experience, WE experienced!

As for how pictures go, our camera has decided it was tired of taking pictures how we wanted them. The zoom in button shuts the camera off. This after realizing the two outer covers encasing the guts of the camera were about to fall off seeing as like 5 screws that hold them on decided they wanted to go find another job. Also, putting them on the internet has stopped. with the amazingly slow connection up here and upload issues we have had, not to mention the probably about 500 pictures worth of space we have taken since the last upload is overwhelming when thinking of uploading 5 pictures every 15 minutes. While we were in town for Christmas we picked up a 250mb external hard drive and i have just been loading the pictures onto that so they will be ready for viewing when we get home.

Dale is so great! He came out with Kailey on Thursday for a meeting and so Kailey could help us with the HUGE order we have coming in along with him he brought some fresh fruit for Kimberly and I along with a cheese cake and other meal goodies. It ended up being a bust as Brice INC. had the only road to the dump closed from Thursday morning until today (Sunday) and now the back of the store is PILED with garbage and trash and smells terrible because our trash truck is beyond full. The power guy has had some issues with the HUGE diesel motor powering the city this past week. The power has been cutting out intermittently in the night which is all fine and dandy except we have a carbon monoxide detector in our room that goes BEEEEEEP! when it shuts of and BEEEEEEP! when it comes back on which really gets the blood flowing ha ha. When I was bringing Dale and Kailey out to the airport she was telling us a story of how her friends like to go around roundabouts really fast in their convertible, down where she is going to college. She mentioned how when they are all done everyone is squished to one side of the car. Dale said "thats how people get killed" when Kailey spoke up saying "we were only doing it because no one else was using the roundabout and we were wearing our seat belts"... so i spoke up and said "If your all wearing your seat belts how did you all end up on the same side of the car?" Kailey went into a mad explanation dash while Dale started cracking up and told me i'm going to make a great dad some day. He then went on to say how he was really sad we were not staying this summer not because of the work we could help them do but also because we are "really fun to hang out with" and hes bummed hes going to miss the opportunity to get out and just hang out with us. It was SO nice!

We also had the Post Master tell us that we "HAD" to come back next year. She said that we do a better job than ANYONE that has ever worked in the store even Cynthia and Dale, WHICH is very flattering but i know better. Cynthia and Dale are light years better than Kimberly and I, this is their money, their lives depend on this job and some days we just want to sit back and take peoples money (TO PUT IN THE TILL! ha ha) when the floor could use a sweep or a garbage is full. We really appreciate this opportunity to do this, Cynthia and Dale are such great people that have truly blessed us with this opportunity and their friendship.

The temperature is fluctuating from mid 30s to the 60s or so on any given day. The ice is all off the river and big chunks of ice are floating down the river from the ice breaking up farther up. Unfortunately the breakup was REALLY boring all the locals tell us. The water didnt rise much so it wasn't a very violent breakup. in front of the store basically all that happened was the entire middle of the river just gave out in one big chunk and floated past us (of which i have some video). While it may have been uneventful it was still cool though, this chunk of ice was probably the size of 20+ football fields just floating down the river!

A coming home update:
We will be leaving the village probably on the 6pm flight on June 13th. We will then be picked up and taken directly to the airport where our flight is scheduled to leave about 2 hours from the time we land in Fairbanks from Tanana. We will depart from Fairbanks to Anchorage at about 9:45pm and after about a 2 hour layover in Anchorage we will depart directly to Portland at about 1am. We are scheduled to arrive in Portland at about 5:45am on the 14th (Thursday).

We love you all SO much and miss yall SO much! We cannot wait to be home!

portland....here we come!

hey everybody,
this is kimberly. i just wanted to update you all on what was going on. currently andy and i's heads are spinning and we fight each other for back rubs every night to ease the stress. so far andys been the faithful one giving me back rubs when i am tense. i think they just feel so good because one of his hands can cover over half my back! haha. lets see, the weather is absolutely beautiful, sunshine until midnight. beautiful blue skies, the river is flowing just as it was 9 months ago (well, there are still chunks of ice flowing down but its pretty well open.) ive been riding my bike every other day for the last 3 weeks, weve gone on picnics, rode quads and best of all.....andy got one of dales motorcycles running. its old and beat up and kinda slow but wonderful. the other day we went on the 4 mile loop that i ride my bike on and he was on the motorcycle. we were side by side looking like dorks while i was pedaling like crazy to keep up with the motorcycle. it was very fun. so, this is just an update to let you all know when we are thinkin of leaving tanana. we have a team from church coming up on the 15th of june and we are looking forward to showing them around and letting them see our lifestyle for the past nine months and then we will probably try and come home on the 16th of june. this is one month earlier than anticipated which is exciting. we are looking forward to friends and family. i will let you guys know more when ive got more figured out. all in all, our trip has been just amazing and we wouldnt have changed it at all. the possibility of coming up here again next year is open and we are excited to come for the second semester of school (december - june). that way we would be home for friends and family at christmas time and the holidays and still get to come up and see all our friends up here. we really do get sad when thinking of leaving everyone up here. they have made such impacts on our lives and we want to keep in touch and see them again. so, thats about all i have to say. we love you all, thanks for checking the blog.

