Summer's almost here!

From what I can tell so far, this is about the time of year when Alaskans let out a collective sigh of relief. Winter is definitely over and happy days are here again. The sun awaits us each morning, shining gloriously in the bright blue sky. The air is dry, clean, and crisp. Green is splashed over the landscape, and the lakes and rivers are watery again (and some will soon be teeming with salmon). It's hard to imagine a better place to be in the summer than Alaska.

I'm looking forward to this summer for many reasons, though, not only for the unbeatable weather.

First, we are trying a couple of new things at church. Honestly, I don't know how they'll go, but I'm excited to find out. First, we are focusing on outreach during the month of June. I will be encouraging our people to ask their non-church-going friends to church. I am going to preach a series of messages on the "I am" statements of Jesus that, I hope, will present Christ clearly to the hearts and minds of all who will be there. We are going to meet each Sunday at a local park with the church's trailer and offer free water and soda. And for anyone interested, we'll also have some good booklets available that deal with life's struggles from a Christian perspective. This is somewhat new ground for me and for the church, so we'll see how it goes.

Second, we are beginning a Sunday school class during the summer. The purpose of the class will be to encourage family devotions and teaching the catechism at home to our children. We'll meet as entire families rather than separating into different age groups. This is also something a bit new for most of us in the church, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out.

This summer also means vacation for our family. We will spend three weeks in Wisconsin and Chicago visiting friends and family there. The main purpose is to be present for John and Gina's wedding (John is Robyn's younger brother). While we are excited about the trip and can't wait to go, from an admittedly selfish perspective, it is too bad it has to be a trip away from Alaska in the middle of the summer! We are seriously considering requesting our respective families that from now on, all weddings and funerals take place during the winter months.

And while we're in the neighborhood, we're planning to catch a Cardinals game at Wrigley field. The way things are shaping up in the NL central so far, that could be an extremely significant game to watch.

Speaking of family, my parents will be coming up in June with my aunt and uncle. It will be great to spend some time with them. They are driving up the Alaska highway from Montana. Thanks to them, with gas prices being what they are, by the time they return some fortunate Saudi prince will be able to buy another private jumbo jet.

And then there's fishing. I can hardly call myself an Alaskan if I haven't fished yet. So, we are hoping to give that a try this summer. Our hope is to go "dipnetting", an Alaskan fishing style in which you literally scoop salmon out of the river by the dozens. We have a freezer in a garage waiting to be filled with pounds and pounds of salmon fillets. We'll see if our "best laid plans" come to pass.

There's a lot to look forward to this summer!