October 5 thru October 11
Well this week has been firewood, firewood and more firewood. Here Kristofer demonstrates his personal protection equipment.

Chopped down, skinned, cut to length, loaded, hauled, unloaded and chopped.

In the midst of all the firewood action Kristofer got to take a break and visit the Wasilla Recreation Center for some "turf time" with friends.

Then back at the firewood game. Some times it feels like our work is towering over us.

With the splitting making good progress, we are well on our way to a warm winter inside. Outside the rain this week filled our pond back up. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do some skating again this year.


October 12 thru October 18
Again this week was full of firewood action. Now the stacking is getting into full swing.

Kristofer really gets into this stuff. Sometimes we just need a little break.

Spending nearly three weeks out here working on firewood we realize we are in an interesting place. From the beautiful nature all around us to the variety of aircraft that fly overhead, we find ourselves in intriguing surroundings.

We did get some breaks from the firewood tasks. Here mom and Kristofer open a package from Meemaw. Then on Friday, Kristofer got another "turf time" experience.

A friend let us know where more firewood was available and we headed out to get some more fuel. Now we are storing away some longer lengths for next winter.

Well I believe we are done cutting, skinning, chunking, loading, unloading, chopping, splitting and stacking for the year. The weather here has been uniquely warm this year with an extended autumn. In many ways this has been God's provision to allow comfortable weather for our firewood efforts as we catch up from a summer of absence in Bethel. Just as our firewood work draws to a close the freezing temperatures have now come and soon our pond may be ready for some skating.


October 19 thru October 25
With firewood behind us we tackled this big old satellite dish to see if we could get results before things get covered with snow. Once we can get a reliable connection with this dish KAGV will have more programming flexibility as we'll be able to get programs directly from the providers in the lower 48.

This week we went into Anchorage for some errands and got a chance to visit with a friend who has been recently relocated from Bethel. These pictures make it obvious that we don't have snow yet. In fact we aren't the only ones who were expecting snow. Here a local bunny makes a pathetic attempt at hiding in the woods.

Back at the house we are trying to make some progress on the flooring as we hope to host some folks for the upcoming board meetings.

The whole family gets into this flooring act with enthusiasm.


October 26 thru November 1
Continuing on the theme of getting flooring done in the basement, here Karl gets started on the tiled area for the woodstove.

The first thing to go down is an uncoupling membrane that prevents the slab from cracking the tiles.

Then the tiles go down on top of the membrane.

Then grout between the tiles. Once the grout firms up it gets scrubbed from the areas it isn't needed.

The three bedrooms are coming along, they actually have beds now.

Getting the bedrooms ready just in time for people to come. People like Dan Davenport. He came to participate in our board meetings and immediately got to work helping us with projects like getting KAGV's plow truck in shape for another winter of work.

People like Meemaw. She really enjoyed her time with Kristofer.

Lots of intense baking and caking with Meemaw.

A great early birthday celebration for Kristofer. Kristofer enjoyed blowing the candles out with the air pump.

Lot's of presents before Meemaw had to head back to Anchorage and get back to business as usual.


November 2 thru November 8
This week started out with VFCM board meetings, hosted here at KAGV for the first time since 2007.

We enjoyed the time to discuss, play and eat together. The board meetings are a rare chance to get so many of the people who make VFCM possible together in one place.

On Wednesday Palmer and Bonnie Bailey stayed with us and helped us work on our home. Again flooring is the current theme. With the tiled area complete and the availability of some extra backs we finally have the wood stove in place.

Palmer figured out how the laminate goes onto the stairs while Kristan and Bonnie figured out which fire bricks came from where in the woodstove.

Now for Kristofer's actual birthday. This time he gets to open the rest of the presents.


On Saturday we played out on thick pond ice and then got going on the final section of flooring in the big room downstairs.

Dan came back from a trip to Nenana, bringing a spectrum analyzer with him. He and Karl enjoyed figuring out how to get a spectrum plot of KAGV's broadcast. Sunday it was time to give Dan back to his family so we took him to the airport. On the way home we stopped for some groceries and Kristofer got to ride in this yellow race car.


November 9 thru November 15
SLEEPYHEAD!! WAKE UP! The snow is here, quick get your snow boots on!

With the first snow we've got to finish up some tasks before they are buried for another winter. We got started on this satellite dish a few weeks ago but we didn't get it dialed in and locked down so now we need to lock it down to keep the wind from blowing us off target.

Lots of fine tuning out in the cold but we've got a solid signal now.

With the snow, it is time to get the snow tires on the plow truck. Wow, the plow truck actually fits in the garage with the plow on and with the tailgate down. God has blessed us with a a great home. Downstairs this home is looking more and more like a home and less like a construction site.

The big wood stove is in place, hooked up and ready for ignition. It may be cold outside but the fire is so delightful.

Inside we are having fun playing with blocks. As Kristofer is growing, his patience is growing too. Now we actually are getting some interesting structures built without waiting for him to go to bed first.


November 16 thru November 22
Quite a few things broke this week but most of them were fixed before the week's end. Here is a RF amplifier module from our main KAGV transmitter. After fixing one of these we went to turn off the transmitter and install it. However when we turned the transmitter back on the bearing in this blower motor had died. All is well now with a new motor but it was an exciting week.

We are still making progress on the house. Here Kristofer brings some new light fixtures for installation in the basement.

Most of the snow we have came last week but we did get a few flakes this week. We finally have both snow machines out of storage and have had a few short rides in the powder.

This week we got through Kristofer's two year check-up. The good news is that he got a clean bill of health and ..... he got to ride in the race car at Home Depot after the doctor's office visit.

