Nana and Papa Visit

A few weeks ago Ryan's mom and dad came down for a visit. It was so fun to have them here and the girls LOVED all the attention from Nana and Papa.

Ryan found us an awesome breakfast place out in Amish country while he was riding his bike. It was SO GOOD! Proper home-made everything! Ruby learned about tea... she's a bit of a connoisseur now.

The restaurant also had chickens, goats, cows and a hay-maze around back. 

Nana made Ruby this cute hat and scarf - Ruby LOVES it. Whenever we go anywhere she makes sure she's got her "special special" scarf on.

Thanks for visiting Nana and Papa!! We love you!

Zoo Lights

I met my new friend Lindsey at Side by Side. Her boys Abram and Royce are the same ages as Ruby and Clara, so we have become wonderful friends over the last few months.

Our Zoo has a million billion lights up for Christmas, so we bundled up the kiddos and braved the chilly weather. Ruby LOVED the lights and music around the lake.

Here we are trying our best to wrangle 4 kids for a picture. Ha!

Now everywhere we drive when we see Christmas lights and decorations she gets all excited and says things like, "Ooooh!", "Aahhhhhh!" and "Beautiful!" She also screams "THIS IS FROM MY MUSIC BOX!!!" whenever she hears "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" ... on the radio in the car, walking at the mall, etc.

Ruby could not have been more excited that Ryan was home from work when we got home from the zoo. His girls love him so much!

...for the Birds

Mom Purse

I used to have 3 things in my purse.

1. wallet
2. cellphone
3. chapstick

Now I have a proper "Mom Purse". I just cleaned it out and found the following:

• half of a green crayon
• 6 cheerios
• headband
• fingernail polish
• turtle finger puppet
• 2 old grocery lists
• 6 bags of fruit snacks
• plastic spoon
• sharpie pens
• three 1GB thumb drives
• my wallet
• 1 penny
• baby orajel
• antibacterial hand gel
• lotion
• 2 packs of gum
• dried up lip gloss
• a pine cone
• my coupon file
• raisins... not in a package, just raisins.
• bobby pins
• 2 diapers in 2 sizes, neither of which fit either of my children.
• bulletin from church
• empty pack of baby wipes
• jar baby food (sweet potatoes)
• 3 of Ruby's bracelets
• Ruby's spare underwear and stretch pants

Whew! Talk about the glamourous life! 

Sometimes I just need some space...

Would you believe my computer has run out of space? My external hard drive from 2007 is full too... so until I get a new hard drive so I can dump the rest of my pictures and videos off of my computer, I'm pretty much unable to post pictures of all the happenings around here lately. Apparently I take a lot of pictures and videos. The good news is that I just ordered a new external hard drive on Amazon, so in another day or two you can be totally bombarded by bloginess.

Until then, here's how people from Michigan show you where they live. I never knew this until I went to college in Michigan... but I was from Indiana then, so I would just hold my hand up and point below my wrist. Oh Michiganders. So silly.

Dad is Home!

Here's the picture proof!
My dad made it home in time for Thanksgiving!!

For stories and pictures of his "extended stay" in the Alaskan Wilderness tune in to www.markbeeson.com in the coming weeks...

Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughtfulness for my family!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Kodiak: 0, Mark Beeson: 1

PRAISE THE LORD! Dad just called mom to let her know they made it to Kodiak City!! The pilots were flying today and finally one came for Dad and Steve! They still have to figure out how to get flights from Kodiak Island to Anchorage and then home from there... but they can't do anything until tomorrow, so hopefully they'll just find a motel, take warm showers and rest for a few hours tonight.

Mom is beside herself with happiness. I can't express our relief! Thank you so much for praying for his health and safety during this crazy time!

He's safe! He's warm! He's exhausted... but we could not be more grateful! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Winds of Change on Kodiak

Recent updates make it sound like he might actually be able to get a flight home sooner rather than later! Thanks for your continued prayers!
Here's what he said:

Wednesday Nov 16th late night email from Dad to Mom:

We've got a shift in the wind. It's blowing from the south right now. It hasn't done that all week. The Outfitter says it hasn't done that for nearly 4 weeks!  Maybe this is the first sign of some positive change in the weather. It's possible that we can get out tomorrow. If not, it's predicted that the snow will end and the winds calmed down by Friday.  We'll be heading that way soon. 

Thursday Nov 17th morning email from Dad to Mom:

We've gotten packed and we're ready to fly. If we're high enough on the priority list they'll probably pick us up today. We are READY! If we can't get out I'll let you know, otherwise I'll call you from Kodiak City when we arrive there. Maybe today is the day! The winds have died down. The sun is bright and beautiful. It all looks "good" where we are. We've actually heard a couple of planes as they flew to rescue the hunters in dire straits. We're fine. We'll be fine until they get us and then we'll head home. I love you so much! I can't wait to see you again.

