WHAT A WEEK! Jim has returned from his last trip to Ketchikan, the sun has been shining, the rain has not been falling, and.... WE FINALLY CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE! This week has been one of the most eventful weeks since we have left the lower 48.

I was so glad to pick Jim up from the airport from his last trip to Ketchikan. He flew back with what seemed to be the best flight he has had. Typically it is either raining or windy between Wrangell and Ketchikan, and he had clear skies and sunshine leaving him with a beautiful view.

As soon as Jim landed, we unloaded his bags and met up with the notary to sign the mountain of paperwork for our house! Technically, the house still isn't ours because it has not officially been recorded (scheduled for Monday morning) but we took a giant leap towards the end of this long process. The paperwork was long, and I have never signed my initials, signature, and date so many times. We took the key, and went out to check the water pump and lines after signing and to take down the "For Sale" banner.

After all the house business, we went out on our friends boat. It was a stunningly beautiful day and the water was very calm. We went out to some neighboring islands, one that is known for it's sea lion population. The rocks on the shore of the island are in the sun, providing the sea lions with the ideal place to be lazy. It was like nothing I had ever seen or heard before. There were hundreds of sea lions along about 200-300 yards of shoreline. They were playing, screaming, jumping, swimming, flipping, and all the other things sea lions do. It was spectacular! Nature's SeaWorld!

Then we drove the boat over to another island that has a small dock area for people to get off and hunt. So there are naturally many old vehicles that have been left for the purpose of driving out into the wilderness. As we came into the cove to dock, we saw a small rocky island with a bald eagle perched perfectly at it's most high peak. I have seen many eagles since we have been here but this one had a certain majesty to it's presence. I will never get tired of seeing a bald eagle in the wild.

                                                  

The next day was spent moving our boxes into the house and doing some minor cleaning. Later, I started my 4th week of Insanity with my roommates and played a few card games after a delicious dinner. Then, we caught word that the Northern Lights were currently active so we went in search for any type of unusual glow. Some haziness was seen along the horizon of the mountains, but nothing bright enough to meet our expectations. I can't wait to get a good look at them someday.

My weekly "God thing":
Driving around on the boat really put into perspective just how "deserted" we are on the island of Wrangell. We travelled at about 18-20 knots for 30 minutes or more just to get to neighboring islands. And even still, God is here and I see Him every day. I see him in a friendly stranger downtown, in the hand of medical providers at the hospital, in the reunions witnessed at the airport terminal, and in this beautiful Alaskan creation that I can now call home. If He is here, this little deserted island in Southeast Alaska, He is everywhere and we have nothing to fear.

Quite a productive week and weekend has passed and it is hard for me to believe that we have already been in Wrangell for 2 months! The days are getting longer here and passing by more quickly.  is nearing his last trip for work in Ketchikan, as the regular Occupational Therapist will be back in the clinic next week. I have been continuing my Insanity workouts, puzzles, and knitting when I am forced to stay inside from the cold and rain.

My blog is late again because this last weekend, I flew down to meet Jim in Ketchikan for the weekend. Ketchikan is a town of about 10,000 people so it is about 4 times the size of Wrangell. It has the population to support larger retail stores and restaurants that we do not have in Wrangell. So, we decided that while he is already down there for part of the week, it gave us a good opportunity to furniture and appliance shop. So last Tuesday I booked my flight to leave Wrangell on Friday the 13th after work and return on Sunday the 15th with Jim. Let me just tell you, that Friday was definitely a Friday the 13th. I am not a superstitious person, but Murphy's Law was in full swing that day because almost everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.

Work that Friday was not terrible, but one of those days when you feel like you are working 500 miles per hour and unable to get things done in the time you thought you could. Small tasks kept arising and I ended up leaving work almost 2 hours later than expected. I kept telling myself, "It's not a big deal. You still have over 2 hours before you need to be at the airport." I came back to the house to rush through some laundry and get the dog situated for care by my roommates while I was gone. I also needed to plan out my packing so that I had the right amount of carry-on and check baggage for our large return to Wrangell. During this time, I also found overdue library books and bills that needed to go in the mail ASAP. I rushed to the Post Office to find we had 5 packages delivered. I knew I had ordered smaller items recently so I decided to take on the chore of carrying them all solo. Let me just tell you - these packages were neither small nor light weight. Oh, and it was raining. By the time I struggled back to the house and finished packing, the laundry had shut off and of course wasn't dry. I had no more time to spare, so I folded up damp pajamas, pants, and t-shirts and stuffed them in my suitcase on the way out the door.

