Trudging Through a Winter Wonderland Already????

Sara: I first came in because of the name: Serendipity. It’s one of my favorite words.
Jonathan: It is? Why?
Sara: It’s such a nice sounding word for what it means: a fortunate accident.
- From the movie Serendipity (2001)

Winter 2010 Arrives in Quinhagak Today
September 29th

Today
Houston we have a prob...I mean snow. The frozen water didn't arrive by sea this time either. Nope today it was driven in by whipping wind and wasted no time piling up in drifts. Well, here we go...I've dusted off the skiis, dug out the snow cleats, and have been wearing my winter jacket for 3 days now. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Dinner With New Friends
Connie's nephew, Olin, happens to be one of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center employee's working here in Quinhagak building that prototype I was talking about in the last post. So we invited him and his colleagues over for supper last night! You don't get to meet new people all that often in the village therefore when the opportunity presents it seems rather serendipitous. They think they will be finished in 5 weeks. At that point a family from the village will be selected to live in the house for the winter which will basically be a guinea pig experiment. Their fuel/energy usage will be closely monitored by a team back in Fairbanks all winter. It will be determined next summer if the house is worthy of replication, from there the village may choose to build more. Aside: upon further investigation I found out the company they work for CCHRC is not part of the University of Fairbanks but rather works with the University. Another correction I need to make is regarding "the Powers that be in Alaska" which I referred to in the last blog, are in fact NOT in Alaska or Alaskan. Apparently 'the Powers that be' is actually a mortgage company from down states. And it is they who are holding up the whole "people moving into the 'new' housing process". Sorry to whoever the Powers that be in Alaska are and keep up the good work. On a funny note Olin and company have somehow rigged up an antenna on the connex trailer they are working out of with wifi. That's classic Alaska folks. Isn't that great?

"Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't, your part of the building will be torn out and started over.
But you won't be torn out; you'll survive—but just barely."
2 Corinthians 3:10-12