Tender Mercies

Please no one hate me for saying this, but I have LOVED the hot summer we have had in Fairbanks. By hot I mean temperatures in the 80s.  It has been pretty crazy to have more than 30 days this summer with temperatures above 80, but I am not complaining. I know it has been hard for the forest fires, but this little California/Missouri girl likes her heat.  Hey, I even have a flip flop tan line! I guess this means this summer has been a success :) Well last Monday, August 12th, Marshall and I were running in our favorite place, Creamer's Field, when we saw it. Yes, we saw the dreaded sign of fall and winter.  Fall is a marvelous time in other places, but it only lasts a couple of weeks here.  But it truly was beautiful. Yellow leaves and all.  It has been a gorgeous summer, jam-packed full of hiking, camping, and 7 trips down to Anchorage.  I may not be ready for winter, but at least I have about a month of summer/fall left! So Happy Fall everyone!

"People are like stain glass windows. They glow and sparkle when it's sunny and bright, but when the sun goes down their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."  A few weeks ago I was at church with the nursery kids, and one girl had to use the bathroom. So I took her to the Ladies' room and after she was done, she looked at herself in the big, full-length mirror that is right by the bathroom door.  She stood there for a minute, tilted her head to the side, and said, "I am so prettyful." She didn't say it in a boastful or snobb-ish sort of way. It was all honesty, like she had listened to and believed her parents when they told her she was pretty. She is a gorgeous little 3 year old, there is no question about that.  I was so taken by her comment because so often, as girls get older that confidence wanes.  There is so much negative media influence on a women that makes one believe she is too thin, too fat, too short, has

Oh summers in Fairbanks, how I love thee!  Berry picking (I could go on for days about how much I love this), lots of sunshine, bike riding, running outside, and camping trips with the hubby. This past weekend we went out camping off of Chena Hot Springs Road, somewhere around mile 32.  It was a simple camping trip, but we just had a busy week and needed some alone time together out in nature.  We had spent Friday evening at the home of another soldier Marshall works with, picking raspberries from their yard and sharing some yummy food.  The raspberries were amazing, and some of them were turned into jam the next day! Our cupboard is now stocked with fireweed jelly, raspberry jam, and blueberry jam--all handpicked by us in Alaska.  It is awesome. Anyways, on Saturday morning we slept in and then Marshall and I rode his 4-wheeler for about an hour and a half.  His ATV isn't a super fancy one, nor did he pay lots of money for it. Actually, he got it for free.  So over the past 5 mo