Mt. Redoubt Blows Again!

Mt. Redoubt Blew Again!!!!

For the 7th time since Sunday, Mt. Redoubt has blown again...this time, a biggie! 65,000 feet. They are telling us that the ash from this one will hit us good. It is suppose to arrive between noon and 2, it is 11:56 a.m. now. We are all told to stay inside and get the face masks out and ready. We have to put all electronic (computers, etc.) into big garbage bags since the ash dust will get inside the houses. We have to put wet rags put down under the doors to help keep it out. Not allowed to drive more than 50 miles without changing air filters or it will not be good!! Advised to keep cars covered and indoors (garage). All animals have to be brought in and they are telling us that this could last for weeks if it doesn't rain or snow. (GREAT). :-) So, I thought I would update you and then leave you. I will write when I can and let you know how it is going. God bless you all and still enjoying the adventure....the Lazaros Bunch!

Trip to Homer, AK

Mt. Redoubt has erupted!!!!!!

I took these photos of Mt. Redoubt on Saturday while we were flying to Port Alsworth. We flew up and around Mt. Redoubt to get to Port Alsworth. It was a beautiful view! We had no idea that the very next day it would erupt. How cool is that? If you look closely at the one photo, you can see the scar from the last eruption that happened in 1989...20 years ago. Since we have been here, it has been called a level yellow to orange to yellow to orange so many times that we were for sure thinking it was going to wait until we left to do anything. Who knew that it waited until the week before we left to do its thing. We are so excited to have been able to be here for it. We have found ash in the front yard. They boys picked it up and brought some in...show and tell you know. :-) They want to find bigger pieces to bring home. LOL

We have encountered earthquakes, volcano's, seen Eagles and Moose galore. We have been blessed to go on 2 plane rides...Friday night we went, as a family, over some glaciers and ice fields and saw the prettiest sunset...wow, then Scott and I was able to go on Saturday to a small village, which he says was the prettiest and neatest flight he has ever taken in his life. We, as a family, took a day and drove to Homer, AK and feel in love with the "spit" there and the views. Being on the ocean like that was amazing and the waves were beautiful with the mountains in the back ground. I will post photos of that trip next. We have truly been blessed!!!

The boys love snow machining and feel that they have had such a packed 3 months of "firsts" that they can't wait to tell everyone about it.

We have been blessed to have the opportunity to be able to come back to Alaska the end of May for 2 weeks. Transportation for our family has been taken care of and we are just in awe. MMS has given us the approved time off and we can't believe how God is working.

We ask that you continue to pray for us as we continue to seek His will and direction in our lives. Also pray that this in no way interferes with our flights home. They are saying, depending on the wind direction and all, it could effect flights for weeks or longer. We are hoping it doesn't. :-)

March 10, 2009 Some Photos and Updates

I thought I would post a couple of photos. Two are from the Native Musical (Scott doing an object lesson for the kids and the other is of Jeremiah playing a tag game and this little native girl hooked onto him and wouldn't let go. Too cute!!) and one is of the boyz on the day they went riding on the snow machines. We call them snow mobiles and they call them snow machines here although I have learned from Samantha (my native friend from Hooper Bay) that they are called snow-go's. :-) We have also learned that we are called chichaco's...meaning "newcomer" and that you have to do something major to become an Alaskan. After a while (2 years or so) if you don't do anything to become an Alaskan, then you most likely become a "sour dough" which means that you become sour about living here and want to go back home but don't have the dough (money) to do so. :-) We thought that was funny. Samantha is coming over on Thursday night for dinner and she wants to teach us some of her tribal language. We are so excited. She is also going to make me a "cusbuck" which is a dress like outfit that they (the natives) wear a lot. I am so excited about that too. I couldn't believe that she wanted to do that.

We are going to some friends house tonight for dinner. We went snow machining this past weekend and Ricky (an guy from MARC) let us bring 2 of his snow machines home with us. The boys are so excited. We went out again Sunday evening and Steve (CEF Director) brought 2 of his machines over too. We had so much fun. Matthew rolled one and broke the windshield. Now we have to replace that...but he is ok. Just like his dad...ay? UUGGHHH. LOL He wasn't going fast, just tried to stop on the road area and it decided to turn over.

Shaughn cut his finger pretty bad. Almost needed stitches. He was helping cut lettuce for taco's and whack...into the finger. He said it hurts a lot. We are keeping it cleaned and covered. Hopefully it will heal up ok.

After 2 weeks of colds and stuff, we are all mostly feeling back to normal. Hard to believe that our time here is almost done. I don't think any of us are wanting to leave. We are wanting to get back and get things accomplished tho and see our friends and family. We miss our Zamu too (our cat). :-)

Scott was able to work on the King Air today, the one that had a crash landing. They have is all torn apart and hopefully will have it back up and running by May/June. That is if they can find all of the replacement parts they need. Scott hopes to have the Navajo ready or near ready to return to service too by the time we leave. He has been working hard on it.

Well, just wanted to say hi and drop a line or two. Gotta get going, don't want to be late for dinner. :-)

Bless you all!!!
Lela and boyz~

Lovesick CD

Hey, I (scott)finally figured out how to do this. You can order The Ken Ferguson band CD by clicking the album cover in the upper corner. I had the awesome opportunity to play drums on it.

Feeling better

We have all had something yucky in the last week or so. Nathaniel started us off and Jeremiah joined in. Shaughn pick it up too and then I joined the group. Monday Scott hopped onboard and so far, Matthew is the only one who hasn't got "it". We have all had something a little different so we don't know what the "it" is but we know for sure that "it" is not fun.

The folks here have been so sweet. They have called everyday asking if they can shop for us and they have made and brought us dinner for the last couple of nights. Extremely thoughtful!!! What a blessing!

Scott is back to work today and so far, hasn't come home. He wasn't sure if he could make it for the whole day or not. He wasn't feeling 100% yet. Please keep him and the rest of us in our prayers.

Hard to believe that we are leaving here in less than a month. Scott and I were talking last night about it. There are so many things that we are going to miss here. The people, the beauty, high speed internet (ha ha ha), we have a long list. We are hoping to enjoy the rest of our stay healthy if we can. :-)

Our time at the Native Musical was very exciting. We really enjoyed working together in ministry as a family. Our kids really enjoyed it too. God was there and led the way, it was beautiful to join Him in His work. The team we worked with was amazing. We met so many wonderful people. Some were pastors from the bush and some others were natives. It was a great weekend. The drive to and from Anchorage was breath-taking. I took many photos which we will try to upload soon. As we start feeling better I am sure we will update soon.

I just wanted to say hi and let you all know that we are still among the living. :-) God bless you all and we appreciate your prayers.

Lela and boyz~