thanksgiving.break

sleeping in...

peppermint mocha coffee...

bible study...

flowers on the table...

pjs till noon...

winter wonderland outside...

cuddling on the couch...

leftovers in the fridge...

christmas music, finally...

exactly what i needed

Catch-Up

I realized I had a bit of catch-up to do on the blog! Here are a couple of slide shows from things we did this month!

Last weekend was the Spouse's Appreciation Flight. There were two planes and they actually got it cleared to open the cargo door that they do all their air drop stuff out of, during the flight! We lucked out on our plane, the Load Masters kept it open almost the entire time! What an amazing way to view the beauty of Alaska!

Labor Day weekend was a big weekend for us! On Friday night, we decided that we would hike Crow's Pass on Sunday and Monday. Now that may not seem like a big deal, but Crow's Pass is a 26 mile hike! But before Sunday came, we decided to throw in a car purchase in our weekend too! The hike was amazing though, and we had the best weather! We hiked 19 miles the first day, camped out, and then hiked the additional 7 on Monday, which got us home by noon, so I could still get some school work done!

First Week Activities

Our first week ended well! Wednesday and Thursday were a little rough with following directions and learning the routines, but Friday I think we turned a little corner. Here are some pics of what we did: art project, exploring our math manipulatives, and on Friday we were suppose to have a field trip to the park to have lunch and play some games, as you can see we got rained out but luckily the gym was open and we still got to play some of our team building games!

The Final Product!

Here is what my classroom looked like today on my first day of school!

So, the first day of school, well, we all survived. The kids all lived, I lived, and I think we all had smiles on our faces at the end of the day. It was a busy day full of practice! Practice walking in the hall, practice going to the bathroom, practice going to lunch, practice lining up from lunch, practice coming to school, practice leaving school, practice, practice, practice.

Tomorrow, we're going to attempt to throw in some fire drill practice and earthquake drill practice!!! Wish us luck!

Okay, so I couldn't get the before pictures to post first, so they are below on the next post and these are...

Here are some during pictures...

And the final pictures will come next week on the first day of school!

My classroom

Here are some before Pictures of the classroom...

Sunrise, Sunrise

looks like morning in your eyes...

Just a beautiful sunrise this morning. The first I've seen in a while! (oh does this mean winter is coming)

On our way to work yesterday...

Space Available

The military has this nice little perk called "Space Available. " Essentially, what it means is if there is space available on flights, they will take passengers. So this last Tuesday John left for three weeks in Hawaii. On Wednesday, a flight came up for Oahu, Hawaii. So I jumped on it and flew down to spend a few days with him. He's pretty busy with work, but I got to spend Saturday (possibly his only day off for the next few weeks) with him. We partook of a hike to a very dry waterfall, some Dole Whip(pineapple ice cream), a drive around half the island, another hike to a lighthouse, and then rounded the day out with a nice dinner at Assaggio(Italian). Yesterday I jumped back on a flight to Elmendorf AFB.

I have an Announcement!

No, I'm not pregnant!

But God is SO good and SO faithful! This past week I was feeling pretty down about the whole job hunting fiasco. After five interviews, still no takers. I had had an interview at a school that I've subbed a lot at and also sacrificed a lot for(for example, not going with John to WA because I had a job there). I thought, of all schools this would be the one that would hire me. But I didn't get the job.

But God is faithful...

Back in April John had asked me what my first choice would be for a job. I told him Scenic Park(right by our house) would probably be my first choice, Ursa Major(on the base) would be my second choice and then Baxter(the school stated above). And I've always thought that first or second grade would be my ideal grade to teach.

Yesterday I got a call from the district office offering me a First Grade position at Scenic Park!

I still can't believe it! God has always been so faithful in this area, I don't know why I doubted Him. When I didn't get a job right out of college, I didn't know why or what He was doing, but then that led me to Sierra Leone. And once again He has proved me wrong, thank goodness!

My Nephew

Here is my little nephew Daniel Alexander or Xander.

The World Beard and Mustache Championships

Yes, it's true, it really does extist. And this year Anchorage was the lucky host!

When John first found out that he would be stationed in Anchorage, back in the spring of 2007, he found out that the World Beard and Mustache Championships would be held in Anchorage, May 2009.

Here are some of our pictures!

And the man that started it all!

Jack Passion, above, was the First Place winner in the natural beard category

I believe this guy came all the way from Austria

He won First Place in the Freestyle category, and he's local!

I'm an Auntie

Yep! My sister Katy had delivered a beautiful baby boy. His name is Daniel Alexander, 7 lbs. 11 oz. perfect and healthy. Hopefully pictures to follow once I get them!

