Update from Anchorage

I know that I have been absent from my blog for some time; I had a lot going on in my life with my wife finishing up her Master's degree, me dealing with the military some more, and the family getting ready to make a massive move!
For those of you who don't already know, my wife received and internship in Anchorage, Alaska. She starts working next week. We moved about 3 weeks ago.

It was bittersweet, us moving away from our friends and family down in Tennessee, but this move is a great opportunity for my family.

Almost as soon as we arrived we were greeted with hospitality; we had enough luggage for two cabs, but one cabbie was more than happy to help us get all of our stuff into one so we wouldn't have to take two cabs and spend more money (although he may just have been trying to get a larger tip), one neighbor is letting us borrow a kitchen table and chairs and another neighbor is letting us borrow a sofa, and we were very warmly welcomed and made to feel like family at our new parish.

The move had some hiccups, though.

We were originally supposed to get a moving truck and haul our stuff up to our new place - leaving the children with their godparents while my wife and I got the house settled. Then my wife was going to fly down and get the kids and our new dog. We had the truck reserved, and my wife had already bought the plane tickets. Then, suddenly, a little over two weeks before our scheduled departure date our plans changed and we had to move our stuff to a storage compartment, and change the dates on the plane tickets (plus adding myself) which used up a lot of our traveling money. 

But we made it! We don't have much right now, just our clothes and the things our neighbors have let us borrow. We hope to have our stuff from down in Tennessee by mid to late September.

Crisis aside, we are loving it up here in Alaska! 

We have views like this just minutes from our home!

It's just beautiful up here. The air seems cleaner, and I haven't felt this energized in years.

Our new parish is so very breathtaking, and the parishioners went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I've never liked seafood, but after having been invited to dinner by one family and having fresh caught salmon I was amazed. The salmon sold in the lower 48 is definitely inferior quality.

Saint Herman of Alaska Antiochian Orthodox Church

We also visited another parish about 45 minutes away. It's nice and cozy, and exactly what I thought a small Alaskan parish would look like. This parish was built by hand about 20 years ago!

We love being able to go out and see these amazing sights. The girls, while they obviously miss their friends and their godfamilies, are loving Anchorage.

And the girls seem to be getting tired. This is unusual; my daughters never get tired!

Got my hair did at the airshow

I'm having a bit of fun as well.

I'd say we're all having a little bit of fun in our new home, and we're already making great new memories.

Something tells me that we are going to be just fine here in Alaska.

Especially with this little guy looking after us.