Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Christmas with the Family

Beautiful trees!! Taken as we were driving out the driveway, headed back to the airport.





A little behind the times getting pics posted....but here are some from our family Christmas. Lance and Rachel
Dad and Mom
Grams
Jonas and GlenThe table....Mom got roses from Dad :)
Glen--trying to figure out some computer gizmo for his truck.

My little Christmas tree at home in Alaska....the other 2 pictures show my fur hat, made by one of the women in the village. It's made with silver fox fur and incredibly warm.

Monday, January 14, 2008

School Christmas Program




Well...today was our first day back to work, and now it's time to play catch up with my blog.


On December 19th we had our school Christmas program, I was in charge of organizing/planning. I could not have done it without Kat, Georgette, and Lisa...all huge helps.


The program went well and I think all had fun.




Thursday, January 10, 2008

Something to ponder...

A Message by George Carlin:
The parAdox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to l ife not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window a nd nothing in the stockroom.
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I hope this finds all of you doing well.
I arrived in MN early this morning,this time without my canine companion...I'm missing him already, but am sure he's having a fun time with Kat, Iain and Mia.
My first flight went very well and actually arrived in the village at the scheduled time. I went to Bethel were I stayed the evening, I ordered supper, and curled up for the night before nine. Saturday (the 22nd) I flew out of Bethel and again everything went smoothly. I met up with a friend from Kwethluck and another SpEd teacher and we had a great chance to chit chat. In Anchorage, I met up with another friend and we were on the same flight to MN; this helped time to fly while waiting at the airport.
Before boarding the last flight I felt a wave of nausea, I found myself praying "please God, help this flight to pass quickly." Needless to say when I arrived in Minneapolis...you can say it was a "grand" entry.

It still does not seem possible that Christmas has arrived. Tomorrow we will start the festivities, and they will be staggered through the 5th of January. It's great to be back with family and friends.

God bless and have a safe and happy holiday season.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Trip to Bethel with the girls :)

The ladies and I went to Bethel on Friday morning. Around 9:30 I received a phone call that the plane would be here in about 3o minutes. We loaded up our bags, got Rocky over to Kat's and headed down to the airport in the "airport shuttle" aka the four wheeler, trailer and our excellent driver Iain. We waited for our plane until around 10 am. Needless to say our feet were more than a bit cold by that point in time :) We kept ourselves entertained with Angie's Catch phrase game. It was a much needed and very welcome get away :)

Pam and Angie on the ride to the airport

Kat hanging on as we encountered the drift covered boardwalk. :) headed for the airport.

The sky around 10 am 11/23/07--also notice Nick driving ahead with the snow go to make sure we didn't get stuck with the four wheeler.

Pam, Marie and Kat...waiting for the plane :)

Pam and Angie waiting at the Tunt airport: Pam's trying to warm Angie's feet.

Pam and Marie in the car....The smartest thing we did in Bethel was rent a car for around $100/day plus $20 collision insurance. Notice that we are well packed. :) (and those aren't even all of the boxes...some of them went with Maat, Zach and Lena)
Loading all our stuff at the Hageland terminal....will we be under the 1200lb limit????
Iain and Angie loading our stuff into the trailer when we landed...home sweet home :)
The moon above the river when we landed in Tunt around 4 pm 11/24/07
I splurged and bought a pair of slippers at the craft fair this year :) thus far it's been a worthwhile purchase. :)
Kat and Angie in the well loaded car
Bentley's....our second home when we travel to Bethel.
The view out the window while we ate our lunch at Yolanda's; we had a beautiful day to drive around Bethel.

Pretty scenery in Bethel...looks MUCH different with the snow and frost :)

Kat, pumping gas...LOL I guess MN drivers have a hard time figuring out Alaska gas pumps :) The station worker came out twice to tell us how to operate the pump :) Gas prices were $4.77/gal in Bethel for self-serve and $4.93 for full-service.

Simple Beauty/supper at Marie's House

The View from my back steps--simply gorgeous!!


The view out my bedroom window
The small snowdrift in my house :)

Cooking--she is making a letter "E" while tearing up angel food cake for supper.



