I do what I do

Last sunday I was a puppet for the children's sermon at church... I tried to put up a video of it, but the internet is too slow to upload something like that here. So I'll try next time I'm in Seattle. Life here is good. Pretty much the same old stuff. I'm waiting for textbooks to show up so I can really get cracking on school work. Other than that nothing much has changed.

Fishing in Skagway

I caught a salmon today. It was just a humpy, which isn't that great, but I'll take it. I don't have any pics of me catching it or the aftermath. Maybe I'll post some later of me eating it.

Stranger things have happened...

Today I started school again. I'm gonna be a teacher. That's the plan anyway. But who woulda thunk that I would go back to school...

Hmmm...

I don't particularly feel like anything has really gone on lately. I've just been working and hanging out and kayaking whenever there aren't 4-5 foot seas. I feel like I'm kinda on cruise control right now.

long time no post (ish)

Since the last post, I spent a week in Seattle, watched one of my best friends get married, and made a haul at Costco. You might not think that last part is exciting, but if you don't, then you haven't lived in a super small town. The first two on that list were way cooler. I LOVED being able to be a part of Jamie and Sean's wedding. It was so fun. And they were so cute.
In other news, my brother and sister-in-law found out that the baby they are having in November is a boy, so now Owen is going to have a little brother. They're gonna terrorize each other and tackle each other and fight each other, and I'm going to encourage it. It's gonna be GREAT!! And they'll probably love each other too.
Life is good. Still just kinda hanging out, working. It's odd. I'd never been one of those people with a whole lot of down time before I lived in Haines. Now I work three days a week and just kinda hang out for four. It's a refreshing season of my life. But I don't think I should get too used to it...
Oh, and right now I'm listening to a Backstreet Boys song... what the heck?

if my feelings were a song...

I have no idea what the title would be. It just sounded like a good title for a blog post. Searching the words "don't" and "know" in my iTunes left not good conclusions about what my song title would be. But the notion that I typed in those two words should give you some clue about how I feel about things. I don't know. I work at a coffee shop. Check. But that isn't what I really want to do with my life. I'm almost positive I'm going to start school in July to get my Masters in Teaching, but is that really what I want to do? I don't know. I was offered a spot to travel the country for a couple months doing a sort of puppet ministry, but is that really what I want to do? I don't know. I live in Haines and I love it, but is it really where I want to be? I don't know. I don't know what life is going to bring me in the next few months or even weeks, let alone in the next few years. I guess it's a good thing that I believe in a God that has my future all figured out, cuz I sure don't. Now if I could only figure out how to trust in that a little more...

oh life

i went kayaking today. i like living in haines.

sometime life just sucks

I hit a 4-year old in the face with a frisbee today. Does that make me a bad person?

mothers day

For all you fools out there who think they have the best mom ever... I challenge you to a mom-off. Mine would win.

hawaiian pictures and randomness

the whole fam-dam

my favorite little boogie boarders, Owen and Calla


Favorite story of the week: I was playing in the pool and jumping and kinda sliding up onto the edge and my brother told me I looked like a beached whale (which from him I take as "I love you sis") and Owen pointed at me and said, "beached whale, beached whale"
Coolest thing I saw: lava flow hit the ocean and turn the steam plume bright colors at night
Dumbest thing I did: got an "anti-farmer" tan... oh what a rash guard and selective sunscreen application can do for you
Funnest place I went: Kona brewery... I highly recommend the Big Wave Golden Ale
Thing I did every day: went to the pool with the fam
What I'm bummed I didn't do: surf... we even had boards. It was just a hard thing to get everyone to rally for.
Least favorite part: Being the perennial little sibling and sleeping on the pullout couch where 1 year olds liked to play in the morning... although it was a fun way to wake up.

The newest Maxwell family goal: to find people that like us a lot and want us to use their condo in Hawaii for a week so we can do it again sometime...

words can't express

Yesterday a few kids decided that they were going to canoe to Skagway. Not the most intelligent decision, but not unheard of. But the waves were high and the boat wasn't equipped, and it tipped, and two of the three died. What do you say to that?

in hawaii

I love hanging out with my family. They make me happy. So far I've swam with sea turtles, had a fruity drink with an umbrella by the pool, seen some amazing sunsets, seen a whole heap of dolphins and hung out with my family a bunch. I like it here. :)

in the airport

I don't like traveling... I just like being in different places. Like Hawaii. Where I will be tomorrow.
In other news, this week was a good one because I got to go kayaking multiple times. I think it's finally spring in Alaska.

life and such

I love Haines. I really do. But I have been here for a total of about two months since I was last in Seattle and I feel like I am bored out of my mind. Where does that come from? It's not just that it's a small town. My life in Haines is very similar to what it was in Seattle... it's that I'm in one place. How is it that after two months in one place (even with a weekend trip to Canada) I can be so restless? Haines is home. I love it here. There is nowhere else that I'd rather live right now, but I feel so discontent. Maybe because I compare myself to friends like Becca, who do crazy stuff in Africa; or friends like Annie, who follow their dreams; or my family members, who seem to be living the "American dream;" or people like the creators of FailBlog, that can take humanity's stupidity and share it for all to laugh at and make money doing it. Or maybe it's because I know that I'm so close to being able to go somewhere where it's sunny and warm (Kona in 7 days!!) I want to be doing the best that I can to follow God and point others toward him, but how can one measure that in any way? I think that part of my discontent stems from not being able to measure that at all here. It was easy to assume that I was doing good when I was in the Dominican Republic. But here in Haines, I just have to trust that God is using me for his good. All I know for sure is that I feel like I will always be longing for more at least a little bit because this earth is not my home. But there has to be some middle ground. But how do I find that?

to infinity and beyond

How does one get to infinity? Anyway, life in Haines is good. I kinda wish that I could be with my family this weekend for Easter and stuff, but I get to hang out with part of my Haines family, which is good too. And I get to see all the Maxwells in 14 days when we convene in Hawaii, which I am STOKED about.

But tomorrow is Easter, and that is a very good thing. There is nothing more fundamental to who I am than that Jesus lived, died, and rose for me. And although sometimes that seems to good to be true, it is the only real hope that I have.

"That Jesus succeeded in changing a snuffling band of unreliable followers into fearless evangelists, that eleven men who deserted him at death now went to martyrs' graves avowing their faith in a resurrected Christ, that these few witnesses managed to set loose a force that would overcome violent opposition first in Jerusalem and then in Rome -this remarkable sequence of transformation offers the most convincing evidence for the Resurrection. What else explains the whiplash change in men known for their cowardice and instability?" -Philip Yancey The Jesus I Never Knew