Channukah

On the last day of Channukah we had everyone up for dinner. After dinner we lit the Martin's menorah and had a great time of praise and worship while the candles melted away.

David is playing the guitar in the background while Regina, David & Lavonne are worshiping at the table.

The kids wanted to give each other gifts for Channukah. I teased them that they were trying to materialize YHWH's Biblical holidays. They love giving and receiving and they did it all themselves so I didn't complain. They picked out clothes for each other from our thrift store, and Deborah, Quentin and Anna made swords and shields for the younger kids. They've been reading a series of books about the medieval times, so they're into swords and shields at the moment.

My Granddad turns 99

My Granddad celebrated his 99th birthday! Below is our family with him during the summer of 2009 when we got to visit him on our trip across America.God has blessed my Granddad and he is in great health after 99 years. He still enjoys keeping an eye on my Dad's sheep and horses from his back porch. I can remember him keeping on eye on me as I fed the cows with the pickup before I was old enough to have a driver's license...

He is a faithful man and a great example to us all...
I'm already trying figure out a way for us to be there for his 100th birthday party!

Cheda Mary turns 94 & Thanksgiving

Lavonne's Cheda (Grandmother) Mary turn 94. We had a big party to celebrate.

Lavonne's Mom, Claudine, standing behind Cheda Mary, organized the party. Cheda Mary's daughter Dorthy and Daughter-in-law Pauline, are helping Cheda with her presents.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Thanking Yahuwah for His provisions to us.

Below Anna is making one of many pies.

Deborah and Sarah are relaxing on the couch as the pies bake. You can tell how much Sarah enjoyed helping by the remains on her face.
Quentin, Joshua and the little boys set up an extra table and put pretty Thanksgiving tablecloths on. Then Quentin showed the boys how his latest electronics purchase (he's building a robot) works.

Lavonne & Josh joined us in Thanksgiving.

Myron & Teri, David, Gilana, and Kinsey also celebrated with us.

John is a caretaker at a lodge nearby for the winter. He drove in on his ATV and brought a delicious macaroni salad to share with us.

Everyone had a great time and we Praise Yahuwah because He cares so much for us.

Sde Boker, Haircuts and School

Kelly took some good pictures of Abigail and the tent Paul helped put up while they were in Sde Boker. I borrowed a couple from her blog "the Glik Family Journal" you can find it on my right sidebar. Below is Abigail with the Glik's oldest daughter Kai and the Travis' two girls Carmen and Mikki. All of the families Abigail and Paul stayed with while they were in Israel had girls right around Abigail's age. She made many new friends and it made the trip even more special.

Paul and Abigail were able to attend a Father's Heart Conference while they were in Sde Boker. Paul helped Mike set up the tent they held the meetings in.

Paul is the official haircutter in our house. He loves precision work. The boys were in great need of haircuts by the time he got home. Anna wanted to learn to cut hair so Paul is teaching her how. Homeschool Haircutting 101... Joshua was the brave recipient of Anna's first haircut.
It's minus 3 degrees outside as I write this . The ice got thick enough that they marked it. Once they mark it the kids are free to play on it. A pair of ice skates just my size came into the thrift store and the kids talked me into going out with them. It's been a long time since I've been on skates. We didn't do to much of it growing up in North Carolina... I didn't fall down though, Yea!!!
Abigail has been getting back into the routine of our regular schooling, which is not very regular at all, after her wonderful field trip to Israel. She is very much like her Dad in so many ways... The picture below gives a good example of that. Paul loves a nice sharp pencil whenever he has to use one. I had to chuckle and take a picture of Abigail as she was working at the table with seven pencils (count them) all sharpened to a fine point. I asked her why she needed so many and she told me she wouldn't be able to finish her math and science without that many because they got dull so fast.
It's hard to keep good pencils with eight brothers and sisters. The next day I found Abigail working with only four pencils because someone had helped themselves to her stash.

17th Wedding Anniversary

Our 17th Wedding Anniversary passed while Paul and Abigail were in Israel. Here we stand in wedded bliss and if you'd have told me that 17 years later we would have nine children and be living in Alaska, I would have thought you were crazy! Seventeen years later, I wouldn't trade places with anyone in the world. I love the life that God has given us and the man that God has given me.

Paul just keeps getting more handsome every year!

Paul picked up a couple of steaks while he was in Anchorage and our wonderful kids prepared a delicious meal for us after they decorated our basement guest room. As good as the meal was, the service was even better because the kids were so cute. The boys found white shirts and a couple of ties to look like waiters and they found Sarah the perfect dress. They were very excited about serving us. They gave us the doorbell (it's detachable) so we could press it for service.

Anna is serving us our salad with choice of dressing.

The boys came running at every ring.

Sarah volunteered to taste the food for us.

We look forward to our Anniversary every year partly because the kids make it so special.

