Setting a New Pace

Our  homemade scarecrow

The view of Index Lake from our kitchen window

Evie loves being a part of the Cubbies group at the church here

This is what we do with our extra time!

Norah's potentially unsafe new 'perch' :)

We are finding out that life moves a little more slowly up here in the mountains! While Justin certainly has an abundance of work to do, my job as mommy is slightly less demanding lately, and it feels so good!
While it felt a little strange at first to realize that I have nowhere in particular to go each day, (since we only plan to do a trip to town for groceries and other errands twice a month), and I had a bit of a 'boredom' syndrome going on at first, I am settling in to the more relaxed pace of living in the mountains far from town. It's a good thing I've got a little extra time on my hands, too, since our little quonset hut doesn't have a dishwasher or washer & dryer at the moment and that means a little extra work for everyone- but we are thankful to be right across the road from the laundry room here at Victory! I know that this nice relaxing time won't last forever, though, so I am trying to savor it while it does last!
Justin has certainly had plenty to do, helping to plan the upcoming Jr. High Retreat here at camp, recruiting staff to help counsel for that weekend, learning to host guest groups (since that will be a rotating duty of his all winter), figuring out the snow removal strategies around camp (we did not realize just how MUCH snow removal there must constantly be here!), and learning to use a chainsaw to cut wood for heating our house. All the work and busyness of the last couple of months seems to have caught up to our family, though, since we are all sick! Thankfully Justin's illness hit him over the weekend and he didn't miss out on too much work. :)
While we are still waiting on word of whether a couple more churches can pick us up on support, we are happy to say we've officially reached a solid 70 percent of our goal! We are praising God for this and praying that he continues to lead people to join the support team for us here at Victory.

Ways you can be in prayer for us:

-That Justin continues to learn his job of Program Director and what that all means
-That we can live as a family with a servant-hearted approach to our ministry here
-That the sickness leaves our house and we can all feel better soon!

Getting Settled In

a last bit of fall fun before leaving Minnesota

this is our new home--Blueberry

We are here at Victory, we are moved in to our house, and now we are settling in!
We had a bit of an adjustment coming in as it was 80 degrees in Minnesota when we left, and 40 degrees in Alaska when we arrived. We were a bit chilly for the first few days!
We had plenty of help from the awesome staff here as we unpacked, and meals brought to us the first week as we tried to find a place for everything and recover from jet lag. It has been a very smooth transition and we are thankful for that!
We are living in Blueberry, one of the quonset hut buildings here at camp. It is a unique little place and it's been interesting for me sometimes figuring out how to decorate a place with inward sloping walls! :)
We met with Jennifer Legg, the assimilation director here at camp, and went over lots of useful information on living here. While we have spent many summers here, we've never spent a winter living here as a family, and conference season can be quite a bit different than summer camp season. We are going to get on a roadkill team (sounds lovely, doesn't it?) and hopefully have a turn at one point or another to help clean a moose, cut and pack and grind and freeze meat for ourselves.
Justin started his first day as Program Director yesterday and he's excited about all the new possibilities for this next summer and the new connections that are being built between camp and local churches and youth groups.
Evie and Norah are adjusting wonderfully. Evie is excited to start Cubbies at the local AWANA group today. She's also so happy to have lots of staff kids to play with, and many of them are right around her age. Norah is still a little confused about where home is at times, but she is settling in.
All in all, we are so happy to finally be landed, and settle in for the winter and for the work of the conference season ahead! (We are just beginning to learn what that all means!)
A quick financial update: Our support percentage is right around 70% at this point. While we are so thankful and praising God for providing, we really need to be at the full amount of our goal in order to live without financial stress. Until we are at 100% we will be living on a smaller income. While it's worrisome, we are also anticipating what God will do to provide and we are doing our best to fully look to Him during this time.

Some ways you can pray for us right now:
-That our support will reach 100%
-That our transition into life at Victory will continue to be a smooth one
-That Justin will learn the ropes as program director and settle into his new role quickly

If it is easier for you to simply send an email or make a phone call rather than send in a pledge card, you can call the front desk here at camp at (907)745-4203 and let the secretary know that you would like to support us. You can also email her at elainea@vbcalaska.org.

Thank you for your prayers and support!