Happy Winter!

Greetings my long lost blog readers.
Wow sorry it's been so long since I've written. It's been a whole two seasons here. Summer is long gone and winter is now in full swing here in Bethel. I went and watch the sun rise with a friend of mine the other morning and it was only four degrees out. Yeah Bethel is definitely the only place that I would ever be able to watch the sun rise (never seen it before)- most of you know how much of a morning person I am not. Luckily the sun doesn't rise here until 10am, very convenient timing for me. It is such a breathtaking sight to see the sun rise over the frozen lake. One of my new favorite things to do- watch the sun rise. Each time I see it I am astounded by God's glory and how he created things to work together so perfectly- and right on time.
I had a great summer here, it was so fun being able to have so much daylight and be outside so much. I went for lots of walks and quite a few boat trips out on the river. I even jumped in the river twice- which was quite exhilarating. Literally had to jump in and jump out though because it was so cold- the current was pretty quick too... good thing I was on swim team. Most of the locals thought I was pretty crazy for doing it.
I went berry picking during one of the river trips and came home and made fresh tundra blueberry pancakes and then me and my friend ate them down by the river- well we attempted to we had to finish eating them in the car because the gnats wanted to eat us!

Moral of the story is I loved this summer in Bethel! It was so beautiful. Good memories.

I Tore Up the Tundra on Monday!

Yes that is me on the tundra and yes I did drive that all by myself. Super cool- I know. ;)

The Celebration of Independence

Happy Belated 4th of July! This is a picture of me and Kelly and Charly at the 4th of July festival here in Bethel (I painted the cherries and the fireworks and my friend joey painted the palm tree on my cheek). It's daylight all the time right now so we don't have any fireworks on the 4th but we do have a parade (basically consisting of firetrucks and candy) and a festival with lots of booths of food, raffles and carnival-like games. The youth group had a booth with video games, candy and face painting (I helped face paint). It was so great because we made $1100 towards the youth group fund which will help send kids to the youth convention in Anchorage this fall.
It was a really fun day and the sun was out nice and warm. I loved being around all the people. People come in from the villages just for the event. I'll try to post some more pictures later.

So arrived back in Bethel on the 29th of June. I was able to be in Seattle for 17 days for my sister's graduation. It was so nice. It was so great being in Seattle with the people I love. I'll have to post some of those pictures too.
It was hard having to leave- alot of tears were shed, but I'm doing well back in Bethel. I got the official acceptance from the loan repayment program so I will be here for 23 more months. The countdown started on June 15th (or at least that's what I'm told, I'm still waiting for the official paperwork, I sure hope they didn't trick me).
I want to do my best to live it up here these next two years. I want to focus on what God has for me here and not just long to be back home- because it will be soon enough that I'll be back and then maybe I'll be wishing I was here... haha

Yesterday and today I had a dream come true and spent time out in the Tundra. It was so fun. Yesterday me and my friend Joey took the fourwheeler out riding and then today me and Angela, my new friend Mike and a nun (yes a nun) went for a walk out there. It was quite a day. I'll have to explain that one more once I get pictures from Mike's camera. It was so great.
The Tundra is truly beautiful to me. And everything is better with a nun don't you think?

Ok I love you guys. I have to work tomorrow so I need to get going to bed. But I'll try to write more soon.

