The Rings

Goodbye alaska...

...okay well maybe not goodbye, because as of jan 5 I will be back. Right now it is 8:30am and it is pitch dark, the sun isn't rising until sometime after nine and the sun is setting around 7. We had snow fall for the first time in September, but the weather has really been all over the place. I think the lowest that I have known it to be is around 19 degrees. The mountains are full of snow and already everyone has hibernated. We haven't seen our neighbors in days and the sounds of children playing outside has stopped. Moose are the only ones seen taking strolls around the neighborhood.

Last year Josh and I had a 'white' Christmas, and this year I will have a sandy one! I am so excited to swim in the water and feel the sand in my toes for the first time in 11 months. Sundresses, swim suits, warm weather. All my fellow Floridians keep telling me how miserable it is, so hot and humid, and that I will die from the heat. Well I can't wait to have the option to actually be 'hot'. To get goose bumps when I walk outside and the sun touches my skin. To see the beach and the beautiful water. To fall asleep to a thunderstorm. I love FLORIDA! Goodbye all my Alaskan friends, I love you all and can't wait to have a tan while shoveling snow in January.

WORK

Some of my babies from work!

ONe last time...

So I am heading down to Florida next Tuesday! So I didn't think it would hurt to post moose photos one last time!

Where has the time gone...

It is Oct 6...and I can not believe that we have lived in Alaska for ten months now! I think back to when Josh told me that we were moving to Alaska, at this point I didn't even know what a Parka was! I had gone away to college, but I have never moved half way around the world to a state where I didn't know a sole. I'll never forget sitting in our hotel room the first night, no car, no house, no friends. I had left everything that I knew behind and moved to the Arctic.

As I am typing this now, we have a house, two cars, and tons of friends. I wouldn't choose to move here, but we are loving the adventure. I have learned that time moves so fast, and that the only things I regret are dwelling on things that I cannot change. I have learned to accept what is thrown at me, adapt to it, and live.

When you have everything taken away from you, and have to build your life from the ground up you learn what you want to use as your building blocks...god, family, and friends. We are so thankful for all the support and prayers that we have received over these last ten months. We hope that when we come down to Florida this winter that we will be able to spend time with you.

I am flying home October 26, and Josh will be flying into Orlando December 5.