Kodiak-The Finale

      Today has been remarkable to say the least.  Sunday's in Kodiak usually are.  Last year we experienced the salvation of the only two souls during the week.  This year was a little different.  We had Sunday School this morning as a group.  We had a few songs and then a testimony time.  Two ladies went first. And then by the Spirit's moving, I went next.  Now I won't go into the details here due to time, but feel free to ask me anytime- I'll fill you in.  But to give you some insight, I've never shared my testimony outside of family and close close friends.  So needless to say this was a momentous occassion.  I have been personally fighting the Lord on this one.  I have felt His leading to do this all week, but didn't want to do it- I was afraid.  But it was a blessing I had been putting off.  And today, I released that fear to Him and He returned to me as a blessing and crown.  To Him be the glory forevermore.  God used that testimony to allow me to share with several others throughout the day.  Two in particular deserve your prayers.  I'll not mention names, but lift these two families up.  They need your help.  And as I close out this subject, I want to give a big shout out and a word of thanks to a brave man named Xavier from FL.  Thanks Bro. 

     After a great worship service and praise time, we geared up for the Big Night. We had what the group had titled the Burger Bash.  At 6:30 pm we hosted the community with a free hamburger and hotdog dinner.  We started cooking around 4:15 or so.  Don and I along with Vic and Christie from Frontier cooked over 40 lbs of hamburgers and hotdogs.  I think it was a great success.  We had 105 visitors from the community in the church-eating and fellowshipping with the body of Christ.  We followed dinner by a "no talent" talent show.  It was funny to see some of the silly things the group came up with to do.  But the most awesome thing I believe I've ever seen happened next.

      Have you ever heard of Cardboard Testimonies?  If not check it out here first!

     We had about eleven of the team get up and do this same thing in front of the whole community. AWESOME!!!!!! I actually cried.  I couldn't help it! It was so moving to see how God has brought healing to so many people.  It was just simply powerful- humble and lowly praising God for their conversions and healings.  Now whether or not the community was moved remains to be seen, but I for one will never be the same.  I just know good things are going to happen in this place. And soon.  Pray for Kodiak and Frontier Baptist Church.  The harvest is just in sight......
      I'll leave you with some pics of the night.....See you soon!

And now for your entertainment----FOOD!

Two words Fried Twinkie!

Two More Words: Fried Oreos

And last but not least the king of all hotpockets: THE BRUIN BURGER!

Kodiak Day 4

     It rained all night and a small part of the morning.  It stayed hazy today, but didn't rain anymore.  Brenda (from WestPoint/Ga) led four more teenagers to Christ today while walking through the Crab Festival.  She and Sharon from the group would prayer walk.  Then when Brenda felt led to share the EvangeCube, Sharon would step aside and pray while she was talking!  Amazing!  That is a total of 5 decisions for Christ in 4 Days.  We only had 2 all last year!  Praise the Lord.
   The rest of the day was taken up by sightseeing, eating and some more construction work.  I worked on a brochure for the church to had out at a hamburger cookout we are hosting for the community tomorrow.  It has the church's information and service times on it.  Everyone at the Crab Fest that has stopped by the booth has received an invitation, so we are not really sure how many people will be coming.  But be in prayer as we go to church tomorrow and then on to the festival.  Last year, Sunday was our biggest day with our two salvations.  Lets pray that tomorrow will be even bigger!   

     God is moving.  And you are playing a part in that....keep praying our blessings are around the corner.

Kodiak Day 3

Today has been a bit slower.  Don and I hung a door in the parsonage, I put the doorknob on, and Don re-wired a plug for the dryer.  I did my normal gopher stuff and of course ate some delicious food.  We had a good day, just tired.  This time and workload has tired me out-big time.  I hope to rest this evening.  I'm gonna leave you tonight with some pics of the day.....until tomorrow. (Our bedroom at the bottom: air matress upstairs in the nursery!)

And oh yeah, it's finally raining. 

Kodiak Day 2

Day two started with a good hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs.  Afterwhich, me and a couple of other guys crawled under the church in hopes of stopping the monsterously loud pipe clanging that happens when you flush the toilet.  After a few minutes of military style crawls through the underside of the church, we fixed all the lower problems.  All that remains is to remove a section of the wall in the ladies bathroom and anchor the pipes in the wall. 