Day 15 Update from Kodiak

Today is the 15th day my dad has been on Kodiak. They're 4 hours behind, so the email I am sharing this morning is from late in the evening yesterday. Assuming my dad sends an email today, I'll post another update this afternoon. Thanks for your continued prayers! We know God is in control and we're trusting Him!

Wed November 16th late evening email from Dad to Mom:

Doing well here. There's ZERO chance a plane could land here. The gusts hitting the cabin are 70 mph. No way a plane is coming in here. Not today; maybe tomorrow. :) 

Our stream is frozen, but the creek up the way isn't. No worries about that. It's not going to freeze; there's so much water rushing down the mountain side that I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't freeze all winter. We've got water.

I thought of our kids today when we broke open a tube of liver sausage (they'd probably know it as Braunswager, but I'm not sure they like it all that much). I told everyone how special this was, and asked why we had hidden and saved such a delicacy for so long. It's about time we brought out the "good stuff.'  I showed 'em how to eat it with mustard. Now they are in love with liver sausage too.  :)

I've gotten some good pictures today. Despite the fierce winds, the sun has been shining all morning. It's beautiful with the snow blowing everywhere. (As soon as you get away from the shoreline, the snow is thigh deep. No kidding. Walking is quite arduous... but it's no problem. Anyway, I got a really good picture of a Sitka doe with the mountains in the background. Really remarkable because everything kind of came together for the shot: sun was great, mountains in the background, she didn't know I was there for a long time...so she was looking around and not just at me, and I was here with my camera! I hope I'm not disappointed when I get the picture "blown up" on my computer screen...but it looks good on my little "review screen" on the back of my camera.  :)

I jumped on line when it was possible just to say that we learned it was 11 degrees below zero last night in Anchorage. That's not including wind chill. No wonder it feels cold here!  It actually is cold here!   Zow.

We're good. We're fine.

Earthquake? For real?

We'll be adding another issue to the prayer list... that's right folks, as if this adventure could get any more interesting we just got another update from my Dad and last night there was an EARTHQUAKE! Can you even imagine!?!? I'm pretty sure I'm getting an ulcer just living vicariously through his emails!

Here's what just came through from my dad to my mom:

Last night was cold. Winds increased from 50 to 70 mph and the gusts shook the cabin. I wouldn't have thought much about the shaking (since I've grown accustomed to the fierce winds whipping across the Ugak Bay and hitting the cabin) but at 2:15 AM we had an earthquake!  Incredible. Who would have imagined anything else could happen...and then...RUMBLE...and earthquake!  Amazing. There was no damage, but we did wonder whether it was worse elsewhere...so we kept an eye out for the waters of the bay to recede (indicating a tsunami was coming in). That's how it works; the waters all sweep out from the land...then the wall of water hits.  That didn't happen (as I figured it wouldn't) and everything is back to normal here: high winds and snow and cold.  It's life on Kodiak! :)   Honestly, I'm loving this experience. I'm HATING being away from you, but I'm loving this opportunity to see these sights, experience these harsh conditions and photograph these remarkable scenes.

I'm sure everyone is helped by a positive attitude. Some of the guys seem a bit negative about the whole thing, but I'm pulling hard for everyone to to "up and to the right" with their attitudes. We're here. We're not leaving until the planes can fly. I tell 'em to enjoy it and make memories they'll cherish for the decades ahead. So far, so good. Everyone is actually doing fine with it and Steve is positive too. He knows it's futile to get upset about things you can't change. I'm glad for his faith. 

I've fallen in love with the wood stove. It's not very big, but it is AWESOME! I think I need one. Of course, that means I've got to build a little log cabin to put it in, but I think if we sell the house we'd have enough money to buy both: a wood stove and a little cabin to put it in!  :)        Kidding.....

I'm sure some of the guys in tent-camps on Kodiak are in real trouble now. We're fine, but I'll not be surprised to learn some of the guys in tents have hypothermia. Once that sets in, it's very bad. There's no way they can get warm again. They're out of food (we're not), they're out of fuel for their stoves (we're not) and they might be out of water (we're not...though our nearest streams are now frozen solid, but we have a bigger creek some distance away, so we just go there to fill our water buckets).  All in all, I'm in GREAT SHAPE and happy...except for missing you. 

If I stay here for another 38 days I'll be able to apply for my license as an "Apprentice Guide" on Kodiak....not that I'm trying for that goal.  It's just a fun conversation we've been having around here. I tell everyone I'm in training.  I pitch-in and help with all the chores. Steve does too. Apparently, that doesn't happen very often because the Outfitter and our Guide both seem startled every time we jump up to help. I guess a lot of people expect to be served all the time....even in hunting camp.  Amazing.