Winter Solstice

Here's to the shortest day of the year.

And the shortest post of the year.

The day's are getting longer!

~Elaine & Wes

Advent

I saw this bald eagle just down the road, there were actually two of them in the trees.

Life here has been all a-bustle with Christmas festivities and plans of days off of work. The Air Force is pretty good about giving people the week of Christmas or the week of New Years off. We’ve been going through the story of Christmas on Friday nights as told by Andrew Peterson’s CD “Behold the Lamb of God” and it provides for great discussion on the story of Jesus, and our redemption through him!

You know how the fog and moisture off of a creek or river sometimes collects and freezes on the low-hanging tree branches and then they’re all white and pretty? That is how all of Alaska looks lately, every branch is coated in crystallized fog. And it’s beautiful!! The days have been clear and crisp and pretty sunny for all of the 5 hours we get (if you can get out from behind a mountain)

This past weekend we took a short trip to Hatcher’s Pass/ Independence Mine. It is about a 45minute drive to an amazing historical sight. In the winter it is heaven for snowmobilers and snow boarders, it also looks like a hiking wonder and full of berries in the summer! At one point I saw three Moose standing belly-deep in snow (that’s a lot different than me up to my belly in snow) so I didn’t venture off the road, but hope to go back with snowshoes soon!

That little trip spurred an interest in reading about the Alaska/ Klondike Gold Rush from the late 1800’s. I’ll let you know how that goes.

We’re doing well. Keep an eye out for a mail update from us soon.

Happy Christmas

Elaine

Two pizzas on the way

(L-R: Steve #6, John, Steven, Dewey-whose-name-isn't-really-Dewey, Wes, Gabe, & neighbor Jacob)

If this looks like a bunch of trouble and a bunch of fun, you're right. This is a pretty typical Thursday night at our house. We invite a bunch of single folks over to hang out, have dinner/snacks, watch a TV show and play games. Tonight has been a really fun one and I wanted to share it with you all.
Some of the guys played poker, some of us played Scrabble (no, "ve" is not a word), and then there were several games of Skipbo and Uno.
We really have a great time with these guys, getting to know them, where they come from, and where they are in life. And they really seem to hang around a lot (something about not going home alone to a 9x13 GI dorm room).
Pray for good time, and good conversations with these guys and others. We want to really show them Jesus, as Christmas comes our work gets more and more exciting in my opinion!

Thanks for checking up on us!

Elaine

p.s. would you believe at the point this picture was taken at least 3 guys and 2 girls had already left for the evening. We know how to pack 'em in here!

p.p.s. and the downstairs neighbor who I was worried would be bothered by the noise, actually brought us up a plate of baked goods! Nice girl :)