Ice Road Runners

"Gray hair is God's graffiti."
~Bill Cosby

Karen Un-cleated

Karen and I went running the other night. I had my nifty cleats that pull on over my shoes to hinder the very likely chance that I would otherwise slip and fall to my death. Karen however in true Yup'ik fashion navigated the slick roads uncleated, somehow managing to stay upright. In hindsight we could have gone speed skating down the road instead. As you can see the conditions were perfect. Caught a couple of the kids out taking advantage of the ice covered tundra byways. How fun is that? I might just have to join them before the weekend is over. Speaking of Karen...Did I mention she is the one who fulfilled my Wednesday's Resolution, my 'do something that scares you' opportunity. Yeah, she did! She broke into my house and did my dishes even going so far as to pack her own water (apparently mine wasn't good enough for her, lol;) So when I got home from school there was no mountain to wash. I stood in shock at the sparkling clean way more neatly than I ever would have stacked them, pile of dishes. Unreal, what a blessing I did not deserve. Reminded me of how God is with us, isn't it true. Quyana my crazy Cinderella friend. Quyanaqvaa. You bless me.

"You have gray hair." 13 year old Diya more than willingly pointed at the side of my head as she sat next to me during church last Sunday. "It's blonde." I clarified in a low whisper being sure to keep staring straight ahead in a futile attempt to remind her we don't talk in church. "NOOOO it's gray!" She hissed back, "And there's more than one, I see three even!" This time I rolled my eyes at her confident she was mistaken then proceeded to ignore her so we wouldn't get in trouble. Once home I headed directly for the tiny honey bucket room mirror to examine the right side of my head. AH HA! "PLUCK!" Had to get a better look...maybe over in the kitchen lighting, hum, maybe by the window against something dark, maybe my dishwater blonde roots are just going platinum???? I left the other two shining strands attached to my head for further inspection over spaghetti dinner at Alicia and Allison's later that same night (aside it was a delicious feast Quyana ladies). Nope, everyone in teacher housing concurred, No way, those were definitely NOT platinum. The general consensus is that I have sprouted my first gray hairs!! And without much fanfare at all. I'm actually relatively unmoved. A few of the other teachers just passed it off and said they'd already found gray hairs too. No biggie, pluck em, dye em, Thank the Lord for Salons and move on:) Sounded good to me, and business continued as usual. Almost poetically later in the week one of my little guys approached me cautiously after school, getting 3 inches away from my face with a very intense, determined expression before he began to share his thoughts..."Rachel." Chuck said gravely. "Yes, Charles." I responded, turning from my computer and sharing his expression but not knowing what to expect from his furrowed little brow. "I love... your hair," he finished and stepped back, proud to have shared his mind. I stifled my laughter at the seriousness of our exchange then smiled thinking of the week's earlier discovery, "That means more than you could ever know Charles, thank you! You made my week! I love your hair too." "Okay." he said, pleased with himself and walked out the door. Kids are Wonderful!!!!

Alden Healing his Hand He heard Connie talking about an old remedy of tying a red piece of yarn around a person's hand if you think they might have blood poisoning. It was thought that the red yarn would stop the poisoning from going any farther up the arm and heal the injury to the hand. That was the day before he showed up to her class with his snow go injured hand all wrapped in red yarn. He loves to tease. He keeps us in stitches all the time. What a kid!

Puppies and Kiddies:) While Principal Eric is on training in Bethel again this weekend I conned the Pederson's into letting me and Ani have Seeker, Jet, Tak and Car ('Tessa', I believe is what her dad, Paul, is calling her over Good News Bay way;) for a few days! Kids stopped in to play. They are all getting so big!

"Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life."
Proverbs 16:31