Stebbins

This last week our whole staff traveled to Stebbins this year for inservice because Unalakleet school is under construction. I was so excited because I got to spend so much time with Becky (former teacher from Koyuk) and great friend. We had a ton of fun together! Let's just say she pulled a fast one me when I wasn't paying attention got a.......well you just guess. I was blessed to stay with her at her apartment and not in the school where there are tons of snoring people!

My session wasn't the best one I had in other years because Stebbins and St. Micheal's schools were in the same session and basically was strictly for them, so I thought and researched interventions I could use in the classroom. I found these awesome webistes with Math Games! I can't wait to show my kids!

Becky took Mandy and I for a frigid Honda ride! It was also so dusty that as you can see from the photo I had a real dusty face! I also thought I never liked dancing, but there were three fiddle band and went square dancing! It was a blast! Hmmm...maybe I should start a square dancing club! I jokes! The desserts were amazing at inservice: cheesecake, apple pie, and real rich chocolate bars!

I was glad to get back to Koyuk to enjoy my second free weekend in a row! I made apple pie, pizza, watched movies, listened to music and took an amazing run on my new treadmill. Berry loved her walks! I'm excited for church and making a "list".

MN and Wedding!

Hello,

It's been forever since I last wrote and posted pictures. So I will post pics of my best friend's wedding I went to at the end of the September and some random school photos.

Minnesota was amazing! I started out staying in Nome with my good friend Julie. We went out to eat in Nome, grocery shopping, and got coffee and blizzards. Yum Yum. I had about 5 hours so Heather picked me up and we drove to meet Jenna at Outback Steakhouse! There I had a wonderful steak, salad, bread, and of course a Maragarita! I took a red-eye flight to MN and arrived Friday afternoon the help set up for the wedding and the rehearsal dinner. I got to meet Betty's sisters, her lovely, sweet mom, nieces, and a couple of Betty's friends. I was able to help set up the candles, chairs, table clothes, etc. Glad I was able to help in some way.

It was such a blessing to spend a lot of time with Johanna and Peter and their cute son Gabe. We went to the Olive Garden before the wedding and Johanna and I went shopping! I was excited to go to Walgreens...for crying out loud....that is how often I get to go shopping. Gabe helped push the cart! He's doing a super job walking! We went grocery shopping. I got a lot of organic food! I also got a Halloween costume! Don't even think I'm going to tell you what I will be until you see pics on Friday! Berry is going to be a part of it! She will also be dressing up. Can you guess? I found another costume I wanted to get but could not afford or justify $40 for a costume! It was a blow-up sumo ballerina! How awesome would that be?

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous! It was so simple but elegant! Betty looked stunning as ever and so joyful! It was so amazing to see them take communion together, light the unity candle, oooohhh....see them kiss, and hear funny and embaressing stories when people told them. They are an amazing couple! Their wedding made me remember how much God loves me and that he loves me with a covenant love....a love that will never leave me or forsake me, and that is perfect!

Sunday came so quick! Johanna, Gabe, and I went out to IHOP! My favorite breakfast restuarant in the whole world! Johanna blessed me so much when she announced she was taking me. I ate a ton! She drove me to the airport and flew the Anchorage to enjoy dinner and the evening with Jenna, former Koyuk teacher. It was my last chance to have a margarita, so I got one at Applebee's. Yummy! I also had ribs and shrimp, and fries!

What a blessing to have the money to go to MN! I was blessed by so much hospitality!

Birthday Outing

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted. Here are pics from my Birthday. Gosh, people talked about not liking turning 30. I don't mind it one bit! What an amazing day it was. It first started with a wonderful time with God. I'm so thankful for the 29 years he has taken care of me, guided me, and loved me.

I've been wanting to go camping for a long time and am thankful for my good friend Mandy who also enjoys the outdoors. Emily, my new friend, walked up to Devils Hill Road (2 miles) to our camping spot. The pack was a bit too long for my body, but it worked. I loved feeling the burn in my legs and glutes! We started a fire when we got there, Mandy set up her awesome tent, and Berry roamed to keep bears away! Poor Emily chased our principal's dog with a musk ox bone. We had hotdogs, salad, and hot cocoa, trailmix, and soy nuts. I love camping because you can eat junk food. I didn't feel guilty one bit after hiking up a steep hill with a pack! It got pretty chilly and fog started rolling in. It was the craziest thing ever! The fog was swirling all around. It was getting really wet, so we headed for bed. Loved sleeping outside! Berry did so well camping until she decided she wanted out to get drenched with all the rain. Then she thought she could snuggle up in my down sleeping bag. She thinks she is spoiled...oh wait she is! I of course did not sleep at all during the night so I was exhausted when I came home Sunday. It was a beautiful hike home to view the fall colors. This year was the first time I actually enjoyed the fall colors. I've always liked the WI colors better, but it's so beautiful here. I'm blessed to live in such a great village.