As the world turns

Well Sunday Kimberly and I missed church. We didnt know it at the time but we were both thinking the same thing, that we would get up and throw in an Abundant Life Church dvd and cuddle up and watch the sermon. It sounded like such a great idea in bed but as soon as we got up neither of us though of it again. Sunday night we voiced our frustrations to each other with how we handled the day and that conversation lead to each of us realizing each of our god tanks were going on empty. My lifestyle in particular just drove me crazy but i couldn't find the strength in me to change... sleeping in every morning, staying up late, not being very active. Yet every night when I went to bed I would get myself excited thinking i would get up early the next day, always failing. Kimberly was frustrated with the way she ate... keep in mind Kimberly is even more beautiful than when we got married but she just gets irritated that she cannot loose the 5 lbs or so and she finds herself eating "poorly" some nights.

We decided Sunday night it was the end of our living out of control of ourselves and we both needed a god refill. We have been praying regularly, going to bed by 11:30 and getting up by 7:30, we then get some breakfast I get a shower, then after we pray for the day we go our own ways and have about 30min of quiet time. Its SO nice, feeling my body clock adjusting. I was able to stay up till 2am comfortably without being tired. Last night at 11pm i was about to fall out of my chair. In this last week I have just been shown again how great god is... I have tried and tried to change the way i was living and failed and failed. The week I recommit my life to god and really spend time with him and talk with him regularly, both Kimberly are doing so much better.

As for whats going on around us, its around 30-50 degrees now, the main roads are drying up. There is still a lot of mud around and there are still LARGE puddles in low areas. Its so nice to have the sun, and to be able to get out in a single layer. I have a lot of new pictures but our internet has been goofy the last like 2 weeks and not allowed me to upload anything hardly.

Dale came in last night, and our anxiety was through the roof. We knew the talk was coming about our email we sent them. We asked for a fairly large raise, not expecting to get it all its just we would rather ask for the sun, moon, and stars and settle for the sun, than ask for a star and be gladly given the single star. That lead us to stress, wondering what their thinking was with Kimberly and I knowing the request was a bit high, thinking maybe they thought we were trying to gouge them because we know they need us. We actually didn't talk about it until this morning. But last night we ran out with dale to look at the property they just purchase. The land was SO cool, out away from the town, quiet... gentle rolling hills, and the coolest cabins!

As I said, we talked with Dale this morning. God has been faithful and helped me to talk with dale and all i can do is put my trust in him that he will be with me through the rest of the negotiations. I am dealing with a bit of stress still and I think its simply because we are not really any closer to a conclusion. Basically Dale just said, "we can work with the whole e-mail, it sounded pretty good, just the dollar amount was a little high". I explained to him our reasoning behind the number and we knew it was "up there". That was basically the end of the conversation, no counter offer just a "we have to talk about it". I don't think my stress is from this situation, I think I'm just getting worried about spending another year up here and having feelings of being short changed. Feeling like I have to say yes to their counter offer when it comes because i don't want to offend them by leaving them hanging for next year if the counter offer is less than we really felt comfortable accepting. I just need to leave it in gods hand that he will look out for us and our relationship with Cynthia and Dale.

We would love prayer for this situation we are in, and our decision we are going to have to make when we receive a counter offer. Also that our life changes we have made and are working through right now, its going to be a constant struggle and we are going to need all they prayer we can get!

We love you all, thank you for reading the blog!

-Andrew (and the beautiful Kimberly) Long

negotiations...

Kimberly and I have been BEYOND stressed out lately... our future is up in the air right now. Cynthia and Dale have inquired to us about staying up here another year. It has put us in a tough place. We love Tanana, and the people... to think we know about 300 people that one year ago didnt know at all. Then to think that by June there is a possibility that we may never see them again. On the other hand its hard to think about being here another year away from friends and family and PARTS STORES. Our trip home has had me so excited to get a car again and the sad reality that it wont be anything like what i had before is driving me crazy.

