Umm, seriously?

Who Knew

All my life I have spelled gratefulness wrong.
I just discovered that today.
One would think that since gratefulness is a form of great greatness, that it would keep consistent with g-r-e-a-t.
Nope.
g-r-a-t-e-f-u-l-n-e-s-s.

How strange.


grate·ful (grāt'fəl)
adj.

1. Appreciative of benefits received; thankful.
2. Expressing gratitude.
3. Affording pleasure or comfort; agreeable.

[From obsolete grate, pleasing, from Latin grātus.]

gratefully grate'ful·ly adv.
gratefulness grate'ful·ness n.

A Sign from God (apparently)

So for the past two years, I have led a small group called Thursday Morning Bible Study for high school girls. I am continually amazed that these girls pull themselves out of bed to meet at Panera before school every Thursday morning. Well this coming Thursday will be the first day of school. I had two ladies, Hayley and Karis ask me if we can have bible study that Thursday. I told them we would wait a week so it wouldn't be too much since it is their first day of school and all. Well these girls found a way to protest my decision.

I get home from watching the Olympics. I'm home alone, 11:00pm and get a call leading me to look in my back yard. As I look out, this is what I see...
This sign was a list of ingredients for a good bible study. Some were: Panera, free bagels, coffee spills, 1 spoonful of love, late arrivals, etc. Very Creative!

One last plea...So after considering the fact that high school girls were begging me to have bible study, I caved. Bible study is happening. This Thursday. 7am. You win, high school girls. You always do.

Creatures of Alaska

Creatures of Alaska
So while in Alaska, I have had some first hand encounters with quite few new species. Some more dangerous than others. Here is a brief rundown on some of my new critter friends.

Halibut

These funny looking fish have both eyes on one side of their head. We took an all day fishing trip to catch these little nasties. They taste yummy though.



Moose


Apparently, moose kill more people than bears in Alaska. We have seen these sad looking horses roaming around our house in the morning. From what we have been told, they kill people by stomping them to death. Umm, scary.




Killer Whale

OK- this was really cool. While on an early morning fishing trip, 25+ killer whales started showing up and swimming around us. Some of them even jumped out of the water and did a little show for us. It was incredible.



Sting Ray

Leslie, Will, and my dad managed to catch a sting ray while fishing for halibut. These suckers do not come in easily either. We were happy to throw them back in the water but they were really cool to see up close.





Bear

I think the coolest creatures we have encountered have been the bears. On a fishing trip, one came within 5 feet of our boat! They are so fun to watch but I felt a little more comfortable seeing them from far away rather than swimming up to our boat.




Captain Bob

So captain Bob was one interesting creature. I was a little creeped out by him but I guess he knew what he was doing. Just try not to catch sting ray or else he gets really moody.




There were other critters such as eagles, salmon, trout, and mosquitoes. I didn't want to make this TOO long and lose your interest.

Before your eyes glaze over, take a close look at the picture below

Drovers' Rovers

Yes, everyone in this picture is wearing a matching shirt saying "Drovers' Rovers." Linnea (in the blue shirt) came prepared with a personalized shirt and coolie cup for every person in our group. We went out to dinner wearing our gear. It was quite hilarious.




Well I think that wraps up some of the wildlife we have encountered. Tomorrow is our last full day here and then we are headed home. I'm not really looking forward to the 90 degree weather and humidity waiting but I am ready to re-establish life in Columbia after an extremely busy summer.

Over and Out...

Alaska Update

Vacation has been pretty sweet.
It started off a little spooky when I found out that a trail that I ran on in Anchorage was notorious for bear attacks... No wonder nobody else was on it!

Anyway, we headed to our place in Soldatna, Alaksa. It quite a nice little place!

Today was the best day so far though. After taking a little plane to a remote lake, we fished for Salmon for most of the morning. After that, we went to a part of the lake where bears are commonly seen. And did we see them... 4 of them! One came about 5 feet from our boat! We got to see them fish, play, eat, and stare us down a bit. It was so incredible. Here are a few pics so far. Enjoy!

Airport Ooops

Almost there!

For those who may not know, my entire family is in Alaska right now. Well actually, we’re on a 6 hour plane ride on our way into Anchorage. Despite my father’s meticulous vacation planning, he could not anticipate the first minor crisis in our travels… locking the keys in the car AT the airport.

As we pulled into the KC airport to unload our luggage, no one thought about preventing such a juvenile mistake. We unloaded our suitcases like confident, professional travelers. With a final slam of the trunk, an eerie silence fell as we all tried to open our doors. As we peered through the windows of our locked car, we could see the keys in the ignition- pulled out just enough to where the car would allow itself to lock. (Nice one Will.)


After the realization set in, I immediately called my good friends at AAA and requested some breaking-in assistance. I was a little worried they would remember me from when I called two nights ago for the same reason. They responded quickly with not one truck- but TWO. Apparently the KCI “Car Care” service got called as well so we had two young men as well as a police officer trying to break into Gary’s precious Caddy. After about 30 minutes, The Cadillac released its hold and let us in. My mother responded with cheers and hugs for the new-found heroes of our vacation.

So we’re on our way. I’m pretty excited. More blogs to come!