Something I probably will never hear preached in church again...

Today was a special day and as much as I love to write about this beautiful Alaska experience, I really felt I needed to blog this topic today. I don't know that I have ever heard a sermon like the one I heard today, nor do I ever think I will hear one like it again because of the content.
We were off to the church we have been attending for some time now that we have been in Alaska. To be perfectly honest we have tried a couple of churches here, as I'm pretty certain many of you do when you relocate to a different geographic area. In moving, I think most of us have this mental checklist for looking for the place we call our church home. For example, the quality of children's ministry, pastor "realness", how welcome you feel, praise and worship team (because if they are off key we must make note of that, even if we couldn't drown out our off-key-ness in a choir of 700), if you get a good space in the parking lot, and or if someone is chasing after you with a bible shouting "Repent sinner!!"as you run for your life out the door and vow never to return because you wore 'evil' blue jeans to church. Yikes! We just wanted to find where we "fit" is that so hard?
Rewind a couple of weeks. Our pastor was in an accident that he was injured and suffered pretty substantial injuries. The Sunday after his accident he talked to the church on the screen from his wheelchair telling us that his plan was to be there preaching and not in his current state but God had a different plan for that week for him. It gave some other people in the church an opportunity to step up and preach during his absence, even if they had never been a pastor or trained as a pastor before.
That leads us up to this special sermon that is very unique because it was preached by a man that was not a pastor. I cannot say enough of how God used this man to convey a perspective that would never be mentioned by a pastor. Prayer specifically for Pastors. Not only did the man humbly preach about the hardships of pastors but about pastors families and lives(something that if preached by a pastor himself may be considered in some view self-serving).
He researched surveys from pastors conferences and talked to pastors from all over. He asked them what was so difficult about being a pastor. He went on to say that he, himself had figured out as a young boy he wanted to be a pastor. When his mother asked why, he replied something along the lines of,"You work one day a week, take a nap after you work that one day, and get all the money that gets collected in the collection plate!" As we grow into adulthood we realize that is not the entire job but do we really know all about what our pastors do everyday for the Kingdom of God? How are we doing in supporting them?

Pastors work about 55-75 hours a week on a regular basis. Much of the time more.
They are on call all the time, everyday, for you and for me, regardless of what is going on in their own family lives. They take the time to be humble listeners, councilors, truth tellers, soul-feeders, inspiring, loving, caring, vessels in which God works through to help guide us in a stronger relationship with Him.

Pastors are the enemy's #1 target.
Why? Because when a pastor is allowing God to work through him, who is leading and inspiring his church and the people in the church to do God's will on this earth. It is the single biggest threat to the enemy. The enemy will stop at nothing to bring down these light-giving souls and he goes right for those things that are nearest and dearest to them.
It is spiritually dangerous. Isolation is a problem that was expressed by many pastors. Temptation taunts them from every angle. Not to mention people are watching their every move, listening to their every laugh, expression, and verbage as examples, sometimes subconciously waiting for them to say something to contradict the word of God. Seventy percent of pastors said they felt like they could not keep in their company, any close friends to share their deepest troubles or thoughts with. The reason? High expectations or perception of what the perfect pastor is supposed to be all the time as a person, to extend to his wife and children. The truth is we ALL fall short! There is no perfect pastor, just like there is no perfect person. They are humble servants that are willing to follow the calling that God has for them as should each of us.

Pastors families can suffer
Almost 80 percent of pastors wives feel like they must start or lead multiple ministries in the church and lead groups in their homes. Pastors wives also expressed the feeling of loneliness and isolation because church members tend to assume they are too busy or pastors wives would not associate with them because they must be 'too busy' with church activities. Many times this is not the case. They are often not invited to social gatherings because of this assumption. They also can experience the same critical and trust issues that their spouse experiences. With extra stressors such as these on the pastors family, 55% of pastors marriages end in divorce.


Pastors and their churches are criticized verbally
We all have critics. It happens that there will always be people who aren't happy with what pastors are doing. Pastors have a difficult task. A message is laid upon their heart to share with the congregation by God. They pray that God will use them effectively to convey His message. When criticzism is expressed it cannot be discounted. There is usually is some truth to what said. Pastors take constructive critizism with stride and try and improve on what they do. They strive for excellence because excellence honors God. It is still hard to take critizim when you have put your heart into something, especially if it not expressed in a loving, constructive way for the good of the body. I think that goes without saying when each of us does the same. Pastors try to lead by example and occasionally site examples of how they are trying to live the way God wants us to live in their sermons. It can be misinterpreted as bragging. Have you ever heard someone leave church saying. "Kinda sounded like Pastor_______was bragging in his sermon today" No matter how a pastor tries to express in a sermon what they are trying to get across, it doesn't come across to everyone the same. So, our Pastors can't win for loosing. You've heard the saying "You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time." This completely holds true here. Ephesians Chapter 4 describes what we are called to do for the Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ. We all can and be aware of this, especially when thinking of our Pastors and how what we say and do affects the body. Statistics say that 1500 pastors leave the ministry each month. That's scary. So if you think what you say doesn't matter, think again. Words have power.
Critical eyes on not only pastors but churches as a whole are becoming more and more common. Four thousand churches begin each year, and 7000 close. Pastors lead the church, but we are still in it! We are part of what makes up a church..All those things that were in the critical mental checklist looking for a church that "fits" Are they things that we can somehow use our gifts and talents to shape them in the way we want them to look? Are we going to blame them on the pastor or see what we can do to contribute to make the church work together better in unity and to honor God in all we are doing?


