Thanksgiving break and more

How was your Thanksgiving? Our was great! My family was partially out of town for hockey games, so we had our own little Thanksgiving with my remaining siblings, my brother and his wife, and our sweet friend Lindy. Thanksgiving break for us included a Thanksgiving morning football-in-the-snow game for Justin, skyping with Justin's parents Steve and Brenda, a hockey game for me, a youth group event of Mission Impossible which was super fun, and a couple of long naps for Justin which I think were much needed! :)
We met with our Pastor, Phil Reemtsma, on Saturday, and talked about our support raising timeframe, and brainstormed some ideas. We also printed our support letter, which is also our thank-you for the summer (I know. So late... so bad.) only to have Evie get ahold of it and draw her own "letter" on the master copy. So that will need to be re-printed and copied to mail out. Simple things, it seems like, but they seem to take monumental effort these days!
Norah took her first steps yesterday! She has been drawing up her courage, I think, over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday she started striking out on her own and she is now attempting little trips all over the house. They usually only last 3 or 4 steps but she's getting there! If you're a parent you know that this is pretty exciting stuff!

Here are some ways you could pray for our family right now:
-For us to know the right churches and people to contact about joining our support base; overall discernment and wisdom, as we truthfully don't always know what we're doing!
-Peace about the future (this one comes from Lynsey) :)
-That even though we've got several areas of work & ministry right now, we could give 100% to them all

A Week in the Life - And an Update!

Oh dear. I see that it's been about a month and a half since our last entry. In the effort of an excuse let me tell you what's been happening with the Hostetters. (And how busy we are!)
Here is a typical week in our life lately:

Sunday- Lynsey goes either to hockey practice or to church early for worship team practice and stays for both morning services. In the evening Evie goes to Cubbies, Justin and Lynsey and Norah go to direct Youth Group at church.
Monday- Justin leaves the house at 7:15 to make an early morning visit to the chiropractor before work (last night he noticed that one of his ribs is sticking out further than it should, which is a little disturbing.) Lynsey goes grocery shopping, takes Evie to play at Grammie's house, and comes home to compose this blog. Justin goes to wrestling practice. In the evening we go to our awesome friends the Titus's house for Monday night football and hanging out with friends. Most weeks Lynsey has hockey practice this evening so Justin watches the girls while at Monday night football.
Tuesday- This is our quiet day. Laundry day for Lynsey, so she gets to be home all day. Justin has wrestling practice. Most Tuesday evenings we have a few friends over to play Dominion (if you don't know this game, you should! We love it!).
Wednesday- Lynsey goes to Solid Rock Bible Camp to do childcare for a ladies' luncheon. That evening Lynsey goes to worship team practice, Justin goes to wrestling practice, and church in the evening.
Thursday- Lynsey goes to College Heights Baptist Church to do childcare for a Bible study/quilting day. (Doesn't this woman have her own kids already?) Justin goes to wrestling practice, Lynsey and Norah go to a baby shower, Evie goes to be babysat at church.
Friday- Lynsey takes the girls to a mom's group at the Kenai Rec center. Justin goes to Nikiski high school to coach at the wrestling meet.
Saturday- The second day of the wrestling meet. Weigh-ins are at 7am. (Nikiski High is 40 minutes away from our house.) Poor Justin goes, and Lynsey and the girls sleep in and join him at the meet later. :)
And that, dear friends, is what a week in our life looks like currently! Add to that all of life's miscellaneous details and we are busy, busy. But I'll bet you also know what that's like.
Here is the exciting news!!
We were able to meet with Joel Ruisch, the director of Victory Bible camp, and talk and set our goal for what we'll need to raise monthly to live at Victory. Our estimated living expenses when we move to Victory Bible camp will be $3330 per month. This seems like a lot to raise every month, and while we have not much faith in ourselves, we have complete faith in God!
To be honest, raising support has been a bit of a foreign concept for me. Justin, who grew up around the idea, has found it simple to accept that to work as missionaries, this has to be part of our life. Maybe it was the good old Western American values that I was raised on, perhaps it is that I have issues with pride- but I've always felt that asking folks for money was the ultimate taboo. You just don't do it! That was several years ago. Through the past few years and an experience of trying to raise support to do a 6-month internship at Victory in 2007 (in which the support raising did not go well), I have learned a lot and begun to have a change of heart towards the concept. I believe that sending us to Victory was part of God's plan to do a huge work in my heart- a work of trust and belief in a God who provides, as well as many other things.

Justin and I have been reading through a book called Funding Your Ministry which we've found to be very valuable already. We like the author's down to earth viewpoint, and we are drinking in all that God's word has to say on the subject of money and missionary support-and it says a lot! It's becoming clear to us that raising support can be a ministry in itself. Giving money is an exercise in showing God's grace and a heart of generosity, and I know that personally I love being able to help people in this way. As Justin wisely explained to me, we're giving friends an opportunity to show Jesus to us so that we can do the same for others.
Justin and I have been learning so much and God is continuing a work in our hearts and lives. We're so thankful for that!