Grace

2009-06-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Amazing Grace (How sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ'd!

Thro' many dangers, toils and snare,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall profess, within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call'd me here below,
Will be for ever mine.

I think I've known this song my entire life. I can't remember a time I haven't known this song. When I was young, I remember really didn't like this song: it was too old, the melody was the same, it was LONG, and I didn't really understand the words. I used to cringe when the music people at church started to play this song. When I had to learn it on the piano for piano lessons, I think I practiced this song the least. I really hated this song!

I watched the movie this morning for the second time. What an incredible testimony! Both for William Wilberforce and for John Newton. They changed lives and changed history! Their honesty and determination changed lives and made them better. I want to be like them. I want the endurance and the honesty and the will to change lives like they did.

I could sit here and pick apart the verses of this song. They are so true; so solid; so deep; so beautiful. I look back and realize that my hating this song really did nothing for me. All the times that I missed out on singing with those that have gone before me: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!" But as I sing them now, I stand in amazement of God's grace. His love, His grace, is what has saved me. I am not worthy, but I am so thankful. As John Newton said in the movie, "I am a great sinner, and God is a great Savior." Save me.

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly encourage you to! Especially to the end. At the very end of the movie, there is a beautiful version of the song. I can't find it on youtube, so you'll have to watch the movie yourself. It's pretty incredible!

I'll update you more on life in a later post. For now, rest in His grace. It's pretty amazing...

Blessings!

Real Life

2009-06-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Vacation has officially ended. Real life has started once again. So sad...

Linda left on Monday. It was very sad to see her go! I didn't like it one bit! We had tons of fun, and she helped me move (yet again!) Next time, I'm going to help her move up here! Wouldn't that be so great!

Like I said, Linda moved me all in. I have a new house, new roommates, and a whole new adventure waiting for me. This house has a full front and backyard - so good! I mowed and worked on the front lawn yesterday. Four nasty, itchy bug bites and a sunburn later, I decided that morning is the best time to work on the yard. It's actually been really warm here the past few days! I've been really surprised! The people here in Juneau are starting to get cranky because there hasn't been rain in almost a week! Everyone has tans - it's pretty funny!

Work is ok. I recently got promoted to supervisor, which is a new adventure too! I start in two weeks. I'm nervous, because there is still so much that I don't know. But, it will be experience and a new adventure.

I've decided that I can't ease into things. I can't make just one change at a time in my life - it's all or nothing! I did it last year: graduated, new house, new job, new roommate, new state all in one month. This year: new house, three new roommates, new position, new friends all in one month! Won't it be interesting to see what happens next year?!

I miss you all! Hope all is well with you!

Blessings,

Laurie

The Hike of Insanity

2009-05-26T16:17:00.001-07:00

Well I’ve been here in Alaska for a week now and I’ve enjoyed every minute. It has been so much fun spending time with Laurie and seeing the part of the country she has been living in for the last year. It is absolutely beautiful here and I’m struck anew by the awesome majesty and splendor of the Creator each time I venture outside. Mere pictures cannot compare to the glory of trees, the magnificence of the snow covered mountains, or the beauty of Mendenhall Lake, smooth as glass in the early morning. I knew Juneau was beautiful, but I wasn’t prepared to have my breath taken away looking at the horizon from the top of a mountain. In short: I love it here!

Here are a few things I’ve noticed about Juneau and a small (at least smaller than Riverside) town:

1. Traffic consists of seven cars on the road at one time

2. People actually make eye contact with you and say hello here

3. The road goes through parking lots

4. You can’t see the air you’re breathing

5. Where Riverside’s freeways are decorated with graffiti or, on occasion, wall art, Juneau roads are adorned with waterfalls and lined with trees

6. Folks here’s don’t know what a flyover is and are mystified by the thought of an octopus of freeway overpasses

7. Folks don’t buy much meat here… they hunt for it (and have the antlers or heads to prove it)

8. Drinking hot chocolate in the middle of May because it’s cold outside is fantastic

9. Juneau summers are like Riverside winters – hallelujah it’s not hot here!

10. And some total strangers feel like friends the minute you meet them

I’ve defiantly done things here that I never thought I’d do. I ate moose. I kissed a glacier, but more on that later, and I’ve seen it light outside at 10:30 at night. That was bizarre. I’ve only seen it dark here once and that was only because we stayed up to watch a movie. I went outside at 12:30 in the morning just to see what the dark in Juneau looked like. Let me tell you – it’s dark. I couldn’t see the backyard. There were a few lights from other houses, but other than that it was pitch black. Alas there was a cloud cover so we couldn’t see the stars but it was pretty neat nonetheless. I never imagined I’d have to lock up my garbage. Yup, here they have latches on the trash barrels and then they lock the barrels in a tinny compartment to keep the bears form getting into it. Crazy I know.

Now, about this glacier business. Laurie and I are pretty level headed and have a fairly good hold on common sense, but last Friday we did something rather stupid but incredibly fun. Mama, stop reading here. I went to work with Laurie on Friday and a co-worker of hers suggested that we hike out to the glacier. Great! Sounds like fun. She told us about a trail that is harder, but shorter with “only a little rocky area you have to climb up.” No problem right, little rocky area, no sweat. So the two of us got back to her apartment and packed up the backpack. Water, check. Juice for lows, check. Lifesavers, check. Chocolate, CHECK. Cameras, check. Food, naw, we won’t be that long (let the stupidity begin).

We made it to the trail, checked the bulletin board just to make sure there were no recent bear sightings, said a quick pray that the Good Lord would keep any hungry bears away from us and set off. The trail was beautiful. It was green, cool and crisp. Rather than hearing the sounds of the freeways in the distance our ears were tickled with the sounds of the birds and the river. We meet a group of kids returning from their fieldtrip to the glacier jumping down the trail on their way back to the bus. With grins as big as open sky they reported with pride that they had kissed the glacier. Apparently that’s the thing to do here in Juneau.

After about half an hour of walking we found the trail that Laurie’s co-worker had told us about. As we went along, the trail got increasingly difficult. Clearly this trail wasn’t well traveled because the overgrowth made it impossible to walk upright in parts. But did that stop us, no sir. Undeterred we continued on. Crossing rivers proved to be a mite bit challenging. My sister just tromped through the river in her ExtraTuf boots but me other the other hand did not have the luxury of rubber boots, only a pair of running shoes. Cautiously, I hoped from one stone to the next. Blisters as a result of hiking in wet shoes did not sound appealing to me. At one point the trail became a nearly straight down rocky drop. This must be the part Laurie’s co-worker was taking about (insert sarcastic laugh here). Slowly we worked our way down and continued on our way.

Eventually we ran out of trail and still hadn’t found the glacier (Hmmm… no trail, red flag right? Well if it was the two Hubbard sisters ignored it completely). Instead we found the side of a cliff. Correction, that must be the rocky part Laurie’s friend was talking about, we decided. Half way up we decided to take a break and called Mama and Daddy to tell them we were on the side of a mountain, brilliant I know. Gathering our strength once again we made our way up the cliff convinced that the glacier would be on the other side. It wasn’t. Instead there was another cliff. Too determined to go back, we set off again walking farther and farther away from the trail. Did I mention we didn’t have the brains to mark our trail? But someone else had, but we didn’t figure that out until we were on our way back. Whoever they were, we love them!

To make a long story short… well shorter, we made it to he top of the second cliff only to be greeted with another one. “Only a little rocky area you have to climb up.” Ha! I must say, the view from the top of the mountain was spectacular. I won’t even try to describe it because words cannot do it justice. The picture at the beginning of this blog will have to suffice. All I can say is how mighty and glorious is our God! We finally made it to the glacier where is was about 20 degrees cooler with the wind bouncing off the glacier putting the temperature around 40 something. We were both so hot from climbing that we welcomed the cool. We both kissed the glacier, and crouched in the ice caves. As I was taking Laurie’s picture the glacier began to move slightly. I’ve never seen my sister move so fast!

We decided to walk along the edge of the river on the way back. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as the trip to the glacier for which we were extremely grateful. Unfortunately for me, one of the last streams we crossed, I slipped of my steppingstone and landed in the water. So much for keeping my shoes dry. After three hours and fifteen minutes, a few close calls with cliffs and long drops, two tired, sweaty, hungry, wet, and laughing sisters beamed as the car came into sight. It felt so good to sit down! We have affectionately named our hike the Hike of Insanity. Probably not one of our brightest ideas but it was a lot of fun. Okay Mama, you can read again.

Well that’s all from Alaska for now. I have so many more stories, but those must wait until I get back to Riverside. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all!

"I'm Coming Home...

2009-04-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

...To the place where I belong!" Only three more days till I leave! I can't wait!

It's been a pretty stressful few weeks. I'm not enjoying my job at all. There's a lot going on there - kids and staff. While I know in my head that I am extremely blessed to have such a great job that gives me so much vacation, benefits, retirement, good pay, etc, I can't help but be unhappy. Everyone knows that when they start dreaming and/or having nightmares about work, it's time to take a break...which leads me to: "I'm coming home to the place where I belong..."

My roommate and I are parting ways. We're good, just at two different places. She found an apartment and will be moving out by June 1. Which means, I need to find a place by then as well. Not going to be fun...It's got me stressed quite a bit. I am looking...there are some options, but most want renters right away. That's no good. And..."I'm coming home..." so it's going to be tough looking for places while I'm in CA...

Some good things:

-Hikes with Amy (see pictures)

-The three straight days of sun we've gotten! Yes folks - it's been in the upper 40's lower 50's! Bust out those flip flops!

-A car that STILL RUNS!

-A ticket home!

-3 1/2 weeks away from work

-A chance to see my family and friends back home

-"I'm coming home to the place where I belong!"

Here's the song...it's called "Home".

See you all soon!

Blessings!

Sing Alleluia

2009-04-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

An entry from my personal journal:

"I never thought that something on cable TV would bless me and bring me to such tears. No, I didn't cry much. But wow...

"There are so many reasons I can't wait to get to heaven, and the greatest will always be to see Jesus face to face and be with Him physically, for all of eternity. I can't even wrap my mind around that...It's going to be awesome! I can't wait to see my grandpa again, and all the other people I miss - friends and family. I can't wait to talk to the martyrs and hear their stories. And I get to do this forever...what a blessing!

"I was watching 'The Best of the Dove Awards' on cable tonight. Sure, there were artists and songs I didn't much care for and that I would rather not listen to you. But there was one point where the whole audience was singing God praise and worshiping Him. It was beautiful! Even as I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes. There, in a room filled with professional musicians, all singing together in harmony in worship! Wow...Never have I heard a more beautiful sound. I can only imagine that heaven will be just like that! I get to sing with all the professionals and worship with them! And I can't wait!"