With all that to say, I think that our Pastors have the hardest job on this earth. The pastors I have the pleasure of knowing have great joy in their hearts and share it through their sermons, actions, and words. They share all they have to further the kingdom of God. They put their hearts into everything they do, to shine the light of Jesus, to uplift us during trying times, share in our joys, guide us during confusing obstacles, and try and lead us on the path of righteousness toward a stronger relationship with our wonderful God.
It's our turn.
This month is Pastor appreciation month, however, we should let our pastors know just how thankful we are for them and pray for them and their families as often as we can. Prayer can move mountains, stop wars, and build cities. It can also equip our pastors with the tools they need to effectively fulfill what calling that God has placed on their lives.

So I just want to say to all the Pastors I know, Thank you! What you do matters in my life, the life of my husband, the lives of my children, and the lives of all the people that you interact with everyday. Because of the calling you chose to answer and were obedient in following, our relationship with God and family is better, I know my life has purpose and meaning and because of how you were able to communicate God's word, I understand and know how I am loved and can love because the gifts God placed in my heart to share. I know I am a child of God. I know I am a work in progress, but saved for eternity by Grace. All this God has allowed me to understand through your faith,love, words, and actions. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Fishing in Alaska! ;)

I had this awesome opportunity a couple of weeks ago to go on what I would think is a once in a lifetime adventure to the great wide open Alaskian waters. I thought I could be like the Alaskian natives and hunt and gather. I was so excited. I felt tough. Really cool, ninjaish almost. We'll not really...especially since the marine gear I was to wear was totally my grandmothers. It's kinda hard to feel tough in your grandmas rain gear. Anyway, I think you get that I was really excited to try this new fangled thing.

A really nifty spouse in Dave's squadron organized the trip and even offered to drive some ladies down to the departure point. I have to say ALL the ladies I met that day were absolutely super cool and I am so very much looking forward to hanging out with them again soon! I just want to say a big thanks to this particular nifty spouse for organizing this really awesome trip :) YOU ROCK!
Approx. O dark 30 Friday we all got to the meeting points and loaded all our gear into the chosen vehicle. On our way! Beautiful mountains, ocean, roads as we twisted and turned through breathtaking Alaskian highway. Coffee is so very good on mornings such as these. What a great ride! For all of my family and friends back on the East coast, this was the morning of the Earthquake we didn't feel. Apparently there was a tsunami warning that had been cancelled. Yup, guess who had no clue.....this girl. Why worry? Its not like its one of those things you can avoid easily. Long story short. Anything can happen...anytime... I used to worry about most things instead of the other way around. I've realized that worry just gives me lines in between my eyes and bags under them too, sometimes a tension headache to boot. And I figure when I worry, I'm loosing a moment of smiles. :) Left turn coming back...and not just in my writing..We got a call that the seas were a too rough and no one was going out that day. We had driven about 3 and a half hours and we had a beautiful drive back! Thank you to our wonderful, amazing, driver, and coordinator! The gals I got to chat with on the trip were super sweet and I was so glad to get the chance to hang with them! :) Most of us however had some really nifty sea sickness patches on and were starting to feel a bit interesting....so we all thought breakfast!!! :) When we returned to Anchorage we stopped at this nifty little place for breakfast. They had reindeer sausage!!! Yumm!! It is the best!!! Wait..I hope I didn't offend anyone, especially Santa. Don't want coal again this year unless its of the chocolate variety. They did have amazingly awesome cinnamon buns! Service was great to! Would you believe that the sweet lady that drove us won some sort of free breakfast! ;) It was really nifty!

Take two...
We met again!!! Drive down was great!! :) The weather was nice and the company was better! We arrive and get our gear on! It was a bit chilly but nice...we were going to ride in a paddy wagon that was attatched to the boat on a trailer to the water. We should have been wearing stripes...kinda different but we were on board. Boat went in the water...off we were. Its amazing how fast boats can go! This boat had some get up and go! We finally arrive at our destination and were kindly shown how to hook a Halibut. I felt tough, all rugged Alaska now. And I took hold of that line with a death grip thinking if something bit my line I was going in the water with it. However that wasn't the case. My line hadn't been in 30 seconds and I felt something....Someone said "reel"! I did! I was really fishing! WOW! And man that line felt so much longer coming in than going out. Talk about elbow grease!! YAY!!
All the gals hooked theirs just as quickly..Got to say for beginners we were absolutely blessed. A 6 hour trip turned into 1 hour and 30 minutes on the water....It was an amazing 1 hour and 30 minutes too. We all caught our fish quickly, with minimal seasickness ;). Thank you to the guy who invented these little patches. They came in quite handy!

