life in Texas

Hello from Fort Worth, Texas! Far from home eh? I'll start my trip from the beginning....

Well, as you may know, I work at the Fairbanks International Airport (that sounds cooler than saying the airport). Anyway....I had the opportunity to fly on a pass with Frontier Airlines down here to Texas! As a standby passenger, I get whatever seat is left. Hoping that i'll even get on the flight, that is :). But, I made it! I took the last seat for the seat to Denver. Last seat...most expensive seat...cheap Alaskans don't wanna pay for it. You get the point. So yeah, I got seat 1B. Awesome! Ok, I wouldn't of been completely fine with the back row too. Mainly because I slept the entire flight :). Anyway...great flight. I think. I was in between two old men (I had to teach them to turn their TV's off).

So, I landed in Denver. Not a clue where to go. I didn't have a boarding pass or gate number or anything for the next flight. Off I went...to find the flight to DFW. After several laps around that airport, I found it. I had an hour so I decided to go get some food. Oh, and by the way: you know you're out of Alaska when there are more shopping places in the airport than there are in your town.

After about an hour and half I was on my way to Fort Worth! It was super easy getting a seat for that one too! It wasn't as good as seat as the last flight, but it was an aisle. MUCH better than middle. Once again, I slept the entire way. It's so nice to just pull down the tray table in front of you and go to sleep :).

Landed at DFW. I immediately felt the hot, humid air! A nice friend...AMBER picked me up! So nice of her eh? Anywho...we headed home to get Gaby so we could go get some food! We were starved! Long story short - we made it (ALIVE) to La Madalines. It was awesome! After that we just hung out most of day. Spent the night there with them. Next day was Sunday! Went to church at Trinity. After church, Amber brought me home to my grandparents. It was good to see them finally.

I've had lots of fun being here. We've had some great food as always. Made several Cato runs ;D. Grand times. I'll try to keep y'all updated on everything that happens. Oh - and in case you were wondering....it hasn't been under 95 the whole time i've been here. Little hot for this Alaskan girl.

Here are a few pics from Cabelas today! Best store ever :).

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Friends from Afar

Quickest. Visit. Ever.

So it may have been an extremely, super quick trip....but, we still had a ton of fun for the 3 days they were here! Let me introduce you to my friends - the Cronins. They used to live here in Alaska before the military sent them away (sniff sniff) to Japan. This is their 2nd time visiting since they moved away. Anywho - Friday night, Madelyn and I drove out to Eielson to hang out with Sarah and Kayla. We played racquetball and basketball (in which Sarah and I dominated :D). Then we came back to TLF (most awesome initials ever) which is temporary lodging facilities. After we had Arby's (thanks y'all) we made our way to the basement to begin our movie making careers! Yeah, we still need some work. Needless to say....we had tons of loud fun. And only got in trouble once for being too loud :) haha. 

Can't wait till the next time we see each other! I miss y'all! :)

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stand still

Last week, Lacey and I went blueberry picking up the Ellliot highway. Whoah...there were a TON out there! But, they take forever to pick. It seems like hours till you can't see the bottom of the bucket anymore. And for the record - i'm not the berry picker who eats one and put one in the bucket :). I only had a handful - they are rather tart for my mouth.

So, as I was crouched in the tundra picking away at what seemed to be a great little bush to pick from, I would look at another place and think to myself  "wow, i should go over there a little ways and get those blueberries that look so big". Off I would go from what really was a good place and move a couple feet to a place that "looked" better. Once I got to that other place, I would realize that these blueberries are indeed big, but they are shriveled up already. Then i'd look back at where I JUST was and realized that that was a good place to be.

Ok, you may be thinking....where is she going with this?! As I was out there, this thought came to me. Sometimes in our life we'll be in a certain place or situation and think that we need to be somewhere else or with someone else or doing something else. Just like the berries, we will look over at maybe someone elses life and think 'I really want to be doing that'. Sometime God has us at a specific (btw, that is a killer hard word for my tongue to say) place for something that we have no clue as to why. We just need to trust him and be content at where God has us.

