Posts Tagged ‘alaska’

We’ve had several days home now after our incredible trip to Alaska. I’ve processed a lot about our trip, and I know that our time spent with our friends there will continue to be used by God to teach us life lessons long into the days ahead. However, here are “10 Things I Learned in Alaska:”

1. A volcano is more than a science project. They’re real.
2. A 185 lb. 41 year-old moves quite fast on a sled and often emits a curious, girly-sounding scream that closely resembles sheer panic when rocketing down a long snowy slope in Hatchers Pass at rates that would pass the space shuttle.
3. There is a lot of yellow snow on the roadsides in Alaska, especially in Talkeetna. I’m hoping it was from animals.
4. One house + four kids + four adults + one bathroom + moose sausage = trouble.
5. If you have a small storage building and know how to make hot water, you could open up a coffee shop in Alaska. There’s one on every corner and in every parking lot.
6. It’s more difficult to become Sarah Palin’s running mate for the 2012 elections than just showing up at her Wasilla church and hoping to bump into her.
7. Most Alaskan towns would be stumpers in any spelling bee.
8. There are more ways to die per square mile in Alaska than in Arkansas.
9. No one thinks it’s funny when you respond to a question, “I don’t know, but Alaska” even though you chuckle about it every time you say it.
10. 4053 miles and two years are not enough to disrupt true friendship. 

We were so excited! We made it to the airport this time… But as we turned in the rental car, the helpful Enterprise folks said, “Uh, I think they just canceled all flights out today…” Sure enough, while I was standing there, with a dumbfounded look on my face, my Twitter alert from Alaska Air went off on my phone announcing the same thing.

Canceled. That makes eight flights canceled since last Thursday.

When I got back in the car, there were two very upset females and one very quiet 12 year-old son. Dad was remarkably calm, all things considered.

Redoubt volcano continues to throw up all over Alaska’s atmosphere, prohibiting flights out. Many say the airlines are being way too cautious; however, the alternatives are not pretty.

The Northwest Air agent we spoke to next, however, would have won an award for jerk of the year. Thankfully, we hung up, called back and got another one that was very helpful.

With all that said, we’ve purchased more tickets on Alaska Air, in the hopes that one way or another, some of us will be able to leave Alaska this year. Caro and the kids are now slated to fly out Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. Alaska time. I’m flying out Thursday at 8:00 a.m. Pray that these flights take!

Carolyn has already missed her annual Easter Special (a most necessary income event for us!) and will be rescheduling it. However, she’s also supposed to be taking Kim’s Dance photos this week. On top of that, her chemo was scheduled for today. Things ain’t pretty.

So we’re starting a Volcano Fund. If you’d be willing to give, my Paypal ID (and email) is quackup [at] sbcglobal.net. 

Whether you give dollars or not, we would sure appreciate your prayers. Kristy’s mom mentioned that someone needs to throw alka seltzer in the volcano. We are open to all options at this point.

One bright spot today: I think we get to spend more time with the Hales this evening. We’re going to talk them into coming to Anchorage to hang out with us some. We love them! And we are hating that they’re feeling bad for us! 

Spiritual lessons out of this are too many to number. In addition, we know that they’ll be easier to digest after the intensity of these days wear off. Patience, unfulfilled expectations, God’s sovereignty and goodness, being frustrated in the midst of indescribable beauty, etc.

This is a pretty awesome video from the Ground Truth Trekking blog that shows a time lapse video of Redoubt’s eruptions:

Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009 from Bretwood Higman on Vimeo.

So which do you want first? Aaaahhh. The bathroom remodel is going well this afternoon. Just in case we have to live here for 3-4 months, Mike decided to add another bathroom downstairs. That way, two families won’t be sharing one. I’ve been helping *watching* him tile Saturday afternoon.

On the flight front, Redoubt Volcano has erupted 17 times this week so far! To give you some perspective, this was taken from an Anchorage Daily News article:

If history is a guide, the last eruption at Redoubt — from December 1989 to April 1990 — lasted four months and generated 23 distinct eruptions, according to U.S. Geological Survey records.

Before that, an eruptive episode begun in 1965 dawdled on for a couple of years, but there were no instruments on the volcano back then to record mini-tremors or changes in its shape like today, so it’s difficult to make scientific comparisons. That leaves just the 1989-90 eruption cycle as a historical clue, Waythomas said.

“That’s a sample size of one,” Waythomas said, citing the weakness in interpreting the statistics.

