Satan loves to discourage us...

...and I'm sure feeling it today. Please pray for me. The temptation for me right now is to list out everything that is going wrong, but that is too close to complaining for me. I just need to lean on God and trust Him to help me out of this funk--regardless of circumstances. So, I could really use your encouragement through your prayers. Thanks!
Molly

Not quite techno-phobes

Adam and I are struggling this week with computers. We've been trying to get a newly formatted, beautiful newsletter out to everyone, but these machines might be the death of us. Not really, but I had to learn a new software program to write and format the letter on and Adam is trying to finally get our mailing lists formatted and completed in a program that will work for us----which equals a gigantuan number of hours. So, if you are on our mailing list and if we don't die from pure frustration and exhaustion and if you receive said letter either by email or post, please promise us you'll ooh and aah silently or aloud. And if you can't read said email once received, please let us know and we'll try to groan quietly. ;-)

packing, moving, snow and separation

What a busy, tiring time this is! The kids and I (Molly) will be moving down to Oregon on Dec. 2. Before that happens, I have a lot of sorting, packing, and house fixing to do. Elias is just getting over a cold and I am convincing myself that I don't have it.

Pray for us! We are getting very run down. Adam will be staying in Juneau into January (except for a couple weeks over Christmas. Pray for our health, strength and diligence--also our spirits/attitudes as this is our last 2 1/2 weeks together as a family in our own home until we get to Bolivia.

Oh, and we're supposed to get another 8-9 inches of snow today.

...back to packing

We're back

Well, 32 days and about 3300 miles later we're back home in Juneau. We had such a good time visiting and reconnecting with friends and family all over Oregon, Washington and Montana. Thank you again to those who hosted our family and took time out to see us. We were truly blessed to spend time with each of you! We only wished we had more time and that our van hadn't broken down and forced us to scratch the Seattle leg of our trip (We'll be back in December, Lord willing!!).

So, it's back to the grindstone for us now. We're working on getting the house ready to sell, packing, studying Spanish, along with all the normal work, ministry, and Adam's studying. This could potentially be a hectic and stressful time. Please pray for God's peace, joy and diligence for us during this leg of our journey!

Oh, and my purse was stolen a few days after we returned to Juneau. I now have to go through the hassle and expense of replacing all kinds of paperwork--including my and the kids' birth certificates which I had in case we ended up going through Canada. Thankfully, my driver's license wasn't in the purse when it was taken. That's another story, but a praise nonetheless!

Cheers!

Oh yeah....a bear

A few posts ago I said that I usually waited until something interesting happened before posting. Then something interesting happened and I'm just getting to posting it today. oops.

Adam and I and other youth staff were out in the woods last Monday night preparing for a game of Nero with all the Jr and Sr high schoolers.

Nero??

Oh, yeah...um, two teams of kids, one tree with flags on it, youth staff in hiding with squirt guns and water balloons = tons of fun.....until a staffer gets spooked by a huge mamma bear

That would be ME!!

I had just gotten settled in a *perfect* hiding spot and figured out where I could crouch unseen and step unheard. The game was about to start and I turned when I heard a noise behind me to my left. A little bird landed in a bush about four feet from my face. I was amazed that I was that close to this little bird! My thoughts from here on:

"I wonder what kind of bird that is...I've never seen one with that coloring...hmmm it doesn't even know I'm here...I'm pretty sneaky...What is that thundering noise behind meAAAGGGGHHHHHH a HUGE BEAR!!!!!! She doesn't know I'm here either!!!!"

Well, the huge black bear (about as long as the breadth of my arms) thundered (literally, you could feel the ground shake) away from our playing field. Vic, another youth staff said he saw a cub climb a tree about the same time I yelled "BEAR"--yeah, a cub on the other side of me. Just what you don't want: cub, You, big mamma bear.

Fortunately the sow was probably just trying to draw our attention away from her cub and they soon left the area. Needless to say, it was a good way to get my adrenaline going for a really fun game!

visitin' the states

In honor of our upcoming trip down south (that's the Northwest for all of you in the lower 48), here is a map of states we've visited. Here's mine first:


create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.



...and here's Adam's. I think he needs to get out more, don't you???


create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.
Thankfully we'll be adding Idaho and Montana to Adam's map in the next month and a half. Thanks for the link, Krista!

We are headed your way!

...if your way is in Oregon, Washington, Idaho or Montana! We'll be travelling through those states mid-September through mid-October to speak to churches, small groups and friends about our upcoming ministry in Bolivia. We would love to see you! Drop us a line if we haven't already contacted you.

You know your kids are Alaskan when...

