New Adventure of Life

Last night we lost power. Normally when we lose power it comes on rather quickly, but this time it lasted around 19-20 hrs. James and I had to sleep in the cold with no heat, but we were thankful that our uncle had a generator hooked up to his house and it was keeping the house warm. It was nice to be able to come over this morning and have it be warm, but eventually it was just getting to cold and he had to get a kerosene heater and turn on to warm up the house. It's hard to realize that we take things for granted. We take our electricity, water, and heat as if we should never have a problem. Yes we have to pay for those things, but sometimes things happen that no one knows about and it drives you crazy because it's an inconvenience not to have our morning shower or a fresh pot of coffee. Even to be able to flush the toilet is a big deal when you can't use. We get frustrated when the person who is in charge of the electric just doesn't fix it. I wonder how that perso

I enjoy watching it snow, which is a good thing since I live in Alaska.  I grew up in Michigan, so I have been around the snow my whole life. This year the snow seems different to me. I hated it when it would snow back home because that meant I had to drive in it. This year I don't have a vehicle to drive, I only have a snowmachine (which is what people in Alaska call snowmobile).  I have had to learn how to drive a snowmachine, which has been very interesting to me. The first time I tried learning I hated it. I mean I was determined that I wanted nothing to do with them at all. Well the only sad thing is if I wanted to go anywhere I would have to learn how to drive one. One day James and I were at the post office with a different snowmachine, I decided I need to learn how to drive it, because I would need to be able to go somewhere if he wasn't around. I drove home from the post office and I will admit that it wasn't that bad. I've just been trying to be confident to d

I've have been married for a year and a half and for the last year of it I was always getting asked if I was pregnant yet. My answer would always be no I am not. I remember my last 6 months at work I was always asked at least 3 days a week multiple times a day. I even had someone tell me congratulations because of some joke that kept going on from some people I hung out with at work. I finally decided I had enough of it because it hurt me deep down when I would have to tell people I am not pregnant. I wanted to be pregnant, but I knew that it was not the time for James and I to start trying for a baby. We were getting ready to move from MI to AK, we couldn't afford a baby and the stress of me being pregnant when we were about to make this big move. When I got to Alaska, I got asked a couple of times if I was pregnant yet and I would have say no. About 2 months had past before I was asked the question again, the answer was still no. To this day I still get people asking me if I&

Father/Daughter dance This picture was taken 6 months before my dad had his open heart surgery. I will not forget the weekend that he went into the hospital with chest pain. It was Friday night and James had gone to Illinois to go help his dad move into his new house and I was at home babysitting my niece and nephews. My sister and her husband went out for her birthday which was that coming Monday and it also was the weekend that they moved in with James and I.     I had just got the kids asleep and was reading a book when I got the phone call from my mom. She called to tell me that she was taking my dad into the hospital because he was having chest pain. My dad had a heart attack 6 years prior to this. Anyways my mom couldn't drive since she had just taken medicine so she called my uncle. My uncle and his wife came and picked my mom and dad up and drove them to the hospital. My mom said she would call back when they get the results back from whatever test they were taking. Sh

Christmas Time 2009 This Christmas season is going to be a little hard on me. I haven't been away from my family for Christmas my whole life. My family always opened our gifts on Christmas eve and we would have a "big" present on Christmas morning waiting for us under the tree. During the day on Christmas eve my sibling and I would do whatever we had to do. (I don't remember what we did during the day). At night we would eat our dinner and then go Christmas caroling to all of our pastors houses from church and then to our grandparents houses. After we got done caroling we would come home and get ready to open our gifts. Now there are six kids in my family, so we either started youngest to oldest or oldest to youngest. When you add my brother-in-law into this for me it didn't matter what direction we went because I would have three before me in either direction. After we all finished opening our gifts we would be sent to bed for the night and we were not allowed

root canal  A while ago I wrote that I had a fear that I will wake up in the morning and my face would be swollen because of my teeth. At the end of September, James and I went to a retreat for missionaries and since we are in the process of trying to become apart of this certain organization we were able to go. Well they had a dentist there for the missionaries that can't afford to go into town and get what they need done. James' aunt and uncle knew that I need mouth work done, so they told the people organizing it to put me down first since I was only staying one day and I had stuff I needed done.  I went at 10 am and didn't leave until 3:30pm. I had a half hour for lunch, but other then that I sat in a dental chair for 5 hrs. I ended up have 2 root canals and 2 fillings. Well now I don't have to wake up in fear anymore about my face being swollen.