By comparison, Redoubt’s current eruptive episode is less than a week old, and it would have to continue through half of the summer to match the 1989-1990 eruption in terms of duration. At the same time, it’s already generated 13 distinct eruptions, and at that rate it could match its previous mark in terms of in just one more week.

However, as it stands at 3:00 p.m. Alaska time, our flight out is still on for Sunday morning at 2:30. Keep your fingers crossed. We’ve been bumped 4 times now. Every time the flight has changed, we’ve been moved, without notice, to another flight. Sunday a.m.’s flight will be heading to Seattle on Alaska Air (we were originally flying out on Northwest). 

We’re hoping all goes well. If not, I may need to start looking for preaching opportunities here in Alaska to earn my keep. I’ve already got dish pan hands…

Alaska went from beautiful to bizarre on Thursday.

We were supposed to fly out Thursday night, so Mike went back to work to begin some return to normalcy and routine. But at 9:24 a.m. Alaska Time (12:24 p.m. CST), Redoubt erupted again. This time, however, it was a tremendous explosion that shot debris and ash thousands of feet into the air.

Volcanic ash apparently is not good to breathe or to run an engine in, so the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage promptly begin canceling all flights out after noon. Enter the Nobles. Stuck in Alaska.

We called to reschedule, and the earliest possible time they could fly us back to Little Rock was on Monday night. The Hales family is freaking out. We’ve exhausted our planned activities, and we’re still here! Hahahahahaha. (Wicked laugh)

Soooo…. looks like we will be having some extended games of tiddlywinks. And let’s hope Redoubt settles down. This could be a much longer trip than planned. If it is delayed again, I’m renting an old truck and strapping Carolyn to the top like Granny on Beverly Hillbillies.

We’ve been in Alaska since last Thursday night, and it’s amazing what we’ve been able to cram into a week, thanks to the ever-tireless efforts and prodding of a pregnant Kristy. She’s got more energy than we do! You should have seen her sledding down Hatchers Pass. (Just kidding, Ginger!)

Yesterday, I went to work with Mike. When they sensed God working in their lives back in 2007 in a unique way and identified Alaska as the place God was putting on their heart, they immediately began researching ways to do kingdom ministry here. One of the opportunities they discovered was Voice for Christ Radio Ministries. 

At work yesterday, I gained more perspective and was able to even grasp the strategic vision and value of such a ministry. It reaches into the remotest parts of Alaska – where there is no other radio options. We 48ers (what Alaskans call those south of them) can’t imagine just having static on every part of the dial. 

Karl and Kristen are staffers for VoC (whereas Mike is a volunteer at present). Karl related that in one village that he flew into, one of the residents was confused about “radio.” He identified radio as something you talk back and forth on, like ham radio, or a CB. When Karl finally explained to him what VoC was and that they could pick it up on a radio, they exclaimed, “You mean, the thing on the alarm clock??” in incredulity.

The broadcast of the Gospel in messages and music to areas without a church or vocal Christian witness is an incredible endeavor and undertaking. I’m really proud to have met folks like Karl and Kristen who have sacrificed so much to serve Christ in this way. I’m also thrilled to know personally Mike and Kristy who are still searching and praying about ways they can serve the Lord in this place.

After a tour of the station and getting to listen to Madman Mike (I am coining that as his DJ name) record a weather report, he and I headed over to Karl’s house to paint. These selfless missionaries raise their own support to turn around and work long hours broadcasting the Gospel. Karl is also the primary engineer and technical guy. He’s flown into some of the remotest places of Alaska to set up FM transmitters so that villages can have a Christian witness. And they’ve built their own house next to the station outside of Wasilla!

They have turned their basement into a series of bedrooms.Their vision is that they can be used for guests who come up to help at the station. So we gladly went to paint. Mike and I knocked out the last coat in the entire area in about 3 hours. The families brought us lunch, and Sam got to drive a snow machine. 

After lunch, we returned to the Hales, and Caro took the Hales Family Photos. Afterwards, Caro and Kristy headed out for a baby shower for Kristy, and the the hubbies and kids built two huge snowmen in the front yard. It took everything Mike, Sam, and I had to lift the second snowball onto the first one. With temperatures warming up into the 30s yesterday, the melting snow had produced perfect sticking power for snowmen and snowballs.

When the women returned, we sat up late laughing at each other and making fun of Carolyn since she missed American Idol. Mike made up for it by reading the synopsis of AI from the BooMama blog (one of Kristy’s favs – aaaah! It’s contagious!). He was remarkably masculine as he read descriptors like “fab” and “thankyouverymuch.”

Radio, painting, and snowmen… A great day.