We sent our first negotiation attempt to Cynthia and Dale this afternoon. Its the first time we have done anything to communicate about our future up here since the question was popped by Dale weeks ago. Ill refrain from details but it would make it a lot more worth spending another year away from our friends and family and would include trips home.

As I mentioned our stress is through the roof... the other day i found myself breaking down and crying right after work. I have regularly found myself having a hard time when the store gets crazy with my motor movements, my vision gets hard to control and slow and my brain just shuts down much like an overloaded computer. We just need to talk about our terms and I think everything will clear up.

Don't be afraid for us... we just need to give it some time, and everything will start clicking... We appreciate the support we are getting. We love you all!

As for an update on Alaska though... its light for just over 18 hours now, most of the snow has melted, and in less than 2 weeks the river is supposed to break up. Everything is just SUPER SUPER muddy. You have to choose your steps wisely because you may drown in the mud. We have had the quads out and gotten VERY wet in the small lakes the melting snow has created. Today was REALLY sunny and beautiful.

We love ya and miss you all. We cannot wait to see you!

-Andrew

Tough decisions

Alright, well Dale came out yesterday and we already had an idea that we would be having the "so are ya comming back next year" talk. Kimberly and I decided a long time ago that we would not be coming back up. We just miss Portland and were tired of freewheeling not really doing anything for our future.

well dale started the conversation saying, would a paid Hawaiian vacation convince ya to stay. Which had Kimberly hook, line, and sinker. I started to wonder if maybe it would be a good thing. I KNOW Cynthia and Dale could use the help, Dale LOVES having someone mechanically inclined around, he has a laundry list for me to do this summer from replacing an engine in a truck to going out to their house in Fairbanks for a couple weeks and replace an engine on his hover craft, and painting his airplane hanger. Not only that but he recently found a satellite internet provider that has a FREE online training program and distribution/install perks that ANYONE can do for free training. So he wants to buy a bunch of the satellite units and sell them in the villages... not only that but the distributer/installer sets the install fee and keeps 100% of the money and gets a percentage of the month bill paid by the users... so that would give Dale and I something to do every other weekend or so.

But beyond the help, Dale was serious about the Hawaii trip. Alaska Airlines is going to start flying to Hawaii and when they do they have frequent flyer miles they can cash in. I talked with Dale this morning and told him that Hawaii would be cool, BUT, i don't want to spend time not being paid to fly somewhere and have it not be home to our families. He told me "no, I know that, Hawaii would be in addition to a trip home". Not only that but he talked about a raise, AND another day off (having someone come in and work saturdays). So more pay and less work, simply because they trust us we know what to do already, and I help keep up on the mechanical stuff so he doesnt have a HUGE list of stuff to fix and get running every time he comes into town (unlike the last couple that was out here whom could barely tell a wrench from a hammer).

Then Dale took me out in his plane today. He purchased some property somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70 miles out... just a place to get away from Tanana for a week and relax. So we flew overhead, then on the way home he ACTUALLY LET ME FLY! I was freaked out of my mind, the turbulence wasn't horrible BUT it sure made me uncomfortable in the 6 seat plane. He told me he wanted to let me fly and i said "no its quite alright, you can keep flying" (he offered as we were bouncing around and all i could think about was kissing the ground let alone FLYING). Then the next thing i know he has his hands off the controls and he says "go for it"
"wha"?
and he pointed to the controls and said "go for it" again.
So i grabbed the controls and stayed in control till just before we landed and he took over then (luckily). After we landed he reiterated the fact that what I just did is something that many people in Portland only dream of, and up here its everyday life.

So, today was a VERY good day. I spent time working on one of his pickups (needs a starter and the local parts store is out *wink*) so after our failed second attempt at flying a starter out (flew 2 wrong ones out) he took the second attempt back tonight with him and this time the one from the truck so hopefully he will be able to get the right one hopefully the saying 3rd times a charm will hold true.

We love you and will hopefully be seeing you sooner than we thought (though not as long as we thought) but we will let you all know of the dates as soon as everything is in set in stone.

busy busy busy...

Alright after our VERY short stop of the posting it is continuing tonight...

We have been SLAMMED... We have gone from LARGE grocery, pop, bread, produce orders all flowing in over the last week and a half to probably close to double the population for the spring carnival. Not only is the store crazy with all the people but we have also opened up the grill which really is a wrench thrown in the whole operation.

