This Post Isn't Boring

I just sat here for about 10 minutes trying to think of an appropriate title for this blog post and I couldn't come up with any that didn't sound boring as all get out. So just so you know, this post isn't boring, and without further ado I will get started.

Tuesday, September 13th:

* I say goodbye to my Mommy and leave for my new home. I forget to pack a coat and forget my hoodie until we are over half way to t he airport and it just isn't worth going back for. There are more important things in life than being warm in Alaska. Like getting to the airport on time. Haha. I figured I should get at least one blog post written about my life here before I freeze to death ;-)

* I arrive in plenty of time for my flight so we probably had enough time to go back home for said forgotten hoodie, but in the heat of the moment it seemed like I was never going to make it there in time. All too soon, I was approaching the security gate and saying goodbye to my dearly beloved father. I miss you Daddy.

* My flight takes off late (thank you, Norfolk International...if any of you have ever left on time from this airport please tell me because I never have) and I panic the entire flight, certain I will miss my connection. Somehow, we manage to get to land early in Houston and I end up with enough time to dash across the entire airport (okay, not quite but it felt like it) and arrive at my gate right as my next flight started boarding. Praise the Lord! It was my miracle of the day.

* I fly over some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life and land safe and sound in good time in Seattle. I repeat my mad dash, but this time I have a 30 minute grace period so I promptly lay down on my bag and fall asleep. I am groggy when I board my next flight, hoping it will make sleeping during the flight easier (it didn't).

* My flight is late taking off by a good 30 minutes, so I land in Anchorage 20 minutes late; I grab my luggage and call the person I have never met who is picking me up from teh airport. She is waiting outside and we have a 40 minute drive to my new home.

First impressions of my new home: it is big and we are locked out. We went in the back door, I was taken to my bedroom and settled in for life in Alaska. The next morning I was up bright and early at 3am (yay, 4 hour time difference!); I managed to fall asleep again, only to wake up again around 7. I lay peacefully in bed for another hour, thinking about how there was no turning back when bedlam broke right outside my bedroom door. 8 little people who were very excited to see me were making more noise than seemed humanly possible. I put on some clothes and head out to brave a brand new world.

I would give you a blow by blow account of the next few days of the last week but much of it has been a blur. I have been busy saying the right names to the wrong children, picking up the threads of homeschooling and adjusting to the very different temperatures and time zones that are Alaska. I have seen a moose. I have learned how to get to church. I have taken the boys to their Cub Scout and Boy Scout meetings without a GPS and without getting lost. I have fixed the internet in one day and then unfixed it beyond fixing the following night. I have been called a myriad of different names, but "Miss Rachel" is now the predominant one. The children have told their neighborhood friends that "the new nanny is strict"; hopefully soon they will learn to add "and loves us unconditionally" to that sentence. I have met about 10 new people, not all of them children. I went to the Catholic Young Adult Group and met 4 people my own age, so I have filled my quota for the year (right?). I have been to my first pub/bar. I have been to Costco, been on base twice and figured out that just because there isn't any tax here doesn't mean things are less expensive than they are back home. I have learned to call hairties "pretties" and to decipher my new children's particular brand of speech impediment that, while being endearing, can be fairly hard to understand.

Alaska, so far, has been good to me. I am excited about what this year will bring for me. I am never going to get used to not having my siblings and friends around me, but I don't think I will be crying about it just yet. I miss and love y'all back home.