Last posting for 2010...

Thanks to Kevin Ganschow's advice for our egg/alcohol experiment we impressed the sox off our 10-year-old investigator and her parents.  "Pop" -- the egg went right into that glass bottle, whole and undamaged.  Whew! 

Beginning yesterday there’s no wind; just a little rain. The tops of the mountains are so white they look like giant mounds of sifted powdered sugar. The water is like ink, still and black, reflecting finite details of shorelines and boats. Even with close study it’s difficult to see where the edges meet. The eagles aren’t flying but are perched on every available surface, 50 to 100 in a bunch. If only Don Busath were here with his camera.

Meet our Primary children. The snow plow piled a “mountain” on the side of our church building so the kids came over and had some fun.

The view of our volcano from our front steps.

Example of the Spirit of Unalaska: Brother Wood was hired as the State Trooper last year and moved here with his family: wife Holly (yes, that would be Holly Wood) and five kids. Brother Wood needed beds for his kids but didn’t say anything. On Christmas day Brother Palmer and his son brought the Wood family a set of bunk beds and two dressers that he had constructed in his garage.

Newest Friend: Carolyn owns the gift shop. She’s a natural beauty – wears zero makeup and uses her fingers and the wind to comb her hair. Everything in her pristine, tiny shop is hand-picked by her and it smells so good just to go inside. We love to hear her describe each item she’s chosen for her inventory and how she found it. She frames and cuts mats in one small corner of her shop, and her work is impeccable. She’s a highly-trained museum archivist and launched her business after her divorce a few years ago. Her son is 17 and they were going sledding together today. Carolyn is easy to talk with.

Small world: Yesterday Richard met Swan in the barber shop. She’s Vietnamese Buddhist and, as it turns out, is BJ’s wife. We’ve been hunting for BJ at his jobsite since arriving. He works at the dump so we’ve done a lot of eagle-dodging. Imagine that all those seagulls are eagles next time you go to the dump.

Thinking of our loved ones far away, we bid a fond adieu to 2010 and optimistically welcome the new year wherein we'll get a brand new grandchild about midway through.  We love you.  Stay warm and may you be blessed with good health and tons of joy.