Sorry I've been MIA for 4 Months

Wow has it really been almost 4 months since I've written on here! Crazy. I wonder if you all have given up checking this... I'm sure my mom will be able to get the word out that I have a new posting... :)
So much has changed since my last blog.
I've decided that Bethel is the land of extremes. We go from having days of complete darkness and a frozen river to days of eternal sunshine and a rushing river. Incredible.
I just got back from boating on that river tonight. Charly, Roger and I went with Aunt and Uncle to their fish camp. ("Aunt" and "Uncle" are Charly's family who adopted me as their own. They call me Alla-necie. They introduce me to people as their niece- I just smile and nod. I love them so much.) For those of you who don't know, fish camps are these little camp sites along the river that usually have a small shack, drying racks and a smoke house. People spend most of the summer catching salmon and preparing them at the camps. When you ask kids what their favorite part about summer is they say "fish camp". Here is a pictures of the fish camps along the river and then one of me at fish camp and then another of the view of Bethel from the boat.
Auntie kept saying, doesn't Bethel look crowded from here? Haha. Yeah I guess.
So I smell like camp fire right now because we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and made smores. It was really nice. I love being outside.
Oh and here is a river post break up. And then a picture of the breakup bash and us at the breakup bash. The breakup is the event they day after all the ice cracks and the river starts flowing again. That was about two weeks ago I think. I have a really hard time keeping track of the days since I work 5 twelve hour shifts in a row. My life flies by in increments of five days. (little snow-go on the frozen river)
(I dedicate this one to my Uncle Ron since they are preforming on a Crowley Truck- this is at the breakup bash)
(Me, Charly and Jenifer and Rodney behind us- he snuck in)

Ok now here are some pictures of smelt fishing. The smelt only come for one day. They swim through in huge schools. And you just scoop them out with a net. It was super fun. Aunt and Uncle took Charly and I. We caught like 2 gallons!





It took so long downloading those pictures. I'm so tired now.
I better go because I have to get some rest- I'm having a sleepover with the elementary aged girls from church tomorrow night. They're super excited- should be fun. And in the morning Charly and I plan to go garage saleing.

Oh and here is one last pictures I would like to dedicate to my mom to help her see that I really do still love animals. :) This is Uncle and Aunt's dog, Doobie.
I'm doing really well. Thank you all for your support and prayers. Bethel and just life as an "adult" is definitely not without it's challenges, but God is so faithful and I'm doing good.
Hope to see as many of you as possible when I'm home in June! Only two more weeks!

Me and The Girls

I had such a fun day today. Both Denise and Kaytlynne came over after school today, they are the two little girls that had lived in my neighborhood when I was here in the summer. They're so sweet. They've been coming to church with me too.
We visited Charly at the hospital and then Kaytlynne's older cousin Noelle came over too. The girls are both 10 and Noelle is 14. And after we all came back to my apartment guess what I did?! I made them dinner.
Yep me Alessandra Hansen made them dinner. It was so fun. I made them chicken, corn, broccoli and carrots. And they liked it. :)
I'm looking forward to making more such dinners. I think their families order out alot so they aren't really that hard to please- good people for me to practice on.

I've been enjoying my new day schedule. It's busy but it's really good. I feel a whole lot better on my days off, much less tired.
It's extra busy at the hospital right now because it's "RSV" season. RSV is a virus that affects babies. It causes huge respiratory problems. So there are lots of sick babies, all the peds rooms are full. I've been only working with pediatrics while I've been on days. I do like it but... well they sure do cry alot. I love seeing them get better though and when they leave they're finally smiling.
Church is going good too and we're going to have a valentine's banquet for the youth on Saturday. We're very excited. Pray for us that it all goes well.

Oh and two great bits of news, one is that my dad found a car for me in Seattle and it's confirmed that I'll be able to have it shipped in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited. It will be so nice to have a car, seriously I'll be so much more free. I feel so stuck without a car even though it's a small town.
Then I also found out that I will be able to have my time off in June so that I can come home! It will be not quite as long as I was hoping for but still I'm super excited.
Ok well I'm very sleepy so I must be going but I'll give you some more updates soon.
Tomorrow we're gonna go watch Noelle play basketball.

Warming up frost-bitten little toes. It was really fun, but really cold. The kids are crazy, out in their little jeans and slip-ons. I had a snowsuit, hat, gloves, scarf and snow boots on and I was still cold! haha Especially on the ride back to the church. Charly and I and one of the interns rode in a wooden sled pulled by a snow machine!

