Saturday, December 29, 2012

“Four weeks in Manley”

Today marks the fourth week that we’ve been in Manley. I feel truly blessed to have been able to visit this small community and get to know the people here. As usual, I’ve posted a few thoughts from what we’ve been learning and our experiences here in Manley, AK.

-         It might be time to give our children showers, when our three year old tells you that he needs to take a “shower with soap”! J

-         Our children are becoming increasingly familiar with life here as demonstrated by Chandler earlier this week. He got up about 6:00am. and made a HUGE disturbance by “stoking the fire”. He had on Roger’s wood gloves, and he was being very careful but extremely loud! Not exactly the alarm clock I would have preferred!

-         People are people regardless of where they live. Some are pleasant and some are more challenging. Learning to love people as Jesus loved them is a daily challenge and a learning experience.

 

Since the washateria was closed earlier this week, we haven’t been able to do laundry all week. Needless to say, it’s a necessity today! Plus, everyone needs a shower with soap. The Hot springs is a nice bath, but no soap is allowed in the springs. You can lather up with soap outside the bath and then pour water over yourself with a pitcher. That’s what we usually do, but we don’t always wash the kids…and now they need it! J

Today will probably be a little bit like Christmas for our family! J Art and Damaris took a trip into Fairbanks, and they offered to pick up anything we might need. We gave them a list of a few extra things that we would enjoy but aren’t a necessity. I’m looking forward to fresh fruit, vegetables, and a few other foods that we haven’t had in a while! J We’ve been watching their dog, Bernt, while they’ve been gone as well. The boys have enjoyed him immensely and they’ll be sad to see him go home (but Bernt is probably looking forward to going home J).

This week was a busy week with Christmas, wood cutting, people visiting at our house, having dinner at someone else’s house, and having the girls from church over. Roger is preaching tomorrow at church, so I’m praying for him to have wisdom and clarity of thought. As always, we appreciate your continued prayers; and of course, the mail you send! J

Sarah