Currier & Ives Part 2

Stephen was a true star stealing the show as George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. He and little Julianna (ZuZu) were so much fun to watch and Julianna has great potential as a future actress! We chose the last scene from the movie and everyone from the Mission did an amazing job showing off their skills.
The Christmas Nativity was breathe taking and the weather was perfect for everyone to snuggle in close for a good homily. The evening concluded with a great Christmas dance!

Currier & Ives

Merry Christmas!
Sunday was the Mission's big Currier & Ives Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration. Everything was beautiful and incredible! The Lord continues to bless us so much with each passing year. This year we had so many wonderful friends there and so many heard the Christmas story. If you're interested we put a small clip on You Tube. Just write Kodiak Baptist Mission Christmas! Enjoy.

Bryant's Going Away/Crazy Sweater/White Elephant Party

So the picture explains everything much better than I ever could.  We got together with some of our closest friends, all wore bad sweaters and brought terrible gifts to share.  We sang Christmas music, the girls beat the guys at charades and we laughed a lot!  Oh, what fun!  

Christmas Decorating

I have always loved decorating for Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving is my favorite day to do this.  The knew windows are amazing and really add to the Christmas feeling, especially with the snow.  Gus was very relaxed and Stephen constructed the mirror in the second picture, well not the mirror but the frame around it.  

Happy Birthday Stephen!

Stephen never seems to want much for his birthday, except German Chocolate cake.  So this was my second attempt, and at least it tastes really good.  Unfortunately Stephen woke up at about 3AM on his birthday sick.  He felt terrible for most of the day, but the Husker win did make him pretty happy.  The picture of Stephen isn't a good one, but it really captures just how he felt.  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving!  Stephen and I had a wonderful day relaxing and enjoying the fellowship of our friends here at the Mission.  There were 20 of us that gathered together today and wow, was there lots of food!  I don't think my body was quite ready for it all, but Stephen's stomach grew quite a bit today.  

Spinning

This is one of my favorite little girls in our after school programs. Oh, she's just so precious and I love watching her. So there's not much to say about the clip except she really wasn't into the game we were playing.

Leaving Running Behind

It's amazes me how quickly life can change. As many of you know I am an avid runner. I love everything about heading out for 10 mile run, pushing myself as hard as I can up a big hill or exploring a new area. It's my time to relax, to think. I've never listened to music, my mind is loud enough on its own it's about mile 4 that I get to the core of an issue and my 9 I've worked it out. Rounding the turn to come home is so welcoming and there's something satisfying about not being out of breath. So as I laid in the recovering room coming out my my groggy state I got the attention of one of the amazing nurses (nurses are so wonderful!) and asked what they found out. Not long after the doctor's nurse was explaining the severity of the state of my knee. She said alot, but what I remember is the "you're not going to be a runner anymore". That was it, in a moment something that I have depended on as a constant was snatched away, thank the Lord for the grogginess state and pain medicine it softened the fall. I laid in the hospital bed for a while, Stephen was flying in from Kodiak on the 11 o'clock flight and wouldn't be there for another couple hours. The time went by rather quickly, calling my sister helped alot. She's such a wonderful human being, and I love her dearly.

So when Stephen walked through the door it was like Superman rescuing Louis Lane, he is my hero and I love everything about him (even those toes). I've begun to realize more and more that running isn't anything compared to the wonderful life the Lord has given to us. When I think of my most favorite memories running isn't included and while it's something that has given me many great memories there are plenty of other things that will do that. I've always loved challenges and I look forward to writing a year from now how much fun swimming and biking has become. But in between then and now are so many new memories to be made. I get a lot of peace knowing that this didn't surprise my Heavenly Father, and that he has been patiently waiting for me to be ready for this day and all it includes. While I'm not thrilled about having to had surgery and all it included, I'm so thankful for what it did for me on the inside.

So before I go I have to elaborate just a bit on the amaziness of my husband! I don't handle medications very well and the one I was on made me a bit crazy for sure. Stephen did everything literally, I couldn't really think straight and he was there and while he'll tell you he did a terrible job, he saved my life. The Lord really knows what he's doing when He puts two people together.

So for the pictures, the first one is the view from our hotel room at the Hilton. Stephen had a counselors conference right after my surgery so we didn't have to pay for the hotel room or his plane tickets up to Anchorage. The date of my surgery was one of the only openings they had and it worked perfectly with Stephen's schedule. Praise the Lord!
The second picture is my the day after my surgery. It looks like I was ready to climb a mountain, believe me that was the furthest thing from my mind. But it was amazing that I haven't needed crutches at all! But things really went down hill after that picture for about 3 days.
The last one is a picture of my knee about day 3 after the surgery. It was a grade 3 meniscus surgery of course the worst possible besides taking the whole thing completely out. Three little holes was all that was need to do a lot of work! It did feel like that pulled things around quite a bit though.

