What we have been studying at church...

We are about 8 weeks into a study on the book of Galatians. We took a 4 week break from this series over the Holiday season and we are starting back up this coming weekend. This is a short video the church put together with some of the key points from the series thus far. It's been a really powerful series for Sherri and I and we wanted to share this.

A Christmas Blog

Hello Everyone!!

This is our annual Christmas Letter (in blog form). Welcome to our first time readers and welcome back to our regulars. We try and use this site as a quick and easy way to give updates on happenings, events and just general stuff that goes on in our life way up here in Alaska.
___________________________

A lot has happened since our last Christmas letter! Here are the highlights...

* We bought a house! We closed in April and moved in in May. We spent a few weeks totally redoing most of the rooms before we moved in, so it was nice to move into a space that already felt like "us".

*Our kitchen after we finished*

We have really enjoyed living here, we have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. One of the bedrooms is an office, one is our master bedroom and one is a guestroom (so come visit!!). We have an amazing unobstructed view of the Chugach Mountains from our living room as well as a view of Campbell Lake from our 2nd floor balcony.

* We also bought a new vehicle this year. After having some mechanical issues with our Saturn we decided it was time for an upgrade so we bought a Mercedes M-Class. We got a great deal on it, the previous owner was a professor at the local University and he took amazing care of it. We have really enjoyed it and it has been GREAT here in the winter! We still have the Kia as well and it is still running perfectly!

*The new car, on a drive along Turnagain Arm*

* We are both still with the same companies, Sherri is an Executive Assistant at TecPro (www.tecpro.com) and I am a Regional Director of Sales with Extended Stay Hotels (www.extendedstay.com) We have each had excellent years at work and both feel very blessed by our jobs. Sherri works in an amazing environment where everyone goes to our church, she has an amazing boss that treats her with respect and I don't think we could possibly ask for a better position or environment to work in. I get to work from home, which I have to admit, is awesome! I have my office here and I come in and have a place where I can just focus on work. Its pretty perfect.

This year I traveled a lot with work. Everywhere from Puerto Rico to Seattle and all over the state of Alaska. I don't mind the travel, the air miles are nice and it makes it easier for us to travel for vacations.

*We spent several days in Seattle in September celebrating our 3rd Anniversary. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera, did a bunch of shopping, toured a great winery and just enjoyed our time away.

* Sherri's parents visited us for a couple of weeks in June and July this summer and we had a great time! We got out and saw quite a bit of Alaska and really enjoyed having them here with us in our new home!

*Sherri and her parents below a portion of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline*

* We were able to get away a few times this year to go camping and just "get away from it all". I think the most memorable experience was when us and 2 other couples went winter camping last February. It was SO cold and we had to hike through the snow to get to the cabin, but we had such a good time and it is a memory that we will always cherish! In fact, we have a follow up trip already planned for next February!

*Here we are walking to the cabin. So foolish.*

* This year also brought an addition to our family! We adopted a kitten from a local animal shelter and she has quickly become part of the family! Sherri wanted a cat because I am gone a lot traveling for work and having an animal would make the house feel less empty. Her name is Missy and she has been soooo much fun to have around. She is certainly a mommas girl and she is almost always found laying on or near Sherri.

*Here is Missy, just after we got her*

* We are still actively involved in our church (www.changepointalaska.com) and are currently co-leading a small group of other newly married couples who don't have children.

* Sherri has been getting back into her art more this year. Our guest room also doubles as her art room with her drawing desk there and all of her art supplies. I think having a dedicated space where she can go and create has helped.

____________________________

That is just a small snapshot of the past year in our life. We have had an amazing year, we are greatly enjoying marriage and each other, we love our new home and have really enjoyed "settling in".

We feel so blessed to have such a great network of family and friends, we love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Love, Adam & Sherri

A quick trip around the house at Christmas

Hello Everyone -

We hope that you are enjoying the Holiday Season! We have our house all decorated for Christmas, both inside and out, and thought we would snap a few pictures so you can see how it looks.

Enjoy!

Here is our tree with all of the presents!!

Here is our fireplace with our stockings! (yes we have a stocking for our cat)

We did the railing going to the second floor with lighted garland

Just a fun Noel sign that Sherri painted this year

Our nativity set on the table at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor

Lights out back leading to the door


White LED lights that we hung on the front of the house

Just Watch...

You will enjoy.

So cute.

An Update!!!

Hello Everyone!!

We hope that you had an excellent Thanksgiving and are enjoying the "Holiday Season".

We haven't updated this in a few weeks so I will do my best to catch you up on what we have been doing!

___________________

* We had a great Thanksgiving and we stayed up all night in order to be in line for Black Friday shopping at Best Buy at 3am!!!

(Us with Jason & Jana in line at Best Buy at 3am)

* We are, for the first time, doing an Advent Wreath and celebrating the entire season of Advent. It has been awesome and I am sure this is something that will become a family tradition of ours.

(This is a picture of the Advent wreath that we made)

* We went and saw George Balanchine's production of "The Nutcracker" last week and it was great!! It was put on by the Oregon Ballet Theatre and they did an awesome job!!

* We have all of our Christmas lights up outside and the tree and decorations up inside! So it is feeling very festive around our house!!

* We got our first good sized snow storm last weekend. We got about 10 inches of snow, which makes everything look perfect for Christmas!

(here is a picture of our tree covered in snow with the white lights)

* Next week we are going to see the Broadway production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" that is starring Ted Neely, the guy who originally played Jesus in the movie. It should be fun and we are both looking forward to it!!

___________________

I think that is about it. Work is going good for both of us, my company has put a "travel freeze" into place so I am home at least through January, which is really nice!!

I will blog more later with more "Christmas pictures" of our tree and house all decorated. Also, what our plans are for Christmas.