I arrived at the airport at 3:30 for a 4:30 flight and checked in, got my boarding pass, and surrendered my bag to the Alaska Airline employee. "Would you like a name tag for your suitcase?", she said. I replied, "Oh no. It will be okay. I am only flying to Ketchikan." (Ketchikan is a non-stop 30 minute flight from Wrangell with limited passengers boarding and un-boarding.) She sent the suitcase on the belt just as I realized I had forgotten a ticket Jim had given me for the airport ferry in Ketchikan back at the house. "Do I have time to go grab something I left at the house?", I asked the employee. "You should have time. We just need you back by 3:45." I quickly made a trip back to the house to get the ticket, returning to the airport at 3:44. They began boarding shortly after. I put my carry-on items in the plastic bin for the TSA to examine, walked through the terminal without a hitch, and then the scanner started beeping. My pepper spray on my key chain was detected and I was not permitted to take it with me. I told the worker to just throw the spray away, but she refused saying it needed to go out of the area and back in my car. Thankfully someone I knew was next to me and offered to watch my stuff and I slipped my rain gear back on and dashed across the parking lot to put away my "weapon". Needless to say, I was the last person to get through security.

The flight itself was extremely rough. I am not one to complain about flights, because I know it's amazing that we even have access to that luxury, but I will say with the luck I had had all day, the roughness of the flight made me nervous. We flew at about 10, 000 feet with high winds and snow/rain mix. I was really glad to make it back to solid ground. I got off the plane and went straight to the baggage claim area. I knew I only had a few minutes before the ferry, which runs every half-hour, left the airport terminal. The bags came through on the conveyer belt and each passenger picked up their designated bag leaving me sitting with nothing to claim. I approached the man working and told him I was missing my suitcase. "What did it look like?", he responded. I thought carefully. This was not my suitcase. I had borrowed it since it was larger, allowing for more goodies to come with me on my return. I vaguely told him details that I remembered about the luggage and filled out a "missing luggage" report. The man very calmly called to the crew on the plane to have them check for my bag. Of course, this was the one time that I did not put a name tag on my luggage...

After the paperwork was completed and about 10 LONG minutes had passed, a young man stepped through the doorway with my suitcase! The other employee said, "Great!" and ripped up my paperwork and quickly threw it away. Relieved, but still slightly frustrated, I went out in the rain to wait for the next ferry to arrive. The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. Jim was patiently waiting for me at the ferry terminal and I got unpacked and settled into the apartment easily.

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun! We went to see Cinderella (loved it!), bought a mattress and other home supplies to bring back to Wrangell, and shopped around a while for furniture. It was a nice mini-vacation. We got to see a little snow on Saturday - typically, anytime we were walking or carrying something outside it would be snowy and windy, but if we were inside it stayed beautiful. I guess that was a little left over Friday the 13th luck. The flight home Sunday was gorgeous! Mostly clear and sunny, allowing us to see surrounding islands and be reminded of how vast and secluded Wrangell is from any other human life. I am so lucky to be here.

My weekly "God thing":
We all have our "days". There are days that I can hardly find the patience to complete my own sentences, and last Friday was one of those days. Why must those days exist? Why are there days that nothing we do seems to be right or seems to be enough. I would like to think that maybe those days exist to humble us and make us remember who is in control of our lives and what happens when we try to take things into our own hands. It's also maybe necessary to have dark days so that you can have a higher appreciation of our good days. I know this isn't a Bible verse, but it certainly demonstrates a Christian perspective.

 

It has been another beautiful week in Wrangell, Alaska. I am loving every second of living here. Work is still going very well for both Jim and me. He has returned from his second trip for work in Ketchikan. We are STILL waiting to close on our house (but I am trying to maintain my patience).

This weekend we got to see American Sniper! Movies are somewhat delayed at getting to our little one screen multi-purpose theater so this was a long awaited and anticipated weekend. We both really enjoyed the movie. I have also kept busy with continued jigsaw puzzles, playing with Beatrice, knitting, and completion of my first week of the Insanity workout program with my roommates.

