Ashlee spent a couple nights with us and here are some pictures from her visit.
Watch out for the little people tonight, and whatever your beliefs on this halloween day...they will be out there in hoards, so please be careful.
Bats, black cats, pumpkins --- all were made by God! BTW, the only ghost invited into our house is the Holy Ghost!
I read this poem online tonight at DomesticViolence.org.
Another Woman
Today another woman died
and not on a foreign field
and not with a rifle strapped to her back,
and not with a large defense of tanks
rumbling and rolling behind her.
She died without CNN covering her war.
She died without talk of intelligent bombs
and strategic targets
The target was simply her face, her back
her pregnant belly.
The target was her precious flesh
that was once composed like music
in her mother's body and sung
in the anthem of birth.
The target was this life
that had lived its own dear wildness,
had been loved and not loved,
had danced and not danced.
A life like yours or mine
that had stumbled up
from a beginning
and had learned to walk
and had learned to read.
and had learned to sing.
Another woman died today.
not far from where you live;
Just there, next door where the tall light
falls across the pavement.
Just there, a few steps away
where you've often heard shouting,
Another woman died today.
She was the same girl
her mother used to kiss;
the same child you dreamed
beside in school.
The same baby her parents
walked in the night with
and listened and listened and listened
For her cries even while they slept.
And someone has confused his rage
with this woman's only life.
-Carol Geneya Kaplan
Somewhere tonight, a wise-beyond-her-years older sister, really still a baby herself, climbs into bed beside her sleeping baby brother. Quietly she softly breathes, then listens to her parents angry shouts.
Grown-up, spoiled children living for the moment, always fighting for wanting more respect, more love, more things, more whatever ---yet always living so oblivious to the treasures they already have, hiding in those quiet, dark rooms.
It turns out that Anchorage now wants them back! Something like five million dollars (?) worth of business was lost when they took their meetings up to Fairbanks. I find that hard to believe. Five million is a lot of money!
Villagers are talking about how there are no jobs and with hunting and subsistence regulations the way they are some people hardly have food enough to eat. The high price of fuel is another problem for ones way out in the Bush. How five million can be made from this group makes me scratch my head.
Anyway, I had to laugh when I heard on NBC's morning news show that Anchorage welcomes AFN back and they are bending over backwards to accomadate them. Free train and bus rides and the Eagan Convention Center free this year, in hopes that it will encourage them to return next year during AFN time! It looks like AFN hopping up to Fairbanks last year was a great move for AFN!
"It's not about politics, it's about food on the table," said Johns (Ken Johns of AHTNA) speaking about the subsistence issues. Read more at KTVA.
The Quyanna Dance was held tonight! I am not political enough to get all rambunctious over the politics, but I have enjoyed going to AFN to see family.
The AFN delegations all sit in groups according to their village Corporations. We walk along until we see family at the Koniag and the Old Harbor Corporation areas. The Arts & Crafts fair is where you can see many of the handcrafts from the villages. Beautiful work.
Looks like another AFN is off to a great start.
Winter softly arrives at Twin Lake.
We drove to Wasilla to pick up a few things for a treat for the grandkids Halloween. On the way home the snow was coming down in little tiny flakes. By the time Marie got home from her Worship Team practice the flakes were big and beautiful. She went out right away to take pictures. I went to bed and got up early to take these pictures.
I shoveled the sidewalk and I think the snow has stopped already! [pooh!]
I was wondering if I've shown these pictures already when I began the upload.
We had a bit of ice this morning! We have seen ice on the pond, but now here it is... hanging out on the lake most all day today!
I don't really care to be heading into another winter. Nature must agree because this picture I took today looks sadder than the ones I took about a week ago. (The golden pictures above.)
Ah well! Let's get on with it! I thought we were supposed to get snow?
I found the site when I was checking on the candidate's running for elections here in Alaska. I should know more than what their names are as seen along side of the roads before I vote.
In church this morning a guy running for a State Senate seat here came in and sat in front of us. He seemed to know Doug so I thought he must be a co-worker of Doug's from his previous workplace. But, Doug met him when he got to go on a trip to Juneau to meet and talk to the politicians which was paid for by his workplace.
I have a nephew who is very interested in the political scene. He belongs to the States/Men website on the links. I try to be informed about things that very likely will affect my daily living, but I have to admit that following the lives of politicians and what they stand for, is very boring to me. I do vote all the time. I don't like to read or keep up with what all those laws that are always being made are and what it all means to me. I especially don't want to keep track of where those elected officials may be buried!
