Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Another full day on the Alaskan home front for the Robertson family! We finished up the laundry (quite a bit can pile up in a week of not doing any), visited a few friends, and invited a friend for supper tomorrow night. Roger worked on splitting the wood pile and is almost done with that project.

The temperature was nice today averaging about 17 degrees. J It started snowing again about 2:30pm., and it is still snowing now at about 6:30pm. The snow is so beautiful and is really starting to accumulate! We’ve probably gained about 24” during our time here in Manley, and it’s beautiful!

Travis had a rough day today. First he ran into the corner of the countertop with his head, then he tripped on a rug, an icicle fell down on him, and he gave his hand a nasty burn on the wood stove! We made it almost seven weeks without any burn incidents on the stove, but Travis managed to give himself one today. The skin is already blistered, and we’re going to have to watch it closely. When we went to the hot springs today, we snipped the leaf off of an aloe vera plant and that seems to have given his hand a little relief.

Wyatt told me today that he wanted to go see his “new” house. When I asked what he was talking about, he replied, “That house in Wisconsin that we haven’t been too in a LONG time!”  I had to laugh! J Our children bring us such delight at times.

We are eating through all our remaining food and trying not to waste anything or leave too much behind. We are eating lots of rice and beans, and we have lots of cookie mixes J. We won’t starve by any means, but we are all looking forward to variety in a few days (i.e. fruit and vegetables! J).

Art and Damaris are heading into Fairbanks for a few days to do some visiting and to bring back an airplane to Manley if the weather holds. The Robertson boys are very excited to have Bernt, the dog, visiting with us again. The dog is basking in all the attention, but I think he sometimes looks to go outside as an escape…I can relate to how he feels! J

As we prepare to leave Manley, we can’t help but reflect on all of God’s blessings to us.

First, not many people have the opportunity to take a short term mission trip for 10 weeks, and we do not take that for granted. We are incredibly thankful for each of you that have prayed for us, sent us mail, supported us monetarily, read the blog posts, and have stood with us in any way that you could. We are appreciative!

Secondly, it has been amazing to see how God has used past experiences in our lives to better prepare us for this trip. Roger has the benefit of years of missionary living behind him, a Dad that gave him a love for aviation, and Roger has an understanding of living in a small community. For me, the blessings of learning to serve in a small church, parents who prayed and supported my high school and college missions trips, as well as the Pfaffenroths in Canada, who allowed me to come and serve in Uranium City, Saskatchewan for several summers.

 All these experiences better prepared both Roger and I for the weeks spent here in Manley. We don’t know what the future holds, but we will continue to walk by faith. II Corinthians 5:7 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”