The 2000 piece puzzle My husband absolutely loves puzzle. Me I absolutely hate them, unless they are the easy children types of puzzles. James finds them so relaxing. He could just sit and do puzzle all day if he was allowed. I on the other hand find them extremely stressful. I have to quit after five minutes because it just bugs me. A couple of weekends ago James' started a 2000 piece puzzle in the middle of the kitchen table. Not a big deal when there is very little going on, but when you have 8 people to feed it gets a little hard to eat at the table. It was only the table from Friday to Wednesday. I would occasion help him try and get it done, but like i said i would have to stop after a few. Well on Wednesday he needed to take care of the puzzle, but he wanted to get it done. So while he was at work on Wednesday I made myself sit down and work on his puzzle. I didn't get on the computer at all until he came home and could take over. I probably worked on it for about fiv

So today I needed to go to the post office because I was mailing my 3 younger sisters presents just for the fun of it. So before I went to the PO I stopped at the store and then I had to go put gas in the van.  Well putting gas in the van for me was a first for me here in my village. I didn't really remember completely how to get to the gas station. I knew the general area, and then I get there and it is completely not a "normal" gas station. Anyways I got the gas which cost $6.80/gallon which is a lot more then what I paid the last time I put gas in any vehicle. Well after I did that I went to the post office and mailed my package to my sisters. On the way home I had to stopped behind the bus twice. I see the bus drive around almost everyday, but I guess I just went later then usual to run my errands. The getting "stuck" behind the bus was my 2nd first for the day here in the village.

A Beautiful sunset The Russian Mountains I love mountains and I love looking at them. Today as I was heading to the post office to check mail I decided to take a different way. I am so glad I did. The view of the clouds on top of the mountains was amazing. I wish I had my camera with me so I could share it with everyone. It was the coolest looking cloud. I don't even know how to describe it, but it was kinda like a think spiral coming out of the mountain. It was skinning at the bottom and it got bigger as it went higher and touched the other clouds.  Almost everyday when I go to the other side of town I am always amazed at the mountains. I thank God for sending me James and having him called out here to Alaska. I so thankful that I get to see them almost everyday. The only days I don't get to see them is when I don't leave the house. 

This morning I woke up missing a special 3 year old boy. My nephew Jack.  I was thinking about when he wanted to help me with laundry once in awhile. He would go downstairs with me without socks on I normally had my slippers on since it was cold. We get downstairs to flip the load of cloths over but Jack would not move because he needed my slippers so his feet didn't get cold. Well I would give him my slippers so he could help me. He always helped but clothes in the washer after I put the soap in. I miss having him help me do a bunch of random cleaning projects around the house. He would always want to help James and I clean our room especially when we started to pack for moving to Alaska. In our room we had an airplane mailbox that was from our wedding which our cards were put in. Jack loved finding anything in that airplane. He found enjoyment in it. When we moved we left it with him since it was to big to pack. I don't know what my sister did with it. I just remember opening

When I was around 14ish my older sister got married, so I ended up with my own room. None of my 3 younger sisters wanted to share a room, also I really didn't want to share haha. Anyways, we use to have this piano that sat in our living room. Whenever we would have a lot of people come over my mom would put this piano in my room. Okay this isn't a piano that is easy to move, it was big and tall upright piano. After a while my mom just left in my room and it started to collect junk. What I remember about this piano is that when I was really bored I would sing using a brush or my tooth brush and I would stand on the bench playing music really loud and singing louder then the music. The songs I usually sang the most were by Point of Grace. (I use to love them when I was younger.)  Lately I have been having flashbacks of my childhood. James' aunt is always playing music so when I hear a certain song in my head I'm like oh that's a song my mom would play and it would mea

