Ice Fishing in Nebraska

While home we were extremely blessed by our families and friends!  Stephen even got a little ice fishing in!  

Nebraska and Alaska

I do not believe the Lord ever called Stephen and me out of Nebraska, when He called us to Alaska.  It has been a couple of weeks being back in Kodiak and I find myself often thinking about being at home over Christmas and how wonderful it was there and I'm sure life would be great for us if we lived there.  However there was a constant reminder of the work here at home and the purpose the Lord is playing out through our faithfulness to Him.  I'm learning daily how blessed we are as followers of Jesus.  He wants so badly to take us beyond what our human minds can fathom past our little corner of understanding and work miraculously in our lives.  

Stephen and me are called to follow after Christ.  He led us home at Christmas and it's for that reason the time was so sweet.  We are also very aware that life in Christ is not always humanly pleasing.  The tears shared between us and our family were some of the most difficult tears we've ever had.  There was a pain that left us overcome with sadness, but in that sadness the Lord was there.  He's peace transcends all our understanding and we grew in our relationship with Christ, not this world.  

So with this new year has

 come new work, new understandings and a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It is my prayer that He guides our every move, thought, and decision, whatever it may be.  

Prayer Request

As of course many of you know that Kodiak is a small tight knit community. Well, just yesterday a small plane went down here in Kodiak with a small carrier called Servant Air. Well the owner of the company is a member of our church and another one of the pilots is as well. Anyway, please remember the families of the people who died as well as those of us here in Kodiak. Church was extremely somber and difficult.
Here's a link with the story. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320509,00.html

Home for the Holidays

Home for the Holidays.  I think that half of the joy of going home is anticipating it.  Stephen and I have been looking forward to Christmas in Nebraska since January 1, 2007.  There is just something unexplainable about being home.  We arrived in Omaha and were greeted by our beautiful niece and nephew Makenna and Liam.  It was just how I dreamt it would be (it really was).  Makenna came running up to me and jumped into my arms and didn't let go.  Oh, there's not a much better feeling than that.  Stephen and I loved every second of our time with our families.  We headed out to my parents farm first.  It felt perfect with the pine tree from the pasture and dogs at my feet.  F

or the Wellensiek big Christmas we had 6 dogs and I think 24 people.  It was the first time it felt like I was out at Grandpa and Grandma Wellensieks farm since they moved.

  

It was so wonderful to have some time with my sister too.  It's crazy to think about just how different things are now and how they will continue to change throughout the years.  We use to spend every day all day long together during Christmas break, it makes since looking back now that the Lord was giving us that time because he knew we'd both be called in different directions later.   I also had some great time with my cousin Julie.  Below is one of my new favorite pictures.  The moon was so bright that night we could see our shadows!  

 

Stephen and I did a lot of driving while at home and we really enjoyed the time on the road taking in the landscape. 

 Nebraska is really one of the most incredible places in the world.  

We made it back in time for the Christmas Eve service in Fremont.  I sang, Stephen played the trumpet and we were blessed to have Pastor John Dennert (he performed our wedding ceremony) there to give the Christmas devotion.  Christmas day the entire Foreman clan got together including our other amazing nephew and niece Lucas and Alexis.  It's so fun watching Lucas run around the house.  It really reminds me a lot of Stephen.  We had great food and priceless fellowship together.  Well there's much more that happened and many more pictures to share, but the jet lag is catching up to me and I need to rest my eyes!  

Wow, so much has happened throughout this wonderful Christmas season.  I will not even attempt to

 recollect all that happened throughout the past month, but I will try and hit on some of the highlights.  The first of them being the Mission's Currier & Ives "Old Fashion Christmas Celebration".  The start of January marks my three year anniversary at KBM but Christmas 2007 was my first Currier & Ives.  Oh, it was a cold weekend, but the Lord worked through each person involved to bring the community together to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  There was a bonfire, hay rack rides with caroling, festooned horses that gave rides around a pasture lit with luminaries, a marionette performance, other old fashion Christmas dramatizations, 1,500 Christmas cookies, and all this culminated with the Shepherds (Stephen was the lead shepherd) who announced the good news to all the people of the birth of the Savior of the World (he did an amazing job).  It was unlike anything I had ever experienced at Christmas to watch the people head out to the barn and gaze upon this child.  We had a young couple with their own month old baby play the part.  The Spirit of the Lord was so present as I watch this month and father care for their child.  It was such meager conditions for our Redeemer, but it was perfect.  

