It's long and lengthy! A summary of four days!

Arrival in Manley…December 1

Update: Since it took about 15 minutes for the single picture to upload, I will upload a picture blog when we go out to Fairbanks!

Our little home sweet home!

After a three hour drive, (we made good time) we arrived in Manley Hot Springs on December 1, 2012. It was about 2:45 pm. and we met up with Damaris (the lady I’ve been e-mailing) at the town hall. The community was having a Christmas Craft Sale, so we were able to meet several other people in the community as well. We then went to our cabin, and had our first glimpse of our new home. Damaris and some of the other ladies in the church did a lot of work to get it ready for our arrival, so it was clean and tidy, but very chilly! Roger started a fire right away, as it was about 24 degrees. We started hauling in our stuff, and are still amazed that we managed to fit all that stuff in the truck!

The boys had a hard time grasping the fact that the potty was outside, so that was an adjustment. The wood stove warmed up quickly and within 10 minutes of being in the cabin, three of the four boys had burnt a hole in their coat! But we adjusted and the cabin warmed up, although when we went to bed the memory foam on our mattress was still a little frozen! But after several days of the fire going non-stop, the whole cabin is feeling warm and snug. It was cold the first few days we were here, Sunday was -25, but today, Monday, is only -10. I’m learning to take advantage of the daylight hours and spend time outside and plan school and meals around the daylight hours.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

It’s cold here this morning, about -25, but we are excited about worshipping with believers here in Manley Hot Springs. Roger kept the fires going through the night, so the cabin is starting to feel warmer. I made cookies today for the church dinner, but I could not find a cookie sheet anywhere! So, I ended up taking apart Sara Scherzer’s marker boards that she had made for the kids. She had covered some cookie sheets with contact paper so the boys could write on them on the trip up here. I took the contact paper off so that I could use them to bake the cookies…the Lord knew that those cookies sheets would come in handy! I also made a pasta dish for the church dinner, but since I couldn’t find the crockpot either, I put it in a saucepan with a lid.

We left for church about 9:30am. We put two of the boys in the toboggan sled along with the pasta dish and Bibles. Since the cabin is up a little hill, the sled made good time going downhill, which wasn’t a problem until…one of the other boys tugged on the sled spilling the pasta into the snow! UGG!! I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t have time to make anything else and the snow was clean, so I just picked the pasta up off the snow and put it back into the pot! The snow was clean, and since it’s just water, I figured it wouldn’t hurt. Sure enough, it tasted fine and I didn’t get any complaints. Brother Earl had called to say that he wasn’t feeling good and wouldn’t be able to make it. There were five children for Sunday School, four of them being ours. The Sunday attendance was down due to it being so cold…even plugged in vehicles can be hard to start and several families were sick. But we had good services with those that were there and the church dinner was compiled of all kinds of delicious food, like caribou steak, salmon dishes, ham, mashed potatoes, and several desserts…yummy!

After church, it was about 2pm. so there was still some daylight left. We went back home, and started up the truck. We took a tour of the town, and went out to the dump, collected 30 gallons of water from the well, peeked in on the washateria and checked out the Manley Hot springs. A lady was there cleaning the hot tubs, and taking care of the plants, so we were able to have a chance to talk to someone and made an appointment for our first experience at the Hot Springs. It cost five dollars a person to use the hot springs for an hour, but the kids are free. So it’s actually cheaper to use the hot springs for our family than to shower at the washateria. After our tour of Manley Hot Springs, we went down to the end of the road to see the Tanana River. It was well frozen, of course, but still beautiful. We came back home and spent the rest of the evening making supper, sipping tea, working on school work, and other such pursuits.

Monday, December 03, 2012

It’s not quite as cold here this morning, only about -10 degrees. The sun came up about 9:45, and we heard the mail plane come in about 9:50 Am., so the boys were delighted to see that. The mail plane comes in on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays between 9-10am, weather and light permitting.

