Tender Mercies

This is my backyard. If I would have slept in, I would have missed this beautiful moment in time.  4:15am. That is what time my body said, "wake up!"  Really?  On a Sunday? (I don't know if I should blame the morning sun. I am living in Alaska after all.) In all honesty, I need to show my gratitude for this. My body is naturally wired to being alert in the early hours, as opposed to after 8pm. Since my husband is three hours ahead of me right now, I knew I could talk to him without it being insanely early for him. Hearing his voice was very therapeutic because while I still  wanted to sleep, I didn't feel tired nor did I feel like getting up and being productive.  Productivity can begin after 5:30. But why would anyone in her right mind be grateful for waking up early? Here are my reasons: 1). The rest of the world is quiet . So I can hear myself think and ponder. Reading, studying, and praying in the early morning is more produ...

It's a pretty common thing to see a toddler with his baby blanket before nap or bedtime. Without it, there are often lots of tears and a child who is not able to fall asleep. I suppose Mom knew what she was doing when she told the babysitter, "As long as he has his blanket, he will be just fine." I have seen first-hand the night and day difference when a two year old has been reunited with a misplaced baby blanket.  My secret is out! You would think I had grown out of this phase by now. I did too! But I mentioned to my husband last night that I had not been sleeping very well lately, waking up every few hours and just not wanting to go to bed when bedtime rolls around. We have been apart many times before, but this month in particular has just been a long one! "Have you been sleeping with my blanket?" he asked over the phone. "Oh no, I haven't! How did I forget that?"  "Well maybe you should get it out of the drawer. It will help ...

Wow, I sure do wear a lot of hats, don't I? And those don't even cover all of my titles or responsibilities. It's a good thing I love everything I do, or I would be wasting my time! As I got off the phone from wishing my Father-in-Law happy birthday the other day, I wondered if people really know what goes on in the day-to-day life of me. I really don't lead a typical Army Wife life, nor does my schedule follow a typical pattern. So what does a "normal" day look like for me?  Welcome to "A Friday in the Life of Me..." enjoy! My body wakes up naturally at 5:30am.  This was the view from my bedroom window as I checked the weather. It was promising to be a beautiful day! One of my favorite morning habits is I listen to an inspirational talk on my phone while preparing breakfast. I do not have the time to read or study in the morning so this gives me the spiritual "boost" to get me going in the right frame of mind. Today...

Eight days. Eight girls. Eight medals. A lifetime of memories. I had a wonderful opportunity to be one of two coaches for the Alaska Figure Skating Team during the 2014 Arctic Winter Games, held March 15-22 in our lovely city of Fairbanks.  I never expected to have an international coaching experience, and although this wasn't the Olympics or anything, it sure was fun competing against Russia, Alberta North, Northwest Territories, and Yukon. The other contingents at the Games were Sapmi, Greenland, Quebec, and Nunavut. It would take a book to write all of my experiences and such, so I will post pictures and let them do the talking.  I would have loved to get more pictures, but as one of only two coaches responsible for our skaters, I didn't have all the time to do so. On top of these I have posted here, if you go over to SmugMug , there are lots of professional pictures from AWG that really show the fun we had. I can't post them directly here due to copyright laws, bu...