We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! This past week marked 2 very important days for Colby and I this year....First of all, Sunday was the last day of Colby's 1st semester of classes! The week leading up to that day may have been a bit tense...but he made it! I have never seen a person so excited to just get up and go to work on a Monday morning :) This semester was a learning experience for him in more than one way. He learned from his classes but also learned quite a bit about the way he learns best and focuses best and managing time. It was a struggle for sure but still a good experience. He now has a break for about 1 month and is very excited to have a mental rest and time to do some of the outside, physical kind of work which he enjoys much more. 

The other important day was Thursday, December 21st...the shortest day of the year! We made it through the darkest day! The official sunrise on that day was at 10:57 a.m. and sunset was at 4:34 p.m. giving us 5 hours and 36 minutes of daylight. Today, just 2 days later we will have 5 hours and 37 minutes of daylight! We are on the upswing! And to be honest we haven't minded the short days. I enjoy the weekends when I actually get a glimpse of the sun, but there has been no extra tiredness or sadness that we've noticed. It's amazing how God has made our bodies to adapt and adjust to all kinds of different circumstances.

Weather

We  may have reached the shortest day, but we are still far from the coldest. Apparently this has been an unusually mild winter here so far. The winter months started out beautifully. We had a white thanksgiving and several smaller snows stacked up on top of that. The beautiful white made it feel like the Christmas season...

Buuut over the past week the weather has deteriorated quite a bit. Temperatures have been well above freezing so a lot of our snow disappeared and the world instead became an ice skating rink. It's looking like we won't be having a white Christmas after all...more of a brown/grey slushy slippery one. Slightly disappointing...In addition to the ice we have also been having a remarkable amount of wind. The combination makes walking anywhere, opening car doors, closing car doors...everything outside just more difficult. Thankfully, early on in our time here we took some good advice and bought ice cleats! Something I never thought I would own but am soo thankful for!

Looking ahead at the upcoming weather...the little graph makes a gradual downhill slant after today. The highs go something like 32...24...16...15...9...3 then next Saturday Colby's weather app just has an igloo. I'm not sure what that means...

Anchorage!

As far as exciting events go over the past month, to celebrate our first Anniversary this year, Colby and I took an extended weekend trip to Anchorage in November. It was definitely a fun break and we took the opportunity to see some of the parts of Alaska that everyone imagines...the parts with mountains and trees. We took a drive from Anchorage down to Girdwood and even got to see some Doll Sheep on the rocks beside the road on the way (no pictures...they stayed up high enough that they only looked like white dots in my camera). 

Our hotel also happened to be right beside the Ulu Factory! For those of you who know me my Ulu knife is possibly my favorite kitchen possession (maybe second to my AeroPress). I was first introduced to this (actually to both of those things!) by Rachel Alderfer when I stayed with her in Juneau, and my dad bought me my knife for Christmas a year later. I was pretty excited to visit the place it originated...

Although my Ulu was created here...these knives have been made and used for a very very long time by the Native Alaskan people. In case anyone is interested you can read a little about the history of the Ulu knife here on The Ulu Factory website http://theulufactory.com/ulu-history.php. 

Our trip was definitely a fun time away, however, when you live in Bethel trips to Anchorage also become necessary errand running and grocery gathering events. Groceries in Anchorage are soo much cheaper than they are in Bethel, and because we now live in Alaska, we can check three of those big plastic totes for free on Alaska Airlines. This means that you fly to Anchorage with empty totes stacked inside of each other as your luggage. Go grocery shopping, and fill each tote with 50#'s of goodies. Then fly back with full totes. We are beginners, so we only filled 2 totes a piece this time. Navigating through the airport with full totes is as challenging as it sounds like it might be...we decided to gradually work our way up. Even so, we are still eating our way through a lot of what we stocked up on during that trip. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very different this year, but it was still great. My coworkers invited Colby and I, our Pastors family, Job, and a few other members of our church for a Thanksgiving meal. We had plenty of delicious food and a wonderful, relaxed time of enjoying the day together. After we ate Keira and I and the pastors kids went sledding on the "hill" (there was kind of a bump in the tundra) behind their house and the boys did a little riding around on snow machines. It was sad to be away from home, but since many people in Bethel are from from their families, we were definitely not alone. We were very Thankful for great friends, and our church family here, to make the day special. 

