Homeward Bound

We've come to the last leg of our journey to Alaska... the return to civilization (excuse my Disney reference). Today, we got to sleep in at the hotel before we headed to Anchorage International Airport. We got through security alright, although Stacey got bomb-checked twice! Our flight ended up getting delayed about 45 minutes, so we departed around 4:05 (Alaska time). But of course, we couldn't leave Alaska without Matt McRee running into someone he knew...

Once we arrived in Seattle around 8:00 (Seattle time), we all scattered to grab food! Here is a picture of the beautiful food court, it was definitely a nice little surprise right before we got to board our final plane! 

The last plane ride was 4 hours and 6 minutes, and it was the longest flight of our lives. On top of the anticipation of touching down on Georgia soil, we also had a very upset baby on the plane with us. Of course, we hadn't slept in about 20 hours as well... We were TIRED. We did have awesome nighttime views though!

We landed in Atlanta at 5:55 a.m.! We grabbed our bags and headed out the door- where the humidity hit us right in the face. We've definitely been spoiled with the lack of humidity in Alaska! We loaded up the church buses, and we are oh so thankful for Dick Patton and Jim Gothard for picking us up! Also, we're super thankful for Larry Adams and Randy Foster for dropping us off last Sunday. I'm currently typing this on our way back to good ol' Franklin County, and I've never been so happy to be home!

Even though we're all ready to sleep in our own beds (all day), this trip was absolutely phenomenal. The past week was a week of growth... We grew close to the kids, we grew close to each other, we grew closer to God's beautiful creation, we grew emotionally, and overall... (you guessed it) we grew closer to the Lord. This experience was so humbling. We saw children from all situations, and it astounished ME, personally, how many of them have been through awful situations and they are still so young. It also opened our eyes to the fact that we have kids like this at home, and we CAN do something about it. As Tammy Melton said, this trip really lit a fire beneath all of us. We are all yearning to start something here at home now, I think that may be one of the main reasons God called us to go on this mission trip. It was all around an awesome week, and I wouldn't trade the memories, new friendships, laughter, spiritual revival, 4-square games, or plain out LOVE for anything in this world.

Thanks to everyone who has followed along with us on our "Journey to Alaska." I have loved getting to share our experiences with you, I am so sad this is my last post! (Shameless plug: follow my personal blog, Oh My Maddy, for more fun! www.maddymcree.blogspot.com) But even greater, thank you to everyone who prayed for us, donated, and supported us on this journey! We wouldn't have gotten to Alaska without you.

Now I present to you... A Recap!

Fun fact: The hike that the following picture was taken out was actually shut down three days after we had hiked it, because there are too many bears in the area. Lucky us!

I title this piece, "Stacey Respecting Quiet Hours" 

Apparently, there was an earthquake while we were on this cruise! We didn't feel it on the water, so we never even knew it happened!

So long, Alaska.

Thank You, GraceWorks

Our last full day in Alaska has come to a close... but it was wonderful. GraceWorks scheduled our last day for sightseeing and included a glacier cruise, a hike, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We had to wake up and make sure everything was out of our rooms before we went to breakfast so they could clean, so we got off to an earlier start than normal! We loaded the buses at 9:00 a.m., and we started on the road towards our glacier cruise! We stopped at two beautiful areas on the way, the first one being Bird Creek. It had an awesome view, which called for wonderful photo ops!

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.