Lucy's Litter

Lucy had her pups last night. She hollowed out a hole in a brush pile and delivered all 11 puppies there. Lucky always did that to me also-have her pups outside. By the way, Lucky also had her litter. Lots of information about Lucky and the pups at http://oldschoolak.blogspot.com/ . And yes, you read that right. Lucy had 11 pups, 6 females and 5 males if I counted right.

I moved them into the doghouse this morning.

Lots of different colors-black, brown, gray, light orange.

Stairs

A few friends have asked, "What's with the levels?" Well, we've starting building stairs to connect those levels and you can see how the house is shaping up.

Here's the entry to the house, a small covered porch leading into an 8'x16' entry way. This is Alaska after all, we've got a lot of shtuff.
A set of stairs going up from the entry way up into the house.

These steps (on the other side of the house from the entry way) drop down into the bedrooms. A step will come off each side leading into two small rooms.

Looking down on the bedroom stairs

7 Years

Johanna and I met at a similar time in both our lives. We had finished college and were coming home to teach. Once we started spending time together it quickly became clear. God brought us together.

Our engagement was a little different. She was teaching in Koliganek while I had a traveling teaching job. Every few weeks, we'd meet in Dillingham for our pre-Canan classes with Father Kelly. He was thorough. We took personality tests, discussed child rearing and home finance. No stone was left unturned. And on August 4, 2001, we married at Holy Rosary Church here in Dillingham.

Father Kelly set us on the right path and offered words at our wedding I will never forget. With so many couples struggling, we find ourselves still very much in love. Maybe more then in the beginning. Our love is emotional, passionate, and most importantly, centered around something other then ourselves. We both love God more then each other.

If God is love, as scripture teaches, then we cannot give love to another without going through Him. Couples may not go to church or subscribe to any particular religion, but look at those couples who still gaze at each other, still hold hands, still give each other a kiss for no apparent reason. I'll bet they treat each other as the Bible suggests.

So on our 7th anniversary in the busiest summer of our lives I tell you surely that I love my wife. I love her more then my job, more then those dogs, more then our children, but not more then God. I give God to her.

House Update

These pictures are a couple days old and we're a little farther along, but you get the idea. Looks like a house. It's got a big steep green roof. Makes the building look larger then it really is. Dad's friend Jim Black was here this week helping out. Three is definately more than two when it comes to building.

A little short on metal roofing. Need two 8 foot sections. Windows are all in and look pretty nice. All windows are triple pane. The 4x4 picture window was a heavy sucker.

Here I'm putting on the ridge cap. We've had a whole week of sunshine, just what you need for roofing. Have to use a line when working on the roof. Can't stay on the metal without it.