Oh Happy Day

Hello everyone! this is kimberly. i apologize for not being on here much. most often i dont get to the computer until after work, which is usually when andy is on it! he dreams of cars and looks up all kinds of turbo stuff - which all of you could guess how many HOURS that can take! first off, i must apologize to ALL of you who were so wonderful at Andy and I's wedding. i know its been months and we have not got "thank you" cards out yet but that doesnt mean we dont appreciate everything. i know a lot of you devoted time and energy and decorating and juice-making to help andy and i out and we so appreciate it! also, to all of you who gave us gifts, we LOVE them! and im not just saying that either. we had such a blast opening them all and enjoying everything you gave us. i know we havent been using most of it since were up here in cold, dark tanana but i know they will be put to good use back in oregon. so, because i cant say it enough - THANK YOU!!
so, lets see.......things have been going along like usual. andy and i are working hard and enjoying life. although, andy has contracted the flu i believe. he started out with awful migraines for a few days, then a hot-cold temperature, really bad back pains and just kind of all over weak feelings. so, y'all could keep him in your prayers, and me too.....i dont want to get it!
i am s'pose to go dog mushing either today or tomorrow with a really nice lady. i dont know when it will work out though because Dale will be flying in today to drop off christmas toys and gifts to sell and if he comes in i need to run the store so andy can help him unload the plane and poick him up. we'll just have to see how it goes. also, the weather plays a factor; if its too cold the dogs dont run too good and we recently had a drastic change in temperature. it was above zero for a few days (almost a week really) adn then all the sudden went down to 10 below. which really isnt that cold, it just feel drastic because 10 above is soooo warm!
so, lots of you have been asking to know what the daylight is like....its been like a 6 hour sunrise lately. the sky is pretty cloudy but right above the horizon the sun peeks out and walks along the horizon making the sky turn a beautiful pink/orange color for about 6 hours. sometimes the sun comes above the horizon fully and sometimes it just stays below the clouds. other than that, its just weird to see where teh sun rose back in october and where the sun is rising now in december. the warm temperatures are bad on the river, there is lots of overflow. andy and i wont be travelling across the river for quite a while! we did see the aurora borealis about 2 weeks ago. andy was out at the cabin next door putting more fuel in it when he looked about and saw the "swirlies". he came upstairs and told me to look out the window. it was sooo beatuiful. mostly green colored but very cool and fast moving. every time you blink it looks different.
ya know, i must talk very well about my husband because he is quite amazing. he has become quite the big handyman around here. right now he jumped outta bed when the phone rang to go to the post office because they couldnt get the sliding door open so all the packages and mail was stuck outside. andy is gonna go see if he can thaw it out or find a way to open it. the post office has a key and it wouldnt work so we may all have frozen mail today! people really appreciate him here and the other day he got sooo many compliments because he took down the old "message boards" which were so stapled up you couldnt even put another flyer up. then he flipped em over, painted them and even stenciled out the words "tanana message board" before posting them back up on the wall. they are quite large too. but he didnt do it for compliments, i think andy is a lot like my dad and just likes to have things clean and orderly looking. it was beginning to look pretty messy and "that'll never do."
so, this is our life, we just go about our routine. the stores been pretty busy, weve been working hard to keep it up. its one of those things that if you dont work on it every day (ie; cleaning, mucking, sweeping, fronting shelves, stocking pop three times a day) it goes bum real fast.
oh, i almost forgot. one more thing y'all could pray for. this young girl, maybe a little younger than me, is pregnant and very sweet. she always calls me to set up a time to do a bible study together but so far we have rescheduled probably 10 times. i would really love to be her study buddy and so just pray that we can meet up and read the bible. she is 7 1/2 months pregnant and i dont think the boyfriend is around. she has just been a blessing to andy and i though, because she goes to the church in fairbanks that andy and i have a connection to. (the missionaries who picked us up back in october are the pastors of that church) and then also, she gave us a christmas card and is just so sweet. so, i would really like to get to know her better.
oh, pray also that we can get some sunday school material while we are in fairbanks so that we can start teaching after the first of the year. i think we are both nervous.
so, thats it i guess. andy and i are very much loving our life together and things are working out pretty well. andy and i are always amazed when we think about what a blessing this whole trip has been and all of the credit goes to God! we love you guys!