My post is late again! Sorry for the delay - it's sometimes hard for me to take time away from the beautiful scenery around me to sit in front of a computer.

This past week was wonderful! We got our first taste of Alaska snow. So far in February it has snowed 5 out of 9 days and we currently have about a foot on the ground. It is so beautiful! The first night it snowed we also had a wind advisory with gusts up to 90 mph so that was slightly scary, but people here are not as concerned with wind. I guess that is just a price we have to pay for living on the ocean! :)

I also wanted to wait a little longer to write because I was hoping to be able to share with you that I was the champion of Wrangell's annual cribbage tournament - however; I was not the champion. It was a lot of fun to participate and I was able to meet 17 other fellow cribbage players of all ages. Coffee and cribbage are two of my favorite things. I have spent some time sharing the game with a friend at work as well as my roommates. It's a very popular game here. Luckily for me, I've already been playing about 20 years.

Other than cribbage and work we have spent most of our time out with the dog in our winter wonderland of a park. Beatrice loves the snow for a short amount of time but then she is ready to get back indoors.

My weekly "God thing":
This week, a resounding thought for me has been laughter. I've heard a story from a friend who's uncle had passed away. Her aunt has dementia and didn't really understand what was happening. When she was presented with the American Flag at the funeral, she began laughing. Seemingly inappropriate, but also a blessing that she isn't mourning and that the Lord filled her with joy in her situation.
I also experienced a group laughing session at work. A member of the nursing staff cracked a joke privately with a patient in the day room during breakfast. The patient then began laughing uncontrollably with the most heart warming laughter I have heard. Thankfully, laughter is contagious and within a few seconds every worker and patient in the day room was laughing and no reason other than hearing another's laughter. It was beautiful.

"Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
-Psalm 126:2