Supper at Marie's House- The kids worked hard and 20 of them came over for Hamburgers, French Fries, Juice, mixed berries and strawberry angel food desert

Carving our Class Pumpkin--The kids were so focused and did a great job :)


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Hat Day




Today found us with a fresh layer of beautiful snow on the ground :) It's so exciting winter has come :)---remind me of that in a few months ;)



This morning when Rocky and I headed out for our morning walk, we encountered a fox next to the school...Frank warned us to be cautious. He borrowed my flashlight to scare it off and try to see if it was healthy. When he turned around to come back towards the school the fox would turn around and follow him. Frank said "be careful, it'll attack your dog" Rocky and I continued on to meet Kat, as we walked the fox would sneak up behind us, I would shine my flashlight and throw snow at it to try and scare it off. It continued to come within 6-8 feet of us. I was more worried about Rocky and the fox getting into a fight, or playing together, and since many foxes here have rabies, I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Today for spirit week we had hat day---there were many cute hats :)Maat--isn't such a fan of paperwork and "putzy" stuff :) but is a good helper anyway.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Crazy Hair

This week we have school spirit week, and it will be a long work week as we have Saturday school. We will have a halloween carnival on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. It should be a fun and exhausting week.
For school spirit week we have a little bit of something happening every day,


today was crazy hair day
Tuesday: hat day
Wednesday: school spirit/team sports color day
Thursday: Backwards day
Friday: Quspaq day
Saturday: Halloween costume day
We have officially finished first quarter and will have parent teacher conferences this week. Christmas will soon be here--hard to believe.
Today I got my school computer back; it was sent off last December. They managed to back up my hard drive so all my pictures and music, papers and important documents were recovered. (A pleasant surprise as I was told all would be lost) :) It is so much faster than the student computer I was using; makes all my paperwork go much more efficiently, not to mention the screen is two times bigger.
Well...I'll try to update again this week. Have a great day :)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Pumping Fuel

Suprisingly enough the snow has decided to stick around :) I'm anticipating the freezing of the river...it makes it easier to access everything, and you can escape from some of the kids if you'd like.

Yesterday I received a new classroom door--part of the continued school rennovations. It is currently one of the ugliest doors I've ever seen; but i guess doors don't need to be attractive just functional. I think the painters will be back to paint the doors and casing which will brighten things up a bit :) Construction workers continue to keep long hours starting work around 4:30-5:00 and working til 7 am. Iain and the guys seem to be making great progress on the sewer pipes they are working on. I'll try to post pictures of the wooden casing in the near future.

Today some people from YKHC (the hospital) were here to dicuss diabetes with the kids and to do free blood sugar screenings for all the staff. Kat was having a "how sweet are you" discussion at breakfast time.

The School Wheels :) and the fuel pumping trailer

Upon arriving home from work this afternoon I felt my house was a bit chilly. Frank's out of town and I thought now might be a good time to try and figure things out instead of waiting til 1 tonight to really notice the cool house. I gave Nick a call and he came over and we pumped (well..i mostly watched) 200 gallons of fuel into my tank, but the boiler didn't come on so Nick gave Mark (the maintanance man) a call he came over to "bleed" the air out. The house is still cold but should warm up soon. :)

The Fuel is pumped from the above tank to the trailer and then pumped to my tank(below). Mark's job doesn't sound very thrilling :P Thanks to Nick and Mark for coming to the rescue tonight :)



Last night Dave hauled water and asked if I needed any. I filled my tank and he did all the work with the hoses it was very sweet of him to do that for Pam and I. Agan I'm blessed with wonderful co-workers and neighbors.

On another note....the mouse deterrant I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday. It has a lovely pine smell. I placed four bags in my kitchen and haven't seen a mouse since then. I pray that this will help; I really am not fond of those little buggers.

Time to scoot, enjoy the rest of your week :)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

First Snowfall and a Beautiful Morning :)

Each Friday I have a cooking class for two hours in my home. This past Friday we made a breakfast pizza, some carmel rolls and had some mixed (canned) fruit. :)




Mixing "goop" for the carmel rolls--he was so amazed at how we just mixed things together and they "taste pretty good" :) He also asked "where do you get the ideas for this stuff?" LOL

Cracking the eggs to mix and scramble for the Breakfast Pizza
Maat "hard at work"






On Friday it started snowing, hard with big flakes; it was so pretty. While we were at my house cooking I looked out the living room window and this is what I saw of the first snowfall :) It continued throughout the day and into the evening. :)

The snowfall out my front door on Friday night :)


Taken from my back steps this morning--Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!



Taken from my back steps this morning. Pictures cannot come close to captivating God's splendor :)

My Back Yard-Breathtaking