I tweeted yesterday that we were heading to Alyeska to watch the kids and Carolyn ski. I received great abuse on Facebook and Twitter about not going skiing myself. Here’s the rub… I tried the skiiing thing 10+ years ago when I took a collegiate group to Canada. We went to beautiful Banff. I took lessons and the whole nine years. And the rest of the afternoon there was a long day of controlled falling.

10 years later. Jeff ski? Nope. I didn’t enjoy it when I was 30. What makes you think this 41 year-old would relish falling down a mountain? That white stuff is cold, after all. I do relish, however, watching others fall down mountains.

With that said, we took off for Alyeska mid-morning. As we drove along Cook Inlet, we were delighted to find a camera crew from Evergreen Films shooting an ice climber (with a camera; no need to be alarmed) right off the side of the road. We stopped to watch his ascent. Carolyn’s camera was clicking so hard, it was smokin’. 

We also stopped at a gas station outside of Alyeska to get some pizza because they had signs in their window that said (literally) “get your pizza here.” We placed our order and also got some cookies (it was a bakery too) and sat down to wait. 20 minutes later, a girl came out of the back and said, “Are you guys in a hurry?” 

After some confused looks between us all, she said that she was helping her mom (who runs the place) in the back with something (obviously not our pizza) and that it would be better if we ate somewhere else. So off we went to the lodge, where we had most excellent (Bill & Ted again) hamburgers and cokes. The kids started their lessons (Adelyn and Abby for ski; Sam for snowboard) after lunch for two hours. Caro proudly donned her gear and jumped on a lift to prove to all of us that “she still had it.”

Kristy, Lilly, Mike and I hung out in the lodge. It was an surreal experience. I was catching up on some of our friends’ mission trip to Poland via their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages on my Macbook. Mike was on his Powerbook. Kristy was actually reading a MacLife magazine I had brought along. It was like heaven… mission trips and Macs.

After the kids’ lessons, we went to watch them strut their stuff on a nearby bunny hill. No bunnies were harmed in the making of that adventure. Abby, Adelyn and Sam all had a great time, and as it began to snow, the adults were just in awe of the beauty of God’s creation again. It was such a peaceful, joyful scene. When snow is falling, sounds are muffled, and the resulting experience is like someone pushed a mute button on an otherwise busy brain. 

Caro cooked some kind of pasta stuffed shells with moose meat (by the way, Tuesday was our first non-moose sighting day – except for in the meal). The kids were bushed, as were the adults. Especially Carolyn. She collapsed into bed with some kin of “I’ve-still-got-it” grin on her face.

In two worlds at once

Throughout our stay here in AK, we’ve been eagerly following Jeremy, Clark and Michael as they traipse around Krakow, Poland. We’ve had a couple of prayer times for them here, and it’s been a wonderful experience joining them on mission through prayer.

After having been here to see Mike and Kristy’s home and ministry lives, it’s much easier to pray for them. It’s easy for me to pray for the guys in Poland cause I’ve walked the same streets they are, and I can “see” them there. But what about you? What mission efforts and missionaries are you praying for regularly? Let us not cease in joining them in this grand, joyful work of Christ. The best way we can partner and encourage them daily is through our prayers. 

In addition to our prayers, perhaps you need to go. I can assure you that seeing is a huge help to interceding. Yet, Jesus said, ”Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20.29) He is rather emphatic about the joy and reward of complete investment and faith without sight. And so let us pray even when we can’t see. Let us trust and walk by faith rather than sight. By doing so, we can live in two worlds at once.

Monday was a relief. We did relatively nothing. No long road trips. No snow machine excursions. No polar bear plunge. (I keep seeing this glint in Mike’s eye, and so I’ve been wary outside when I’m around him.) No sledding. Nothing special planned. It was wonderful.

Monday was our first opportunity to just be with the Hales here in Alaska. We’ve been blowing and going as the weather’s been snowing, and it was refreshing to just stay put. Actually, Mike and Sam and I ran into town for a coffee shop stop, a haircut, to fix a tire we had to change, ate at DQ and then ran by Gamestop to get another Xbox controller. (Some things take priority.)

Upon our return, the women claimed “they needed to run to town” as well. They were gone for 12 hours… or 4. But it felt like a long time. While they were gone, the kids and the menfolk decided to re-stage the taking of the beach at Normandy. We built snow forts and then had a massive snowball fight out in the yard. 

By the time we wore ourselves out, I was sweating profusely and wondering when the last time was that I had such innocent, silly fun. Of course, you may not call it innocent that I was trying to knock the teeth out of two little girls and a good friend with frozen missiles. All in good fun.