It's about 11:30pm as I write this, and my heart is so full and so happy that I can't sleep! This song I've put on the blog is the one I've been listening to and singing with all night long. I want to dance and belt it out! I should...my roommate is not around...

I hope you are blessed tonight.

Simplicity

2009-03-13T16:23:00.001-07:00

Wow...It's been quite some time since my last blog! Lot's has happened, and at the same time, there's not a whole lot to tell.

I got a bed! That's right, I'm now sleeping on a genuine mattress instead of the hard floor! Let's just say this was one of the best purchases I have ever made! I love going to bed! And now, if any of you ever come to visit (hint hint) you'll have a place to sleep! This is a good thing! And with the bed came the rearranging of my room. Now, it still has work to do for when Linda gets up here, but it's a start. Another good thing.

Work continues to be crazy. This past week I worked eight straight days because my schedule was switching around. Let's see. In the past eight days, I have dealt with:

Two girls cutting themselves
A suicide note
A girl barricading herself in a room, non-responsive
Six girls PMSing all at once
Six girls with extremely rude, defiant and annoying behaviors

Sound like fun? Anyone want my job? Needless to say, I'm SO glad for two days off! I need it badly! I'm happy to report the two girls cutting themselves have stopped, for now, and are doing much better. The girl that had barricaded herself in the room for three hours is also doing much better and is her "happy, normal" self again. Poor thing - she even went to each of the staff and her peers to apologize for her behaviors! She really is a sweet girl. And the suicide note girl has a plan for when she gets sad again, so hopefully we'll be alright there. Never a dull moment!

This past week, it snowed about 12 inches. Yikes! When will the snow stop??? Answer: never. I seriously don't think it will ever stop. I can only hope...It's raining now, so that's a sign of warmer weather.

I must say, I've enjoyed this day just sitting in PJ's, with a hot cup of tea, watching LOST, and listening to the rain. There's not a whole lot more peaceful.

Which reminds me, LINDA - YOU'RE DEAD! Linda, my dear sister, told me to watch LOST. So being the wonderful sister I am, I did. And it makes me angry. Seriously. I hate the show - it makes no sense! But I can't stop watching it because I have to know what happens. That's the dumb part. Any normal person would just say, "this is dumb, and I'm not going to waste my time on a show that doesn't make sense." Apparently, I am not a normal person and cannot do that. GRRRRR...

I'm currently reading the book "All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarden". It's a great book. Makes you think about the simple things in life. It's a book of thoughts about common things. Easy read - I suggest reading it! It's made me look at life up here. How different it is in Juneau to Riverside. Some of the things are big things, but some are the small things: how you can go to the store and see at least five people you know at any given time; how the fastest speed limit is 55 mph; how when there is an avalanche, everyone rushes to help; how people know how to appreciate the weather. That's probably the biggest one.

I hate the snow. Mark, my landlord, loves the snow. He says that the snow is like God cleansing out all the bad and making it white, just like the snow. He says it is a purifying that happens every year and gets us ready for the new year. I look at it and see a mess and a driving hazard. But that's the type of things people up here see. When it's sunny outside, people call in sick at work just so they can go outside and enjoy the sun! They've learned to look at the beauty everywhere and in every situation. I love that! It's something I can learn as well...

Hope all you are doing well! I miss you, and for those of you in So Cal, I'll get to see you in about 45 days!!!

Love you!

Blessings!

I Want to be Beautiful...

2009-02-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

Time for a "girlie" post? My guess is that most of you will laugh, but hey - I can live with a few laughs...ha!

It's been a tough week at work. One of my girls and I are not getting along much at all. I can't seem to win with her! I try and try, but it's just no good. Sunday night's journal (the girls have to write a journal each night processing through their day. The journals are a "safe" place for them to express themselves explicitly - they can swear and write whatever they're thinking) had a few choice words for me bringing up all the things she hates about me. I consider myself a pretty strong person, but when I go to work each day and get the evil eye, muttering under the breath, and the hate journals, it gets to wear on me. It hurts! I can't pretend that I don't have feelings - I do. But the girls don't remember this - they don't remember that we're human as well. We do make mistakes! We do have feelings! We have bad days too! It's a lot to live up to.

I haven't been able to talk to many people back home this past week either because I've been sick and trying to sleep it off and get my voice back (good news - it's back!). Not talking to friends is REALLY hard, especially when your week is not so good. I miss them! I miss my family! I need a hug...

I'm reading the book Captivating right now. It's a book about looking into the heart of a woman. I've been journaling throughout the book, and trust me, I've learned a lot! Even when it's hard to admit, I have been accepting this for the past week: I want to be beautiful! I want to be someone who shines. I want to show people love. I want to be enough for the folks I come into contact with. I want someone to tell me, "you are beautiful. I think you are beautiful." Sounds selfish...but it's especially true when I've had a week like the one I just had. I don't feel beautiful. I don't feel like I'm enough. I don't feel like I'm shining. Sometimes, I just need to be reminded of it.

So if you're bored, send me an email or give me a call! I have a voice now, so I can actually talk! I may cough in your ear, but I have a voice!

I love you all!

Blessings!

Juneau Crud

2009-02-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

Sound fun? Let me tell you, it's not. It's basically the common cold but kick the not feeling good about 50% higher and you've got Juneau Crud. My roommate has had it for that past two weeks and is still not over it. This is not good.

But, here's the great thing about Juneau Crud: I get to sit on the couch all day and watch 24! And no one judges me because I'm sick and you can't judge a sick person. So I'm in my comfy clothes with my hot tea, under my t-shirt blanket, and enjoying 24. Still debating whether or not to call in sick for work tomorrow...maybe I should...

It's still snowing outside. Actually, I just looked out the window, and at the present moment, it's not snowing. But it will - the sky is grey and white. I think someone on the radio reported that we've gotten over 130 inches of snow since October. Figures. The winter I come up, they get a record amount of snow. ;-)

I ran errands today - mostly just to get allergy and sinus medicine. Went over to the Harris' house to check the mail and got to play with Marina for a bit (Marina is their dog). Marina was SO excited to see someone (they're gone for a couple weeks) and was jumping around in the snow and biting the snow. She was so fun. She gave me the puppy dog sad eyes as I was leaving.

Sorry to report that there is not a whole lot more to report on! Life is pretty much the same up here. For those of you who read this blog, write me questions that I can answer! I love questions! You can put them in the comments section of this blog, or email me.

Wow, this blog is kinda scrambled. I must be sick. Time to get a refill on tea and turn on 24. I love you all and miss you tons!

Blessings!

Guess that Song

2009-01-26T14:26:00.001-08:00

This is a note that someone did on Facebook, and I thought it was great. Don't forget to read and post on the other blog I did earlier today!

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing

Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly

Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

1. Prepare ye the way of the Lord! - Prepare ye the Way by Godspell

2. Fifteen minutes left to throw me together - Settlin' by Sugarland

3. He drowns in his dreams, an exquisite extreme, I know - Beautiful Disaster by Kelly Clarkson

4. You'll walk unscathed through musket fire - My Ain True Love by Alison Krauss

5. Everyday more wicked! Everyday the terror grows! - Thank Goodness by Wicked!

6. It's not hard to know what you're thinking - Fade to Grey by Jars of Clay

7. I woke up this morning - there was rain in the sky - Love Will Save the Day by Geoff Moore and the Distance

8. Lord you have my heart, and I will search for yours - Lord you have my heart by Delirious?

9. Don't be afraid, you'll be alright

10. Who is this King of Glory who pursues me with his love - King of Glory by Third Day

11. Every now and then on my way home

12. Grandma burned the biscuits, nearly took the house down with it - Eillsworth by Rascal Flatts

13. When the music fades into the past

14. Think of me, think of me fondly - Think of me by Phantom of the Opera

15. I can think why you think you belong to me

16. Lift your gaze, be lifted up

17. Mama please don't go, won't you stay here for one more day

18. An only child alone and wild - Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg

19. I'll fly away old glory - I'll fly away by Jars of Clay

20. All my world, all I've lost, the wrecks I've made here

21. Shepherd, your sheep are weary

22. Here I am Lord and I'm drowning - East to West by Casting Crowns

23. Well I've been around for a pretty good while

24. What will be left when I draw my last breath

25. Don't ride your bike off a ramp that's more than three bricks high - Don't Ask Me How I Know by Bobby Pinson

Have fun!

It's About Time...

2009-01-26T13:07:00.001-08:00

   Sunset up here...Beautiful!
   The infamous tree in the lake picture
   Sunrise from my bedroom window
   More of the same

Although I'm convinced not many people still read this, a few of you have asked about an update and more pictures. I'm not sure what you want to know. Not much has happened!

The last few days has been really warm - like in the 50's! It's been beautiful. I guess we were getting spoiled. Today, I woke up and it's snowing hard outside. They say by the time that this storm passes, it'll leave 15 inches on the ground. Not fun. But I'm enjoying sitting at my computer with my cup of Yorkshire tea, listening to music, under my blanket, and watching the snow fall outside. Doesn't get much better than that.

Speaking of music, I've found a song that I love. It's a new Chris Tomlin song called "I Will Rise". You can YouTube it. It's fantastic.

Work is still work. I just finished MAB training (Managing Aggressive Behavior) last week. Basically, it taught me how to put aggressive people in "therapeutic" holds so that they can't hurt anyone. I'm not sure what is therapeutic about the holds, but that's what I was told. I can't wait to go home and get my brother...

Here's a funny story about one of my girls. We'll call her AM. AM always has a bad attitude about anything new. She'll even tell you, "I don't try anything new. It's scary." So one night, I decide that I'm going to teach the girls Nertz (many of you know this evil game...). AM says, "I hate card games. I'm not going to play! You always think of the least fun things to do!" I tell AM that she is not required to enjoy the game, but she is required to try the game. Just two hands, I tell her. So with a poor attitude, she sets up the game and says, "OK! I'M READY! TEACH ME!" Ignoring her disrespect and attitude, I explain to everyone the game and take it slow the first hand. After someone yells, "NERTZ!" we separate the cards. AM says, "K, one more hand, right? I think I can do this without help." So we deal out again, play a "real" game, and when someone yells "NERTZ!" again, the game stops and we separate cards again. I tell AM thank you for trying the game, and that she can go do some quiet work time if she wants. Her response: "Hell no! I love this game! I'm going to keep playing this! K, deal again!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "I told you so!" Since that day, she has taught every staff "Snertz" and plays it at every chance she gets. However, she refuses to learn any other card game because "Snertz is the only card game I like. I don't like playing cards and you don't know any fun games." Ah well, maybe one day she'll learn to trust me...

