Fallen Tree

After over two weeks of -37 for a low and -24 for a high, we had our Spring thaw. It got all the way up to 58 F. and stayed that way for about a week.  It made it almost impossible to walk without some good spikes.  The kids would come in sopping wet from playing on the ice.  The Chinook winds blew fearsomely.  I missed getting a picture when the kids took a tarp and a sled on the ice and went flying across the ice.  Thankfully the winds were blowing in toward shore.  The middle of the lake had at least a foot of water on top of the ice.

If you look at the apartment on the far left in the picture below, you'll notice it doesn't have a birch tree in front of it like the other apartments do.  The winds got so strong they knocked it right down.  Jennifer is staying there working on her PhD.  We told her that was a little extreme to get better Internet coverage.  Some of the guys in town were giving Paul a hard time about getting lazy and cutting trees in the yard for firewood.  (It did make a nice stack of wood for the fire:)  We are very thankful it didn't land on the apartment and do any damage.

The kids had great fun playing on the fallen tree until Paul turned it into firewood.

Josh A. & Caleb are helping Paul cut up the tree.

Sarah and her Big Brothers

The boys just love their little sister.  I think they'll make sure she grows up Tonka tough.  Below they're giving her a ride in Caleb's Tonka dump truck.

Joshua's teaching Sarah how to ride a horse.

Benjamin knows it's never too early to start teaching Sarah about Jesus.  Below he's showing her some his favorite stories in the kids picture Bible.

Dog-Sitting

Regina is a teacher who fellowships with us on Sundays.  She's got three beautiful dogs (now four, she brought a yellow lab puppy home with her from break) and the kids got to look after them while she was gone for the Christmas break.  Of course the entire time she was gone we had the coldest temperatures we've had all year.  Four times a day the kids would take turns going out with at least two of them to pull together on the snowmachine to get it started and go feed the dogs and let them out.  The littlest dog's name was Nakita and he wouldn't let more than one foot hit the ground at a time and was ready to go back in as soon as you let him out.  For the two weeks she was gone the highs were -2o deg. F with the lows hovering around -30 deg F. The coldest we saw was -37 deg F.  To keep from feeling so cold we looked up the temperature in Aniak, AK where our friends the Brueckners live and it was -42 deg F. so we felt better.  Today the temperature went from 1 deg F to 26 Deg F. in one hour.  I bet the kids will be out in their shorts tomorrow!

Worship Band

David Martin has organized the kids and formed a little worship band.  They practise and then play as we worship on Sunday mornings.  Quentin is on the drums, Deborah uses David's piano to play the organ, Abigail plays chords on the piano, David plays the air guitar and Joshua and Anna sing.  They have a lot of fun and they are learning a lot.  Thanks David!

We got the kids a child size guitar.  I hope it doesn't stifle little David's creativity:)

Caleb turns 6

Caleb is growing up fast.  Tall and slim, he's always thinking...

He got two have two celebrations this year.  Abigail left for Bible Camp a couple days before his birthday and didn't want to miss his birthday.  So we decorated a cake for him on Sunday and then had another on the 31st.  I kid him that everyone in the world has a party for his birthday.  He doesn't quite understand why yet.

One of my favorite toys when I was a kid was my hippoty-hoppity, so I knew Caleb would love one.  He does, in fact all the kids do...  it's already in for repairs.  They don't make things like they used to :)

Hanukkah

This year we learned about Hanukkah and celebrated it along with Christmas.  The Jewish people celebrate it to remember when God miraculously provided oil for them.  In 165 BC the Jews revolted against the Seleucid monarchy.  They liberated the Temple which had been desecrated by Antiochus IV.  They rededicated the Temple but tradition says they only had enough consecrated oil to keep the menorah lit for one day.  Miraculously the menorah stayed lit for eight days which was the amount of time it took to consecrate more oil.  We made a Hanukkah menorah (it has nine candles whereas the one God described how to make for His Temple has seven candles).

We made donuts one night and Latkes (shredded potatoes in an egg and flour batter fried) on Sunday.  Foods cooked in oil are traditional for Hannukah.

The kids took turns lighting the menorah each night.

Sunday everyone donned their dancing outfits and we did a little Hanukkah dancing.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you Father for sending your Son to live and die for us.

Christmas in Nondalton is always lots of fun.  The school break didn't start until the 25th of Dec because the people here celebrate both the American Christmas and Russian Christmas so school doesn't start back up until January 12th.  

Mail from the lower 48 got backed up this year because of snow storms in Seattle so we are still waiting on Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas box.  They 'll be our Russian Christmas presents. The kids love it when we get boxes in the mail.  The little boys and our next door neighbor Robin spent an afternoon chasing peanuts that somehow got dumped on the floor:)

Ever since we started keeping a thrift store in our basement, the kids love shopping for each other for birthdays and Christmas.  This year they found Paul a great pair of shoes.

We got the kids a guitar and a lap harp.

The Martins came up and had Christmas dinner with us.