So I’ll admit it, I didn’t even come close to keeping this blog updated. I refuse to apologize though; I was alone with an infant and 1 year old most of the year and had to plan a move to Alaska by myself so the kids and I were a little busy J
We LOVE Alaska, winter and all. I guess this has been the coldest winter on record in awhile, but we haven’t really been bothered by it too much. I suppose if I had to go out in it every day, I would probably get annoyed, but the Marine doesn’t seem to mind it either and he does have to go out in it. I think this is the first place we have lived so far that we have honestly tossed around the idea of getting out of the Marine Corps and starting a new life here. I doubt that will happen, we’re almost half way done with his career so it would be stupid to leave now. However, we are looking into possibly purchasing a house here to rent out and keep until the Marine retires. We’ll see. We might just be excited at this new experience and realize we hate it at the end of the 3 years ;)
We have been slowly, but surely making some great new friends. We have great neighbors (that we even have a path plowed through the snow to get to them haha) and have met a few other couples through my bible study/mom groups and just putting ourselves out there to strangers. They call it the “Alaskan way”, but seriously, people.are.so.nice.here. It’s ridiculous J
The Marine is gone a lot, but that was to be expected. It is hard not being close to a base and weird to be the ONLY Marine Corps family for 140 miles. While we have made some great friends and are continuing to grow those relationships, I do get overwhelmed with loneliness sometimes. I feel like its different here, because when you are surrounded by your own “family” on base, they understand what you are going through (and are probably going through the same thing!) and don’t think twice if you just pack yourself and the kids up to go camp out at their house for a day…or two haha and do nothing at all just because you feel like you are going crazy in your own house. Recruiting definitely makes you realize what a close knit community the military is and I’m so thankful to be a part of it.
The past few months we have really just been getting settled here. We did go on vacation to Hawaii last month and it was fabulous! The one thing we couldn’t stop talking about when we got home was how it was the first vacation we have ever taken that truly felt like “vacation”. Normally we are running around trying to visit everyone and do things, but this time we just did whatever we wanted and it was sooo nice! Has definitely changed our mind on how future vacations will look like! We got home from Hawaii right before Christmas and had a quiet WHITE Christmas with just our little family before heading over to our friend’s house for an amazing dinner. Christmas is a season that is marked by the worship of Jesus and because of that we made some changes on how our future Christmas celebrations will look like.
“It starts with Jesus. It ends with Jesus. This is the holistic approach God had in mind for Christmas. It’s a season where we are called to put down our burdens and lift a song up to our God. It’s a season where love wins, peace reigns, and a king is celebrated with each breath. It’s the party of the year. Entering the story of advent means entering this season with an overwhelming passion to worship Jesus to the fullest.” – Advent Conspiracy
If you (and we’re speaking to you, Grandparents, haha) feel the need, you can spoil the kids on their birthdays, because that is a day to celebrate THEM. On Christmas, though, because it’s His birthday and not ours, we ask that you only get them ONE gift, and if you must, a small stocking stuffer would be okay too. While “Santa” will no longer be a part of our celebration (we will be educating them about the REAL St. Nicholas and his devotion to Jesus and the poor), those stockings will hold the party favors to our celebration of Jesus birth.
We understand that you enjoy spoiling the kids (and us!), but we ask that you join with us in teaching the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. Plus, we would much rather you use the money you save to put away towards coming to visit. We want you to invest time and memories with the kids rather than with toys they won’t remember a week from now ;) As Jesus said himself that if you give to the least of these, you are really giving to Him. As for Josh and I, we ask that instead of spending money on us, that you instead send a gift through Compassion International, or any other cause/charity that you see fit. http://www.compassion.com/catalog.htm.
We do know that for some people gifts are important to how you celebrate so if you must send a gift, we ask that you put a little love into a homemade gift or card and save that money towards visiting us as well. Memories with you all are much more valuable than anything we could ever receive!
January has been pretty boring so far (besides my little man walking!) Negative 20 and below temperatures pretty much keep us indoors most days. There is a ton of stuff to do around here for the kids though and most of it is free or less than $10 so it is nice to have those options for when we feel like we are going stir crazy. The most exciting thing this month was that we added a new member to our family, a 3 year old husky/malamute mix named Kona Delta. Her original name was Delta, but according to her previous owner, she never really answered to it, and we found that to be true as well. Her coloring reminds us of coffee, so Kona it is…reminds us of Hawaii as well ;) While she isn’t the easiest breed to own (they are like having another child), Kona is super sweet and actually pretty obedient. If you do your research enough on any breed before you get one, there is a lot you can do to make life much easier for everyone in the house. Apparently instead of doing what normal people do and buying a little souvenir for each place we move, we adopt an animal. Gizmo – Hawaii, Duchess – Virginia, and now Kona – Alaska. That habit needs to, no, MUST stop here haha
Well that’s more than enough of an update. Perhaps I’ll actually keep up with this thing now? I guess we’ll see next month!