In short it was Breathtaking....made me think of how we can take just a little time and have enough to write a blog post on it and remember it for a lifetime. Snow on the mountain, sunshine rippling on the water..time with a great group of ladies, making memories and appreciating the peacefulness of being in the presence of such beauty. Truly something that I am really learning to appreciate. We have really enjoyed great times with our family and friends. We are enjoying the time, however brief it may seem, can last a lifetime of memories. We are thankful for the memories we have, looking fondly on them, and the new ones we hope to make. :)

Attempt at catching up ;)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I have been not keeping you all up to date on things around this great new adventure of ours. We kinda dropped off for a little while but I do have to say, the more I have my I phone, the happier I am that I have it (for picture purposes of course), since sometimes it doesn't ring quite loud enough for me to realize that it is ringing...(maybe a ring tone change would help!) This is especially so when I have left my camera somewhere up on shelf while we were running out the door to who knows where. So how about we play catch up. Sounds like a plan to me!!
I believe I mentioned that Mike came and helped us unload when we first arrived. But I don't remember if I mentioned that he took us on a Grand tour of Anchorage. That was really super duper cool of him and then invited us to his church. Where for some of you, Steven Creekers, I have to say that seeing a securegive kiosk there made us feel right at home 4300 miles away. People were so friendly!! We have met a bunch of really cool folks at our new church here and are really excited about this upcoming season!
Speaking of really cool folk, My friend Nicole also came to our rescue when the moving truck showed up. She came and helped us unpack the truck space we hired to move here. Thank you sooooo much Nicole. We literally unloaded the whole contracted truck in 20 minutes with her and the truck drivers help. He said it would be more trouble to leave the back of the truck in our driveway than to help. I happened to bake some cookies which I think offset the hurried truck emptying extravaganza. :) But oatmeal was in them I think so that makes them healthy right? But I digress.......The kiddos were returning soon and Dave and I, had a house to unpack and put together.
Everything was coated in a fine layer of road grime or something. Most of the assembled furniture didn't make the trip so well, so for all of you visiting we hope you don't mind its weathered "antique" look. It's the "in" thing right now anyway, right? Maybe a better plan is to be doing some furniture refacing on the darker days of winter.
Speaking of winter it is coming fast. There is already snow on the mountains higher up. The kiddos got back and it has been a mad dash to find gear. Snow boots check, indoor gym shoes-check, outdoor snow gear-check, ice skates-still looking but we have faith they will show up random while we are out somewhere. Ice skates....seems recreational however during the winter months the children are encouraged to go out to the schools skating rink after lunch to skate and to soak up the little bit of sun that appears around that time of day during those months. Whoa who would have thought? I'm thinking ROCK ON! It is beautiful....all of this beauty around us makes us realize how truly blessed we are, even though we are in this transition that isn't the easiest. We miss our lower 48 state family! (That's what the Alaska people always refer to everyone else in the United States) Makes me wonder why they left out poor Hawaii. Wait....oh its not poor Hawaii, I'm thinking someone somewhere was jealous that Hawaii doesn't get snow 7-8 months out of the year of snow is what. But of course that's just a hunch. Miss you all in Hawaii too! :)
School is an all walking school, with paths all the way there. When the children returned, Dad held a what to do when wildlife attacks session. That was fun. Mamma moose and bears are crazy and we really need to be aware of our surroundings. They apparently hang out by our houses and on the trails. Someone even told me sometimes Bullwinkle will be staring at me through my kitchen window all quiet and covert. Just hangin out. Cool.
Grandma and Grandpa came and hung out with us and the kiddos for a couple of weeks, and what a blast it was to have an excuse to hang out and explore this frontier known as Alaska...Glaciers...Parks....flowers....mosquitos.....food (YUMM!) probably too much food ( not so good for the waistline), and salmon, salmon, salmon! We are now salmon spoiled for the rest of our earthly lives. Someone said to us that the welcome to Alaska cookie is fish. Seriously. We have been welcomed to the neighborhood with fresh caught fish about 5 different occasions and it is the best we have ever had and will ever have. To all you amazing fishermen and woman out there, I tried and did succeed!! YAY! Halibut is sooooo yummmy!! I will post a seperate blog post for that just because I felt all Alaskianized (is that a word) with that single act. Well maybe purchasing bear spray helped in that area but it was wearing the fully suited marine gear that did me in.