Another funny story about AM. One Saturday, I got the PLEASURE of taking three teenage girls shopping for "fun" stuff. Any of you that know me well know shopping is probably my least favorite thing to do. When you add three teenage girls, you have a recipe for disaster. Anyways. The other staff that's on duty with me talk about who will get to go shopping. AM was in the running, but had a rough morning. It got even worse when she wasn't turning her morning around and was told she may not get to go shopping. To say she was upset was an understatement. She said, "I'm going outside to shovel the driveway. Don't bother me!" She was out for a while, and the driveway was completely shoveled! Pretty soon, she comes in with a big grin on her face and says, "Laurie! Come out and see what I did!" I go outside, very curious, and she leads me to my car. OK, when the plows come and plow the roads, they don't care if there is a car parked on the side of the road - they'll just burm you in. So, AM being the wonderful girl she is, completely dug me out and made a path for me to get my car out! She is grinning from ear to ear and is so proud of herself. From that moment on, she is great! So, because she turned her attitude around - not because she dug me out, she got to go shopping and was very happy!

That's pretty much my life up here right now. Enjoying as best I can! Hope you all are doing well! Miss you and love you tons!

Blessings!

Who approved the ice?

2009-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Picture of DeHart's, a local "7-11" with six foot icicles!!!
My car in my driveway. This was the morning after it snowed two feet. When I opened my car door, it pushed snow out of the way...not fun to drive in...
Icicles at Lighthouse. The girls loved this.

So, the last few days have been interesting. It's gone from snowing two feet and about 18 degrees outside to pouring down rain and about 40 degrees outside. The warm weather (yes, 40 degrees IS warm!) is starting to melt the snow, so the berms are getting smaller. Problem is, it gets to freezing at night, so all the millions of puddles of water is turning to ice. This, let me tell you, is not fun to walk in, drive in, live in, etc. Who approved this? I am enjoying the warmer weather though (never thought I'd say that...) and enjoying the clear skies. It's getting beautiful again!

Work is still going well. I'm loving the girls and the challenges they throw at me. Monday was a fun day...we had three of the six girls have full on blow-outs - that means they lost their tempers, storming around, yelling, swearing, not listening to anyone, etc. It was quite the adventure. Luckily I had the next two days off...One of our girls is going home sometime this week, so we're getting another new one. This is kinda scary because the house will be "young" meaning they are all so new to the program and will have meltdowns easier. So it's going to be pretty high-stress for the next few months. Be in prayer for all of us!

Other than that, I don't really have any fun stories. Just hanging out, trying to keep connected with folks at home, and trying to enjoy life in Alaska. Hope you are all doing well! Miss you terribly!

Blessings!

All in a Day's Work

2008-12-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy week. Lots of little things happened, and a couple big things.

I ended up getting the Subaru. It wouldn't start that day because the starter system was broken - sound familiar? The dealer assured me nothing else was wrong with the car, so I went ahead and bought it. It has started this whole week, so I guess that's a good sign, right? It's a cute little car, and it'll get me around. So at least I have some way to get around. This is a good thing!

Christmas was fun. I woke up really early to video chat with my family and watch them open presents and wish I was there. It was good to see them though. I felt a little at home...Then I got ready for work and worked with my girls for the rest of the day. We had prime rib and mashed potatoes for dinner, so it was all good. Pretty low key, not too much girl drama, and a relaxing night.

Yesterday I went to work and took the girls sledding. A few funny stories. You know how when the snow on tree branches gets too heavy, and all the snow falls? Well, in native Alaskan culture, there are little evil men that live in the trees and woods. When the snow falls, it is a warning sign to get out of the forest, otherwise they will get you. So, while we were walking trying to find a good place to sled, the snow would fall and the girls would freak out. We finally found a good hill, and started to sled. All of a sudden, all of the trees around us lost their snow. The girls didn't like that at all. It was pretty comical. So we continued sledding and a bad thing happened...

...All I know is that at the top of the hill, my wrist was fine. At the bottom of the hill, my wrist was not fine. I got to the bottom of the hill and couldn't move my wrist or bend my fingers. I kept trying, and "walking off the pain", but it wasn't working too well. There was no immediate swelling, so I didn't think I broke anything. So, to distract myself from the pain, I initiated a snowball fight. Rule number one: if you are from California, never get in a snowball fight with an Alaskan - they WILL beat you! And hit you every time. And make the best snowballs. It's quite a learning experience. Rule number two: never get into a snowball fight right after you injure your throwing hand - it doesn't help. After loosing at the snowball fight, and hiking back to the house, I looked at my wrist and realized that it was pretty dang swollen. Our clinician Doug said I had to go to the ER to get it checked out. He voluntarily took me down to the hospital. Five hours later, I went home with a very bad sprain (no broken bones!) and a splint. Yay for that. Right handed splints are not fun when you're right-handed...So I'm learning to do many things with my left hand - ha!

I got to see Aunt Evie, Uncle Leo, and Daniel while they were at my house the other night. Let me tell you, it was SO funny - it was chaos. I don't even remember half of what happened, I just remember laughing and having a stomach ache that night! My family was there too - it was quite hilarious. So thanks to all of you!

I went on a snow hike with my friend Crystal. It was beautiful and reminded me of Narnia. It started to snow pretty hard while we were out, so we turned back before getting to the end of the trail. But it was beautiful and so much fun. We came back to my house and drank hot tea and chatted for a while, so that was fun.

I get to work a double shift tomorrow, and then six days next week, so pray for me!

I love you and miss you! Hope all is well and Happy New Year!

Blessings!

It's Almost Christmas...

2008-12-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

...And I have yet to do some Christmas shopping...yup. I'm in big trouble.

But here's the deal. I've been under so much stress the past few weeks that I've cried enough tears to fill an ocean, got mad enough to light a runway, been excited enough to make even the toughest kids smile. If you add it all together, you equal the panic attack that got me Wednesday night. Yes, it was a fun week.

Many of you know the car problems I've been having. I finally decided to buy another car. So Aunt Tara and I went looking for cars last Thursday and Friday, and I found two cars: one was a little out of my price range but a solid car, and one was right in my price range but an older car. I decided I wanted to buy the 96 Subaru because it was more in my price range and I've been told my multiple people - including car mechanics - that Subaru's are one of the best cars you can get in Alaska. So the car dealer tells me I can take the car for the weekend and see how I like it. I drive it around the first day, park it in my driveway overnight and try to start it the next morning. I bet none of you can guess what happened. If you guessed that the car wouldn't start, give yourself fifty million bonus points! The lights and radio started, but the car would not turn on. Sound familiar? So I call the dealer, and he's sending someone out tonight to tow it back to the dealership. So now I'm just a bit more nervous about buying this car. Can you blame me???

I switched my job this week too. I am now a Case Manager at Lighthouse, the all girls house. I'm pretty dang excited about this switch, and so far it's been good. Two of our girls are on home pass for the holidays, so our house only has three girls right now. It's so nice. I couldn't have had a better time to come on board at that house. It'll be a nice, slow introduction to everything.

I'm starting to get a little sad about not going home for Christmas. It'll be fine - I'm working Christmas Eve and morning, so that should be interesting. Hopefully everything will go well and the girls will have a good Christmas. It'll be different, that's for sure.

So with all these stressors, some good, some not so good, it's been quite a lot to deal with. It's hard to keep my head above water right now. But then I am reminded, especially in this Christmas season, that Jesus is right there with me. He's not going to leave me. When I get tired and weary, He doesn't. He came to this earth, all those years ago, so that I would be OK today. I can continue to have hope and faith in Him even though it seems the world is falling apart around me. Jesus truly is the reason for the season!

I love you and miss you terribly!

Blessings!

Baby, it's C-O-L-D Outside!!!

2008-12-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning to really cold snow on the ground. While it wasn't the two feet everyone was predicting, it was still a lot of snow. It's expected to snow more this afternoon, so maybe we'll get the two feet total. I don't know. But here are some pics from this morning!

Blessings!

Back to the Cold...

2008-12-08T17:54:00.001-08:00

My time at home was amazing - too many memories to write down. But those of you who I got to visit with and see, thank you SO much! Here are some pictures from the visits:

I think all of your visits are gonna get me through the long winter ahead. And it's gonna be a doozy!

The paper and weather stations today said there was a winter storm coming in tonight and tomorrow where we could see up to two feet of snow and have blackouts. Here's the website to one of the reports: http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/025.html

Sound like fun? I'm not sure I'm cut out for winter up here. But, like Uncle Leo said, I'm here and in an adventure - make the most of it and find something to enjoy. I will, once I get over being terrified of the snow...

In other news, I am getting a new job and moving to a new house! Let me explain. I won't be working at Cornerstone anymore (this is the house where all my crazy stories come from). I'm moving to Lighthouse, which is a level 4 facility that only houses 6 girls at a time. These girls have substance abuse, mental issues, and have been abused in one way or another. Rough crowd, but I think it'll be good. I've pulled a couple shifts and really enjoy working there. I'll be moving to Case Manager, which will be great. I'll get to use my degree a little bit more, so I'm pretty stoked about that. I'll let you know how that all turns out.

I already miss home so much and want so bad to go back. But I think these new changes will be good and keep my mind off wanting to be home. I'll take pictures of the snow tomorrow and try to post them in a timely manner.

Know you are all in my prayers and I miss you!

Blessings!

Is It Time Yet?

2008-11-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

I just want to go home! 4 days, please go by fast! I have lot's of stuff to do before I go, but I think I can get it all done in time.

I think God is really trying to teach me patience and is pointing things out in my life that need to change. I don't like it, and I'm stubborn, so this is something really hard for me. I don't like change, even if it's good. I have to warm up to the idea of change. There are things that I am doing that are causing me stress and my roommate stress that I'm thinking need to change. I'm not the only one to blame for the stress in my house right now, but I've realized that I'm not even trying to change that. Be in prayer for me in this! I think the time away will be good...

I can't wait to go home (in case you haven't gotten that memo...). I can't wait to see and hang out with my family, see my friends, get some hugs, and rest. I can't wait to relax for 12 days! Thursday, come quickly!

I don't really have a whole lot to post, other than I leave Thursday!!! YAY!!!!

Blessings!

Ninjas

2008-11-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

I've told this story to quite a few people, and Linda said I should write about it in my blog. So here it is...

I had to work Halloween grave by myself. I was not happy. Luckily, it was a very quiet night - not one phone call, no one came walking in the door, none of the kids AWOL'd...it was a great night.
It was the night after that stuff went down.

