Breakup 2020
I had mentioned in my last update that we had a real, cold Alaskan winter this past year. As a result the ice on the river was thicker than it has been in years, creating the longest ice road there has ever been. This is great for transportation during those winter months, but when springtime comes, and the weather warms, that ice needs to go somewhere! Because of the thickness of the ice, we thought breakup might be on the later side this year. The weather warmed and stayed warm quickly though, and the tripod moved and tripped the clock at 9:58 p.m. on May 3rd. I wrote in more detail about the Kuskokwim Ice Classic last year, but if it's interesting to you, you can go to iceclassic.org to learn more about the official start of summer in Bethel.
It was so impressive to watch the huge glacier like chunks of ice flowing together downstream. The problem with large flowing chunks of ice is that they don't always move in harmony, and when they don't, they run into each other and pile up, creating ice jams and backing up the water behind them. All of Bethel and many of the villages up and down the river were on flood watch for the weeks after breakup. Several of my patients, who had grown up in Bethel, told me stories of flooding in past years to the point that their family would use a boat to travel around in town and children would be playing on rafts in what used to be streets. While the concept of Bethel turning into a sort of Venice was intriguing, the reality really wasn't something we wanted to experience. The waters definitely rose, and the slough behind our house was soo much higher than we'd ever seen it, but thankfully God spared the town, for the most part, from any major flooding. The two pictures below were taken from the same spot several weeks apart. You can compare the beaver to put things in perspective.
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| The slough at it's highest |
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| Normal water height |
Smelting
Another big event at the beginning of each summer is the run of the smelts. Smelts are a small type of fish that live most of their lives in the Ocean (like salmon) but then migrate in big groups to spawn in freshwater streams in the spring. These little fish run just before the first run of Salmon, so they are an exciting sign of the official start of fishing season. When the first smelts are spotted, there is a mass run of boats to the river to go "Smelting." The run only lasts a day or two, so this is a, go now or miss out, kind of situation. Smelts are one of the few fish that can be legally harvested using a dip net, so everyone grabs their net, hops in their boat, and brings home what they can before the school has passed. Colby and I have not been able to participate in smelting before, but this year Francis asked Colby to go along. We didn't keep any smelts for ourselves, I wasn't sure what to do with them honestly. But, after talking to a few people, I've learned that they are usually just dipped in flour and fried whole. If we have the opportunity again next year I think we just might try it ;-)
Summertime
In a lot of ways this has been a beautiful Bethel summer. We had quite a few nice sunny days and the temperatures climbed into the 70's, but we avoided those painful 90 degree days we struggled through last year. Unfortunately this was a summer of bugs. Mosquitoes are jokingly said to be Alaska's state bird, but they were definitely worse this year than we had experienced before. There was literally a cloud of them waiting outside of our door which would surround us as we dashed to the car and as many as possible would cram in there with us. I felt like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown, every time I dared to go outside. We considered buying Bug Shirts (you can all look that up) and know several people who did. We did cover David's car seat in a bug net after we noticed he was getting devoured on the way to daycare. Thankfully though, the most severe waves didn't last too long, and we were eventually able to get out and fully enjoy the sunshine. One beautiful day David was able to experience his first boat ride and picnic on a sandbar! He wasn't super sure about the life jacket, but somehow he
still fell asleep on the way home!
Growing and Gathering
For the past 2 summers we have had a row in the community garden. Last year with the very warm weather, and me feeling slightly under the weather most days, our row was not very productive. This year I decided to be realistic. I realized that even though it is not far away, I was less likely to make the necessary daily trips to the garden with David in tow. Instead, I decided to give container gardening on our porch a try! I kept things very small for this year, but I will say I did much better at keeping them alive! I was able to eat spinach and kale for a few weeks, to snack on snap peas and managed a few meals worth of turnips. Colby is also growing a row of potatoes in the community garden. We're excited to find out whats under the ground there in a few weeks.
Berry picking is another one of my favorite summer activities. This also proved to be a bit trickier this year with an extra helper. Colby and David both joined me for our first blueberry picking outing of the summer. As you can see a great time was had by all...but we decided that it might be best for them to stay home and let me do the rest of the picking on my own.
Work
God has been so incredibly good in this area of our lives over the past months. Colby stepped out on his own and officially started CDS Construction in April of this year. These are such uncertain times, and we weren't at all sure of how things would go, but we both felt a peace that this was God's leading. So far, He has abundantly blessed in providing work. This has made for a very busy summer for Colby, as so many things just need to be done during these few months when the ground is not frozen, but truly it is an answer to prayer. Colby has so much enjoyed working with Francis and forming and building new relationships in the community. There is definitely a learning curve as well as he determines how to run the business successfully, but still set aside quality time with David and I, time to complete some projects on our house and to pour into other relationships and ministry. Overall though, we can do nothing but praise God for providing and sustaining this amazing opportunity. P.S. Thank you to Jayson Whelpley for creating a logo for us : )
Perspectives
Perspectives On the World Christian Movement is a course that Colby and I had both taken online while we were in PA. It's a great class that walks through the Biblical, Historical and Cultural aspects of God's global purpose and then dives into current Strategies in missions. We both grew and learned so much from the class. Last summer I was able to travel to Idaho to learn how to coordinate a class in hopes of hosting a live course in Bethel in the future. We got a little busy over the winter, but felt God leading us to move forward again this summer. We are currently guiding a small group of local couples through the course. We all meet at our house on Sundays to watch the weeks lectures, then have a time of discussion. It's been so good to go through the material again and especially to walk through it with others. We'd appreciate prayers that God will use this time to challenge and equip those taking the class.
