Back from "outside"

Any time you leave Alaska, it is known as going "outside" so everyone asks me how my trip "outside" was. ;) The trip was good but it is sooooo good to be home! I had a great time hanging out with my mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law and nephew. I have been to Florida enough times to have seen most of the sights and it was more important to me to just spend time with people so that's pretty much what we did. I did speak to my parent's Bible study group Tuesday night about Victory and what we are doing. That was actually fun. Bill and Vivian Gaff and Dave and Betty LaBarge are part of that group and they were some of my Young Life leaders a bazillion years ago when I was in high school. Their ministry years ago greatly impacted where we are today.

We went to visit my brother Wil and his wife Kristen and got to visit their farm. We were supposed to go back to the farm for the day on Saturday but it rained so we ended up going to Daytona to a flea market. It was great to get to make that drive with Aaron my nephew and catch up with what he's up to these days. It's great to see him taking off now that he's found what really excites him (robotics)! He's a super young man! It was a bummer not to get to see more of the farm and pony and horses and all, but I was glad to get that extra time talking to Aaron. The last day I was there we got a call from my uncle in Ohio and things were not good with him. He was in the process of moving to an apartment (easier for them to manage then their house) when he passed out. Tests revealed a spot on his lungs and pancreas. None of us slept too well that night.

Florida has way too much mold for my health though so it was quite a relief to get back to the clean Alaska air! I started the migraines again down there and they've just started clearing up again. Now I'm coming down with the cold that Oksana gladly shared when I got back. :( Ugh! Travel doesn't agree with me.

Other than Oksana's cold, things here were in reasonably decent shape. The house was still standing. ;) I AM still catching up on the laundry backlog though! Yikes! I've still got just about every indoor space filled with drying laundry and I've been at it all week! It makes for some tough negotiating through the house! I also noticed that Andrei was a bit argumentative. He finally admitted last night that he's in a bad low. Hopefully he'll be able to snap out of this. It's awfully early for him to be going into his really bad spring low. He had another volleyball game early this week against some of the community adults. They got their rear-ends wooped, but they had a good time and have come a LONG way since their last game! It was great to see how much progress they've made so quickly!

Rodney bought a snow machine (snow mobile for those outside) while I was gone. It is a 2002 Ski-Doo Skandic wide track with less than 700 miles on it. Apparently the prior owner had hip replacement surgery not long after he got it and then never got back on it. I'll have to get a picture of it one of these days.

This is most of the community team. Nate is in the white shirt. One of their teachers (Miss Berkley) is putting up her hair and Norm in the middle is the coach's husband. We went to Norm and Lou Anna's house a few weeks ago for dinner - another interesting couple and a great cook!

Lou Anna talking to the guys. Lou Anna is NOT short! Can you tell which of these boys is in 8th grade? Neither could the other team they played a few weeks ago.


This isn't the clearest picture, but I love how everyone is smiling. They really do have a great time together. By the way, the kid to the far right, Carlen Thiessen, is the one in 8th grade. They look more like basketball players! From left to right the ones I haven't mentioned yet are Trayton Cohen, Andrei, Ben Gerwig (you've heard Gerwig family stories before), Chris Martin and Robert VanDaam (you've heard a lot of VanDaam stories).



Our new inverter that doesn't work yet. Rodney installed it but a GFCI outlet kept tripping it offline. He's put the old one back in for now and will have to wait until Robert Katsur is out again to see if they can get it up and running.

Rodney and Nate installing a second propane tank. The propane truck won't come across the lake so we have to get the tanks filled in camp and then brought out and put into place by the big telescoping fork lift. You can just see the blue cap on the first tank. Matt finished all our propane and the propane guy inspected it this week so it's all officially up and running now.

Another gorgeous sunset. It's rough to have to see that kind of view every day. ;)

This is a picture of my mom and I in Florida. My other brother's wife (the Kevin and Sherrod kind) had sent the shirts to my mom and dad but my dad doesn't wear t-shirts so my mom and I wore them! Kevin is an ER doctor at STRONG Memorial Hospital. :) I do love my favorite STRONG doctor! :)