Again, working by myself, at about 1:45 in the morning, I hear the front door open. I get ready for whoever it is to come to the office, but no one comes. About two minutes later, I hear the front door open and close again. Again, I don't see anyone. Then, about ten minutes later, I hear the door open and close again, and I look outside to see a kid looking at me through the window. Freaked me out. The kid turned around and started staggering down the ramp toward the parking lot. So I grab my huge MagLite flashlight (just in case...) and go to check it out. As I leave the office door, I practically run over another kid that is standing right by the office. Again, freaked me out. The kid is just looking at me! So I ask if there is anything I can do for him, and he says, "uh..." and walks into the conference room. I don't want to go in there because I don't know who or what else is in there. So I go to the next office over and get Ryan (he drives MCU and was doing paperwork). I ask for his help, he comes out and starts to go after the two kids that have now left Cornerstone. He comes back chuckling to himself. He says, "I've never seen that happen here before! They said that they wanted to be ninja's and sneak through Cornerstone, but staff caught them, so they left." Great...Now I have bears AND ninja's to worry about! So Ryan called the police to let them know. The rest of the night was great, and nothing has happened since KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

In other news, they hired another part-time grave person, so I won't have all the nights by myself...only a few. I'm thankful for that. Also, I get to come home in 13 days!!! I can't wait for that either.

Hope you are all doing well! Love you and miss you!

Blessings!

Snow Pictures!

2008-10-30T20:26:00.001-07:00

On my Porch the morning after
My front Yard
The catwalk at work
More Catwalk
My deck at 11:30 pm

Interesting week...

2008-10-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

This week has been interesting, that's for sure. Many things have happened, and I promise to put pictures up soon. I'm at work, so I can't do it tonight. Where to start...

Work is still insane. With Halloween coming up, I'm only expecting it to get even more crazy. I got to work on Thursday and found we had three kids on the run. One of the runners surprised us all. She has never run. She left us a note saying it wasn't against any staff that she was running - that she just needed a night to herself. Crazy girl...haha! One of our kids that ran a few weeks ago keeps calling us saying he is going to turn himself in (he has a warrant) but then never shows. He called again tonight - we'll see if he actually comes...The kids are keeping us all on our toes. It'll be interesting to see how things unfold around here...

In other news, the 1995 Buick Park Avenue. As many of you know, this has been a thorn in my side for weeks (I think it's actually been about four weeks since I last drove my car...). I called Todd (shop guy) to get the status and here's what he said: "We fixed the starter system problem and the alarm system problem. We found where the draw to your battery is. Here's the deal. The draw is coming from the door locks in your car. We're not sure which door. Problem is, the door lock motor is also connected to your trunk latch and horn. So, I can keep the car for a bit longer and take all the doors off and fix the problem so that you'll have power locks. Or, I can disconnect the power locks and you can have the car today." Yay! Take the power locks off! I can handle that! So I went down to pick up my car, and Todd says, "Your car is a pain in the neck!" I went to the car, turned the key, and it turned on!!! I needed to get gas. When I say I needed to get gas, I seriously needed to get gas - the gauge was lower than empty. So I drove to the gas station, pulled in, and pushed the button to open the gas door. It wouldn't open. Great...I'm thinking that the gas door opener motor is the same as the power locks, the trunk, and the horn. I have to drive back to the shop, pray they are still open, pray I have enough gas to get there, and see if he can fix that. I pull up, Todd comes walking out, and he says, "Laurie...what are you doing here?" So I ask if there was any chance that the gas motor was connected to the trunk motor. He popped the hood and put in a chip thing into the electrical system, and the door opened just fine. Then he says, "How much do you love your car? Here's the deal. I can leave the chip in, your gas door will open, you'll have power locks, your trunk will work, and you'll have a dead battery by morning. I take out the chip, you can't open the gas door, but your battery will be charged." Great options, I know. I asked if there was a way to rig the door so that I could manually open it. So, a few less motors and springs, I can manually open my gas door. I went back to the gas station, (I actually made it!), filled up, and drove home. I FINALLY HAVE A CAR AGAIN!!!

Earlier today, at about 4, I looked out the window to see "ash" falling from the sky. Can you tell I'm from Southern California, where there are fires this time of year, so you assume anything white floating down from the sky is ash? Pathetic, I know. I then realized it was snowing! It wasn't sticking at all, but it was really snowing. It's here...

I woke up at 11:15 tonight to go to work, and went out to my car. I just had to open my door, and gasp. My deck had snow on it. Just a little, but snow nonetheless. I walk down the stairs to my car, and it is COVERED in snow. It was seriously about two inches thick. Great. Winter has begun...So I run back up to get my ice scraper/snow brush (thanks Tara!) to brush off the snow on my car. I smile as I'm doing this, as the now is pouring down on me (does snow "pour" or is that just rain? Hmmm...). I finally clear all the windows, and begin my drive to work in the snow without snow tires. That will be an investment very soon...

I'm sitting at work right now looking outside and watching the snow fall. It really is a beautiful sight. The snow is actually about three inches thick now, and it's sticking to the ground. The weather forecaster got it wrong yet again. They said it would be a wet snow and that it wouldn't stick to the ground. Wrong!

All this to say I'm doing okay in the Great White North. I miss home and can't wait to go there in 27 days. It can't come soon enough!

I'm off to watch a movie. Or do paperwork....Movie sounds better....

I love you and miss you!
Blessings!

Music

2008-10-11T01:47:00.000-07:00

I'm predicting that this blog will be very scattered. A lot has happened since I last posted, but not much to me. But thoughts are all over the place...I'll try to keep it as organized as possible.

I got out of work on Thursday morning at about 11 am. When you turn out of the parking lot at Cornerstone, you get a pretty cool view of Thunder Mountain. What was so cool about Thursday was this: Early Thursday morning, it was pouring down rain here, and about 35 degrees outside. So at 11 am the next morning, Thunder Mountain was COVERED in snow. I was so mad I didn't have my camera with me - it was so pretty! As I continued on home, I saw Mt. McGuiness and the other mountain next to it that were also covered in snow. The snow line is quite low...They're saying there's the possibility of snow in the next week. It's definitely cold enough! We'll see...I'm still not ready. Although, I did finally get a coat. It's super warm - I love it!

It's amazing to me how much music can influence a mood. Random, I know, but let me explain. Every night when I come into work, I turn on "piano" music. All night long, I listen to beautiful pieces of music. It's quiet and soothing and comforting to me. It's not fun being the only adult in charge of seven kids at night. After all, there are bears outside, and they'll eat you if you're not careful...

Then there's fun music. My new "favorite" country song is called "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. Hear me out. I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift. But this song is stinkin' cute! Youtube it...It's a song that makes me smile and gets stuck in my head at the most random times.

At church tonight, we sang "How Great You Are" or something like that. It's the song "How Great Thou Art" but more contemporary. Simply a beautiful song. I can't find it anywhere...sorry, you can't youtube that one. I wish you could hear it. It brings a smile to my face as I remember how truly great my God is. My soul sings! It's a song that has brought me comfort when I am homesick, when lousy things happen, etc. God is still great. I also realized at church tonight that one of my favorite sounds is the sound of people singing praises to God together. I'm sure I look like an idiot with my huge grin every time we all sing. I love it! Even if the person next to me is singing way off key, they are still praising the same God I am, and that is beautiful. I think it's a glimpse of heaven.

This week, I was bombarded with bad news. My car is still not working, although it is going in the shop either tomorrow or Sunday. A close college friend of mine woke up one morning to find her car was stolen (Between the two of us, we have some BAD car troubles!) Then the storm hit:

Our old pastor at my home church passed away a couple weeks ago. He was a dear man and will be missed. It came as quite a shock to me, and it makes me sad that I can't be at home right now. Then, I got news this week that a friend of mine passed away. If you live in Riverside and get the Press, there was an article about Steve W. In high school, I was involved in RYT, a theater group in Riverside. Debbie W was the director of RYT, and her husband Steve ran lights, sound, music, all of that. I was involved for about three years wit RYT, and became good friends with the W's. They went on a cruise in September, and Steve got sick about three days later. It was some sort of bacterial infection that wouldn't let up. Finally, Debbie decided to take Steve off life support, and he died shortly after. Their son is 17 and daughter is 12. It was devastating to me. I know what it's like to loose someone close to you, and it's not fun. I can't imagine loosing my dad at this age, let alone when I was 12 or 17. Be in prayers for the W family and the Anibal family.

Even with these deaths, God is still good. He is still in control. He will take care of these families. It will be hard, it's not going to be fun, but God is God. He's bigger than our sadness, our pain, our feeling of hopelessness and loss! To a grieving family, those can seem like empty words, but it's what helped me through the death of my Grandpa in November.

As I was taking a walk on Tuesday (a whole 'nother story...) the song "I Am" by Mark Schultz came on. (You can youtube that one...it's there...) Here are the lyrics:

"I AM the Maker of the Heavens; I AM the Bright and Morning Star; I AM the Breath of all Creation; Who always was; And is to come.

I AM the One who walked on water; I AM the One who calmed the seas; I AM the Miracles and Wonders; So come and see; And follow Me; You will know

chorus:
I AM the Fount of Living Water; The Risen Son of Man; The Healer of the Broken
And when you cry I AM your Savior and Redeemer; Who bore the sins of man
The Author and Perfecter; Beginning and the End
I AM

I AM the Spirit deep inside you; I AM the Word upon your heart; I AM the One who even knew you; Before your birth; Before you were

chorus

Bridge:
Before the Earth (I AM); The universe (I AM); In every heart (I AM); Oh, where you are (I AM); The Lord of Lords (I AM); The King of Kings (I AM); The Holy Lamb (I AM)
Above all things

chorus:
Yes, I AM Almighty God, your Father; The Risen Son of Man; The Healer of the Broken
And when you cry I AM Your Savior and Redeemer; Who bore the sins of man
The Author and Perfecter; Beginning and the End
I AM"

He is God, and I am not. I have to trust that He knows what he is doing. I may not get it; I may question it; I may even disagree. But He is God, and I am not. He is omniscient, I am not. As my dad would say, "We're like ants looking for food. We find a dead cricket, and think, 'yay! Dinner for a week!' What we fail to see is the cockroach up ahead that would feed us for a month." Gruesome illustration, I know. But do you see the point?

Even with all this bad stuff happening, when I listen to music like I've said above, I know I'm ok. Music is a powerful thing! It has the ability to destroy you and has the ability to bring you up. So turn on some music you enjoy, relax, and KNOW that it's going to be ok!

Blessings!

I Forgot to Mention...

2008-09-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

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!

"When Did My Heart Get so Petrified?"

2008-08-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Graves may not be the best idea for me...I have WAY too much time to think...

So there's this song by Caedmon's Call called "Petrified Heart" that's been on my mind quite a lot lately. The lyrics are really solid - you should listen to the whole thing. But for now, it's the first verse and chorus that are on my mind:

"This old heart's been left
Out on my sleeve
And I have paid as it's been rent
Into pieces
Seems everyone
I've loved has
Taken a bit of my insides
I'm scattered as the woman whose body
Was torn for the twelve tribes

"When did my heart get so petrified
When did it get so hard to feel
When did my heart get so afraid to love
When did it get so hard"

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a hard time letting people into my circle. Sure, I can listen to anyone talk about their innermost whatevers, but when they ask me to do the same, it's hard - I don't like it, and I don't want to do it. Most of the time I don't. Sometimes I go superficial - tell people what's going on in the surface of my life. There are very few people that I'll talk to fully.

