April 4th Update

Just over halfway through the pregnancy!

Easter egg fun at Grammie's house

Norah thought that the egg dye tablets were candy, and she was too quick for us. Good thing they're non-toxic!

Dyeing eggs with aunties and uncles!

The joy of finding an egg during the egg hunt!

Posing with their Easter baskets...or yawning

Norah finds an egg

Evie shows her finds

One of Evie's favorite things about visiting Grammie  & Papa is that her aunts doll her up. She loves it!

 We just returned from an 8-day trip to Kenai for Easter, and to North Star Bible Camp in Willow for a CCCA conference. We're glad to be home for a couple of days before hitting the road again, this time to Glennallen so Justin can present at Glennallen Community Chapel and Alaska Bible College on behalf of Victory.
We had a fun time in Kenai with family. The trip turned a little bit frightening when we experienced a health scare with my dad, but God is good and He did an amazing work, and I'm thankful to say my dad's doing much better now. We headed up to Willow very early Monday morning for a conference held with several other camps from around the state.
I hesitate to say it,  but breakup could actually be on the way for our part of Alaska! It has already begun in other areas and the patches of snowless ground outside are slowly growing bigger and bigger! I even saw several trees sprouting fuzzy buds as we drove around the state last week.
Camp has had a few issues lately with injured staff and damage to guest housing. We could use prayer as we are also shorthanded since a couple of the staff families are traveling to raise support this month. It's wonderful to see everyone step up and fill in where needed, but it definitely puts stress on staff and, in turn, staff families.

Some ways you can pray for us right now:
-That maintenance issues would be solved with some of the camp housing that was severely damaged due to water
-That Abigail, a member of the program team, would have quick healing after injuries from a snowmachining accident, and that a staff wife would have healing after being injured in a car accident
-For our family, that the issues with our housing would be resolved. Our pipes froze yet again while we were gone last week
-For a reminder during busy/stressful times that we are here working for the Lord and not for ourselves

Happy Spring?

Spruce Lodge on a sunny, pseudo-spring day

Victory Peak as seen from outside our house

Norah is getting big- we've begun potty training and she's doing great!

Justin likes it when I get bored, because I bake!!

Norah put 'covers' on our friend's puppy. She loves animals!

The men play floor hockey on Sunday nights. This is what happens when Daddy plays :)

"Just be quiet and eat the brownie batter, Norah..."

Hooray! Our prodigal camera charger has returned home! And a second note: I honestly do dress my children. They just choose to wear  bathing suits and dress-ups constantly at home. :)

Happy first day of spring! That's what my calendar says, anyway. It is high noon right now, and the temperature outside is 9 degrees. Doesn't feel like spring to me. But I will take the sunshine and the longer days!
We are definitely going a little stir crazy here at this time of year and I am trying to come up with lots of creative things for the girls to do so that they (and me as well) don't go crazy since we can't go outside. Hopefully about a month from now the snow will finally be melting, but I'll try not to get ahead of myself. :)

We had a bit of an adventure last week. The temperature dropped to around zero during the night and a very cold wind was blowing in off the lake. We woke the next morning to find that our pipes had frozen, which has happened before, but when Justin put the space heater on the pipes, we realized they had broken and within minutes there were a couple of feet of water and more pouring into the bottom of our house. Thankfully, the space down there is only used for pipe access and we had nothing stored there, because it would have been destroyed! The men were able to get the problem fixed within a couple of hours, so we weren't without water for very long.

Our two biggest retreat group weekends went really well and I hope that being here at camp was a blessing to all several hundred people that attended! I had been planning to sit in on the field dressing and dutch oven cooking classes that Becoming an Outdoor Woman put on, but that weekend Norah came down with a little case of croup and I didn't feel like I should leave her with anyone to share germs. But later that weekend we got to sit in on an Alaska's owls presentation, where we were introduced to all the different types of owls that live in Alaska, and then we got to see a live great horned owl! The girls enjoyed imitating each example owl sound that they heard. They also got to look at the caribou (that were going to be shot and cleaned the next morning, but we didn't tell the girls that!) in the pen near our house, and that was exciting.

