Finley's Graduation and nearing the end of October

Life has continued to get even busier! 

I will make this one short, but load it up with pictures.

Finley graduated from Puppy 1 class!  You'll see the pics below.   He is doing really well, and learning quickly.  He is about 26 pounds!  We can still pick him up, an he still sleeps in our laps. 

IT snowed!  Yes, really, it snowed and stayed on October 16,  2011.  We definitely have to adjust to this.  Definitely is beautiful, though!  Won't be saying this in January! 

Church work is going great!  God is good!

 How he likes to rest on the stairs.

Best pals

 His graduation hat

 His diploma!

 Puppy's first snow!  He loves to eat it.

After eating a snowball.

Look at that handsome pup! He looks so prestigious.

 What we woke up to on October 17!!!!

View of the front yard from dining room window.

Just a prayer request.  Just heard that a high school classmate of mine was killed in a car accident this weekend.  Please pray for the friends and family of Tim Clark.  Our times are in your hands, oh Lord.

God bless your week,

Becky



27th Birthday and other events!

 My blanket I finally finished knitting.

 Loved my cake!  Thanks Jason!

 He's starting not to like being held. So sad!

 While on a walk Finley and I stepped in something blue.  It is still stained on his feet.

 

 Try one at a nice family picture.

 

 After try 2, 3, and 4, we have a GREAT family picture. Taken from up on our deck.

 How he sits on the stairs.

 Sitting so nicely.  Waiting for his treat.  

No snow yet!!!  Yes, I’m telling the truth!!  No snow on the ground whatsoever.  Awesome!  Some years they have snow already by September, so we are sitting pretty!  It is in the forecast for Thursday, but that means nothing up here.  We’ll let you know.  Temperatures aren’t too bad, getting up to 45-50 each day.  Nights are very cold though, lows in the 20’s.  Not too bad yet, though.  We are doing great weather wise.

Celebrated my 27^th birthday on Tuesday!  Yes, 27!  I know, I’m old!  We had a few guests here, but we were still able to go out to eat later that evening with our guests.  It was a good day! Jason had a cake made for me, which was awesome! 

Speaking of guests, we did have a few men, mission counselors, in our district come and visit!  It was a great learning experience for the both of us.  Jason was already pumped for ministry, but now he is filled with even more ideas and excitement for doing the Lord’s work!  We loved having people visit.  IT IS ALWAYS A JOY! (hint, hint)

Finley continues to grow each day.  He is the love of our lives!  He has been such a blessing while being so far away from family and friends.  He really keeps our minds busy!  He graduates from PUPPY 1 class on Wednesday.  We are very proud parents.

Busy, busy church day once again.  I played organ, taught Sunday school, had a potluck, and then went to choir.  Jason did all the same plus a council meeting and of course the entire service.  I got home around 2:00, and Jason returned around 3:00.  We are definitely getting used to the WHOLE Sunday being at church.  Very glad there are so many things going on at church, though.  Now it is time to watch and enjoy the entire Packer game!!!  LOVE IT! 

Thanks for keeping up with our busy lives!  We love and miss you all!

Becky and Jason and Finley too!

September!

Our sweet puppy sleeping! We like him like this a lot!

 At dinner time he'll sit up to 10 minutes straight waiting for his supper without barking or jumping.  We soak his food due to how fast he eats.  He is a very patient pup at this time, suprisingly!

 He's captured our hearts!

 Mountains in Anchorage area along the drive to Seward.

 Seward - view from my hotel room

 Drive back from Seward to Anchorage

 Leaves beginning to change in southern Alaska while up in Fairbanks, our fall is ending!

 Alyeska resort in Girdwood, AK - drove by on the way home.  GORGEOUS setting!

Glacier on drive to Seward

 More of Seward

The snow is slowly nearing the bottom of the mountain.  Winter is approaching!

Once again, I am very sorry for the long wait in between posts.  I am not going to make any promises that it will get better.  Reading about our busy life will give some explanation as to why it has been so long!

