Choose Your Hard

 In my journey through life I have realized that we truly do choose our hard. It does not matter where we live, hard will find us. So what kind of hard do you want to manage?

 I was tired of the big district rat race and all the hoops that have to be jumped through that are irrelevant to helping children. I was tired of church as I knew it. I love church, I love the people, but I was at an impasse spiritually. I needed to be fed in a different environment. 

I got to a point where I was needing to fill a void. I was looking for something, but unable to find it. Granted, I did not know exactly what I was looking for. Brady felt the same way. 

Utah never felt like home to us. It seems like I had been trying to leave ever since I arrived, but was never successful. That is not to say that I do not cherish the people there, because I do. A lot of my most very favorite people live in Utah. I am thankful that the Lord kept me there as long as He did, so that I could meet amazing people. However, He knew I needed a change and that my future work was elsewhere. I would've continued putting my best foot forward on the grindstone and moved forward, but I am glad that He knew it was time for me to be somewhere else. 

I was so tired. Physically and emotionally. I never realized how tired I was until we moved to the island. I literally went to bed no later than 9:00 at night and slept until 7:00 the next morning for almost the entire first school year we were here. Weekends I would stay up later and sleep later, but a minimum10 hours of sleep every night was apparently needed. I am proud to announce that I am back to my typical 7-8 hours a night and some nights are complete garbage sleep. That right there attests to the fact that I needed some sleep recovery. 

The blessing of moving here definitely solved a lot of my hards, but brought new ones. We loved the first year, it was truly a wonderful adventure. Year two is very different. Brady is gone, and it doesn't matter where I live, it's hard living without him. We've been together for 26 years, and 17 weeks is hands down the longest we have been apart. He left for the academy mid summer when we were still in Utah. I was miserable then, and not much happier now. I know that him being gone is a huge part of my negative mindset at the moment. However, there are other "hards" that are coming up. The weather seems to be more bad than good. I feel like we had more days where we could go out last year. I don't mind the constant drizzle of rain or light wind, but we have had downpours and major wind. I am definitely over it. I need to be outside more. 

Teaching by myself is super lame. I did not realize that having Brady as my aide really gave me support that I did not know I needed. Adjusting to being the only adult in the building has been hard. 

Not being connected to the road system and having to spend so much money just to get to Anchorage is hard. I would love to jump on a plane on a Thursday after work and fly to Utah to see Bradyn swim and fly back Sunday. That doesn't work when just getting off the island takes a day and there are no planes on the weekend anymore. However, there is a lot that I love. 

I love being very rural. It's so quiet here. There's no rush hour traffic, very limited stress by my surroundings. I look out my window and see the Isanotski Strait. My time is not demanded by outside forces like it used to be. I used to have to choose what demand I was going to satisfy. Now, I do not have demands, so my productivity solely depends on me. That can be good and bad. I am learning to balance laziness. My soul feels more at peace than it ever has. However, I am not set on being here for too long. Maybe two or three more years. Right now I will bloom where I am planted. I have chosen this hard, and I am very pleased with it. I am happy. I will be complete when Brady emerges from the plane on Nov. 22nd.

The wildlife has been scant as we head into winter. We have only seen one fox and the seals and otters have seemed to disappear. However, the backdrop of scenery here makes up for the want of wildlife. I failed to post last week. From October 30 to November 5 there was constant wind and rain so we went nowhere outside of school and home. There really was not much to report. However, November 5 was the beginning of better weather. Prepare for scenery overload!

Spencer is the Sumo Wrestler. 

Ruger is the Blue furry thing. (I can't remember what he said he was).

I took them trick or treating.

The back of his costume is also funny. True Sumo style.

Quite a load of candy for 8 houses

He has a lot of fun finding cool things on Youtube to try.

Did you know you can poke a pencil through a plastic bag of water and it won't leak?

November 5 was a very clear, beautiful day. 

We played outside from the time school let out until dinner, and then we went out again. 

It was a wonderful day!

See the white distant mountain peak in the back?

We only see it on very clear days. It's always a treat!

The moon was coming up

Our side by side is THE BEST!!!

I have discovered we don't need much of anything, but this want is super awesome to own.

Every time we are on this dock I think of the song lyrics

"I'm sittin on the dock of the bay."

The tide was lower than I have ever seen it. 

We walked across to this muscle bar that is usually covered by water.

Days & nights like this make the hard worthwhile. This is why they say choose your hard.

For me, this is worth the hard. It's not for everyone.

Four Days later on November 9 we had another beautiful day. 

We left school the second it was over and went adventuring again.

We were hoping for a lower tide like we had the other day, 

but the moon phases control the tide, and that phase had sailed. 

All these are taken from different perspectives along the coast that is at the end of the runway. 

If you look at a map we are headed toward Ikatan Bay that connects with the Pacific Ocean.

This is the coolest vantage point I have ever seen created by rocks.

Three days later on November 12 we had a perfect running morning.

The weather did change and the afternoon was definitely an indoor kind of day.

We were very grateful for the morning.

Sunday, November 13 was gorgeous all day long and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Spencer enjoyed Perler Beads while we listened to church.

I enjoyed a gorgeous walk all by myself. What an absolute glorious 45 minutes!

We wanted to get farther down the coastline and see how close we could get to Ikatan Bay.

The school had two dry suits we decided to try. We knew the tide was higher, and we would need them. They work really well if you zip them properly. I should have checked Spencer's. 

His underclothing was soaked. I was not wet at all. 

They are pretty cool suits. We will definitely use them again. No other pictures were taken because I didn't want to worry about a phone getting dropped in the water.

The Utah Gatlin's

They need to be better at taking pictures!

Wyatt was asked to play the bass in the pit for the Theater Departments performance.

Lexi is having a lot of back pain, but otherwise recovering well. She's being a fabulous swim sister.

Bradyn is loving swim and took 4.42 seconds off his Breaststroke.