Online Auction

My friend and former housemate in Sierra Leone is taking a team of teachers down to Sierra Leone this summer. To help raise funds, they are doing an online auction from now until Sunday, May 10th. Please check it out!  

Spring had finally Sprung!

Spring is finally here! This weekend it was 70 degrees and yesterday the trees seems to bloom over night! It's strange to think that with the coming of spring, school is almost out. Yes, just two more weeks, which is really one for me -- something tells me it's not a good idea to sub the last week of school. 

This past month has been a busy one for us. It seems that as soon as we think it is going to slow down, it doesn't! Or as soon as John thinks he'll be home for a while, he's not! Since February, he has been home a few weeks, gone a few weeks, and I suppose that is becoming our norm. While he's gone, I try and stay busy with jobs and work on little projects at home. Currently, I'm working on a quilt that I had planned to do last year. 

Apparently, I've missed a few months of blogging, sorry! But to catch you up...

March was full of visitors and volcanoes! Kelsy(sister) came to visit me during her spring break, which worked out to be a time when John was gone, so it was nice to have the company! We had a great time of catching up, snow shoeing, exploring and car breakdowns! I was very sad to see her go! When John got home, Kelsy left and his sisters, Sara and Ally, flew in! And in the midst of their visit, Mt. Redoubt finally blew! And blew and blew. It went on for a few days or months, because we are on watch again. We still did some hiking and a whale-watching tour! But sadly, the volcano did keep my dear friend Sarah from coming. She was the last visitor in the line, but hopefully she'll be able to make it up at a better time, once the volcano has gone back to sleep for another 10 years!

April has been busy with work and interviews! Since the second week of April, I've almost been working everyday! Which has been good, since summer is coming. I've also had three interviews. One was just the screening interview for the district, but the other two were for specific schools that I would love to get into! So we'll see. Now is just the waiting game. 

I'm going to have to post pictures later since I'm currently at work, I promise I'm doing my job! 

Reindeer Run

This weekend was the big celebration leading up to the start of the Ididirod. One of the activities is the Reindeer Run. It's kind of the same idea as the Run of the Bulls in Spain, only with reindeer and not as deadly! Basically, everyone get all dressed up with crazy outfits and some not so crazy outfits(we leaned on this side) and they lead a group of reindeer down the middle of the group of people and then let them go and we all run together for about two blocks! John and I ran with the squardon group, which was very small as you can see below! 

We got the shirts, we got the pictures, and think next year we'll pass! 

The guy in this video is John Squadron Commander, well, 

was, they just had a change of command yesterday.

Anyway, this is a little bit of what is going on up here!

My Valentine

Can I just say that I have the best husband in the whole world (I have to brag a little bit)! 

In case you didn't hear, we're havin' a volcano up here! And some guy who doesn't live here and knows nothing of volcanoes(I should a little more respectful, he's pretty high up in the military) made the decision to send all our guys down to McChord in Washington to keep the "assets" safe. So John and I haven't seen each other for two weeks now (which is the longest, since we've been married) and we don't really know when we will get to see each other again. Well that totally ruins our Valentine's Day plans (which isn't too big of a deal) and our six month anniversary (which I think is kind of important). But I have a wonderful husband and he sent me flowers today at the school I was subbing in. Isn't he just great! Currently, he's in Germany, on his way to Afghanistan, and I can't even tell him how great he, so I'm telling you. 

Happy Valentine's Day

The Lord blessed us with another trip to Hawaii. John had to go down for work, since his squadron works closely with a squadron down there. And he brought his wife! While he worked during the days, I got some good time in by the pool, I think I got the better end of the deal! This Air Force thing has really been treating us well, I'm waiting for the day when it starts to catch up with us. But until then, I'll just keep enjoying it. Here are some pictures from the trip. We also went down with another guy, Mark, you'll see him in some of the pictures.

Craig's List

I have a problem...   I've turned into a Craig's List Junky. John says it's my crack and I'm beginning to think he's right. Whenever I have an extra minute, I go on check what the new postings are, even if I'm not really looking for anything. Mostly, I'm just curious about what's on there. Is that such a bad thing? Sometimes you find really great deals, but you have to jump on them or they'll be gone. One time there were these really great bedside tables for free (which is something we are looking for)! But I was just a little too late!

If it's not -20, it's a Volcano!

Since I've lived here in Anchorage, AK, which has only been about 5 months, we've experienced -20 degree weather, winds strong enough to take roofs off of houses...  twice, a 45 degree melt down in January, and now a volcano! Mt. Redoubt (what kind of name is that!) has yet to go off, but the most recent reports, as of 2:30 this afternoon, are as follows: 

"Intense seismicity continues at Redoubt this afternoon. Clear webcam views, satellite, and radar data from earlier today indicate that the volcano has not yet erupted."

