Earthquakes

It has been a while since we've had an earthquake here. So I suppose we were due.

Saturday morning John and I were just starting to get around and do a few things and we were both stopped in our tracks after we heard a slight booming sound and our house began to shake. It shook quite a bit - in fact, we felt a "6.1 on the Richter scale" earthquake. I guess the center was 45 miles west of Homer - so not that far away...Homer is about 5 hours south of us.

I was standing in our living room and could see that stuff was shaking around in the bathroom but couldn't really feel it until I moved down the hallway closer to the bathroom. What exciting morning activity!

We spent the rest of the morning running errands and hanging out together. We did some shopping and ate out for lunch. In the afternoon we helped out some friends of ours with an emergency they had. Our friend had cut his fingers severely with a table saw, so we met them at the emergency room to pick up their three little girls and take them home. We had fun playing with the girls for the afternoon while our friends hung out in the ER waiting to hear how his fingers were going to heal. Lucky us - not so lucky them. He gets to keep his fingers, but they won't look the same...what a bummer!

When Peace like a river attendeth my soul

I am overwhelmed.

There are so many things going on in my life right now that I have to purpose not to stress. I have often found myself complaining to friends or family about the additional stress I am under at work and my personal life.

Recently at a Bible Study, we were talking about worry and concerns and a wise woman much older than me shared something I don't think I would have considered on my own.

When we discuss stress in our lives and share them as worries out loud to whomever may hear – we are giving Satan a window to move in and cause havoc. He hears the pain, stress, moments of weakness as we cry and try to deal and since he can’t read thoughts – he now knows exactly what’s going on. But when we choose to air the same thoughts to our Lord, the worries turn to concerns. We are able to leave them in HIS arms and walk away (hopefully not to return).

I don’t think she meant never to share with others what’s happening in your life – in fact, I think it’s good to do that. However, she thought ending those conversations with prayer, telling your Lord you need him, worshipping despite the worry…all of those things lead to release from life’s worry.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit of an anxiety attack coming on. It happens now and then and I felt a little one beginning to build. I took hold of the thoughts immediately and began cry out to Jesus – telling him of my fears and worries, and then I began to sing the “Cast all my cares upon you” song that I learned from Psalty the Singing Songbook so long ago. I had immediate peace. Immediate. What a good God we serve, and how thankful I am for older women with whom I have acquaintance that have lived through much of what I’m dealing with now and lived to tell about it!

OWWWWIEEEE

I totally wiped out on the ice this morning. Big time. I was pulling our recycle bin out to the curb for pick up at work, and I got the first one out there and thought to myself how surprised I was that I hadn't wiped out pulling that heavy thing on the sheer ice.

Nice thought.

So I'm pulling out the second one and bite it. Yep - I fell on my side and slammed my elbow/wrist hip into the icy ground.

That's gonna leave a mark.

Walk for Life

Yesterday was the first Walk for Life put on by Crisis Pregnancy Center here in Anchorage. thank you to all of you who pledged or donated for John and I - we are honored that so many of our dear friends and family are as committed to the sanctity of life as we are. Thank you.

I had planned to walk for 12 miles, assuming that in 4 hours I could keep a pace of 3 mph. Not that hard of a feat...but I hadn't taken into account that I might be stopping and talking with people that I knew as they came and went...we might be a bit late getting there...and things might not be exactly what I thought. So I ended up only walking 10.5 miles. And I'm glad I stopped when I did.

Something felt a bit funny in one of my shoes so when I came home and could take it off I was so relieved. Much to my dismay I had a blister the size of dime on one of my little toes. No wonder it was hurting so badly. It's a bummer about athletic shoes - especially if you wear them mostly indoors. They look fine on the outside but they're all worn out inside. I usually buy this particular brand - saucany- because they seem to feel the best when walking, but they are so expensive, and if I'm going to go through them just as fast, I'm not sure that I want to keep buying them.

Anyway...that was my Saturday in a nutshell. I came home and basically sat around for the evening, took some Tylenol and feel mostly normal today. Mostly - I saw some of the picture that were taken and I thought...interesting, I must have had more holiday treats than I thought! Oh brother...the winter coat I seem to wear every year has made another appearance.

Snow...er...Ice Day!

My wish for warmer weather came true today. WAY too true...it warmed up to about 40 today and we ended up getting rain on top of the 3 or so inches of snow we got yesterday...what a mess! School was canceled, the highway was "littered" with cars, the ice was thick on the roads and sidewalks, and I didn't have to go to work.

I spoke with my boss this morning and she asked me to head over to work (since I live so close) and change the phone message and update our website to tell people about our closure. So - I walked/skated over and after I had 'worked' I thought, interesting...I have the day off and the Internet connection is so good here. I think I'll watch The Biggest Loser online! So there I was at work with my feet on my desk and watching TV at work, not too shabby! I did get some work done accidentally as well.