Anyway, why do they keep making more laws? We are free aren't we? No we aren't! We think we are free. It's sad! I think those politicians should make a law to not make any more laws---but they know they would be out of a job then - wouldn't they?
If any Country's people will do God's will - share the Gospel with a dying world - that Country will be blessed - no matter who gets elected into office. If a Country does not do that - that Country won't be blessed - no matter who gets voted into office. That is what I think... I don't have a verse for that though, but it makes sense to me.
Here's a website on the Alaska candidate's. Politics1.com
I can remember seeing Sarah with her little ones at the airport waiting to pick up her husband the same time as I was waiting to pick up my husband from work on the NOrth Slope. Sarah Palin! I like her and I like how she ran things for the City of Wasilla. I like her and I think she would do a very good job no matter what her opponents say about her. She will be a very good new governor.
It is cool that she does not say bad stuff about her opponent even though he does. I hope she continues to do that throughout the remainder of this awful time of elections. I get so tired of seeing political ads, but I never get tired of seeing Sarah! Even NRA likes her! That will impress my husband...
Tony Knowles is also running against her and so far I hate his t.v. ads. I remember seeing Tony and his smile at one of my kids soccer games. That's enough about him and that's about the extent of my political endurance.
Before I get buried here in too much... I think I will read the elections booklet we got in the mail instead. Hopefully before it's time to vote again. [sigh]
[subliminal message]Are you prepared to vote?[end of subliminal message]
Good morning Matanuska Valley!!!!
Thanks to Steve Willis for sharing this picture of Kodiak's Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Church.
I thought I would say a word about "Destination", the group that practices every week in my house. I get to hear singing, guitar playing, joking around and laughing every week and I do enjoy it.
Doug, Marie, Klint and Kris get together and play and sing and their desire is to be able to bring encouragement through their singing to others, mostly Christian's but not limited to only Christian's.
Marie our oldest daughter is the focal singer and Doug plays bass guitar, or he tries to since he wrecked his left index finger but I still thinks that he sounds good. Klint plays lead guitar and Kris is the drummer. They sing Gospel and Secular music.
In November they will be going on a first trip to anywhere! They were invited to fill in for Alaska Freedom Band at Kodiak Native New Life's Crusade in Kodiak. So the whole bunch plus Calli (Klint's beautiful wife) will be on Alaska's Emerald Island. Then Doug and Marie will continue on to Port Lion's with the Crusade while our sons return home for school and work.
The Crusade will include singer and special speaker Gary Simple. I enjoy listening to Gary!
God bless Kodiak and enjoy my family!
I ran into this site while browsing today. The My Heritage site. You will have to sign up at their site to be a member and to try their face recognition program you need to upload a photo of your face but it was fun.
The site looks interesting.
Hey Chanel! I look like Jesse McCartney! No wonder you love me so much, hehehe!
I ran into the site when I was browsing a phrase that I heard on the NBC Morning Show. I made a point to remember it so that I could read up on the person that said it when I got online today. The phrase he said was "cancer cells are your ticket to life."
Strange thing to say since we automatically put the word death with cancer and not the word "life". His name is Deepak Chopra. He is an author and his goal? "Bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east." I thought of the word life with a capital L but I don't know if that is what he means. (Capital L meaning Eternal Life to me.)
I will have to go back to read his blog, but first I had to try the face thingy.
I had to resize this thing to fit this blog so I will type the names on this thing out.
66% Roseanne Barr, lol, I don't remember her looking like this picture, at least I don't recognize her!
61% - Fukada Kyoko, Jesse McCartney
59% - Anne Rice and some others...
56% - Dayang somebody...
I think I look oriental or something (like Burt Reynold's?).
After our long Indian Summer the sky has cleared up, the thermometer has dropped below freezing, and my thoughts have turned towards keeping my feet warm.
Lately, my feet have been cramping when they get just a little bit cold! So after another frantic time of stretching out my cramped toes I decided I should order a pair of cozy boots for the coming winter.
These boots came via the post office and quite quickly too! I happily opened the package and slipped them on. I walked around a bit and looked out the window and wondered how much longer we would wait for the snow to come.
When my Grandson's came over they had me read a book of Christmas Poetry to them. I wondered if maybe they were feeling like getting some new winter boots too! (We still have Halloween to do boys!)
Well, well well! It looks like we are clouding up and we could possibly be getting some ------- RAIN???
Okay!
Now where did I slip off those rain boots?
In my dream I was serving them dinner on the deck of our back porch. I don't know what I was serving but they were enjoying the lovely evening and the view of the lake.
