Winter!

It is pretty chilly here. If we step outside without a coat we will quickly run inside.  It is that time of year when it feels warm if it is above 0 degrees outside. So far there has only been a few houses that have had frozen pipes. We don’t have much snow and that helps to insulate the plumbing. We could really use your prayers for snow to insulate the ground. We have heard several years ago that there wasn't any snow until February. Almost everyone had frozen pipes and some with frozen septic systems. We would love snow to be here. We are ready to celebrate Christmas. We enjoyed getting our Christmas tree together as a family and decorating it. We don’t see the sun much now. We see less than one hour of direct sunlight a day. We are surrounded by mountains so we can’t see much or only between the peaks. It doesn't affect us much, but there are people in this area that really struggle with the lack of sun.

Nicholas waiting for the tree to be cut down.

We arrived in Alaska Dec 15 last year so we didn't have a tree or decorations. Can't believe a year has gone by this fast. This year we are excited to decorate and enjoy this time of year together as a family, and to be our own family.

This is the most sun we see and this is at noon.

Jared has been staying busy in the shop. He is working on plow trucks. Another transmission needs replacement. Having no snow is easier on the plow equipment though. It is nice to have the bobcat to help plow the tight corners. I think that we have had about one month of not a single cloud in the sky. It's beautiful but cold.

We wanted to share some wonderful ways God has provided for the camp in the last month. Someone donated a 10,000 lb commercial snow blower. With all the snow we had last year it took a toll on the vehicles and equipment. This snow blower is 10 feet wide and has its own 3208 Cat engine to run it. We then realized that we had no other piece of equipment to move this monster around. So the donor also provided a bigger loader...a Trojan 4500 with a Cummins engine. Our old W-14 loader sold in 2 days for our asking price. God knows. Nothing more needs to be said.

Jared had the opportunity to go ice fishing with our neighbor Jake and his son Luke. So Nicholas and Jared went fishing. It was 5 below zero and windy out but it was so hot in the ice hunt that they had to open the door. They came home with 20 Arctic Char. The ice was about 26 inches thick where they were drilling.

He was not sure about touching the fish.

We were told they taste a lot like trout.

Thank you to our supporters, friends and family. Thank you for all the prayer. We love serving the Lord here and appreciate everything each and everyone of you do for us.