As the world turns

Well Sunday Kimberly and I missed church. We didnt know it at the time but we were both thinking the same thing, that we would get up and throw in an Abundant Life Church dvd and cuddle up and watch the sermon. It sounded like such a great idea in bed but as soon as we got up neither of us though of it again. Sunday night we voiced our frustrations to each other with how we handled the day and that conversation lead to each of us realizing each of our god tanks were going on empty. My lifestyle in particular just drove me crazy but i couldn't find the strength in me to change... sleeping in every morning, staying up late, not being very active. Yet every night when I went to bed I would get myself excited thinking i would get up early the next day, always failing. Kimberly was frustrated with the way she ate... keep in mind Kimberly is even more beautiful than when we got married but she just gets irritated that she cannot loose the 5 lbs or so and she finds herself eating "poorly" some nights.

We decided Sunday night it was the end of our living out of control of ourselves and we both needed a god refill. We have been praying regularly, going to bed by 11:30 and getting up by 7:30, we then get some breakfast I get a shower, then after we pray for the day we go our own ways and have about 30min of quiet time. Its SO nice, feeling my body clock adjusting. I was able to stay up till 2am comfortably without being tired. Last night at 11pm i was about to fall out of my chair. In this last week I have just been shown again how great god is... I have tried and tried to change the way i was living and failed and failed. The week I recommit my life to god and really spend time with him and talk with him regularly, both Kimberly are doing so much better.

As for whats going on around us, its around 30-50 degrees now, the main roads are drying up. There is still a lot of mud around and there are still LARGE puddles in low areas. Its so nice to have the sun, and to be able to get out in a single layer. I have a lot of new pictures but our internet has been goofy the last like 2 weeks and not allowed me to upload anything hardly.

Dale came in last night, and our anxiety was through the roof. We knew the talk was coming about our email we sent them. We asked for a fairly large raise, not expecting to get it all its just we would rather ask for the sun, moon, and stars and settle for the sun, than ask for a star and be gladly given the single star. That lead us to stress, wondering what their thinking was with Kimberly and I knowing the request was a bit high, thinking maybe they thought we were trying to gouge them because we know they need us. We actually didn't talk about it until this morning. But last night we ran out with dale to look at the property they just purchase. The land was SO cool, out away from the town, quiet... gentle rolling hills, and the coolest cabins!

As I said, we talked with Dale this morning. God has been faithful and helped me to talk with dale and all i can do is put my trust in him that he will be with me through the rest of the negotiations. I am dealing with a bit of stress still and I think its simply because we are not really any closer to a conclusion. Basically Dale just said, "we can work with the whole e-mail, it sounded pretty good, just the dollar amount was a little high". I explained to him our reasoning behind the number and we knew it was "up there". That was basically the end of the conversation, no counter offer just a "we have to talk about it". I don't think my stress is from this situation, I think I'm just getting worried about spending another year up here and having feelings of being short changed. Feeling like I have to say yes to their counter offer when it comes because i don't want to offend them by leaving them hanging for next year if the counter offer is less than we really felt comfortable accepting. I just need to leave it in gods hand that he will look out for us and our relationship with Cynthia and Dale.

We would love prayer for this situation we are in, and our decision we are going to have to make when we receive a counter offer. Also that our life changes we have made and are working through right now, its going to be a constant struggle and we are going to need all they prayer we can get!

We love you all, thank you for reading the blog!

-Andrew (and the beautiful Kimberly) Long

negotiations...

Kimberly and I have been BEYOND stressed out lately... our future is up in the air right now. Cynthia and Dale have inquired to us about staying up here another year. It has put us in a tough place. We love Tanana, and the people... to think we know about 300 people that one year ago didnt know at all. Then to think that by June there is a possibility that we may never see them again. On the other hand its hard to think about being here another year away from friends and family and PARTS STORES. Our trip home has had me so excited to get a car again and the sad reality that it wont be anything like what i had before is driving me crazy.

