Back to February

I never did share the special events that occured in our family, especially with the kids, during February. It was a crazy month in our lives, with so many great memories.

Mark's Dad and Step-mom sent the kids a box of everything needed to make valentines for their friends. They had a blast.

Then they had an opportunity to give away the valentines at a Valentine's Day party organized by another homeschool mom in our church. There were thirty kids at the party, all from our church. At the party they got to make a holder for their all the cards they received. We look forward to more fun times together.
Another fun school event was attending a workshop about the Iditarod. A couple local mushers participated in this workshop. One had a slide presentation and shared about what it is like to be a musher and run the Iditarod. The other brought two of his dogs and demonstrated what goes into preparing his dogs to race.

A great part of these activities is spending time with great friends. Here is Jeremiah with some of his buddies.

Neakita's big moment in February was her Suzuki Book 1 recital. Neakita's friend, Libbie, also finished book 1, so her mom and I coordinated the event together. The preparations involved in making this happen for our girls was all consuming. It was a lot of work for both the girls and us moms (and several dear friends that helped us make it a beautiful event), but it was well worth it. The evening was blessed by the sixty-some people that attended the recital. It was fun to celebrate their incredible accomplishment. Here Neakita and Libbie are pictured with their teachers.

Then Katelyn had her moment in the spotlight. The annual AWANA Sparks Raingutter Regatta was in February. Mark and I headed up this event. Again, it was a lot of work, but well worth the time we put into it and we look forward to next year.

Katelyn won second place in design for her boat. Way to go Katelyn!!

Spring is coming!

The snow is melting fast dispite the new snow that has fallen at night this week. My chickens have found some patches of dirt in their run and are happy ladies. The flower seeds I started a couple weeks ago have sprouted. I look forward to planting the next batch of seeds this weekend and in the weeks to come in preparation of filling our greenhouse. I can just taste the homegrown tomatoes now. Mmmmm, Mmmm! Mark is looking foward to the homemade pickles. I haven't been able to grow and can pickles since we lived in Tennessee.

On Monday, Mark flew the family he took to Anchorage, back to Old Harbor. Their picture is in the previous entry. Here is a note they emailed Mark once they got home. It is very encouraging to us to receive a note like this.

Mark,

Thanks so much for bringing us safely home on Monday. We so appreciate your ministry! Traveling with you was peaceful, and as hassle-free as travel in AK can be. Josiah really enjoyed his co- pilot ride too. :) Really fun memory seeing him up there with shades and charts. God bless,

Today, Mark and Don flew a ministry team from a Christian school in Anchorage to Nulato. The team will spend their days volunteering as teacher's assistents in the public school. During the evenings they will have evangelistic programs in the school gym for the village children and teens.


This is a picture of the village of Nulato. The runway is in the upper right hand corner. Nulato is located on the Yukon River.

Please pray for God's blessing upon the minsitry of this team. Pray that the Lord will open the hearts of the youth to receive His gift of salvation.

Winter finally came during the month of March. Jeremiah ended up snowblowing four times within one week.

But when the snow brings work, it also brings opportunities to have a lot of fun.

What I like are all the birds the cold and snow bring to my kitchen window.

There are no more babies in our home, at least none that belong to us. Katelyn lost her first tooth and another is close to falling out as well.

Mark recently flew down to Old Harbor on the Island of Kodiak to pick up a ministry family and take them to their mission organization's annual staff conference. At this conference they have to opportunity to spend time with other families in their organization. It is one of the few times these families have a chance to be together to encourage eachother and build relationships as co-workers.