Grandpa!!!
The highlight of summer so far is that David finally got to meet his Apii (Grandpa in Yupik). I mentioned before that one of the hardest parts about the state of the world right now and the difficulty of travel, is that our little man hasn't been able to meet his extended family members. There are still many that we are longing to introduce, but after a few failed attempts, canceled/rearranged flights and other small difficulties my dad was able to make the trek across the country. There are a number of restrictions on travel to Alaska right now, but he was able to get his Covid test just prior to travel and the results came back in record time, just as he was entering the state. We took the necessary precautions while he was here, stayed out of public places and kept to ourselves. But, I cannot say enough, what a wonderful time it was. God gave absolutely perfect weather the entire week. We were able to have a little backyard campfire, go berry picking, and just walking around town. Dad was even able to ride along with Colby and a friend to go netting for salmon to fill our freezer for this year. He then helped us pack away said salmon in record time which was an added bonus. Most importantly though, Apii got to spend some quality time with David and they both had a blast!
Final Thoughts
I don't know about all of you, but we have struggled to remain joyful over the past months. I jokingly told my sister over the phone that the word for this year is "canceled." The parade is canceled. The concert is canceled. Your flight is canceled. Sports are canceled. School is canceled. So much that we enjoy in life seems like it's being canceled! I'm a person who very much looks forward to traditions, so it has been hard not to mope a bit as I watch so many things that I get excited about change or be set aside completely for this year. Little decisions seem more complicated than they ever were and the distance between us and many of our friends and family seems greater than it's ever been. Even the joy filled events that do happen, like my dads visit, are laced with a bit of hesitancy and extra caution. On top of those more minor disappointments, there just seems to be a heaviness about nearly every aspect of life right now. Listening to the news for even a few minutes makes it clear that people are hurting all over our country and world. Between the virus, rioting, political tension and natural disasters it's easy to feel like the world is spinning out of control.
By God's grace though, in the midst of all of this craziness I happened to be reading through Roman's in my daily Bible reading plan. One day when I was feeling particularly down, the words of Roman's 8 jumped off the page at me. The chapter is filled with soooo much incredible truth, and I highly recommend you just take some time and read and dwell on it. But the word's that most resonated in my heart this time were "not worth comparing." In Roman's 8:18 Paul writes "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." He goes on to talk about how "the whole creation has been groaning together" longing for the day when Christ will return and make right all that sin has made wrong. These words reminded me once again that this world is just not our home. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we will face difficult times in this life but as believers we have a future to look forward to that will make even the worst trials here seem insignificant in comparison. Over and over again during these past weeks, just as I've started to sink into sadness over the current state of things, God has reminded me to keep my eyes fixed on the joy that's coming. When I'm able to keep my focus on the glory ahead, I get a whole new perspective on the things I face in the day to day of this life. I have no idea what struggles might be in front of you right now, but hopefully these words can be an encouragement to you as they've been to me. Spend some time in God's word and let Him lift your eyes to live these days in light of the awesome future ahead of you.
Prayer Requests
- Please be in prayer for Colby and his family on both sides. His mom's side of the family has experienced a lot of loss in the past year, and his mom was recently diagnosed with cancer. Colby's dad has also been dealing with a lot of pain and loss of mobility and is scheduled to have a knee replacement this week. Pray for healing and especially for God's peace in the midst of those situations.
- I know this is not unique to us right now, but we are struggling to figure out what ministry should like during this time of Covid. Our hearts desire is to be serving God and reaching out to this community, but in a way that will not put others at unnecessary risk or damage our testimony. King's Kids is currently on hold as we seek God's leading in what it should/could look like this year. We would very much appreciate prayers for wisdom as we navigate so many complicated situations.
- Continue to pray that God would strengthen our marriage and improve our ability to serve him as a team. And now especially that he would give us wisdom as we raise David and begin to shepherd his little heart. As we walk through the early stages of parenting, pray that God would guide us as we seek to live our lives for him as a family.
A Few More Random Pictures
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| Sunset from behind our house |
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| Baby swallows leaving the nest in our backyard |
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| Boaters behind our house during the flood |
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| Beavers getting to work this spring |
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| Noisy toy compliments of Grandma Walter |