So, I'm not really sure what I should do. The true Alaksans say there's nothing to worry about, you just might have to stay inside for a few days. And then there's the Air Force...   who has a history of being especially over prepared in situations like this. So I've got John bringing home face masks from work, the commander's wife sending emails about what we should do and be prepared for, and now a sergeant from John's squadron calling to make sure I'm okay (since John left on a trip today)! So personally, I'd like to say calm about 

all this, but I'm just not really sure what to expect.

"Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted."

This is a quote taken from an article I just read titled, "As an Athiest, I truly believe Africa needs God." As a Christian, of course I believe this to be true. But I think it's amazing when others see this truth as well. We can bring in all the aid, all the water pumps, all the books, and anything else people think Africa needs, but what it really boils down to is a change in the heart of each person, before a nation can be saved. That change can only come through faith and hope in Jesus Christ.

Suite Francaise was written in the 1940's during the German occupation in France. Irene Nemirovsky was a French Jew who intended to write a five part series to illustrate the brokenness of the French during this period. However, she was only able to complete the first two parts before being arrested and taken to Auschwitz where she died. Her two daughters survived the occupation and were able to hold onto there mother's manuscript. In 2005 the book was translated into English and is now published for our enjoyment. 

This is an amazing book. As I read it, I can't help but think of the author, writing this fictional story while this is her reality. I hope you get a chance to read it.

I'm currently sitting in Kaladi Brothers, the local coffee shop that is just up the road from our house! This is what would be considered the Service Station (minus the live music) or the Rocket Bakery, for those of you in Spokane. 

It's great that's it's so close, but I have to admit, we don't take advantage of it as much as we should. But in the summer I can envision many walks this way. And for those of you who come visit, I'm sure we'll come here! But for now it's a great place for John to do some studying and for me to try and finish this book before it's over-do at the library!

Sunday Picture

Where's the snow! Yup, we went from -20 degree weather to 45 degrees in the span of about a week! So all our snow melted! We some little skiffs this week, which is what you see!

This is the view out our back windows, I like that view better! You can kind of see the mountains through the trees! It's beautiful!

I know it's been over a month since I last posted! Will I ever get this thing down? All I can say is, life has been less then normal in the past few months. I think we've been home a total of three weeks since October and we're actually out of town again! 

We left off in Oklahoma, where I was really good about blogging because there really wasn't much else to do there! Believe it or not! We actually made it home for Thanksgiving, which was a surprise! It was great to see friends and family so soon. After Thanksgiving, John headed back to OK for one more week of training and then back to Anchorage. I stayed at home in Chewelah, since it really didn't make sense for me to go all the way back down there just to come back! But I got to take the trip to Helena to see my very good friend Julie (who is actually the one who reminded me I hadn't blogged in a long time, what are friends for!) and her new baby, Caleb, well he's not so new anymore! He was born on August 20th and is the cutest thing! I was so glad that I was able to work that trip in! And to see Caleb, these babies grow so fast and I didn't want him to be a year old already and to have never met him yet! And of course, I got some good time with Julie which is always so great!

After leaving Montana, I headed back to Washington and then flew up to Anchorage for about a week and a half. I was able to get a few days of subbing in and try to settle in once again to the house I think I live at! I then headed back to Washington for Christmas. I left a few days before John, to get the better rate on tickets. He came a few days later, just in time for the huge storm that came through Spokane! With the Spokane Airport closed down, he spent the night at Seatac, made friends in the morning, rented a car with them and drove over the pass, getting in just about a day late. I was just happy he was there and safe! 

We spent a few days with my family, celebrated Christmas early and then headed to the other side of the state! We were so thankful when thre roads started to clear up outside of Spokane. It ended up not being too bad of a drive. So we had a few days in Tacoma, celebrated Christmas, had some good times with the siblings, and headed back home for what we thought would be a while! Since John had been gone so much, we figured they would keep him close to home so he could catch up on all the office work he had missed during the fall. However, before the first week back, John would already find out that he would be heading to Guam for a weekend trip. He also found out that they would be sending him to Hawaii for ten days! And he thought it would a great idea to bring his wife, which I can't argue with that! So last Wednesday night, in -25 degree weather, we left for Honolulu, where the current tempurature was 78 degrees. So that was a nice 100 degree change! 

So while our lives have yet to slow down, we are taking each day as it comes and appreciating the blessings God has given us, knowing there will be days when I absolutely dispise the Air Force and remembering these good times they gave us too! 

*I would love to upload some pictures, but the connection is too slow! So next time, and I promise it won't be in a month and a half!! Love you all!