Wednesday, December 12, 2012

My lips are singing many praises tonight as I write this post! I am thankful to be home again; I am thankful for a four-wheel drive vehicle; I am thankful for a wonderful husband that is willing to drive in snowy conditions; I am thankful for the beautiful snowfall; and I could continue to list many things but moving on to the rest of the post.

We spent the morning in Fairbanks, running around like chickens with our heads cut off! The temperature was about 19 degrees, with a steady snowfall and the snow was quickly accumulating. Roger went to the oil change place at 7:30am, and although it opened at 7:30am., he still had to wait a bit. I got the kids up, packed up the clean laundry, gave showers, took them to the continental breakfast, and gathered up the hotel room items. We then met Roger at the door of the hotel at about 8:45am. We went to Lowes to get gas jugs, power strip cord, and several other items. Then we went to Wal-mart to grocery shop. I knew that I would probably go to Sam's club as well, but for the items I didn't want to buy in bulk, I shopped at Wal-mart. I bought some items for the Christmas treat bags for the night of the Christmas program at church, and Christmas cards. (Now to see if I can get the Christmas cards mailed out before Valentines Day!)

Following the Wal-mart excursion, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Sam's club. Roger and I have never had a Sam's Club membership; but when we were in Appleton a few weeks before we left for our trip, we decided to purchase a membership. Praise the Lord for that decision! We bought the remaining grocery items at Sam's Club and spent over $300.00! I only say that to say that it was very difficult for me to buy groceries in such bulk! I don't think I've every spent that much in a single trip and I had already spent some grocery money at Wal-mart! YIKES! Anyways, we aren't planning on going back into Fairbanks until our trip back to Wisconsin. So, I may be sending out an S.O.S. For some items, if I need to have something! When we were loading the truck with the items from Sam's Club, I realized that I needed to change Travis' diaper. I asked Roger for the bag, and we realized that we had forgotten the diaper bag at the hotel! Not only that, but also the bag with my journal, our Bibles, and my devotional book. Praise the Lord that we realized that mistake while we were still in Fairbanks!

We finally loaded the truck, gathered the children out of the snowbanks, filled the sippy cups, and headed out of town. It was about 1pm., and the snow was coming down fairly quickly. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the drive home and the driving conditions. I mentioned that I was thankful for a four-wheel drive vehicle; yes, if we had our Mercury Sable from Wisconsin we would have been dragging snow and stuck about 2 miles outside of Fairbanks.

However, Roger felt confident and since I didn't have to drive in the snow...off we went into the snowstorm. If you are looking to increase your faith in the Lord or strengthen your prayer life, I'd strongly suggest a trip on snowy, mountainous roads! It will encourage you to commune in prayer on a minute to minute basis! I also recommend that you are 100% sure in where you'll spend eternity as you may end up there! I am confident that God gave me the right man to drive in those conditions; and once we were about 70 miles into the trip, the snow lightened up and the visibility was much improved. Just as the visiblity improved the darkness of the night crept upon us.

We actually made decent time coming home, all things considered. We stopped in Eureka to visit some friends for a brief moment and then came home. Coming home to a cold cabin is enough incentive to make me want to stay in Manley for the next seven weeks! The olive oil was frozen again, and the water inside had a thin layer of ice. BUT, it didn't take nearly as long for the cabin to heat up as it did the first time. We are warm and cozy once again, and oh, so very glad to be home!