Tales From The Bush

Ian and I had an eventful trip to Anchorage last weekend. Among the highlights were a trip to the dentist, an unsuccessful attempt to get an Alaskan driver license (that would be me), and a nearly broken but epoxied rental car. I won't go into too much detail about the latter, only mention that on a cold winter night in an apartment parking garage we found ourselves mixing epoxy, blowing a hairdryer, and keeping steady hands......papa John would have been proud of our auto body work!


As usual we stocked up on food and supplies to mail back to Aniak. Our plastic bins have seen better days and unfortunately one of them was leaking when we picked it up. The anticipation was mounting as I carefully carried it through the airport leaving a trail of something white behind me.  Thankfully it was only a box of almond milk and the rest of the bins contents could be wiped clean and used (not that we would waste anything out here anyway). Our cupboards are now stocked with the essentials: twizzlers, pringles, dark chocolate acai berries...you know, just in case the power goes out we want to be covered. 


Before we left we had a friend over. Well, we had him over but didn't let him inside. 

This little calf decided to stop by for a while and grab some lunch on our nearby tree. We got pretty close but he didn't seem to interested in us. Thankfully his mother never showed up because she might have had a thing or two to say....

I was recently in Holy Cross on a village trip and saw almost 50 patients, close to 1/3 of the village. While there I had a wonderful talk with an elder. He is in his late 80's and has been proudly married for over 60 years. He met his wife in the mission orphanage where they were raised by nuns. When I get the chance I try to hear some of their stories, they are beautiful tales of a culture slowly fading away. 

He told me of a particularly difficult winter in 1940 which left the area sparse for moose. Knowing that without enough meat for the winter he and his family would not survive he traveled 30 miles up river by dogsled to look for one. He said that as he traveled he kept praying that God would bring his family a moose and as he came upon an opening in the tundra, he found a bull and two calves grazing.  

However, as his dog sled team pulled him closer, the bull suddenly turned and began charging after him. Quickly he had to maneuver around the angry moose and while his team speed away, he twisted backward, shot, and landed himself a years worth of dinner. But, the glory was short lived as the other two moose began to charge, and so began another chase. 

In the end he was left with not one, but three moose, enough to not only feed his family, but help out others as well. By the time he was done quartering all three it was late in the day which meant that he would have to build a fire and stay the night. So, to survive the -40 temperatures he cut off the bull's ears and used them as slippers and wrapped himself in the moose hide to stay warm. 

Although he was toasty warm inside, when he woke in the morning the moose blanket had completely frozen solid on his back like a straight jacket. He had to roll around in the snow to break up the ice and free himself enough to wiggle out. 

None of the moose went to waste that winter (or ever). He talked about older natives using the tendons of the moose as thread and porcupine quills as needles to sew their clothes. The bones would be sculpted into kitchen utensils and the hides had multiple uses as well. 

Unfortunately my time was limited and he had to go, but I encouraged him to record these stories. I am looking forward to next time as he said he would share with me his story about spending the night with wolves.

  
Here is the Russion Orthodox church in Holy Cross. In view are two fishing boats and a snow machine, all are important items for this culture today. 

Um Honey, have you seen the car? This picture made me laugh. I came upon it while going for a walk. I am not sure that the car even works, but it gives you a good idea of the amount of snow we have had this year. 

This picture was taken as I flew over of the Russion Mountains headed home to Aniak. It was such a beautiful sight and being that I was on a little bush plane, I got a pretty close view. 


Ian was in Bethel all week for more training. A lot of new things are happening in his department. He remains optimistic about everything (as he usually does about most things anyway) and is viewing the changes as good opportunities for growth.  


I am really blessed to have him as a husband (and have become strangely lonely without him when we are apart). He often has very timely words of encouragement that help me see things in a deeper and more spiritual light. 


Although there remain some struggles with work, I am refusing to give myself over to the circumstances, rather to keep my mind on the things that build up and edify my faith. I have become aware the these next two months could be the most fruitful of my entire time here and that gives me hope.


So, I would say that both Ian and I are going quite well. We are both looking forward to going home in a few weeks and to seeing those that we love. It has been over a year since we have been back so we have a lot of catching up to do. 


