Tender Mercies

(Just a random picture from July at a church BBQ & 5K) Compared to many couples, I feel like Marshall and I are pretty traditional. On the one hand, he goes to work everyday, makes sure the cars are running properly, works with the youth in our church, and still has time to open the door for me and tell me he loves me. I, on the other hand, only coach ice skating part time so that I have time to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him, keep the house & laundry tidy, and to be available whenever he may need me. I probably should add a disclaimer here: Marshall is by no means incompetent of taking care of himself. We see our roles as husband and wife as separate but equal . I could work full time if I wanted to, and he would support me. Some might think I should be furthering my career because we don't have children yet, but I have thought long and hard about my working full time, and feel like it would not strengthen our marriage if I had a full time job. That said, I

Its funny how many life lessons you can find while participating in athletics.  I had a realization today during my morning workout with Marshall as we were running through the birch forest behind our apartment: Pick your plan of action before beginning, then proceed as outlined. Let me explain. Before a run, it can be tempting to say, "I am just going to see where my run takes me." The danger with this sort of workout plan, or lack thereof, is that when you start to feel your muscles burn and your heart rate increase, it is tempting to turn around and run back home. We all know that improvement in any area, including fitness, doesn't come without hard work and sometimes pain, sweat, and tears.  Our backyard! This is one of the many trails in the birch & boreal forest behind our house that we love to run on.   Before we headed out this morning, I asked him what we were going to run.  After discussing it for a minute, we made a plan and then beg

 Don't mind the crooked picture. The rock obviously needs to practice his photography skills! The weekend forecasted temperatures in the mid to high-70s.  Yes, summer decided to stay for at least one more weekend, so we had to take advantage of it.  Only in Alaska do you take advantage of every summery moment, and dread winter when it is only August 10th, while those in the lower 48 are suffering the worst drought the United States has seen in years. So after work on Friday afternoon, we drove an hour north of Fairbanks to the Chena Recreation area and began our 15 mile hike of Granite Tors.  We made it an overnight backpacking trip so that we would be able to enjoy ourselves a little more.  This was my first backpacking trip in about 5 years, so I was pretty excited.  Lucky for me, my husband is a stud when it comes to camping/hiking stuff, and he packed my pack for me, so I didn't have to worry about it. 15 miles may not seem like a lot for a hike, but it was b

 World records. Childhood dreams fulfilled.  Athletes surpassing the unthinkable.  The thrill of victory.  Winning by one one-hundredth of a second.  Need I go on?  They only come around every two years, but each time, the Olympic Games have me glued to the TV for two weeks. The news commentators may go over the top in their dramatizations of the US athletes' stories, but I love every one.  I love it even more when the athletes are humble about their accomplishments, giving the praise to their parents, their god, and their own hard work. It is for this reason that I have more respect for Michael Phelps at the London games than in Beijing.  He matured a lot between Games and has become a more likable athlete.  Below are a list of some of my all-time favorite Olympic moments (in no particular order): 1) Beijing 2008: Michael Phelps beat Cavic in the 100M Fly by the narrowest of margins. I remember watching it with Hannah at midnight, squeezing each other and yelling

July 20th marked two months of me living in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska. And in all honesty, you could say it was my two month mark of being a wife (since I spent the majority of the first 6 months of marriage away from my husband).Needless to say, it has been a little tricky getting into the swing of things. Before I moved to Alaska, my life was like a pile of dirt that hadn't been moved in a while - all the dirt was settled and the pile was compacted and easy to manage. I had a wonderful group of friends, lived with my sister and cousins, loved my job as a figure skating coach, was a full time college student who knew the drill, and loved Missouri. But then I graduated college and left everything to become an Army wife in a state that is 3500 miles away from everything familiar to me. It was as though my neat a tidy pile of dirt was thrown up into the air. I have had to readjust to being a wife, not having a job, not having my close friends, and relying on faith and patienc