After I got the bread started, and breakfast was over, we started in on school. We did a few subjects, and then took a break about 10:30 to go to the post office and take a walk around town. We met the postmaster, Dana, who already knew who we were and chatted for a few minutes. Then we went to Damaris and Art’s home, another couple in the church here. We talked for a bit, and the kids played with some toys. Then we headed back home to check on the bread and eat lunch. Before lunch, another neighbor stopped by and brought over a crockpot (yay!), and home-grown potatoes, carrots, squash, and zucchini as well as some salmon. We are looking forward to eating up those yummy items! We invited their family for supper sometime later in the week after her husband is done working on the runway project here in town, so probably later this week or next week.

I finished the bread, a complete flop, by the way! For some reason, the whole wheat bread didn’t rise as well as it should have. Oh well, we ate it anyways! Besides, I’ll just try again tomorrow! We had lentils and wild rice for lunch, and then laid the little two down for naps while Garett and Chandler headed back outside to play.

I’m heading into town to the school at 4pm. Some of the ladies in church are working on a hand bell piece for the Christmas program and the school is lending us the hand bells.

We do have several praises and a few prayers requests.

Praise: the people have been very friendly and open to having us here.

Praise: the weather has been a little warmer so we can spend more time outside

Praise: the cabin has electricity and stays warm

Prayer Request: It’s easier for Sarah to interact with the families here as the moms are stay-at –home moms, but pray that Roger will be able to find some ways to interact with the men in the church and the community.

Prayer Request: We need snow here for the dog musher teams and the trappers. I know that many of you are praying for us, and if you could add that to your list of things to pray for, it would be that many more people interceding for the enterprises of the families in this town.

Almost Home!

Today is an exciting day for the Robertson family! We are finally going home to Manley Hot Springs. I think we will all take a sigh of relief to be "home". I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of being at home, visiting friends, and I'm even looking forward to getting back into the school routine with Garett!

If we thought the truck was loaded down before, after grocery shopping it is really packed in tight! We all enjoyed our last long, hot, showers for a while and the conveniences of indoor plumbing. Even though I will miss those conveniences, I have such a sense of peace and relief and feel like we are coming home.

We will be fellowshipping with other believers at Manley Baptist Fellowship, and we're looking forward to being involved in our local church. Please pray that we will be a blessing and an encouragement to many.

I'm sorry that this will be a short post, but we still have a few things to finish up before leaving again. We enjoyed a day of down time yesterday. The kids were able to go swimming, played at the local McDonald's play land, ran errands, etc.  We postponed a few of the things we were planning on getting done, like the oil change and car wash (we'd have no hope of getting out of the car if we washed it in -27 degrees!) We plan on doing those and a few other non-essential errands when we come out to Fairbanks in a few weeks.

My husband feels like he is returning home. He spent many years in Canada and in the winter climate, and he has just transitioned right back into the routine of life in the North. He plugs in the vehicle (hopefully, I won't drive off with it plugged in!), he bundles up the kids, he loves the people and the pace of life up here, and in some ways I feel like I'm seeing a whole new side of the man I married (no worries...it's in a good way!) Please pray that the rest of us will transition easily as well.

For those that have been asking, I'm including our address. If you write us, we will write back! The posts on the blog will be becoming a lot more sporadic as we don't have easily accessible internet access in Manley. When I do post, I will probably post in increments of two or three at a time. Thanks again for your prayers, love and support of our family.

Our address:
Roger Robertson
General Delivery
Manley Hot Springs, Alaska
99756

Our boys...minus the one who didn't want to be in the picture!

Arrival in Fairbanks!

YAY!

Praise the Lord, after a long day of traveling yesterday across the Yukon and into Alaska, we arrived in Fairbanks...finally! Our children are tired of traveling, the truck looks like we hauled little pigs across the country with lots of crackers, smashed pretzels and unidentified sticky items, the novelty of watching dvd's has worn off, and everyone is a little on the grouchy side! We've traveled over 3,800 miles to reach Fairbanks, and we are planning on making the final 160 mile journey to Manley Hot Springs tomorrow. Exhaustion is running high in both parents, and we have four children that are just delighted to not be traveling and sleeping is about the last thing on their minds!

We've learned alot on this trip, and I've included a few things below: These statements are stated with humor, because if you don't learn to laugh, you'll spend a lot of time crying! :)


Mom and Wyatt

1) When traveling this long in a small space, you really learn to decide how much you love your family, and I learned to throw organization to the wind and just toss food and drink in the back!