Also, Happy Birthday to Bri and my dad! Love you both so much!!!


Blessings
-Sarah

A New Sled For A Deserving Friend

It has been very cold (surprise) and windy! As a result, many people have had to make daily runs to gather firewood for their homes. And, this is no easy job! 

One such person is our friend, Travis. After work he often heads out to gather, cut, and hand carry his wood back home for his family. Yes, hand carry his logs. Most people use these special plastic sleds to pull their logs and gather several cords at once, but until yesterday he wasn't able to purchase one. 

Being that he is a very special person in our lives,  Ian and I decided to collect funds and hire someone to make him his very own sled. As it turned out several people from our clinic felt the same way and were able to pitch in to help us with this purchase. 


And, my boss's fiancé, a veteran wood collector, was also able to make him a replica of the one that he uses.  We ordered the plastic from a distributor in Anchorage and our gift ready in less than 3 days. The entire clinic huddled outside during lunch and surprised with him with a new sled. 

He was so happy, surprised, and grateful that it made the moment even more tender.  

This last weekend I had the great idea of skiing to the post office. It is only about 1.5 miles away and I thought the exercise would be good.  So we bundled up and headed out to what we would later find was truly the great beyond. 

As I said earlier, it has been very windy here.  

Even though he looks like he might be ready to hold up a bank, Ian is indeed still happy with his day job. He has had the wonderful opportunity to use the knowledge that he has been given to help others.

 In addition to doing more inter-village traveling, leading anger management classes, hosting elders gatherings, and seeing a steady flow of regular clients,  he has also started training to become a certified chemical dependency counselor.  Counseling seems so natural to him, and I am really proud of all that he is doing at work and in the community. 

It feels good to see the community further welcome us and at times even notice our absence. I believe that Ian has had a big part in this, quite possibly because of his basketball skills.......

It has taken some time, though, to really feel like this is home,  but I think we are both beginning to feel a new closeness with the people.  

I think we have both learning to transition away from holding unto expectations and are moving to a position of openness, where our worth, value, and happiness is not tied to any particular outcome. 

Especially out here in rural Alaska, we are learning that we have little control over anything in our lives other than our attitude and interpretation of events. This has not only been very freeing, but also very wonderful to know that we can continue to love no matter what happens.

For us, we know that a wisdom beyond ourselves is operating and working things out for the greater benefit.  This is both humbling and exciting to know that in remaining in love I have the potential to play a main role in carrying out a divine plan.  

In the words of Albert Camus, " In the depth of winter, I have finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

May you come to know the awesomeness that walks beside you at all times on this path that you have chosen so that you may never fear again. 

Blessings 

-Sarah

Colder Than Cold

Greetings earthlings and other lower 48-ers! Like the picture, it feels like we are living on another planet here in Aniak. It was -40 to -50 most of last week and even -65 in a near by village.  For a good part of the time nothing was working: quads, snow machines, planes, our walking legs......

When it is that cold you really begin to appreciate the warmth of zero degrees! Unfortunately I have seen my fair share of frost bite in the clinic as well.  It happens so quickly, that even with the best winter gear, the chilling cold will find its way to your skin and INSIDE your home......

This is the INSIDE of our window. All of our windows had about 4-5 inches of ice along the sides and bottoms. Ian and I kept checking the thermostat and it said it was 70, but I guess when you are battling -50 outside you can form ice no matter where it is. 

This is the INSIDE window handle, completely frozen. 

So what, you may you ask, are we doing then when it is that cold? Well.....

And, we did warm up some wonderful guests as well.

This is Barbara and Ceatin Green, they were here with ABI (Alaska Bible Institute) to help our local pastor cut wood for the winter. They are extra special, among many reasons, because Barbara is the daughter of my parent's pastor, Russ, back home.  To think, from a small town in Michigan, two people with such close ties to my loved ones found their way out here. 

We really enjoyed hearing how God is working in their lives (they just got married this summer) and Ian especially enjoyed their presence for a game of Risk.  We were sad to see them leave, but happy to have established a closer friendship with them both. 

