Thursday, October 29, 2009

In the office...

Scott and I have started working in the CEF office this week. So far we have been in training. We are excited to be able to ministry as a family. Everyone here is such a joy to work with. What a blessing from God to be able to work for our King and love what we are doing.

The boys are doing very well. Scott, Shaughn and myself all received our Alaska driver's license this week and Matthew has been studying hard to take the test as well. He will be getting his driver's permit. He can't wait. :-)

Nathaniel and Jeremiah joined Awana's last night and seem to like it alot. Scott has started unpacking some of his many books into the CEF office. He requested more book shelves and they were happy to fulfill the order. :-)

Someone has blessed us with the use of a car until we can find one to purchse. They keep it for missionaries to use that come in from the bush. What a blessing. God has just been providing so much.

We appreciate your prayers and your notes. God bless you!
Lela

Saturday, October 17, 2009

In Soldotna, AK!!

We have made it!! We arrived here about 6:15 p.m. (Alaska time) last night. We arrived in town just in time to make it to a teen training time at church, so our first stop was Soldotna Bible Chapel where we received a huge welcome. We were tired and felt like we had been traveling all day (ha ha) but the huge welcome was a great treat. We came to Steve and Bev McKinley's house (State Director of CEF) and ate ice cream and talked about our journey. They have asked us to stay with them for the first week so we can have time to unwind, sort stuff and get settled and meet Lee.

We can't wait to meet Lee. We hope to connect with him today and meet. CEF is having a Pie Auction tonight as a fund raiser and everyone is very excited that we made it in time for this annual event.

I have woke up at 3 a.m. yesterday and today, so I am doing laundry and blogging while Scott and the boys are asleep. I grabbed Scott's computer to use since mine has been dead since before the trip.

Thank you all for your prayers and comments. Yes, we do read them all. :-) God bless you and more to come...photos too! :-)

Lela

We made it!!!!!

We are in Soldotna Alaska! We made it. Hopefully tomorrow we will get some pictures posted!!!

It was so nice to make the final stretch from Anchorage to Soldotna. It felt like we were going home!!!

Good night all!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

We are in Alaska!

We have had no internet or cell phone connection for several evenings! We stayed in Watson Lake BC two nights ago, and then Haines Junction last night. We are in Glenn Allen Alaska tonight at the Caribou Hotel. We saw many Caribou, Moose, and Elk along the way in BC, The Yukon, and then in Alaska. We will try to get some pictures up soon!

We plan on being in Soldotna tomorrow evening!

Everything mechanical has been great!!!

More later...I am tired!

peace,

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

And on the 8th day...Fort Nelson, BC

Well Happy Thankgiving! It is Thanksgiving here. Or... "The Long weekend". We spent it driving through extreme snow storms, and through three huge mountain passes. One had a 10% grade. I am very thanful that we made it safely. We saw one truck pulling a u-haul trailer that had flipped on it's side.

Gas and groceries are Definitely getting more expensive! I just paid $1.19/ liter! OUCH!!!!

We are in Fort Nelson tonight, and plan on making Watson Lake tomorrow. Although, not many options for staying the night there.

On to Whitehorse the next night, and then TOK, AK!!!! WooHoo!!!!

Blessings all!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Grande Prairie Alberta and our first blow out

Today we planned a "light" 288 miles today and 5 hrs plus stops. All was going very well. I was even getting 6.5 mpg rather than the 5 I had been getting due to the winds. The GPS just showed we had 59 minutes left, and I started to call Lela and BAM, whap, whap, whao, whap!!!! The passenger side inside tire blew! So we called U-Haul and 2 hours and 25 minutes later Andy from Fontaine Tire showed up to change the tire. He put a sweet Good Year tire that actually had tread rather than the highway tires that were on it. I wish he would have change all 4 of the mains!

Well, I sent Lela and the boys ahead of me so they could get some grub and get settled. Shaughn and I made it to the hotel at 8:30pm, ate some food, changed into our swim suits and enjoyed the water slide.