We sent our first negotiation attempt to Cynthia and Dale this afternoon. Its the first time we have done anything to communicate about our future up here since the question was popped by Dale weeks ago. Ill refrain from details but it would make it a lot more worth spending another year away from our friends and family and would include trips home.

As I mentioned our stress is through the roof... the other day i found myself breaking down and crying right after work. I have regularly found myself having a hard time when the store gets crazy with my motor movements, my vision gets hard to control and slow and my brain just shuts down much like an overloaded computer. We just need to talk about our terms and I think everything will clear up.

Don't be afraid for us... we just need to give it some time, and everything will start clicking... We appreciate the support we are getting. We love you all!

As for an update on Alaska though... its light for just over 18 hours now, most of the snow has melted, and in less than 2 weeks the river is supposed to break up. Everything is just SUPER SUPER muddy. You have to choose your steps wisely because you may drown in the mud. We have had the quads out and gotten VERY wet in the small lakes the melting snow has created. Today was REALLY sunny and beautiful.

We love ya and miss you all. We cannot wait to see you!

-Andrew

Tough decisions

Alright, well Dale came out yesterday and we already had an idea that we would be having the "so are ya comming back next year" talk. Kimberly and I decided a long time ago that we would not be coming back up. We just miss Portland and were tired of freewheeling not really doing anything for our future.

well dale started the conversation saying, would a paid Hawaiian vacation convince ya to stay. Which had Kimberly hook, line, and sinker. I started to wonder if maybe it would be a good thing. I KNOW Cynthia and Dale could use the help, Dale LOVES having someone mechanically inclined around, he has a laundry list for me to do this summer from replacing an engine in a truck to going out to their house in Fairbanks for a couple weeks and replace an engine on his hover craft, and painting his airplane hanger. Not only that but he recently found a satellite internet provider that has a FREE online training program and distribution/install perks that ANYONE can do for free training. So he wants to buy a bunch of the satellite units and sell them in the villages... not only that but the distributer/installer sets the install fee and keeps 100% of the money and gets a percentage of the month bill paid by the users... so that would give Dale and I something to do every other weekend or so.

But beyond the help, Dale was serious about the Hawaii trip. Alaska Airlines is going to start flying to Hawaii and when they do they have frequent flyer miles they can cash in. I talked with Dale this morning and told him that Hawaii would be cool, BUT, i don't want to spend time not being paid to fly somewhere and have it not be home to our families. He told me "no, I know that, Hawaii would be in addition to a trip home". Not only that but he talked about a raise, AND another day off (having someone come in and work saturdays). So more pay and less work, simply because they trust us we know what to do already, and I help keep up on the mechanical stuff so he doesnt have a HUGE list of stuff to fix and get running every time he comes into town (unlike the last couple that was out here whom could barely tell a wrench from a hammer).

Then Dale took me out in his plane today. He purchased some property somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70 miles out... just a place to get away from Tanana for a week and relax. So we flew overhead, then on the way home he ACTUALLY LET ME FLY! I was freaked out of my mind, the turbulence wasn't horrible BUT it sure made me uncomfortable in the 6 seat plane. He told me he wanted to let me fly and i said "no its quite alright, you can keep flying" (he offered as we were bouncing around and all i could think about was kissing the ground let alone FLYING). Then the next thing i know he has his hands off the controls and he says "go for it"
"wha"?
and he pointed to the controls and said "go for it" again.
So i grabbed the controls and stayed in control till just before we landed and he took over then (luckily). After we landed he reiterated the fact that what I just did is something that many people in Portland only dream of, and up here its everyday life.

So, today was a VERY good day. I spent time working on one of his pickups (needs a starter and the local parts store is out *wink*) so after our failed second attempt at flying a starter out (flew 2 wrong ones out) he took the second attempt back tonight with him and this time the one from the truck so hopefully he will be able to get the right one hopefully the saying 3rd times a charm will hold true.

We love you and will hopefully be seeing you sooner than we thought (though not as long as we thought) but we will let you all know of the dates as soon as everything is in set in stone.