An Alaskan in Kansas

It finally happened. The driving rain and wind of Ketchikan Alaska blew me away and I found myself in Kansas. Who knew? Yes it is really true. After living in Ketchikan since July 1st 1984, and in 1980-1981, and in Juneau from Feb 14, 1977-Sept 1979, the duck has flown the coop and found herself drying the webs between her toes in, of all places, Kansas. Grandkids have a strong pull on your heartstrings. Jeremy will probably be deployed to Iraq sometime in February and it just seemed like a good idea at the time to come and lend Lisa a hand with three busy little bodies. I have to tell you, Kansas is different than Ketchikan in just about every way possible. First of all there is sunshine. Yes Ketchikanians, the sun does exist and it is bright and warm. Sorry but I just don't miss the rain right now, maybe later when I need to water the garden that is growing in our back yard. Yes, we are going to plant, maybe even a watermelon or a few other things that take more than 6 weeks to grow and there aren't any slugs to eat everything in sight. Hallelujah!
Of course there are things I do miss, one being the mountains. There are no mountains in Kansas only a few little bumps. I sort of miss that nice salt air, low tide aroma also but at least we live near a lake and we can see it from just about anywhere in this little town of Wakefield.
There is no shopping here. The main street consists of a small post office/bank, a car wash, a mini mart/gas station, laundry mat, and bar and grill and bait shop. For anything else you must travel at least 15 miles in one of a couple different directions to another town. Oh its true, you can actually drive more than 18 miles in many different directions. Although I have to say I think I got the driving bug out of my system when I drove here from Bellingham Washington. I crossed 8 states to get here with a dog and cat and a lot of Christmas cds.
Christmas was great with the kids and now I am settling in, trying to find a new life for myself. I managed to keep my job with KGH at least for a few months by working online. It is great. I get up early in the morning and work in my "jammies", take time with the kids when they get up, work a little more, play with the kids, work a little and so on. Does it get any better?
Josh and Kendrie came yesterday and will be here for a few days. It gives Kendrie a chance to get acquainted with the fam which she didn't have much chance to do when they were down for the wedding in July. So we are all here, just one big happy family. Josh is a certified flight instructor for those who didn't know and he has four students right now, all from China. He loves flying and this is a good way to build hours for future employment. He is also learning a lot about communication if you catch my drift.
As for myself, I believe I may be attending the Nazarene Church in Junction City. I have been a couple of times and it is a very active church with a lot of different activities for a lot of different folks. The pastor is very nice and friendly and seems to be well liked by the congregation so I think I may have found a good church.
We are going to work on getting some pictures and some new postings soon so keep checking. Love you all.
Veta