January 11th Update

After recovering from surgery, the first thing Norah wanted to eat was a cookie. We didn't say no!

The girls' favorite project lately- painting fingernails together!

Norah points to her ears to show where the doctor fixed her up.

I apologize for skipping a few weeks of blogging...the  morning sickness has hit me hard and I have to say that this is the worst I have ever experienced it. It has made even basic things difficult to do!
Justin has taken great care of me, though, and been an awesome help around the house and with the girls (which is actually nothing apart from the norm...what a lucky woman I am! :) ) and our friends here at camp have been wonderful with offers of help as well. Hopefully I am halfway through and will be feeling better by February.
Our Christmas was a mellow and happy one, spent at home here with just our little family of 4. We celebrated New Years by playing board games with our friends the McAlarys and going home well before midnight because I was not feeling too well!
On the 8th we traveled to Anchorage for Norah's pre-op appointment with the doctor who would perform her surgery, and we got up very early on the 9th to go in for her ear tube surgery. The hardest part was denying her any water during the night since she wasn't supposed to have food or drink for 8 hours before the surgery. It was hot in the hotel room and she woke up begging for water and it was so tough to say no!
The surgery was very quick and Norah did wonderfully. She didn't even get upset when I handed her over to the anesthesiologist so she could go back to the O.R. When she woke up she was very mellow and not fussy like we were told to expect. The only bad part was when we got back to the hotel, she threw up in the lobby--in the breakfast room, to be exact, just as people around us were getting their breakfast! That will kill you appetite for sure!
We are thankful everything went so well and we are just going to continue to pray that there are no complications that will come of the surgery, or that she will need subsequent sets of tubes (apparently about 30% of children will need a second set).
Justin and the rest of the staff are gearing up for the Jr. High Blast, a retreat that Victory offers for youth that age over next weekend. If you have a junior higher interested in coming, check out the website at victorymin.org!
The sun is coming!! Yesterday the skies were clear up here in the mountains, and the sun rose high enough over Teepee Ridge to touch the edge of Index Lake. I am thinking that means that withing the next couple of weeks, we will have sunshine coming in our windows! It's very exciting when you haven't seen the sun, literally, for 2 months!

Some ways you can be in prayer for us right now:

-That the Jr. High Blast will go smoothly and many young people will have their hearts & minds turned to Christ over the weekend

-That Norah's ears continue to heal well and that there are no complications later

-That the morning sickness eases up soon since I'm not good for much lately!

-That Justin and I will be faithful in speaking the gospel to Evie. She definitely understands about salvation and has been talking a lot lately about what Jesus did. I'm just not sure she completely understands her need yet!