Why is it so hard? Why am I so afraid to let people in? And when did all this happen? I can't remember a time when I was not closed off. I remember times when I let a few people in, and trust was broken. Maybe that's it. Maybe it's because I'm afraid to trust, and in turn I am afraid to love and to feel. I feel my heart getting harder and harder towards people because it's too hard to love them and to feel for them because people make mistakes and break trust and disappoint you. But is that any way to live? My head wants me to go for it; my heart won't let me. But hey, don't tell anyone, alright? Wouldn't want to let anyone in my circle...;-)

Work has been insanely crazy. School starts on the 2nd, so the kids are going for their last summer fling before school. Problem is, they keep getting caught and ending up here at Cornerstone. We've had a full house consistently for the past week, and everyone says it's not going to slow down any time soon. While this job is by far the hardest thing I've ever done, and my heart breaks every day I walk into work, I'm finding that I'm good at this. I'm good at working with delinquent kids and kids that have seen more and done more than I know exist. But then I think back to the song. I don't feel when these kids are talking to me. You have to harden yourself to their attitudes and their circumstances and their choices, because if you don't, you won't survive. Don't get me wrong: my heart truly does break for the kids - they have so much crap in their lives that I can't even imagine how they are still functioning. But my game face goes on every time I walk into work. "When did my heart get so petrified? When did it get so hard to feel? When did my heart get so afraid to love? When did it get so hard?"

On a lighter note!

Tuesday I got a very unexpected phone call. Kevin (the set-up guy) called! Slight freak-out moment. He called to see if I wanted to play Frisbee golf. I still hadn't learned how to throw a frisbee, so I gave him fair warning. Long story short, we played, his friends joined us, and I learned to throw a frisbee. He was a great teacher - very patient. I could learn a few things from this guy... I'm not good, but at least the frisbee stays in the course! It was a great afternoon...that's all I'll say about it now.

Hope you are all doing well! I miss you still! Love you too!

Blessings!

Nothing Better to Do...

2008-08-24T18:59:00.001-07:00

I've gotten quite a few calls and emails about me not updating the blog...I'm so sorry! It's not that I haven't had any time to update it - it's that nothing truly exciting has happened since I last posted. I wish something exciting would have happened. It's been work and sleep and the Olympics for me.

Speaking of the Olympics, how amazing is Michael Phelps? I know EVERY girl is in love with the guy, but seriously - eight out of eight golds, seven world records, and one olympic record in a matter of days? That's a gift if I ever saw one. And Bryan Clay won the gold in the Decathlon. It wasn't shown on NBC up here. Bryan went to APU and comes by every once and a while to talk to the students there. He's a really nice guy - I've talked to him a couple times. It's pretty cool to have a gold medalist from the same college I went to. I was reading my friend Holly's blog, and she captured the amazingness of having a gift and using it. She talked about people having found what they are good at - the gifts God has given them - and then using those gifts to the best of their abilities. Like, eight for eight golds? Then Holly gave a challenge that I wonder about myself: "I want people to look at me and say, 'Wow. She found her element.'" Will I be in my element and be worthy of a gold at the end of the day? I don't know.

Life in Alaska. Like I said, there's not really a whole lot to report on. There are changes coming in work, but I don't know what they are yet. Pray for wisdom there...It's raining a lot, and I love every minute. I've gone out and gotten soaked a few times...Oh, and I found a great coffee shop and a great place to get a homemade milkshake - so good! This could be dangerous...

I finally met the guy that my landlords wanted to set me up with - Kevin. Super nice guy. Very kind, gentle, and tall! I had dinner with him, his dad, his sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and my landlords. We didn't really get to talk a whole lot, but it was a fun night anyway. Connie, my landlord, gave him my phone number, so we'll see what happens. I'm not expecting anything, but we'll see.

That's about all my adventures. Hopefully I can do some more crazy fun things soon. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts! I love every comment, email, and phone call!

Miss you and love you!

Blessings!

Thoughts During Grave Shift

2008-08-10T02:41:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of time to think when I work weekend graves here at Cornerstone. So many questions pop in my mind: are there bears right outside my door? Are the kids in their rooms or sneaking out? Did the clock stop or is it really still 1:45 am? Why can't I go outside and play in the rain? Do people really read these blogs? Am I really so exciting that four different guys want to pursue me? What is going to keep me busy for the next six hours? Should I sleep tomorrow or watch the Olympics? After all, they're only on every four years. Am I loosing my mind?

Forgive me if this blog is a bit scattered...I'm trying really hard just to keep my eyes open...

My main purpose for this blog is this: I've been reading the "Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers for the seventh or eighth time. (Side note. If you haven't read these books, borrow or buy them and read them. Seriously. They'll change your life - quite possibly some of the best books I have ever read in my life.) In the first book, there is this quote: "Jesus forgave the thief, but he didn't take him down off the cross." I never caught the significance of that statement until I read the book this time. I read it about two weeks ago, and I am still mulling over it. I am not even sure what I want to write here - still so many thoughts regarding it.

I looked up the verses where the thief and Jesus had this interaction. It's in Luke 23.42-43. Basically, one thief is insulting Jesus, while the other says, "Shut up! This guy has done nothing wrong, unlike SOMEONE else I know" (courtesy Laurie paraphrasing). Then the second thief asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus responds by saying, "I tell you the truth, today you WILL be with me in paradise". (That's not Laurie paraphrasing...that's the real deal.) The way I see it, Jesus had two choices. One, he could have said, "Yay! You finally got it! Go ahead and get down off that cross - you don't have to die today. Go tell everyone the truth about me." Instead, he chose option two - let the natural consequences play out, but all the while reassuring the thief about where he stands. At that moment in the thief's life, the thief realized the consequences of the choices he made. He asked for forgiveness, and was granted it. He didn't ask to be taken off the cross. It's as if he accepted the consequences. Maybe I'm way off...

(In case you were wondering, the kids are all sleeping in their beds...no problems so far.)

After thinking about that, I started thinking about the kids at work. They miss this concept! Well, they miss a lot more, but this can be said of normal everyday happenings. I see it a lot with these kids. Or rather, I see them almost to the point of the thief. They ask forgiveness for the stupid things they do (and trust me - they do A LOT of stupid things...) from all the staff, from JPD, from their probation officers, etc. Sometimes, these people do "forgive" the kids - they give them another chance - they take them off the cross. The majority of the time, however, we let the natural consequences occur. We may forgive them, but we leave them hanging on the cross. It sounds so cruel. But sometimes the best way to help the kids is to let them hurt; let them go to jail; let them be sick because the drug they took is making their system go haywire. Again, I may be way off base...

When I look at my own life, I see the many many times I have begged for forgiveness - from parents, friends, family, God - and they have graciously given it to me. But I am still left hanging on my cross - the one I put myself on. "Jesus forgave the thief, but he didn't take him down off the cross." It's what we as humans want. We want a life free of the pain we bring on ourselves. But sometimes God doesn't work that way. At least not in my life. Does he forgive us? Absolutely. Does he still love us? Unconditionally. Does he hurt with us? I think he does. Remember - the thieves weren't the only ones on the cross...

Again, maybe I am so far off - it is 2:45 am now. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I miss you all still! Hope you are doing great! Love you!

Blessings!

Pain, Jail, Piranhas and Sun

2008-07-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

I thought I was going to post this last night, but alas, I didn't get a chance to do it before my eyes shut down. So here it is!

Let's go one by one...

PAIN. On Sunday, I decided to take a walk - nothing out of the ordinary. I got to talking with Christy on the phone and lost track of where I was going. I ended up at Blockbuster (it's about five miles away from my house...which means it's five miles back to my house...). As I was walking back, my foot started to hurt. I couldn't figure out why in the world my foot was hurting. Then I remembered what happened in February. In Feb, I went to the doctor because my foot was hurting and he said that I had tendonitis in my foot. I was supposed to rest it for a while - no hikes, long walks, etc. I was doing real well until I moved to Juneau...Guess I won't be going on any long walks for a while...what else could I do?

JAIL. Work is getting exciting again. Many of you have heard that my schedule is insane at work - hopefully that's changing this week. I started working grave shifts, and I love it! That has nothing to do with jail, but I thought I'd throw that in. We now have eight kids in the house. They're all pills - ha! We have a couple that are fairly good kids and it's exciting to encourage them to continue making good decisions and such. On Monday, one of our kids snapped. One of his peers accidentally bumped him with the broom during chores, and it set him off. He grabbed one of the table chairs and threw it at a staff member and stormed outside yelling, "I'm going to #*$& kill him! I'm going to get a &#^! kitchen knife and *$(^ put it in his *&^$ chest!" He was a bit upset. My boss went outside with him and talked with him. My boss decided that he needed to have a cool-down time at JYC (it's the Juvenile Hall here). So off the kid went! To be honest, I'm quite excited he's gone - he was not a fun kid...Sure made for an interesting afternoon!

The night before, I was working grave. I came on shift and there were about five people in the office - not a good sign. Ryan (one of the staff members) says, "I'm going to be next door in case anything happens. Come get me if you need to." I wanted to walk out right then and there. We were getting a little one who was choked by her drunk mom and went to the hospital (we ended up not getting her) and I was the lucky person to tell the drunk mom that her daughter was not coming here and that OCS (it's the same as CPS) would be calling her in the morning. When I got shift change, I heard about the incident that happened to our kid. He handed a note to one of our staff that had a website on it. It was some sort of site about kids who should have died. This kid battles with depression, so we were really worried about him. He wouldn't go to sleep and was acting very strange. I was on suicide watch with him for about three hours until he went to sleep. Anyone want my job???

PIRANHAS. This is a fun story...I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail, but this is a developing story, so you'll get bits and pieces of it. First off, my landlady has taken it upon herself to set me up with a friend of hers named Kevin. I know nothing about this kid other than "you have so much in common: he's tall, he is getting his masters degree, and he was in the Navy!" If someone could show me where we have stuff in common there, it would be greatly appreciated :-) This should be happening next week sometime, so I'll give an update then.

I went to the Gathering on Friday. The Gathering is the young adult ministry at the church I go to. It was such a great night - I finally met some people MY AGE! They do exist, folks. Send up a flare and alert the media! The only thing was that the kids my age were all guys - which is fine, don't get me wrong, but a bit intimidating. I felt like a piece of meat on a hook above a bunch of hungry red-bellied piranha's. They were chatty-chatty and asking me thousands of questions. After the Gathering, we went to Andrew's apartment for pizza and games. I followed a guy named Ray to his house (after we stopped and got pizza). When we got to the apartments, Ray says, "I actually don't know what house is his..." and I reply, "Call him!" He says, "I actually don't have his number..." My jaw dropped. How do people not have phone numbers? It's a common occurrence up here. So Ray decides he's going to knock on doors until he finds Andrew. Mind you, it's about 10 pm by now. Andrew comes out to check for us. Ray says "I didn't know which was yours!" As we walked in, I say "Now would be a good time to exchange numbers..." We go inside and play games and eat pizza. It was a great night - lots of laughs.