Heading home

Paul and Abigail had a wonderful final week in Israel. They really enjoyed their time of fellowship with the Travis' and the Glik's in Sde Boker along with all of the new friends they made. I don't have any pictures of their final week yet, so I'll write more when I get them. They are almost to Amsterdam as I write this. Then they are on to Seattle and finally Anchorage. If all goes as planned it will take them almost exactly 24 hours to make in from Tel Aviv to Anchorage. I'm trying to keep the shopping list small while they are in Anchorage. I think they'll be kind of tired. They'll arrive in the evening and head out to Nondalton the next day.

Needless to say, the kids and I are getting quite excited for their homecoming!

All of the kids have been wonderful. They really stepped up and helped out with Paul and Abigail gone. Deborah and Anna have taken up the slack for Abigail and Quentin and the rest of the boys have been taking care of the manly jobs that couldn't be put off.

Below Quentin and David are putting 50 gallons of oil into the tank for the apartments so it doesn't get too low with the turn of cold weather we've had. We woke up this morning and the entire lake was frozen over.

Quentin pumping oil.

David is making sure the hose doesn't fly out.

Sarah always wants to go whenever anyone goes anywhere. So she is cheering her brothers on.

We made it almost to the end of the month without any mishaps and I praise God for that. Yesterday we kind of blew though. Joshua put a hole in his chin while ice skating, Sarah found out that the wood stove is hot, and I ended up going to the clinic for seven stitches in my thumb because the can of beans I was opening needed a little help. To top it off I can't take pictures of any of this because Benjamin tossed me my camera when I wasn't looking and it landed right in my cup of tea. Quentin advised me to let it dry above the furnace for a couple of days before trying to use it. We'll see...

David's 6th & Week 3 in Israel

Paul and Abigail are still having a wonderful time in Israel (nine more days) and things are still going great at home. Praise God!

Paul and Abigail finished the first part of their trip and now they are visiting friends, the Travis' and the Gliks, in Sde Boker which is South of Beer Sheva. They rented a car in Jerusalem to drive down and they stopped just North of the Gaza Strip to splash around in the Mediterranean Sea.

Israeli pizza place

Before Paul and Abigail left, David turned 6. He was quite excited, it seemed like he had to wait forever for his birthday to roll around again.

David is a deep -thinker. It is so fun to watch him grow up!

The kids went all out decorating for his birthday. We had paper airplanes flying all over the house.

Week 2 in Israel and at Home

The grape harvest has pretty much ended, so Paul and Abigail have been staying busy doing maintenance in the vineyards.

Below Paul is straightening and tightening wires.

Below a couple of the ladies are pulling weeds.

The ladies are preparing the Shabbat meal.

Most of the ladies got to go shopping one afternoon. One of the guys gave 12 of them a ride in his seven passenger van. They couldn't fit the fruit they bought in the van so they strapped it on top.

The guys doing a little dancing.

They've gotten to do a little sightseeing after work. Below they went and visited Shilo (the sight of the Tabernacle before the Temple was built.) They had fun jumping (or getting thrown) into a pool fed by a spring.
When Paul and Abigail arrived there was some kind of stomach bug going around and Paul caught it. He was sick for a couple of days but is feeling better now. Thankfully, Abigail has only had a touch of it.

Here at home we are doing great. The kids are missing Dad (and Abigail), but they are all pitching in and helping me out with Abigail's chores. Quentin and Joshua are handling all of Paul's "man chores". They've had it pretty easy so far because we've had a warm fall and haven't had to keep the fire going.

First Week in Israel

Paul and Abigail made it to Israel and they're having a great time.

Paul at the Anchorage airport awaiting their flight.

When they got to New York City, they decided to be brave and take the subway to downtown Manhattan.

They got off the subway at Penn Station and walked by the Empire State building.

There were a few more people on the streets than they are used to.

They walked through Central Park and by the time they made their way back to the airport they felt comfortable with the subway system and they enjoyed their day.

The trip to Tel Aviv was long and uneventful.

Some friends of the group they are going to pick grapes with picked them up at the airport and then took them to see the Dead Sea.

Abigail under some falls at Ein Gedi.

Paul's turn...

It probably felt good as it was 104 degrees there. Just a little hotter than they are used to...

On the drive back to Jerusalem their van broke down near Jericho. They pushed down a hill backwards to a gas station where they waited for the rental agency to bring them a new one. The rental agency wasn't too excited about coming because they were on the West Bank side of the checkpoint. But they came and they all made it home safely.

There are many camels everywhere.

Now they are doing maintenance in the vineyards. Abigail has gotten to do some weeding.

Paul says the fellowship is great. He has been learning much...

We are doing well here at home. We found Angel (the dog we are dog-sitting) again and I'm being more careful to not let her go. Hazel (the baby we baby sit) is much better now. We think the rash was due to the new all natural soap they just started using. The long distance is still out, but a few months ago we got cell phones in the village. They haven't gotten the equipment installed to enable us to use the cell phones for local calls, but they are good for long distance calls. So it's working, in fact I got a Skype to Go number that I can call Paul's cell phone on and it works incredibly well.

In other news in the village, David Martin got a job as the new City Administrator. Also, Paul is the Assistant Fire Chief and there is no Fire Chief right now. Whenever Paul is gone for any amount of time there is usually a fire in the village. Sure enough, one of the steam baths in town burned down a couple of nights ago.