A Minute to Relax

This message is going to be very scattered, but enjoy.

The last month has been very busy in our lives. The month of February was quite busy for me between my duties at camp and at church. Then we ended the month of February with a trip to Newport, OR for a family reunion for Chelsea's family. I had never been to Oregon so it was cool to be able to check it out. Having a quick trip down there made me realize how much we have flown in the last 10 months. Between moving up here from Michigan, heading back for a friends wedding, and again for Christmas, and then this trip to Oregon I begun to realize how much living in Alaska is going to change things. We are at least one airplane ride from everything, and a long one at that. I am looking forward to not having to fly anywhere until at least next fall. After our quick trip to Oregon we camp back up to Glacier View just in time for a busy work week. We finished off that on Sunday morning only to move into Anchorage in order to be able to take a lifeguard certification course offered over spring break. Finally this past Saturday we were able to move back home and had a little time to relax. It was great.

I finally feel like I have recovered from the chaos of the last few months of our life. It was great to have a little break and have a "normal" week. On the docket for next week: MORE CHAOS. I guess its just a part of the job, but I am just thankful for a little break in the middle.

Many people have been asking how I have been doing surviving my first Alaskan Winter. The temps are cold... real cold. The coldest I have seen so far was about -22 degrees (and for those of you in Michigan that is before the windchill) it obviously felt much colder. We had a slump of about three weeks where it never broke above zero. That was also during the darkest part of the year. That was a little depressing. Since then we have been bouncing between -10 and 25 for the months of February and March. We also have been getting the sun back at a very rapid rate. This excites me a great deal. So for those of you who are asking, I have actually quite enjoyed my first winter in Alaska. I have had a chance to enjoy the snow some, and the mountains are just amazing.

*Side Note* As I was writing this in my office at church a guy from the community stopped by to show us the grizzly bear that he just shot... it was huge. Only in Alaska.

Other than the outdoor stuff we have been enjoying our little cabin on the lake as well. Its only about 650 square feet, but with the extra time inside because of the cold we have been able to organize it quite well. Since we do not want to pay for satellite TV we are left with no TV at all. So Chelsea and I have been getting good use out of our NetFlix subscription. We have watched a couple of different TV series beginning to end, and we have seen quite a few movies. We also spend some time playing games together and I play over Xbox with my friends from around the country. I miss some things about living in a city, but I love being able to get away from all the business of life if we want to. We love being able to talk with family and friends, so if you ever want to chat feel free to give us a call at the number on the right.

Anyway, I hope this give you all a little better idea of what life has been like for Chelsea and I. We thank you all a great deal for you prayers they are greatly appreciated.