Fall is here!!! We are hoping it is cooling off for everyone! We love and miss you!

I think that's all we have for now.....and I will be getting to the fishing trip post coming to a blog near you soon.

We made it!

WE made it!!! The wonderful family we are renting from invited us for dinner for our first night into Alaska. They also invited us to stay either at their abode or our new house for the evening. They didn't even know us and they were willing to open their home for us to stay. I can't tell you how welcomed to this (very far away from home) state we felt. They then filled a bag full of goodies for us since the "fridge was empty" and welcomed us again!! They said that someone had done that for them when they first came here and they were so thankful. They just asked us to pass it on. What an amazing welcome so far from home!!!! Thank you God for such a wonderful beginning!! :)
We pulled into our new abode at about 915 pm and Mike (a friend that we had known from the 280th :)) Pulled up to welcome us and help us unload our trailer!! Since it was light out, we unloaded that and the jeep in almost no time. I think it was about midnight when the sun was about to go down..and we realized what time it was.
The house is beautiful!! We feel like we are in a cabin somewhere on vacation. The rustic wood house is pretty ah-mazing!! Pictures are on their way...but we just wanted to say thank you very, very much to everyone for all their support through this transition. We are so thankful for EVERYONE who helped us and are forever grateful for your love and friendship!!!! We can't wait for you to visit!!! I will update on the days following soon!!! :)

Days running into Alaska.

Day 8ish - 11ish And I say that because the days are actually running together!
We stayed at a place called the Woodland in a town that had the biggest gas refinery in North America. The town was full of hard working, people. Women were there holding signs to redirect traffic. The men were blackened with hard work and sweat from the days activities. Some of these people were very young but you could see they had had a life filled with hard labor. It was very humbling to see as we were checking into the hotel with our suitcase and clean shoes and not removing our soiled boots at the front door. Reminded me of some of those fun days in the Air Force out in the field. There were stacks of soiled boots on rubber mats near the front door of the hotel. Not something you run into everyday. This particular hotel had cinderblock walls and outside industrial decor. Internet did not work through these thick walls. Breakfast was from 5-7am and you could order a sacked lunch for the factory for about $13.50. On this day we opted to sleep in a bit and went to the restaurant inside the hotel to order two egg sandwiches to go for breakfast. Hint…if you are in the middle of nowhere Canada…bring mostly all you need to eat or be very prepared to spend ,well,a traded kidney. Two egg sandwiches-one kidney, and we were on our way.
I had failed to mention there is a magazine we purchased before our trip. It is called the Milepost. It is an Alaskan travel planner. It suggests stops and places of interest and this day we were going to stop at a couple of places it suggested. One place hailed of really good cinnamon rolls and they were GREAT!! The gift store had contained contained hats and mounted moose trophies on the wall. On the outside there what I thought was sheep shearings but instead found they were from a tree that was outside of the little cabin. Huge cotton puffs flew through the air and landed on us. It was surreal in the morning light with the smell of cinnamon rolls. We talked with some other people traveling and asked about their trips. There are tour busses that go the through all of Canada and stop along the way to places of interest. Everyone seemed to say go to the hot springs. So we looked at our Milepost book and saw where we could go and see these Hotsprings. We weren't all that far and it would be a great place to stretch our legs. So on we went. Looking for the hotsprings not realizing that we would run into something even better than that.
We started reading where the road would be pretty steep and winding and took precautions to be very careful around these curves with the trailer. There was no warning for this though. We came around a curve and there it was. BEAUTIFULNESS. I've seen pictures but thought that someone must have messed with the hue, now I know I just had never seen anything like it. At the base of these mountains was a beautiful lake biue/green like the water in Destin. It was called Muncho Lake. They had plane tours through the water and Dave said "we are coming back here and flying over this lake" YAY! You have too book in advance so we couldn't go that day but that is something to look forward to. We walked around it and felt just how cold the crisp clear water was. If anyone has any doubt about how good our God is they have never been here. So thankful for all that He made for us to show us how much he loves us.
Eventually we did come apon the Hot Springs. We walked down a long boardwalk to the hot springs and noticed all the people wading in them. We touched the water. It was much warmer than we had expected. There was steam rising from it and it was 75 degrees out. Should have seen that one coming! It was like jacuzzi water! Wow! What the first people who came apon this must have thought!! There were wild strawberries all over as well and I have to say that they were the best tasting strawberries we have ever had!! They were small but they were just so much more than that little berry let on.SWEET! Hot stprings and snack stop Rocked!
What we didn't count on were all the wildlife. You see wildlife warnings all the time on the highway but to see all the sheep and bison and actually have to stop for good long time periods not to run over things is another story. Sheep would just be in the middle of the road, hanging out. They looked more like mountain goats, but there they were just chillin no intention of moving anytime soon. The bison traveled in herds. They had their little ones and were adorable! We have had a run in with everything except a moose.
One thing we would never expect out here are the bicyclists. We are literally an hour between stops driving. Their bicycles are loaded down with sleeping gear and they are out here for the long haul. Most surprising thing is that they are mostly all about 50 or 60. That is IMPRESSIVE. I hope one day that we can do something like that so I'd like to start training now. I have feeling that we are going to be enjoying lots of different activities that we have never even thought of before.

