My post is late! It has been a busy few week with our arrival in Wrangell, limited internet access due to the Alaska Marine Highway travel time and all the last minute chores and errands during our time in Bellingham, Washington.

Last I wrote, we were in Idaho. Since, we completed our drive to Bellingham, Washington. Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are so beautiful! We were blessed with continued excellent travel conditions and only minor traffic congestion in Seattle, which was expected. We were greeted in Bellingham, Washington by my cousin, Melissa, and her wonderful family, who welcomed us into their home for the week, fed us, and assisted us with our many last-minute errands. It felt so nice to be out of a hotel and eating home-cooked, delicious (and healthy) meals. We found a little extra time to hike, and see Bellingham; however, most of the time was spent getting new tires, oil changes, hair cuts, air filter changes, and other maintenance that is more convenient in the "lower 48". 

After 5 days in Bellingham, we boarded the Alaska Marine Highway System on the Malaspina. It was an older vessel and one of the original "larger vessels" that was introduced into the system in 1963. The best way I can describe my experience on the Marine Highway is just a less-luxurious cruise, but with more beautiful scenery. The route was along Alaska's Inside Passage of the Southeast, making most of the trip smooth sailing. I was not a fan of the rolling feeling we experience in the few instances of open water. We spent 5 hours in Ketchikan, which was the first and only pit-stop for us before reaching Wrangell. The Malaspina continued to travel to Petersburg, Juneau, Haines, and then west.

We have now been in Wrangell a little more than 24 hours and it is so relieving to finally be here, knowing that we travelled about 4,000 miles with no injury, mishaps, or even minor trouble. What a blessing!

We both begin work on Wednesday - mostly with introductions, training, and program building and marketing. It will be yet another chapter on this exciting, new adventure that we are still uncovering.

My weekly "God thing":
In this small town, I no longer have the ability to listen to K-LOVE on the radio, but of course could still stream the station. I do still follow the station's facebook page and love seeing their daily and weekly posts. So maybe I am slightly cheating by stealing this, but I found it to be extremely relevant to my current "first steps of faith".