Lately I have been addicted to Amazon.com. I have been finding some awesome deals there. I look for stuff that James and I can use/ need for life out here in Alaska because I can't just hop in a car a go to the store. I just bought us some awesome rain boats. I got BOGS and James got some Kamiks. I spent just under $100 for both pair when originally my bogs would cost over $100. I love finding different things on that website. I look there for pretty much anything. They have a thing called subscribe and save. You can buy canned food or box food on there and if you scribe to it you save some money and they will mail it to you every month or whenever you want them to. I haven't done any of that yet because I don't know where I'll be in a month, but I know as soon as I get settle and start my own home I can do shopping online since I won't be able to go into Anchorage as much. I haven't been to a "real" store for over 2 months now. It's totally weird 

A few weeks ago, someone asked me what the meaning of my name is and if I fit what my name means. A few of the meanings of Rebecca that I found were, To tie, to bind, beautiful, desirable, shy but confident with friends, favored by the Lord, a servant of God. There is also captivating and peacemaker. I guess that it just depends on where you look to find the meaning. My name is a Hebrew name. In the Bible Rebekah was married to Isaac.  I decided to also look up the meaning of my middle name, which is Lynn. I have found a couple of different meanings. It means, waterfall, beautiful, from the lake. I don't know what the true meaning of either is, For Rebecca, beautiful comes up a lot when I look. When I also look in the Bible it says that Rebecca was very beautiful, also had a servants heart. From the list that I had found of my name, I say that I fit about more then half   of what my name means. Now when I looked for my middle name I didn't have a clue what I would find. When wa

Since I have been here in Alaska, I learned one thing that will be really important to me in order to feed my family. I canned fish. Salmon actually. It was so disgusting at the beginning. Having to cut the fish into chunks and then put them into jars. I hate fish. I don't like the taste of it, seriously it makes me feel sick every time I eat it. James' aunt has fish in the rotation of meals for every 3rd night. So when I know that day for fish is here I can prepare myself. I try to eat more before dinner, or I end up eating more after dinner. I can only handle a very small amount of the fish. There are days that we use the can fish for salmon crackers. All you do is make the salmon in the jars like you do tuna fish and eat it with crackers. They use pilot bread to eat the salmon with. I can't eat that kind of bread since it's to hard for my teeth. Anyways I can eat the can salmon a little better then I can a filet piece of salmon. The next time I jarred was recently. I

Lately I have had fear that I will wake up in the morning with a swollen face. I know that seems strange to have that fear, but I seriously haven't been able to sleep at night lately. Ever since I woke up in Anchorage 2 months ago with a swollen face, I still feel like I'm gonna wake up with my big face. My teeth are still sensitive, I need a ton of fillings, a crown, and a bridge/replacement tooth. I need a lot of work done and I don't have the money to do it. I think part of my fear is that I live in the middle of nowhere so to say. Yes there is a dentist here in the village, but they are most likely extremely expensive. In order to go to the dentist, I have to buy a plane ticket and then pay for my visits to the dentist. I try really hard to get rid of this fear, but its really hard. There are days when I can't tell if it's my tooth hurting or if its my sinuses acting up. James' aunt told me that  I should try taking so ibuprofen before I go to bed. So tonigh

Yesterday I got to talk to two of my good friends yesterday on facebook. It made me realize that I miss my friends. I've been here in Alaska for almost 2 months and haven't seen my friends since before I came here to Alaska and some not since college. There are days here that I get really bored and some days I make myself busy that the day flies right on by. I can't just call up a friend and ask them to hang out. There are days I wish I could call up my friend and ask them to go with me to the mall, but I can't. I  can skype with them (if my sound decides to work on my computer.) I am glad I came with James to Alaska. I don't regret us coming at all. Some days I wish I could just go home because I miss everyone. I love my husband and I thank God for bringing him into my life. James became one of my best friends. There are very few people that I can talk to about anything. James is one of them. Yes I have a hard time every now and then telling him whats on my mind, b