On a side note...the most homesick we have both felt this entire time was on the Monday after Thanksgiving. There is something about rifle season...the anticipation, the getting up early, dressing in orange, climbing in tree stands and sitting and waiting, hearing shots, sharing stories...the smell of Jerky by the end of the week and mostly just the time we spend with family that definitely had us both a little mopey and missing home. Very glad we were able to share in the experiences from a distance through calls and pictures!

Work and Life

Work for both of us has continued on with no major changes. I still enjoy what I'm doing so much and feel as though I'm learning and growing a little bit every day. Over the last month I got to be a little more hands on with wound care and was able to help with cleaning and dressing changes for a few people, specifically for a person with frostbite. This is definitely an area of physical therapy I never thought I would enjoy, but I'm finding I really do and I'm excited to continue to develop my skills here.

One fun piece of news outside of work is that we now own a snow machine (all of you in PA would call this a snowmobile...but they are snow machines up here). You can add that to the list of things I never thought I would own but am very thankful for. We've learned that during the cold months here, a snow machine is almost a necessity if you want to travel outside of Bethel. Flying conditions are not great during the winter, but the trails and the river freeze opening a whole world of options by snow machine.  Colby has already been able to use this to travel to Napkiak with Job two times to help with the Bible study there, and he's looking forward to being able to do more as the winter goes on.

Christmas!!!

One more sleep until Christmas!!! : ) Colby thinks I'm a bit ridiculous this year, but I have been very much enjoying this Christmas season. Part of my excitement has definitely had to do with the snow and the cold (until this week) that just gave everything a much more Christmasy feel. I had to be a bit creative with decorating this year since there are no trees in Bethel and we did not feel like ordering one due to lack of space and time...but I found that by cutting up pieces of garland, taping them to the wall and putting lights on them, I could make a very nice little tree that did not clutter our apartment at all.

I think the biggest reason for my extra enjoyment of this Christmas season is that I have had extra time to reflect on the true meaning of it this year. Work does not take up as much of my time here as it did at home and there are simply not as many distractions in Bethel as there were in PA. So this year I have had more time to sit, more time to read and more time to listen and God has blessed me so much through that time. One of the things I have been reading through is "Good News of Great Joy" an Advent devotional by John Piper. Two different readings were focused on this verse...

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."~Hebrews 2:14-15

The simple truth of those words has struck me more this year than any year before this. The entire reason Christ came, the reason why he was born in a stable so many years ago, was so that he could die and destroy the power that death has over all of us. He left the awesome glory of heaven to humble himself and enter this world, just like we do, as a tiny baby, to live a human life, just like we do (except perfectly...completely without sin), and then died...the only person who didn't deserve death...died. He took the punishment that we all deserve, the death that we all deserve...BUT He rose again and through that He forever destroyed the power that death had over all of us!

I have been reminded in a new way this year that this is why we celebrate Christmas. Because He came we no longer have to fear death, we no longer have to fear anything. We can now have hope and joy and life to the absolute fullest. As I've been reminded of this awesome truth over the past month, I've also been even more aware of the lack of this hope that is so apparent in many people around me. So many people here (and throughout this whole world) still live in slavery and fear. My prayer is that as we celebrate and give thanks for the incredible gift of freedom we've been given, God will use our lives and give us opportunities to share this gift with people around us.

As I close this out, I want to encourage you to set aside the craziness of this season just to spend time with Christ, and let him open your heart in a new way to the true significance of Christmas. I hadn't realized how much I'd been neglecting that, and how much I had truly been missing.

Final Thoughts

Thank you all...again soooo much for all of the love and support we've felt since we've been here. I feel like I can't say that enough. We have been overwhelmed with the thoughtful cards and packages we've gotten. This is the first time in either of our lives that we have been away from friends and family during this holiday season. Being away has made us realize even more how truly blessed we are to have all of you! So yes...just Thank you! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for us as we build relationships here and determine the best ways to spend our time, both in life and in ministry to make the greatest impact for God's Glory where he has us right now
• I will be traveling to Hopper Bay (by myself this time) from January 10th-12th. Pray for traveling safety, for the people I will meet there, and for the village as a whole and what God's doing there
• For Colby as he mentally prepares to return to the books in a few weeks, for focus and motivation to study and learn and especially that God would use this time to help him to grow in his own walk with Christ and prepare him to better lead others in the future

And a few more pictures....

Sunrise over the river

Ice fog makes crystals on everything!
  Even chain link fences become beautiful...

Snowy tundra behind the fitness center

Christmas Eve Sunrise