Jumpin' June!

                                                       GARAGE APARTMENTS- DONE!

                                          GROUP FROM WILSON, WISCONSIN

                                           SOME OF THE VBS HELPERS (WITH MALACHI)

                                                  THIS KID LOVES RIDING ON A 4-WHEELER

Whoa. HOW in the world has it been two months already???

Seriously, this whole “keeping the blog updated” is hard work! ;)

So, as you can see from the title, June (and July) has been busy! We have had a bunch of visitors, a bunch of activity and a bunch of fun!

Late May brought a team of four up to do Vacation Bible School (VBS) in a couple of the villages in the area. Josiah and Courtney Rolf, Stephanie (Steph) Kantonen and Michelle Alverson. It was/is such a blessing to have them here and we’ve had a good time! They went to Ekwok, Kohkonok, Igiugig, Egegik and South Naknek. Josiah and Courtney went home about two weeks ago, but Steph and Michelle are still here until Monday. Malachi loved having them around! The two girls still here have become two of his most favorite people e.v.e.r.

June brought the salmon coming full force which meant our helpers at the Net came. Bobby (Roberta) Ovegard from Camarillo, CA has committed most of her summer to be here. She has worked SO hard. They have made OVER 300 dozen cookies down at the NET!! She has put in super long hours, but has had some great visits with the hundreds who have walked through the door. Les and Kathy Carlson from Amery, WI came up here for two weeks and worked non-stop all day long baking cookies, visiting with people coming in and much more! They had a wonderful time and didn’t want to leave. (And we didn’t want them to leave, but the radio station was about to burst at the seams…..)  Before I mentioned why the radio stations was going to be full, back up just a hair…

The Net- a place rented out by our church here to use for ministry year long, but particularly in the summer for a place of rest, coffee, cookies, tracts, bibles, fellowship and internet. It is right on the “main strip” of town. There are six (?) Canneries in our small town that hire people from all over the world (literally) to work.  Plus, there are many, many fishing boats who hire people as well from out of town. So, during the “off” time, either waiting for fishing to start or waiting for the canneries to be in full swing, people are constantly walking back and forth. (because most likely they don’t have a car if they’re from out of town) They have had a few days down there where they went through 400 coffee cups in one day!

Another side note- salmon, salmon and more salmon! “Commercial fishermen continue to harvest huge amounts of sockeye as the total run to Bristol Bay has exceeded 30-million. Monday’s sockeye harvest was just over 1-million sockeye. That pushes the season total to over 21.1-million.”

Ok, back to the packed radio station. A few days after the Carlsons left a team of 6 from Amery, WI; plus 2 from Fergus Falls, MN came up to finish up the apartments in the garage! WOW, Were they hard workers! The ladies were cooking meals and painting and the men literally worked  from 6 am-10 pm several of the days! They got so much done! What a blessing to have them! While they were here we were able to have a bonfire on the beach with the nicest weather we could ask for! We also celebrated the 4^th with a big crowd and that day was almost just as warm! And no bugs! The 4^th we also had a garage dedication.

This week has been busy. We are having our Naknek VBS and have some great volunteers. Everyone has stepped up and taken responsibility, so it hasn’t been overwhelming. Malachi has loved this week too, especially the puppets, fun songs, and being a “big kid”. Steph and Michelle are still here and we’ve really enjoying getting to know them and hanging out. This week Jeremy and I also nailed down dates and purchased tickets for a trip to MI to see my parents! I spend a few years of my elementary age years there and haven’t been back for a LONG time, so we’re looking forward to the trip.  Jeremy is flying an airplane back with a guy from here who bought the plane in Pennsylvania, so Mally and I will spend about a week and half more in MI.

I THINK this caught you up on our activity. Whew, that was long! J So, I stuck a few pictures on here, but if you want to see more, check out facebook! Thanks for your prayers! 

Summer is here!

Yes, you read that right: Summer. No, not necessarily because of the weather, although that hasn’t been bad either. We pretty much have three weeks of Spring here and half the time that feels like Winter. This year, we were “lucky”.  

