Welcome Grady James!

While we waited for Grady to show up we picked lots of wild raspberries! Yum!

Family picture while out berry picking

We celebrated Evie's 5th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese

Evie loves her new brother!

Grady James

His hair is red, he just doesn't have a lot of it!

Baby Hostetter #3 finally decided to join us last week! Grady James was born last Sunday evening after a quick labor, weighing 7lbs 12oz. We were all surprised (and pleased) that he is a boy!
Evie immediately became a little mother hen and wants to hold him all the time. Norah is not so sure of how she feels about him but has shown more interest in the last couple of days. All in all it has been a smooth transition to family of 5 so far! We are so thankful for a good birth and a healthy little boy. Thank you for your prayers!
Around camp, things have slowed down a little bit. "Blackout week" is this next week, which means that there are no groups scheduled for a full week and those who want time off can easily take it, and everyone gets a bit of a breather from the busy summer before fall gets into full swing with the schedule here at Victory. We are taking a family trip to Kenai, so that the rest of my family can meet Grady as well as our friends there in town. Speaking of trips, we entered the lottery to be able to drive our personal vehicle into Denali National Park and our name was drawn! We will get to drive into the park on Sep. 14th. We're excited to see God's amazing creation there but we're hoping it doesn't snow (too much!) so that we're able to drive all the way in.
Looking back over the summer, here are some numbers from the summer camp season. Keep in mind that these are based on the camper evaluations that the counselors fill out at the end of each week.
This summer at Victory, there were:

56 first-time decisions by campers to accept Christ
94 rededications by campers while at camp
91 different churches from around AK and the lower 48 that were represented by campers attending, and many campers made a commitment to go to church regularly.

While we tend to get excited about these numbers, and it's beautiful to see kids entering God's family, it's also important to realize that of the many kids who did not make decisions for Christ, and did not appear to get anything in the way of spiritual growth out of their time here, we never know what seeds God has planted in the hearts of young people, and how many He will call to Himself later down the road, beginning with hearing about Him during their time here at camp.
Oswald Chambers also said something in My Utmost For His Highest that I thought made perfect sense in relation to the work we do: "Jesus Christ says, in effect, don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you..."

Ways you can be praying right now:

-For our family, as we come into a very busy season of family life right now, with a new baby, Evie starting homeschool, and a few other things
-For the staff at camp- pray for Abigail from the program team, as she is leaving for Michigan for several months to raise her support to the level that it needs to be; for the Klapak family, who will soon leave for Oregon to do the same. Pray encouragement for them and for God to move mountains as we know He can!

Thank you for reading and for your support and encouragement!

Weeks 5-7 and the end of camp!

Hiking down to Hicks Creek with Daddy

The girls and I hiked back up in the pouring rain!

Justin and a group of staff hiked up the creek one Sunday

Norah, Evie and Max look down from Inspiration Point.

"Granny Wrangler" Eileen gave us a treat- rides on the cart with her miniature horse, Pipsqueak

Well, the summer camp season is officially over! I for one feel like my head is still spinning. We had a great last few weeks of camp and I know that God worked powerfully in the campers and staff's lives. Here are a couple of testimonials from this summer:

"Well, Victory 2013, it's been amazing. From songs about diseases, to poison darts, to shenanigans in Seward and more, I couldn't have asked for a better summer. God definitely showed me that He is the source of ultimate strength and that I can always rely on Him no matter what. I'm sad beyond belief to be leaving but I know that it's not goodbye, it's just a "see you later." Thank you Lord for blessing me with such an amazing summer with such an amazing group of people. I love each and every single one of you and feel so privileged to have met you all."

"I'm so thankful I got to go to camp this year! I learned so much and was challenged and encouraged! It's beautiful, what can happen when a bunch of believers come together in His name. I'm so thankful for the challenges I faced, and for the friends I made. I came home today and am already planning signing up for next summer! God is so good."

Please continue to pray, as those whose lives have been changed while they were here are now going home and down from their mountaintop experience, back to their regular day-to-day routines. The enemy really tries to pull you down at a time like that, and we need to pray that God will continue to be real and present in the lives of the young people who made decisions for him this summer. Pray that those who made first-time decisions to accept Christ would be able to connect with local youth groups, mentors, and people that they can receive advice from and stay accountable to in their faith daily. For those who decided to recommit their lives to God, pray that they will grow in their faith, in the knowledge of God, and in love for others as they put into practice what they know God is asking of them. The theme this summer was Be Different- and we pray that so many lives will be!

We also got to have some of my (Lynsey's) family come up for a visit during the last week of camp, as I had several siblings attending as campers. We 'only' had 2 emergency trips into town for sickness! What a crazy week! Thankfully both brothers that needed medical help are fine now. God is good and it was awesome to spend some time with family as I was missing my husband and it helped the last week of camp (and missing him) to go by very quickly!
Now we are looking ahead to the arrival of our new baby and preparing for that. I'm due in less than 2 weeks but not getting too excited yet because my babies like to be born late. :)

Ways you can be praying right now:

-What was said above, about campers and staff going home, is so important. Pray that they will take new steps in their faith and trust God to help them change their lives. Also, pray for those who acted indifferent to the gospel message. We know that seeds of faith were still planted in their hearts and someday they may grow...God never forgets about anyone!

-Pray for Victory's permanent staff as we transition immediately into the conference season. It can be hard to shift gears from summer camp to conference time. Pray for organization and enthusiasm for hosting guest groups.

-That the birth of baby Hostetter #3 will be smooth and enjoyable, and that baby and I will be safe and healthy throughout. Also pray, mostly for Norah but also for Evie, that they will adjust easily to a new family member and that we will be able to remind Norah that she is still our sweetie!