Third Day Baby and Mama Moose Out the Window!!!

Can you spot the two moose?

Mama wants to leave, baby is curious and wants to stay.

How tall can this moose reach?

9 feet into the branches where the moose was reaching to eat...

Measuring the clothes line at 5 feet...

 It's hard to capture the greatness and heigth of the moose.  We decided to go out and take measurements after they were gone.  This mama moose must have been over 7 feet tall!  The window of our cabin is not at ground level.  We are up about 5 or 6 feet off the ground on that side, so the clothesline and moose picture is taken at that angle.  It is just so amazing standing out there where that moose stood, realizing how big it was!  We were so excited we were shaking.  I could never be a hunter.  I would never be able to be still enough to take aim.  This is our third day in a row of having moose wander through our property!  They hang out for three or four days at a time when they pass through our neck of the woods.  We are so blessed to have seen and experienced this!

In my excitement to take pictures and chase moose, I can't find my other glove...

Mama Moose pays a Visit

Have you seen my baby moose?

 Yesterday we saw the baby, today my oldest son spotted what we're sure is the Mother.  You can tell  not only by the fact that she's more than twice the size of her baby, but she has no extra fuzzy fur on her neck.  Scroll down to see a closer picture of the hair tuft under her chin too.  The baby doesn't have this either.  It is so hard to capture the size of these magnificent animals.  I am more than twice the distance from her than I was from her baby yesterday so she doesn't really appear that big in comparison, but they stand as tall as a pickup truck.  They are as wide as a fat cow but taller like a horse.  The mother was much more wary than her baby.  She kept looking at us and didn't stay too long and really kept her distance from our property and dog.  There's a reason Mother's have earned the right to tell their children what to do... they have the experience of having lived life much longer and have seen the dangers they want to prevent in their own children's lives.  There's a great analogy here.

We're so glad we're this far away from the Mama Moose....

Look under my chin and you'll see a long tuft of hair.

What the rest of the children do when Mom's out hunting for moose pictures...

Baby Moose in our Front Yard!

Nothing like a crunchy twig in the middle of Winter... yum, yum

I'm just a baby moose looking for food.

I wish this dog would quit yapping at me.
I wish this moose would get out of my territory.

O.K.  You win.  You are just to big and don't even notice me!

Look at this fuzzy fur!

I'm going to lunge at the yapping dog in exactly 0.5 seconds...

Please don't go, don't you want to play?

We had quite the excitement today, with a baby moose in our yard!  They are the size of a horse even though they really are just a baby.  They are not afraid of anything, unlike deer.  We were out on the deck snapping pictures, hollering and whistling at our barking dog and the moose didn't even care.  It just kept on munching and meandering through our front and side yard and then out to the back forest.  It lunged twice at the dog out of annoyance, or at least it appeared that way to us.  The dog finally quit barking when he realized it wasn't  doing very much.  It's minus 18 F today and I was worried about the camera freezing up.  We snapped 50 some pictures and are just in awe of this creature that God made...

I was recently mocked about my beliefs in the Bible and the account of Noah's flood.  I'm getting used to being mocked, by the way, and it really isn't so bad.  I'm feeling a bit like that Baby Moose I guess.   I know how God made me and why He made me and I understand what my role in society is.  I don't have to fear the barking dogs...

Anyhow, back to the account of Noah:  As a creationist, I believe it was possible that all of the existing animals did fit on that ark.  Like kinds come from like kinds.  Anyone who has studied about the genetic code knows how much information and how many possible variations within like kinds exist!  It's amazing.  Just study this moose and tell me if you cannot help making comparisons to the horse or the donkey or other such creatures designed by the same Maker.  It's so incredible to realize that thousands of years ago during the flood of Noah, there in the animals of the ark, lay enough genetic information to produce all the variations and adaptions we see today. 

But don't get me started on this, I'll be typing all day.  Enjoy the moose pictures and bring your praises to the right place:  The Throne of God and the Creator of the Universe Himself.  Do you realize you have the ability through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to be able to even come to God in this way?  Completely crazy to some, and wonderfully amazing to others!

Harvesting Snow

Big Sister brings in two mini mugs of snow...

My lips are cold...

