The Reason For The Season, and White Elephant Gifts

Tis the season of Christmas! And with all the hustle and bustle (not so much here on the island) it's often hard to remember the real reason we celebrate. Jesus, God's only Son, came to earth as a baby for the sole purpose of saving you and me. Wow! It blows me away that he'd come in the first place, but to come as a dependent, needy baby instead of a mighty warrior king is even more mind-boggling! This year has taught me all over again how much I hate being dependent on others. After each of my surgeries I needed my family and friends for everything. And I'm far from perfect in the first place! I can't imagine how much harder it would be for God, who was perfect and 100% independent of man, to love me so much that he was willing to give up his status and place as God to come be a baby, dependent on people, just so I could be reconciled with God again! That's a true gift of love!

However, it has been a slightly difficult week for me, since it's my first Christmas without any decorations, a tree, Christmas music (until a couple days ago), or my family around. So I threw myself into baking and writing a 'Christmas' letter to keep busy. There have been a couple Christmas parties I've gone to as well. Between the two of them there were a great deal of um...unique, gifts. One lady opened a bag to find a homing pigeon sitting quietly in the bottom. Needless to say, nobody knew quite what to say about one. It freaked a couple of the ladies out, and was banished to the basement for the remainder of the party. Another lady got a pile of ammo in an old Army canister, and an 8yr old girl took home 3 boxes of rifle ammunition from the other party. A toddler opened a telephone, and proceeded to keep herself busy for the rest of the night 'talking' on it. Some light fixtures, a bowling ball, an automatic nerf gun, and a blender were among the other gifts given. A broken radio started making the rounds many years ago, and was back again this year. With 40+ people at each, there were a lot of crazy ideas for gifts! A few good ones, too. :-) A couple of my favorites were the lava lamp and the snuggie. My landlords hosted the party last night, which apparently is a yearly tradition for them. They went all out on food, the kids had movies to watch, while the adults chatted downstairs.

Getting ready for the party! Sadie watched as Sara curled Gracie's hair.

Crystal did most of the baking, with the help of the girls, and Roy did a fantastic job on the veggie and meat trays.

Sara got to make to punch, and we all taste-tested to make sure it was good enough. :-)

Gracie's gift was a bowling ball! She was happy when she got to trade it later. 8yr old Alesia, on the other hand, took her bullets home.

It's Christmas Eve now. I'm excited that we have enough snow on the ground to have a real 'white Christmas'. The sun is shining, and I'm headed over to visit some friends before heading out to the Christmas Eve service tonight. Have a blessed and very merry Christmas!

My first few days here...

Hello, my friends! Life has been interesting. It's hard to believe I've only been in Kodiak for 11 days. Within the first week of moving into a basement apartment in town, I did a bunch of cleaning (with the help of some friends), the heat was out two days, the water off one, the sink stopped working and had to be replaced, the oven acted up (for no apparent reason), and I've had a chance to get to know and love my landlord's amazing family. I'm also debating whether my radio is possessed, has an electric short somewhere, is being controlled by someone else on the same wavelength, or something else entirely.

In addition to the apartment, there were some paperwork issues to deal with regarding work, an all-out hunt for a necessary document was set  in motion (and the document was found), I searched the Rock high and low for instant tea (and didn't find it), acquired a couple 'uncles', slammed my head on the top bunk in my room multiple times (I'm not cut out for bunk beds!), got rid of a bit of homesickness by baking a LOT of goodies, and watched the lunar eclipse (incredible!). I've also hung out with friends, played games with my cousins, spent quite a bit of time with my 'adopted' family, been to a Christmas party (and going to another tomorrow), and endured a 'blizzard' that brought us high winds and about 8inches of snow yesterday. And today was sunny, blue, clear skies! Gotta love it!

So, all that to say: nothing really is happening in Kodiak. :-)

Kodiak, AK

 The top of Pillar Mountain

 Looking out towards Monashka Bay beach (otherwise known as Whitesands).

 Last night was a clear, gorgeous night, perfect for watching the eclipse from this beach. I was down here, along with half of Kodiak's population, or so it seemed. Today, I woke up to a blizzard. This is what the beach looked like about 3 hours after it started. The roads are a mess, it's pretty windy, the drifts were up to my knees by the time I got home tonight, and everyone is excited 'cause it's supposed to continue for awhile! Possibly 8-10 inches or more!

