Month One

Hullo from the National Geographic Sea Bird! On Sunday I will have been working here for one month and I keep pretty crazy busy so haven’t had much of a chance to sit down and write. Internet is limited but lucky us, the week after I came on they added a perk of giving crew internet cards once a month. Sweet!

So it’s been quite a full month. There isn’t much of a transition time here, you get on board and you start your job. I am in general a steward but what the postions change weekly and there are six of them. Basically I start the work day at about 6:30 setting up for guest breakfast, serving guest breakfast, cleaning up guest breakfast, eating my breakfast, begin cleaning anywhere from 6-13 cabins. This week it’s 13. That’s the morning. Then it’s time for crew lunch, set up guest lunch, serve guest lunch, clean guest lunch- break til 5. Crew dinner @ 5, dress for dinner service, set up dining room, turn down guest rooms, serve guest dinner, clean up guest dinner, spend some crew time catching our breath and then to bed to start it all again. It is not easy, it’s often very difficult BUT I still think I have a great job.

And my goodness, the things I have seen! In fact sometime the hardest part of my job is actually doing my job. Last week I was truly grumpy while cleaning cabins and I turned the corner just in time to see humpback whales come up bubble netting. I’ve seen orca’s, seals, sea lions, otters, eagles, glaciers, jelly fish, sea stars, puffins, bears, wolves, moose. I’ve seen glaciers calving and last night I did the polar plunge in Glacier Bay. Fabulous. Cold, salty, and fabulous. I’ve been kayaking and looked down to see jellies and remembered I wasn’t in the Shenandoah anymore. I’ve met people from National Geographic and stayed up late singing old songs with them.

I’m meeting new people, becoming part of a new community. It was really good to know someone before I came- it was hard enough that way so I don’t know how I would have done without Jordan. I’m learning to talk more about my faith, about truth, about God. It isn’t easy though and there is opposition there. It’s hard to not be part of a church community right now and getting into my own schedule and order is also difficult. God is gracious and I have found a couple of Christians on board and last week I had good conversations with some of the guests actually! We had Sister Rose Marie (rosemary) on board last week and it was a joy to meet her. She prayed for me and I was grateful. I met another lady last week too who turned out to be a sister in Christ. It was a great comfort to meet her and talk with her. We didn’t even talk much and I think we both realized we had a common faith before we really talked about it. Just knowing she was here was comforting and an answer to prayer. I haven’t begun a bible study but we did start a book discussion on Blue Like Jazz.

We are heading out of Alaska this week, into Canada and back to Seattle and Portland. After positioning we’ll begin the next cruise on the Columbia river. I hope this finds the reader well. Thanks for reading! ~Faith

Petersburg Alaska. We've been having beautiful weather! The mountains are simply incredible. They are massive and it's wonderful to see such granduer with no cars around. When I woke yesterday morning we were going past chunks of blue blue gem looking ice in the water. I saw a glacier for the first time.

my computer time is running out.

Love my job though I'm overwhelmed with information right now.I feel very blessed.

Juneau

Today I left my one day adventure in Seattle for an early morning flight to Juneau, Alaska. I grew up hearing about Alaska because it's my Mom's dream to go. And I understand why. It is truly beautiful here and I look forward to when Mom can see it for herself! It's been a long, good, full day. Sometimes in my travels backwards weather follows me. When I visited Florida last they had the coldest day in 100 years. After not living in Harpers Ferry for five years when I return this past year we have a really cold, really long, really really snowy winter followed by the hottest WV summer I've seen in a long time. This time it worked out very nicely. Yesterday rainy Seattle was bright and sunny and actually kind of hot. And today in Alaska? Same! A bright, clear, sunny, gorgeous, day.

I got to go hiking today! My legs hurt, I'm so tired, and I'm loving this adventure so far. At the end of my hike there was a nature center and I saw a bald eagle up close. He was incredible and truly took my breath away. I'm not sure why he's in captivity but he does have one blind eye so maybe that has something to do with it. I also saw an eagle's nest through a telescope. And I ate wild blueberries.

Other people at the hotel are waiting for the computer so that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

:Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is filled with His glory.:

Seattle

I'm in Seattle! Good grief I've wanted to see this city for a very long time and it is so cool. I'm only here for this day but I honestly didn't expect to see anything but the Lindblad office (which has a jimongous National Geographic world map on the wall and I also saw a picture of a whale) but I got to spend the afternoon walking around Pike Place Market. Ohmigoodness. Fresh flowers, fish throwing, rose jelly, European chocolate, New York pickles, RAW MILK!, so fantastic. I ate dinner near the water by the aquarium.

I've been up since 5:08 am Eastern time. Mom, Luke and Sam took me to the airport & I enjoyed the car ride over with them. I was praying I'd meet some nice strong guy at the airport because my bags are HEAVY to lug around, but alas no guy. :)

Anyhoo, I am super tired but I wanted to take a few computer minutes since I have the chance! I'm excited about this job and tomorrow I leave for Alaska! I can hardly believe it.