Our gas cans came in handy today. A really nice German lady was on the side of the road that ran out of gas. She was driving a car for someone else to another town. She told us that the town was coming up was pretty neat! We decided to check it out. There was something called the sign post forrest. Signs from all over the globe were there. Familys vacations documented on wood, metal, special signs, and stolen street signs.It was amazing!!!! Dave ran off back to the jeep all of a sudden…I thought….hmmm…maybe bathroom break? He comes running back with the COON INSTRUCTOR sign, a hammer, and nails. YUP we have a sign up there at the sign post forrest in Watson Lake, Yukon!!! :)
We drove on to a place right outside where there were cute little cabins. We chatted with some motorcycle folks that were prior military and were about 7,000-8,000 miles down on their trips. And I thought we had gone a distance!!! That evening we split a bison steak. We found out that the owner usually hunted them herself.
We woke and started on the road again and then we came apron this place called lake Kluane Lake. It was spectacular. Seemingly untouched mountains and lake with fireweed all around. Its beautiful. And there was a camp that we could stay. That's exactly what we did. Our tent right on the beach. And sunset happened at 1220 am. (See the moon picture and more pictures to go with this post on my facebook page)..Sun rose before we woke again at 430am. Mountains were magnificent. Water was magnificent. God creates magnificent things. Thank you for showing your love of us all around us!!
And we've hit it!! We are in ALASKA! Reception is still sketchy. We ARE SO SO SORRY FOR ALL THE CALLS WE HAVE MISSED. We LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you for calling and checking in on us. Our voicemails were totally full with love. Thank you :).
Brief next day.....we drove and stopped at a hotel who is doing Christmas in July..We had a great dinner that we met a great couple from Wisconsin that had been married 42 years. They just came from Anchorage and had been there for about a month. They gave us all their information on day trips and places to stay and what we could not miss!! They were such a sweet couple! They told us about their children and we exchanged information. It was such a great evening! It got even better, since they are celebrating Christmas in July...carolers came and sang into the evening, with bells on! That was really nifty! The best part of our evening is that we got to talk to our sweet little ones and Michelle their cousin! They were playing and having a blast!!
That brings us to the last of it..Today is the last day of driving! We should be in Eagle River tonight!!! And that brings us to another journey..thank you for coming along on this one!

Butterflies!

Have a question for you..Who wins when dragonflies and butterflies battle? Our JEEPS grill. That's who. Butterflies and dragonflies! Everywhere. We feel pretty bad about it...didn't even realize it was happening until we got out of the car and looked at the front of the vehicle. :(. Poor guys!
We are going to smoosh the last two days together because honestly, they were pretty much running into each other. It was still light out at 1115 pm last night and we can't tell you when it was fully light again because we slept a bit before we got up and it was light again. For my photographer friends it was like having the evening "golden hour" for about 5 hours. It was AMAZING!!!
We did a little car maintenence today. We got an oil change and tires rotated as well as went to aa place called Tim Hortons. We had not a clue what this place was and the locals looked at us like we had 40 eyes when we asked what it was.. Well its like an American Dunkin Donunts. YAY!!! Really and we were just now stopping? Our home in Evans was determined by that Dunkin Donuts location...no really..Dave said we have to live within a 5 mile radius. The mechanic who gave us the oil change in Dawsons Creek(the town we were in Mile 0 on the Alaskian Highway) said that they probably are putting nicotine in the coffee and donuts because everyone always has a Tim Hortons cup in their hand and its so true. The people in Canada are so pleasant. Everyone we have talked to treats you like family. We feel like we are in our own small hometown. Its really comforting being this far away from home.

The road has been long..and then rocky, steep, potholish. We've been driving and laughing because it really is crazy that we are on this road in the middle of nowhere, so far from civilization. It has been pretty hairy, but exciting all at the same time. George the monkey likes it, but then again he is pretty curious!
We recently listened to a book on tape called "Into the wild" about a boy who took off after college to Alaska and wanted to live off the land. It goes into how he went into the Alaska wild and lived off of berries and what he found and hunted. I won't tell you how the story ends but I will tell you that it is a dramatic story. We say this as we are about to embark on one of the longest legs of this journey without gas stations close together. Today there is a chance that we might have to take the scoot out drive for gas and bring it back to the car. We are excited to see what will happen. We just made it into town last night. It was really amazing! Hills pushed us up and down so we didn't have to use as much as normal. Praise God and all his provisions!
On that note, the last 3 nights we have received the very LAST room available everywhere we stay. The first of these nights we procured a spiderman room that had been cancelled. The second night the front desk clerk just received a cancellation call as we walked up. The third night we called in just in time. Last room. All sold out. The hotels here in Canada mostly, from what we have seen, have this fascination with water parks inside them. It is quite nifty. I honestly could see us vacationing here.
We are now on California time and last night were able to skype with our kiddos! Just happened that Grandma and I were both checking our Gmail and that was a good thing because we have no phone signal out this way. We apologize if anyone has been calling or texting. We will be out of cell phone range for at least the next 4 days :( or so we have been told.
We have been reading a devotional called Jesus lives seeing his love in your life by Sarah Young that a wonderful friend gifted to me before we left. I have to say that it is a great devotional if you are looking for one.
This trip has been very blessed and we are excited to see what else is to come! Have a fantastic day everyone and we will update as soon as we can! :) Love and miss you all!
Dave and Lana