The next day I get an email from Andrew saying thanks for coming over and how nice it was to meet me, etc. He then asks a whole bunch of questions. (Oh, he works for JYS too - he actually works at the house my roommate works at.) I email him back and ask some questions of my own. We figure out that we both work grave shift on Sunday, and decided to email back and forth to keep ourselves awake. Little did I know what I was getting myself into...

20 emails later, I had a date, a wannabe boyfriend, a whole lot of clarifying to do, and a few freak-out moments. Like I said before, the guys up here are like piranhas and I'm fresh, new meat. I couldn't believe that someone I had met two nights earlier wanted to date me - I put a stop to that real quick. I told him I'd have to get to know a bit more about him before we order wedding invitations. He's persistent, that's for sure...I said it before: it's a developing story, so more to come later...For now, we are not dating, I do not have a boyfriend, and the date is being postponed...

SUN. Finally - the good part of the week! It's all been great, but this part is really good. Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I've seen since I've been up here, and of course I didn't take any pictures of it. I went for a bike ride, ran into Bri's and my friend Matt, and he and I went to play frisbee golf. I warned him that I had no idea what frisbee golf was and that I hardly knew how to throw a frisbee. We had a blast. I got stuck in more Devil's Club (my thumb is SO SORE! This section should go back to the pain section of the blog...) and about killed my foot, but it was such a great afternoon in the sun! I think the high was 68 degrees - short and t-shirt weather!

Through it all, I think God is trying to teach me something or somethings. I'm not sure what the lessons are yet. I think it has something to do with patience in letting my body heal, trust in Him - that He knows me, what's best for me, the timing for everything. He is showing me daily that He is in charge, and that life without him in the center is not worth living. My prayer is that I continue to listen and learn. It sure is exciting!

I miss you all terribly! Hope you are doing well! I love you!

Blessings!

So Here's the Story...

2008-07-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

My parents were here last week, hence the reason the blogs have been slacking. We had such a great time! It was sad to see them go, but here's a run-down of what we did:

I picked them up at the airport (their plane was late...) and came back to the apartment. Mom loved the color of the apartment while Dad kept saying, "this is cute! It's good for you!" I think that means he liked it too...They dropped off their luggage, and I took them to Cornerstone, where I work. One of the kids greeted me at the door (he knew we were coming) and said, "HI LARRY!" (Quick side-story. Two of the kids and I were playing "Hand and Foot" - a card game - a few nights ago and one of them accidentally called me Larry. They thought it was hilarious, so they started calling me Larry.) We walk in, and my boss is there to greet us. So my parents got to meet my boss, some of the kids, and some of my co-workers. I showed them around, the kids talked to us for a bit, and then we were on our way. Mom said she thought the place was a bit depressing and dark, I agreed, so I'll have to think of someway to bring up a new paint job or something...

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing. Before we left for Cornerstone, we went to meet my land lords, and we all got to talking. Mark gave us some fresh King salmon for dinner, so we looked forward to cooking that.

We left Cornerstone and drove. We drove around town, and I showed them where a lot of different things were. We went to a good view of the glacier, to the mall, showed them Fred Myers, and the like. We came home for dinner (fresh salmon - yay!). I made them a seafood pasta dish that I learned how to make at the cooking school Bri works at. They loved it and have the recipe for any of you that may want it. I have it too...

We then drovethe 42 miles to the end of the road looking for Eagle beach. Laurie has only been to Eagle beach once, and didn't really know where she was going. We missed the turn and drove another 28 miles or so until we figured out she missed the turn...oops! Dad wanted to get my picture at the end of the road, so we did. On the way back we saw a black bear cub (my first bear!) along the side of the road. It didn't like the car, so it ran along the road then up into the trees. It was cute, but all I could think was that Mama was around somewhere, and I didn't want to be around when she came out. We drove back into the Valley (where I live) and went to bed.

The next day we went to Taku Lodge. Look it up online - it's really cool and has a huge history. We got on a little tiny float plane, and flew over mountains and glaciers to get to this small little lodge. It was very cool. These glaciers were huge!!! Some were receding, and some were advancing. Some were 5 miles wide and over 80 miles long! Pretty incredible. We landed on the lake (how weird is that?!) and got out and walked up to the lodge. It is a rustic looking lodge but very homey inside. We saw a whole bunch of people standing outside by a tree, so we went to see what was up. Um, there was another baby black bear up there! Just sitting in the tree like it was a bird. Again, very cute, but I didn't stay out there long. There were tons of bugs - I got bit quite a few times. We went on a hike around the lodge, which was beautiful, but mom and I were afraid the bears would come out, so we quickly did the hike and went back to the safety of the lodge. We waited for dinner inside by a roaring fire (I'll miss fires in the winter...). Dinner was fresh king salmon (see a pattern? Salmon = Alaska), beans, coleslaw, two different kinds of roles, and this apple stuff that was amazing. We ate SO well that night! When dinner was done and we took pictures, we went back to the docks to load up on the plane. We got back to town, stuffed and completely in awe.

We shopped downtown for a few days, but nothing too thrilling happened there. Other than the fact that we saw yet another baby black bear...bear number 3 and counting...

We went up the Mt. Roberts tram while they were here too. That is incredible as well. You go from sea level to 1,800 feet in about five minutes, and the view was incredible. We went on a few hikes up there too, and saw bear #4. He was far away in the snow on the top of the mountain, right where we ended up on our hike, but we did get to see him for a bit. Here's a funny story (it's even more funny when mom tells it). We went on a long hike to try to find this cross that some pastor took up the mountain in the 1800's. We hike this steep trail, and it ends up on a landing with an incredible view. There's another trail that connected to the trail we were on, and I was sure that it was the cross trail. So I leave mom and dad at the landing (with all my stuff) and go in search for this cross. (Side note: I was hiking in Crocs...not a good idea - keep reading and you'll find out why.) I follow the trail, and soon it stops because a huge piece of snow/ice is blocking the road. I don't want to quit now, so I decide to forge on and overcome the snow...in my Crocs. I get over the first piece of ice and come to two more. I'm getting tired, and the cross is still no where in sight. I finally come across some people who are coming down from a flat part of the mountain. Great, I think to myself, I'm almost there. I keep going. I am still not there. I see more people coming down. I ask them where the trail leads, and they said to the peak of Mt. Roberts. Dang. I'm on the wrong trail. All that hard work for nothing. I realize I've been gone for quite some time, and the parents are probably worried...especially since they have all my stuff. So I turn around and go back down all the ice and snow (in my Crocs) and finally meet up with them. They're glad I'm alright and say, "don't do that again!" I told them I hadn't found the cross, and they say they have. Let's just say I went WAY too far...

We stayed home some and played games, watched movies, and just loved being together. It was sad to say goodbye, but so good to see them.

Hope you are all doing well! Love ya!

Blessings!

Pictures for the blog above..

2008-07-20T11:02:00.001-07:00

View from the top of Mt. Roberts

Mom and Dad and the float plane

Mom and I on the float plane

The 5-mile wide glacier

Cruise ship leaving

Glacier from the Lodge

Waterfall at Mendenhall Glacier we hiked to

Mom, Dad, and I climbed over these boulders!

Another huge glacier

The baby bear cub in the tree at the Lodge

4th of July and Beyond...

2008-07-07T11:12:00.001-07:00

We finally have internet! Well, sort of. We have the capability of internet. Now we have to get the wireless box. It's those little details that kill...haha! Hopefully very soon we can have internet that we can call our own :-)

The fourth of July was crazy. Living in a small town, you really get the "small town feel" on holidays like this. There was a parade downtown Juneau that the WHOLE town goes to. It's really fun, but really crowded. And, there is one road in and out of downtown. So, If you can imagine close to 20,000 people downtown at once and then those 20

,000 people wanting to leave at the same time down that one road, it is quite the adventure! It reminded me of the 10 fwy back home...Here are some pictures from the parade:

They had floats, people walking, riding in mini corvettes, etc. They had a snow plow that was painted with orcas - it was insane the things they came up with! Since it is such a small town, the locals on the sidelines watching all knew people in the parade, so the parade would stop so people could talk to each other. While at the parade, my boss called me into work ea

rly, so I had to leave in the middle of the parade. I was fine with that - I had been wa

tching it for close to three hours and it still wasn't over. Time to go...

I went into work at about 1:45 and found there were only two kids there. It was fantastic! One of them went with one staff to see the Hulk in the movie theater and the other one and I played Hand and Foot for seven hours! It was a great way to spend the afternoon, as far as I was concerned. I left work and went over to the Harris house for the 4th of July party.

This party was crazy! There were tons of people there, and tons of food and games. They smoked/roasted a pig (yes, the WH

OLE thing - we named him Pork Chop) all day, and it was so tasty! We played Beer Factor: you know the show Fear Factor? Beer Factor is like Fear Factor, only you have to complete all these tasks with a cup of beer in your hand. The object of the game is to comple

te the tasks the fastest and have the most beer in your cup by the end. It was quite hilarious...Then we watched the fireworks that were put on by Willie (the dad in the Harris family). He set the fireworks off on the beach, and it was pretty cool. They were a bit close for my liking, but it was pretty cool none-the-less. I left shortly after, as I had to work at 8 the next morning.

I did my first grave shift (12 midnight to 8AM) on Sunday. Let me tell you, if ever you want to mess with your mind, try going to sleep around 4 in the afternoon and then stay awake from midnight to 8AM - it's trippy! Nothing happened at work, for which I was truly thankful.

My last adventure is kinda two days in one. In reality, they happened before everything in this blog, but I chose to put it at the end. I don't know why...I just did. Last week at work, Kwame (my supervisor) and I took three of the kids to play handball with one of those blue rubber balls at the middle school in town. While playing (and these kids are hardcore - they play real hard) I dropped the ball. When you drop the ball, you have to run and tag the wall before someone else throws the ball at the wall and hits it. So I'm running, and all of a sudden feel this sting on my back. One of the boys completely missed the wall and smacked me in the back with the blue rubber ball. I could hardly

move my arms and back! I had a nice welt on my back for a couple days. He apologized and we laughed about it for days. The next day was my day off, so Bri, Tinea (Bri's cousin) and I went geo-caching.