A few weeks ago we started to see signs of summer when new faces would appear in the stores, the library, the local restaurant, at church, but mostly wandering the streets. You can always tell that the canneries are getting ready when there are people walking back and forth into town, or you see those typical “Summer Vehicles” (mainly the “how- are- those- trucks- still- running- trucks”).

It’s always fun to see a few familiar faces who return for the summer year after year.  It seems that most of the time we don’t recognize many with such a huge turn-over of workers, but occasionally there are a few that return year after year. There’s one gentlemen, Fernando, who has been here several years in a row. When he’s not here, he lives in Columbia. He’s a brother in Christ who comes to church whenever he can. They keep him pretty busy at work in the local restaurant. Last weekend Jeremy and I were there eating and he came over with a little bowl of “belated birthday ice cream” for Malachi. I guess he had heard a passing comment in church that it was Malachi’s Birthday that past weekend. What a special treat!

Speaking of Malachi’s Birthday, we really enjoyed it this year! The theme was Disney’s “PLANES” and so there were many “Dusty” decorations, the main character in the movie. (pics on facebook) We were able to have it in the church basement which was wonderful, because we had over 30 people there. It was a special day for the 3 year old. My Birthday, two days later was also a fun day with friends and yummy (sugar-free!) cake and ice cream.

Jeremy has been busy with lots of airplane maintenance and various work projects. He is trying to have all the airplanes up and running, especially the 6 seater. We have our Vacation Bible School team coming in 3 weeks! Which means the first VBS is a month away. The Net should be up and running about that time as well. More on the VBS and The Net ministry to come….

Will you pray with us for all the details of the Summer?

Scroll down.... :)

Time passed. Promises unkept. Apologies abound. We’re sorry! So sorry! :)


That being said, I HOPE, but am not promising to keep this “thing” updated!

A New Years Resolution three months late?

My goal, so as not to overwhelm or bore, is to try to update more frequently with little “blurbs” here and there. I mean, be honest, three-fourths of you are on facebook and would rather browse through cute pictures of Malachi on there. :) But that’s too selfish to just stick to that, because I know that there are also those of you who are not on facebook.

(However, if you are on fb, but we’re not friends, send us a request—but if we don’t know you personally, we might not “accept” you unless you send us a message on fb to say who you are….this is for more of you who are reading our update via the Knee Mail)

All this being said, I’m not going to try to update you on the things that have happened the last year (*blush), but to just start fresh.

So…..

This winter we wondered several times, “Are we really in Alaska?” We have loved this Winter! Granted, we haven’t had a ton of sunny days, but boy has it been warm. It was not unusual to see many days in a row of upper 30’s and higher. I think we traded weather with the rest of the US. There were a fews days where we were warmer here than my parents in Georgia. (Speaking of them, they were up here this Christmas for a month….we love visitors…hint, hint)
Malachi will be three in April and I’m depressed. Ok, not really, but how is he that OLD?! He likes puppies, Planes, Super Why, playing outside (especially slides), noodles, singings, not napping, and is just about potty trained!
Jeremy is busy at this moment working on the Cessna 175’s annual inspection and taking a few online classes to stay current in his ratings. But he’s also been busy with other various and random projects.
I have been doing the “normal” stay at home mom routine with a few other things thrown in there. I teach Sunday School, lead a Ladies Bible Study on Thursdays and am involved with Leaders For Life (basically a small youth group with a couple of the teen girls) I also enjoy experimenting and cooking new meals. My family has benefited from Pinterest!
Stay tuned! :)

Lacey (for Jeremy and Malachi too)

Happy New Year!

We hope each one of you had a wonderful Christmas! We enjoyed it with some good friends of ours. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that.)

Around here, it seems like it is either feast or fammine as far as activities go. The week leading up to Christmas was quite busy with lots of community activities. There was a local choir Christmas Concert, the schools Christmas program, caroling to name a few. Our church joined the Community Church and put on a children's program. I was in charge of directing it and had a lot of fun. The kids were really cute to watch and did a great job. Malachi even participated for about 30 seconds as Boy Jesus at the end.

We had a Christmas Eve service that had our small church packed with people. It was such a blessing to see so many walk through the doors. And Malachi even sat with some friends of ours for most of the service which made it extra enjoyable for Jeremy and I. :)

With our faster internet these days, come the chance to skype and facetime (basically telephone with video over the computer for those of you who don't know what they are) with both sets of family. It's fun to have them seem like they are almost in the same room! Malachi and his cousin Carter who are days apart in age were able to see each other as well.

