It has been yet another busy week! We had BEAUTIFUL weather at the end of last week and spent lots of afternoons and evenings working in the yard and spending time outside with the dog on the beach. On our walks with the dog it is not unusual to see multiple Bald Eagles, deer, seals, and sometimes even whales. Jim began mowing the yard this week and we have our fingers crossed that it isn't going to be a constant chore that we started early with all the rain we tend to get. We also planted Peonies, Gladiolas, Daisies, and Coneflowers along with the already present strawberries. I can't wait to see all the flowers blooming together in the weeks to come. In the greenhouse we added garlic, cilantro, basil, and thyme. Our greenhouse stays pretty warm even with the last couple nights of cooler weather, so we hope all our new plantings do well! We also added an American and Alaskan flag to our front porch. I also purchased a used bike from a neighbor in hopes that I will be biking to work on nice days.

Inside work has continued as well - in preparation for our first out of town guest next week!!! My dad arrives this Wednesday! I finished painting, trimming and arranging the guest room. With Jim's much needed help, the room now has a new baseboard and light fixtures too. Beatrice approves. 

The big news from last week is that Jim caught his first King Salmon while only being on the water for 15 minutes! Ironically, he was fishing at the correct depth and with appropriate bait for Halibut, but we have no complaints about a King. It was a small King Salmon (10.5 lbs) but he is saving the big catch for the Salmon Derby coming up next week. :) 

           

Crab cakes continue to be a weekly meal at the house - and I have perfected the recipe! 

1 box of Zatarain's Crab Cake Mix
2/3 cup Mayo
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp lemon juice
3 crabs

Mix ingredients and form into 8-10 cakes. Place on lightly greased baking pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350, flipping for last 10 minutes.

My weekly "God thing":

In preparation of my dad's arrival, Jim and I  have been anxiously planning so that he can experience as many fresh seafood dishes as possible. Lord knows we have beyond enough crab and shrimp in our freezer. The BIG DEAL in seafood here is either the King Crab of King Salmon and we had neither in our possession. Jim had been considering asking friends for salmon so that we could treat my dad to at least one salmon dish. 

Jim went fishing this weekend for Halibut with our friend Aaron. For reasons beyond what I understand related to fishing depth and bait, and whatever else is involved it was very unlikely for Jim to catch a salmon, much less a King. The Lord always provides and now we have over 6 lbs of King Salmon in our freezer to share with our future guests. 

I keep having fun up here! Each week continues to bring new experiences and adventures. This week I was privileged to participate in our pubic radio stations membership drive. KSTK - Stikine River Radio has been on the air here in Wrangell for decades and is completely listener supported. I went on air Tuesday morning with other representatives from Wrangell Medical Center to help raise money for the station as well as promote our services at the hospital and our new rehabilitation team. Of course being a Speech Language Pathologist, I also had to mention Better Hearing and Speech Month that is just around the corner and encourage people in our community to be aware of early signs of a hearing, speech, or language disorder by checking out the Identify The Signs Campaign. While I was on the air, my mom was listening online and donated to the radio station so I was able to give her a shout out and play her favorite song: Kokomo by the Beach Boys.

This week we also  had to say goodbye to a new friend who was here for 6 weeks as a traveling physical therapist. Shermaine was a lot of fun to be around and even was brave enough to join me for a few of my insanity workouts. On her last day here she went out at low tide with us to check our crab pots and explore the usually covered ocean floor. I uploaded a video that gives some perspective on how far out the water is at low tide and how awesome and beautiful it is to be down by the water here. 

We have continued to keep Beatrice entertained with trips to the park, however she is much more content now that she has a home to have free range. She still is super excited when we have visitors but otherwise is somewhat well behaved (for a puppy). :)

Speaking of crab pots, Jim is having pretty consistent luck with the pot he is placing out in front of the house each day. He checks the pot at least once a day at low tide. Needless to say, we eat crab multiple times a week. Recently we have had crab bisque, crab spaghetti, crab cakes, and of course crab legs. I don't think Jim will even get tired of eating crab.

HERE IS MY BIG NEWS! A couple of weeks ago, Petersburg, a neighboring town/island contacted me about a second PRN job in their hospital. Currently, this town does not have speech-language services and was interested in setting up a contract for me to travel there about once a week to work. We worked out travel and other details and guess what - my weekly commute to Petersburg and back to Wrangell is by boat! I am obviously still maintaining my previous PRN position with Wrangell Medical Center and I am excited to take on Petersburg to broaden my horizon and supplement my work and experience here in Wrangell. Eric from Breakaway Adventures takes me on a 45 minute boat ride to Petersburg and returns me to Wrangell that same evening. My first trip out was last week and we had ROUGH waters. I was not a fan of the waves but I know we wouldn't travel if it was not safe and I am sure I will adjust to the new commute. Oh and I get to see sea lions on my way to work. No big deal. 