The Father has a plan, though it’s hard to see it now
You feel you’re walking all alone, but He is there, no doubt
When the storm around you rages and you’re tossed to and fro
When you’re faced with life’s decisions, not sure which way to go

Stand still and let God move
Standing still is hard to do
When you feel you have reached the end
He’ll make a way for you
Stand still and let God move

When the enemy surrounds you, and the walls are closing in
When the tide is swiftly rising and you wonder where He’s been?
Friend, there never was a moment that His arms weren’t reaching out
You can rest assured and be secure God is moving right now

Stand still and let God move
Standing still is hard to do
When you feel you have reached the end
He’ll make a way for you
Stand still and let God move

My Summer

Why hello y'all! Sorry...kinda went AWOL for awhile. We've been super busy around here so I haven't had time to post anything. I'll share some pictures of what we've been up to!

yep, we're weird!

Using the button photobooth thing just to
use the background..haha..like a boss.

Doesn't she look innocent in this pic?! HA! oh Sarah....

Madelyn and I....lookin' cool

oh ya know...just typical us

Day at the fair with these crazy kids

So floating down the Chena river is a MUST from now on! It was SOOO fun!
We looked like complete nerds, but that is okay :).  It was really nice when the sun
was shining....but then it started to rain. Was just a little chilly.

Kids day at the fair with my family and the Smiths. That is a ton of kids
right there! We had lots of fun though...especially on the ride with Caleb :).
I told him we would rock the ride just like a rocking chair...well, just as we started
flipping he started yelling "TANNA! ROCKING CHAIRS DON'T FLIP" Lame sauce,
I had to quit flipping the ride. 

Bus 109 during our Vacation Bible Time.

Here are a few pics from Rock Crossing this year. I just realized I
never posted ANYTHING about this camp OR any pics from any
of the other camps (oops)! I'll try and work on that. Lois and I had a
great time being counselors. I feel like we really bonded with those girls...
total joke right there ;) haha

Charis and Sarah...putting this pic up cause I think it's cute.

Barrie and I canoeing down the Chena...much different that
floating in tubes! It was still fabuous! We have several videos that
go along with this trip....maybe y'all will see some (but not all muhaha)

Lacey and I went out for my *shutters* 20th birthday. We got thai
food and went and had a picnic on the ONE AND ONLY..........
TANANA RIVER! Whew...what fun. Had to bring out our immature
side a LITTLE before I got too much into the 20th year of my life :)
if ya know what i mean... ;)

Kiri, Chad, Shyanne, Nana and I after a late night of VBT

These are the awesome shirts that Barrie made us for our bus
route this year.  They were fantastical! Actually, they were so cool
that another route decided to copy us and make some....of course
ours looked WAY cooler haha

Camp Sterling

If I could think of one word for the camp in Sterling it would be FANTABULOUS.

For the past 4 years we have taken a group of teens down to Sterling, Alaska for a teen camp. This camp is run by Resurrection Bay Baptist Church in Seward, Alaska. Teens and churches from all over Alaska come. I think that is one of the main reason I love this camp so much. It is neat when teens from the like faith, who want to serve God and who live in the same state all come together. It is very refreshing. Since our state is so big (the biggest I might add) and spread out we don’t ever all get together besides that one time a year. Fairbanks is the farthest from everyone so that makes it hard too.

 It is a dreadful 12 hour drive. When you’re in a bus full of stinky, annoying, weird teens it isn’t that fun. BUT, lucky me….I was *privileged* to ride down in an air conditioned, nice, comfy Tahoe with Bro. Dave, Lindsay and Liberty. Did I mention there was AC?! Oh, and Katya was with us too! J. I was able to sleep and sleep and sleep a little more! So nice! Liberty and I had some grand bonding time. I get along great with one year oldsJ. That totally boosted the week off. We had to leave at 6:30…in the morning! I don’t think it’s healthy to wake up that early and get in a car and drive. We did it anyway though.

