Welcome to my blog! My hope is that
this will be a way to document my upcoming adventure as well as keep my dear
family, friends, and others updated on my job as a Speech-Language Pathologist, new lifestyle, and home.
Wrangell, Alaska is a very small town in southeast Alaska.
The town of 2,400 citizens is on an island accessible only by plane or boat. It
has the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, which is saying a lot because I have always lived in the amazing Appalachian Mountains of western
North Carolina. Numerous islands surround Wrangell Island, making it impossible
to view the ocean endlessly in any direction. Being so far south, it has more
of a Pacific Northwest climate rather than the “typical” Alaska climate most
people associate with Alaska. And no, it also is not dark for weeks and months
on end during the winter months. At it’s darkest day, Wrangell still
experiences about 7 hours of daylight (and likewise, 7 hours of darkness in the
middle of Summer).
I am thankfully not tackling this
adventure alone. My sweet boyfriend, Jim, and puppy are also moving to Wrangell
with me. Jim, who is an
Occupational Therapist, and I both have jobs waiting for us at Wrangell Medical
Center (WMC). WMC has no programs in place within their rehabilitation
department for our disciplines and we are excited to build the programs and
hopefully enhance the care and services WMC already provides to it’s
population.
Hopefully, I will get a handle on
this blogging business soon. I hope you take time to enjoy news articles from
Wrangell’s local newspaper, The Wrangell Sentinel, on the right hand side of
the blog page. At the bottom left of the page, you can subscribe to new blog
post via Email. Feel free to also answer my poll question (top left), and tour
the links to related web pages (bottom right). My goal is to post every weekend
on either Saturday or Sunday.
My weekly “God thing”:
I am excited for my move and of
course also nervous/anxious for the change. Am I able to live so far away from
my family? Will I be able to fulfill all job expectations and requirements?
Will I fit in with the local people of Wrangell? Will my help be accepted by
those who need it and their families? There are so many unanswerable questions
with my limited knowledge of God’s greater plan.
I heard a song on the radio this
morning, that was a wonderful reminder that everything works just as God has
planned. The song was “Something Beautiful” by Steven Curtis Chapman:
And
God says,
I’m
gonna turn it into something different
I’m
gonna turn it into something good
I’m
gonna take all the broken pieces
And
make something beautiful that only I could.
So
put it all in the hands of the Father
Give
it up, give it all over to
the
only One who
can
turn in into something beautiful.
Something
really beautiful.