While Stephen and I were extremely tired heading home that night, we were filled with such joy.  We are blessed to live and work in a place like the Mission.  We also were anticipating our upcoming trip home the next evening.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Well Stephen is a quarter of a century now! What an accomplishment. We had a great time celebrating his birthday yesterday. I thought this picture was great and wanted to share it with you all. I made my first ever German Chocolate cake completely from scratch!! I was extremely excited and as you can see so was Stephen . . . and Roscoe!!

What's Going on with Us Up North

I have been putting of writting anything in our blog, mostly because so much has happened and I don't know where to start. So I will attempt to catch everyone up on what the Lord has been doing in Stephen and my life in the past month.

Stephen made his last trip of the semester to Fairbanks and he scared me half to death! Let me explain. Stephen and I have talked every day except once since meeting again in Kodiak. Even if it's a two minute, I'm doing great talk to you tomorrow, we talk. Well, he left for Fairbanks on a Friday night, and Saturday evening I was expecting a call, but it never came. I finally went to bed expecting him to call, but he never did. Sunday morning I awoke, with no phone call, so I was extremely worried, thinking my husband was frozen somewhere in Fairbanks. Well right as I was getting ready to go to church the phone rings, and it was Stephen (Praise the Lord!). He had laid down to take a nap at 4PM and slept straight through the night, and didn't wake up until 9AM. WOW!

Stephen has been staying extremely busy with school and work. It amazes me how he can juggle these two things so well, and still have time for Roscoe and me. He's always coming up with fun new ways to teach these kids and it is impossible to leave the house without at least five different children saying "Oh, there's Mr. Foreman! He's my counselor" and when the kids don't know him, they seem to know me. We love what we do and the children, but are more and more thankful for our little home to come home to.

I have been staying busy with our After School Programs at the Mission. If anyone is looking for a ministry opportunity please let me know. We are looking to hire at least one more preschool teacher/After School teacher. It is such an amazing opportunity!! Anyway, we had some guys come up from Baltimore, Maryland to volunteer with us and the one younger guy taught some of our kids how to play lacrosse (I'm terrible at it). The kids had a great time, and I looked pretty silly the entire time.

We had our first big snow storm of the year last week and the temperature has stayed pretty chilly! We're hopefully to be ice skating on the lakes and ponds soon! Stephen and I are really starting to enjoy Kodiak. Last year at this time we were very hope sick, and while we desperately miss our families, Kodiak has become our home. Last week I got to head out to Ouzinkie for the day. It was great to see the Mission there and talk with some of the people. Stephen then flew out to Karluk on Tuesday. It's another village on the other side of the island. He rode in a tiny plane with a few others to do some work at the small school of 12 children. He had a great time, but before the plane could pick him up that night, weather set in and he had to spend the night. I love it when the Lord's plans are clearly displayed and we can see His hand at work. We are so blessed to have a God that is so invested in all our lives. He returned Wednesday afternoon and went directly to school.

We are both extremely excited for our Thanksgiving break! The kids only have one day of school this week and then Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday. Stephen has to be there, but should be able to come home on time!! We decided to do a couple of house painting projects. We're very excited! Oh, and we got our turkey this weekend!!

I put a lot of pictures on this blog, so I'd better explain them just a little bit.

1. Stephen took the first picture on his way back from Karluk on Wednesday morning.

2. On the flight back he got to sit in the front with the pilot. He's said he was ready to land the plane if anything happened to the pilot!

3. This beautiful shot was from my trip out to Ouzinkie on Monday, just off Spruce Island.

4. This was the plane Stephen road out to Karluk on.

5. The play ground in Karluk.