Wow. Has it really been a month since my last post? Time sure does fly. Happy New Year everyone! THE BEARS ARE IN THE SUPERBOWL!!! GO BEARS!!! What an exciting game this should be. The Bears and the Colts. What we would give to be able to attend this game in person! Oh well, we're hosting the FCA Superbowl Party at ABBC today for all of the high school students, so that should be fun. Anyhow, to catch everyone up on what we've been up to, we took Cody on his very first trip to Grandma's house in December. And what a trip it was. He did really well on the planes, and loved "swimming" in the pool at the hotel in Seattle. (We've got ourselves a water baby!) Unfortunately, our little Cody-bug caught a flu-bug while we were traveling, which he then graciously passed on to every member of our family. (Sorry everyone!) So, needless to say our vacation was less than ideal, but still good. We didn't necessarily enjoy all the traveling, but it was nice to spend Christmas with family, and our family was glad to get to spend time with Cody. (Yes, sadly, we don't count for much anymore. It's all about the baby now.)  We were gone for two weeks, arrived home and spent 3 days as a family, and then Ben left for the WOL writers conference in NY. He says the conference was great, and he really enjoyed it. He tells me it's always a lot of work, but he enjoys writing, and he gets to spend an entire week immersed in God's word/fellowshipping with other WOL writers. He was glad to come home though; he really missed his wife and baby.  Cody and I spent that time just hanging out at home, with a broken washing machine and a sick baby. (BTW - BAD combination.) The good news is, we ended up with a brand new washing machine (yea!) shortly after daddy arrived home. So that was a huge blessing. As for what we're up to now: Cody has decided to start trying his hand at standing on his own, without any support, and he even took a few steps last week! He's still working on figuring out the walking thing, which is FINE by me, but it could seriously be any day now. He's a little go-getter! At the last annual meeting of Auke Bay Bible Church, the church voted to change Ben's title from Youth Director to Youth Pastor. So, he is now a Pastor and an elder at ABBC. He's also organizing the Sunday night small groups and teaching Sunday School. On a separate note, he finally got his Jeep back up and running! He wrecked it last February on icy roads, so it's been a long time coming, but we finally have two vehicles again. Wahoo!!! As for me (Bethanna), I am currently taking a sign language class, helping out in the church office, and working with the Jr. High youth group. I'm really enjoying renewing my knowledge of sign language and am excited to see how God can use me once this class is finished. We have a support ministry to the deaf community at ABBC and need more people to help in that ministry. I'm already finding it easier to communicate with a mom who has a daughter near Cody's age and attends ABBC. Please pray that I would be diligent in practicing my signs and fervent in my learning. It's so exciting to see God leading us and providing for us. We love our church and church family and still feel so blessed that God directed us to full-time ministry in Alaska. As always, if you're ever in town (it's amazing how many people we meet off of the cruise ships!) give us a call - we'd love to see you! Sorry there are no pictures - I'll post some as soon as I can. Take care! | 
Ben and I are doing great and enjoying all of the snow on the ground. Thanksgiving was wonderful, we joined the Freega's at their house for a delicious meal and fun. We truly do have much to be thankful for. Not only do we get to live in this great and beautiful state, but we have an incredibly supportive and loving church family that we get to minister to and with every day. Then of course there is our newest addition, Cody. There simply aren't enough words to describe how thankful we are for him. God is good!
