snow in April...

I got up Monday morning to go to work and I hear an ever so familar sounds outside... scraping of snow shovels. My dad is outside shoveling the driveway b/c there is a fresh 5" covering of SNOW!! This was on April 24th!! I don't know if it's global warming, freezing or just weather schizophrenia, but this is crazy! I keep telling my track kids, when the fields dry up a little we'll be on them...that may not happen until the season is over at this rate. Hard to do hurdles, long jumping and softball throwing when your jumping in SNOW and balls are buried!! Makes for an interesting month and creative training. Gotta love Alaskan weather!

Seward

Last week Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Seward with two of my closest friends, Carrie and Kari. My old college roommate from MN, Kari, came up for the Easter holiday and following week to visit and hang out. I was a little concerned about the timing with work, track and youth group being so busy right now, but the timing couldn't have been better. I ended up being sick most of the week, but a blessing in disguise b/c I took a couple sick days and was able to lay low and have that time to just talk and catch up with her. Friday the three of us drove down to Seward...through the rain, sleet and yes SNOW. We were pretty fogged in Friday, but Saturday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Clear skies and SUNSHINE!! Thank you Jesus for sun! We toured around the area, walked on the marina, checked out the Sea Life Center and soaked in the scenery. A double blessing of a weekend b/c Carrie (current youth assistant at my church) is moving in June and Kari (my old roommate) got to see more of the beautiful state I live in. I am thankful for that time and memory with both of you!! Thanks for going!

Junior Prom...

Saturday was Colony High's prom and Amanda and I had the honor of helping four of our youth girls get bee-yoo-ti-fied for the great occassion! The festivities started at 9:30 a.m. at Natalie's house. We filled up on homemade chocolate chip sourdough pancakes, compliments of Jinks (her mother), then the curling, toe painting and primping began. Amanda does AMAZING hair styles and fixed Johanna's and Natalie's hair while others of us painted fingers and toes.

Later that afternoon a second round came out to Amanda's...Erin and Elizabeth. Both girls had GREAT hair, perfect for a Pride and Prejudice movie! The second round was a blizt because they had just finished a science olympiad and were heading into Anchorage for the dance shortly after. The day was a blast! A memory that won't be forgotten and a tradition that needs to continue next year! My youth girls are BEAUTIFUL!!

Elizabeth...

Erin...

Natalie...

Johanna...

spring??

We just got another fresh sprinkle 3" of snow yesterday, April 2nd, so I am living "spring" vicariously through my pictures from North Carolina. All the trees and cherry blossoms were in full bloom this past month. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Birthday Blessings

I met up with nine of my girl friends this afternoon at Evangelos Restaurant to celebrate my birthday. I don't realize sometimes how blessed I am with so many friends, from all walks of life...married, single, friends in ministry, friends from work, friends from way back. It was a great time to hang out, catch up and eat great food! My lunch and desert was paid for by the owner and his wife...my former boss. I worked at Evangelos for 4 years just out of high school. I went to thank them for my lunch and Diana, Angelo's wife, gave me a dozen long stemmed roses to say, "happy birthday!" It was a complete surprise to me and added to the specialness of the day...in some ways though it doesn't surprise me because that is just Diana's nature. She is always giving, going above and beyond with hostessing and making people feel loved. Thanks Diana and Angelo! Thanks too, to all my friends who stopped by to celebrate with me!

Exciting news!

So I have some pretty exciting news to share from the Eller homefront. My brother is ENGAGED!! Woohoo!! A wedding for the Eller family! He proposed to his, now fiance, Aimy yesterday with the majority of the Wasilla PD there to cheer them on...lights and all! They are planning on getting married sometime this summer between all the sibling trips...Aimy's brother and sister-in-law will be in Europe 6 weeks and I'll be gone off and on 5 weeks. I'm pretty pumped, I'm going to have a SISTER!! I am very happy for them.

Geo Cacheing...