We may chill tomorrow. It is their Thanksgiving here and Sunday on top of that. Probably not much open! We are over half way now. About 1600 miles to Anchorage.

I will post more pictures in a minute.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta on day 5

We did anothere marathon run yesterday. About 500 miles from Regina to Fort Saskatchewan, AB, which is just outside of Edmonton. This puts us about hald way. Still have over 2000 miles left. This will take us through the mountains. The rig is pulling well. It is really top heavy, so I have to be on it all the time. No slip ups! Thankfully there have been no weigh stations open so far. I don't think we want to know how much weight we are pulling!!

Everyone was toast last night. We had a good swim, Lela got laundry done, and we had some good pizza, and a good sleep. We will be debating if we will stay an extra night and relax. The next town is Dawson City, about 386 miles away.

I am uploading pictures to the flicker site now. These pictures have only been from my camera, we still have Lela's perspective to upload.

We went through some pretty good snow falls yesterday. We almost stopped due to the accumulation on the road and the ice. And there was a camper trailer that slid off the road. But we stopped for lunch and the sun came out for a bit. Still had some snow squalls, but the rest of the trip went fairly well.

Jeremiah is a total fish in the water now. He was determined to pick up dive toys in the deep end without goggles. I don't know what it was, but our lips and faces turned purple in the water. It may have been the paint on the walls, or the elevation....not sure. It was funny though!

Well, another Super 8 breakfast of the champions!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Oh Canada!

Well, we made it through the blowing snow storm to Regina, Saskatchewan. We are al REALLY tired. We are downtown and 12 stories up. Hotwire only showed 1 hotel option.

At the border, when they asked if I had guns, I said no, that I shipped them. They wanted to know who had them. They even called my mom and Ed to verify that they had them.

We snuck Zamu up here tonight since it was so cold outside.

Tomorrow, we are looking at driving to Edmonton, or near there.

Good noght all.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fargo North Dakota

We made it to Fargo North Dakota. Had a swim in the pool, and going to sleep!! Will add pictures tomorrow!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day 3 Alaska Road Trip 2009

We are in Rockford Illinois. Last night we had dinner in Chicago. It was very interesting driving the rig through Chicago. I set up a folder for Alaska Road trip 2009 in our Lazaros pictures link. Check it out. Also trying to figure out how to just post on the blog and have it show on Facebook.

Today...On to Fargo, ND.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Chicago, ILL

We are now in Chicago, ILL having dinner with one of Scott's friends, Kurt. So far we have encountered rain, wind, construction, traffic and sun during our drive today, even driving downtown chicago with all of the craziness. Everyone is glad for the wonderful sleep they received last night...I mean this morning. Thank you Ketcham family for the wonderful bed and breadfast.... :-)

We are heading for Wisc. tonight. I am on here trying to get a hotel cheap. I think I might try Hotwire.com or something like that. We will see. I took several photos today, I will post them in a bit.

God bless you all and keep checking back. :-)

The drive to Alaska...Leg 1

We left West Lafayette at 8:50pm Monday evening. We just arrived at The Ketchams home in Indiana at 4:00 AM. Pictures to come. It was very weird leaving in one trip to move across the country! Those that we didn't get to talk to in Coshocton and West Lafayette...Good bye for now! Love ya all!

Now...I am going to sleep...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Still here!

Well, we thought that we would be gone by now as well! However...I (Scott) had to do some repairs to the Suburban this weekend and we have had quite a time purging our junk! It is amazing how much stuff we have gathered over the years! We keep wondering where all the stuff comes from. Lela's piano is packed, so it won't be long now. The U-haul we ordered was supposed to be set up for trailer brakes, and it is not. So, hopefully when we call in the morning U haul will say, we have a brake module we can bring right over and instal and get you going! If not....a single match and 20 gallons of gas is what I am thinking!

Well, keep praying and hopefully wheels will be up by tomorrow afternoon!

Blessings.