Okay, when we moved here to Alaska, James' Uncle Bill was building a place for James and I to stay while we are here. Well it wasn't completely done. So we have been sleeping in the boys room. Well this past Saturday we moved in. We had no electric or heat. We took the boy's mattresses out to sleep on them since the one that James' Aunt Wanda order hasn't come in yet. Let's just say the first night was an adventure. We have no power so we have to use a flashlight to get ready for bed. No heat so I had about 3 blankets on me. I got no sleep that first night because of dogs barking and people talking/yelling loud enough to where if I paid close enough attention I could probably tell you the conversation. After church Sunday, Uncle Bill got the electric hooked up so we now have light and a place to plug in our alarm clock (which is our old cell phone) so James could get up for work in the morning. We still have no heat don't no when we will get it. There is als

This past week, I have been getting utility bills in the mail here in Alaska. The thing is they are from my house in Michigan. My sister and her family moved in with James and I back in November 2010 and decided to take over the rent when we moved here. Well she was going to switch the all the bills in her name, but hadn't gotten around to it. I did a change of address at the post office and didn't really think about if they changed the name in the bills. Anyway James and I were at the post office picking up our mail and he is looking through it and saw our gas bill from consumers energy. So I got online messaged my sister and she said she would take care of it not to worry. On Monday I went to the post office to go see if our checks and/or debit cards had come in yet, I really needed them to come in because I have bills (student loans, life insurance) to pay. I had the money in my bank, but I had no way to pay them with out the checks. Well I got excited because they both came

Yesterday, 8-7-11, was an interesting day for me. I was happy one minute and then mad then crying because i'm being mean to my husband, to realizing why all of this was going on inside me. Anyways... poor James had to deal with my change in thinking. I was getting mad at him for no reason. As he sat patiently in our room waiting for me to start talking, which I really didn't want to do, but he didn't listen when I told him to leave me alone. When I look back I'm glad he didn't leave. He has learned that I get mad at him for leaving me. I tell him that he is ignoring me, but then again I get mad if he stays around me. He has been able to read me and is able to tell what he should do, stay or leave. Well yesterday he decided to stay. When I started talking, it came out that I just wanted to go "home" back to Michigan. I wanted to be near my family. Mostly my niece and nephews. Yes I miss my siblings and my parents, etc..., but it was mostly my niece and neph

My friend CiJi and I are doing a 30 day picture challenge. It was on facebook for awhile, but i decided  it would be better to put on here instead. So I will be putting the pictures up every few days to let you all see my progress. Day 1- Self- portrait, Day 2- What you wore today, Day 3 - Clouds, Day 4- Something green, Day 5- From high angle, Day 6- From low angle. Now here are the Pictures.

Today I made some chocolate chip cookies. As I was getting ready to put my last batch in the oven, I realize that I have made cookies at least 2 or 3 other times since being here in Alaska. Okay there is more to my realization then just that. What I really realized was that I didn't have 3 different pairs of hands helping me.  Before I moved here to Alaska, my niece and nephews you lived with my husband and I. Oh and their parents lived with us too. Anyways back on what I talking about. It use to take me forever just to make the cookie dough because I had 3 different  hands helping me. Well today I was amazed that it didn't take me as long to make the cookie dough. I also realize I miss those 3 little munchkins a lot. I miss them helping me bake in the kitchen, or bugging me when I say "I think I want to make cookies or I want to make brownies" Sometimes I didn't really want to bake them, I just wanted them to appear in front of me because they sounded good. All t

Okay, so this past weekend James' aunt went to town (Anchorage). We have been living with his aunt and uncle for almost 3 weeks now. Well anyways, while she was in town his uncle made a few dinners and then he was busy so I had offered to make a couple of meals. One night I made a chicken and rice casserole or in my mom's term "farting chicken". James is uncle and cousins loved it. Well we got to talking about what we should have on Sunday for lunch/dinner. So James went and stared at the freezer on Saturday to see what was there. We decided upon a moose roast. Yes I did say a moose roast. Let me just say that when I made my first pot roast shortly after James and I got married I had cheated a little. I had use a pot roast seasoning mix that you buy from the store. Well I knew that my mom would sometimes use the Lipton's onion soup mix in hers, but we didn't have any of that here. (James' aunt went to Anchorage for grocery's). I ended up making my own