 

Journey to Alaska Photos 9b - Homer to Kodiak, AK

Allison was fascinated with my mocha mug. Her eyes were glued to it whenever I lifted it.

Chilling and doing laundry. Tracy made me delete the other (better) picture. :)

Emma loves to go look at the princess cakes at Safeway.

Quality time with Aunt Lisa - complete with the blue faces.  

I love this one! The Early's are engrossed in the movie.

She's such a happy baby!

Another of my favorites.

Alli loves kisses from her big sister.

And of course game time with daddy is always fun.

Cause daddy doesn't always pay attention. ;-)

Time to head for Kodiak on the Rusty Tusty (Tustamena).

Getting off the ferry required some fancy rotating lift. The end of my 5320 mile drive plus almost 4 full days on ferries!

Journey to Alaska Photos 9 - Glennallen to Homer, AK

The scenery was breathtaking!

I stayed with Kathryn, in Indian, AK

These two moose were pretty much the only wildlife I saw the whole trip.

Went to the beach with Leah, and she showed her photography skills while I talked on the phone.

Journey to Alaska Photos 8 - Haines Junction, YT to Glennallen, AK

Made the Alaska border! Customs were no problem.

Made it to Tok, AK

I continued on to the Copper Center Lodge, near Glennallen, that evening. 



And managed to lock my keys in the car the next morning.

 

Journey to Alaska Photos 7 (part 2) - Haines, AK to Haines Junction, YT

 

Haines, AK - just drove off the ferry.

Journey to Alaska 9 - Glennallen to Kodiak, AK

It was a beautiful drive from Glennallen to Anchorage. So beautiful, in fact, that it took me a lot longer than planned, since I stopped so often to take pictures. But I need to back up a little. When I started my car that morning, I locked it with my extra little gadget, and went in to stay warm while my car warmed up.
Unfortunately, when I went back out later to leave, the gadget wouldn't unlock the doors. At first we thought the battery had died, since it HAD locked it a little while before. But after tracking down the mechanic for the lodge, and the new battery he put in didn't work either, they had to find a slim jim and break in. All in all, my 10am departure time turned into 11:30 or so. Not that it mattered that much, but it made the day a bit more interesting.

As I was saying, the scenery was amazing, breathtaking, and totally reminded me of God's glory and majesty. I had a wonderful drive listening to some sermons on cd that Josh had given me, as well as some praise and worship cds I had. When I was arriving in Anchorage, I realized my GPS wasn't working. My directional skills leave a lot to be desired, so rather than trying to brave the city, I called up my boss from my summer job in Fairbanks, and she invited me down to stay the night at their b&b in Indian. In the morning we chatted over breakfast, and then I headed out to do a little shopping on the outskirts of Anchorage before heading back down to Homer. The drive down was just as gorgeous as my drive the day before. Amazing! I saw a couple moose when I got down closer to Anchor Point, but other than that, I really didn't see a whole lot of wildlife this trip. I got to the Early's house about dinner time, and my driving portion of the trip was completed!

That night and all the next day was spent hanging out with Matt, Tracy, and their two girls. In the afternoon I took 2 of the high school gals out for smoothies and hot chocolate. Nice and relaxing, and good to catch up.
While the ferry didn't actually leave til 9:45, I had to be at the ferry terminal by 8am on Dec 11, so it was an early morning. It was a long, boring ride to Kodiak, with not a whole lot to see. Probably my least favorite part of the whole trip. A little rougher weather, but not bad at all. On the plus side, we made good time, and the 10 hr trip ended up taking only 9, bringing me into Kodiak at 6:30pm. When I called to let people know I'd made it, the officer I talked to suggested I come say hi at the station, so my first couple hours in Kodiak were spent chatting with a couple of the officers at KPD. I was blessed to have some friends invite me to stay with them that night, so I wouldn't have to unload the car in the dark.

Sunday morning we headed out to church, and then spent the afternoon unloading my car and cleaning the apartment. It's good to be back home! My journey is completed!

Journey to Alaska Photos 7 (part 1) - Malaspina from Bellingham to Haines

Our voyage on the Malaspina

Ketchikan, AK

A beautiful day to walk down by the harbor

Haines, AK