Faith, Fairbanks, and the Last Frontier: January thus far. . .

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

We hope and pray everyone had a wonderful Christmas and an enjoyable new year. Things went pretty well up here in Alaska, we just don’t have the beautiful temperatures that you do down there! I think both Jason and myself would gladly take a trip back to the Midwest to enjoy some of your high temps.

Speaking of temps, they have been quite low since Christmas Eve. Ranging from 15 below to 40 below (I was told we can’t say -15 or -40. It has to be 40 below! It’s the Alaskan way). This time I was actually cold when it was 40 below. We bundled up, and tried to stay warm.

We are on the rise with hours of sun (if only the sun would shine through all the clouds and ice fog!). Sunrise is at 10:47 a.m. and sunset at 3:07 p.m. 4 hours and 19 minutes of sunlight. By the middle of January we should be at 5 hours of sunlight! Now we will just pray to actually see the sun. A trip somewhere with more than 5 hours of sun is much needed. We will see what the Lord has in mind.

Now Finley, he doesn’t mind the cold temps at all. He LOVES being outside, and would stay out for hours if we let him. He likes to go out and just play and chew on sticks and dig in the snow. When we just can’t go out anymore, we send him out the door, and watch him from the upstairs window. Last night there must have been something out there because he was barking like crazy. I was too afraid to go out and look. Could have been a moose, fox, rabbit, or just a tree that looked like any of the previous animals. He is almost 7 months old already, and growing like a weed. I taught him a new trick in about 2 days. He can now play dead! I will try to upload a video. He continues to test our patience at times, but overall is a great pet.

I start up work again on Monday, but won’t see kids till February. We have so much testing that we have to do three times a year, that it takes away student contact time. This is the part I do not enjoy one bit. So let’s pray the month of January flies by. In my off time, I continue to knit (some new pics of my latest projects below), walk my puppy in 40 below temperatures, play organ for church, prepare Sunday school lessons, lead our women’s group at church, and cook and bake new things. I hope that we may be able to take a small vacation somewhere in March, whether it be to a resort here in town or a week in Hawaii!

Jason had a very busy few weeks with Advent services, Christmas services, and New years services. He is enjoying having time to give to his new Bible study on Ephesians and other big projects coming up in the New Year. As I say each post, he continues to love what God is allowing him to do. God is good!

We are getting excited for my younger sister to come to Alaska! She will be coming up to the Anchorage area at the end of February. MLC’s College Choir is coming to Alaska! Still can’t believe it. We are in the process of planning how we will get down there to see her and spend a few days with her. We are sad they aren’t able to come to Fairbanks, but the 6 hour drive in winter, probably not the smartest idea. Can’t wait to see her!

We’ve been in Alaska for 6 months now. Wow! We’ve had our trials and tribulations, our miracles and our joyful moments, our tears of joy and our tears of sadness. If I could go back to May, when we found out we would be traveling more than 3,000 miles to our new home, I could never have imagined everything that would occur in our first 6 months. Being away from all of you has probably been the most difficult challenge we have faced so far, but also a blessing in disguise. We have been moved to rely even more fully on the Lord. To trust in the promises he has made. To trust in the path he has laid out for us. To trust that he is always beside us, guiding and protecting us. Not only does this bring comfort to us, but should also bring comfort to you. Trust in his promises for your life. Trust that he will never leave your side. Look to him.

Thank you Lord for the many blessings you have given us thus far. Help us to not take even the smallest blessing for granted, but to thank you each and every day. We look forward to the many blessings you have awaiting us in the future.

God bless you all this new year,

Becky, Jason, and Finley too!

Finley doing Jason's work.

My Christmas gift!

Finley with his new packer collar and "Finley" jersey tag.

Homemade carmel brownies.

Yum!!!

Ready for our walk.

This box was empty, he just likes to destroy them.

Our house in winter. The beautiful sky (This is very rare - the sky is mostly cloudy, or full of ice fog. So I stared at this patch of blue sky for about 20 minutes!)