There isn't much to harvest in the Winter months up here other than snow, snow, and more snow.  We saw a Mama Moose and her baby eating twigs along side of the road a few days ago.  This is their Winter diet.  The rabbits gnaw on twigs as well.  We, on the other hand, have wonderful city sized grocery stores to buy our produce from!  The greens are looking so green these days!  

Enlarged Heart for the New Year

The Sun at 12:00 noon in December 2011, taken from my deck. 
This is as high as the sun gets in December.

"I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." Psalm 119:32

Our hearts have been enlarged this past year and a half.  We've been through some very trying times learning to survive the hardships of a severe climate and a new community after a strange move.  We have been challenged physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Spiritually we have soared.  We've come together as a family should and functioned like a team.  We have come to an understanding that every one of us in this little Gerhardt family unit is valuable.  Each one, even the littlest, is of extreme importance in making this family work, and function, and love and laugh and live together in victory.  It's so amazing and so imperfect and so wildly crazy at times, but in our weakness, God shows himself so strong!  His power to love and forgive and work with us over and over and over again is beyond reason!

We stand here now, with our hearts thoroughly enlarged for the work that God has been preparing us to do in Fairbanks, Alaska.  I never would have chose this city or location.  All my precious extended family lives in the beautiful lush and prosperous Willamette Valley:  Enjoying fresh fruit year round and each other's wonderful company, I might add.

I'm a country girl that despises city life.  I don't like life in the fast lane and the only shopping I really like to do involves the grocery, fabric, and second hand store when necessary.  I don't like anything that a city has to offer besides the convenience of ready to eat chocolate and fresh produce in the middle of Winter.  I like being at home with my family and neighbors; except that my neighbors in Fairbanks want to be left alone.  My home is not exactly a comforting place and I now go to the city several times a week.  I fight traffic and hoards of people in the grocery store and long lines at the post office and every where else I go.  I am not anywhere near my dream location.  (Which doesn't even exist now, I might add.) 

SO what am I doing here?  I'm here because God has placed a burden equally on not only my husbands shoulders, but my own.  Fairbanks has many hurting people dwelling in it without Jesus Christ.  Fairbanks has 21 public elementary schools and the surrounding population is 80,000.  There is not one club in any of the schools.  There is not any club well established that operates year round with full support from community and churches.  Many people aren't even aware of C.E.F. and what it can do for its community. 

There's a huge military presence due to several large bases and much of the population comes and goes.  For the population that does remain, life is difficult.  Winter's are long, there's a lot of tiredness, and depression.  People here need to live for something greater then themselves and their own desires.  Little children are fast growing up without hearing the gospel, let alone a Bible story and applicable lesson to their daily life.  The need here is so great! 

Pray with Mike and I and our family that God would use us and those around us and the local committee to really pull together as a team and get the work growing and useful to this community.  Our vision is to see the work of CEF thrive, not just barely survive.  It's possible with a united team effort.  We need families to catch the vision of ministering to other families.  We need to wake up and use our resources diligently and with discipline because time is short.  Each of us has been given something.  I often feel inadequate because I do not bring in an income.  However, I can write.  I can host, yes, even with a lowly outhouse and unfinished cabin.  I can pray.  I can encourage.  I can e-mail, make phone calls, and write more letter's to the editor.   First and foremost, I must be noble and right in my duties as Wife and Mother before I can attempt anything else.  I don't have to be perfect, thank the LORD!  I just need to be committed and do my best at these things that God sets in my path. 

What a long written piece.... it's my enlarged heart.  I lay it open, because I want people to see the truth about where I'm at.  I hope to inspire others to get involved with CEF because it's so simple and easy to do and the need here in Fairbanks is so great.

I know a lot of people are reading this who don't live in Fairbanks.  Perhaps there's a local CEF work that you could get involved in.  They need you and your family to get the job done.  It's time we pull together to reach children that may not hear about Jesus any other way!

This is my prayer and hope for the new Year.  It's big, but not impossible.  We just need to take the next logical step of obedience.  Who walks with me?  Do I walk alone?  Sometimes.  Do I get carried in the arms of Jesus?  Yes, all the time.  Why would I want it any other way? 

Hop in, if you're not already there.  Jesus' arms are for eternity and His strength never ends and His love never subsides and His forgiveness is all powerful and lasts forever.  Why not let him be your all in all today?