Just Another Day in Paradise

"The more it snows (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
On snowing. And nobody knows (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
Are growing."
~Winnie the Pooh


Morning in Quinhagak, Alaska

Barthelman's to the Rescue
I'm happy to report that thanks to the selfless help from our dynamic duo aka Jim and Steph (featured to the right and left). They arrived from volleyball tournament to my neediness...remember the frozen pipes? So they jumped into action, Jim crawled under the house despite the -20 temp and went to work pulling apart the pipes, and hammering away at the tube of ice. Meanwhile back in the house Steph had pots water boiling and was attacking the problem from above. Within 1/2 hour of their undertaking water was draining and I was back in business. They also shared the secrets of helping it not to happen again;)

Banana Bread and Turkey Day Incoming
This weekend I had some help from one of the kiddos. Together we made our first loaf of banana bread! Thanks Gram for the super recipe. I'll be in Bethel for Thanksgiving with my friend Anya as long as the there's good weather for flying. So HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

Small Miracles (besides the banana bread;)

Coffee Anyone
I forgot to tell you about how fun God is. The week before I received the Bunn Coffee pot from my friend Amanda in the mail, a couple other friends had sent 2 packages of gourmet coffee neither one having any idea about the fancy new cafe machina on it's way! God is in the small stuff. It made me laugh and smile.

Warm Toes Warm Nose
The other day Sherry and I went out for a jore with 2 dogs each!!! It was like water skiing but on snow. We were practically airborn. About 1/4 of the way through our journey my toes started to ache with cold, I promise I'm not a wuss, I grew up in the ice box of the nation but I also know when my toes aren't gonna make it ...yeah, it was like -20 (my eye lashes were freezing shut). It was soooo fun I didn't want to turn around, plus Sherry is the amazing mother of a toddler and an infant so I didn't want to cut short her opportunity to do something she enjoys. I whispered out a hopeful prayer knowing full well the circulation in my little piggies has always been less than optimal, as we zoomed across an icy frozen lake, "Please God I need you to warm up my toes! We can't go back yet." It was supernatural for my toes because once they become ice cubes they can't get each other warm again and I'm done for. But that day they miraculously warmed up, toasty as if I was sitting by a fire. Yes, I too wondered if they had just thrown in the towel and succumbed to frost bite. Nope, they were truly warm. God is in the small stuff as much as He is the BIG stuff.

What My Skis Want to Say
Hi, it's us, the skis. You know, it hasn't been all waxing and hot irons for us. Our days of chasing down the finish line were over a few years ago when she decided to start calling us her "rock skis" and splurged for some hoite toite new newfangled Salomons. But well, we've been around, had our day in the snow. She bought us during her first ski team season in 9th grade in the elementary school cafeteria before she could drive, yeah, that long ago, might even have been before the whole stealing of the family car incident...pre driver's license that was...(Rachel Aside: "Okay Skis some things are better left unsaid.") fine, okay, okay, anyway what we mean is we've seen her through a lot: high school races, ice box days races, we even skied her to the cabin one winter, first koretloppet, first birkie, and many after that. Yes, back in the day she spent hours waxing us up in all the right temps. But for last few years that's been left to the newbies, we've been lucky to get a quick courtesy coat pre season. But hey, we're still going, we refuse to be stuck in a corner. Why, just last year her mom learned to skate on us. Then when she decided to move to this tundra, who do you suppose was chosen to come along. Not those lightweight rookies, nope who could trust all that fancy schmancy carbon fiber pilot blinding bells and whistles. She went with what she knew she could count on, what could handle the birkie snow, rocks and dirt in spring or the last few unusually warm winters. Skis that could get the job done no matter the terrain. She opted to bring us. Old faithfuls, the 'rock skis', 16 years of clamping the bindings down and whooshing off through trails. Now you can find us zinging over mounds of tundra chasing sled dogs. It's invigorating, we are being reinvented! You never know when your adventure will take a sharp right and enter totally uncharted territory, be ready to embrace it the journey. At least that's what we'd say if skis could talk...


Angelo's Throw Party
My dear friend Jerilynn had a "throw party" today in celebration of her son shooting his first ptarmigan! Congrats Angelo! Here are some great pics of the festivity in spite of the chilly weather lots of people showed up to join in. That's Jerilynn and her mom throwing all the goodies to an eager crowd of women and children from the village! They have 'specials' at the throw parties, that's where a certain gift is for a specific person so that person's name is called out before the gift is 'thrown'. Like today there were specific glass bowls for elders which were handed out, then to our surprise Jerilynn's mom called out Steph and my names and threw us towels instructing "This is for the Maqii-Steam Bath:)"

















Remember Max, the Grinch's Dog????

He's thinking "Seriously, must we do this?"



"Fine, look at me I'm a Caribou........." (Right)

"When blizzards roar out of the north
and freezing rain crusts the land.
It's God's breath that forms the ice,
it's God's breath that turns lakes and rivers solid."
Job 37:9-10