Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2015! We passed the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. We still don't have direct sunlight shining into our house yet, but the days are growing slightly longer and we look forward to the return of the sun over Teepee Ridge within the next few weeks!

It's been a very snow-less winter for the rest of the state of Alaska, but we have maintained at least a dusting here at Victory. Right now we have a solid foot which is meager by normal comparisons but for this winter it's a lot! This is Packsaddle, which is the mountain we see most of from our house.

The kids cheesing while out sledding

Evie striking a pose after sliding down

Winter around here gets very long, especially at this time of year, and I really struggle with missing the light...good thing there are beautiful skies to see even if the sun is absent!

I'm not sure of the reason for the face but it's classic Evie so I had to post it! :)

For Christmas, Justin's parents came up from Minnesota and his cousin Megan stuck around on break from her internship here. We had a fun Christmas enjoying family! Here Grady tries to feed Megan some gingerbread house decorations.

Putting together the gingerbread house! It's one of our evolving family traditions.

 We are all eating gluten free now out of necessity, and we are taking Norah through some different elimination diets to try and help her eczema. It made the holiday cooking different because I had to rethink a lot of things. But we still managed sugar cookies!

Grady says 20+ words now and new ones every day...he is his sisters' most treasured possession and also their worst enemy! He keeps us all on our toes!

Double tricycle rides! I love how siblings develop all their own little games and routines.

The girls showing off their Christmas Eve gift of pajamas!

While the grandparents visited, they spent many hours playing with the kids. Norah shows off the puzzle she and grandpa put together.

Norah shows off her ballet moves. Evie is teaching her everything she learns in ballet and Norah is hoping she will be big enough for her own dance classes this fall!

Sometimes on long winter days you have to come up with some creative entertainment!

Our friends the Engles came out for the day earlier this week and we had lots of fun! 4-wheeler sled rides on the lake was a favorite!


Life right now is not too rushed for us. We are preparing for it to get crazy, though, as soon as spring rolls around and Justin begins his job of promoting summer camps within lots of local churches, and also interviewing prospective summer staff. There is still a constant flow of guest groups through camp, and we pray we can be good witnesses to everyone we come in contact with!
Here are some ways you can be praying right now:
-That God would begin working in the hearts of all who come this summer to work here. We don't know yet who God intends to send us, but He does!
-There are several new families coming on to permanent staff and we had to say goodbye to a longtime staff family who heeded God's call elsewhere. Changes are good and important but sometimes it's hard to go with the flow! Pray for an easy settling in for new permanent staff and for travel mercies for the Scherrer family, some of whom are currently driving the Alcan to the lower 48.
-Pray for Norah. Her eczema, which she has battled since she was a baby, has gotten exponentially worse in the last month or two. We had her blood drawn to do more in-depth allergy testing than we did the first time, and we are also having her thyroid tested due to some alerts from her last bloodwork. Pray that we'll get answers and we will be able to figure out what is causing this mean old itchy rash!
-For me as well, my health continues to be less than stellar, just good enough that I can carry on with life but just bad enough to make life slightly miserable. :) We are waiting on some tests to come back but my Dr. is suspicious of thyroid problems. Pray for me to have grace and lots of energy which I am lacking so I can care for my kiddos!