Faith, Fairbanks, and the Last Frontier

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

May-June 19

May-June 2012!!!!!!

It's been so long, but here is why! I am not going to write as much up here, just enjoy the 29 pictures and their detailed descriptions:

Finley being cuddly

Chocolate chip molten lava cakes! So yummy! I have been trying so many amazing recipes on Pinterest. Check it out if you haven't yet.

We have been doing MANY projects around the house. With the help of some awesome people, our deck finally got a railing. This is the before picture. We hardly sat out here, because it is very high off the ground.

The after picture! We love it so much! And, we found that wooden table and chairs from a rummage sale. Thanks Plasters for all your help! Now we sit out there all the time. Great place for an afternoon nap.

So the 2 weeks after school got out, I got to work on house projects. Our downstairs bathroom was 1st on my list. Here are a couple of before pictures.

Another before picture after the tile is ripped up.

After picture! A little paint, new tiles, homemade shelves and wreath = totally different bathroom.

Another after picture.

Now you can see the wreath.

June 4-8 was our VBS! Amazing Desert JOurney! Let's just say, it was amazing, thanks to our amazing Lord and Savior! 23 kiddos, only 8-10 of our own, lots of amazing volunteers, incredible decorations, and pretty good weather. With everyone working together, it was a huge success. Can't wait to see what the Lord has in mind for next year.

One of our helpers from Eagle River, AK. She was Finley's best friend for the week.

Her and her incredible family spent the entire week with us not only helping with our VBS, but also helping here at the house. I LOVED having a full house, and boy did we get a lot done.

Thanks Mooty's!

Craft table at VBS.

Some of our great kiddos and helpers.

Totally cool camel that one of the Mooty children painted.

More of VBS. Our RED team!

Finley even joined the red team!

More fun at VBS at Light of the World Lutheran Church!

Out at a member's property. Finley loved chasing the four wheeler. Totally wore him out!

Finley is becoming pretty trustworthy. He sticks around us when off leash.(most of the time) Sometimes he still gets a little adventurous.

In the pool to keep cool. He is definitely a WINTER dog.

Booties I made for a baby in Eagle River, AK.

Baby moose hat that a friend made for me to give to my new godson, Parker Watson! Congrats Kristin and Ian, Parker is a tremendous blessing from the Lord!

The baby blanket I knitted for baby Parker. Only took me about 30 hours or so, but turned out great!

Out hiking around Alaska!

Kayaking beautiful Chena Lakes. Hopefully we will get out MANY more times this year. We are hoping to camp on that island that you see. Just have to figure out the best way to get Finley out there. My hope is to train him to sit in a raft that will be pulled by our kayaks. We will let you know how that goes.

Hanging basket out front with all the flowers. Thanks to a dear friend who helped me with all of this, and weaved those sticks through the entire basket (another pinterest idea) The flowers grow SO well here, so I am enjoying getting things going this summer.

1:00 a.m. Thursday is our longest day of the year. 21 hours and 50 minutes. We have blue skies and sun almost all night. Let me just say, now I know why people live in Alaska. We live for our summer sun! We had quite a bit of rain last week, but this week has been tremendous. Sunny and 75-80 degrees. Supposedly it is a good thing that we had all that rain, because now our chance of forest fires is much lower. Some years, they have had such bad fires that you can't even go outside. We have found ourselves staying up till 1 or 2 every night. We just don't want to miss any of the nice weather.

Our leech field is done for, so here is the start of our new one. Thanks to all our members who helped tear down 40+ trees. Now starts the fun part, digging into frozen ground. I miss all the trees, but love all the sun our house gets now. Winter will be a bit warmer in the house.

Jason continues his handiwork. He built this raised bed, and now we are attempting to grow our first garden. Cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes. I also have rhubarb growing on the side of the garage and sunflowers as well.

Finley turned "1" today! We are so blessed to have this puppy. Even though he is still jumping up here and there, eating the tops off my sunflowers, barking loudly late at night when we let him out (he can't seem to get used to all this daylight either), and eating us out of house and home, we still LOVE him. He has been with us this entire year, getting us out at 50 below, being there when we were sad and lonely, keeping our minds occupied, and so much more.

We thank the Lord that he is in our lives. Love you pup!

Just a few other events:

- Church work continues to be blessed by God (canvassing and other summer outreach activities)

- Many fun moments with members, growing closer to them each day

- Amazing summer weather allowing for more walks, runs, and trips to water for Finley to fetch sticks.