Here is a picture of the bonfire from youth conference! Isn't it great! Man Alaskans sure know how to make a bonfire. :)

Here's me at the girl's highschool basketball game this past weekend. It's such a big deal here, the whole gym was packed- at least for the varsity game. When the girls come out of the locker room they even run through a big paper sign- it's hard core. It was a super good game, at the very last min. one of our girls made a three pointer to win the game! The little boy is a friend, of a friend's little brother. He was so precious. We loved eachother.

Alright well I just wanted to give you some photo updates.
I'm sick right now- I caught a cold from all those sick babies I take care of. I have to work on wed. so I'm praying that I'll be better by then.

I went to bed defeated and exhausted and I woke up refreshed and renewed! Now that is the power of my Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Psalm 30:4-6 (New International Version)

4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.

5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

6 When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."

I went to bed 2 hours late because I had to finish up paper work that I should have gotten finished during my shift but because of the new routine on days that I'm not used to and all the other countless obstacles that arose I wasn't able to get done.

I returned to my little apt exhausted physically and emotionally- yet not totally hating this new day shift. I set my alarm for 6am- just enough time to get ready and go. I woke up at 4am less tired and more ready to go than I have felt in the longest time. That's two hours earlier than I had set my alarm for! Now that is the Lord! Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't wake up early without quite a struggle! haha

I head back to work determined to give it my best, to take yesterday as trial and error and do better today. After today I will have 5 days off and then I'll work for 5 days, have 2 days off work for 2 days and then have 5 days off. That's how my new schedule will go. Sound confusing I know but think of it this way. I will have every mon. and tues. off and then i'll have every other weekend off. I'll work 7am-7pm. (more like 7am-8pm usually)

Thank you all for your support and prayers, I felt them today. I'll update you all with more details soon. Such as how my beloved youth here in Bethel are doing. And what the whether is like and how I went to Slavik (russian orthodox christmas) a few weeks ago - that was quite an experience. And I'll tell you how twice I've boughten milk from AC that was not expired on the date but tasted so nasty! AC what are you doing to me?! Stories such as that and more I'm sure.

May you all be refreshed and renewed as I have been.

Snow-machine, Snow-go, Snow-mobile; whatever you want to call it- I rode it!

