Winter Sun

I realize it is only November 12, which to many of you means peak 'fall' season, or at least the end of it. But here in Alaska, it's feeling pretty wintery as of late. Now that we've had daylight savings, the sun appears much later in the morning, and bids us adieu much earlier as well. Though the sun's departure isn't my favorite thing, winter in Alaska has it's perks. And one of them is the absolutely beautiful sunrises and sunsets that we get to see EVERY day. No waking up at dawn. No staying up till the wee hours of the morning (as fun as that can be come summertime). Nope. We get to see all of that glory when we're already up and going for the day. See? Isn't Alaska sweet? I think so. This is a pic from Saturday's sunrise. This doesn't do it justice seeing as its taken through the window of my apartment, but you get the picture ;)

CYAK Young Adult Retreat Reflections

It's that time of year again - the time of the CYAK Young Adult Retreat!

Its hard to believe that I have now gone to the CYAK Young Adult Retreat FIVE times. Eek! Sure makes it sound like I've been up here a while! But it has proven to be such a blessing to me. This time around, instead of going through what the retreat looks like (since I have before, and since you can read about it by clicking here), I just want to do a little reflecting on what the retreat has come to mean to me over the past couple of years.

There are many things I could say about the way this annual gathering has impacted my time serving with CYAK in Alaska, but I am going to stick to three things that I find this retreat to be - and I think that I am not alone in feeling this way - in fact it is my prayer that everyone who comes to this retreat shares some of the same sentiments.

It is life-giving. This one is pretty straight forward. Every time I leave this retreat, I feel full of life. The Lord has and continues to use this retreat as a way to bring clarity and perspective to life. I always feel re-centered and reminded of the Lord's presence in my life. It can be easy at times to let my focus become fuzzy and begin thinking on the things that don't bring me joy and excitement about being alive. But that is not how we are intended to be! And whenever I come to this retreat, I am reminded of that. I find myself leaving feeling so joyful every time :)

It is reassuring. Every time I go to this retreat I leave feeling so thankful to be a part of CYAK's ministry, and excited about counting to serve with CYAK. I think this due to a lot of factors, but is in part because it is a time during the year that I am able to see the fruit of our labor. It is awesome to witness the way that the Lord works in the lives of young people form all over Alaska, and to see students leave feeling encouraged and excited about their faith. It's pretty awesome, and reminds me that good work is being done through this ministry!

It is comforting. This retreat is one of the few times during the year that brings many of the people who I have grown close to in Alaska together in one place. Both staff and students that I have developed relationships with come, and I feel at home. Living thousands of miles away from my Colorado home and family means that I miss them a lot! And so I am thankful to have people in Alaska who make me feel home too. As we left, I just kept thinking, 'Man. These are my people!' I am so thankful to have that!

More could be said, as always. But for now, I will leave you with a few pictures from the weekend. To see more pics, visit the CYAK website here: http://www.cyak.org/young-adult-retreat---september-2012.html

The group! We had the largest number of students in 10 years!

Playing a little football.

Tom Mute leading worship. 

Beauties: Robyn, Willow and Julie.

Woohooo! 

Hanging around the fire pit.

Simply gorgeous day.

Soaking up the deep deep blue.

Beauty.

Hanging out inside...

Ruth and sweet Parker! It's blurry, but so cute nonetheless!

A little treat for the ride home...that is Denali. SWEEEET!

From Summer to Winter.

I realize its been a while since I have added something to this little page known as my blog. I really have no good excuse. But in thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that there tends to be a dip in my blog writing every year around this time. Why you ask? Because it is the time of year where the 'Great Alaska Transition' happens, of course! As much as I would like that to be a real phrase, it is not. But I think that many Alaskans would agree it definitely could be!

Every year between the summer and winter, us Alaska residents go through some pretty significant transition. We go from hiking, biking, fishing, berry picking, staying up late and getting up early to ... winter. And that's not to say that there isn't a lot of fun outdoor winter activities in Alaska (in fact, there are endless outdoor winter activities here if you're willing to brave the cold - and do it during the couple of hours of daylight each day!), but it has more to say that there is a sort of rhythm in Alaska where in the summer we go, and in the winter slow down. At least some.

This rhythm of life has become something that I really appreciate and love about Alaska, and I am quite thankful for it. It's just one reason why sometimes at this time of year I don't blog a whole bunch because I just don't feel like there is a whole bunch to blog about! Or maybe I should say, there are things to blog about, but they are a bit different. So with that, please accept my apology for being gone so long. I will do my best to continue to blog - even during the slower pace of winter.

With that...I'll get to this post. You may know that it has been raining a lot here lately. Like a lot a lot. Think two weeks of nonstop rain. I know for some of you, that's just a drop in the bucket (ha!), but for this Colorado sunshine lover, two weeks without a ray of sunshine is a long time. A really long time. Fortunately, a couple of days ago, the clouds cleared, and we were greeted with a gorgeous fall day. Thank goodness! So we decided on the way to work that we needed to take a quick stop at the Palmer Hayflats and enjoy the rays for a bit. And I am so glad we did. Hopefully we'll have a few more of these days before the winter really sets in!

