Wednesday, October 24

October 24

I did it, exactly one week since my last post!

Even though it's only been a week, it's been quite busy.  I am continuing to nanny for an 8 month old boy.  It is a blast!  He is such a well behaved baby, and we have so much fun.  Around lunch time each day, I take him to meet his mom, who is out working on the lakes in and around Fairbanks.  I have had an opportunity to walk on more frozen lakes in the last week, then I have my entire life.  I am not a huge fan of walking on frozen water, but with our cold temperatures, I felt pretty confident.

 A view of one of the lakes I walked on. 

 Black and white photo of the lake north of town.

 Shoveling off the lake in order to do their work.  There was a layer of snow, layer of slush, and then a layer of water all on top of the frozen ice.  A little bit scary to walk on. 

 Another lake picture. 

My Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra rehearsal went very well.  I am really enjoying my time with this group.  Our director has so much energy, and is very gifted.  Going into this, I thought we would just be singing only 2-3 songs.  WRONG!  So far, we have at least 8!  One of which is three of the main songs from "Home Alone".  Which are actually quite difficult to sing.  The arrangements are very tricky.  Some of our other selections are Hallelujah Chorus, Silent Night, O Holy Night, and Here Comes Santa Clause.  Our concert is in about 2 months, so we still have 8 rehearsals.  Should be a great concert.  

On Saturday, a member at church gave us free tickets to a UAF (University of Alaska - Fairbanks) Volleyball game.  It was so neat to finally get to one.   

 They won!

 UAF mascot, the Nanook.  Thought these mats were kind of cool.

So we are trying to eat what we have in our freezer.  As you can see, we had a TURKEY in our freezer.  So why not make a Thanksgiving meal.  We enjoyed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, fruit, and homemade (Grandma Strong recipe) dinner rolls.  Delicious.  Still eating leftovers.  

Sunday was a great day!  63 people in church, 9 kids in Sunday school, the kids sang for church with the choir, I had treats afterward, and we even had more visitors.  GOD IS GOOD!  We took Finley to the dog park after church, and he had a blast.  That evening we had one of the UAF students over for dinner.  He is the only one who could make it, but in the future, we are hoping to have all 7 over to our house.  We will see what the Lord has in mind for the Campus Ministry.  

My piano lessons continue to go smoothly!  I am greatly enjoying teaching the children.  Hoping to find a piano soon, so that we can have lessons over here at the home.  Can't wait!

Last night we had a wonderful Women's Bible study here at the house.  It was on "Building Healthy Relationships."  It is such a blessing to be uplifted and encouraged by fellow Christians, and ultimately by our Savior.  I greatly cherish this time!

So today, I got to take Jorgan (pronounced Yorgan) back out to his own house for lunch.  After he ate, we went on an incredible hour and a half walk up along Chena Ridge.  This overlooks Fairbanks, the Alaska Range, and Mt. McKinley.  We saw all of the above.  I even got to bring Finley with me.  It was about 15 degrees, and sunny:)  That sun makes all the difference in the world.  

 Me and my pup.

The three of us enjoying God's creation. 

 Alaska range in the background of this picture, but my phone doesn't take the best pictures. 

 Little Jorgan with his mom, all bundled up.  He was so content the entire time, didn't do anything but sing, hum, and make little noises.  Such a happy kid.  

Jorgan and Finley! Both looking oh so cute!

God continues to give his blessings in so many ways.  I am thankful for the job I have of watching Jorgan, and thankful for the good friends here in Fairbanks.  If we all take time to look at our lives, we will see just how much the Lord continues to bless us, even though we don't deserve it.  I continually fail to look at the positives, but succeed at complaining about the negatives. Why is this?  I pray that the Lord helps me turn that around!

See ya next week!

God bless, 

Becky

Midwest trip - October

October 17, 2012

                Life continued on after all our guests left this summer.  Things began to pick up at church with choir starting, Sunday school starting back up, and much more. We also tried to get things done here at home.  We wanted to get all those outside, summery things done quickly, because on September 23, we left for the LOWER 48!, and we were sure there would be snow on the ground by the time we returned.  It was time to take a much needed break and see family and friends.  Jason would miss his first two Sunday in over a year!  (he actually ended up missing 3). 