Well I just got back not too long ago from my first Snow-machine ride (that is the most common name for it here in Bethel) and it was so great! SOOOOO COLD but so great! I loved it. I can't wait to do it again.
One of the nurses from the hospital got a new machine not too long ago and was anxious to show it off so he offered to give me a ride- i readily accepted.
He told me to dress really warm so... I put on stretch pants, jeans, a turtleneck, a zip-up fleece, my snow-suit, two pairs of gloves a pull-over face mask, a scarf, two pairs of socks and my big boots. When I got out there he looked at me like he was sizing me up and I said "what are you thinking". He said I'm wondering if you'll be warm enough. I said well I could put another coat on "he said yeah you better".
I was wondering if I would need it but I obeyed. See being as naive as I am, I was kinda worried about getting too hot. You know how in Seattle when it snows you put on all this gear and then you get outside and end up stripping half of it off because you start sweating- yeah well that doesn't happen when you're on a snowmachine. I even wore my stretch pants- instead of my longjohns- and my holy jeans (you know for ventilation haha) for fear that I would be too hot. Oh and I wore my zip-up fleece incase I needed to "un-zip"- what a fool I was! haha
I am so glad that I obeyed! I also added a hat along with my jacket- praise the Lord for that hat- cause it protected my forehead. It's hard to believe but by the end of the ride my knees and toes were starting to get cold. It's just incredible how cold it is. I think it was like 17 below out and then with the wind it makes it more like 30 below.
I found out that my gloves are not worth anything! Right away pretty much my fingers were throbbing from the cold. It was like I didn't even have any gloves on at all! I had on a pair of stretchy gloves and then my waterproof snow gloves over that. I think I'm gonna buy some seal skin mittens to put over those for next time- that's what Gary suggested. So yeah we had to stop and he gave me some hand warmers to put in my gloves- it definetly helped but they were still pretty cold. It's crazy because now when I feel the hand warmers they're so hot but when they were in my gloves on the ride they barely felt warm. The tips of my fingers are still a little puffy, especially around my nail beds and they still feel a little sensative- probably the beginnings of frost bite... haha just kidding but still if we stayed out there too long I really would have frost bite even with those gloves on! And we were talking about taking pictures but if you take your gloves off even for a little while you can get frost bite! It's just too cold. So sadly I have not pictures to show you- I'll try harder next time and when I see Gary at work I'll try to get a picture of him at least to show you all.
It's really sad because there are quite a few cases of people that get drunk and end up walking around without there shoes and they horrible frost bite! It's so sad. It must be like the most painful thing ever. As your skin warms up it just gets more painful.
Oh and guess what. I had to take my glasses off during the ride because I couldn't see anything because... they were frozen! Within min. the fog from my breath froze so there was a sheet of ice over my lenses! Haha crazy huh. And there were little ice crystals on our eyelashes. I was sad I couldn't wear my glasses because it's so beautiful! The sun was shining and there was even a little rainbow. I could see good enough though. It's just white and sparkly as far as you can see. We rode down the frozen river and then over the snow covered Tunda- a totally different place then when I was here in the summer. Amazingly beautiful, a breathtaking display of God's creation.
I love the rush you feel while you're riding, it's so fun to go fast. But the faster you go the colder it is. It was nice for me though because since I was in the back I can just hide my face in Gary's hood. It's alot colder if you're the one driving. Someday I think I would like to try driving though... I'll have to convince Gary to give me a chance...
Alright well I must be on my way.
Oh wait one more wonderful detail, Gary has only been a nurse for 3 years I found out and before that he was a singer! Since he was 18 he's been in different bands and groups and sang in nightclubs and such around the country and I think in Latin America and Europe too! Isn't that great! haha. I never would have suspected! I have to get a picture on here for you guys to see! He's from Alabama, so he has a great southern drawl (he thinks I'm the one with the accent but that's just not true, he has the accent not me). He said they sang all kinds of music but pretty much all I can imagine is country music coming from him- maybe some bluegrass. I told him next time he comes over he'll have to sing for me. He said he used to sing at a club in Florida that alot of stars would come to- Bob Hope was one of them. Oh and then when he went to nursing school he got he way payed for by singing in the university jazz band.
When I was here in the summer I met a cage fighter and now I meet a lounge singer- I love it. I know my cousins are gonna be lovin' this one too! Love you Luxems!

Superheroes in Bethel

A little human Christmas tree we made while I was home for Christmas.

Well I'm back in Bethel, Ak. I had an amazing trip home to Seattle, I wouldn't want to have spent Christ's birth anywhere else! My bestest Christmas present was definitely being able to see all the people I love and miss so much (alright well i definitely didn't get to see all of you, i actually only got to see a small percentage- one week is most def not enough time. I hope to come back in June for my little sister's graduation- yay syd!- for 3 weeks! Hopefully the people I didn't get to see this time I'll get to see then)! It's funny though because as much as I loved being in Seattle, I knew it was right for me to return to Bethel. The peace of God is with me when I'm here, I'm content here because I know it's what the Lord has for me right now. I didn't think my heart could so fully be in two places at once.
I must admit though- I look forward to the day when the Lord releases me from Bethel and I can return to Seattle.

Praise the Lord I'm starting my 7 days off! Man am I a tired girl, I'm so excited to spend a week resting, cleaning, playing in the snow, visiting with friends and going to church. I should be glorious... well as long as I can figure out this sleep thing. The plan is to go to bed now (well after my shower, because I just finished working out- good job huh :) ) and then wake up around 3 to go to Charly and Rogers reception here in Bethel and then go to youth group at church (i'm super excited about this) and then I'll go to bed tonight and hopefully i'll be tired enough that I can sleep through the night and then get myself back on a day schedule.