Back at home, Kristofer enjoys hanging out on the countertop. From dressing up in his toys to helping mom make apple crisp, the counter top is where the action is.


November 23 thru November 29
As the seasons change, the way we get to work and what we see on our 2 minute journey changes as well.

Kristofer makes the journey too. Sometimes he plays on his own at work and other times he learns by watching mommy and daddy.

Just when we thought we could depend on our new C-band dish for programing directly from lower 48, the wet snow came to show our vulnerability. Simple things like video cards seem to let us down too but God's Word continues to go out on the airwaves in spite of the daily challenges.

Thanksgiving was a fun time to realize that even in these difficult times, God's provision is perfect. We had a lot of fun preparing all the fixins together as a family.

Lots of seasonal treats that Kristofer is enjoying.

On Saturday we took a trip to Talkeetna with friends and had fun on a little adventure.


November 30 thru December 6
This particular week was one with a great trial for us. In part, digesting this has been cause for delay in updating our website. Many have experienced trials greater than this, this one shook us and so we have delayed in relaying it.

Early in the week while out exploring on the snowmobile Karl and Kristofer saw the havoc caused by vandals on a cute cabin in the woods near our home. With the wall ripped out it will take quite a bit of work before this cabin can be used again.

In the middle of the night we jumped from our bed when we heard a noise outside. It was thieves in our pickup truck. Karl attempted to confront them but their attempt to run him over brought Karl to realize a different set of priorities. The same folks came back the next night to race their car down our driveway screaming profanities. We have since discovered that in addition to making a mess of our truck they took the anniversary gift GPS that Karl has been using to document translator locations and navigate snowmobile trails and rivers with.

Time to clean up and make changes to put this behind us. One of the changes allows us sneak peaks at the largest member of our neighborhood, that's kinda fun to see.

This is our home and we truly enjoy serving here. We must fix our eyes on a our sovereign Lord. Here Kristan and Kristofer make some Christmas cookies for friends as we prepare for the Christmas season.

2 Corithians 4:8,9 [We are] hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
We indeed are grateful for the protection of our Lord but also for His Word as here we see the courage he gave Paul in circumstances that make our own pale.

December 7 thru December 13
Haircuts are always good for a fresh start. This pony hasn't had a tail for a while. This week we had quite a bit of frost. The build-up was beautiful.

We had a major computer failure at KAGV. This lead to a week full of harddrive and mother board swaps to get all the essential functions functioning again.

It's that time of year again. Here we are posing for a picture for our Christmas newsletter. Then the whole family got into the printing, folding, addressing and stuffing campaign. We hope you all enjoy this Christmas.

Another special day! Kristan is another year older (as best as we can tell, as her birthdate wasn't originally documented). Here she finds out that she can take Kristofer to swim lessons, what a treat for the whole family. With Kristofer just past his second birthday himself he no longer flys for free. Always looking for more economical arrangments he tries out a USPS priority flat rate box. Doesn't look like it is going to work but at only $14 it had to be tried, those flat rate boxes can't be beat for getting stuff in and out of Alaska.


December 14 thru December 20
With family coming for Christmas it is time to get both snowmachines running and tuned up.

Then off to the big town. While in town we visited our friend Katie from Bethel. Our Christmas gift of a radio was intended to allow her to tune in KAGV. This particular radio doesn't work in the home where she lives. We'd really like to be able to provide a way for her to tune into the native programming like Native New Life, so she could keep listening in like she used to on KYKD when she lived in Bethel. Maybe next time we can try one of these to overcome the high RF noise in Anchorage. After having fun singing some carols with Katie we were off to the airport to pick up Auntie Sara. Just the begining of a lot of fun with family but that will have to wait for next week's update.


December 21 thru December 27
OK, this was a great week and we've got the pictures to prove it (boy do we). Sit back enjoy the record breaking number of pictures in the update this week.
With warm temps threatening to make our nice snow become less nice, we took the opportunity to get Auntie Sara out on the trails right away.

Lots of fun, lots of clothing.

Then to get a tree before Meemaw and Papa come. All that looking at trees had us all tuckered out, we could barely make snow angels. With a tree chosen, this is the moment we've all been waiting for.

Here Sara is thinking, "This is different". Well if that was different surely the tree parade in the sled put us over the top.

Once the tree thawed out it was time to decorate.

Lots of lights, lots of ornaments (for such a flimsy tree). How's that for Christmas cheer?

We seem to meet the best people at the airport, maybe we should go there more often. All together to Costco to stock up.

Enjoying Meemaw, Papa and whipped cream.

Then for some window shopping to stimulate our imaginations.

It's Christmas Eve, got to make sure everything fits. One a last minute trip to the store Kristofer and Auntie Sara check out the ice road.

Then to church for a candlelight service together. It was the night before Christmas.

We started Christmas day with great traditions. Papa read the Christmas story. We all went outside in the snow and circled the house to follow the star.

We opened gifts.

We fiddled with toys.

And we ate a great meal together as a family. A certain Sgt. Christopher Lee was in our thoughts.

After the excitement died down it was time to unveil Kristofer's big surprise. Kristofer's legs are still a little short, mommy's a little long.

After the fun of Christmas we got out of the house to see the world around us. A trip to Palmer and some time watching the ice races, the best part was being together.


December 28 thru January 3
Another beautiful day in Alaska. Time to try out Kristofer's new hot dogger snowmobile oven with a day on the trail.

Put the dogs in and get moving.

Lots of snow, lots of fun. The dogs are hot, time to eat.

Here Karl is making some jerky to send to Uncle Christopher. Kristofer loved our hasenpfeffer experiment, "Oh, yum more rabbit!"

In general this is a happy kid. On Sunday afternoon we watched the kid's snowmobile races, Kristofer was an instant fan.