Thursday, January 31, 2008

Working woman

I'm at work again this afternoon. I am tired and trying to get a cold, I think. It has been insanely busy here today. I am hoping to get some headache medicine soon so that i can get rid of this headache. But I haven't had time for that just yet. I have a new patient on the way up so it looks like I will just be busier.

We are starting "The Bible in 90 days" tomorrow. Pray for us! We have 16 chapters to read tomorrow! It is only 12 pages a day but it will be a challenge, for three months!!

Oh good news! I talked to Shay on Wednesday. She and John are doing well. She is training for a marathon in June in Anchorage. So pray for her run! But praise the Lord that she and John will be up in June for a visit! Woo hoo! Oh and Anne & Zach are looking to come and visit during the early summer too! So I need to phone Scott and put a bug in his ear to try to come up this summer. We could try to have a SMP 2004 reunion!! (I am a planner! ;0))

The other good news is that Luke & Charity are coming up to run some errands...and to visit...next week. So that will be great to visit with them!

Prayer requests: my grandpa's health, our jobs, safe traveling, youth group, reading in 90 days
Praises: possible reunion with friends this summer, Luke/Charity visit

Saturday, January 26, 2008

40 below, BRRRrrrr

This morning, we woke up for a blustery -40 degrees outside. Brrr!!! It makes our poor car creak when we open the doors and it makes the heater motor sqeak. things are just made to function at above -40 degrees, i tell ya!! but it was clear and brisk too, kinda pretty. and the roads were much better than last night, a little less icy.

i got some pictures developed from christmas of me, my sisters and our fellas. oh and a lovely picture of us girls and our grandma. i do miss my family!!!




Friday, January 25, 2008

Safety on the roads

I must ask for your prayers. Although we have made it safe into work every day this week, we saw three cars in the ditch on tuesday. jon saw another car in the ditch yesterday morning. then, this morning, i was 20 minutes late to work because there were 6 cars in the ditch (one on its side). so as we are on the road, please pray for our safety.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Being a wife...


I just wanted to take a moment to say, I love my husband. I love being a wife. I love being married. Best thing ever.

Now let me mention some things that I don't like. Although my hubby is a great help around the house, I am wayyy over doing laundry. Let me explain. We have one washer/dryer at our place. We have two sets of neighbors who also use it. It is coin operated and we have two assigned days to do our laundry. Sounds good in theory (i.e. you can do your laundry without being bothered by a pesky neighbor trying to theirs) But it is way annoying when one has to spend ones day off every week doing laundry. And then, one has to make sure that one has quarters on hand (and lots of them, since laundry gets done once a week) or you can't do any laundry. So yep, I'm over it.

That's all I had to share today. As you can guess, I spent the day doing laundry. Ugg. On a positive note, I also slept in till noon and I watched tv most of the day, in my pjs (although I was muli-tasking and doing other stuff too). So as you can see, I've got it really rough. :0) Guess not huh. Did mention that my hubby did the dishes?

I know, I'm a princess. :0)

Monday, January 21, 2008

More snow!

We woke up to about 3 more inches of snow this morning! And a beautiful full moon! The drive into town to work wasn't too treacherous and work is busy this morning. I enjoyed my Sunday off even though they tried to call me into work. I was like, "nope." when they called. I need a day off!!

Church was good yesterday. The pastor (who plays guitar with Jon) had hurt his finger so he couldn't play guitar. So Jon played by himself. It went well. I think that they both have more confidence when there is someone else up there with them, but the singing was great. We are starting a church wide challenge on Feb 1st to read the bible in 90 days. Jon has been wanting to read the entire bible for years and he convinced me to try. So you can start praying for us now!! 12 pages a day doesn't sound like much, but it will be a time commitment of sorts. I am ordering the bibles today so that we can just carry them with us and leave our regular bibles at home. I think there are quite a few folks at the church doing it. So we can all encourage each other!!

We had lunch at home and then took a long nap. I needed one!!! Then we watched the Amazing Race season finale. Our favorite team won!!! So that was exciting. We watched some more tv and then went to bed. I have a balloon pump class for work tomorrow but then I have wed/thurs off. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

A working fool

another day at work and i'm on the final stretch, only about an hour left. it has been a super busy few days, which is how i like it. but i'm tiiired and ready for some rest. tomorrow will be church and hopefully a big ol' nap! oh and my favorite "the amazing race" is on, the finale. so i'm hoping that my fav team wins it all!!

prayer requests: jon's job, youth group, my Pap, natalie, work projects/meetings
praises: good day at work, a day off!!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Home safe

Wednesday was a longgg trip home. Davanea and I left around 830am and didn't get home until around 230pm. The first hour, we drove through snow 12 inches deep on the road!! Then, the snow finally stopped and it was beautiful...for about half a second. Then, it was windy as all get out...blowing snow all over the road and making drifts. Then, I put the car in the ditch. :0) In the time that it took me to put on my snowpants, we had a truck come and pull up. We just dug the snow out from around the tires and he pulled us out. Probably 5 seconds of sliding (right into the ditch, which was full of snow!) and then 15 minutes of digging and we were on the road again. Praise the Lord for strangers willing to help and safety getting home. Didn't see any moose though, so that was also good.

