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The Portland Head Light is a great place to visit if you happen to find yourself in Maine. Some of our favorite pictures were taken at this Cape Elizabeth lighthouse during a deputation visit in 2006. The other day I happened to run across another beautiful series of Portland Head Light photos. Since we have made an image of this lighthouse sort of a theme on our blog, we thought you might like to see them.

We have recently done some updating in our Family 2007 section, including a few pictures from the end of the year. An entirely new gallery has also been added, documenting some of our 2006 travel on deputation.

The above shot was taken in night mode on our terrific Sony camera. I had been stranded in Beaver, Alaska for a few days that December (2006), and was happy to see that Cessna in the foreground. The temperature was around 40 below zero.

While I enjoy debating the weighty matters of theological conservatism, I fear I do it all too often on this site without also offering something simple, interesting and fun. Today I found myself surfing BBC London for information on the upcoming mayoral election. (I’m fascinated by the British political system.) As a side journey, I decided to visit In Pictures, which led me to a series of fantastic photo galleries.

Over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in learning more about life and culture in Britain, and have collected a series of web links to UK political, cultural and photography sites. The BBC is one of my chief sources, along with the Telegraph, and the Independent. Anyway, you don’t have to be nearly as intrigued as I am to enjoy these photos of London.

• Night Fantastic - Night shots from around London.
• Big Ben - Go inside the famous Westminster clock tower.
• London Bridges - A collection both historic and modern.
• Aerial Photos - Much of the city seen from the air.

I have taken a few decent London shots (including the one above), which you can see in our England 2007 gallery. Most of the others were captured in either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire this past October.

Serving as Internet Coordinator at the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau over the past year has been fun, educational and rewarding. One of my favorite assignments has been the creation and ongoing development of a website called Inside Alaska. I began the initial work for a pre-launch last August, but have only recently completed all of the creative elements needed for an “official launch”. Reaction from staff, visitors and bureau members has be overwhelmingly positive. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Some of my favorite articles on the site include:

• Sharing Alaska Adventure - Fantastic entries from our photo contest.
• Photographing the Aurora - Tips on how to get northern lights pictures.
• Fairbanks Musher Pulls Ahead (for good?) - Promoting the Yukon Quest.
• 2008 Open North American Pictures - World’s best sprint-mushing.

How quickly our newborn Stephen James is becoming a “big boy”. Here you see a glimpse of the transition we observe on a daily basis. From his very first photo to his first captured smile, our little boy has been a joy. Praise the Lord for a beautiful and happy one month old! Larger copies of the above pictures are available here.

I was pleased to have both Monday and Tuesday off for Christmas. This is one of the rare times I’ve had four consecutive days away from work. We have all really enjoyed our time together. Here are a few pictures from our four-day weekend.

Merry Christmas from the Harper Family! Hope you spent the day giving honor and thanks to God for the gift of His son. (And had some fun with family too!)

Did we really need these kind of temperatures during one of the longest, busiest two week periods of the year? That’s what I was asking myself today as I walked from the office to the parking garage at 36 below. I make this two-block trek every morning and afternoon, usually enjoying these few moments to get focused on the day, or the drive home. Today it was just miserable.

Even the inside wasn’t safe from the cold. When I arrived home I found ice forming around the bottom of the door and windows. It will continue to build overnight, until a warming trend begins, and we see a balmy high of -5 by Friday. Welcome to winter in Fairbanks, Alaska! By the way, you’ll notice in the above graphic we are already six degrees colder than the predicted low. That happens almost every day in the winter; it’s like no place on earth.

We had a wonderful, quiet, stay-at-home Thanksgiving this year. No doubt we had a lot to be thankful for. Two blessings at the top of the list sat right at the table with us. They were both very excited about all the cooking. As you can see Elisabeth was hovering around Momma in the kitchen, so I attempted to occupy her time with a book, among other things. Hannah said “nummy, nummy” I don’t know how many times, always wanting to be picked up so she could see what was cooking. They both love food, and just seemed to understand this was a special, holiday meal. It was great to see them having fun and giving thanks in prayer right along with us!

I have taken a bunch of photos over the past few days, and will hopefully be writing a post informing you of additions to our Gallery soon. Above you see a sample of my work. Hannah seems to enjoy staring directly into the lens. When I move the camera up or down, her head just follows. As you can see I moved the camera toward the floor…so went Hannah. Happy Thanksgiving!

We were able to get twenty-one family photos online this week; all taken in 2007. You will notice the photos at the top of the page are from the beginning of the year, while those near the bottom were taken just a few days ago. We hope to continue adding pictures to this section through the end of the year, as well as begin working our way back in time with a 2006, and perhaps 2005 album in the future.