We laughed ourselves silly, and Carolyn and Kristy returned in time to see us all red-faced and catch a glimpse of our maximum security fortresses. 

Soon, supper was under our belts, and the sun was finally down around 9:00 p.m. We got the kids in bed shortly and for the first time, had a great, deep, refreshing visit about calling, mission, family, friends, highs and lows. Kristy has a great synopsis of our visit last night on her blog. There’s just nothing quite like heartfelt talks with friends of the heart.

Sunday in Alaska. By the time we were dragging ourselves out of bed from happy exhaustion from sledding the day before, our friends and church in Monticello were already beginning worship. We went to Mike and Kristy’s church, Wasilla Bible Church, and enjoyed being able to worship with them. Though we didn’t see Sarah Palin (her home church), Pastor Larry Kroon taught on how God often confirms His people’s witness and work with work of His own.

When we exited church, it was snowing. It re-whited the roadways and ditches for several hours. It’s like a giant Liquid Paper effect on man’s mistakes.

I made Santa mad at lunch by enjoying a reindeer skillet with scrambled eggs on top.

It was after lunch that adventure #14 since we’ve been in Alaska started. Everything is an adventure here. Mike and I took Sam, Adelyn and Abby over to some friends of Mike and Kristy’s. They met Dave and Laura working at Voice for Christ Radio Ministries. Dave was gracious and brave enough to let all of us rookies drive his snow machines (mobiles, for you Southerners). 

Off we went. We drove around on a frozen lake (all lakes and rivers are frozen for the most part right now), and then we headed off road through some beautiful forest snow machine trails. The roar of the snow machines cut through the  pristine snowscape like chainsaws. But as we ducked, leaned and jumped over hills and around curves, we felt like we were invaders of Bambi’s territory. 

The gals stayed back during this snow machine extravaganza to re-upholstery two of Kristy’s chairs. It was a hard decision for the guys… stay and help recover furniture… or go snow machining. Hmmmm.

After returning home late afternoon, we camped out for the evening at the house. Of course, there have been moose sightings every day that we’ve been here. I helped Kristy redo her blog design and worked on downloading and uploading pictures to Flickr. While Mike put the girls to bed, Kristy, Caro and I stayed up talking, laughing and unpacking the implications of life calling, God calling, and location. 

A few cups of hot tea later, and we were all fading fast. Mike returned upstairs – after finally getting the girls down – to discover that we were all heading to bed. Bummer for him. Bed for us.

During the night, a volcano erupted about 103 miles SW of Anchorage. Never a dull moment on Sundays.

We went up to Hatchers Pass today to sled. More on that later. But here’s a video of me sledding down…

We left from Little Rock yesterday around 11 a.m., and we arrived in Anchorage last night around 11:00 p.m. (our time, 8:00 a.m. AK time). Our layovers were about an hour in both places, Memphis and Minneapolis.

However, the travel here was a little frustrating. For one, just about every battery on all our gadgets was dead or dying by the time we were halfway to Anchorage from Minneapolis. This prompted Sam (whose iPod Touch has miserable battery life) to keep saying, “Dad, can I have your iPhone? Huh? Huh? Dad… can I have your iPhone?” My negative replies were selfish. I wanted to watch a movie on my iPhone and was conserving juice for just the right time.

Then Adelyn started in. “Dad, I’m bored. What can I do?” 

“Watch the clouds,” I said.

“No. I’m boooooooored.”

“Well, don’t get splinters,” I responded sympathetically.

Touchdown in Alaska could not come too soon, I thought. Add to that my need to find a real bathroom, and it was rather a long trip.

“OK, I’ll check the time again. I’ve read two more chapters, and I bet we’ve only got an hour left,” I thought multiple times. Only to discover… 4 more hours. Aaaah.

Mike and the girls were waiting at the airport, and the fun and joy of friendship began in person!

We’re so excited to be here.

The light failed quickly upon our arrival last night, but not before we took in the stunning and majestic mountain views that surround the capital city. We eagerly looked for moose and Palins on the short drive to Wasilla but saw none.

Today, I woke at the crack of dark… I’m still on AR time, not AK. It was 5:00 a.m. here when I started wondering how many times my kids were going to pelt me with snowballs today before I unleash the maelstrom of retribution.

Caro is actually taking pictures today of four different customers and five more tomorrow! Kristy was incredible to line up folks, so it’s a working weekend for her. Maybe she’ll make enough to pay for the trip! How blessed would that be?!

I wanted to blog early here for all of you on non-AK time. Everyone is stirring now except Adelyn. Mike is already off to work. Coffee is made, and the sun is rising to reveal snow-capped mountains in the distance. 