Alaska Day 7

 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour fourth speech, night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world" -Psalm 19:1-4
Day 7 of our Alaska trip.

Day 6 Trip to Alaska

Day 6...
We hopped in the jeep and on our way to the Canadian Border. To our surprise it wasn't what we thought that it would be. We wore jeans anticipating packing up and unloading and loading our inspected trailer up again. It was like bringing an umbrella and because we did it didn't rain. Dave really thought they were going to make us take everything out and we were prepared for it. We even had a packing list so they could see. The border guards, whom I had no experience with, were very stern but kind. They asked us questions like if we had over 10,000 dollars in cash and I answered." No but that would be really cool!" Dave said we were lucky not to be inspected. And we drove into Canada.
Canada has been beautiful and I will be adding pictures soon to this post but probably when we get settled. Yellow flowers dotted the the fields everywhere....beautiful vivid birds flew along side of our jeep and more than once almost beckoning us westward.
It is getting sparse as far as what we are running into. The stops are getting less frequent because there really is not very many places to stop. So here we are WI-FI in the hotel tonight but that may be it for a couple of days.. We will see.
Moose crossing signs are becoming more frequent and have all our food supplies packed and ready to camp in the back of the jeep. Have a super day everyone!! We love and miss you!!

The Great Alaskian Adventure

We are on our way......We just came from Stevens Creek Grovetown. Giving hugs to a bunch of awesome people we were now on our way. We hadn't said goodbye to everyone we wanted to but, goodbyes are so final..I prefer see you laters. We are really going on this crazy journey. Cross country with gas cans and tires attached to our jeep. David had (with some of our amazing friends help) packed meticulously according to weight things into our trailer so we we could lessen the chance of any kind of blowout. Starting out on the right foot we took exit 101 for a minute, then its back on the road. We get back on the highway and..yup you guessed it. Back to AUGUSTA! Thinking at this point we really don't think we actually have to leave.

First stop........blimpies with big painted condiments on the wall ....wow...first landmark stop on our ALASKA trip. Before we get really into it, Here's a little background. Before, we did this trek, we shipped off our poor, sweet kids to Grandpa and Grandma in California where we know they are just extremely sad (can you detect the sarcasm even in the type?) They didn't look back. Now a month into it, our phone calls and skype sessions have become more frequent and sweet. We'll take them anyway we can get them.....We are missing them insanely and can't wait to settle in.
We will tell you it's been a little insane. We can't say that its all been easy, but because of our absolutely wonderful friends, and you know who you are, we can't say thank you enough. This last 5.5 years in Augusta have been nothing short of extraordinary. Nothing like we expected but in all things, God knew what he was doing. Then again is anything like we expect? We try and predict what things are going to be like, (usually trying to control them) but we have the safety in knowing that God has a plan for our lives and it's not going to be what WE expect and want. What's comfortable for you? You know we were comfortable here, but that can be a problem sometimes when God had bigger plans. But I digress...

Day 1...
We stayed with wonderful friends of ours and in typical Lana fashion I misplaced my glasses....again....and yes we could have afforded laser surgery with how many types we have replaced my glasses. Our friends came out saying that miraculously had located those wonderful spectacles! I jumped! I was so excited I just couldn't hide it! People look at me often and I've become increasingly okay with it.
We realized quickly that the trailer looked like it was sagging and it was making us more and more apprehensive about driving all the way to alaska with that happening the first leg of the trip.