Oh! Oh! and I hailed a cab myself for the first time. :) It's the little things.

Brothers

Today my brother Sam and I went out for milkshakes at Chik-Fil-A. He wanted to have some just us time and I'm glad for that. I got a chocolate milkshake with a little coffee in it and Sam went for peach. When we got to the drive-thru he dared me to order in an Australian accent so I did. Then we were accosted by the cow. I'm pretty sure the Chik-Fil-A cow doesn't usually come to the cars in the drive thru but sometimes things are different when the bovine is also your brother. Your other brother.

It's been good to spend time with my brothers while I've been home. They're getting so grown up. Sam doesn't look like a little kid anymore, Luke is dating someone (she's a cutie too! ;) ), and Dev is hoping/working to head to California at the end of the month. Luke, Sam and I play cards sometimes and laugh and laugh. Mostly at each other. I'm lucky enough to get to teach at a children's theatre camp with Dev this week and next. It's been a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed it. He's good with the kids and we both enjoy brushing up on our own theatre know-how.

Yup. Glad for brothers.

LEX

Hullo again!

As some of you may already know I am now back at home after MWF (a wonderful 6 weeks of hard work and good fellowship) and am in a two week countdown for my new job for which I am, let's just say, stoked! I am going to be working as a steward for Lindblad Expeditions. Though I've been telling people that I'm going to be working on a cruise ship, it isn't quite accurate so I thought I'd tell a bit about the differences.
Lindblad is partnered with National Geopgraphic and they are better described as eco-tourism than luxury cruises. LEX ships are smaller and their trips are focused on exploring the natural world. LEX ships stop several times within an excursion to explore an area through hiking, snorkeling, kayaking and such. They travel with a team of Naturalists, Historians, Geologists and Scientists who interact with guests whether through a lecture or discussion or at a meal. There are Zodiacs, kayaks and underwater cameras on board and the schedule is flexible so that if something extraordinary happens they don't have to rush off to the next destination and miss it.
What will I be doing? Working my butt off! :) Seriously though- I'll be working 12 hour days 7-10 days at a time as a Steward which is in the hospitality branch and means I'll be prepping the dining room, serving food, cleaning rooms, turning down beds, that kind of thing.
And so, in short, that is what I'm looking forward to next. It's a six month contract so I'll be gone from August to February. I will have limited computer access but will be able to receive letters (no packages though. Just flat mail.) We begin in Alaska, and I'll work for a few weeks with my AmeriCorps teammate Jordan! In the fall I believe we'll be on the Snake River in Oregon and for winter we'll go to California and Mexico.
I'm so excited for this adventure & would very much appreciate your prayers! The next two weeks I'll try to update a bit over here in blog-dom before I unplug for a while. Thanks for reading!

~Here is a video about the work that I'll be doing ~

THIS is the day...

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

It is so good to be at the Doric in Winona Lake and visiting with the girls here. Last night Joy and I stayed up late in her room just talking. We ranged from doctrine and theology to gin and tonic. A good portion of our conversation, and several of the wonderful girl conversations I've had here, had to do with what we want to do with our lives, what we struggle with, a desire for sharing life with a specific someone, not wanting to be alone, frustrations that come with all of this.

I've been thinking lately about not wanting to be alone. Yet last night after talks of guys, and marriage, and kids, and careers, my gin/tonic/cran juice was wearing off and I wasn't sleepy anymore, though it was late so Joy pulled out this children's book of kooky lullabies and sang to me.

"Go to sleep, my zoodle,
my flibbety-fitsy foo.
Go to sleep, sweet noodle.
It's time to say, "Ah-choo.

The chickens in the bathtub,
the closet full of sheep,
the sneakers in the freezer
are all drifting off to sleep..."

As Joy sang this delightful nonsense from her bed to mine I was full of the happiness of THAT moment in time, not just that minute, or this day, but this season. This 'now'. I remembered that one day we probably will be wives and mothers and life will be very different. We may keep in touch but there probably won't be across the country sleepovers, drop everything travels, the same kind of questions and possibilities for what's next. This time will be missed and so should not be missed out on the first time around.

That isn't to say that the next season won't be beautiful, because I believe it will be, in a different way. It isn't to say that this season is full of all freedom and the hoped for future all constraint and burden. Each is beautiful in it's own time (Eccl 3:11) and each has different costs, responsibilities and delights. I believe it's okay to have desires for the next season, to look forward to it and I even think that talking about and desiring those things is part of the season now. As long as the desire for what's ahead doesn't steal from what's present.

"Life is the messy bits" says Vanessa Redgrave's character in 'Letters to Juliet'

THIS is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.