I'll relax tomorrow and then we're gonna have a game night again, should be fun- well except they want to play Monopoly and I hate monopoly- they claim that since it's electronic it's better- but I highly doubt that. I just don't have a long enough attention span for that game.

Then on Monday guess what I'm doing? I'm going to go for my first snow-machine ride! I'm super excited. One of the other nurses from work is going to take me. He just got a new snow- machine and is real excited to show it off. I'm gonna wear my snow suit and a face mask and my good snow gloves. They say you have to bundle up real good because any exposed skin can get burned. Like freezer burn I guess. :) I'll have to let you all know how it goes.

Today was a super busy day at work. I probably only sat down for like an hour out of my entire 12 hour shift. Overall it was a good week though- some busy days, some medium days and like two slow days. I was pretty tired though- flying on airplanes really takes alot out of me- i am not a good flyer.
I like being a nurse. I look forward to the weeks to come and all the knowledge that I'll soak up. I just want to know everything you know! I want to know all the drugs and common procedures, I want to be able to already have a good idea of what the doctor's gonna order. I know the more I work the more I'll know and then hopefully the more confident I'll become.
I think one of my best parts is seeing my patients get better, since I'm with them for 7 days I really get to see improvement.
I better get going because I need to sleep before the party this afternoon so I'll just give you one of my favorite moments of my week- it happened just today actually. I had this precious little 4 year old boy and he had an IV in which he was getting a really strong antibiotic through. After getting one of the doses of the antibiotic he told me that his IV site was hurting. I was not very happy to hear this at all because it's so hard to get IVs in little kids, I really didn't want to have to take his out and have to restart another. I was in the middle of admitting another kid and dreaded having to worry about his IV.
After I was finished with my admit I checked his IV and sure enough it was read and kinda puffy and it hurt when I touched it- he was really good at explaining to me what hurt- like I said he was precious. Sometimes with strong antibiotics this happens because they irritate the vein and sometimes you can leave them in but then again because they are so strong you really don't want the IV to go bad and have that strong antibiotic leak into the skin so... I took it out. Now I was left with the problem of restarting it.
I talked with mom and the little boy and the both were comfortable with restarting (this also confirmed for me to take the old one out) in fact the little boy seemed rather intrigued by the whole thing but mom had said that they had to hold him down in ER to get the old one in, so I was still rather dreading it- he had some good veins though.
So me and my little nurse friend Tayma brought him into the treatment room, gave him a spider-man sticker and set to work. He was so calm about it, he just held his mom's hand and watched everything we did. Usually kids are screaming by this time. Tayma held his arm and I poked- he didn't even flinch, he just watched, he even smiled when his mom told him something sweet. Sadly the first poke didn't work and neither did the second actually but third time is a charm and we got a really really good blood return and flush on that one. He didn't cry through the whole thing! He was so pleased when he saw his blood (we had to do a blood draw too). He was just the most precious thing ever! We gave him spiderman bandaids with each poke and he was so proud of each of them.
I said maybe he would be a doctor when he grows up because of how interested he was in everything and how brave and calm he was- he said he'd rather be spiderman when he grew up. Tayma said they were pretty similar because they both save people. So I'll be praying for little spiderman that he really does grow up to save people someday.
So many kids here are superheroes- I'm sure of it. God has created them with such life and purpose some of them just forget to take off their ordinary clothes when they become teenagers and utilize their superhero gear. There are so many ODs, and alcohol intoxications, and self-mutlilation cases and suicide attempts out here, with kids so young, it breaks my heart. They forget that God created them to be superheroes.
Little Spiderman, ended my night and my week well.
I love you all. Happy New Year!