Officially a Fisher-lady

"Our job is to catch fish; God is the One who does the cleaning." - Pastor Rich

Summer. It is in full swing up here, with 'summer solstice' already behind us. When I flip back through the pages of my journal, I'm always reminded of the crazy ride that life is constantly taking us on. Lately my journal entries have been scarce...once again, life has taken me from slow to fast. A few weeks ago I was starving for community, and now I'm struggling to find time to myself.

A few weeks ago, I was reunited with my beautiful, sweet family. And we all had a wonderful short week together. Brady and I dropped everything we were doing and drove out to meet my parents, little sister, and Justin and Kelsie, at Eagle River Campground, just outside of Anchorage. The poor lot of them had been on the road/camping for 2 weeks straight and were ready to make it to their final destination. But they stuck it out another night. We all storied around the camp fire that night, catching up on one another's lives. And the following day, we went on a beautiful ridge hike. At the top of the mountain, we managed to take a half-decent family photo, which we all will cherish. With my parents heading back overseas, for another four year term, we don't know when the next time will be when we'll all be together again.

Sunday was a hectic day, full of packing up camp, and racing to a Mud Run (which Brady and I had signed ourselves up for months in advance). [I find myself getting filthy a lot, with Brady. He doesn't mind getting dirty, but I've always tried to stay clean at all times. Even when we were just dating, he was always rubbing dirt on me, trying to toughen me up, I think. Lately I haven't been able to stay clean...fish blood and scales all over my arms, but I'm getting ahead of myself.] My whole family arrived at the Fish Camp that night. 6 years ago, I had stood on the bluff, over looking the ocean, and had the fleeting thought that we might one day have a family reunion in the beautiful Alaska. And now I was pinching myself, it was actually happening. I still can't believe my parents drove all the way from PA to Alaska, just to see their kids one last time.

Monday was the start of the Fishing Season. All the crew members (8 of us) met for our first meeting, in the cookhouse at 8:30 AM. Then the week was filled with plenty of work to do...we all jumped in, pulling out nets to mend, getting our boats ready, and tying lots of knots in ropes. Everyone was helping! My little sister and her boyfriend, Icey, jumped right in and helped us fill lots of sandbags, one day. My mom did some cooking for us, and my dad took Tadgh fishing at Bottle-neck Lake. One night we all stayed up and Jonita and Icey shaved so many heads (the things you will do at 3 AM). And there was always time for bonfires on the beach and skim boarding.

Well, soon the fun filled week came to end, and Brady and I drove my little sis and parents to the airport. I don't know why I never cry at the appropriate times, it's always at the most inopertune moments, like at 3 AM, when everyone is sleeping. I know that a part of my heart is leaving for PNG. But this I also know, God always goes before the ones I love.

We didn't have much time to relax, cause soon we got the call that we would be open for fishing the following morning. You should have seen us all jumping and shouting and carrying on. Full of energy and excitement. Ready to catch all the salmon our nets would give us. We all scrambled about, readying our fishing boats, and went to bed very early that night, anticipating our 4:30 AM wake up call.

Haha, wow, what a challenge fishing is. So much pulling. and yet more pulling. The first day we went out upon the ocean, the sea was a little brutal to us. The wind and the waves were against us, is a good way to put it. I may have collapsed in the boat a few times, crying, "I can't do this!" Feeling as if the whole force of the ocean was against me. Playing tug-a-war with the ocean is not a fun task. Brady was so encouraging though. "Sarah keep pulling, you are doing great."

Every fishing day consists of three parts: In the morning, we go out to 'set our nets'. Then around noon we go back out in our boats, to 'pick fish' and 'push our slack nets' over the rocks, so that they can't snag on anything. The last time we go out in the boats, is to 'pick fish' again and then to 'pull in our nets'. This last part, pulling in our nets, is the hardest part, in my humble opinion. We did the math and we are pulling in about 1 mile of nets, every day. My little feeble arms are dead tired by the time we come in for the night. The only rewarding part is seeing the fish number slowly grow. (And another plus is the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the gorgeous large Alaskan sky above us, as we work.)

I've always been terrified of fish. They are slimy and wiggly and if given the chose, I'd rather not hold them or get anywhere near them. Haha, you should have seen me scream when I had to pick my first salmon out of the net! Quite the sight. But Salmon are beautiful up close, a work of art really. They have these beautiful blue patterns on their heads. And they sort of look like baby sharks close up.