Enjoying Alaska

Anchorage has green belts snaking throughout the city to allow the animals a way to migrate without disturbing or being disturbed by people too much. Luckily for us, there's one right behind our house with a paved trail. It follows the winding Campbell Creek. (When I say winding, I mean winding; in the mile from our house to Taku Lake park, we cross over 4 or 5 bridges.) The weather has been gorgeous lately, with highs in the 60's and sunny, and we've been taking walks after dinner.

Last night while we were walking along the lake, we saw a group of people looking up at a tree. We speculated about what they could be looking at, but never would have guessed that it was a bald eagle. I so wished I had my camera, but settled with staring in awe and saying wow repeatedly. It looked small sitting up in the tree, but I knew that was just an optical illusion. What a majestic creature!

The move to Alaska has been funny. We've always talked about moving here, so I feel like it's my duty to like it and find a place here, feeling guilty on the days when I dream about being close to family. I know God has a reason for bringing us here, and when we're outside surrounded by the beauty of His handiwork, it almost feels like home.

An announcement, an embarrassing photo, and an outing

The announcement: I am the mother of twin toddlers. I know, it's shocking. I'm having a little trouble getting around to thinking of blog topics. So, in the future, I will take as long as I want in between blog posts without feeling guilty and/or apologizing for how long it's been.

The embarrassing photo: Lately, Catie is very interested in dressing herself, and she takes her own sweet time doing it. I have to entice her by saying things like, "Catie, do you think you can put your own pants on? You're such a big girl." On this particular day I thought to myself, "Hey, while she's running around without pants, I might as well see if she'll go on the potty." She decided to give it a go, and then asked for a book. (Like father, like daughter.) I couldn't resist. This is so going on my list of photos to show her future boyfriends.
The outing: Today we had our first picnic of the season. Lots of friends came to celebrate Christine's birthday like they do every year at Bird Creek. We ate hot dogs and all that other good campfire food. The kids had a great time running around, and I was reminded how little opportunity they have to play in open spaces. Now that they're getting older, and the weather is warmer, we'll have to remedy that.

This is the only shot I took of the scenery, but isn't it beautiful? Sorry it isn't so clear, but on the other side of the trees is Turn-again arm and then a mountain range.

Catie and Nick had great fun picking up the pine cones.

Here's Nick relaxing by the campfire.

We did learn a lesson, however. No matter how much fun everyone is having, skipping nap time is not an option in this family right now.

Catie's New Haircut and Nicky's New Trick

Catie's hair has been driving me crazy lately. She never wants it combed, she'll only keep pigtails for a couple hours at most, and she's always getting food in it.

So, I cut it. Myself. I think it looks okay. What do you think?

Here's Nicky up to some new tricks. In the same week, he's figured out how to open the refrigerator and how to open the doors in the house, including the door to the garage. One more thing to watch out for....

My personal cheering section

Lately Catie has been blessing me left and right. Anytime I do anything that she likes, singing a song, giving her a cookie, playing with her, drawing a kitty cat, she says, "Yay, Mommy. Good job." I love it because it shows me that I've been praising her enough that she knows how to pass it on, and I love it because it shows her heart. She is so loving.

Coloring

Isn't he sweet?
Look at that concentration!

This is what happens any time Mommy comes close. "Mommy, I need kitty cat." (She wants me to draw a kitty cat.)

Love it.

Easter Fun

Nick made an Easter crown at church. He was the only kid who kept his on, and he wore it for a long time at home, too. :) Here they are looking at the goodies in their Easter baskets. It's a mix of books and movies from us, my parents, and Brad's parents. They also had other bags with little toys from all of us and candy, which I promptly took away in order to disperse it evenly throughout the week. I'm such a party pooper. :)

Finding Easter eggs was a lot of fun, and they found almost all of them before they lost interest, which is saying a lot. I did realize, however, that my egg filling strategy didn't work. A few eggs had jelly beans, which Nick licked, then put down on the white carpet. Most of the other eggs had Trix cereal in them, which Nick was into, but there were too many so soon it became more fun to step on them and grind them into the carpet. Who puts white carpet in a rental house?

We tried really hard to get a nice picture of the kids with Grandma (Bam-maw, as Catie says) but the kids were too interested in their new toys.

It was so fun to see the kids so excited about all the little things they got. I've been telling them the Easter story, and a few times they repeated with me, "Jesus is alive!" I'm looking forward to the day when the story will become their story.

Praise the Lord! Because of His death and resurrection, we can have hope and a new life in Him.

Random thoughts

We've been pretty busy this past week with my mother in-law here for a visit. Sorry for the delay in posting. Since these thoughts have nothing to do with each other, I'm going to resort to a list.

1. I got a phone call yesterday in response to my email and Nick is going to be evaluated for speech delays. I'm praying that the visit will set my mind at ease. And by set my mind at ease I mean that they'll say he does need help and that they'll help him. I think I'm most afraid that they'll say I'm overreacting. I don't think I am, though. I just think he needs a little help. The evaluation is next Thursday here at home.

2. After my big story about God's faithfulness in bringing us to Alaska, I feel like I'm on a ping pong table. I'm doing the Beth Moore Esther study at church and every week I keep going back and forth. "Why did God bring me here and not there? What should I be doing? What is my destiny?" and "Don't be afraid. You can't make your own destiny. God will show it to you in His time. It might be a really long time." Both thoughts echo through my head in my spare moments.

3. I also keep thinking about a sermon that I heard on the radio a few weeks ago. It reminded me of a sermon I heard in college about how the Trinity is an unending dance of love. Everything that God does is motivated by love, love for us certainly, but more importantly love for the Son and the Spirit. So, this sermon that I heard on the radio was a completely different perspective on the cross than I've ever heard. Church people tend to say things like "Christ would have died for me even if I were the only person on Earth" and I was always a little uncomfortable with that. Not because it isn't true, but because it sounds so self-serving. The pastor on the radio said that the cross was just part of a larger show of love. The world was created through Christ, Christ gave himself up for the world, and he is keeping the world so that (and this is the part that really has me thinking) he can present it to the Father as a gift of love on the judgement day. Yes, Christ died because he loves us. Yes, God's judgement needed to be satisfied. But, the reason behind it is love, love that goes beyond God's love for us. Because that's who God is. This is probably making as much sense to you as it did to Brad when I tried to explain it to him. If you've read The Shack, you might understand a little more what I'm talking about regarding God's love for the Son and Spirit and their love for Him. The Trinity is never going to be totally understandable on this earth, but it is humbling to catch a glimpse of His amazing love. It's more than me, and that's all I need to know.