Bears all Over!

We have had an amazing week of fall weather.  The sun has been out and while it's pretty chilly outside it is beautiful!  Things seemed to go back to some what normal this last week and it's such a wonderful feeling knowing we are heading into wint

er and not spring.  It is completely dark by 8:30 and we are loosing more and more by the day. 

Bears have been the main topic of discussion in our community.  The lack of food have pushed many bears into town.  On Friday we had to move all the children inside.  There were four bears running through our woods.  The troopers shot one, but were still after the other three about the time school was dismissing.  None of the kids could walk home.  It made for a confusing 2o minutes, but we didn't see anything.  

Well today (Sunday) Stephen and I decided to drive out to the flats and sure enough there was a little Kodiak bear hanging out down at the river.  Not l

ong after we were there another one showed up.  While these are by no means the largest bears around they were so much fun to watch.  There are so many people in Kodiak that have lived here many many years and never seen a bear.  This year, it's been hard not to see one.  

Oh, today we also decided to make salsa.  We got some great veggies and our friend Ryan is great at salsa making.  So we all got together and canned some extremely good salsa!  

A Busy Week and a Beautiful Saturday

Even though it's so late in the year I think that this past week was one of the longest Stephen and I can remember.  Every night felt like it should have been Friday night, but of course it wasn't.  On Wednesday night I started a class for my Administrative requirements for the State of Alaska Licensing for our facility.  It's a 500 level class in Education.  While I'm not excited about having to write little papers and all that goes along with a class I'm very thankful I was able to get into the class.  On Thursday my after school programs that take place in the elementary schools started as well as our State of Alaska licensing person came to the Mission.  It was a very full day and a little stressful, but it was such an incredible blessing to sit down on Thursday night and know the Lord had taken care of everything!  

Also this week two of Stephen and my good friends were getting ready for their wedding, which happened today (Saturday).  It was a beautiful day (alittle windy, but sunny) and it was a wonderful wedding.  I had to make one the salads, so I made my favorite Oriental Salad (thanks mom for the recipe in the box).  Praise the Lord everyone loved it and ate it all up!  

A Nice Fall Hike

Last weekend we decided to go for a hike up to Heitman Lake.  We have had beautiful fall weather and last Saturday was no exception.  Both Stephen and I have had a few crazy weeks and being able to get out just with our family was so refreshing!  

Fall Fishing Trips

One of our most favorite things to do in the fall in Kodiak is go Silver fishing!  This was a great fishing night and I had to post both pictures because I was so extremely excited about our catches!  It's always a little rush when a silver grabs onto your line and it's an even better feeling when you actually land the fish!  But these beautiful fish would be nothing if I didn't have a husband that has made cleaning a fish an art!  So I hope you like the little video of him cleaning these fish.  

A New Window!

Every time Stephen and I think that things are getting back to normal (whatever that is), our Lord seems think it's about time for another crazy Foreman adventure.  Well it all started with new windows!  We of course were extremely excited for these windows.  We have lived two years in a tiny basement apartment with two windows, one of which was kinda fogged over.  So they had to cut out the wall in our living room/kitchen/dinning room/everything except the bedroom and office.  So Stephen and I came home to quite the suprise (as you can see in the pictures).  Well we only have two rooms so we had to go outside to get to our bathroom and kitchen.  Well Stephen called me from work after the first night of our crazy windowless night.  He explained that he had gotten up to get in the shower and had undressed (all the way) and was going to just run real quick to the shower.  Well Roscoe our little dog ran outside the same time Stephen did and preceded to bark at a person walking down on the side walk about 30 feet from the house.  The person of course looked up just in time to see a great show from my husband as he ran for the bathroom.  So they either got a big show or a full moon.  

We do now have great windowss, but just a couple of days after the window our hot water heater kinda exploded and we had a very wet home.  Just two days after that Lucien the man that lives on the upper floor accidently ran his truck through the brand new fence Stephen had slaved over (we're in mid repair of that).  Then the next day our water pump that keeps the large amount of rain fall from coming into our basement broke and our finally dry floor became wet again.  It was CRAZY!  

But we're finally starting to get things under control and back on track.  Praise the Lord for a home to have problems with.  The first picture is the great view with the windows in.  

A Wedding to Remember

BIG FISH!

Trying to Catch Back Up

Well it's finally the end of summer.  School has started in Kodiak and Stephen and I are doing something that we've done before.  I think this is the first season, since we've been married that that has ever happened.  We both have decided that summer of 2008 was our most difficult yet.  We only spent two weeks together at home the entire summer.  The first half of the summer Stephen was in Fairbanks working on his masters.  He lived mostly on hamburger patties and protein bars with peanut butter on them.  He did enjoy the warm weather and staying at Annie Jone's home.  It's a beautiful cabin on the outside of town.  

