Springing Forward

Evie cheers on the mushers and their dogs at the start of the Iditarod

Our little crawling man

A moose made its own path through the snow in our yard

He was perched on the chair and I grabbed the camera...in time to capture this :)

The view down the road as we took a walk in the sunshine

I had to hold Norah up so she could see the dogs

First taste of sweet potatoes!

He is such a joy to our family!

March is here! That means cold nights and warmer days. We still have at least a couple of months of real winter still left here in the mountains, but the days are certainly getting longer and the sun is warmer!
We started this month out in a bad way. Norah took a nasty fall off of bleachers onto a concrete floor during a hockey game we were watching. She ended up with a concussion, unable to stay awake and vomiting, but her brain scan in the ER looked good and she has since recovered. It was definitely a scary experience and we have watched her closely in the days following her accident. We are so thankful that it wasn't worse and that God protected her little head.
We replaced our old camera but the new one we bought has a defective flash! Sad day...we managed to get some pictures for the blog before we send it back, though.
Another necessity that is having issues right now is our trailblazer. It is the only vehicle we have and we recently had to replace the transfer case. (Which I have learned has something to do with the 4-wheel drive...neither Justin nor I speak mechanic so I am only repeating what I'm told!). We got it back from the auto shop and it is doing the exact same thing it was doing before we spent lots of time and money on it...so now we are heading to the dealership with it to hopefully have the transfer case replaced for free (and a car rented to us since it is pretty difficult to go a week without a vehicle). If the part isn't defective, we have a whole new problem on our hands...
Justin is visiting a church around the state about every other week to promote camp and recruit summer staff, and we travel with him almost every time rather than stay home. So there is a lot going on at our house lately!
Grady is now pulling up to stand on furniture and attempting to walk around furniture. He is not content to just stay put! He's now accumulating the bumps and bruises that embarrass parents and that every newly mobile child is bound to get!
Right now we have the BOW group on the grounds at Victory. BOW stands for Become an Outdoor Woman and is put on by Alaska Department of Fish and Game every year.  It is a weekend retreat for a couple hundred people and offers classes on hunting, fishing, outdoor cooking, fly tying, field dressing, snowmachining, shooting, and lots of other Alaskan things. It is one of our biggest retreats and keeps everyone on staff busy!

Some ways you can be praying right now:
-Pray that there are no repercussions from Norah's fall. Apparently with brain injuries, problems can crop up some time after the incident.
-Pray that we will continue to build a summer staff team that is ready to work hard, have fun, and bring glory to God through a summer of camp. Orientation begins end of May.
-Pray that we will have attitudes and mindsets as a staff that take the focus off of us and place it on Jesus and His love for all the retreat groups that move through Victory the rest of this spring, and for the work teams that will begin to move through in the next couple of months.

Don't forget to set your clocks forward tomorrow! Hooray for more daylight!