We couldn't find the first one, but we couldn't give up. We went looking for the second one in the forest. One thing about geo-cache's in Juneau is that they're all hidden in the forest! So we're hacking our way through the forest, stepping in mud piles, climbing over fallen trees, trying to avoid Devil's Club (this prickly plant that if you touch, the thorns get stuck in your skin and your body has to expel them - you can't pick the thorns out) and such. Oh, did I mention that I was doing this in flip flops? Dumb idea #1! And did I mention that I tripped in a hole in the ground and broke (or really badly bruised) a toe? Dumb idea #2! After doing this for about 30 minutes, we find a red box - the geo-cache! IT was pretty exciting! I did get Devil's Club in my foot, and I am still waiting for it to come out. But overall, it was such a cool adventure - we can't wait to do another one!

That's about all in the Great White North! I hope you're all doing well! Know I miss you all and love you!

Blessings!

Where, oh Where, has my INTERNET GONE?!?!

2008-07-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

So this week I lost almost all connection with the outside world. Rule number 1 - get your own internet! Don't depend on someone else's connection - it will fail you! That was the most frustrating thing to wake up to one morning last week. So I am sorry if I have not responded to emails - I haven't gotten them!

There is good news though! The internet people are coming to our apt on July 7 to install internet! One more week of no internet, and then I'll be saved! Yay!

Other than that, it has been a pretty good week. I still miss home, but overall it has been good. Here are a couple funny stories from work:

One: A few nights ago, I found our boys sitting on the window sills of their rooms talking. This is not allowed - it is considered AWOL (it was about 10:45 - way past bedtime). I told them that they needed to go in their rooms and go to sleep. I check on them about five minutes later, and they're out again! I said, "This is your last chance. I've been lenient, and now you're abusing that." I left and came back five minutes later and they were out again! (I know, dumb, right?!) So I said, "You (can't say his name) are out in the rec room tonight. Come on - bring your bedding." He fought me the whole way out, and the guy he was talking to poked his head out the door and said, "You've got to be @*#& kidding me! Give us one more chance - we'll go to bed!" Me, being the stubborn person I am, said no. So the second kid said, "You are officially off the cool-staff list and on the uncool-staff list! I hope you're happy!" and slams the door. I had to bite my tongue. In a way, I graduated! I'm holding my ground, following through, even though I still have no idea what I'm doing. It was great!

Second story is not really funny, but a good story. One of the kdis here is one that I can hardly stand - he's the one who does not respect me, who is so rude, and defiant, that I go in the office and say, "I'm not working with him anymore - I can't handle him." Tonight, I was left alone with him. We actually had a great conversation! We talked about how he is having his treatment team meeting tomorrow. He doesn't think he needs long-term treatment (that's what he's heading for) and he wanted to build a case of why he should go to a 45-day program instead of a 6-12 month program. So I got to process through the pro's and con's of each, helped him understand the process of a treatment team meeting, and talked about his hope for the outcome. We also talked about what he would do if it didn't go his way and how he would respond. We also talked about his family and how his relationship with his mom has caused him to be the way he is and some of the anger built up there. It was a fantastic talk. When the rest of the kids came back, there was a change in the kid - our relationship had changed. Even my other staff member said something was different. It was so cool! Yay - finally something good in this job!

We are slowly getting our apartment put together - pictures on the wall, real furniture, dishes, etc. I've truly realized how much I hate moving and decorating. My roommate, bless her heart, is so into the apartment, and I feel so bad that I'm not. I've pretty much given her free reign and just tell her when I don't like something. I can only handle so much at a time...

I don't have any crazy adventure stories for now. Maybe on my days off...

I have missed the internet! It's so good to write to all you who read this (I don't think many do, but those of you who do, thanks!). I hope all is well at home! I miss you all and love you very much!

Blessings!

Sleeping is NOT overrated...

2008-06-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've had the last two days off, and I have pretty much slept through the whole two days. I don't know if it is because I am still adjusting to the goofy hours that I work, or if it is because I am still adjusting to living here, if it is because I don't have a whole lot of things to do when I'm working, or if it is because I am truly that tired. Yesterday, I had a training on how to distribute medication (longest 45 minutes of my life) and then went back to bed until 2 in the afternoon! Glorious! Today I pretty much slept from 12:30 pm till 6pm. Sleeping tonight should be interesting...

I went on a 4-hour hike with my landlord this week up to the glacier. It was beautiful. The trail was in the forest for the most part, so it was very green, very cold, and very buggy. We decided to go "off-roading" (aka off the trail) and got to the lake. It was crazy to see so many icebergs in the lake! She started telling me about the resident wolf, Romeo, who lives in that area. Romeo is a lone wolf (which is very unusual), so when people bring their dogs, Romeo comes out to play. However, when people bring their yip-yap dogs, Romeo likes to take them away for a snack. We didn't get to see Romeo, but we saw animal trails (I kept telling myself they were Romeo's and not the probable bear trail). There were parts of the hike we were climbing straight up and down, climbing on the side of rocks to not fall into the lake, and sliding down the mountain on our bums getting filthy dirty. So much fun! I was sore and so tired after - more nap time!

Work continues to be a challenge, but I think it is getting a little bit better. When I left on Tuesday, we had six kids, and three of them are leaving by the end of the week. However, when I went in for staff meeting today, we had three new kids show up. I guess it's just going to be a continual thing - no rest for the weary! I am thinking about moving to a different house that has a lot more structure. At the new house, the kids know that if they mess up, they will go to jail for a very long time, so they are more likely to comply with staff. So I'm going to be picking up some shifts when I can and just check out the house, so I'll see. Who knows?

I love the emails and love the phone calls - keep them up! I live off them! I still miss you all and love you!

Blessings!

I Still Miss You!

2008-06-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

Two days off...It was wonderful. I relaxed, didn't worry about the kids at work, caught up on some emails (still a ton to go - thanks to all who have written - I will write you back!), caught up on phone calls, and found I was missing home all the more.

A friend emailed me this week and said that she understood the struggle with moving away from home. She said that the hardest time

s for her was when she knew what the people at home were doing at that moment. I can totally relate. I called my house on Father's day, and just wanted to be there. I wanted to be with the people that love me; with the people I could hug without them thinking I was some sort of psycho; to just be in the same room as the people I love and I know.

It's the love that I miss. I sit here crying (I know - me cry? It's alright - I'll be fine;-) ) as I write this and just picture the faces of the people I know and love: Mom, Dad, Lin and Kev, The Grandparents, the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, best friend, my church family, my Engstrom family, and the countless others. Know you are al

l so close to my heart, and that I love you all. I miss your beautiful faces and your loving smiles. I miss your hugs! I long for a familiar face - a loving face. The parents are coming soon - I can't wait for that!

God is still good though. The Psalms are great to read when I feel like this - the authors were able to get those thoughts down on paper so eloquently - so perfectly. I am thankful to be here and thankful for the struggles and the challenges I go through daily. I am learning to trust more and more. I am learning to live - learning to feel, and that is a good thing!

It is so beautiful up here. I went on a really long walk today and was amazed by

God's craftsmanship. No one can compare! Though I may not thank Him enough for the beautiful sunsets, the countless animals, the green trees and plants everywhere, He is faithful. And that is the best kind of love. I know I can count on Him and trust Him. My God is GREAT!

I love you all and look forward to all your emails!

Blessings!

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

2008-06-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a rough, eventful week! But I'm still smiling - God is still good!

I have realized many things this week. I have realized I like working with a few troubled kids instead of ten at once. I have realized I love structure, and that it is very hard to live and work in a place without structure. I have learned that trying to reason with a kid that has Oppositional Defiant Disorder is like talking physics to a brick wall. I have learned that sitting in your car at 12:30 in the morning shaking is a great workout (more on that later). I have learned that bears like trash cans and compost piles, but are still respecting me enough to not show up when I'm around. I have learned that when your car horn randomly goes off at 2 in the morning, you should pop the hood and disconnect the battery and leave it until the morning. I have learned that LOVE is an important and vital part of living - when it's not there, it's really hard to function.

Cornerstone needs prayer. The kids that are living there now have so much to learn about life, respect, and love - I don't know how it will be possible. Maybe for some of them, it won't be possible for them to live a normal life. My part is setting a good example for them, setting some limits, and being available to them when they need someone. It is really hard to grasp the fact that my staff and I are the ONLY people in the world who care enough for these kids to help them. We have a 12 year old in right now whose mom dropped him off and said, "I can't deal with him. You keep him for three days - I'll be back Monday to see how he's doing." The poor kid was scared to death! I took him under my wing, and he asked me so many questions about what was going to happen to him. Most of the kids at cornerstone are between 14 and 17 and they have multiple charges (misdemeanors and felony) and have the mouth of an outhouse. This poor 12 year old is being corrupted, I just know it. But we made dinner and brownies for the kids, and have good conversations. Sadly, I can see how much influence the older kids have on him. Hopefully he won't be too heavily influenced.

Like I said in an earlier blog, my first day was last Thursday, and since, I have worked and learned tons of valuable information. But I still don't feel comfortable by myself and doing my job fully - I don't feel like I have the support or knowledge to deal properly with the kids. I still divert many of the questions to my other staff. The kids push every limit and every button known to man. I'm on edge for eight hours straight, and it's hard to put it from my mind. So when I get off work, I go to my car and shake and sweat until I can drive. It's funny. I play it off really well while I'm at work - my fight system is working well! But when I get to the end of the day, my body says, "Enough!!! You're done!" It's a good workout! :-)

Funny story. Last night, I got back from work last night and woke up my roommate. She and I were sitting on her bed talking, and I hear a car horn go off. I look out my window, and my car horn decided it would be good to spaz out at 1:30 in the morning. I run down to the car, but I have no clue what to do. I'm pushing every button I can find, turn on the car, turn off the car, drive the car on the driveway, etc. and nothing is working! My roommate calls a friend and he says to disconnect the battery. Great idea! Problem is I can't find the hood opener! I'm searching for the hood opener, looking in the manuel and finally find it. I push the button, it unlocks, but it won't open. I'm laughing and feeling so bad for the neighbors at this point. I try to find the hook under the hood that opens the hood, and finally find it, cutting my fingers in the process. Great - the hood is open! Now what? I try to unscrew the negative side of the battery, and it's not budging. I run upstairs to the apartment to find a wrench, and notice that it is 2 in the morning - the horn has been going nonstop for 1/2 hour! I run down, and try to unscrew the battery. I succeed, and then drop the screw. I can't find it - it's dark (side note here - it gets dark dark in Alaska around 1:45-2:45 in the morning. Good to know...). The horn has stopped (yay!) but the cable is still connected to the battery. If the car moves, the horn goes off again. The hood is open, the driver and passenger side door is open, the gas door is open (like I said, I pushed every button) and the trunk is open. So I grab the cable from the battery to pull it off completely. I start pulling, the horn starts going off again, and then the alarm system starts going off! (It's really loud, by the way). I finally get everything disconnected, and all is quiet. So funny!

