HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Kimberly and I have been enjoying our time off... our first Christmas and New years have come and gone and it was not as bad as we though it was going to be. Dont get me wrong thats not saying alot considering we were expecting to just about hit rock bottom.... The calls from family were AMAZING! Kimberly and I truely felt at home with calls from family, from oregon to Kentucky.

Some gifts kimberly and i bought oursleves while we were in fairbanks were:

Kimberly - Hair highlights, clothes, ice cream

Andrew - guitar, contacts

Its getting depressing being out here... There is a hole in the wall of our bank account and the money is pouring out of it like water. Kimberly and I just got word that Cynthia and Dale want us to leave on thursday at about 11am for tanana, and they will come back on friday. Kimberly and I are super excited because other than spend money there is NOTHING to do out here.

we did go to Chena Hot Springs last night... was it worth it (20 bucks for us to get in + gas + headache driving in fairly heavy snow fall for an hr and a half)... well no, but would i do it again, yes. It was really cool once there, the water from natural hot spring, thus the name, is really hot. Its nice to not be in. It is said the average tempereature of the large outdoor pool is 110 degrees F. so you walk down a snow covered path in -15 degree F temps and walk down a ramp into the pool. The pool has a rotten egg smell, but its not horrible and the cool experience made it worth dealing with. because the hot and cold extreams there is a fog over the water at all times, so its just a dark foggy pool thats about 4 foot deep, at some times the fog is so dark you cannot see across the width of the pool (about 20-25 foot). It really was a cool experience.

We are enjoying ourselves out here, but we are also excited for our return to Tanana. Kimberly and I were just talking about home sickness, and how we have both been told either "home is where your husband is" or "home is where your wife is"... its just much easier said than done being so young. We are both doing way better but we still miss our familys. When we came up here we were looking forward to going down to anchorage for a conference where we would meet up with our marriage councelors, while they were up here for the conference (we were also invited). Then we found that he couldnt make it, and that it was going to be VERY expensive to go anywhere (from the crazy airfair to the lost wages from not working) and we miss our familys so much. Kimberly and I for that reason are leaning more towards using some time to come home considering we may be spending upwards of a year hear unlike the 9 months we though it would be and there will be no good time to come home in that extra time we will be here. We are still anxiously awaiting our abundant life sermons on cd (what 2 months now) and we are dying to see all the family and friends again! (also shaun i apologize if this is the first you have heard of this, kimberly sent an email to you earlier and im assuming that you would recieve that before seeing this).