Now back to being to being alone and by ourselves.....

Blessing

-Sarah 

Merry Christmas From The Arctic

I pass this sign every morning as I ski to work and it always makes me laugh. Before I glide through I first look both directions as I know, this is a moose crossing! Here, crossing the street doesn't mean that you are only checking for snow machines and quads, but also for large furry animals too.   Thankfully I have yet to cross paths with such a gigantic (and often aggressive) creature, but, they are frequently spotted around town. 

It still amazes me that these creatures can survive the winters here. Recently we lost power for for almost 2 days and our little apartment was beginning to get pretty cold. In addition to long periods of darkness (it gets light around 11:00 am and dark around 4 with dusk in-between) we have also had some -30 degree days, and that is without the wind factor.  So, as the wind was whipping around in the darkness I wondered how animals now and people long ago survived. 

During our power outage, Ian and I had plenty of time to ponder this and how we could occupy our time without the internet (Ian) or in my case The Office. However, with our 10+ candles not only was our home a sweet aroma of fragrances (thanks Frontier Family Farms!) but it provided the necessary light and heat to put in many long and romantic hours of the game Logic...haha.  Not to mention, it gave us a whole new appreciation for interior illumination (not to be confused with Clark Griswald's exterior illumination).  

So, if you have ever wondered where Aniak gets it protection from, let me introduce you to the Underground Secret Ninja Ring....or so they believe.  In addition to his weekly basketball games, Ian also likes to practice his ninja moves. 

He and our neighbor are both very skilled, as you can tell. And, knowing that I have not one but two secret ninjas around for protection is a great comfort.  


Here Ian is teaching a few lessons that he learned as a small boy. Listen close to the instruction given and you might figure out just where he received this wisdom from. As a result, he is very selective to whom he entrusts his knowledge to.

 Here is a picture of my new and much loved hobbie, quilt making. These are my first two lap quilts. The blue one is for Ian's parents and the pink one is for my parents. I had so much fun doing these (and I am sure that my neighbors also enjoyed hearing the constant bong bong of the sewing machine) that I have already started another project, or two.  

Ian even helped with a few stitches so that we could honestly say that the gifts were hand-made by both of us. As you can tell, he is thrilled to have helped.....LOL.  Now he can add to his many titles (husband, great white hope, ninja) the honor of being a seamstress....I can see Matt Lake shaking his head right now. 

We are continuing  to enjoy skiing. Aniak got a lot of snow over the last couple of days and earlier today Ian and I went on a 4 mile ski. Below are some of the pictures.

And, this my friends is evidence of a moose. Also evidence that he or she needs to get more fiber in their diet!

Here are some of the moose tracks that we saw along the way. We did not run into any live moose out there, but we did see plenty of tracks.

Other than that, we have been very good. After my long month (intubations, inserting my first chest tube) work seems to have slowed down. Last week I went on two village trips to Shageluk and Anvik. They are both small villages of about 80 people and Shageluk still does not have running water or electricity.  

I really enjoy traveling to my villages as I always leave feeling like I have made a difference. Not only do the people seem to appreciate the care, but I am often more humble and grateful when I return home.  Life can be very difficult out here and I am thankful that people allow me to be a part of their journey. 

Ian is also doing wonderful things (besides protecting Aniak). His monthly elder lunches are very popular and he continues to build trust and friendships with the community. Like I mentioned earlier he is playing basketball weekly and apparently his team is even winning.  He is also traveling to villages once a month and continues to enjoy his work. I think I will have him blog next time so that he can update everyone in his own words........

And, PRAISE GOD, my student loans are officially paid off!!!!!!!!! 

We are both VERY happy!

Anyway, Merry Christmas from the Niecko's! 

There Are Many Ways To Make Icicles

This morning Ian and I went for a 4 mile ski and we learned that there are actually several ways of making icicles. Some of the different types, at least here in Alaska, are hat-cicles, eyelash-cicles, and lastly but most importantly snot-cicles.  The weather is cold (go figure) but when I say cold I mean like -30 degrees cold even with the sun.  So, forming any of the above is actually quite easy.