Finley is growing more than ever!  We just weighed him today and he is 24 pounds!  He is 3 months and two weeks old.  His color is getting darker each day!  He is learning so quickly and can now, sit and stay, stand and stay, down and stay, shake, roll over, come when called, and wait by the door until allowed in!  We are so proud of our baby!  He is improving greatly on not getting angry and dominant over food and bones.  We are all three learning from this process!  We are so blessed to have him!  He is always there for us, curling up in our laps and falling asleep and giving us tons of love. 

The other pictures you see on here are from the Women’s Retreat down in Seward, AK.  I was blessed to be able to attend and meet some amazing women.  Each year the WELS churches in Alaska have a retreat which allows the women to get together, worship their Savior, and enjoy some R&R!  It was a beautiful two days down in Seward, my first time there!  The two speakers were the women who wrote, “Not Without My Daughter”.  I could talk for pages about their story and what they shared with us, but I will let you read the book for yourself.  And YES! Read the book!  There is a movie out there too.  They are two incredible women with an incredible faith in their Savior.  The theme of the retreat was, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.”  Their story and their strength were unbelievable to see and hear.  Each of us have those “crosses” in our lives that we must bear.  But we must never forget in the Lord’s promises!  He DOES have a plan, and it is always for our good!  I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know I left with the reassurance that God is in control and is always looking out for our good!  I can’t wait to see God’s plan for my life. 

Jason is doing great!  He continues to LOVE doing the Lord’s work.  Our districts missionary counselor is flying in tomorrow, and will stay for a few days.  He and Jason will have quite a few things to accomplish, but we are greatly looking forward to his visit.  He is busy writing a sermon that he will be preaching at ACPaT (Alaska Conference of Pastors and Teachers) this coming Thursday.  He will be flying down to Anchorage for a few days, leaving Finley and me by ourselves L  We will just have to have some friends over.  We are also beginning some work with the UAF students and are looking forward to getting this ministry going.  We had our first Women’s meeting at Syndoulos!  I was elected President of this, and look forward to working with our amazing women of the congregation!  They have so many neat ideas, and are greatly looking forward to our year. 

Work is going well for me.  I finally have students to work with!!!  Should be fun and continue to get busier as I get more students. 

Again, please feel free to skype or e-mail or call anytime!  We love and miss you all, and hope to talk or see you soon!  May God bless your weekend!



Fall in Fairbanks!

Yes, I know, it's been a VERY long time.  SOrry.  Life has really picked up since last time I wrote, so that explains the gap in writings.  Here is what our fall has looked like.  And YES, it is fall in Fairbanks.  Fall is actually almost over.  I hear it will continue for about 2 more weeks.  Then the snow may come.  AHHHHHH!  Right now, it's beautiful!  70 degrees again today and blue skies!  Love it!
These first pictures are from a trip to Birch Hill! Gorgeous cross country ski area with lots of cranberries.  We took Finley, he loved it! 

 Taking a break jumping through the woods.

 I love when he's snuggly!

A wiped out Finley.  Too much twig eating, leaf eating,and tree jumping!

The next pictures are from the other night when we headed up Murphy Dome Road.  A beautiful, colorful drive.  We left a little late, so we missed the best views.  The sun had already gone down. Still some pretty views.

These are more fall pictures taken tonight of different areas around town and by our home.

 View from UAF campus.

 Tons of fall colors - Alaskan Range in the background (a bit cloudy).

 Front of our church.

 Driveway out towards the street.

Heading down to our house on our driveway!

Some extra of Finley!

Jason blinding him with the flash while riding in the car.

 Love this picture!

Finley LOVES the new toy, Kathy!  Thanks so much!  IT is so cool!  He has been chewing on it like crazy!  And YES, he is a HUGE packer fan!  You should have seen him as Jason was yelling during the game on Thursday.

SO life has continued on. . .

We are very busy with church events.  Sunday school and Bible class have both started up.  Jason's Bible class is entitled, "Church: It's About GOd's Family"  He seems to really be enjoying it.  I am teaching Sunday School to the 3-6 year olds.  First one down and it went quite well!  I have also started playing organ every other Sunday.  This also has me quite busy due to the practicing, but I still enjoy it.

 We are continuing with member visits, and really enjoying those as well.  We have had some geat conversations with our members. 

Work for me is going ok.  Haven't worked with kids yet, so until then, I am just putting in my time. 