The start of the trip was a bit rough, having to leave for Anchorage a day early due to flooding, road closures, mudslides, and much more.  I know in other states, you have several alternative routes you can take to get from point A to point B.  But here in Alaska, you only have 2.  We had to get down to Anchorage in order to not miss our flight.  Anyways, everything worked out, we dropped Finley off at the amazing Mooty house, and were off on our trip.  Below you will see lots of pictures showing some of the amazing friends and family we got to see.  I am sorry we couldn’t see all of you, but you will just have to come and visit us up here! We would LOVE to have you.  God truly blessed our trip with safe travels, great food, amazing conversation, and an immense reminder of the many wonderful people God has placed in our lives.  Enjoy the pictures!

 First stop, Philip's home!  What a crazy night filled with shouting, screaming, and throwing pillows.  This was the night of "THE" big game.

 Stopped in Hudson, WI to have lunch with the Plasters who used to live up in Alaska.  

 Saw my godmother, Stephanie!

 Beautiful chapel at MLC, with the beautiful Kimberly.

 They took out the seal! 

 Kim's dorm room.

 Jason with his goddaughter, Hannah! So adorable! (Hannah, not Jason : )

 Even got to spend an evening with Nik, Jason's great friend from high school. Hope to see him in Alaska soon!

 Loved the fall colors in MN. 

 Schleis family in Menominee

 Mike and Naomi Strusz - at the get together at Leerman's in Theresa.

Thanks for making the trip guys! Delicious homemade mac n cheese.

 With the beautiful pregnant Jamie and her husband Jon.  Miss you guys already! 

 Finally, my godson Parker!  He's even wearing the outfit we got him.  Spent many hours holding this sweet baby boy.  Thanks Kristin and Ian for having him!

 5 cousins with Kristin

 Happy Jason and Hannah on the morn of Parker's reaffirmation. 

 Two seconds later when Jason made Hannah smack her head on the pew.  See expressions.

 Surrounding Grandpa in his Lion's shirt. 

 Aaron Rogers fan club!

 Amazing group of friends! No matter what the distance, nothing can break the amazing bond. 

The Strong group! Missing a few, but almost everyone.

 Crazy Vegas Strongs!

Next we headed to the Schmill side of the family!

 We got to meet Kathy's newest family member, Gabby.

MUCH MUCH smaller than Finley.

 The delicious apple pie that my mom made just for my birthday. 

 After a delicious Thanksgiving like dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Miss that good food.

 Just my mom and me. 

 Family = love!

 Aunt Kathy 

 Our beautiful childhood home.

 Jason winning big at Dave and Busters.  Angela and Ben took us out for an amazingly fun night.  We don't have anything like this in Fairbanks.  

 So nice to have this bonding time. 

 Steph and Chad arm wrestling during Dicecapades.

 The absolutely delicious Wisconsin Fried Cheese Curd!  

 My adorable Grandma and Grandpa. 

Chad and Jason doing the Kinect.

 Next it was off to Star of Bethlehem in New Berlin, WI to see my old students, parents, and faculty.  Had such a great time seeing how quickly they have all grown.  I even got to see some volleyball games.  

Me with Megan and Emily.  So good to see what young Christian ladies these girls are growing into.  

 Spent the evening with very dear friends, Betty, Shawn, and Kasey and the kids.  Not pictured is their newest little one, Callen.  They even made me a birthday cake, since I was there on the birthday.  Yes, I am 28!  Too close to 30!  Stayed there talking till late into the night, and then went back to Angela and Ben's and spent time with all my sisters but Kim :(, staying up till 3 A.M.  Wonderful night.

 Patti and Mukesh opened up their beautiful home to all of us for the evening.  Thanks guys, it was a blast!

 Angela and Ben weren't able to be there for the picture, and Kim wasn't able to be there at all, but we still had a nice time with family.  So glad they could come down to Milwaukee.  

 Beautiful Gracie!  Loved spending time with her as I was missing my own puppy. 

 Patti and Mukesh took us to Royal India!  IT was delicious! Especially the peach ice cream and fried donut hole things.  

We arrived back in Alaska at 1:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, October 7.  We immediately picked up our puppy and headed down to Kenai for AcPat (Alaska conference of Pastors and teachers).  IT was a beautiful drive, rainy and cloudy, but still beautiful.  Here is a black and white photo I took as we were driving.  