Oh the beauty!

Fall is my favorite. 

Happy rain-free friends!

Flowers All Year

I love flowers. And so does Alaska because they are everywhere. I realize that many of them are considered to be weeds but I figure they're pretty, and they're not going anywhere (especially if they are weeds), so I am going to enjoy them! Last Sunday I went on a bike ride with the sole purpose of finding flowers to dry for the winter so I can enjoy flowers all year. An hour later, after biking quite a bit, walking through lots of tall grass, avoiding several surprisingly huge spiders, and peeling spider webs off my legs (all completely worth it), I had a bag full of beautiful flowers of all different colors. And now I have them to enjoy for the winter!

Pure joy.

Drying for winter!

Hiking, hiking, hiking!

Summer in Alaska is amazing. The days are long, the grass and tress are vibrant green, and the temperatures are (at least usually) fairly warm. Once the summer solstice hits, everyone watches as each day the sun shines for a few less minutes than the day before, knowing all too well what is only a couple of months away – winter. As much as I love winter in Alaska, there is just no beating summer.

Summer in Alaska is a time of substantially less sleep, and lots of outdoor activities. One of my favorite summer pastimes is hiking. Living in the Matanuska Susitna Valley, we are surrounded with endless opportunities for hiking, and the summer is the time to take full advantage of that. It's so satisfying to be able to get in a full day of work, and still hike to the top of a mountain peak all in one day.

Last week, we had little to no rain, and so some friends and I set out on a few different hikes. Each were beautiful in their own way...someday you'll have to see these with your own two eyes!

Starting to head up Lazy Mountain

At the top! We missed the view, but the fog looked pretty cool!

The group at the top!

Next day – more sunshine this time! Part way up Marmot Mt. in Hatcher's Pass.

The Great Wall of ..... Alaska. Or Marmot Mountain. You choose.

Lookin' back down.

At the top!

Our friend.

Reed Lakes Hike a few days later.

The group (CYAK's Arigaa Anchorage group) at the end. Good times!

Mom and Dad Came to Visit!

A couple of weeks ago, I was blessed with the presence of...my parents! They flew up all the way from Colorado to spend a week with me. How luck am I?! We did a whole smattering of things including a day trip to the one and only Talkeetna (where we met the mayor, who if you have not heard, just so happens to be a cat), a hike in beautiful Hatcher's Pass, a train ride up to Denali National Park, a bus ride into the park (where we saw all sorts of animals from bears to arctic ground squirrels to dall sheep), and lots more. It was so fun to have mom and dad here and to simply spend some good quality time with them. I just wish Brian could have been there! I am already looking forward to the next time we're all together. Enjoy a few pics from their visit!

Talkeetna, AK. The mayor (cat) is chilling out on the picnic table.

Mom and Dad in Hatcher's Pass.

A momma bear and her cubs hanging out in Denali National Park.

One of many dall sheep.

Where Mt. McKinley should be (when it's clear, the base of the mountain would fill the entire width of this picture)

There were a couple of drop-offs...

Many much moosen!

Alaska Railroad.

So fun to have mom and dad here!

Unalakleet 4th

I realize it is almost a full month past the 4th, but it was such a good day that it deserves it's own post - even if it is a little delayed.

If you haven't already connected the dots, I had the chance to spend July 4th in Unalakleet this summer.  I had been hearing for a couple of years how fun it is to spend the 4th in UNK, and thanks to some extra encouragement early on [ That would be you, Nikki :) ] I decided to stay for a while after camp... best decision of the summer!

A few highlights/activities from July 4th Unalakleet style:

• Endless amounts of crab (the night before, but it still counts!)
• Waking up to sunshine!
• The Parade - so great.
• Hanging out at the softball field with everyone, watching the games
• All kinds of games and competitions: 5 K run and bike, potato sack race, bubble gum race, horseshoes, fish cutting, sidewalk chalk drawing, you name it!
• Afternoon nap. Yes, I napped on July 4. And it was glorious.
• Coffee Pot Race: Read the caption below. So fun to watch!
• Delicious blueberry desert at Nikki's gram's house
• Anchor toss! (I need to work on throwing out not up. ha!)
• Paddle boat race
• Frisbee on the sandbar at midnight with friends.

Doesn't get much better than that! Definitely a 4th to remember.

One of the many great floats during the parade :)

Blue skies.

5K runners are off!

Hanging out with everyone - poppers galore!

So funny!

Coffee Pot Race. Consists of: boating across the way, collecting wood, driving the boat around an obstacle, coming back to the beach, collecting water in a coffee can, and building a fire with the collected wood and limited matches. Whoever's water boils first wins!

Onlookers.

Attempting the anchor toss :) 

Paddle boat racers!

Off they go!

Unreal sunset - this is around midnight.

Frisbee on the sandbar! Doesn't get much better than that.

Cooling off. What a day. What a day.