Engebretsen Family Reunion

Earlier this month we had the joy of getting together with extended family for the Engebretsen family reunion to celebrate 50 years on the original homestead. My grandpa, who homesteaded in Homer, Alaska in 1959, has given us quite a heritage. Over 70 family members came for the five day reunion and lots of memories were made!

Lots of visiting and catching up around the campfire each evening, and plenty of fishing and playing in the river! We enjoyed being able to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and cousins that we had not seen in a long time. Our kids had so much fun with cousins they had never met before that none of them were ready for the week to be over!

My grandparents homesteaded on the Anchor River in 1959 with five children. They built a 16x24 cabin to live in and survive the winter! There wasn't a road into their place so they built buggies to get back and forth to the main road for supplies. The kids caught lots of fish in the river to supplement their garden and they also lived on moose meat. Oh, the stories we have heard over the years of the homestead days!

The pictures to follow are of Grandpa with his five kids... Then Grandpa with his grandkids... Then Grandpa with his great-grandkids!

Village VBS by Ethan

Hi, it's Ethan here, just wanted to tell you about my trips to the villages. We, Weston, Mrs. Buckwalter, and I went to two villages called Perryville and Port Heiden. The two villages were a lot different from each other. In Perryville the kids, as a rule, are quiet and are not very rowdy. Oh and there are a lot of bears. In Port Heiden it is a lot more flat and the winds get up to 40-50 miles per hour. And the kids? Well, they are the exact opposite of the kids in Perryville. They are a little loud and kind of rowdy. Some of their favorite pastimes is riding bikes, playing video games, listening to music and building stuff with their hands.

We had a lot of fun doing "In the Race with Jesus" vacation Bible school with the kids. One of my jobs during VBS was teaching the kids the song motions, they did great! The kids also had an enjoyable time watching me talk to our race car puppet, Otto, during his regular pit stops. Even though it was often hard to keep our kids in order, we had a good time.

I want to thank you for praying for us and sending us money as we went to the villages and taught the kids about Jesus. THANK YOU! Here's some pictures of the VBS.Bible story time...Weston as Goliath and Ethan as a Jewish soldier.
Ethan organized games with the kids...untying the human knot..kids had fun playing games!
The kids were divided into two groups. Ethan is here with his team of kids...
Weston with his team of kids...
On our one day off in between VBS in the two villages we made a kite out of a piece of old cloth. It was a two man kite, but flew well in the strong winds of Port Heiden. We flew the kite for hours and hours!I got to fly the plane on our 2 hour return trip to Homer...it was great fun!! I am concentrating on all the dials and gauges.