SPRING BREAKUP AND OTHER FUN STUFF...

We received an inch of snow yesterday.  We had gray, lightly blizzard-like conditions on and off all day.  The snow has not melted a dot since last Friday! (I think)  We’ve had 0° to 13° each night.  My household is into this new thing of not having a fire in the stove ever.  I know some of you live at 65 degrees all the time and on purpose.  I don’t like it.  Rebekah came out yesterday and decided to start a fire (I’m much too lazy). J

Last Saturday we did pick up Rus and Millie from the airport.  They’d had a wonderful and profitable time in Juneau, Hoonah, and Haines.  Rus does the books for all those farms. They had time to see many people whom they haven’t seen in years.  They were supposed to fly into Fairbanks at 10 am; their flight was canceled to engine problems and they didn’t fly in until 4 pm.  They just sat around at the airport while waiting for their new flight from Juneau to Fbks.  It made it a long day for them. 

Judy and Steve flew out yesterday for their yearly visit to Lauren and Dwayne and family in Atlanta. They’ll be gone six weeks. 

Bonnie left on Sunday for Maine.  She is going to attend some classes at her old beauty school which she can do for free since she was trained there originally.  Irene, her mom who lives with Jim and Bonnie, already misses Bonnie badly. 

Seth Jepsen called on Monday night.  Laundry and showering has been a problem since they are completely out in the woods somewhere on Kodiak Island.  I almost think Seth sounded a little homesick.  Jason U told that they were going to get an internet dish out there maybe today so we’ll soon know if they do. 

Jarred had a bone spur in his jaw (inside his mouth).  He had one last year that he broke off; he found another one this year.  He went into the dentist and they sent him over to an oral surgeon.  They messed with the spur and broke it off but not all the way so Jarred had this sharp spur in his mouth.  Finally Jarred got it to break off all the way.  The oral surgeon says he used to operate on them but now he’s trying to leave them alone and give medicine to keep the open wound clean if it’s open.  He also said that while in the states he’s only ever seen one of these cases but since being in Alaska, he’s seen eight.  Interesting, huh? Poor Jarred sounds painful! God bless him...

Last night the school children sang a couple of their music songs for us, and they used sign language while they did it. It was very sweet.  Thomas led worship and Rus and Garth preached afterward. 

Allyson is much better.  She started coming out again on Sunday.  The medicine from the Dr really helped.  She is weak from lack of food for 10 days, but slowly, she is gaining her energy back. Ali has an intolerance to gluten plus having had a bad case of pancreatitis a few years back, she is such a trooper.

Oh, I think my/our meal on Sunday turned out rather well.  Val Harris helped me think of a cabbage salad (using vinegar, oil, sesame seeds, almonds, salt, and cabbage) for one of my side dishes.   Jake came in the kitchen and I let him flavor a batch of pork and I flavored the rest.  We had Jamaican Jerked Pork, rice mixed with beans and peppers, green salad, cabbage salad, and frosted sugar cookies.  Wendy, Jessy, and Lizzie were my great helpers.

Garth and Kim will be going to Sapa this weekend so Garth can minister down there. 

Jon and Peter, our soon to be paramedics, are having tests this week and next week.  Jon asked that we pray for them extra hard this week. Joey, Pete's youngest brother  is planning on a career in EMS, here he is driving the Tok ambulance. My niece Kelsey is still in Fairbanks taking her course work towards becoming a paramedic as well. She and Joey are doing it through the UAF program.

Pat Lou, our oldest,  and Bethany Welby received their fiancé visas.  Bethany will hopefully fly over from England in August when the babies are big enough to travel.  Pat is in Wasilla taking his firefighting training. He is now a TechII. Hopefully it will be a good year for them, although nobody likes fires when they get too close for comfort. We won't be seeing them until fall and the babes will be a couple of months old...yikes! So glad I got all those baby clothes done with Judy's help, now everything is getting pretty busy with folks coming and going, end of school, Open House, Grad and a wedding in June plus the greenhouse operation.

Tommy and Carolyn’s granddaughter (daughter of Marki and Sam in Fairbanks), Gemma Gwen, was born on Monday around 8:30 pm.  All is well except some jaundice which is being taken care of.

Rob and self are going with the AGSD (Alaska Gateway School District) correspondence and Special Ed. group to Seward and Homer. In the south of AK. I have never been so it  sure to be good. We will have 2 catamaran trips to view the ocean, whales, and any other wildlife that ventures into our path. The Marine Center and other highlights. Hopefully it will be nice weather so I can get some good photos and video. Rob is pretty excited, I do not relish the 10 hours in the van full of kids...oh well...

Well, I am madly getting ready for our youngest daughter's graduation in May. Finished tweaking the slideshow to where I like it, hope everybody else likes it too. Here is a picture of her invitation for those who are not coming but still would have wanted to.

Just click on the link


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21176163/annies%20card.pdf



Rob has been helping Big Pat with our new stack of wood. He is a strong kid! Big Pat has been trying to get the new fire wood to different cabins. Hard to do in the slushy conditions. The loggers are done wiht bringing in wood, they did a good job as usual, such long hours, I could see them trucking back and forth from the logging site off the farm in the wee hours of the night and morning...poor guys. I bet they are glad that is done! Now they're off building cabins and what not...never ending job!
GOD BLESS THEM!

I better get  Have a good day!!!!