... they say, "there's our glacier" almost every time you drive somewhere.
... it is 64 degrees outside, slightly windy and overcast and all they want to do is play in the water--you know that glacier fed water.
... when your 22-month old goes under water unintentionally in the lake and you calmly pick him up, slap the water out of him and then wonder if he's going to get "Beaver Fever." (He hasn't yet :-)
... your three-year old spots wildlife before you do. "look mom, the beaver's swimming."

That's what has been happening this past week...besides that we had a garage sale, Juneau's favorite sport. There are strict rules: Sat. only from 8 to noon, Everyone tries come before 8, a price is just a pretty little sticker added to an item for decoration.

On my birthday...

I'm 27 today. Not exactly a milestone for most people. 23 and 27 have always been my favorite numbers. I can't even tell you why, they just are. I really expected something significant to happen when I was 23; it did--that was the year Natasha was born. I wonder what will happen this year? We could be headed to Bolivia within the next year, that would definitely be significant.

I've been more introspective lately (which is of course, a sign of getting old--I'm in my late twenties after all :-) I don't write here much. I guess I wait until something humorous happens and I have a few moments to write it down before I forget it completely. Sorry about that. Sorry that I feel like I can't be honest or sincere with all the normal stuff too.

So, here's a snapshot of me today:
I just got the kids down for their nap. They are actually quiet, hooray! We just got back from a birthday party (no, not for me). Our friends, Eric and April, have a son who was born on my birthday three years ago. Birthday parties can be overwhelming for me since Natasha can't eat any of the food or touch all the cake and ice cream covered kids. I almost wish I could just throw every party we're ever invited to. Then I wouldn't have to worry about her allergies.

I came home to two packages on our doorstep. Sadly, they weren't birthday presents (okay, I might be feeling a little sorry for myself here...I'll tell you about my lack of birthday bliss in a second) The packages were 1) a soy milk maker so we can stop spending $45-80 a month on soy and rice milk for the kids. The machine will pay for itself in a couple months and then we'll only be spending about $6 a month for soy milk.

Okay, back to birthday bliss or lack thereof. Since my birthday is in the summer and at the beginning of the month it tends be forgotten and I'm sad to realize that I'm probably getting to the age when I need to just forget about it too. That probably sounds a little fatalistic, but think about it. Are adults supposed to expect others to make a big deal about their birthday other that the biggies i.e. 30, 40, 50, 80?? I'm thinking that I should just be happy that Adam remembers and that I can go out to dinner with my family and enjoy an evening not having to cook dinner.

P.S. I'm going to go watch Alias--my lastest obsession and recently bought with birthday money from my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad!

1-800-222-1222

Yep, some of you may recognize that as the number to poison control.

I got to make my first call there yesterday. I was at the computer when I heard a strange sucking/slurping sound. I turned around to see Elias happily sucking away at a tube of Elidel (Natasha's non-steroidal ezcema cream). I don't know how he got it, but that doesn't really matter. Poison control just had me wipe his mouth out--it was a used sample tube that was still at least half full, so he probably didn't even ingest any. They even called back later to make sure he was doing fine which he was.

Heads, shoulders, kneeballs and toes...

Natasha was in the bath last night and said, "I'm going to wash my kneeballs."

I guess they are kind of round like balls. I got to thinking how life might change if we adopted this new word.

"Heads, shoulders, kneeballs, toes, kneeballs toes." Come on sing along!

"I just knew he was going to propose...He got real quiet, fumbled around in his jacket pocket, got down on one kneeball and said those magic words..."

"Yeah, my dad has to have kneeball replacement surgery. I hope we can play a game of catch once he's recovered...maybe we can use his old kneeball."

Flooring and other projects

Adam and I have been working on flooring in the living room today. I just have to say that I love working with my husband in this way. We make such a good team. It's fun to do something constructive (sorry, for the pun) together that we both enjoy. If I could find our digital camera, I'd show you our progress. We're about 4 feet into our 14 foot (by 30 feet) room.

This is project time. We are working on the floors as time allows. We thankfully don't have to rent the tools we need since Adam's work just received the nailer we needed as a mis-shipped item and decided to keep it as a rental. God is so awesome. We can work on the floors as needed, not try to kill ourselves and totally ignore the kids just to save a few bucks on renting the tools.

When the weather is nice, we plan on working on building a retaining wall in the front yard abutting the ditch. Both neighbors have one so ours will just join the two. It will make the yard much cleaner and neater and also get us out of the house this spring/summer!

Oh, and Natasha's shocking new discovery

I was continuing a maternal tradition in our family by washing Natasha's hair in the kitchen sink the other day. She was streched out and relaxed on the counter with a towell under her neck as I massaged her scalp and we chatted. (This is definitely a girl tradition!)

She suddenly looked up and said, "Mom! You have hair in your nose!!"

(laughing) I said, "uh, yeah. Most people do."

(thoughtfully) "Is that to keep the boogers in?"

The worst blogger ever?