I don’t even know where to begin. Once again we had the greatest cabin ever! Mrs. Davis rocks…enough said. We had all girls from BBC expect one. Campers anyway. Then we had Amber from RBBC and her little baby girl and we had Erica the last couple nights. OH – forgot to mention…..we had HEATERS in the cabins. AND electricity! Of course we didn’t need the heaters seeing how it was in the 80’s. But still! Ok, pardon the excitement but we don’t have all that modern stuff at Camp Victory. Fairbanks people are more….rustic J just kidding. We could actually PLUG stuff into the wall in Sterling!!! Technology these days.

So we had 4 teams this year. I was picked to be the captain of the green team. Each team had a boy and girl captain. Not sure how I got roped into that but anyway. We didn’t really do anything anyway…haha, it was pretty much just a title.

We have preacher boy and singing competition every year. BBC takes most of the 1^st place medals homeJ. There are solos, duets, small group, ensembles and choir competitions. I was in one of the small groups (which we one 1^st place in). It was awesome hearing everybody sing from their heart to God.

My favorite thing about this camp was definitely the preaching! If I had to rank it 1-10, I would give it a 1,000. It is very hard to put into words the Spirit of God that was there and very present. We had a wonderful time in the singing, the preaching and the fellowship of everyone. Bro. Scott Gray came up again this year. He is at the top of the list of my favorite preachers. You could definitely tell that God was there and moving in the hearts of just about everyone there. Most teens walked away from every service with a decision made for the Lord. Bro. Justyn and Rachel Smith came up also for this camp. I was SOOO glad they did! It was awesome getting to see them again! Unfortunately, they couldn’t come up for our camp so I was glad we got to see them the next week. He did a lot of the preaching as well. And of course our very own Bro. Dave preached as well. All three of them were amazing and God worked mightily through all of them and their messages.

As you probably get the picture by now, we had a ton of fun, made lots of memories and can’t wait for next year! I’ll add the pictures later since I don’t have them now J.

Oh and by the way...my birthday is in 5 days. Don't forget. Feel free to send me something!

Camp Victory

Well, hello again blog world! It’s been much too long…but I can explain.

Where to begin? I actually have a list of 8 different posts to do. Now I just have to find some time J. I have been out of town for 3 weeks which is why I have been behind. But hey, that gives me 3 more topics to write about. You might be wondering where on earth I have been. Let’s just say summertime in Alaska is super quick and super busy! Especially at our church. If you blink too fast, you’ll miss it.

We had our 3 teen camps 3 weeks in a row. Yes, that’s where I've been. What a blast! So I’ll start with Camp Victory. I've got to rewind  my mind back 4 weeks to try and remember everything.

It was an awesome week. Our groups of teens this year seem really young. I’m not sure if it is because I’m older or if we really are lacking in the older generation of teens. I think it’s a mixture of both. Most of the teens were in the age group of 13-15. But, we still had fun. I was the counselor of an AWESOME group this year! We totally had the best cabin ever! So many memories. Especially on nights where we stayed up till 4 am and………pranked J. Keep it on the down low though….they still don’t know it was us.

Also, we had a group from Heartland Baptist with us that week. Whew…grand times! They were really cool. I have friendships that will last a long time. *Shout out to Grace*. I don’t think I’ve EVER met someone who is so much like me. Sounds weird but it is true. I’m so so thankful to God for letting our paths cross. Can’t wait till we see each other again! WATCH OUT, WORLD!

The preaching was amazing as always. We had about 6 preachers everyday. God spoke to me each and every time. We truly are blessed to have men of God here in Fairbanks to come out and preach to the teens.

I knew I should of written this sooner. My memory is running low. No Bueno. I have a TON of pictures to post, but unfortunately I don’t have them all at this time. So I’ll only post a few for now.

 

Paintball! 

One of our....slightly dangerous games

Liberty and I

Madelyns artwork

Inside Games

Nehemiah Preaching

Me, Grace and Lacey!

CRAZY!!  

Tape Shyanne? Greatest idea so far!

PART of our fabulous cabin

We are weird

The one, the only.....4AM GANG! 

P.S. My birthday is in 5 days. If you would like to be a blessing, feel free to send me something.