Berry has been enjoying her new running buddy Emily and I've been blessed by her too! God has answered prayer and sent a Christian friend who loves God, the Bible. I enjoy our times of encouragement and fellowship. She is the preschool teacher and is doing a fabulous job! While running with Emily, Berry killed her 2nd rabbit. If she keeps this up, I will not have to go hunting for them!

The cranberries and blackberries are ripe and I went out picking on the ski trail last weekend and got a ton. They are huge. Unfortunately, there were hardly any blueberries this year. We usually have a ton!

School has been good. I'm seeing tremendous emotional growth with one of my students and it is only 4th week of school! She is doing amazing and I am so proud of her! Now, I have another challenging kid to mold! He's a sweetie but real spoiled! I love them all! It's been really hard for me to balance school and work this year. My body is telling me I need more rest but don't have enough time during the week to plan for the next week, so I end up going in for 5-7 hours on Saturday. It's wearing me out! I'm getting sick and completely exhausted! I've tried a different plan, but it got me home later in the evenings and neglected my prayer time. So Saturday work days may work best for me.

Please keep me in your prayers for wisdom, direction, clarity, discernment, and that God would comfort me. It's been a challenging week, but am thankful that God is pulling me closer to himself through it all.

Until next week! I'm off to MN for five days for my best friends Wedding! It will be exciting to see Betty, meet her family, and spend time with Johanna, Peter, and lil' man Gabe.

First Week of School!

End of Summer Vacation...boo!

Well, as my photos are trying to upload and probably won't I will type. It's been a while since I posted.
My arm is completely healed and it was tendonitis from Berry pulling me, so I decided to get Halte so she doesn't pull. It works wonders.

My last two weeks of summer vacation in Galena were incredible. David was so good to me in so many ways! We watched movies, baked, cooked, spent time with visiting pastors, blueberry picking, and had a bonfire by the Yukon River and Dunes. I got a drum lesson from Karrie (David's sister). She is so gifted musically! It was fun to serve a group of people who got stuck in Galena due to smoke from the wild fires. They were on their way to Unalakleet Bible camp but had to overnight. It was so fun to see people I had met a year ago at Bible Camp!

Seeing Jason, Myra and Romay was great! I love them! They make me laugh real hard and are always there to listen. Romay and I had fun seeing the moose and her calf. She thought the moose was looking at her, but I knew a baby had to be close by. I couldn't believe how close we got! Romay is just plain fun to goof around with. She's an amazing girl!

I got to spend an extra day in Galena due to flight mix ups and couldn't have been happier! The next day I left to Unalakleet for a math in-service. I so did not want to go; Galena seemed more exciting! I loved the Math inservice! I learned a lot and feel so more confident in teaching Math. I can't wait to start. It was great to see friends I haven't seen from the district and meet my new staff. We have a rockin staff this year. God has answered prayer and brought a Christian friend to Koyuk who is about my age. She loves God and His Word. I enjoy sharing favorite Bible Verses with her!

I also moved into a different apartment. I love it so much! I love the sun and the windows in the living room; either of these I did not have in the other apartment. I also have an extra room that guests can stay in. The new treadmill will also go in there! Super excited to run! I missed doing that in Galena when I used Myra's.

I got out once to go upriver with Elvina, Jean, and Kim. What a blast with those women laughing and just enjoying God's creation and blessings of berries!

One week of work with the staff has ended and we got a ton done! I have 11 kids this year and am super excited to see them tomorrow! I really want to teach well and have fun! We have a picnic tomorrow and am hoping the rain stays away until then. We have gotten tons of rain. Tonight is beautiful with the sun!

Berry has been enjoying her new running buddy Emily. She runs all the way up to Devils Hill and back and listens! When she went with Erika some months ago, she didn't. Berry also has a new taste for sweet potato pie. David made this awesome pie in Galena and Berry took it off the counter and ate the other half! She also killed her first rabbit on the ski trail! It was a little disgusting to see but I was proud of her!

Well off to read and bed!

Door County

Hello all! I'm back in the Mosquito State of Alaska! They aren't too bad! I hurt my arm so I probably will not type until later. It's pounding with pain! So I will try to upload as many photos as I can. Ok, so an update on my arm: tendonitis from Berry jerking my arm when she is a leash. Praise God the doctor was coming Monday. I got a shot of something and my arm was feeling a little bit better after two hours. My other arm that I got the shot in still hurts. Yeah, I was a wimp and cried a teeny tiny bit. It hurt a lot! I was icing three times a day and now I'm not icing it all, but still taking ibprophen about every 8-10 hours. I have a lot more movement and strength back already. i'm thankful for answered prayer: quick healing!