2) The Alaskan highway is probably not overly crowded in the summer, and in the winter you get the benefit of having the whole road to yourself! (Of course, there is the drawback of limited places that are open, and you put gas in at about every stop you come to since you don't know how far away the next stop might be.)

3) Having boys is probably easier than having girls for the sake of peeing beside the road. Although they get alot more distracted watching to see if the pee will freeze before it hits the ground!

4) When staying in hotels at night, it's a good idea to get a room on the bottom floor as close to the end of the hall as possible. Staying on any floor other than the first floor could lead to complaints from the people below as the patter of little feet is not on their list of entertainment!

5) Be sure to spend the daylight hours looking out the window and taking pictures because time is limited!

6) I am not cut out to be an over-the-road driver, and thankful that Roger drove most of the way to get us here. (However, I think he did that because he didn't want to provide the entertainment and be the steward) Just Kidding! Roger is an amazing daddy and pitched out in many, many ways to help with the kids.

7) Plastic becomes very hard and brittle in about -20 and colder and anything dropped out of the car has the possibility of shattering. (We did manage to rescue the alligator dentist game before it crashed into the ground and became smashed alligator!)

8) It may take time, but eventually your children will learn to keep track of hats and gloves, and to put them on BEFORE opening the truck door!

9) After about day five of traveling, most of the children will stop asking every hour when you're  going to get there. About day seven, your children will assume that you're never going to get there and will start crying to go home. On days eight, nine, and ten, after 11-12 hour days of driving, they'll just start getting up in the morning and getting dressed to travel.

10) Dry shampoo (the kind in the aerosal can) will leak out and become a white, powdery substance that will get all over everything.

Our children have been amazing travelers, and other than a few minutes of complaining every day, they survived the trip with happy spirits.

 When we were driving through the Yukon, most of the animals we spotted were at least in groups of three of more. So, when we spotted a lonely buffalo, Wyatt made the comment, "That buffalo out shopping for food 'fore the others come!" (I guess he figured since the buffalo was by himself and pawing in the snow, he was "shopping" for food!)

In Calgary, Alberta, most of the major roads are called trails, like Glenmore Trail, Deerfoot Trail, etc. When driving through there, we were looking for a specific trail. Chandler told us that these roads are not trails..trails have dirt and rocks, and these are called roads. "Whose in charge of naming these roads?"

Garett is our easy going child. You could tell him that we are going to the moon, and he would be estactic. He has spent most of his time in the back seat watching a movie, looking out the window, and wearing his coat and hat. He's the first one out of the car and can't wait to spend "a long time" outside!

Travis has been great about sitting in his car seat. It did get long for him across the Yukon and into Alaska, but he has been entertained with food and drink!

Garett at the hotel in Whitehorse, Yukon

We can feel the affects of your prayers, and we are thankful for each of you. Please pray that we can use this "rest" day to get a lot done before heading to Manley. We need to get the oil changed in the truck, do laundry, grocery shop, find a gun shop, and all kinds of other odds and ends. Pray that we will be efficient with our time and that we will spend our money wisely. Love you all, Sarah

One long day...day nine!

Buffalo

                                                                 One very long day!

We left Fort Nelson, BC, this morning about 7:15am. It’s a 12 hour drive to Whitehorse, Yukon, so the day has been long. The scenery has been breathtaking and majestic. I’m thankful that driving on snowy, winding, mountain roads doesn’t bother my husband because if it was up to me to get us there, we’d probably still be at the top of the first mountain! Roger asked me if driving up and down the mountains made me nervous and I pled the fifth. However, it makes me more than a little nervous! The first several hours, I was nauseous, but was reminded of the verse in Isaiah. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” It was a reminder that nothing can happen that is not God’s perfect plan. After that I was able to relax and truly enjoy the ride.

Wild Horses

The sun came up about 8:30am and is getting ready to set at the time of this writing (3:00pm.) It’s been a brisk, clear cold day. We started out with the temperature right at 0 degrees, but as we’ve traveled it’s continued to go down. It’s about -20 degrees, but we are thankful that the roads are clear (as clear as they get this far north!). We’ve seen two moose, lots of caribou, deer, a wolf, bison, wild horses, and a fox. The boys were thrilled to see all the wildlife!