A man I sat next to on the plane to Anchorage has worked and traveled extensively throughout AK for 30 years. He was as mesmerized by the beauty of the peaks from the plane as I was. 

“Do you ever get used to it?” I asked.

“Never,” he said. “This kind of beauty is something you just can’t take for granted.”

In that one statement, I found a stunning and exciting prelude to our time here. Not only for our own enjoyment, but for our spiritual lives… How I long to relate with Christ in a way that I’m so daily stunned by His majesty that I just can’t take Him for granted.

May your day be freshly beautiful to you where you are as well. For His mercy is new every morning – whether natural beauty aids your realization or not. 

The entire Noble brood flies out of Little Rock International Airport tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. to spend a week with Mike and Kristy Hales in Wasilla, Alaska. We have instructed them to schedule a lunch with Sarah Palin over the weekend. I am going to be offering my candidacy to Sarah as her running mate for VP in 2012. So it should be fun.

Mike and Kristy astounded us by their extreme faith back in the early part of 2007 when they began to share with us how serious they were about responding to what they sensed was God’s call on their life. Every time they turned around, Alaska was being mentioned in some shape, form or fashion. When they began to understand that months before, they had begun to surrender more and more of their lives to Christ, saying they were willing to do, go, and give whatever or wherever for the glory of God, they never dreamed it might be in our coldest state.

They sought a lot of counsel, prayed long and hard, and finally embraced the northerly direction they knew God was calling them to. It was not easy for their families – neither their families of raisin’ or their family of praisin’. In fact, both groups took it hard in different ways.

Their families realized that they would not be able to see Mike and Kristy or their two precious girls – Lilly and Abby nearly like they were used to. It broke everyone’s heart, yet Mike and Kristy pursued obedience with the Lord.

For our church family, 2007 started off great, with the transition to a new location and their first-ever “bought” facility. However, it became a tough year as several families left over conflict with vision and leadership. Mike was one of our elders, and it was extremely hard “releasing” him when our church was experiencing such division and conflict. He and Kristy have always been a huge support and encouragement, as well as a wealth of wisdom. They had been with Journey from the very first days when it was meeting in our living room. They were an anchor of hope. Yet Mike and Kristy pursued obedience with the Lord.

After a lot more research, they found Voice for Christ Radio Ministries through some friends of friends and contacted them. (There’s a great pic here of Kristy interviewing a contestant in the Before long, they excitedly made plans for an exploration trip. When they returned from that, they were confident and exuberant over how God had provided a place for them to serve Him in bringing glory to Christ in the rural areas of Alaska through radio.

With the added (and necessary) blessing of Mike finding a PTA job, they were ready. The next thing we all knew, they were selling out. Literally. Couches, chairs, TVs, cars, etc. They were all sold or given away to make money for the transition. They would just get all new/used stuff once they got there. They chose Wasilla as their home (before any south of Canada had heard of Sarah).

They left on June 14, 2007. Mike has not been back to Arkansas since then. Kristy and the girls were able to come down for Christmas 2007. They’ve had family travel to visit them, but no one from our church has been until now.

We are so excited. In the midst of helping church members raise funds for Poland, we have not requested any aid for this Alaska Mission. For one, it feels more like going to see friends than it does in helping, encouraging and visiting missionaries. I think that’s the way it should be. For another, everyone we know is strapped. So… criticize all you want, but this is credit card missions at its finest. Caro hopes to be able to shoot a wedding for one of Kristy’s friends later this year in Alaska, and if that “pans out,” then it will pay for the trip – or most of it. However, for those of you who think credit cards are evil – or being in temporary debt is abhorrent, then you will turn up your nose at this.

But we’re going. And we’re pumped. And we’re trusting. If we have to in the end, we have all kinds of things to sell. ;)

So the next blog on this site may cause your eyeballs to chill. You’ll be reading what I’ve typed from Alaska. The next week will be full of laughter, snow, prayer, laughter, discovery, moose, tears, and joy. Two families that God has connected by faith and miles will be reveling in the freedom of serving a Risen Lord… by faith.

And maybe… just maybe… some of what is shared or written over the next days here or over at Kristy’s blog might shake you out of your comfort zone into your own faith journey.

By the way, if you read this, Sarah, Saturday night dinner will be fine. Any place you choose…

For Kristy’s perspective on their journey, here are some great blog entries from 2007:

• Our new direction
• More waiting
• For sale
• Alaska Night 1
• Mission Accomplished
• 1st from AK
• Three more days