So as sit here I'm thinking about my birthday. This year is going to be different. Not just because I'm in Alaska and not home with my family. Growing up I celebrated my birthday away from home. Some were at summer camp. I had my aunt there and my cousins since they either were working or attending that week. My sixteenth birthday I took my first plane ride ever and went down to Guyana, South America. All the other years I might have been home with family, but I honestly couldn't tell where I was for my birthday before my ninth birthday. This my birthday is going to be different because I am in Alaska with my husband starting our new life. He's the only family that I need. I do miss my family in Michigan and Georgia and my in-laws in Illinois. But when I married James he became the only family that I do need in my life. I don't need my family around me celebrating my birthday. I want it but I don't need it. This year I'll be celebrating my 23rd birthday with

Well, I've been going down the road of life trying to trust God in every situation. I'm praying and hoping that my husband can get a job soon, seeing since we are out of money and have bills still coming, mostly my student loans. I'm struggling with all of this just because James doesn't have a job yet. I'm sure I wouldn't be as stressed out if we had some money flow coming in.   During all of this I think back to when my dad had his open heart surgery 9 months ago. My mom was also trusting and believing that God would provide during that time. My parent's had bills coming in and had no money to pay them. My dad had his surgery on the monday before thanksgiving in 2010. My mom would come home during the week stay and there would be money in the mail for her and it was always enough to get her through.  I wish I could be like my mom and have the faith that she did. I've been very emotional during all of this. I haven't gotten a good night rest since

Well, since we got to be in Anchorage for a week we did get to be tourist. James and I walked downtown one of the days and got postcards for a few of our family members. We also got to go up on Flat Top, which is a mountain. We had a lot of fun. I got to see my first moose even though it was out in the distance.  If you look closely you can see a little dark spot and that would be the moose.   Now let's fast forward to Aniak. I am going on  my third day here so far. The first day we got here, I was miserable. I had a tooth pulled about two hours before we flew out here. But that night for dinner we James's aunt made  halibut chowder for dinner. It was interesting taste for me. I am not a fish fan and I know that I am going to have to learn to eat it. Then last night I got to try moose. It was pretty good. I couldn't really tell a difference between moose and cow. The only reason I knew that it was moose when I as eating it was because I saw a package on the counter that mor

Well James and I made it to Alaska safely early Tuesday (6-28). Are plans were to stay in Anchorage until Thursday (6-30) then fly out to Aniak. Well our plans ended up changing due to me having a swollen face when I woke up that morning.  We called James' aunt and got a number for a dentist here in Anchorage. We make an appointment thinking that they could just pull my tooth and I could be on my way. Oh man were we wrong. the Doctor told me that he didn't advise us leaving today and to come back in a couple days. Well it just so happens that it's a holiday weekend, which means the earliest I could get in is on Tuesday (7-5) at 11am. Well we call his aunt to let her know what was going on. We had to figure out a way to get a hold of James' uncle since he was the one picking us up. We didn't want him to make a wasted trip in if it could be avoided. Now we just get to spend the next 5 days getting ready to finish our move. I do have to  say, that even with this whole

So, I have been struggling this past week. The time came to where I had to say goodbye to my family in Michigan. When I was saying goodbye to my niece I just got really teary eye. She was giving me a hug and wasn't letting go. My older nephew gave me a hug and was being really strong about it. See he always had a hard time when I left or my older brother would leave for college. My brother and I went to college out of state in Tennessee. My nephew always had that hard time with us leaving. My younger nephew just thought it was more of a game. He ran around the house and outside in the yard until my husband caught him to give him a hug. I was in tears the whole 4 blocks to my parents house. I am going to miss those kids so much. I can't wait until I can see them again. After we said our goodbyes to my parents and little sisters we left for Illinois. I've been sick and being emotional the past few days. My poor husband doesn't know what to do with me. We leave for Alaska