While I was in North Caroline, the Brown's took us out on geo cacheing hunt day. For those of you who have never heard of geo cacheing, it's like a glorified scavenger hunt. There are caches all over the world! You go to www.geocacheing.com and type in your zip code. All the caches in your area will show up, GPS coordinates will show up with some clues as to how find the cache. Then you and your GPS are off! In urban areas, like NC, there are a lot of micro caches that are pretty easy (terrain wise) to find. I tried with a group last summer to find a cache in Crow Pass AK, but to no avail. Most Alaskans that cache are outdoorsy and pretty hard core, hiding caches on top of mountains or places like Crow Pass that are not easily accesible. Anywhoo, if your the outdoorsy, scavenger hunt type I recommend checking out cacheing sometime! It's addicting!

tea parties...

I mentioned in my last entry that one of Charlotte's favorite things to do while we were in NC was have tea parties...more for an excuse to consume cookies than to actually have "tea." Some day's we'd have 3 or 4! I eventually asked if she just wanted to have a cookie instead of pull out the formal tea dining wear...she agreed!

North Carolina Sunshine!

Tuesday night I flew into NC to see Sarah and surprise her with Tosha Cypher being there! She had NO idea, we were able to keep a tight lid on it and she was completely surprised! As soon as we got home, about 11:30 p.m. Charlotte set up a tea party on the floor and four of us sat down to our first, of many, lady bug tea parties. She loved the cookies Cathy! I will add pictures when I get home. :)

The past couple days have been relaxing, great times catching up and seeing Charlotte and Liam. Liam is very mild and mellow, an easy baby, with a melt your heart huge smile! Charlotte is full of personality and energy. From a speech path perspective, she has advanced speech and language. Her vocabulary is huge and she's VERY articulate! She has become Tosha's new shadow, they are "best friends."

I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to go to a couple seminary classes with Ashley, New Testament and International Church Planting. Fascinating stuff! Confirms even more, my desire to go to seminary.

Tomorrow, while Ashley is working (his first day at a new job, a huge answer to prayer!), the girls are going shopping. Tonya Cribb, a former AK roommate, now back in SC is driving up to spend the weekend with us. Woohoo, a big girl party bash! Ashley may head over to his parents to get away from the maddness! :)

Minneapolis in March

Woohoo for spring break! I flew in Sunday morning to Minneapolis to a nice sunny 50 degrees and then I woke up Monday morning to a fresh 12" of snow! Guess it goes with the saying, "March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a lamb."

Kari, my college roommate, and I spent a good part of the afternoon shoveling neighbors out on her road. All, in all, my time in MN was a blast. Low key and refreshing. Sunday we went with some friends after church to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to view the new displays. I also learned a new game called Bohnanzah. Kari gave it to me for Christmas, so I'll have to show all you Alaskans when I get back. It's a blast!

Monday night we met up with Holli, another close college friend, and had dinner together. We had a great time catching up seeing pictures of her cute kiddos.

fire weed...

One of the first things that grows back after a forest fire is fireweed. On our trip up north we passed through huge areas of past forest fires as well as current forest fires. One our way back down to Fairbanks we drove through areas of fire, flames on both side of the road.

It's awesome to me how the land is restored over years of time, areas with fireweed and green growing back in patches, other areas still charred black, and even other areas still in the midst of burning. Kind of a visual picture of how we as humans are refined through seasons of life. We experience hardship and "burning," but are restored by God's grace into something new and beautiful through it all.

Brooks Range

This past August I had the awesome opportunity to go further north than I've been before, up to Wiseman, AK in the Brooks Range. I went with four other ladies, two friends from work, Katie and Shawna and two from the states Becky and Gretchen. Got to experience true AK bush life with the people in Wisemen and back pack out in God's AWESOME WILDERNESS!! On a two day backpacking trip we saw several animal tracks, bear, wolf and moose but had no run ins with real wild life...which we were thankful for! The picture is a bear track along the river we swam in. There were small cub tracks next to it.

tid bits

Just an odds and ends update...for any youth not aware of or connected yet with our youth website, the address is www.wasillabibleyouth.org. Check it out for updates on youth activities!

I also changed a setting on my blog so anyone can leave comments without having to sign on as a official "blog spot" user. Try it out, I'd love to hear from you!

Also, VERY FUN news, my friends and fellow youth leaders, Kevin and Janeen Maxwell had a healthy boy this past Thursday! Woohoo!! I am happy for you guys and can't wait to see you new little man James! Blessings on ya!