Happy New Year from Alaska!


Life is always fun and interesting up here in the North. And 2007 was no different. We started off the year and continued on with our homeschooling, as always. A nice surprise was an extra visit from Grandma Cole to speak at a women’s retreat. Brittany was able to come home since it was during Spring Break and helped with the worship music. What a special time for me to hear my mother speak and to have all three of my daughters there. Definitely a special once-in-a lifetime-event.

As summer neared, I realized that the normal pain from my hip (hip dysplasia from birth) was becoming almost constant and was now interrupting my sleep. I finally went to the doctor and after seeing the X-rays we saw how far my poor hip had deteriorated. So, in May I had a Total Hip Replacement. It was very painful, but after the initial few weeks of recuperating from the actual surgery, my recovery was incredible. Every day I felt tons better. In fact, 3 1/2 weeks later we went camping and I rode on our 4-wheeler. What a joy to be able to do things with the family and not have the pain chasing me the next day. I continued to get better all summer and am pretty much pain free now, with so much more mobility. Amazing what some Titanium can do for you!! I praise God for modern technology!!

The second big thing for our family was to have one of children leave the nest. Although Brittany is at school, we still are responsible for her. In October, Mason moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to pursue his musical career with his new band, The Lost Concept. We knew this day would come and are happy for our children to grow and move on into the lives God has planned for them, but I was not prepared for the heart ache. As I watched my son pull out of the driveway that day, I just had to release him back to God and accept that our children are just loaned to us from God. With breaking heart, I pondered the fact that if I was so sad to see my son just move to a different state, what agony God must have felt to see His Son leave His side to become a man. A man that would ultimately choose to give up His life as a redemption for ours. Wow! It put my pain in perspective and really helped me.

In the midst of all this my brother, “Uncle Curtis”, while on a trip up here with my parents, decided that AK was the place to be. And before we knew it, with the help of cyberspace and jet planes, I now have a sibling living, at least part-time, near by. What fun we are anticipating! He has two cabins on an absolutely beautiful river, so start saving up money and vacation time, because we now have a really cool place to take you. An added benefit of this will be probably tons more time with my parents. After 20 years (January 11th, officially) up here, I think it is my turn to spend time with my Mommy and Daddy!!!

Check out our pictures and a small sampling of each of the kids interests. We would love to hear from y’all! So send us a note and a picture, that would be awesome.


Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Family pictures




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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Welcome!

Hi all! Thanks for stopping by. After taking some really fun family pictures this year, our family decided to find an easy way of sharing them with you, and so we've set up this blog. With luck, very soon you'll be able to find family pictures, pictures of the kids, a copy of our Christmas letter, and other news about the Alaska Venhaus clan. Enjoy!
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