We had a great time in Kenai for 2 days.  It is such a blessing to get together with these families.  Being 7 hours away from the nearest WELS church makes us so grateful for the times we can be with them.  We then headed back to Fairbanks, SO ready to be home and back to doing the Lord's work.  

 Denali from the road.  Couldn't believe the entire thing was visible!!  This rarely happens!  

 Stopped off at a lookout with amazing views of Mt. McKinley.

 Jason's pretty decent attempt at a panoramic view of Denali.

 My attempt at a black and white photo. 

Even more snow on the mountains then when we drove down to Anchorage.  God's handiwork never ceases to amaze me!

Finley in the back seat on the way home.  Not loving being away from us.  

 A picture for my family and friends who have visited.  Here is what Denali looks like during the off season.  NO people, and everything is boarded up.  Quite different from mid-July. 

Well, we arrived home in one piece. We'd never seen Finley so excited to be back in his own space.  He ran around outside and inside, just relived to have his space back.  Such a spoiled little puppy.  Both of us were also just as excited to be home.  We LOVED going to WI and MN to see family and friends, but it is always nice to get back to your home.  This trip also helped us to feel more confident about where the Lord has placed us.  We know that Fairbanks is our home, and that is is just where we need to be.  We also realized how much we TRULY love it up here.  What a blessing to be able to do the Lord's work in Fairbanks.  

 So what's the first thing I did when I returned.  Well, why not bake 20 German kuchen and two batches of caramel rolls.  Our potluck at church on Sunday was German Theme, so I HAD to do this!  I also made hot German potato salad. So here are the fruits for my kuchen.  Apples, cherries, raspberries, and fresh Alaskan blueberries.  

 Dough made, filling made, fruit set, struesel on top, and ready to go into the oven.  

 Completed kuchens.  Ready to be frozen for winter. 

Yummy, gooey caramel rolls. 

 Finley chilling with his toy we brought back for him.  

 Yes, it is here.  Winter.  Snow.  Cold.  All of it.  But actually, we are both quite ok with it.  Having been gone, that really helps.  Also, it is truly very beautiful here in winter.  

 More snowy pics. Taken just this morning.  Wednesday, October 17, 9:30 a.m. 

As soon as we returned, life picked right back up.  Jason has a Back to the Bible Basics class every Monday night.  He is also leading his normal Sunday Bible class.  We are having a Family Game Night once a month, too.  Jason is working on several different programs to hopefully start this year.  We would like to work with the University students, and also get into more things with the military bases.  We can't wait to see what the Lord has in mind.  He is also starting up another team, called the Leadership team. Northern GLOW, our women's group, is meeting twice a month.  We are in the middle of putting together our very first Advent by Candlelight service.  The women are very excited to see how it goes.  That will be held December 8.  

I haven't been receiving many subbing calls at all, and was beginning to wonder what I was going to do.  Of course, God had a plan.  A member of our church was in major need of a nanny for two weeks, so, I am watching an 8-month old boy all day, every day for two weeks.  Who knows, they may need me longer.  So for now, I am doing this, with hopes that subbing will begin to pick up shortly. On Tuesdays, I have 8 piano students and one voice student.  All of which are home schooled   Yesterday was my first Tuesday with all 9, and it went VERY well.  I also have one other student on Thursdays, with more to join soon.  So that keeps me busy as well.  On Monday nights I am in a gardening class! I love it! Learning everything I need to do for next year so that we can have even more success.  Learning how different things are up here in Fairbanks is going to help greatly.  And then on Thursday evenings, I am in the Fairbanks Symphony Chorus.  This is the first year for the chorus, and so far, it is going really well.  There are around 135 members, which allows for an immense wall of sound.  I am greatly enjoying this experience.  

Finley is doing pretty well.  Testing our patience every now and then, but overall, growing into a wonderful dog.  He is a year and 4 months old.  He is LOVING that the snow is back.  He eats it, rolls in it, and just spends tons of time outside.  

I am writing this in here, so that I HAVE to stick to it.  My goal is to write something on this blog once a week.  I think I have been failing at this because I always feel I need a ton of pictures to make it a decent post.  I've been told several times that I don't, so I will do my best to do once a week.  

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  We miss you all, and pray that God continue to bless you.

See you next week, 

Becky, Jason, and Finley