This morning, I came down to apologize to my landlords for the noise last night, and they said they didn't hear a thing - not sure how that's possible, but I was thankful! So Mark (landlord) and Darren (Mark's son) fixed my car this morning - I'm so thankful for them!

I continue to love the beauty here. There are tulips everywhere here - simply amazing.

Thank you for sending me emails and calling me - I will work to respond to them all. Keep them coming - I love hearing about what's going on back home! I love you and miss you!

Blessings!

Hold on Tight!!!

2008-06-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

I finally got to go to work today - oh my goodness...HELP!!!! Just kidding - it wasn't that bad. There is just a ton of stuff for me to learn, and when I have to learn it in the midst of working with 10 delinquent, drug addict/mental health kids in crisis, it just complicates matters. Being the new gal means the kids push boundaries with me, learn my style, and make everyone's lives hellish. Fun, you say? Oh yes it is!

I walked into work today to find out that three kids got arrested and taken to jail the night before, so the whole house was upset and hyper from that incident. I find out later that all three of these kids are going to be returning to the house tomorrow. Not fun. Because of the incident, the whole house was put on refocus. Refocus means that no one gets any privileges, free time, TV time, music, or anything. This doesn't make the kids happy, and the staff gets to deal with them unhappy.

My job today was just to be another staff on the floor and interact with the kids. The problem is that the kids don't want to talk, play games, or do anything - they only want to get out of Cornerstone. I spent a lot of the day just hanging out on a couch watching the kids interact with each other while the other staff members worked on intaking new kids and figuring out how to deal with last nights issues. Ha! Nothing like jumping in head first!

My whole way to work, I just prayed. I have no idea how to help these kids! I realize that I can't even begin to do anything until they want to help themselves, but there are very few times I have truly felt this helpless. Seriously. First of all, these kids are teens, so that in and of itself is reason for disrespect, breaking the rules, etc. But when you add the drugs, alcohol, and the backgrounds these kids come from, it is no wonder it is so hard to help them. Many of them don't even care if they make it to the next day. That's hard to deal with! I know it will get better as time goes on and I learn more about how to do my job. But for now it is hard.

I got my first sickness here in Juneau two days ago, and am still fighting it. It's something like allergies, and I've heard that everyone who moves to Juneau gets it within their first week. Bummer! Oh, and I got my first (of many, I'm sure) mosquito bite. They're buggers here...

As I read over this post, I realize that it is so sad and depressing - please don't think that that is my life here! Life is good and God is great! I'm meeting more and more people, getting enough sleep (yay!), and getting familiar for the area. I think I could even be a tour guide now, so if any of you want to come up, I'll show you around!

Thank you for the prayers and the love - I'm really going to be needing it! I love you and miss you all!

Blessings!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt...

2008-06-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

A week down! I can't believe it! A lot has happened this week, so I'll try to get it all (or most of it) here.

On Thursday, I went with a friend of Bri's aunt (Pam) whale watching. It was pretty cool, not gonna lie. We saw about four humpback whales and they were so close to the boat! They showed their tales as they dove down, and the guide people gave us all their names. One of the fun things about these humpbacks was that most of them were born in Maui (my home last summer). It was so good to hear the guides talking about some of the places that I know so well on that island (shout out to my Maui friends!!!). Anyways, here are a couple pictures from that.

After whale watching, we went to one of Pam's friends house for dinner. Here's a story for you: Her house is literally the LAST house on the road. So you drive forever down the only road in Juneau and turn on a dirt road. This dirt road leads you to the middle of the forest to this cottage house (way cute, by the way). We go in, smell some amazing food being cooked, and start talking to Michelle (the lady who lives there). She says, "It was so fun today - we had some bears in our back yard this morning! They were so cute!" I thought to myself, "Stop right there. No bears! I don't want the bears here - not near me." So then Michelle asks if we wanted to go for a walk. I politely declined, since there were bears in her backyard that morning. We had some Alaskan King Salmon for dinner that was caught less than 48 hours previous. I know, you're jealous, and you should be - it was incredible!!! So afterwards, we decide to go to Eagle beach. Eagle beach is this beach where the bald eagles live. Fishermen take their scraps to this beach, throw it out, and the eagles flock to eat. So we bring the salmon head and fins and throw them out on the beach. I'm thinking, "The eagles are all in bed (it's about 9:45 pm at this point - the pictures are also taken at that time - notice the light), and there's salmon out on the beach. The bears are sure to come, and we'll all be dead. Lord, help us!" After waiting for a bit, we go back in the car, and she turns the wrong direction to go home. Where were we going, you ask? Everyone (except me) decides it would be a good idea to go look for bears. Psycho's, I know. But we did. First of all, why would anyone in their right mind actually GO LOOKING for bears? It must be an Alaskan thing...Long story short, we didn't see any, and I got home really late that night. But what a cool night!

Went to church today. I've been looking forward to it all week long. The church I went to is called Auke Bay Bible Church. It's a very cute church, and I think I'm going to like it. I have to play around with my work schedule a little bit to see if I can get involved in some of the young adult activities, but overall, it seems like a sound church. And it has a deaf ministry!!! I was excited to see that...maybe I can get involved in that...There were many young people there, so I think it's going to be good. Keep that in your prayers.

Training for work is Monday and Tuesday, and then my first day at the house is on Thursday. I'm so ready to get started and have something to do with all this free time. But I am a bit nervous. I'll let you know how it goes...

Thanks for all your comments, love, and prayers. Keep them coming!

Blessings!

10417 Fox Farm Trail, Juneau, AK 99801

2008-06-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

My new mailing address! It would be in the care of the Harris family, but there it is!

I arrived here last night after an eight-hour trip. It was so strange to me to land at an airport at 9:45 pm and it still being so light outside! It didn't get dark until a little before 11 - this is going to take some getting used to!

It was so good to step off the plane and see a familiar, jumping, smiling friend. My life here officially started! I was so tired after going through an incredibly emotional day and then traveling, but as soon as she started talking a mile a minute, I woke right up. Wow - I'm really doing this!

We got to our place. It's super cute! There is not much furniture yet, but we're slowly taking care of that. I don't have a bed yet, so we had a slumber party in Bri's room. We didn't go to bed until about 1:30 am Juneau time, which is 2:30 Ca time. Yes, by the time we went to bed, the sun was down. However, when I woke up at 5:30 Juneau time, the sun was up, and it looked like it was 10 in the morning - I'm going to have to get used to this too...

I got to see our backyard for the real first time this morning. We are literally up against the forrest (this is for you, Lisa!). That's what the picture is of - the backyard. The beauty is amazing, yet I can't help but miss having cars go down my street at home, the buildings, the smog, the traffic - and I haven't even been here a full day!

The sun peeks out every once and a while and there are patches of blue sky peeking out behind the clouds. I love it! It's about 56 outside my door right now, and I'm ready to open all the windows!

I can't help but question what God has in store for me here. It is so different from all that I am used to, and I feel like a fish out of water. I don't feel like I'm prepared for anything I'm here for, and have second thoughts about moving. But I am hopeful. Psalm 55 says to cast ALL your anxieties on the LORD and his promise is that he won't let the righteous fall. Even in my anxiety, my God is a sustaining God. He want's he here for such a time as this (that's somewhere in Ruth...) and I need to be obedient. It's hard, but it's a great adventure.

I miss home terribly, and all of you there! Keep the emails coming - I will do my best to get back to you! Love love love!

Blessings

Get Ready...Get Set...

2008-05-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Who knew moving two states and a country away would be so challenging? For those of you who don't know, I am a horrible packer - just ask my sister. I hate it - seriously. I get so unmotivated and then throw things into boxes just to say that it is done. Really though, all I've done is create more chaos. But it's coming. I have a few more things to pack and some clothes, and I am done! Ready, set, AHHH! ;-)

As I was looking through clothes to take, clothes to leave, etc, I noticed something. I do not have many "Alaska" clothes. My clothes are for Hawaii (last summer...) and So Cal (all my life). It's very strange to think that I am going to need a whole new wardrobe. Many ladies would kill for an excuse to go shopping for new clothes, but I can honestly say that it is a bit like packing for me. I hate it just as much. So I decided since I have a "free afternoon" with nowhere to be and no people to see, that I would just go to Ontario Mills (why there?) and get some "Alaska" clothes. Right...

The first problem is that I live in So Cal and am moving to Alaska. Alaska just recently started hitting the 60's in temperature. I'm going to freeze. I do love the cold, and am looking forward to the weather, but here's my problem. All the stores are having their beginning of summer sales - for So Cal. No one has long-sleeved anything! As I was going through my clothes at home, I noticed that I don't have any jackets. In fact, I have two long-sleeved shirts, two pairs of jeans, and no jacket or sweater of any sort. Not good. And would you believe that stores in So Cal do not have winter gear in their stores at the end of May in So Cal? I know! The audacity of it! Hence my next problem - finding jeans and long sleeved - or warm - clothes so that I will not have to mail-order many things. I had a small amount of success, but it was painful...;-) I'm really hoping that tank tops are alright in Juneau.

Six days till departure. It's coming so fast and I still have so many people to see, things to do, and goodbyes to say. Pray for me!

Blessings!

Wait, What?

2008-05-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Many, if not all of you know by now that I am making a huge move from my home in So Cal to Juneau, Alaska in a few weeks. W0w - it doesn't seem real! I've heard it all: "You do know it's going to be cold up there...", "You'll feel like you're on an island!", "You know that there are plenty of group homes in Southern California that you could work in - you don't have to go so far away". Yes, I do know all of these things, but why not now? Why not have an adventure like this now?

So yes, I am very excited. And yes, I am extremely nervous about moving. I'm leaving everything I've ever known here, my family, my friends, and starting a new life up in Juneau. I will be working at a home called Cornerstone in Juneau with teens who need a place to go. We will get runaways, kids taken out of their home by CPS, and the like. The job at Cornerstone is to figure out what the need of the kid is and place the kid there - maybe a meeting with the parents and social workers, maybe a recovery house, maybe a place to sleep for the night. Sound fun? Haha!

I will be living on the edge of the forest (with the bears, so I'm told...) in a one bathroom two bedroom apartment with my good friend Bri from APU. I've attached pictures of our apartment. I want you to notice if you look out the window, you can see that it is still snowing - in the middle of May! Wait, what? Is that supposed to happen?

I will do my best to put up pictures, stories, and thoughts while I'm up there. Please feel free to email me, call me (yes, we do get cell phone reception there) or drop me a note! Please be praying for me too. I'm excited for what God has for me, but I would be lying if I were to tell you I wasn't nervous, scared, and a bit skeptical. But beyond all those things, I am so so excited.

Blessings!