Summer Update
Summer is quickly coming to a close for us. We've had a fun couple of months with family and friends, much of it spent in the mountains and on the lakes and hiking trails of our home state - Alaska, which is just about as different as different can be from Cambodia. Our hearts are refreshed and we are excited to get back to work, eager to see what the Lord has planned for the upcoming season. One thing has become clear already - there is the work that we are there to do (our "official" roles) and then there are the things that happen along way, the people that we meet, and opportunities that seem to spring up just by way of living life on mission. We thank you for joining us and we pray this update (our summer highlights) finds you all well and enjoying the remaining days of summer, and living life on mission wherever you are.
Our grandson, Gavriil, has been in to playing jets this summer, so we've moved like jets on quite a few family hikes - yes, we're those people. Grandparents will do anything to see their grand kids smile.
Kayaking Portage Lake out to Portage Glacier with the missions pastor from our home church. The glacier calved as we watched from our kayaks. It was incredible to see (and hear) this part of the world in motion. And yes, that is a dog riding on the bow of that kayak. It's how Alaskan dogs roll.
The view from Kirsten's kayak right before the glacier calved.
A short trip to the Oregon coast to see our son and his family. We celebrated Everly's 1st birthday in May. Grandbaby number four is due to arrive at Christmas!
Our son-in-law, Mike, took me (Kirsten) up for a flight in his airplane. I even got to fly it for about five minutes! We're still alive - obviously.
Shelby didn't return to Alaska for the summer. Instead, she has been livin' the good life in Cambodia with a fellow missionary family. We are so thankful for the Beck's taking her in and spoiling her, maybe even more than we do. They sent regular picture updates of her playing with their kids and lounging, as she loves to do.
With Alina and Gavriil at the top of The Butte, a hike not far from where Kirsten grew up in the Matanuska Valley. There are stairs up one side of the trail - 505 steps (!) - which makes the 66 stairs to the laundry room in the Cambodia house seem like a breeze.
Standing in a dried out lakebed in the mountains, a verse from Isaiah came to mind - one that we tend to associate with our time in Cambodia: "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." A beautiful reminder of the promise we carry with us wherever we go.
And of course . . . "Jets!"