After it got light (you know around 9:45) I braved the ice and walked home. I got our house cleaned up, took a little nap, worked out, and in between all of that fun, I spent a good part of my day in the bathroom...drag. So much for a free day off! I did think I could get used to not working though, I had plenty to do...at least for a few hours! :)

And Now...the news

I thought I'd write something a little newsy...you know, for people who are interested!

1. The weather took a turn for the better, and I'm happy to report that we're well over 0 now! YAY! Not only is this nicer on my body, car, world but it is also better on my pocket book considering the high price of natural gas these days. Thank you Lord for warming up our state!

2. Work is CRAZY. And I mean crazy. I have been working weird hours, I constantly have things popping into my head that I forgot to do, I'm thinking about work at home (which until recently never happened)...it's just crazy.

3. John's work is crazy, but he LOVES it. And I'm so thankful he has a job he loves so much.

4. Please remember to continue to pray for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you're anything like me, you forget to pray for them, out of sight out of mind. My cousin has been in Iraq for maybe 2 months and is already injured due to his vehicle getting shot at. He still has metal in his leg, and is okay, but it's a good reminder to keep praying. Since my brother is in Afghanistan, I have a special reason to pray. It's funny - I really never thought we'd have a military person in our family and we have several, weird.

5. The girls (aka Bella and Izzy) spent the weekend with us - they are way too cute and make me want a puppy again. I have no idea what kind I would get, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in my house that might like a dog, but it's a nice thought anyway.

6. We are going to LA for a quick weekend at Disney. I cannot wait to get out of AK, even if it is for 3 days.

7. I am also planning a trip to CO later in March and then again in May for my cousin's graduation from college. She has worked so hard to get her masters - I'm proud of her and it would be fun to be there when she graduates. We'll see how that goes, she lives in NE, and it's quite a drive from Denver, and I might be doing it by myself if John can't get the time off. We'll see how that goes.

8. God blesses my little family and I'm so thankful for it.

9. The CPC walk is this weekend, I'm looking forward to it.

10. I'm "training" to train for a 10K I hope to run this summer. Since I'm not yet able to run more than 20 minutes at a time I'm in the training part. So - I can officially run 5 minutes at a time at 5.5 mph. This week brings 6 minutes of running at a time. It's sort of fun - who thought I'd EVER say something like that.

One little boy

I was back to Awana last night after a two week break. I sort of dreaded going back because I’ve gotten into this really bad habit of just totally unplugging in the evenings. Seriously, it’s time to change that bad habit – but I digress.

A little boy has been coming to Awana for a couple of years. He comes with a neighbor family and until a couple of weeks ago I had never met his dad. When he first came to Awana, I was annoyed with him. He couldn’t sit still, he needed constant attention, he continually interrupted lessons/game time/ etc. I just didn’t have patience for it in the midst of so much other “goings on.”

Then I learned that his mother had recently left their family, and it all came together for me. He just needed attention – he craved it – and he needed it from a woman. From then on he became one of my favorites (I know I’m not supposed to have any) and I missed him when he was gone. I admit game time was much easier without him, but there was something sweet about him that I missed.

Last night at Awana he was back. He had been gone for three or so weeks, I had been gone for a week, and then we had the break so it had been some time since we’d seen each other. If you have ever been in Awana you’ll understand just how cute this was – we were in the middle of Sparks game time, and he wasn’t on my team. He walked across the little gym in our church and came over to me to hug me. He didn’t say anything, just walked over and hugged me. Then again, during the awards ceremony he was sitting in my pew, but got up and walked over to me to hug me.

This is the reason I volunteer for Awana – some day, some way, God will use me to show Jesus to these kids. I hope that this little guy sees it in me and is drawn to Him. I hope that his father and sister see it in him and are drawn to Jesus as well. I pray that wherever he goes in life, there will be someone who knows Jesus that pours into him.

Brrrr....right?

It's so very cold out - seriously - like this morning it's -15, minus fifteen. We are in the middle of one of the longest cold snaps in Alaska's history.

But here's the good news:

1. We've basically had uninhibited sunshine during the daylight hours - which really aren't that long, but it's still something.

2. I haven't had to shovel snow in like 2 weeks or something, so that's been pretty nice.

3. I don't have doggies anymore that I have to force to go outside for their business - I sure don't want to go outside for mine, and I always felt bad doing that.

4. I don't bother with sunscreen (that can get annoying)

5. It is absolutely breathtaking outside (not just the cold taking your breath, but the beauty too!). It is truly a winter wonderland - like the kind they make postcards out of. Can't really complain about that.