Fortunately Kimberly and I have had some time to get away and do some fun stuff. For myself, I was able to get into a basketball tournament... like full on, referees flown out... the whole 9 yards. Its SO much fun but WOW im rusty... along with my lungs, my legs, my arteries... My anxiety level has been through the roof. BUT on a good note i am down just under 297 lbs... i was about 295 when i came up and fluctuated from 289-296 but as recent as like 3 weeks ago i was at just shy of 310... This basketball is just what i need to keep my motivation up and MOVE. As for how my team is doing, we won our first game by forfeit. Our second game we actually had to work for, we ended up winning by 4 points. And our third game we just played tonight... This game was against the Tanana High school basketball team. They gave us a run for our money, ahead the whole game until the last couple minutes. We finally tied the game in the final seconds leading us into overtime. In the last 35 seconds of overtime we were ahead by two, and were fouled which lead to 1 point on the foul shots boosting our lead to 3pts... They were unable to convert when they got the ball back... and after they fouled us again we were able to boost our lead by 2 more points ensuring our victory in the closing seconds of the game. It was AMAZING because most of the people in the gym were cheering for the Tanana boys not my team.

Then Kimberly and i were able to get into the Chichaco race. This gave me a lot of anxiety too because I have only been on dogs once before and they were slow dogs, this time i knew i had faster dogs which worried me that i would loose them... Err... they would loose me haha. We each only had five dogs though and considering they usually use 7 or more for people a third my size... my dogs got pretty tired. FORTUNATELY for me for me my dogs were WAY better than Kimberly's dogs. Hers got spooked by some guys at a corner making sure the right corner was taken, which cause them to 180 and try to run past Kimberly the wrong direction... Im SO glad i did it, it was so much fun. Not to mention I BEAT KIMBERLY! Thats right you heard... while i did get passed up (by the winner mind you) Kimberly came in 6 minutes behind me (she left 4 minutes after me). So BIG WINNER RIGHT HERE!!! Sorry John, hahaha!


Last but SURELY not least... Cynthia and Dale flew into Fairbanks after we believe Cynthia had a minor stroke. Her left side went numb while she was just sitting talking. So all I ask is for prayers. She is just so crazy stressed out with the store right now i could only imagine what she is dealing with.

We love you all and miss you all. We are so excited to see ya all again!

-Andrew

until further notice...

Alright, unforutunatly because of the political correctness expected of a blog, Kimberly and I will refrain from any further blogs...

If you would like updates email me or kimberly at:

andrew.long.t@gmail.com
or
kimberly.long.m@gmail.com

and ill add you to a mailer.

Kimberly and I are not 1st graders saying non politically correct things to get responses (beating kids up for attention). I spend time during every blog to word things as well as possible using my relationships with the people i write about to judge if it should be written or not, and its still not good enough... when the few responses we get are to tell us we said things we shouldnt have, i would rather talk to no one than to simply do this to be told we were wrong. Because of the level of public openness ill solve the problem by converting our blog to a email update to only those that would like it.

I apologize to those that follow the blog silently, I do this for you too, not for a moment expecting a response, and id be glad to continue via email if you would like to give me your email address.

We love you all back at home and we miss you so much, we cannot wait to be home.


Kimberly and I also love Cynthia and Dale, at the end of the day they are the reason we are fighting through missing our family and our home town to stay up here in a town 160 miles from nearest parts store, and shopping mall. They take such good care of us and we really appreciate them. I think when i speak of their lack of communication i dont realize my communication is lacking too. What i dont communicate about our relationship enough is the positave and how great they are.

also for those that may have cringed over things I have said, you may be thinking now im just converting to emails so i can say names and share the dirt... by no means, I dont share alot of that stuff because of my respect for the people of Tanana and all of the interior. I have lost no respect, and i have no anger or frusteration to vent about these wonderful people... It will just insure positave communication or no communication back at kimberly and I, which being away from home for the another 6 months (when we were only planning on being up here for about that long total to begin with) is what we need.

At the end of the day there is just too much to think about to please everone, i dont have 1 week to write a 4 paragraph blog to make sure i have covered all my bases... my pictures will continue comming on my photobucket account (link is in past blogs) so if you would like to see those feel free to continue checking up.

this is titled until further notice because I still trying to figure out if this is the step we need to take. Im trying to decide if this is maturity speaking or the 8th grader behind my ear. I do know that this is for you (the reader) and id hate to eliminate it because of me. It is something that kimberly and i will continue praying about.

please keep us in your prayers.