Finley is keeping us very busy!  He continues to grow like crazy, and is able to jump up on everything.  His biting of the furniture has decreased, but his biting and stealing of everything left on the floor has increased! We love him SOOO much, and are so glad that we have him in our family.  Every night we explore a new area of Fairbanks with him, getting him out to run, walk, and play.  This has been great for Jason and myself as well! Exercise and good time spent together.

I pray that everyone is doing well!  Keep in touch, call, e-mail, skype, facebook! Anything!  We would love to hear from all of you!

Love ya all!~

(Some videos to enjoy)





One more video.

One more video!

This is of Finley playing with the new toy from Angela and Ben!  He loves it! 

August is done, on to September

 

It’s been another wonderful week!  The Lord continues to shower his blessings upon us.  We continue to keep very busy with church work, my work, dog watching, feeding, playing and walking, and so much more. 

On Sunday, Finley will be 11 weeks old.  He is growing like a weed!  Every morning he looks different to me.  In addition to his weight and height, he is also getting darker and darker.  You see he is becoming more like his mother’s color, the deeper red.  We are anxious to see what he will look like in a year or so.  You can especially see the color in his ears, face, and the middle of his back.  He continues to do lots of puppy things.   His biting is probably what bothers us the most.  Not necessarily the biting of furniture, he isn’t too bad now that we have sprayed a homemade mixture on everything.  It is more the biting of us.  He still thinks we are his siblings, so that will continue to take more work.  He has put a few holes in my clothes, but nothing major. 

He is making some HUGE steps though!  House training – going pretty well.  He has begun to go right up to the top of the stairs, or even the door when he has to go.  He still occasionally has accidents, but most of those are our own fault.  He can SIT and STAY!  He can come when called, even from very far away.   He has begun training for DOWN and STAY, and did it for the first time today.  We have also started training him to shake, and he actually did it twice today on his own!  (we just started this today).  It goes to show how fast of learners these golden’s really are. 

He is truly an amazing and wonderful puppy!  We just can’t wait to see what kind of a dog he becomes.  He is loving and affectionate, and a joy to have.  I already know how much of a help he will be to us in the winter.  We are so glad we did this!

Work is going well.  I have yet to really work with kids, so I am awaiting the end of September when we will have our set students.  It has been very interesting seeing how public schools work.

Home visits have been great!  Next week we have quite a packed schedule, but we are really enjoying them.  What a great opportunity to get to know these memebers, their Alaska story(everyone here has an incredible story of how they got here), and what they know and feel about Syndoulos.  Just awesome!

Jason was given a new desk by a member who is moving away.  He is now trying to sell our craigslist find back on craigslist!  He’s had a couple of people interested, so should work out great.  The most exciting news of the week has been that our BRAND NEW dishwasher has arrived!!  Tomorrow it will be installed.  A few weeks ago, we had a congregational meeting.  At that meeting the church president listed off things that needed to be fixed in the house.  Well, when we moved here, the dishwasher decided to explode all over the kitchen.  We have actually not minded washing our dishes one bit.  It is our quality time together as husband and wife.  Anyways, one of the members gave us a call on that same Sunday, and said that they will not let us live here without a dishwasher.  “Come to Sears right now, and pick one out.  We will buy it for the parsonage!”  This is what they said!  Crazy, I know!  We were just shocked about the love and kindness shown by these members.  Definitely not something we expected, though very much appreciated.  We can’t wait to have it installed tomorrow by my husband and a member.  It will be loaded and running by supper! God-willing!  We are definitely thankful for the people God has placed in our lives. 

Even though we miss our families and friends terribly, God is truly providing us with much love and support.  It is especially hard missing out on our Schmill family Labor Day camping trip, but we look forward to new traditions that can be made.  We hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful and safe Labor day weekend!

Say a special prayer for those affected by the hurricane in the East.  Be thankful for the safety that the Lord grants you each and every day!

God bless!

 Do you think we have enough puppy food?

 He love's his food.

 

After his 2nd bath.  His dark hair was showing even more. He's so handsome.

 Chilling with Jason!

 A squeaky lobster from Angela and Ben!  Just for Finley, our spoiled child!

                   Finley LOVING the toy Angela and Ben got for him.