Door County: My grandparents took me sailing in a bay in Michigan Lake, maybe Green Bay, but not sure. It was a little rainy when we left, but we got 1 1/2 hours in. It has always been one of my dreams to go sailing. We had an awesome younger couple who also went with us. We did a lot of talking and laughing. 2nd photo

I got to milk a lamb! How flippin awesome is that! He was so cute. This doesn't compare to the zoo I went to with my whole family and grandparents in Wallace, Michigan. I can't wait to post those pictures of holding and petting animals a lot of people do not get to do often. At THE FARM there were just a bunch of farm animals. I loved the massive horse, holding a chick, kitten, and the cows sticking out their tongues for you to feed them corn. After the zoo, we went to this awesome restuarant where the food was delivered on a train! This mini train track was set up in the bar and through the kitchen. All these little kids that were there loved. I did also. I thinK my Nanna enjoyed it more than I did. She is so young at heart!

The next few pictures is of the cedar forest we went hiking in. I was impressed with how my grandparents did it! They were a little cautious, but took their time and did an amazing job! You can see lake Michigan through the trees. We camped all week at Peninsula State Park. Wow, is that beautiful! Here is a picture of my Nanna. It took 7 tries to get a good picture of herself. She was trying so hard to "smile". The sunset was spectacular!

We ate our first dinner by the lake. It was so nice to soak up the sun that evening! The other pictures are random ones, not from the trip. I spent time with my sister at her spacious apartment. I made sure to use the treadmill and we went swimming. It was so neat to swim at night, under the stars and so peaceful! We also walked across the street to coldstone. I would not even consider moving from Koyuk if there was one here. My favorite ice cream in the world! My sister and I also saw UP. Super great movie! Love it! A tear jerker and just a wholesome family movie.

More photos of Door County another time.

Off to read and very excited to have my rummage sale tomorrow to make some cash for flights to Galena and MN. I've also been very busy moving into the other apartment that has windows in the living room and an extra bedroom! I just need the darn carpets cleaned, but the special extension is no where to be found, but someone gave me an idea that it might be in the trailer, why would you not put it back where you can find it? i'm not sure. It was a frustrating morning. Glad that is over! Now I just need to find the key to get the cord. Goodnight!










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Random Fun!

Well, Berry is having a hard time going for walks on leashes. She let me know how she felt when I had the opportunity to let her run free in a wildlife Refuge. She took off chasing rabbits for 30 minutes of not listening when she was told to come. She listened at first, but 30 minutes was obviously not long enough for her to run off her 3 weeks of energy built up. Dad and Mom came with with Belle. It was so embaressing to have Belle listen who is only a year old and Berry not! Shock Collar here I come! They played in the river that we walked past and loved it! Belle is still learning how to swim: she does not keep her head in the water but splashed all around to tire herself out. Berry swam for like two minutes, but was more interested in all the new smells and running! She ran so fast when I called her to come she plowed right into me and I fell straight on my face! Stupid hyper dog! We also saw the cutest baby red fox. I felt so scared for it because it was right on the road, confused if to cross or not. Finally, we scared it back into the woods. Belle and Berry on the other hand were barking, trying to get out the windows to play with the darn fox!

My sister, Jess and I spent the last two days together at her apartment: swimming, watching Bride Wars (ok movie, but don't reccomend it...I was not a fan of all the revenge that took place). She has a Coldstone right across the street so we visited that and I have new favorite: All Lovin' No Oven: birthday cake icecream with choc. chip cookie dough, choc, syrup, and whip cream on the top. The icecream flavor comes out more in this sundae than Birthday Cake remix. Swimming at dark under the stars was fabulous! The next day we had mexican food at Abuelos! Yummy! Then it was off to my 2nd favorite coffee shop.

I got back into running and have enjoyed it! I'm only running 15 minutes at a time and power walking the rest. I plan to build up to 30 minutes. It feels so good to sweat and hopefully see some muscles developing and some weight lost in some areas. Berry does an amazing job running with me on a leash. It's been too hot to run outside: today 100 degrees and humidity. Hopefully it will cool down so I can run outside. In the mean time, I'll enjoy my Pilates DVD's, weight lifting.

Thursday I leave to go on a RV trip with my grandparents to Door County! I haven't been there since I was a kid! We will meet my parents, sisters, dogs up at my granparent's house July 2nd then stay until the 5th and then come back to Belleville for a few days and then leave to AK. I think this is my first time saying, I really don't want to go back. Hmm....how much longer will I stay in Koyuk? Only God knows and trusting him to show me the path where I should walk.