  The time is drawing near for me to leave my home state and move and start a life in a new state. People are always asking how I'm feeling about this big move. I'm always saying I'm excited, nervous, and that I'm ready to get out of Michigan. Today I finish my last day of work and I got hit with the realization that in just a little more than two weeks that I will be boarding an airplane heading to my new home in Alaska. I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to get extremely freaked out. My poor husband is having a hard time dealing with my different emotions. One minute I'm happy excited to leave and then the next thing I'm crying because I realize what I am leaving behind.     This past week I've been trying to do something with my niece and nephews since its my last week really with them.They are going to be gone visiting my brother and his family during my last week in Michigan and when they get back I'll be leaving the next day. I have watch

This weekend I went to Illinois to visit/ surprise my mother-in-law for mothers day. I was having a great time down there when my best friend CiJi text me saying grandpa was being rushed to the hospital. When I got this text I was at Aldi's. I just stopped whatever I was doing to pray like she asked me too since it didn't look good. After I have left Aldi's my mother-in-law had to run to one more store before we got home. When we were at this store I got the text from CiJi say "He didn't make it" Everything around me just stopped. This was my "grandpa" he has been part of my life for as long as CiJi and I been friends. When my own grandpa past away, he brought me into his family with open arms. I was one of his "girls" He might not be with us today here on earth, but I know he is enjoying every minute up in Heaven with Jesus.    The rest of my night was rough. I was numb. every time I saw a new update in my news feed on facebook I just st

Well James and I have 2 months left to go until we leave for Alaska. God has  been really good to us lately. James was talking to his Uncle Bill who we will living with. He was telling James that since we have applied with the mission organization we should be  able to to stay at the missionary house in Anchorage until Uncle Bill flies in with the plane. Bill will be able to fly us over to aniak  for free. So pretty much once we get there the only expense that we will have is for our food and whatever shopping that we need to do. I'm really excited to be moving, but as it gets closer I start to freak out some for the fact that i am leaving my family and my home town. I grew up in the same house for 20 years. I have lived in my small town/ city my whole life. when i was in college my parents moved across town and i stay in that house for a year. I have to say I will miss this small town in Michigan, but i can't wait to see the new village that waits for me in Alaska.   

So I have an addiction to Easter bunnies, milk chocolate and hollow Easter bunnies. My husband finds it sometimes annoying since whenever I go to the store I buy a bunny if not more. I'm not sure what I'll do once Easter is over. I guess I will have to find some other chocolate to eat. I don't know why I have this addiction, but every year as soon as the Easter candy is out I look for my chocolate bunnies.  I don't believe in the Easter bunny. And I know why we celebrate this Holiday. Some people call it Easter and others call it Resurrection Sunday. I believe that Jesus came to earth to die on a cross to save us from our sins and that he rose again the third day. I may call it Easter, but at the same time it is still Resurrection Sunday to me.    

The past couple weeks I have been really slacking on packing up everything for my move to AK. I realize that I have more stuff then i thought. I don't know what I'm going to to with a lot of it. Mail it to ourselves, store it, or give it to somebody. I thought James and I had a lot of it taken care, but as we start grabbing stuff to put in our bedroom so we can pack it we find out we have more then when we first thought.  My mother in law has been really helpful by letting us store all they stuff we won't need right away in her garage. We have some totes that need to mail, but we will probably wait until sometime in may to do that.   I cannot wait until we get all of our packing done it will be a great burden off of us.  Well I should probably end so I can get to some cleaning and packing. :/

Today(4-10-11) was a real eye opener for me. It dawned on me that I will be moving all the way to Alaska.  I'll be leaving me family in Michigan and my in-laws in Illinois. My husband James is very excited to be moving, he sometimes wishes we are there now. I am excited to be starting this new chapter and adventure with my husband, i'm also kinda scared and nervous. Today we cooked breakfast for the teens in our youth group and i realize that it was our last breakfast with them. We are coming to an end of our time here in MI, but that also means we are closer to the new time in AK. People who know me can see right through me when they ask me how are you doing with this getting ready to move. My dad asked me yesterday and i'm not gonna lie i started to get tears in my eyes because i realize its becoming more true every day how much closer it is for me to be gone.James and I fly out of chicago at the end of june to start our new life together.