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