      After the pipescapades, we went up to have a devotional time.  Brenda led the time and discussed the purposes of the Holy Spirit and what tasks He performs in a believers life.  (Amy-Forgotten God).  A great message and really focused me on where this trip's success really lies.  After the devotional, we divided up the daily tasks and set to work. 

My job today was gopher/electrician/booth erector.  I ran folks from the church to the Crab Fest and back.  I ran to the hardware store and back, and back again.  Don and I tried to fix an electrical outlet in the parsonage.  It needed to be moved to accomodate some new cabinets.  It wasn't as easy as one might think.  The tool selection here is not the greatest.  But we made the best of it and finally got it together (we hope).

After working on the wiring, we had our dinner time.  CRAB LEGS and Steaks!  Crab legs were amazing! It was a wonderful meal.  After making a quick stop at the Wal*Mart, we had our nightly worship time.  Brenda, a West Point, MS native now living in Georgia, led a teenage boy to Christ at the Festival.  We are also giving away a 32" LCD TV and had several sign up for that.  In doing so, we asked them if they wanted more information about Frontier Baptist Church.  We had 20 requests for information and five of those had specific prayer requests. People, God is moving!  Pray for His power to continue to break through the darkness here.

Well, the fog and cold have finally arrived here in Kodiak.  Tomorrow will be a little less pleasant (Temps went from 68 to 48 in about 2 hours). But we are eagerly awaiting more blessings from our Lord.  Grace and Peace....until tomorrow.

Photos Retry

Kodiak Day 1

     Bro. Don and I had a good morning in Anchorage.  We had about 8 hours of down time before we flew out to Kodiak.  So with that in mind, we of course slept in and enjoyed the morning, but of course my body still woke up at 6 am Central Time (3 AM HERE!!!).  Nonetheless a good restful night sleep.  After a quick shower, we headed over to the Country Kitchen for breakfast. We both had the Alaskan Omelette.  Complete with Reindeer Sausage!  Quite tasty I must say, but rough on the Infamous Skelton Colon!

     After a little sightseeing, we made our way back to the airport for our last leg of the trip to Kodiak.  Again, thank the Lord for a beautiful and flawless flight.  We were greeted by David George from the Chugach Assocation.  David, you will remember, spoke in 2009 at our Missions Conference. 

     David, Don and I spent the next two hours working on the "booth" for the Crab Festival.  I use the term booth very loosely.  It is actually a dog kennel.  10X10X6 black metal dog kennel.  We had to rig up some legs to make it taller for people to actually get inside it for the coffee and hot chocolate.  So we headed down to the local hardware store and picked up some metal conduit and cut it into two foot sections and added them to the bottom of the fence/kennel to make it taller.  It is working great, but the real test is tomorrow. 

    After the kennel addition, we headed over to Frontier Baptist to eat dinner and meet some of the team members.  We have people from Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina and here in Kodiak.  After dinner, we had our Wednesday evening service here at Frontier.  Three of the Florida group are actually Methodists and they led our praise time.  It was phenomenal.  A guitar, trumpet, and a great vocalist.  Truly moving worship.  Don followed with a sermon about attitude which was very pointed and timely for our focus during this time of service. After the service, we all loaded up and went back to visit Ft. Abercrombie.  All in all a great time.
    So tomorrow starts the fun....and hopefully the weather will hold out.  Until tomorrow here's a few pics of our trip today......

The Eagle Has Landed!

       After a long and completely draining day of flying, Don and I have arrived in Anchorage.  Both flights went absolutely flawless and we are safely tucked away in our hotel here in downtown Anchorage.  Tomorrow afternoon, we will pick up on our second leg of the journey and head South to Kodiak. 
       Brenda and her team of students and workers are on their way to Homer to start the dreaded Ferry of Doom ride to Kodiak.  Don and I both agreed we would rather not have the experience of the Ferry of Doom ever EVER again.  So we will allow them the "joy" of that ride while we rest in comfort.  Anyway, we will let you know what we face tomorrow in Kodiak. 
       Pray that God will use us in a mighty way.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will be at work in us and in Kodiak.  We are eager to see Him move.  Until then....

Awards Day

Gogurt outdid himself this year.  He received four awards at the 3rd grade Awards Day!  He received Highest Gain in Reading, Highest Gain in Math, Highest Average in Reading, and All A Honor Roll.  We could not be prouder of you, son! 

In Just A Few Days....

