We are FINALLY here!

Hello from the Arctic.  Ronnie and I have finally arrived and actually got to sleep a little last night.  And as Ronnie said, "I just couldn't find my spot."  Ditto that. But at least we did sleep even without my CPAP.

Just a quick recount of the day or should I say eternity?!  We left Jacktown around 6 am Central Time.  Next stop Atlanta.  And despite my fears we had absolutly no problems (or so I thought).  Now the long leg on to Seattle was next, and wow what a demolisher.  I haven't felt like that in a while.  It was like I was a boxing match with George Forman, and he was winning!  Anyway, we survived and made it to Seattle.  Now the previous two trips to Seattle Airport were stop at one terminal let people off, add a few more and the off to Anchorage.  However, this year we had to change carriers and wow what a trek across Washington state.  As John Forrester would later tell us, Delta's terminal is in Tacoma and Alaska's terminal is in Seattle.  Quite a trip down stairs, up and down escalators and two trams and voila our new terminal.  I promise if you'd had to walk that it would have been at least 2 to 3 miles.  But we made it.  And on to Anchorage (John had joined us in the airport for the last leg) and on to Kotzebue.  Quite a long day I must say....lots of headaches and bodyaches but we arrived safely.

At the Kotzebue airport, we got off and met Teri and John Mark Forrester and stood and waited for our luggage. And we waited. And we waited and we waited. And oh there's my bad, whew!  And we waited some more, but no sign of Ronnie's bag!!!! NOOOOOOO! 3000 miles away and no clothes?! Yuck.  Luckily, John was friends with the Alaska rep in the airport and she quickly got on the job. Come to find out Ronnie's bag never got on the plane in Atlanta?! And was currently in route via another set of planes up to Kotzebue.  And at 8am local time we have finally been reunited with the long lost bag.  I guess it liked Atlanta.....it probably wanted to eat at the Varsity!

Anyway....we had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and off to bed we went.  And so now I leave you with the latest pics and off to church we will go.  See ya soon.

The Wayward Bag has returned.

Russia is about 250 Miles that way.

Snow Mobiles.

FBC Kotzebue

MORE TO COME.......

An Old Lady and Her Piano

Back in April I attended the Extraordinary Women Conference.  Just the other day the Lord brought back to mind a conversation I had with two nice women I sat beside. 

The two women were sisters, and they were around my mom's age.  They both had out their cell phones and were receiving texts, etc. on them during the conference.  I have to admit, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, it's not just the younger generation addicted to these things, huh?" 

But later on during one of the breaks, we were talking, and they explained why they felt the need to stay in touch. 

Their mother was still alive - I can't remember exactly how old they said she was, but it was upper 90s.  She had fallen and broken her hip that past week and they were concerned about her.  I could tell these sisters really loved their mother because their face lit up as they told me stories about her.  One of their stories is what I want to share with you. 

Their mother was the church pianist in her younger days, and apparently after all these years she could still sit down and play hymns. 

The daughters were laughing and telling me they would request a hymn, any hymn, and she would start playing it.  Amazing!  But then they told me no matter what hymn she started playing, the tune always ended up being "Mansion Over The Hilltop."  

Now, as a pianist, this is impressive to me.  She could play any song by memory, then fit "Mansion Over The Hilltop" in that song no matter what key.  Wow!

As Christians, shouldn't we be the same way?  No matter what we start off doing, saying, or singing, we should always end up telling others about what Jesus is preparing for us on the other side.  That should be our goal - through any conversation, particularly with those who do not know the Lord, to tell them about Heaven and how to get there. 

I pray that my life and my words will do just that.  But if I'm honest, I'm not great at it.  I'm not even kinda good at it.  I tend to let life bog me down into thinking about the here and now more than the hereafter. 

When I'm 90-something, I wonder if I'll still be pecking out hymns on my old piano.  I sure hope so. 

Every Opportunity Is Not an Answer

I struggle sometimes with exactly how much to share on this blog. I try to go by this rule: If I would tell you face-to-face what I'm typing, then it's okay to share it here. If I would not, then it's probably a good idea to keep it to myself.

Posting the good things about me and my family is no hardship of course. We all want everyone to see the good in us and our families. But when it comes to posting the not-so-good things, I get a little nervous. But I never, and I repeat, never want to come across as a family with no struggles. Other than being a lie, that would do an injustice to all my readers who might come here in the midst of some trial. I might not know exactly what you are going through, but then again I might.

Now before you think something horrible has happened, it hasn't. Things are still good here. Although yesterday was a rough day. Brad was promised something at work. Something that would have been really good for him and others. He was told it would happen the next day.

****To appreciate this, you gotta understand where we are and where we want to be. Where we are is pretty good. Where we want to be is in the center of His will. That would be great, not just good! Almost one year ago, Brad surrendered to the ministry. He feels a calling on his life to do something, and he's pretty sure that the something is not cutting grass. So we've been praying. Praying for it to be clear. Just make it clear, God. We're not the smartest people. We need it to be clear. Are we supposed to be content right here? Or are you waiting on us to do something before you make it clear? ******

So I bet you can guess what happened. Yep. The opportunity that was supposed to happen did not. Brad was, well, greatly saddened. Angered. Confused.


All I could say was "Why?" Why God? Why can my husband not catch one break in his career? He works so very hard, yet it seems he is never rewarded for it. Why God? Why could this have not been in your will? Why God? Why did you dangle this in front of Him and then snatch it away? Why God? Why is this so extremely complicated for us?

If you are waiting for me to end this post with some nice "Sunday School" explanation, you will be waiting for a while. I still don't understand why. In fact, I'm still angry about the whole thing.

I'm not doubting God is in control or that He has a perfect plan for our lives, but what I am doubting is that we are ever going to figure it out.