Upper British Columbia and the Yukon is a very isolated. In eight hours of driving, we’ve only passed 52 vehicles! (Definitely a place you want to make sure that you’re not going to run out of gas!) I’m sure that there is a lot more touristy type places open during the summer time place, but this time of year it’s quite a hike between gas stops. We paid $6.60 per gallon of gas at one of those stops! We stopped beside the road more times than I can count to “water the snow”. It will be a late night before we get to Whitehorse, and we have another 12-14 hour driving day tomorrow to get to Fairbanks.

Update: We arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon about 7pm. The kids did a great job traveling, all things considered. Thankful for a hotel room and a place to sleep tonight.

A summary for days six, seven, and eight!

 

Traveling North

 

 

Now traveling on the Alaskan Highway!

The last three days have been busy with seeing family, friends, and traveling. I think it's been a tad overwhelming for them, as today three of the four were crying in the truck wanting to go home!

 

 

Enjoying time with the cousins in Calgary

We spent Sunday visiting family in Calgary, Alberta. We visited Solid Rock Baptist Church with Elle and Becky in the morning. Then we caught up with some friends that I went to college with, Joy and Eric Jensen, and  visited with their family. It was a condensed visit, but they are such good friends that it was kinda like just picking up where we left off seven years ago (minus the six boys between us!). Following that visit, we headed to church at Old Path Baptist Church where our brother-in-law, Jason Bueckert, is pastoring. Since Jason was out of town, they needed a piano player for the evening service. I am so THANKFUL that my parents gave me piano lessons and for the years that Mrs. Hammond poured into me.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to play, even though I wasn't familiar with all the songs! Roger gave a brief synopsis of our trip and they took up a love offering. It was an unexpected blessing and one for which we are very thankful for their generous giving.  After the evening service, we headed back to Roger's sister house and enjoyed a joyous and chaotic evening celebrating Christmas early together. We are thankful for the opportunity to visit family, and it was truly a blessing.

Nancy Falconer, myself, and an unhappy Travis

We left Calgary, Alberta on Monday morning. We traveled for 8.5 hours to Grande Prairie, Alberta. Roger has friends there from long years ago, but they were willing to host us. Dustin and Nancy Falconer opened their home, blessed us with their hospitality, and gave us a place to rest without having to pay for a hotel room. We gathered up our belongings and pulled out of Grande Prairie about 9am. It was a crisp morning, starting out at -9degrees. But the scenery was gorgeous as we traveled north, and our thermometer did reach 17 degrees at one point. No amount of picture taking can do justice to God's creation out here...but I've been taking pictures anyway! We spotted our first caribou and that was fun. The farther north we travel, the father apart the gas stops become, and the fewer cars we see. We probably traveled over 200 miles without passing more than 20 domestic vehicles. We saw quite a few pulp trucks, but you definitely get the feeling of isolation.

 

Beautiful scenery

Please continue to pray for us as we have a long travel day tomorrow. From Fort Nelson, BC, to Whitehorse, Yukon is 670 miles. The scenery will be breathtaking, I'm sure, but it will be a long time between stops. The truck has run amazingly well since Rapid City, SD, so we are very thankful for God's mercies. Please pray that the boys will adjust quickly once we reach our final destination. Traveling is getting old for them, and Wyatt was crying in the car today saying he just "wants to go back to 'consin!" Garett hasn't asked about doing school...so we'll have a few days we need to catch up on once we get to Manley Hot Springs. We've been trying to do a little in the car  but space is limited! Also, I have a wisdom tooth coming in that is really bothering me. I haven't had any trouble with my teeth for years, but it does seem that as soon as we stepped off of our home porch and into the truck, Satan has been hard at work to discourage us.

 

We have a lot to rejoice in tonight and I've listed a few below:

Thankful that we weren't in the ditch

1) We made excellent time today traveling and found a hotel in Fort Nelson, BC.

2) Driving on the Alaskan Highway has been breathtaking and gorgeous.

3) We been especially encouraged with the stops we have made to visit family and friends and are thankful for the blessing they have been to us.

4) The love offering on Sunday night was a special encouragement to us just solidifying in our minds that God will provide for us every step of the way.

 

We love you all and appreciate your prayers.

