Thursday, March 26, 2009

Hit the ground running

Just to let you know, last night we flew out of Anchorage into Seattle. God's grace to us was evident. All things are under His command and power including volcanos. Mt Redoubt in Alaska was stilled until this morning when it errupted twice with a 12 mile high ash plume and greater later. I am not sure if ash fell in Anchorage, but some planes were delayed. Thank you those of you who prayed.

With a rest in Seattle on a hideabed sans pillows our only furniture left except a table and chairs, we are running around today trying to clean up and out of our condo by next week. More later.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Chillin Out

Jeff and I at Hatcher's Pass with Raptor in background

The morning the mover’s arrived to clear out our condo, we headed to the airport to fly to Anchorage Alaska and on to Palmer to attend grandson Andrew’s state hockey championships, squirt D Division. The flight was smooth and the view from our side of the plane, the right side was spectacular, a clear view of the snow covered mountains and coast line. The next day, while the weather was clear, we headed to Hatcher’s Pass to experience the near pristine mountains and view of the Mat-su Valley. Jeff showed us the cabins where one Mythbuster’s episode tested cabin fever in the middle of nowhere. They joke that they live “15 minutes from the middle of nowhere.”

"cabin in the middle of nowhere"


Andrew at the Alaska state hockey championships Squirt D


But the real reason we dropped everything and headed to Alaska was our promise to come and watch him play in the state championships, since we saw him over a year ago play in his first ever hockey game. Their team played great, placing third and we chilled out at the rink for four days.

The day of the semifinals the volcano Redoubt blew and the ash headed north not northeast to our direction. Pray for God's grace to us that it won’t blow and prevent us from leaving Anchorage tomorrow night. We don’t want to chill out at the airport too long when we need to get moving.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

A blur

It's been a blur this last month, a trip to Vancouver, back to the islands, then to Seattle several times, trying to distribute the stuff in the condo. We now have renters for three and a half years, provision in these economic times. The day the mover came to get everything out, we took off for Alaska. There will be a break for a bit with the blog. We are going too fast to even see anything clearly - except the faithfulness of God.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Storms ahead

Storm ahead as we traveled South to Seattle several weeks ago


It seems like we have been in a storm ever since we returned to Seattle from the West Indies in December. We arrived in the middle of a huge snow storm not finding our way back to the condo until 4 am. However, the worst storm was the emotional one around Neil’s mom’s death a few weeks later. Then it was the bleak financial forecast precipitating moving out of our condo in order to rent it out.

As we headed to Seattle once again from the San Juan Islands a week or so ago, there was a near blizzard east of Lopez Island to I-5 north of Marysville WA. The snow suddenly stopped with not a trace except for the ominous dark clouds ahead. We had a short break arriving at our condo and slept through the snowfall that came in the night. The morning revealed beautifully white laced trees and a quiet still scape that lasted a day.
It seems this is the way it is with us, a scurry of activity and storms, a break for a bit giving us renewed strength for more to come.
Thank you God for your provision of breaks that give rest, time for reflection, renewal and peace to plan clearly. Help us to always be aware of your presence and provison in our lives whether it is stormy or calm.

“Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the earth." Matthew 28:20