We then stopped at a gas station/gift shop (this doesn't count as a beautiful area), and we found HUSKY PUPPIES! That was definitely a highlight of my day.
After that, we stopped at a little stream of water that had flowed from a nearby glacier, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely stunning. The water was such a vibrant blue, it was amazing! Of course, our cryer (Tammy Melton) busted into tears as soon as she saw it. It was beautiful.
Finally, we were headed to the glacier cruise! It was an hour long cruise, and we got to get up close and personal with the Portage Glacier! It was very neat, very cold, and very beautiful. We even snagged a group shot right in front of the glacier!
We got off the boat and went straight to the hike. It wasn't very long and it was level, which called for a HAPPY Lavonia crew! Once we reached the end, there were tons of rocks, a big glacier, and a cool little stream coming from the glacier. There was actually a little bit of snow, but a bit too icy to successfully play in. We got to hang out and play on the rocks, and we took some awesome pictures!
Finally, we made our last stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. They had black bears, brown bears, a bald eagle, bison, a lynx, a porcupine, moose calves, moose, elk, and a baby musk ox! It was awesome!
We got back to Calvary Baptist (one last time) to eat supper. We had some pretty delicious grilled chicken and birthday cake for dessert! They have made some tasty meals this week, the kitchen staff has definitely been a blessing. We had two of our park kids come back ONE last time to eat with us, so we had our fourth goodbye in two days! It was raining when we left, so we all decided that the sky was crying about us leaving GraceWorks, too. We loaded the trailer, gave out a few more hugs, and headed to our hotel.
At the hotel, we said goodbye to Larry and Travis, our ministry leaders that have given US so much grace this week! They have kept us on schedule, made sure we have gotten on the right vans, given us a run down on how days in the parks and park parties would work, given us a report on certain kids and how to handle them, helped us out immensely in the parks, and kept us all on track. Travis and Larry... you rock. Thank you so much.
P.S. Notice Travis's "Texalaska" shirt... The shirt that one of our team members made but accidentally combined Texas and Alaska clip art to create a nonexistent state. We didn't realize until we were on our way to the airport, and it was actually Bonnie Greer that pointed it out! But, we liked them so much... So we gave our ministry leaders one.
GraceWorks has been such a generous, organized, and loving group of people. I can't put into words how much of a blessing these people have been in my life, and I know members of our team feel the same way. Every day we've woken up in the comfy rooms they've opened up to us, eaten the delicious food they've made for us, gone to the parks they've assigned us to, and served wherever they tell us they need us. We haven't had one day where we have felt disorganized, there has been a great schedule and we've known what to prepare for each day. The messages in the chapel services have been so compelling, you can just FEEL the love of Jesus all around you. You can also feel His love in the parks, by the way a child's eyes will light up when you tell him you're one of the "church people." It's obvious by the way this ministry is run that GraceWorks truly cares about each child and each family. They want what's best for the kids, and they make it happen. They also want their volunteers to grow and learn from this, and I feel very confident in saying that we have all grown. Thank you, GraceWorks, for everything you've given us this week.
I'll be posting one more blog post tomorrow giving updates on our travel and hopefully some of our favorite pictures from the trip. Prayers for safe flights tomorrow, we'll be flying all night and into Monday morning! But for now, we're checked in to our hotel celebrating His love with a pool party and pizza.
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