Spring on the Lake

When the sun is shining, the lake is a beautiful place in the Spring. Ice fishing really kicks into gear in the Spring as the fish start biting. On this day, the kids really worked hard to chip out their ice holes as the ice was about three feet thick.

Several of the kids decided they wanted their own ice hole so they passed the two ice chippers around. Only once did one of the chippers slide to the bottom of the lake. They were able to fish it out and were much more careful after that.

Joshua broke through first.

The little boys had fun pulling each other around in their make believe boat.

All the fresh air gave Sarah the perfect opportunity to nap in the sun.

God never ceases to amaze me at the beauty He has given us in the mountains all around us.

I suppose if Caleb runs fast enough his feet won't get cold? He didn't bother to find matching gloves either!
It's time to get all the towing behind the snowmachine they can before the ice gets bad.

Abigail and Deborah

Quentin

The biggest kid in the family had time for a few minutes of fun towing with his kids.

Passover

We hosted the Passover meal for the group of Believers in Nondalton. It wasn't an entirely traditional Seder, we wanted to follow the pattern that God laid out for the Israelites on the first Passover as they left Egypt. Paul gave a short study on the Passover emphasizing how Jesus became our Passover Lamb, how He died to atone for our sin and then how He rose on the Biblical Holiday of First Fruits, perfectly fulfilling one of YHWH's appointed times.

Then we we ate together.

Exodus 12 describes how the Israelites were to prepare for that first Passover. We didn't go so far as to put blood on our doorposts nor did we have a lamb to roast with its head, legs and entrails. We did roast some lamb over the fire however, and we ate as it describes in verse 11, ready to travel with their staffs in hand The boys cut enough staffs for all the men to have one. Acting out the Bible really impresses it upon young minds.

Sarah wanted to hold a staff too, such a cutie!

A few days before Passover the Martin's were working on an instructional dance video. It was a gorgeous day to praise and worship God on the lake

Spring Snow

By the time our spring snow quit falling we had over 12 inches of beautiful new snow. Below Benjamin and David are out shoveling the boardwalk.

Paul made the outlines of a runway with his new used snowmachine. The kids had great fun packing it down with the snow machines and sleds.

The snow was pure powder and Paul was covered in snow after a few runs up and down the runway he was making on the lake.

We put the crew to work shoveling out the pickup.

The kids went down and helped Paul clean the snow off the airplane. Anticipating a big mess on the lake as all this snow melted, he wanted to get the plane off the lake and up to the airfield. I wish I had a video as he actually took off. Snow was flying everywhere and the first part of the snow packed runway was so bumpy that he couldn't get any momentum going. None of us, including Paul, thought it was going to go, but then it smoothed out and our Superhawk sprang into the air.
The C-172 has a lot more power than our little C-150 and Paul knew it would never make it off in the soft snow so he had the city get the loader out and scrape the snow off for a little runway. They made a great little hill with the snow.

The kids have had a great time playing king of the hill on it.

Sarah, Kinsey and Benjamin found that if someone (namely me and Kinsey's mom Teri) lifted up the front of their little car, they could be pulled through the packed snow trails. I didn't last very long at that job.

The kids got busy and started making snow forts on the lake.

Quentin working on his fort.

David and some of the kids taking a rest.

Benjamin enjoying a beautiful spring day.

Joshua, Anna and Paul's Birthday's

Some friends from a ministry called Arctic Barnabas came out and visited us and helped Paul install a new bay window that had been broken for quite some time. The cracks were continuing to get worse and it was good to get it replaced before it fell out completely. We had a good visit. Thanks guys!
They knew that Joshua's birthday was coming up soon so they brought him a cake.

On the actual day Joshua turned nine, Lavonne's Aunt Dorothy made him a delicious and beautiful cake for the celebration.
Anna's birthday was next. She turned 11, I can't believe how fast my kids are growing.

Everyone is helping Anna light her candles.

Paul turned 48 two days after Anna's birthday. He had me order him a couple of books he wanted to read. So, when they came in a couple of days before his birthday, I wrapped them up. He didn't think that was fair, but I told him that at least I knew I was getting him something he wanted.
Anna thought it would be cute to put all 48 candles on Paul's favorite, a sour cream and raisin pie. Paul thought it would be even funnier to light them with a blow torch. It worked quite well!

The fire alarm didn't even go off after he blew them out.

Snow in April... Lots of it!

We had an unusually mild winter. I don't think we had more than 4 inches of snow on the ground at any time all winter and that only happened a couple of times. Below are some pictures of the kids out climbing trees on a beautiful December day.

Anna and Sarah

Deborah carrying Sarah on the rope swing, while Quentin is making his way up the frozen creek.

Sarah climbing her first tree.

Quentin

Deborah

Today, April 4th, we woke up to gently falling snow. We got together with the other believers in town and celebrated Jesus' Resurrection. We had a great time of praise and worship as we celebrated what God calls First Fruits. It is an intriguing study (Leviticus 23) to see how God lined up His appointed times before time began. First Fruits falls on the day after the Sabbath after Passover. Jesus rose on First Fruits and the apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15 how Jesus is the First Fruit of creation.

As I write this, too late at night, it is still snowing and it did not stop all day. When the kids measured it about four hours ago, we had 8 inches. I'm sure it will be close to a foot by morning and after looking at the forecast, Paul says it could continue for a few more days!

Deborah in that same tree that was sunny and snowless in December.

Anna

Abigail

Tia

If you look to the right, past the apartments, you'll see our airplane collecting snow. Paul is planning on making a trip to Anchorage this week to do some grocery shopping. His plan is to take off on the lake and then park the airplane up at the airfield when he returns in anticipation of the lake thawing. He wasn't counting on all of this snow. The kids will have a fun time sledding behind the snow machines to make a nice packed runway on the lake for him.