- I have begun teaching piano lessons to a few member children! Hoping to expand and grow. Possibly teaching flute and voice as well. I have just started to get my name out into the community.

There will definitely be more pictures to come soon. We are so blessed to have Mom and Dad Strong here for a few more days. Then Grandma and Grandpa Strong arrive and stay for a week. Then Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa Schmill, and Stephanie arrive and stay for 10 days. And last but not least, our friends Paul and Cathy arrive. We are so blessed to have all these friends and family being able to visit. We know it is not easy. We want them to know it means the world to us! WE also thank all our other friends and family for all their support! We could not have made it through this year without you. By July 12, we will have been here a year. What an adventurous year it has been.

Thank you Lord for all the blessings you continue to shower upon us day after day!

Lots of love from Fairbanks, AK

Becky, Jason, and Finley too!

Monday, April 30, 2012

April!!! We are almost to summer!

Life has continued to be quite busy, as you can tell by my lack of posts. Let’s start with an update on the weather and LARGE amount of sun. Tomorrow morning, sunrise is at 5:19 a.m. and sunset at 10:20 p.m. 17 hours and 1 minutes of daylight! It has been incredible!!! We have more energy, are staying up later, are getting more projects done, and are just happier people. Summer is fast approaching. Temperature: 40's-50's LOTS of people in shorts.

Well, our church has a new name! As of May 20, we will no longer be Syndoulos, but Light of the World Lutheran Church. It has been an exciting and in-depth process, but the members are very excited for this new change. We are excited to share our new name with the community in all our events coming up this summer. This new name clearly states who Jesus is, the Light in this sin-darkened world. It also fits nicely with our abundance of sun this time of year and our lack of sun in winter. It also fits very well with our women’s group, Northern GLOW (God’s Lights of the World). God continues to bless his church and it’s members. We are greatly looking forward to what God has planned for our future as Light of the World Lutheran Church. A few of the summer activities include a week-long VBS, “The Amazing Dessert Journey, “ multiple cookouts, one church picnic with the service and everything out at a park, Concert in the Park with Branches Band, GLOW women doing weekly walks, and much more. God is good!

Now that weather is nice, 40’s – 50’s, we have begun our large list of projects. As you will see in the pictures, I completed a wreath for our front door, and Jason has completed an AMAZING gate for our front porch. We had been using a piece of wood to block the entrance so our crazy pup can’t escape. Now, thanks to my amazing husband, we now have a beautiful gate that blends in perfectly! We have also planted some seeds, LOTS of seeds including all kinds of vegetables, and flowers too. We are going to have our very own first garden!!! So now Jason will begin his second woodworking project, our raised beds. We both are also cleaning out our woods to prepare a place for the garden. Lots of work, but lots of sun to do it in!

I am almost done with my school year! May 18^th! Can’t wait till summer!

Finley . . . well, what can I say, he is our spoiled little baby, or should I say VERY large baby. He is about 80 pounds and 10 months old. His newest thing is going all the way down the stairs to grab a dirty shoe and bring it onto our white carpet, just to run away from us! He thinks it’s a game, we find it annoying. He is still our adorable, incredibly loved puppy. We are excited to see how he does with all our guests this summer. Earlier in the month, Finley got bit while at the Dog Park. Some big mean dog wouldn’t leave Finley alone, and bit him in the leg. After a little bleeding, he was just fine. It took till this week to go back. (Finley was fine, I was the one who was more nervous) He is getting several walks, sometimes 3 a day. He is a joy in our lives, and I couldn’t imagine life without him.

Jason is staying busy, and is looking forward to the summer. He has added a service to his workload, Monday evenings. This will give members and guests a chance to come when they aren’t fishing, hunting, and enjoying the beautiful weather. We will also be doing some canvassing around the neighborhoods. Summer schedule will be still be busy, but hopefully a different kind of busy.

God continues to shower down many blessings on his people here in Fairbanks. We ask for his continued guidance and love in our lives. There are and will be moments of difficulty, sadness, and frustration, but also many moments of success, happiness, and joy. God is with us through them all!

May God bless you and your families as we near the end of another school year!

Love, Becky, Jason, and Finley

A birthday cake for Pastor from some of our members. I got to help pick it out. Packer colors!

My Alaska Blueberry hat and booties. Made for one of our member's babies!