I entered my first summer as the summer camp director.  I have to admit I've never done anything quite so intense in my entire life.  We had a huge group of great summer staffers and a load of crazy and amazing children.  Each day was filled with new challenges and hurdles to clear, but as I lay in bed each night it was evident that Christ strength was what got me through.  While I am unsure how good I really did, I know that children heard, learned and developed a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Many had heard of Jesus, but few understood the amazing opportunity they have to have Jesus in their every day all the time life.  Many didn't understand how much our Savior loves them.  But they began to learn through our staff as they showed Christ love in everything they did.  

Stephen and I both spent a week in Ouzinkie together and then each another week with a different group of staff.  It was encouraging to see our relationships develop even more with the children and also the elders of the community.  

Stephen traveled to Southern California for a week as well to take part in a training for the school counselors.  He had a good time with some of his fellow staff and brought me home so very good food!  It was on this trip that I really realized he knows just the right thing to get me (two years ago that would never have happened).  

In the middle of the summer I and Cindy Jones (I would have died without Cindy) took all 25 of our summer staff on a 10 day mainland trip.  I'm not sure that previous sentence explains the craziness of this task!  I realized in the first 5 minutes that this was going to be more than just a normal Foreman Jones adventure.  We traveled by van across the beautiful state and spent a few days at Kennicott.  Cindy, Julie (my cousin) and I climbed the Bonaza Mine Trail, an 8 or 9 mile 3,800 feet high climb.  It was incredible and is one of the best things that happened in the entire summer.  

Because of our busy schedules Stephen and I only made it out on one fishing trip.  But it was GREAT!  I brought two halibut up on one reel and Stephen caught . . . a 110 lbs halibut (all of his muscles were showing for this reel up).  Of course we can't do things the easy way.  We had forgotten to bring a gaff to bring the fish on board, so two hammers did the trick.  Oh, it was so stressful, but so much fun at the same time!  

Our Family

So the weather was beautiful today so we all headed out to the Three Sisters (mountains in Kodiak).  Anyway, we tried out Gus and Roscoes' new packs.  It was especially great for Stephen and me because we didn't have to carry a thing!  There was only one real moment of fear that quickly turned into laughter.  Anyway, Gus started to chase a rock down the mountain and kind of ran off a little cliff thing and started to roll end over end.  He of course is an extremely tough dog and got right back up, only to then get stuck in a tree.  Roscoe is by far the smarter of the two.  That little dog might as well be a mountain goat.  He is incredible going up and down these mountains.  Needless to say I'm very proud of how my little Roscoe is shaping up to be.  

Alright, well life continues to be crazy and stressful, but having Stephen how is an incredible blessing.  

Summer 2008 Staff

Cold Feet in Fairbanks

Midnight Sun Run Update!

Be praying for Kelli and the KBM staff as they continue "roughnecking it" for a week on the mainland of Alaska. Kelli doesn't know this yet but I just checked the results of the Fairbanks 10K that she ran. There were 427 ladies in the 18-29 division alone! Despite all that competition Kelli enjoyed a steady pace that landed her in 14th place! Here time was 46:41.9, what an amazing lady! She can run and still cook a mean dish of Salmon Chowder! You will be happy to know, however, that Kelli will soon be enjoying the luxury of an Olyptical for use on bad winter days (December 1 - May 1, ha-ha). Hopefully this will make life easier on those all important knees. I continue on for two more weeks of classwork in Fairbanks. I am happy to find that this is the only summer I need to be physically present in class, praise the Lord!

Midnight Summer Sun Run

So I did it!  This last weekend Stephen surprised me with a trip to visit him in Fairbanks.  At first I was a bit reluctant because I was so busy at work, but it ended up being an amazing blessing!  The Lord has truly blessed me with an incredible husband!  Anyway, Stephen told me that I should run in the midnight summer sun race.  I of course said NO WAY!  But little competitive Kelli, just had to do it!  

What an amazing experience.  There were over 3,500 people in the race and it began at 10pm.  Of course it was the solstice so darkness was not a concern!  I had such a wonderful time.  It was GREAT! 

Going Home!

So you may be wondering how do you transport that many kids to and from a little island.  Well here ya go.  

wyldlife 2008!

Well it happened!  wyldlife 2008!  After three weeks of rain the sun came out and 120 7th & 8th graders along with a few crazy adults headed over to Camp Woody.  It was nonstop action and actually fun.  Stephen and I along with some great people took care of the skits for the weekend.  Our theme was off Lost (Stephen and my favorite show, besides the Office).  Anyway we made the kids do all sorts of crazy things.  A few highlights were watching a kid eat an entire can of nacho cheese.  Making a human fire and drenching the kids with water, making them such juice with only the use of their mouths out of lemons and my favorite, Amy (the brains behind the crazy challenges) made "kitty litter".  Oh, it looked so real and disgusting  anyway then we made the kids eat it.  It was actually cake and tootsie rolls but wow it look bad!