Christmas Day morning we spent together as a family and enjoyed watching Malachi's excitement as he opened each of his presents. (He was spoiled rotten this year! HAHA)

Well, since pictures are worth a thousand words.............

Malachi enjoyed the Christmas Tree and tells me almost every morning "on".  And calls it "pretty". Thankfully, he knows not to mess with the ornaments. (most of the time)

 He did a good job unwrapping the presents with minimal help. We did a couple on Christmas Eve, but most Christmas morning. I think it took about 2 1/2 hours to get everything opened. :)

 A small group, but they did a wonderful job! Our shepherds did double duty as wisemen too.

 This boy loves to read! And has tons of books.

 All smiles next to his farily recently painted room.

 In October, we spend a little over two weeks visiting my parents in Florida! We had a great time; spending most of it at Walt Disney World.

He loveddddd meeting the characters, especially Mickey and Donald.

HAPPY FALL!

Although the official date has not yet arrived and I would like to deny it; I do believe Fall is here! 

            August in Naknek almost seemed like Summer was long gone. Not necessarily because of the weather, but where’s all the people!? As you know, (or if you don’t, where have you been?!), we live in a big fishing community. In May and early June, everybody plus some, head on up to Bristol Bay to fish, fish, fish and fish. (sometimes you throw eating in there and occasionally sleep) It’s fun to have so many from all over the world here. At the very beginning of the season when people have just arrived, you get lots of visitors in church. That is a fun blessing! One Sunday, before fishing had started, the church was packed. There were some people from Africa, Europe, Mexico and all over the US. It was neat to hear some testimonies for different individuals. One man had quite a story on how he got up here from Mexico trying to get through Immigration, sleeping in the airport and Seattle, etc. But he didn’t to make a living somehow. 

      In June, Jeremy, Malachi and I went down to Minnesota for our church groups Annual Conference in Thief River Falls. It was wonderful to be able to connect with seminary friends, Pastor friends, and Jeremy’s mom and step-dad were there. The first part of the trip was HOT…even for the Minnesotans. It was fun to bring Malachi there for the first time!

      July was definitely the busiest, most exciting month this Summer. We had two teams come up to build a garage/shop here at radio station! They did fantastic, speedy work! When the first group from Dalton and Fergus Falls, MN  got here there was nothing but dirt and when they left there were walls, a roof,  beginning of garage doors, windows in, etc. At one point, we had 17 people here at the station! What fun. Thankfully, they sent and brought all their food up here! And fed us! Sharon Tungseth and I were doing the cooking. Malachi was such a trooper throughout the whole thing and loved all the extra attention! 

      That same week was also Vacation Bible School. In the morning, we had VBS here in Naknek and then a few would come back, grab a quick lunch and fly over to South Naknek in the Cherokee 6. The theme this year was “Jesus is our Hope” which brought much opportunity to talk about…guess who? J Wednesday was about Jesus’ death and resurrection and a few kids prayed to receive Christ! It was a smaller number this Summer for some reason, but it was still a blessing to have some many kids come who wouldn’t normally go to church.

         Last month seemed to fly by with some quieter activity. Malachi and I went with Jeremy to Ekwok one Sunday to hold a service. We usually don’t have the opportunity to go with him, because then Malachi misses a nap. The weather was nice in August, so gave some more opportunities for walks, an evening stroll on the beach and M’s first 4-wheeler ride! He loved it. 

        We are all doing well and staying healthy. We are looking forward to visiting my parents in October in Florida! And going to Disney World! I have been showing Malachi pictures of Mickey and the gang. :)  We’ll also stop in Anchorage on the way back for a few days for food shopping. Looking forward to being out for a bit as it’s been a while. Before we go, we’ll be helping with an area youth retreat that brings opportunity for outreach. It’s also fun to see kids from area villages that are flown in. 

       Thank you all for your prayers! Here are a few pictures…LOTS more on face book. 

       whoops out of order, but this is right before the first team left

 middle

beginning