Our leg ended up being more like,well, a pinky toe. Atlanta was where we were going to settle for the night. Really? Atlanta? Why? Well, the jeep and trailer was looking more like a matchstick ready to break, than a vehicle ready to make a hearty cross country journey. We found the coolest guy who owned something called the Hitch House. Emailed him and now its Day 2.
Day 2
Hitch House in Atlanta called at 7am and said they would take us before they opened as soon as we could get down there! REALLY? Who does that? Those guys! They were amazing! They changed the hitch and had us out the door by 8:45. It was a extraordinarily impressive display of teamwork and work ethic that we had much admiration for. It was downright impressive. Eager to get back on the road, we were told that the traffic would be a nightmare if we attempted it and to go across the street to Ogas restaurant and have breakfast. That is exactly what we did. The quaint place you could tell that had been there for years had made its impact on the local businesses in the area. The inside was all updated circa 1970 and you could tell that that is the way it had stayed until present day. Service was quick and kind and the food was good but the company was better :). We looked out the window and realized soon that we would be on the road to a northern location with no need for air conditioning.
Speaking of air conditioning, did I mention that we didn't have any in the jeep? Well,we won't need any! The houses do not have air-conditioning in Alaska mainly because they don't need it in the northern parts of the country. Funny thing though we were still in the south and it had been a little warm. About a heat index of 119 degrees. That qualifies as a little warm to me. Made me fully realize how air conditioning has conditioned us to not be able to tolerate the heat as much. So when we were done with breakfast we loaded up and started toward Nashville.
The heat advisory warnings were blasting all over the airwaves and it was just plain sticky. If we ran into you this day or the next…I want to apologize profusely…we were offending without saying a word. Yup. Sorry to anyone who was in the vicinity.
You'd think there wouldn't be anyone around our vicinity, if we were in a jeep right? Wrong. Its been one of the things on my bucket list to go to Mammoth Cave someday.When we moved to GA, I was so excited because we could go one day on a long weekend with the kiddos to Tennessee or KY and here we were driving right past it unseen by the Coon family. You bet we stopped. As we walked down to the entrance of the cave it was instantly air conditioned, naturally!! Thank you God! I didn't expect that and yet there it was. A refreshing cool that we would have never got otherwise until we got further north. It was beautiful!!! I can just imagine being the first one to come across this so long ago. How cool would that have been? God makes such beautiful things and they are right in front of us…if we just took the time to see what them, we all might find peace in our busy, crazy lives. We could have kept going, pushing harder, moving faster. Let me tell you there will always be the destination but the trip is what is making this a blast!!!

Next up our first run in with the trailer and other large vehicles on the road. Mountains in Tenneseee can be kinda crazy. We were surrounded on all sides by very large, very fast MACK trucks going down a mountain. As we were going down the trucks started accelerating quickly and we couldn't figure out how we could change lanes. These trucks weren't slowing down. It looked like we were going to be the cream in an oreo for a minute there. I don't think I have ever heard Dave say with all sincerity that that was really close. Makes you think about if you have your life insurance up to date. And for the record we do…but don't get any ideas okay? Praise God for close calls..some people think of them as a negative thing…but I can't seem to get past that it shows that He loves us and is not done with us YET and that is always a reason to rejoice.

Day 3
Off to Indiana, a place I had never seen only heard about. Kentucky was fantastically beautiful too. Lots of bridges and lots of corn, and corn, and corn and it stretched into Indiana as far as the eye could see.

It was so peaceful in Indiana. Wildflowers bloomed all over, we commented that if you could drive into heaven this is what it must be like. We were going to visit a part of Davids family I had never met before. It took me back to when I met Dave's mom and dad, george, jackie, and sisters for the first time, THE WEEKEND of our Wedding. and realized how truly blessed that I was going to soon be part of this sweet family. Only now its been 10 years.

Before we arrived we stopped at a Dairy Queen rest stop. If you grew up with me you might know that I have a weakness for butterscotch candy shell dipped soft serve cones. We used to go to Cape Cod when I was little and get these cones of sweet deliciousness, eat them, and go jump at the trampoline park. By the time we were done, we wanted nothing more than to go back to my Aunts house and fall asleep. I know the adults loved that :) I have been on the hunt since they discontinued the butterscotch shell flavor and from what I thought never to return…. Until this fantastic day. Have you ever seen a little kid jump up and down with excitement? We'll lets just say I got a couple of stares. Not only for the cone but for the monkey.
Let's talk about George for a second. We saw and bought a stuffed monkey. We wanted to take pictures of something everywhere we go but hand't found the right subject. In Kentucky we found that sweet monkey and named him George. Original…(not so much) but he sure is cute and we really didn't fancy gnomes a whole lot. They kinda creep me out a little…

In short we had a blast!!! Indiana folks are super sweet! Thank you guys for an amazing visit!! Nothing is better than food, family, and new memories!! ;) Went to Lake Michigan, which looked nothing like a lake but more like the ocean. Not at all like we would have imagined. Dave's cousin asked him to climb a "DUNE" and let me tell you…..it didn't look difficult but my calves were on fire once we got to the top..I'm not going to lie. We could see Chicago from up there across the lake! It ROCKED! Dave said that he had never been there and was so happy he got the opportunity to go this time! We got down by leaping top speed in the sand until we were at the bottom of the hill. Dave carried George, and I'm thinking George had quite a ride ;)
We skyped with our little wonderful, smart, intelligent, amazing (I could go on here but I'm sure you know it won't end anytime soon) children. They talked to everyone in Indiana via Skype and were introduced to all her cousins from the little phone Skype camera. Then Taylor said….."um How many cousins do we have!!??!? Everyone laughed…it was a cute snippet of what I love about that girl!! Oh how we miss them both! .

