Alaska...Oh yeah, we went there!

Ok, well since you guys are so insistent on hearing about Alaska, I will hold back from making cute pages of our trip and just get to the niddy griddy....THANKS A LOT FOR THE PRESSURE PEOPLE!

Two words sum up Alaska, SUPER AWESOME!!

It was so much fun, so beautiful, and we miss it already! We were in Alaska from Wednesday night until Sunday early morning. Our first experience as temporary Alaskans was adjusting to the sun being out at midnight. After the second day, we were use to the sun not setting until about 2am...then it rises again around 4am. It was so weird. I ended up buying an eye mask to help me sleep, although it didn't work as well as I had hoped.
We enjoyed spending our days with one of Joel's old high school buddies and his wife. They were so hospitable and were very welcoming...it wouldn't have been such an amazing trip without them there. We hiked up to an old abandoned mine and that was SUPER AWESOME, we went and pet a reindeer, and that was SUPER AWESOME (by the way, the two pictures of my making a weird face or 100% real...I handed my camera over for a few shots with the reindeer, and those were the first two shots, I must have been freaked out)!! We also were tourists for a day and went around downtown Anchorage and went to SUPER AWESOME events/stores. Not to mention our late night SUPER AWESOME conversations, Halo tournaments and milkshakes!

The main reason we went to Alaska was for a job interview Joel had. They paid for all of his expenses including a hotel the first night. The interview went very well...we were so excited about it and even started looking at a few homes in the area that we fell in love with.

Today however, Joel was notified that he was not selected for the position, which on one end of the scale is pretty sad, but on the other is a huge eye opener. I say a huge eye opener because I think we have come to the conclusion that for some reason, we are suppose to stay here in Oregon for some time. The last few job interviews have gone very well for Joel, but for some reason they just didn't end up being a yes. I mean, so weird weird things have happened that are not normal...it has taken us three different experiences to realize it, but we finally know that there are bigger things out there and we just need to hang tight and see what is coming up in life.

Another main reason we feel that it is important that we stay here in Oregon is because we feel that if we were to relocate right now, we would miss an opportunity with a potential birth-mother. If we were to relocate, we could cause some major chaos in our ability to adopt. We were prompted to begin the adoption process at the time we did for a reason, and we may not be able to get a child anytime soon, but us being here is what has to happen...at least right here, right now...God works in ways unknown sometimes, and we just need to open our eyes a little more and really rely on "thy will be done" because I think lately we have been so desirous to move from Oregon that we would do anything, but it is obviously important that we need to be here...

Our future goals at this point: UNKNOWN...we talked kind of frankly with some friends and may consider more seriously purchasing a duplex with them and splitting the cost. It would be an amazing opportunity and who knows what will actually happen there. We will continue working and saving and paying off debt. I will begin school in the fall and need to get a laptop to help accommodate my online courses. And as always, we will love each other through thick and thin, and enjoy each day we have together!

Our friends in Alaska