Scenery

      For those of you who do not always get to see my Facebook posts and pictures posted this is for you. {Some people say that I am brave, crazy, adventurous, and yet I say that I blessed 4 years ago I did not think that I would have ended up here in Alaska. For years there has been a passion to teach, travel, play sports, and follow the Lord. I did not know that the Lord had it all planned out that I would do all 4 at the same time. Monday was my first day as a new coach and teacher. The time has come to put everything I have been taught into practice. I have met so many people who have pushed, encouraged, prayed, loved, taught, and supported me to get me where I am today. I give a sincere thank you to each and everyone of you. In the words of my one roommate, "Your capacity for knowledge is endless, may your students teach you as much (if not more) than you teach them. Know that you are loved."} This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I am happy that there are so many people who want to share it with me. Here are a few pictures from my flight in and the scenery right now.

The airport might have been small in Juno but there was still this beautiful sight. I was able to sit in the airport, relax, and enjoy the view.

I love the view when we fly. I enjoy looking at the snow covered mountains on either side of us.

It always makes me happy to ride as co-pilot because I get a view like this!

This was flying through the one of passes heading into Port Alsworth.

The view from the plane was absolutely breathtaking. Everything looked fake and the mountains were completely snow covered. 

This is the teacher housing. I live on the left side with my roommate Ceciley. She is from Montana and is such a joy to live with! Asha lives on the right side where I stayed for the 6 weeks of student teaching.

 Over this past week, I have been able to get settled in, meet my roommate, and figure out my classroom schedule. I begin my day with 3 Kindergartners and 2 1st grade students for math, and then I go straight into the 3rd-5th grade room to work with three different reading groups. Once I have finished there, I head to lunch only to prepare for my Kindergarten and 1st grade social studies class. My kindergarten students then leave and I then have an hour of reading and writing with my 1st grade students. Yes, that means I only have 2 students during this hour. After that I then help out with 1st, 3-5th grade science. I love the variety and the experience with the different age groups over the course of a single day. Everything seems to be running pretty smoothly even with all of the changes with classes and teachers.      Not only am I loving the position here teaching, but I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach varsity girls’ basketball. We started practice on Tuesday and we have 12 girls when everyone is able to come to practice. I have loved every minute of it and am excited to see how we will do in two weeks when we travel for our first game! Our team has enough players to play a 5 vs. 5 games; however, we will only be playing 3 vs. 3 games. This means that I have 3 girls playing against at least 1 guy possibly 2 guys on a team. The ladies have all been working very hard! They even asked me for a Saturday practice this weekend. This brings joy to my heart since I have a passion for the game of basketball. We have been focusing on being an encouragement to everyone on and off the court. I also get some extra help with Ceciley who comes help me coach. I cannot wait to see what each week has in store for me. I am looking forward to getting to know the students more as well as the teachers here. Hopefully, I will have some more pictures after this weekend. Let me know if you would like more information about the area, school, or just want some more pictures. Hope you enjoyed today's blog.