The problem I was dealing with in my dream was I felt that they were cold, so I asked them if they were. Both were just as sweet to me as I remember them being when they spoke to me in this life. They said that they were fine, but I didn't think so. Maybe I was a little bit cold? I've heard it said that when Momma is cold then the children will be told to put on their sweaters.
In my dream I was so busy trying to find something to put over their shoulders that I was missing all the time to visit with them. Finally, I found some towels(?). I went back out to the deck while I laid the towels on them I realized that they were damp! They said that they didn't mind.
Frustrating dream.
My first memories of this couple were from my parents home when he used to come over to share a singing time and a short inspirational devotional from the Bible. My Dad loved to play his guitar and have the family sing along with him. Afterwards, they would visit and drink coffee.
Doug and I got married and shortly after that we moved to Juneau for a summer job. It could have been longer than a summer but because I was pregnant with twins and the hospital in Juneau did not feel they were set up to deliver twins during that time, they sent me to Anchorage! I was happy to go back to Anchorage! Our Juneau memories are not very good for us ---as a couple.
This missionary couple very graciously took me in when I had no where else to go. My parents and Doug's parents were not around. Mine were out in the village at that time and Doug's moved out of the State! I had to be close to the hospital so I could not stay in Chugiak (my parents home) where a ride to the doctor would be next to impossible to get, if the babies decided to come. So, I stayed with them for a week and quietly watched how they lived at home.
When I think of people that are worthy of remembering or people that have been instrumental in giving me focus in my life I realize that most are missionaries. I am happy about that. First Sunday School teacher was Violet Able. Person that wrote to me and was there to be the first to celebrate my decision to follow Christ was Rose Nabinger. When I think of who it was that counseled me and showed me how to make the Bible relevant to my daily life - it was Carol Cypert. Doug's parents were missionaries and if they weren't Doug and I probably would never have met! And when I think about Don & Lorene Stump - they showed me gracious giving. Giving whatever they had, which was not much, but the love they shared while giving made it worth so much more.
At Don Stump's funeral many said that Don would always say "don't steal the glory." All glory should go to God --- he didn't want any praises to be wasted on himself for anything that he did.
I enjoyed my dream last night, 'cept for the goofy towels, and I enjoyed seeing Don and Lorene again.
According to this site the temperature for this time of the year is 40 F days, and below freezing at night.Country Studies US. Today we got more rain and it was quite windy, but still very warm!
"Warmer than normal temperatures prevailed for September this year over mainland Alaska and along with the warmth was also dryness with less than normal precipitation." Alaska Climate Research Center.
For those interested here is the Farmer's Almanac with a description of weather here in Alaska. Farmer's Almanac.
BTW, Don's wife called today and said that Don is doing very good and has been on the stair-stepper today! Thanking the LORD and all that have mentioned they would pray for him. After reading about having a hip replacement it seems that it would take weeks to even get to the point of putting weight on the hip. Medical treatments today are so good.
Last weekend a bunch of us drove up the Glen Highway and then drove our ATV's up a trail that went way back to Boulder Creek. A colorful ride this time of the year! Total miles we traveled, 32. Some had more miles, they took off on other trails while waiting for slower riders to catch up.
We found a lot of blueberry patches too. The berries have seen some frosts and so were very squishy, but sweet! I took my little dog with us. He does very good riding. When he gets cold he climbs up between Doug and I to warm up. Mud clumps all over himself and even blueberries stains around his mouth, but he didn't seem to mind as he eagerly wagged his tail to everyone passing by waiting to be loved.
We saw ice in the mud puddles on our way back out (in the evening). Boulder Creek is up in the mountains so seeing snow was expected but there wasn't as much as I thought we would see. There were only small patches of melted snow here and there.
Around here the mountain tops are getting pretty white. Parked snowmachine owners are hoping that the temps will drop and all this rain will turn into more snow than they've had in the previous years. Too many winters our snowfall has been very low. Snow lovers are not happy with that. I bet it does make the car owners with bumper stickers announcing "Alaskan's for global warming!" happy.
I expect to hear the rainfall quiet down as overnight temperatures drop and turn those raindrops into big, gentle snowflakes.
While contemplating this weather warming stuff I recalled that we had two (above-average) Missionary ladies move to the Valley ----about the same time that all this weather changing began! I'm wondering if, maybe ----could they have something to do with it all?
Their winter weeks are always filled with busy days of driving long distances to do hospital visits; driving to people's homes to encourage them; busy doing other Barnabas-style missions. Each day before they go out they pray --- they ask God if He would please keep the snow from falling until they can complete their encouraging missions.
Hmmmmm....
