Televisionized

Tyler and I have found a wonderful church that encourages the congregation to love everyone and is truly trying to redeem the world around by starting from within. Currently, we are studying the book of Ruth and each week we leave church with a Redeemer challenge to take into the outside world. This week is challenge four asking us to pray and then do the act. So often we pray for things and then God puts us in charge of making it happen -- God is answering the prayer, He is just using us to get it done. 

The pastor asked to interview us for this week's redeemer challenge, which is extremely humbling, and the video turned out pretty cool. One of the neatest things that comes from this is seeing that others see Christ in us; one of our greatest prayers is that others will see Christ's light in us not by stuffing the Bible down their throats, but just by how we live. We were most definitely honored and encouraged when asked to do this video. Enjoy! 

A Fun Weekend.

We had a great weekend. Although it seemed we didn't have much planned, it turned out to be jammed packed and it flew by ... of course! Friday we bummed around before attending a concert. The concert was a Christian rock band called Kutless. We went with Joel and Aaron, two guys Tyler works with, and one of their fiances. Allison, the fiance, and I just hung out while the boys went down front to be closer to the action. We came out of the concert around 8:30 and it seemed like it was 3 in the afternoon because the sun was up shining so brightly.

Saturday, Tyler bought a fishing rod, some tackle, and his fishing license. Then we went downtown with church to give hot dogs, coffee, and water to the homeless. We gave out about 90 hot dogs in an hour. It was so nice to be in the community giving food and talking to people. Upon arriving back at church we spontaneously cooked hamburgers and wings and had dinner with friends there. Later Tyler and I went with another family -- Brian, Amanda, and their 2-year-old daughter Cadence -- hiking up a mountain. We did this around 8:30 and wore our sunglasses the whole time because it was so bright. I hate I did not have my camera because we saw Denali aka, Mt. McKinley. I can now officially say that I have seen the tallest mountain in North America. 

Today we attended church, went to lunch, met friends at the park and then hung out for the remainder of the day. We had a great weekend! :)

At the concert: if you look closely you can see that their feet are off the ground! :) (Tyler is in yellow and Aaron is to his left. Joel is not in the picture.)

It rained most of the day on Friday; I could not see the majority of the mountain because the clouds were hanging so low, but around 6 pm the sun came out! When we left the concert there was a rainbow and we could clearly see both the beginning and end -- it was really neat.

Can you see how things are turning green? It is amazing what a little rain will do. (The two mountain pictures were taken around 9:30 at night!)
Nap time for my favorites! :)

BELLA!!

Bella is growing!! She now weighs 35 pounds and is quite lanky. She has learned a few more tricks and is so eager to please when learning new things. Bella is such a lover, constantly giving kisses and snuggling close for naps throughout the day. Now, when we leave her at home she stays in the backyard and SHE LOVES IT. We are able to leave the backdoor open, only when we're home, for her to go in and out and she loves the freedom of playing and coming in when she's ready. Some of the pictures below are a bit blurry, but we thought they were fun to show her new tricks.

Going for the kill.

Turning back to make the drop.

Sitting pretty; she sits like a big dog now.
That's right folks, she caught it! :)
Eagerly waiting for meds! Isn't she big?

Another One of God's Great Creatures

Saturday Tyler and I did many fun things, but one of the most unique was going to Elmendorf Air Force Base (connects with Fort Rich and in June will be JBER -- Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) to see these two majestic birds.  There is a memorial on base for some plane that got shot down a long time ago and aside from the wall with the names of those being memorialized, there is a cage with two wounded bald eagles.  It was pretty cool to be so close to two such big, powerful birds. 

Just hanging out.

On one of the ledges the keepers (whoever they are) had laid out six or seven fresh fish fillets; it looks like salmon and could very well be.

Majestic.

How Many Stamps to Get to Alaska?

Mom mailed a package with homemade strawberry jam and we giggled at how many stamps were on the box! Using a flat rate box, you need 40 26-cent stamps. I'm not sure why Mom used 26-cent stamps, but we liked it! Just wanted to share.

Here is just a picture of one of our mountain views on a wonderfully beautiful day. This week we have experienced unseasonable highs and we're really hoping they stay around. Today is already pretty warm and the sun has been shining down for a while already. So great! :)