Day 4

We woke and Dave went running while I packed up to hit the road. He came back excited about all the beautiful trails he found. We had planned on eating with some of Dave's family at a place called the Viking Chilli Bowl Restaurant that is only open for breakfast and lunch. I thought this kinda funny…and despite the unconventional name it was Great!! The outside landscaping was surprisingly familiar. It was a neatly arranged garden, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, chillis. and marigolds. It was so nifty! I think that these kind of gardens would be such a change from flowers and grass that had no other effect than to be pretty for a season. Off we went in the corvette back to David's cousins house. THAT was AWESOME!! Thank you for the ride guys!
Upon leaving, our goal for the day Eau Claire, Wisconsin. WOW! Never heard of the place. Let me tell you…in the middle of nowhere there was this place called the Metropolis http://www.metropolisresort.com based on a movie, David told me, that I had never seen.

As we were driving we took our once every 100 mile break and took a little hike at a rest stop. We ran into a bus of what we believe to be Amish families who were, very colorful in their clothing like they were on their way to somewhere pretty important. They looked like they were anyway. They were very sweet and spoke Dutch. We smiled and hoped they were having good travels. By this time the temperature was not what it was before but much much cooler. I prayed that the people on the bus were not going to be going South with their long sleeves and pants and head gear. There was a cleared path that went to a little bit higher elevation so people could look down and see the beautiful hills and flowers all around. We were fortunate enough to stop when the sun was about to set and just gaze at the fantastically, gorgeous hills, wildflowers all in bloom and the peaceful silence that had come apon that hill. We were smiling inside.

Our first Bear sighting...in Wisconsin? That's right. Traveling down the highway and who would have thought that the bear would look both ways across the street and then just dart out in the middle of the road without stopping....right in front of us. We almost had bear roadkill folks and we hadn't made it into Canada yet. I thought Wisconsin had cheese! What is up with that? On we went to a place to stay, Dave found the previous night while mapping out the route.
The rooms were meticuliously decorated and inside there was bowling, a waterpark, an arcade, a restaurant, an orange julius, an indoor electric go cart track (yes we did this at around 10pm at night and we giggled the entire time), as well as an excersise room, a shoppe, and a great breakfast buffet. YUM!! And we totally feel like we need to take this trip again with the kiddos. And if you are ever in this area and are traveling with kids....don't miss the opportunity. We got to feel like kids all over again!

Day 5
I woke up wanting to run. Two miles later...we both just wanted breakfast and to get on the road. We were a little behind but only because the trailer and jeep, petal to the floor, went 65 max. We have averaging a speed of about 50 miles an hour. This trip is going to be upwards of 4500 miles with detours. Minot, ND is still very flooded. Please take time in your day to pray for people in this area. They have suffered major devastation and loss. So unexpectedly thier lives were changed in an instant, as any of ours could be.
We have been listening to books on tape and that is really been making the time go fast...along with laughing and talking and observing different parts of the country. Its really nifty to see different people and hear their stories and what they like to do. We drove today stopped and had the most interesting pizza of the peach and shrimp kind. It was a cool 67 degrees in Minnesota. LOVE!! LOVE LOVE!! So happy!!
While we were at the pizza place, we called about our roaming in Canada. So we have to update everyone that it will not be frequent blog updates like I would have liked but we will keep everyone updated as much as we can.
We decided to stay in Grand Forks, ND tonight and hit customs through Canada tomorrow. We were told that if they inspect.....they aren't going to help to repack...and that's going to be fun. We would have hit the border in the dark tonight, while it was drizzling, if we went. Did not want to do that in the dark.
We decided to stay at a place called Canada Inn. We thought that the last place we stayed at was great. We pulled up amazed by how large this "inn" was. It was a city! Go check it out and please stay here if you are ever in the area. We were upgraded to a room with a jacuzzi and that ROCKED! .
We settled into our room and went downstairs where one of the restaurants in the "city" had live jazz music. What a pleasant evening. Wow and I was under the impression we were going to be camping out of the back of our jeep. This is a far cry from that. We are totally spoiled. Then again I am saying this with only about 1/3 of the trip under our belts, but even still if we had to sleep in the car the entire way up there from this point on, we would still be spoiled. It is now morning of day 6.
Day 6
We wanted to let everyone know we love them and while in Canada we will not be able be in contact unless there is a wifi available. Our phone service is very limited because of the route we are taking. We love you all and will be in contact in a couple of days! We love you and we will talk to you soon! :) And hopefully we will be getting more photos up. :)



Dave and Lana