Browsing Tag

school is cool

Alaska

November 14th

14 November 2014

IMG_0095Aloha Friday.

I woke up nice and early, which is quite rare these days. At a dark 6 am, I got out of bed and laid in front of the heater. I’m so grateful for our heater so that I don’t have to freeze! Someday we’ll have a wood stove and that will be ever so lovely.

I’m grateful for beautiful mornings. And for a puppy who gets us going in the morning.IMG_0099

I’m grateful that I said YES to a phone call for substitute teaching at the school in the Russian village, Nikolaevsk! When I was little we lived right by the Russian village in a little cabin and we had so many great forts in the woods. Today was my first day of substitute teaching. It was great. Really great.

IMG_0111The school is so unique, with maybe like 70 kids K-12. There is focus on preserving the Russian culture and remembering the Old Believers. Not all the kids are Russian of course, but it was great because I felt like I was in a different place. It was all new and exciting and the kids were really great.

The half hour drive in the North Fork wilderness was beautiful and brought back lots of memories. So I’m really grateful for how all of that worked out. IMG_0118

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I am especially grateful for the inspiration of the spirit, and that I followed the spirit and made a salad for the ward Thanksgiving dinner. :) I didn’t feel like using the salad spinner (because I don’t like it very much) and I didn’t feel like cutting up veggies (I was being a sloth), but I felt like I should so I did. And pretty much it was like the only green salad there, so I’m glad I could make a nice contribution. :) IMG_0126

I’m grateful for our wonderful Homer ward and the lovely Thanksgiving party. I’m grateful for the crayons and paper leaves so that we could write down things we were thankful for. I’m especially grateful for the moment when little Katy came over and said, “Can you help my write ‘my sister’?” Goodness those two nieces of mine are so precious and such good sisters.IMG_0124

I’m thankful for texting and picture messages so that my siblings and I can stay in touch. :) I’m grateful for my in-laws and that I love them and they love me. I feel wonderful being in Chris’s family.

I’m grateful for movie time with Christopher — we watched Gattaca (the first ever dvd my family owned when I was a kid) and folded all the laundry, which is great! Grateful for Chris, who got me some chocolate gelato, which made movie/laundry time even better.

AND I’m grateful that our friend told us “the lights are out” and we got to watch the Northern Lights for a couple hours on a dark chilly hill under a beautiful sky. (This picture is obviously not an iPhone picture, like the rest of my pictures these days. Also, with the slower shutter speed, the camera captured a lot more light than we could see with our lovely eyeballs and supervision. We couldn’t see any pink, only green. Nevertheless, twas really beautiful and lovely.) The sky was magical with the northern lights and starry starry night.

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Alaska

November 6th

6 November 2014

Some days I make it difficult to get out of bed. This occurs when I’m feeling like a sloth and I don’t feel motivated to do much. This cycle often spirals downward. The results are not ideal. Well that kind of happened today. Annoying. Buuut it happens.

I’m grateful for a dog who reeeeeeally likes getting outside when we wake up. I’m grateful for this because I always enjoy these walks with Edel (and Christopher, and our kitty Bel sometimes). It is so beautiful and I’m especially grateful to watch the seasons changing this winter. IMG_9727

I’m grateful for our home and our clothes and our baskets and for my friendship bracelet making time today, which made me feel more productive than laying in front of the heater with Edel. And I’m so grateful I got all my substitute teacher paper work done! Yay.IMG_9732

 

I’m grateful we live sooooo close to the beach and the ocean! Chris and I took Edel down there tonight and it was delightful. The world is a beautiful place.

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Also, I am obviously no longer studying at the blessed BYU-Hawaii. I am soooo extremely grateful for the many classes I was able to take there, the lessons I learned, the professors who taught, friendly students, interesting subjects.. so grateful for it all. I do miss school. I am grateful for my peace building classes, oceanography, physiology, biology, world history, english, french literature, communications, anatomy, Eburne’s classes, anthropology, personal and family finance, physical science, volleyball, soccer, church history, doctrine and covenants, old testament, book of mormon… so many wonderful things I learn and hope to keep learning!