Youth was good on Wednesday. We are working on scripture memorization. So you can pray that Jon and I will do good and that our kids will strive to really learn some good verses. I worked on Thursday and I'm back at work today. I'm looking forward to a day off on Sunday!!!

Please continue to pray for my Pap. He had his pacemaker/defibrillator put in Thursday and is doing well. He is expected to go home soon from the hospital.

Praises: safety on the roads, good day at work
Prayer Requests: Pap, Natalie, Jon's job.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Shaky update

....I forgot to mention, I was sitting at the computer at the clinic around 130am. All of a sudden, there was a shaking feeling and the ground shook under my feet for about 5 seconds. Long enough for me to go, "woah!" Well, what most people don't realize is that there are hundreds of earthquakes every day in Alaska. I haven't felt one in almost 2 years but alas, I felt one this morning. It was a 0125am and registered at 2.95 on the scale. The origin was 10 miles NW of here so I guess you could say, it was dern close....which is why I felt it. Kinda weird but all is well. Gerry (another CRMC employee) called me like 5 minutes later and was like, 'did you feel that?' and i was like, "uh yeah!" Ahh, yet another Alaskan adventure...

Adventures in Glennallen

After a good week of work, Jon and I headed down to Glennallen on Friday night. It was a long drive with temps about -20 when we left north pole and reaching -30 in Delta. Just south of there, it started snowing and didn't stop until we were almost in Glennallen. When we got into Glennallen, around 1230am, we were treated to some BEAUTIFUL northern lights in the sky! Mostly just green but so beautiful. One of my favorite parts about living in Alaska.

Saturday, we got up in time to go see the start of the Copper River 300, a qualifying dog sled race for the Iditarod. There were 26 teams, each with 12 dogs. Do that math and you'll see that it was quite the race start! We got to see most of the teams depart and then drove up the road to see them cross over the frozen Gulkana River. The race ended on Tuesday morning, after teams spent 10-15 hours in the -10 to -30 temps. That is dedication!!


me and Jon overlooking the Copper River valley, scouting for sled teams


the start of the race. each of the doggies have little booties to keep their paws warm!



one of the racers, waving to us as he races over the frozen river


the dogs are all beautiful and they LOVE running!!!

After spending Saturday with friends, we went to church on Sunday and then Jon headed back to North Pole. Since then, he has been working and I've been volunteering at Cross Road Medical Center. It is the clinic where I used to work and I'm finishing up my third nightshift. I had very few patients but I enjoyed being back for a visit. My friend, Davanea, will be taking me home this morning and I am anxious to sleep through the 4 hour drive home! Hopefully we see some moose, but we hope they are WAY off the road!! Please pray for safety as we travel!!

I have two specific prayer requests to share. First of all, my grandfather (Wibur Sites) has been in the hospital for about a week with heart, lung and kidney problems. He is looking to have surgery please continue to pray for Natalie. For more information, you can check out her mom's journal update at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nataliehand

Thanks for the prayer requests. Will continue to update as much as possible. Psalm 36:7

Monday, January 7, 2008

Snow showers!

This morning, I'm at work and it is boring. One patient will be discharged this afternoon and the other one is chillin too. We had a good weekend. On Friday night, we rented a movie and stayed up. Saturday, we slept in and then met the youth. We went with the youth to a local widow's house and shoveled show and picked up around her wood pile. We had a great time! It as -7 out and snowing, but I was hot from working hard outside. :0) It was a beautiful day!

Sunday was church and then we had Jon's parents over for lunch. We took a nap after they left and then visited with Jon's bro and sis-in-law and their family for the evening. Then, we watched Amazing Race. I LOVE that show!!! TK & Rachel are my favs, and I hope that they win, for real!!

Jon's mom is headed down to TX for a visit with his bro/sis-in-law this weekend. We are headed down to Glennallen to visit with Daisy/Anthony and I will be working a few shifts before coming back on Wednesday. Jon has to work on Monday so he'll head back up on Sunday afternoon. Maybe we'll see a moose on our way down or back!!

A specific prayer request, we have some friends who had a baby last month. She was born with a hole in her heart and had to have emergency heart surgery. She is doing okay now but still on the breathing machine. Please keep her and her family and her folks in your prayers. Her name is Natalie.

Praises: church, good visits with Jon's family, snow!!, getting the house cleaned up.
Prayer Requests: Jon/my job, traveling mercies for us and Jon's mom, baby Natalie