No comments on that please! Our blog is our homepage, so I cringe whenever I get on the internet and see the date of my last post. Yi-yi-yi!

Well, here's life with us:
Nat and Elias are on antibiotics, which means I'm loathing every diaper change. They're both feeling 400% better than a week ago, so I'm really just thankful that the "pink medicine" worked. Elias spent four whole days lying on my bed not eating or talking with a 101-102 degree fever which then turned into bronchitis. Natasha just had her per anum antibiotic run to help with her allergic rhinitis. Her skin looks fabulous--just in time for Easter pictures too.

Adam and I are working on the flooring in our living room today. We're putting down unfinished 4" rustic hickory. I've also been getting things together for a garage sale and thinking ahead to when we'll be headed down to Oregon (hopefully for a few months) before going to Bolivia. You can be praying for God's direction as we prepare to leave Juneau (timing, finances, getting our house ready to sell and selling it.) Just how does a person go from one home to the next? The logistics baffle me at this point in time. Meanwhile, I am just going to continue to work on the painting, flooring, yardwork etc and also try to get the laundry and dishes done at the same time.

Sugar high

Adam and Natasha had been eating a snack together the other day. I went in to see them in the play room and Natasha was jumping up and down singing and came right up to me and was talking to me about three inches from my face moving constantly.
I said, "Did Daddy feed you a lot of simple sugars?" (while giving Daddy the LOOK)
Natasha, "No, I did it myself!"

Do YOU know where Bolivia is?

It's not in Eastern Europe (that's Bulgaria).

It's not exit 30 off of I-5 (that's where someone once thought Haiti was, but I digress...)

It's in the very middle of South America.
It's land-locked and the poorest country on the continent.
It's where only one in ten churches have a trained pastor.
It's where churches have been exploding in number and people are hungry for some solid Bible teaching.
...and...it's where the Wehrley clan is headed.
We've been appointed as missionaries with Avant Ministries. Adam has been accepted to be the New Testament Professor at Hebron Theological Seminary in Santa Cruz.
We are VERY excited because:
1. We LOVE Avant. Short-cycle, native-run church planting is what they're all about.
2. Adam LOVES to teach especially the New Testament, especially Greek! Yeah, now he just has to learn Spanish so he can teach Greek. ;-)
3. I LOVE Spanish! Ole' Habla espanol? Mi hija, Natasha, dice 'Mama, yo quiero hablar espanol como mis amigas de Peru.' Yo tambien, Natasha, Yo tambien!
4. We've been talking about missions since before we got married and now we're going...well, as soon as we raise our monthly support that is. SO, please pray for that. We are kicking off our support raising efforts this next week. We will probably be coming to a city near you at some point and would love to hook up with as many churches, friends, and just plain people as possible.

appliance coup

In a matter of thirty minutes last night, four major (i.e. expensive) machines/appliances had malfunctions. Adam was working on his papers for his Greek class. I was doing laundry when the dryer started to smell like fire.

"It smells like a good fire," Adam quipped.
Sorry, there is no such thing as a "good fire" in your dryer.

I decided to give the lint trap a good, thorough cleaning with the vacuum. (Side trip to the bedroom to put a movie on for the kids...the volume is stuck on 40 and won't budge. After restarting all AV units, the volume worked again and we didn't have to have Little People blaring through the house.)

I turn on the vacuum and it begins to smoke and smell like burned rubber. Yum...there goes the "good fire" smell!

Turns out the belt broke. No big deal. I fix that and then clean out the dryer vent. I decide to make sure the outlet outside is not plugged with lint. I go around the house to find Adam's car with it's lights on....very dim, but on. It won't start, of course.

Well, the tv resolved itself, I fixed the vacuum belt and Adam jumped his car easily this morning. The dryer is kaput, and Adam wouldn't let me near the computer last night! He kept resaving his paper every time I walked by.

An update on Natasha's health

For those of you who know of our continual battle with Natasha's allergies and skin, she has been doing well lately. Her hands haven't looked this great in ages. Her attitude is exceptional. Now you can pray for my energy level! She is a spit-fire, crazy, do-anything-for-a-laugh kind of kid. Man, she keeps me busy...and in stitches. Good thing too, because her brother has been going through a cruelly slow teething process that has just about killed us all....perhaps I exaggerate...hmmm.

Chocolate....my drug of choice

Preferably dark, 60% cocoa or more.
Ghirardelli, some of the west's finest.
That is what I shared with Elias yesterday for his first taste of the dark stuff.
His reaction? (besides wanting more of my Valentine's present)
He kept repeating, "Wow!"
Ditto.

Natasha on Frosted Mini-Wheats...

Nat: "Mom, there's white stuff on this side."
Molly: "I know, honey. It's supposed to be there."
Nat: " Oh"
Nat: "...and there's HAY on this side!"