Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Journal Entry #3

Truth be told, we hate flying. And, lucky us, as we were ready for takeoff on our 3.5 hour flight from Seattle to Anchorage, the pilot announced that there would be "extensive turbulence". 
Great. Our favorite kind. 
I had a little quiet on-flight mini prayer revival right there. I cannot handle all that mid-air bouncy-bouncy stuff, people! I just can't. I texted my mom to pray, my dad to pray...and if the flight attendant had not called for electronic devices to be turned to the OFF position, my prayer chain would've been much, much longer than three links.

We arrived in Anchorage just in time to catch sunrise. It was 10:30am. (So weird.) The next step in our journey was to hop on a small "puddle jumper" to Kenai. (A 22-minute flight vs. a 4-hour car ride.) I could handle that. We were over all this travel stuff, especially after all the lines we waited in at SeaTac. Ugh.
The Kenai flight was THE coolest. The plane flew at a low elevation, so we got to see neat stuff. Mostly the textures of the faraway landscape. And the Mr. sweating beads in the aisle across from me. (He gets nervous flying, which makes him hot. The layers start coming off. So by the time we landed in Kenai he had a pile of laundry ready for washing.) 



I'm finding out that we're pretty lucky to have our stuff arrive as soon as it did. It took 13 days for the Conex to leave our duplex in Richland, WA & arrive to Nikiski, AK, which was just two days after we landed. It traveled many miles upon the ocean. (There's even a vehicle in there!) We had SO many hands to help us unload. SO many! Quite a contrast to the day we packed up this giant container in Washington. We had 3 friends help, which I am so thankful for. But we also had to resort to paying strangers to give us a hand too. Haha! (No. Not funny. Quite depressing, really.)

The last item off the container was my piano, which belonged to my great-grandmother Unzicker. That thing is so heavy. Every time we move, the Mr. begs me to leave it behind. I cried some tears when it wouldn't fit through the odd angles of the entryway in our new Alaska home. But then someone got out a saw & took care of that problem. Yay!
There's a whole life lesson in there somewhere...
"Don't cry, honey! Let's remodel!"
"Obstacles shmobstacles! Sawzall to the resuce!"
"Don't let nuthin' stop you! Cut things away from other things!"
Or something like that.


Random facts during our first week here:
•Moose sightings: Zoey-2, Pazely-2, Me-1, the Mr.-0 (Yes, this is a competition.)
•I failed the written exam to get my Alaska driver's license. So that story will now follow me for the rest of my life. Which is fun. (The Mr. failed too. Hahaha!)
•I cried myself to sleep the first few nights in our house. So. Cold.
•When people say they are "going into town", I think that means they are going anywhere that is not "Nikiski". From what I gather.
•I had my first experience shopping at a food bank. I am very grateful for gracious establishments such as this. And to get over any pride I may have (although I honestly don't think I have any) I am telling myself: This is your season to receive, girlfriend.
•The Mr. has learned to wear appropriate Alaskan-winter foot attire. He made that decision after repeatedly running errands in the snow, in his flip-flops, & not being able to feel his toes. (Which looked rather pink & painful.)
•We continue to experience so much generosity. (In fact, we attended our church Christmas party, where we were told to bring a $10 gift for a gift exchange. After munchies were eaten & games were played, we all gathered in a circle with the gifts we all brought for the gift exchange. Someone looked at us & said, "We pranked you, Scott & Nikki. There IS no gift exchange. All these gifts...are for you." And then we opened envelope after envelope of gift cards to local grocery stores & Home Depot & Walmart!! We were so surprised! What a welcome from our Aurora Heights church family!) 

Oh, & that flight with "extensive turbulence"? There was zero turbulence. 
BOOYAH. 

4 comments:

  1. Warms my heart to know that you're being looked after, from the flight to the gifts from strangers, I love this! God Bless!

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    1. Thanks, Shanell! It's definitely those little moments along the way that make you feel like you're in the right place, headed in the right direction. :)

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  2. Booyah, indeed!!! How many people live in Nikiski? (You probably said, but I have the memory retention of a goldfish...)

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    1. The population was 4,327 at the 2000 census. It is such a different town than I've ever lived in because, for such a small population, it is spread out sooooooo far.

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