Our latest newsletter! Double click on it to enlarge it to read.

Summer Highlights

YeeHaw! I am finally finding time to give to this blog. Oh, what a summer it has been and it is by no means over yet. I have been drowning in life and only now getting opportunities to come up for itty bitty breaths. Please pray me through the rest of the summer. Since it has been so long since communicating with you I will only give you a glimpse of the highlights of our summer. Mark has been doing quite a bit of flying this summer. Unfortunately there are no pictures because he does not know where his camera is.

In April, our three girls participated in their annual year end music recital. Alaina began the program with a piano solo. Katelyn was adorable playing her violin with another little girl her age. Neakita participated through the entire program with the exception of the cello solo and the duet played by her instructor and a fellow orchestra member on the viola. This year Neakita's orchestra group performed and also played along with the student soloists. The program was exceptionally well done.

In May, Mark was extremely busy giving flight instruction to a friend from one of the villages in addition to his regular responsibilities. Much after-hour time was put into the instruction. It was a joy for the kids and I to get to know his student during that time.

Can't you teach it better than that, Mark? It looks like he has become a bit confused by it all. Hee Hee!

Is he giving you a headache, Mark? Haa Haa!
We had a lot of fun during those weeks!

June began busy and ended crazy busy for us.

Neakita went to Christian Youth in Action, Child Evangelism Fellowship's training camp. The first week of camp they learned how to communicate the gospel to children.

During the second week of camp they practiced what they learned by doing kid's clubs at local homes.

I was able to host a club at our home.

We had a lot of kids attend the club at our house that they split the age groups up and had two clubs going at the same time. The older kids are in a group on the left side of the picture and the younger kids are in a group on the other side of the driveway. It was so cool to host two clubs at the same time.

We raised meat chickens this year. We got them as day old chicks, raised them up and . . .

. . . butchered them. It is great to have stored away chicken for the winter. Yes, the kids helped us with the butchering too! They are a great help in all the work we do to fill the freezer, whether it is chicken, fish, or moose.

All four kids have been playing outdoor soccer with the Boys and Girls Club this year. Here is Katelyn in one of her moments of playing her best. She has decided, however, that soccer is not her sport. Neakita on the other hand LOVES to play soccer and has really progressed in the skill of the game. Her team worked their way to the championship game. They earned second place! What a thrill the game was!

Alaina and Jeremiah played on the same team this year. It was a fun team that worked very hard together. All the kids have exceptional coaches. It is a sacrifice for anyone to commit to coaching a team.

We celebrated Alaina's big double digit birthday - #10. It was loads of fun with all her friends! We had a sleepover and the girls stayed up until 2 AM.

We had the most fun set net fishing this year! We camped on the beach for two nights. Mark set up a great camp for us. Although it rained most of the time, we were warm and comfortable. We get most of our year's supply of fish this way. The rest we get by dip netting and rod and reel fishing.

The end of June brought a visit from Mark's mom, step-dad, and brother. What a wonderful time we had with them here. We were on the go pretty much constantly, but we made time during the last two days to rest before they headed back home.

Zac was ministry flight crew member for a day. He helped take a group of bible camp counselors out to KAKO on the Yukon River.

During Grandma and Papa's visit, Neakita was a part of a big orchestra concert here in town. Her orchestra group had the priviledge of being the opening performance for the world famous Young Peoples Symphony Orchestra out of Berkeley, CA. It was an exciting evening.

July has continued to be overwelmingly busy, so I will have to wait until the next time I can squeeze in blog time. Please be patient and know that when there is not an entry for a long time it is because I am far too busy with life and ministry to get time on the computer which means I need your prayers all that much more.

Winter Comes, Winter Goes

Winter came to us in October and in February it began to fade into spring. Winter decided to return during March for awhile longer. And then, in April it began to disappear fast, and oh, it was so exciting. It is understandable how we became discouraged as three inches of snow accumulated last week, creating a fresh, clean, winter wonderland. Yes, it was beautiful, but we are all ready for it to go away. It was a relief to see that it was only a tease, for those three inches were gone again in a couple of days along with even more of the old winter snow and ice. Yippee! Get out the bikes and roller blades - the driveway is pretty much clear. Jeremiah can bounce that basketball once again!

Mark spent the last five days in Nome at the annual Covenant Church conference. It was in conjuction with KICY's 50th anniversary. What a celebration it was! What struck Mark the most was how instumental our mission's founder, Roald Amundsen, was in the beginnings of KICY. The fact does not surprise me at all. Roald was a great visionary and trusted in the Lord as he pursued with all his being, that which God laid on his heart. Here is a link to an interesting Redoubt Reporter article about Roald http://redoubtreporter.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-mission-to-fly-roald-amundsen-blazed.html . Enjoy getting to know our esteemed founder a little better.

A couple weeks ago, Mark flew for a church conference that took place in Naknek. People from all over the Bristol Bay area were flown in for this event. It was a wonderful time of worship and teaching from God's Word.



Several baptisms took place at the village's high school pool.

A Child Evangelism Fellowship team from Port Alsworth conducted Good News Clubs for the children during the services.
And in between services, Mark did some flight instruction for a SEND missionary in Naknek.




At home, we are trying to enjoy each moment for all it is worth, even if all it is worth is a good laugh. The wacky glasses were actually for a special AWANA night. This week is our last AWANA for the year and it has been a great year. Each of our kids have earned their book award.
Six more weeks of school and counting. I don't know who is more anxious to be done for the year, the kids or me. It has been a great year. Each year is better than the year before. The annual curriculum fair is this coming week and I am excited about attending. I started in February making plans for next year and it is always fun gathering new books and materials. The best part about the fair is the speakers. I always go home inspired and encouraged in my role as my children's educator.

The most exciting event about to occur in our family is Neakita attending Christian Youth In Action, Child Evangelism Fellowship's teen training camp. Here is an exerpt from her newsletter explaining a bit about what she will be doing.

Did you know that many Alaskan children never attend church or Sunday School?
Several years ago, when I was little, I spent a week in the village of McGrath with my parents and a CEF team of four teenagers. It was a time I will never forget. I made a new friend and had a fun time being a part of the Bible clubs the team had for the kids.
The teenagers told all the kids about God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.
Now, I am old enough to be trained to do what that CEF team did. I am excited to tell kids about Jesus and it is going to be cool to be a part of why my family lives and works in Alaska.
There are Good News Clubs held in our local public schools that I will be a part of. I am most excited about going on village trips to share Jesus’ love with the native children.

Please be praying for Neakita. She asks prayer for courage and the ability to learn the material quickly, good health, personal growth in her relationship with the Lord, and that many children will give their hearts to Jesus.

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.

Welcome 2010

Our new year began with celebrating Katelyn's 6th birthday.
Katelyn had a marvelous afternoon partying with some of her friends.

January has actually been a quiet month for us. School keeps us busy and on the go. Responsibilities at the airport has kept Mark here at home base. However, the month is ending in a flurry of busyness as February moves in. We will need your prayers through the month ahead. There is much I am responsible for in the coming weeks outside of home and school (and home and school are all consuming). Pray I can focus on each day as it comes and what needs accomplished in that day only. The potential for being overwhelmed is great. I am seeing God work graciously towards me and it is clear to me that His hand is in all that needs to be done. My number 1 rule - Keep my eyes on Jesus. And my purpose - to glorify Him alone.