Finley during "break-up", the time when everything is very very messy!

Finley thinks he is a cat.

A week or so ago when things were melting and leaving lakes in our parking lot.

Beautiful Fairbanks sky.

Our newly orgnaized and designed mothers/child's corner in our fellowship hall. 7 hours of work by our wonderful women of the church!

Pic of Finley taken with Instagram.

The only chair he gets to sit on.

The way beginning of our plants. They are much taller now.

Jason's beautiful gate. Nothing was there before.

My wreath I made for our front door.

One of Finley's sleeping positions.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Cold temps . . . warm temps . . . End of March!

Again, I know it has been quite a while since my last post. My only excuse, life has gotten even busier. Didn’t think it could happen! LOTS OF PICS BELOW!

February went quite quickly. Towards the beginning of the month, we got to see some gorgeous Northern Lights. We went a little ways out of town the first night they were out, and that is where most of our pictures are from. The next few nights we saw them right from our porch. Beautiful! I say that they are the gift we get for dealing with these cold temperatures.

Kimberly came to Alaska!!!! She came along with the MLC college choir. It was a tremendous 4 days. I flew down on Saturday, and hopped on the coach bus with the entire choir. I was able to tour around with them for the day. Boy did that take me back to the good old days of college choir. Kimberly stayed at the same host family that I was staying at. Jason joined us on Sunday, and we had a great few days attending her concerts and enjoying some relaxing time. Seeing my sister was very uplifting! I was really missing my family. The choir sounded absolutely beautiful each time I heard them.

Finley is 9 months old! He is around 75 pounds and growing. He is in his last and final puppy class, Canine Good Citizen. We aren’t so sure how he will do in this one, but it is good practice for all of us. He continues to be the love of our lives and is one adorable, spoiled puppy. He continues to love the snow, cold temps, dog park trips, walks, treats, and any food at all. While in Anchorage, a friend of our watched him, and he had a great time! Slept the whole next day after we picked him up. His girlfriend, McKinley, lives there!

I just returned from a week in ARIZONA! A much needed trip! I went to see my Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, baby Mason, and my parents. A huge surprise was when my sister Stephanie walked in the front door at my Grandparents house. She had decided the night before to fly down to surprise us all. It was incredible. We were inseparable the rest of the vacation! A few of the things I did included relaxing in the sun, shopping with my cousin, eating at new restaurants, attending the Arizona Opry, swimming in a heated pool, eating frozen yogurt, eating my Grandma’s amazing German food, and talking and spending precious time with family. It was very hard to come back to the below zero temps after being in the 80’s, but boy was it a blessing to have this time with family. I even came back with a tan!

We recently attended the Ice Park here in Fairbanks. This is a HUGE ice carving championship that is held in Fairbanks every year. Carvers from all over the world come to Fairbanks and create beautiful masterpieces. You can see what I mean by checking out this website: icealaska.com

Church work continues to keep both Jason and myself busy. With Easter coming quickly, Jason has plenty to prepare for. Our choir is singing for almost every service during Easter week. Quite a change from what they used to do. Our women’s group continues to meet twice a month, keeping busy with several different activities. Our newest and biggest church activity is our Easter for Kids Celebration, “Breaking Free from the Cocoon.” There has been lots of planning and organizing, but we are all very excited to see what the Lord has in mind. We are praying for a good turnout! Jason is still busy with Bible class on Sunday and Monday, and several classes throughout the week. God is good.

Weather and sunlight – Yesterday was 21 degrees ABOVE! It actually started at 20 below in the morning and jumped 40 degrees by 2:00 p.m. The weather seems to slowly be warming up. Sunrise: 7:34 A.M Sunset: 8:21 P.M. – TOTAL OF 12 hours and 47 minutes. It is amazing how fast the sunlight came back. We love it. You can already tell that people have more energy. By Jason’s birthday on March 30, we will be at 13 hours and 27 minutes. Crazy! Come to Alaska, you’ll love this sun. Now only if it could warm up even more.

Other than that, life continues as normal. 8 weeks of teaching left, then a fun summer of sun and family. Many church events planned for summer as well! Remember, our house is always open for visitors. We know the trip is quite expensive, so once you get here, you have a place to stay, transportation, and home cooked meals.

God bless you and your family as we celebrate the RISEN LORD. Rejoice with one another that Christ is not dead, but has risen! So we will too one day, rise!

Take care,

Becky, Jason, and Finley too!