 

 



Safely to Canada! Just inside the border.

“All in a good day (or night’s) work”

Isaiah 40:29 “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

I picked this verse today, since we traveled through the night. The Lord gave Roger an extra amount of alertness and the ability to drive long hours in the quietness of the night. We praise the Lord for His safety and protection.



We left Rapid City, South Dakota, about 6:30pm. last night. We headed west through Wyoming and Montana, and at the time of this writing (5:30am). we are heading north to Canada and about an hour from the border. Please pray that we will be able to cross over with no complications or delays. Yesterday morning, it seemed like a great idea to drive through the night to try to make the trip a little easier for the kids. However, about 11pm. I was really thinking that maybe it was not such a good idea! I was tired, but God gave grace and strength to Roger to keep him alert and driving. Roger drove from 6:30pm. to about 3:15am. Then I drove for about an hour, and I was really starting to get tired! So I played the stewardess role again, making children comfortable, passing out drinks, finding missing socks, and searching for the elusive blankets that somehow disappear! We are hoping to make it to Roger’s sister’s home in Calgary, Alberta today in time to enjoy visiting, and being outside before getting a good night’s rest (I’m already looking forward to the rest part, and I didn’t even drive that much!).



Snow in Alberta, Canada

We said good-bye to my parents and sister, Jenn. For me, the mission trip became a lot more real at that moment. We were leaving behind people that I’m comfortable and familiar with and stepping out into the unknown, but I’m also excited to be continuing on with our journey. My parents help out with watching the boys, and taking them occasionally overnight, and I’m going to miss them. Next to my husband, Roger, the man I respect and admire most is my dad. He taught me to work hard, not to quit, to love God’s word, to love people, to pray daily, and to strive for Godliness. We may not always see eye to eye, but I know my dad loves me and prays daily for us. My sister, Jenn, took such good care of us while we were visiting, spending time with us, making meals, and going on walks with me.

On a note of praise, the truck is running MUCH better! On the way out to South Dakota, we were getting between 12-14 miles per gallon, but now we are getting between 15-17 miles per gallon! Thanks for your prayers; the truck seems to be much improved.

UPDATE: We passed through border patrol in under ten minutes! YAY! And we arrived at Roger's sister's house at about 12:30. We are pretty tired, but happy to have arrived and looking forward to spending time with family.

Days two and three

Rest, Relaxation and Thanksgiving Day!

Days 2 and 3

November 21 & 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’ve been enjoying two days of visiting with my sister, Jenn, in Rapid City, South Dakota. It’s been a time to rest after the flurry of activity to get ready for our trip to Alaska. Yesterday was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed time outside with the boys, and I enjoyed a walk with my sister. Today is a day to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for and to rejoice in the blessings of our Heavenly Father. 

While I have much to be thankful for, I wanted to mention just a few that are on my heart right now.

       * I’m thankful for my salvation. I have the blessed assurance of knowing that I have a home in Heaven for all eternity.

        * I’m thankful for my family, and that many of us can gather together at Thanksgiving.

        * I’m especially thankful for my husband, who is stepping out on faith to take this trip to Alaska

        * I’m also thankful that the truck is fixed again (and praying that this will be the last of the repairs we have to make!).

       * I’m thankful that Travis is feeling better and seems to be much on the mend today.

I have much, much more to be thankful for but that is just a few, I hope that each of you take some time this Thanksgiving Day to write down what you’re thankful for and spend some time with your loved ones. 

I do have a few specific prayer requests. While we have enjoyed time resting and relaxing, Satan has been hard at work to discourage us. First, we had some troubles with the truck running smoothly on the way out here. We were able to get it looked at yesterday, and $xxx.xx later, it appears to be running efficiently. Secondly, Chandler has an infected tooth that is really bothering him. Pray that we will be able to find a dentist tomorrow that will be able to take care of the problem. Thirdly, Travis was running a fever and vomiting yesterday. He appears to be much improved, which is a huge praise, but please pray that no one else will get sick. 

View from my sister's apartment in Rapid City, SD

We are planning on leaving Rapid City, South Dakota, tomorrow around 7pm. We will be traveling through the night to arrive in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, sometime on Saturday. We would appreciate your continued prayers for safety and protection. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!