A plea for snow to go snowmachine riding...
A plea to hold the snow so that the sick can be comforted...
The rain keeps on falling and I'm falling asleep...
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ....that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Colossians 4:2-4.
My husband stopped by to see him a few minutes ago (3:45 p.m.) and he is "feelin' no pain." (On pain killers.) When Doug and my son Klint got ready to go, Don asked them if they were gonna kiss him before they left. So his sense of humor is in good condition!
Doug says that they were able to lengthen his leg a bit, so that is very good!
Thanks for your prayers.
Neighbor Catches Baby! We all need such a great neighbor. Wow! What a terrifying time that had to be. Seeing this baby hanging and then when she fell to actually catch her! Thanks to Mary and Brandon Bussey!
Cool Weather Helps California. Finally, the wildfires in California are close to being fully contained and that comes from cooler weather! Thank the LORD for cooler weather. It is 95% contained and firefighters hope that it will be fully contained by this evening. (Monday.) Even more good news from California when two pilots in a helicopter, picking up fire retardant, crashed and they both walked away without injuries! Thanks to California's firefighters for their tremendous work to put out those wildfires.
Americans Share Nobel Prize in Medicine. Something I don't really understand but it appears to be a big thing in medicine. "RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA." This discovery can eventually lead to new therapies in the future. Congratulations to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their discovery. They both also gained 1.4 million dollars for their discovery and winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology.
Sandals are on Sale! No other explanations needed! Shop 'til you drop!
Looks like shunsine tomorrow! YIPPEEE! We (Big Lake area) have not had very much sun the past week.
Teens from Bethel, Alaska work to break cycle of violence. The way that TAAV (Teens Acting Against Violence) feels violence can be broken is by communication. They have produced a video called "Let's Talk" which they demonstrate emotional and physical abuse. They offer tips on getting out of relationships that this type of violence is going on in. I am always happy to hear of young people getting involved with work like this. Alcohol is such a contributer to violence here in Alaska and I am sure all over the world. Great job to you, Bethel teenagers!
170+ Volunteers Clean Up! These volunteers have helped to clean up 730 acres of park lands at the National Public Lands Day at Campbell Creek Science Center. These trails are used by more than 80,000 visitors a year! Wow, so 170 volunteers is a small return of gratitude. Like the Bible story, 10 were healed, but only one returned to say thanks. Shame on us. I think we all should carry a trash bag into parks and pick up stuff we see as we go. I also say, turn around before you leave and look where you picnicked or played to see if it looks better than when you arrived. Big thank you to Anchorage's 170+ clean-up volunteers, it's usually a thankless job!
Road Construction Season almost to an end. Yippee! Even if I don't drive much, I know lots of you do. It's a happy day when the road building takes a break for winter. BTW, I heard in London the ladies holding the Stop and Go Slowly signs are called "lollipop girls". Isn't that cute? Big thank you to all those lollipop girls/boys and road builders for working to keep us moving and safe!
Prince Lorenzo Borghese, the newest Bachelor. I thought this show was on NBC but it's on ABC! I love watching this show and it starts tonight for those of you who also enjoy watching it. I guess I am a romantic at heart and this guy is also a PRINCE! The only thing I never liked on the Bachelor shows is the gals that are overly kissy and touchy and the bachelor that enjoys that too much! After all, he is looking for a wife and who wants a guy that has kissed so many girls??? I wouldn't. LOL But maybe I am old fashioned. ---Now if I can just remember to watch it!
Woman slams door on aggressive coyote. I am glad this Pennsylvania couples dogs have had their rabies shots.
Screaming Phone! I have heard you can protect your computer with passwords if stolen, but a phone that screams when stolen is so funny!
The Best Good News of all! The Good Shepherd (Jesus Christ) died for you and you can be ready for Heaven!
Good news! Good news!
Christ died for me!
Good news! Good news!
If I believe,
Good news, good news,
I'm saved eternally!
that's wonderful EXTRA!!! Good! News!
(Child Evangelism Fellowship)
Yesterday we went up to Boulder Creek with a bunch of kids. The youngest one was Hollie, she loved being out there. We traveled over 30 miles on our bikes and we ended up in a ravine with the guys all looking up a hill like ... Shall we? I am sorry, I was a party pooper. I would not let Doug go up that hill. It was fun afternoon, but I am so sore today!
Yesterday we also had our first service in our new church building! What a great service. Pastor Kroon said he could mention names of people that have contributed to the church building (we are a head of schedule!) but ---this first Sunday was dedicated only to our Lord Jesus Christ. It was so good!
Go out and make it a good day!