Brad will be leaving on his return trip to Alaska.  I'm sure you are not surprised that a common prayer in our house lately has been "Please keep Daddy safe." 

So in light of that prayer, I would like to share the following excerpt from the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. 

****
Risk Takers


"Haven't we all prayed the following prayer?  Lord, we pray for safety as we travel.  We ask that no one gets hurt on this trip.  Please keep everyone safe until we return, and bring us back safely.  In Jesus' name we pray, amen."  The exact wording may vary a bit, but that is the standard prayer we recite before leaving on mission trips, retreats, vacations, and business trips. 


We are consumed by safety.  Obsessed with it, actually.  Now, I'm not saying it is wrong to pray for God's protection, but I am questioning how we've made safety our highest priority.  We've elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God's best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.


Would you be willing to pray this prayer?  God, bring me closer to You during this trip, whatever it takes...."

****

I'm In The Dark - Literally

Last night we had quite a surprise when arriving home from church.  We went into our bedroom, flipped on the lightswitch, and began hearing this popping noise.  It sounded just like someone outside the house bouncing a basketball on and off the wall (I know that noise because I've heard it).  It only took a millisecond for us to direct our attention to the ceiling.  I then had this thought, "Is someone in our attic banging on our ceiling?"  Another millisecond revealed our light fixture CATCHING ON FIRE!

Around the top of our light fixture it was popping, sizzling, and glowing red.  It caught us all off guard and for a couple of seconds, we all just stood there staring at it.  When sparks began flying out of the light fixture and around our heads, the thought of my house catching on fire crossed my mind, and I froze.  Thankfully, my husband had the clarity of mind to go throw the breakers.  He got all of our electricity off, and this made Poptart very nervous.  I began assuring her everything was okay - no big deal - all the while looking at Brad for some reassurance myself.  Was there a major electrical problem in our house or was this just a fluke light fixture burn-out?

After exhausting all of his electrical know-how, Brad determined it was just the wires connected to the light fixture.  One had totally burned in half.  He went into the attic to make sure there was no fire up there.  No fire, but there was smoke right above the light fixture. 

We disconnected the light fixture and all the wires so now I am sitting in the dark.  Literally.  And unfortunately it is a dark, gloomy day outside.  So as I am doing my typing today, it will be a bit difficult.  I see a headache in my future.  However, I am very thankful it was no more serious than it was.....

Now I'm trying to decide, since we have a little remodeling to do,  would I like a ceiling fan in my room?

Our Little Graduate

Kindergarten Here I Come!!!!

The Last Week of Preschool!

It's been exactly a week since I've posted last.  To say this past week was busy would be an understatement.  Brad had somewhere to go every night, and I was slightly overwhelmed with the amount of typing I had.   Add a busy week at preschool to the mix and I was more than slightly feeling overwhelmed.  Add a stressed-out husband to the mix and well, I was ready to throw up my hands. 

But after a great, restful weekend for both me and Brad, I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle this last week of preschool!

Yes, it's the last week.!  Hooray!  Actually, tomorrow will be the last day in our classroom.  Wednesday we are headed to the park for our end-of-the-year party and then Thursday is our graduation.  We've been practicing the singing portion for a while but last week we took the kids into the sanctuary and practiced marching in, one by one, slowly, up the aisle. 

I'm telling ya, the first few notes of  that graduation song gets to me every time, but when I saw Poptart walking down that aisle, I almost shed a tear.  Almost.  I don't know if I'll cry Thursday or not.  I will have to hold it together somewhat since I have to speak in front of the entire crowd about what a great year it's been and how much I've enjoyed teaching their child.  Then I call each child in my class to the front to get their "diploma."  It's really sweet, but I do get nervous about speaking in front of a crowd. 

This year has gone by fast.  I know I always say that, but this year I really, really mean it.  It's just unreal that it is over and Poptart will not be with me at preschool next year.  Poptart overheard a conversation at school about doing something new next year, a bicycle parade, and she was getting all excited about it.  I had to break her the news, "Honey, you won't be here next year!"  But I quickly assured her that she would be doing even better stuff in Kindergarten. 

Hopefully it will not be a week before I post again.  I plan on posting pictures from the graduation.  I can't wait for you to see Poptart in her cap & gown! 

Dance Recital ---SUCCESS!!!

First was ballet, music "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. 

Second was tap, music "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio. 

Last was a very proud (and relieved) family.  You did great Poptart!  We're so proud of you!