Bethel

It's Sunday evening and we're relaxing at the Grr8 Bear Bed and Breakfast in Bethel. We all slept great last night after a walk around Lake Hood and our supper at Gwennies. Brian and I went for another walk this morning. It's never good to make assumptions, but we kept thinking that the weather here would be cold. It is Alaska after all! But the weather in Anchorage was beautiful - just as warm as it was in Iowa when we left.
After our walk, we went to breakfast at the hotel and then took the shuttle to the airport. Things were somewhat chaotic in the airport (even Brian thought so, and he travels everywhere!) Thank goodness he has platinum status and he could get us in the shorter lines. After checking in we walked around the airport some and saw a native art exhibit. It was pretty interesting to see art made out of whale skeleton, stomach lining and seal skin.
The flight to Bethel was short and uneventful - always a nice combination. Peter Green, one of the translators was at the airport to pick us up and take us to the B&B. We sat and chatted with the owner for a few minutes before heading for a walk around Bethel. We walked to the grocery store, my favorite place to visit in another state/country. It was kind of scary to see $9 bags of chips and $7 boxes of cereal. We picked up a few subs at Subway (as Rachel sang to us, "$8 footloooong") and walked back to Grr8 Bear.
We're looking forward to the week and working with the Yupik translators. Rachel and I are anxious to have a "normal" week of school. We're also hoping to visit Bethel's Cultural Center and of course another trip or two to the grocery store! Hope you all have a great week! Donna

It hit me.......

It has finally hit me, we are going to be traveling a lot this next year!!!! We got here (Anchorage) well, no flights were delayed, or any problems. Yeah!! :) After checking into our hotel, we walked around a little. Then we ate at a local restaurant called Gwennies. It had really good food there. We had huge omelettes - dad's had reindeer sausage in it. I just had a Ham and Cheese omlet. Tomorrow we head over to Bethel to work with the Yupik.

One week!

I can't believe we leave one week from today. It seems like we've prepared for this for so long, and now it's almost here. But doesn't that always seem to happen? You spend so much time thinking about and preparing for something, but it still surprises you when it actually comes.
Both Rachel and I agree that it won't really hit us until we get to the airport and actually get on the airplane. Usually we just go to the airport to drop Brian off and pick him up. But instead of waving good-bye to Brian and driving away, we'll be waving good-bye to the rest of the family and flying away.
We have one more pick up at the airport tomorrow. Brian's been in Argentina all week working with the Toba translation. The work went well, but he could definitely see and feel that they were being attacked spiritually. One of the coordinators felt weak every day; Brian had pink eye and other health problems; and the other translation coordinator broke some ribs and was hospitalized. They accomplished the work they needed to do, but the devil made it as difficult as possible. We always covet your prayers for health and safety!
We plan on being gone until next summer, but we only have the travel schedule confirmed through the end of the year. Here's an itinerary for the next few months:
August 29-September 13 Bethel and Barrow, Alaska
September 13-18 home to regroup/recoup/repack
September 18-October 3 Madrid, Spain and Istanbul, Turkey
October 3-9 home to repack
October 9-10 Mexican Bible Society in Mexico City
October 10-17 Peru
October 17-29 Ecuador
October 29-November 6 Michoacan, Mexico
November 6-January, 2010 Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico
Thanks for following us in this adventure. Rachel and I will each be writing for the blog. We thought it would be fun to have two different perspectives of the travel, places we visit, work we're involved in, home-schooling, etc. Thanks for all of your support as we begin our year. Donna

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Rachel

We are beginning our adventures in 11 days! Yes! I am most excited about seeing all the cultures in the different countries. All the things they do are so interesting. Like in Alaska, the kids learn from their parents and grandparents, all of their ancestors. That´s a lot of memorizing!
The part I am nervous about for these trips would probably be getting lost. What would make me more nervous would be getting lost in the middle of nowhere.
I really hope we can post exciting things here and add some pictures. Please keep in touch! Rachel