My weekly "God thing": 

This past week marked 3 months living in Wrangell for us. That is a quarter of a year already! We continue to see reassurances of our move every day. There have been so many since we have arrived that I could not begin to count them all. I am just thankful for the courage that we have been given to follow where we were called and to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us really appreciate all the blessings we have been given. What is amazing is that I know we are nowhere near seeing all of our "God things".

My heart is growing for this sweet little town. We are feeling more "at home" and are finding out routine and normalcy in living in our home. We still do not take for granted how gorgeous our surroundings are. Our catchphrase has become, "Nope - It's still not old" in reference to the view from our front windows. I can't imagine ever being tired of this life.

This past week we had lots of new experiences. We attending our first roller derby games. Three teams (inluding Wrangell's own Garnet Grit Betties) from different towns in Southeast Alaska played last weekend. It was quite something! These girls mean business and have an interesting since of style. At the games, I bought 5 tickets into a raffle and won a free Garnet Grit Betties t-shirt during the half time break! Our home team won the final game.

The next day was Easter and Jim and I attended our first sunrise service here in Wrangell. All the churches on the island combine for the Easter sunrise service at the city park around a warm fire on the water. It was a beautiful Easter day in Wrangell so Jim and I spent the afternoon working in the yard. We worked on our flower bed, greenhouse, ditch line, and porch area. I also got together with a friend of mine to make Peep Rice Krispie Treats. They were yummy! I also carried on the family tradition of coloring Easter Eggs. Jim had a good attitude and participated but totally monopolized the blue cup!

Oh and my puppy had her first birthday! So of course I needed to give her a little shout out. She is loving life up here and the new freedom of being in a home and not traveling. Her favorite toy is her tennis ball and she is learning with this new territory the art of being a guard dog.

Otherwise, we have continued working on the house inside and out. I have finished the paint job in a guest bedroom and Jim has been adding baseboards, hanging pictures, and dealing with lighting and plumbing. The house is slowly starting to show characteristics of our personality and it is exciting to make it our own.

My weekly "God thing":
Having just moved into a new place, we have stepped into many different expenses. As if the down payment for a house isn't enough, there are many other expenses such as utilities, internet, tv, firewood, home repairs, paint, outdoor equipment, and so on. So of course we have sat down and gone over our new monthly expenses and income to make sure we can account for every dollar we spend and plan ahead for upcoming months. Today at church, as the offering was being collected, the minister described giving in a way that I had never thought of before. He said that one benefit of giving to the church and partnering with God's work is that you are able to account for the money and blessings that you do possess and realize just how blessed you are. God always provides.

Okay, here is one looooonnnnggg overdue post. We have been so busy unpacking, getting settled in to the house, and setting up utilities (like internet) that it has been impossible for me to get a post up. Currently, we have been in the house just short of two weeks and I don't think either of us have stopped moving since trying to get everything situated and caught up.

Below are pictures I have taken of the house as we were unpacking. I love before and after pictures so I knew I wanted to capture the house as we moved in to see how we change it over the years to make it our own. As you can tell, we have already began a few "face lift" projects inside and I can't begin to explain the work Jim is doing on the yard. I have no pictures of the process, but with the help of me and our friend, Aaron, Jim has dug a long ditch on one side yard to try to drain the back yard. Right now, the back yard is very saturated and constantly muddy. Countless hours have been spent outside working, shovel load by shovel load. Moving dirt, filling the ditch with gravel, putting in a hose, covering it with gravel, and then covering it back up with dirt. I wish I had a picture of Jim covered chest-high in mud after a day of hard work. As far as other yard work, we have also starting our flower gardens in the front of the house and produce in our greenhouse. Luckily we have a WONDERFUL ocean view and awesome weather to make being outside in early Spring in Alaska not so bad.  :)

                 

                                      

My weekly "God thing":

As you may have seen in the pictures, the source of heat for our house is a wood stove. I have very limited experience for using a wood stove for heat. Thankfully, Jim has been in charge of keeping a fire going and regulating the heat in the house. Some firewood was left under the porch of the house that got us through a few days. Our neighbor came over to show Jim tips and tricks for using a wood stove and helped us determine it was safe to burn. After a few days, we realized our wood supply was nowhere near enough to get us into the warmer months of summer. I posted online the need for dry, split firewood, and we bought a truckload locally for a small fortune. However, there were only a few pieces that were dry enough to burn. As stored heat in our house got less and less, we became slightly worried. Then a patient of Jim's said that she and her fiance had a load of firewood in their basement. It had been sitting there for years and they did not need it because they had since started using electric heat and would be moving soon anyway. If we could come pick it up, it was ours free to take. Jim went one afternoon to pick it up, the generous man helped him load up the truck, and we had a coworker, Shermaine, help us unload it at our home. Not only that, but when Jim offered a small amount to help compensate for the expense of the wood, the man replied, "Give it to the church." If that's not God supplying us with much needed firewood, I don't know what is. As we were finishing the unloading process, I found this heart shaped piece that reaffirmed that God's hand and love was shadowing over this event.