Caleb's 8th Birthday

Caleb turned 8 years old. He's a smart boy and my favorite saying for him is that, "wisdom is more important than knowledge." It is a pleasure to watch that take hold and mature him bit by bit.

He got a gun for hunting with our Wii during our once a week game times.

We recently had our good friends the Davis' from Port Alsworth, the next village up the lake, drop in on us with their super cub. They landed on the lake right by the house. Below is Jackson, one of their five boys.

We had a wonderful visit. The ice was perfect for hockey that day.

Quentin chasing the puck.

They brought along some cookie dough and we all enjoyed eating the cookies the boys made.

Moose Meat

We love moose meat. One of the young men in the village shot his first moose and tradition dictated that he give it all away. He gave us a large piece and the whole family helped cut it up.

For the mooseburger, we brought out the meat grinder and flexed our muscles.

We process the meat into roasts, soup bone, gyro meat pieces and mooseburger.

Quentin has become our jerky expert. He took a bowlful of mooseburger, marinated it and then got our three littlest ones to do the messy work (they loved it) and fill the gun that squeezes out strips of burger. He then put it in the oven on low heat until it dried into jerky.

Because we were in the middle of a great book, my job was to read out loud to everyone.

After all that work we had time for play!

Deborah's 15th Birthday

Smoke is billowing around Deborah as she just finished blowing out her 15 candles. We all enjoyed sharing her cake and watching her open her presents.

Sarah was especially eager to help.

Deborah is a beautiful, talented, young lady. She is quiet and compassionate but can also be very competitive. When I check up on the kids chores, Deborah is usually the one who has already done hers. We're studying Hebrew as a family. I studied modern Hebrew for four semesters in college, but Deborah has a special talent for it and is able to correct me when I mess up my genders. She loves to read and if she finds an especially good book you can find the younger kids gathered around her as she reads to them.

When Deborah finds an exceptional book she'll get me to read it aloud to everyone. Often Paul will become absorbed in it (which the kids love) and we'll take turns reading. Just a couple of nights ago we were reading and the whole family was crying together. I was reading and Paul reached for a tissue, I held out my hand expecting him to hand it to me, loving husband that he is. He didn't see me and proceeded to blow his nose and daub his eyes, I looked at my empty hand and the kids burst out laughing. Paul, being quick, said "Oh did you need that?"

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!