We also have taken our crab experience to a new level. This week, we have retrieved crabs from pots set out off our roommates' boat. I worked up the courage to hold a baby crab, mostly because it was too small to fight back. In the video, you can see Jim and Aaron checking to make sure the crabs we were keeping were legal. They must be a male (you can tell by the markings on it's bottom shell) and measure to be a certain length. I used some crab meat from this weekend to try my hand at Maryland Crab Cakes. They were okay - a little dry and maybe slightly short on crab meat.

My weekly "God thing":
This morning at church, the sermon focused on worry, anxiety, being overwhelmed and the comfort that God gives us so that we can then provide that same comfort to others. If you have ever received a good hug, you know how comforting just the touch and embrace of another person can be. I love the thought of being embraced by God. God's embrace is strong, sure, comforting, loving, and everlasting. In fact, often when I pray for a individual, I ask God to embrace that person so that they can feel immediate comfort. I know that God is all I need to rely on for all of my worries and that he places wonderful people in my life that have felt His comfort before and know the power of prayer. His comfort comes for all places, even when we do not recognize it's form.

Time is passing so quickly it is hard to remind myself to post! For my faithful readers, I am sorry I am late on my writing this week. Last week was a whirlwind. We thought we would be closing on our home so we were rushing to get last minute paperwork in all to find that we still have another week to wait. Jim also was gone half the week to work in Ketchikan to fill in for an Occupational Therapist who is out of town for a bit. So needless to say, it was a busy week - with nothing super eventful to document on camera. I know looking at paperwork for house buying doesn't sound interesting to me.

For the next few weeks, Jim will be traveling to Ketchikan from Wednesday evening to Saturday morning to work for their hospital. He seems to enjoy the trip and change in pace but I know our puppy really misses him when he is away, so I am always happy for his return. :) The upside of this trip is he is gaining frequent flier miles on our Alaska Air account that we can later use, and he brings me gifts of convenience from Ketchikan such as milk, barbecue sauce, Oreos, subway sandwiches, and a beautiful bouquet of tulips! Not that these items are not available in Wrangell, but it is amazing what a few miles of shipment will do for grocery store prices. I am thankful for this experience for him and the convenience of having Ketchikan (and Walmart) so close to the island.

Isn't our little airport cute!?

While he was away, I spent time with my roommates and puppy. We have been blessed with AMAZING weather this past week, so I loved spending time at the park, golf course, and down at the city dock. Seeing these little glimpses of spring and summer weather are making me very anxious to spend the summer outside here. I also spent some time (more than I would like to admit) working on puzzles. My love for jigsaw puzzles began with my dad. I remember spending hours helping him sort pieces and looking for small details on each piece that provide clues for connecting patterns and colors. It may seem like a tedious chore for some, but I find it relaxing and mindless. Another exciting thing I accomplished last week, was making my first trip to the library! I checked out my first few books, by the recommendation of my brother-in-law, called the "Circle Series" by Ted Dekker. I haven't found as much time as I had hoped to read yet but what I have read has been awesome! I started with the Green Book, which is considered the alternative beginning to the series.

Oh, and one more thing. I know I talked a lot about crabs last week, and how I less than enjoyed holding and eating and even looking at them. Well guess what; the season ended for Tanner Crab/Snow Crab - which means they were basically giving them away at the dock last week. All the crabs that were not considered "restaurant quality" were unsuitable to be sold commercially because they may be missing a leg or pincher. Jim went to the dock to buy a couple crabs, returning with an estimated 80 pounds of crab that filled 31 gallon freezer bags to save for our family and friends who visit!

My weekly "God thing":
I feel like I have done a lot of waiting this week. Waiting on my house to close, waiting on finalized paperwork, waiting on Jim to return from Ketchikan, waiting on summer weather.... etc. Some of you who know me well, know that I am not very patient and waiting is one of the hardest things for me to do. Why is it so hard to wait?  I know that everything I am waiting on will eventually happen, and I know that in the meantime I have everything I could possible need in excess. I try to keep in mind that God's timing is absolutely perfect and beyond our understanding.
"The Lord is good to those who what for him, to the soul who seeks him." - Lamentations 3:25