University of Alaska's Botanical Gardens

Enjoying the wild iris's at the University of Alaska's Botanical Gardens...

Cute little shed with grass on the roof, and logs and cement for walls

All eight children enjoying the hike and coming picnic...

Our dear friend and her two boys and one on the way, actually overdue...

Man made stream winding through the picnic area

We had company all of last week and throughly enjoyed every minute of it!  Our friends from Tok, which is four hours away, came up to the Fairbanks Hospital to have their baby.  Baby decided to wait, and wait, and wait some more before she came and as we waited we visited, played, and worked the days away.  People who live far away from medical care here in Alaska have to come in at least two weeks before their babies are due.  There are clinic's in smaller towns but Fairbanks has the only hospital in the interior of Alaska that I know of. 

I must boast about what a trooper this Mother and family were when they came to stay with us.  She was overdue, it was 80 degrees and more all week, Mom and Dad slept on our couches for beds, and there was only one outhouse between all 12 of us people, over half of which were children!   The mosquito's are really thick this year.  The kids had no play equipment other than a couple baseball bats and a ball.  We also had a plastic kiddie pool filled with cool water to play in and a double sided painting easel.  The only real complaints I heard all week, which weren't really complaints at all, but rather statements about the heat and the thick mosquito's.  We cooked and served up meals and snacks each day and had just the best of times and memories.  It felt like we were on vacation.

Mother had her beautiful baby girl in the wee hours of Thursday night and she and her husband and children and teenage helper went home Saturday loaded with Grampa and Grandma just in from the airport the night before along with everyone's baggage and grocerices to boot.  You might be wondering what sort of vehicle would contain all this?  The vehicle of choice in Alaska:  The Suburban!  Those things are huge!  You could almost live in one!

What a blessing it was to see another homeschooling family in action for a week, loving each other, loving God, full of happiness and no complaining.  What an amazing testimony of the power of God in a human life!