In an attempt to get more exercise I have been skiing to work everyday. The 1 mile trek doesn't take that long, and it is actually very relaxing.

Aniak has several trails into the woods and mountains that would make any skier jealous. Ian and I are anxious to safely explore them all.  Actually, on Thanksgiving morning, in preparation for the afternoon carb loading, about 5 of us skied a 5 mile trail.  We call ourselves the Aniak Ski Club, even if we are all middle aged and slightly out of shape, we persevere through the elements.

Here is an example of the eyelash-cicles....Fortunately Ian wiped away the the cicles found proximal to the nose.

So this picture is not recent, but I wanted to put it in the blog anyway. About 2 months ago Ian and I went with our good friends to their fish camp and helped them winterize. On our way back we caught a beautiful sunset (along with a moose grabbing a drink in the river) that was definitely picture worthy.

As some of you may have heard, Thanksgiving this year was the close of a very sad and long week. In just two weeks, our little village lost two people under the age of 32. One of which was a friend and colleague who froze to death. I have heard that the incident made the USA Today News, but here in Aniak we were all shocked by this tragedy to such a sweet person. She was only 21 and leaves behind a 14 mo old son.

As the only medical provider for the last two weeks (and for about 400 miles), I was at both incidents and along with a full schedule at work, was both physically and emotionally drained come Thanksgiving.  The hardest part about my job is wanting so desperately to help and save lives, but knowing that sometimes after you have done everything you can, you have to make the decision to stop.

Both deaths were very difficult on me (and on Ian), but in drawer closer to God I have been able to reestablish my footing and regain peace.

Happy Thanksgiving and Blessings,
Sarah

Maui / Molokai part 2

Well, our Hawaii vacation has come to an end. In addition to the sun, I had the most wonderful time with Ian. It was like re-living our honeymoon all over again.  I even made him stop by our original honeymoon hotel, I was feeling nostalgic, what can I say?

Two of the highlights on the trip was scuba diving and our Molokai hike. The scuba dive was phenomenal! I got down to over 70 ft and the visibility was great. It felt like I was swimming in a giant aquarium filled with miles of brightly colored coral.  At one point I was swimming with a school of  at least 200 fish, unbelievably cool.   I tried to keep my buoyancy and be very still as to not disturb or startle any of the animals. Thankfully I was able to and therefore was able to swim very close to the fish.  I could have touched them most of the time....it was just amazing

This is the beginning our our hike down to the Leper colony in Molokai. It was a 3.2 mile hike covering 1664 ft in elevation, it was not easy!

The serpentine trail hugged the cliffs and boasts some of the most beautiful views of the island. Even though it was physically demanding, it was really fun exploring with Ian. On the way down we also encountered a herd of midget mountain goats. It was pretty cool to see them up close in the natural habitat. Unfortunately we were not fast enough to get any pictures.

However,  what hike would be complete without a little surprise? As we were just about finished a dark ominous cloud decided to open up on us.  Even though Ian and I were completely drenched when we finally made it to the end, we were still two very happy hikers.    

This is outside of Father Damien's church.  Although little was known about how leprosy was contracted or spread, the physical disfigurement was no secret. In an attempt to contain and limit its spread, the Hawaiian government sent anyone with the disease away to this isolated part of the island. From the late 1800's to the mid 1940's thousands of lepers were dropped off and quarantined here. Apparently there are still 10 lepers living in the tiny village. 

Ian is standing in front of Father Damien's grave. Out of compassion for the people and his devotion to God, this Catholic priest spent the remaining years of his life converting this "death village" to a community. Unfortunately he contracted leprosy after 15 years of serving and died with the people he loved so much. It was a very touching story. 

Behind us is the drop off location for the people. Our guide told us that often people were not taken to shore, they were literally dropped off in the ocean and expected to swim or die. 

Kalapapua, the leper colony.

And we made it back up!

Here is a little secluded beach we found on the west side of Molokai. We were the only people on this beautiful beach. 

My Hawaiian Princess.


So, here we are back in Anchorage. A cold winter storm welcomed us and gave us a 20 degree hug. Snow is prevalent, and so is our thankfulness for a wonderful trip. 


- Sarah