My friend Bridget and I started a ladies' Bible study and last night was the first meeting. It's a study by Lysa Terkeurst and I think we're really going to enjoy it. It's awesome to be able to get with so many other ladies from the staff and community and fellowship and laugh and learn things together.

We are coming up on April which is going to be a very busy month for the program department. Justin will be gone nearly every weekend to present at churches and schools and to encourage campers and recruit staff. Hopefully the girls and I can join him on a couple of trips so that we can actually see him sometimes! :)
Also in April, and very exciting, Justin's parents are coming up from Minnesota for a visit. Evie keeps asking how long it will be until Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Steve get here! I hope that the weather will be more mild then than it is now, so that we can get outside, even if it is muddy or slushy.

The summer staff is coming together slowly but surely, and Justin's board of positions is being filled bit by bit. We are in need of male counselors, so if you know of any college age or older guys who are not sure what God wants them to do with their summer, send them to Victory's webpage to get an application!

Some ways you can pray for us right now:
-That the summer staff will continue to fall into place and be exactly the people that God has chosen to use this summer
-That there will be safety in all Justin's travels next month and that the trips will be fruitful 
-That we will continue to parent our children with the mindset of shepherding their hearts and teaching them to love the Lord, even when discipline is difficult, and that the boredom will stay at bay!

Quick Update

Just a quick update on life & ministry here at Victory. We seem to have lost our camera's battery charger so no pictures for now! :( Hopefully once we replace it I can post a longer update and some photos.
It is March! Two of Victory's largest guest groups will be on the ground this weekend and next, and Justin is hosting a work team of 14 people from Ecola Bible School for the next 10 days. So these will be a busy next couple of weeks for us!
I'm excited because I volunteered to help make espresso in the gift shop for mornings when groups are here, and I get to be trained this weekend. I love meeting new people and I love to make coffee, so it's a good combination!
Something neat happened this last weekend. We went to Kenai for a few days to visit my family and watch my sister perform in her theater company's production of South Pacific. We had been planning to give a quick update to our home church there in Kenai, but Justin was asked to fill in for the sermon at the last minute. Our Pastor at Calvary Baptist is recovering from a heart attack and heart surgery, and there had been no one to fill in until we realized that Justin would be able to go to Kenai with us at the last minute. It was comforting to see God's provision for pastor and church at the spur of the moment like that, and Justin was able to share with the church about Victory's theme for the summer, servant leadership, and how Christ-like leadership looks much more like servanthood to the rest of the world.
The girls are doing well. We've recently decided to start school with Evie this fall. Her birthday falls about 10 days before the cutoff for kindergarten, so it was a tough decision of whether to start her as a very young kindergartner, or start her next year as a very old kindergartner. But we've realized she is too hungry to learn and I would be teaching her "school" material anyways at the rate she's going!  Norah is suddenly talking not only in sentences now, but with sophisticated and usually correct grammar! It surprises us sometimes what comes out of her mouth! Though the pronunciation of some of the words could use a little help - my recent favorite mispronounced words of hers are "teep" for teeth, and "guggle" for snuggle. :)
We hope you are having a good spring, or if you're in Alaska, a good pre-spring. Thanks as always for your prayers and support!!

Ways you can pray for us right now:

-That the team from Ecola has safety in maintenance, housekeeping, and kitchen work
-That the Church on the Rock ladies would have a great time of spiritual renewal this weekend
-That the B.O.W. group (Become an Outdoors Woman) would see Christ in every staff member strongly next weekend- this is not a christian group so there is a strong chance to show God's love to the people we come in contact with!

Goodbye, January!

We have had several good dustings of snow but not much warm weather

Norah on her 2nd birthday

Getting ready to run the dogs with the 4-wheeler

Practicing making snow angels- that and throwing snowballs are the girls' favorite winter activity!

Oh, goodness! I haven't written in almost 3 weeks! I will begin marking my calendar again to schedule writing posts. Usually, if it's on my calendar, I don't forget, and it gets done.
We are at the end of January and I must admit that this month alone has felt like a year. The day we celebrated New Years' seems like a very, very long time ago. But I suppose being sick and not doing much will make time drag on. But I am slowly feeling better as I get into my 2nd trimester. A few exciting things have happened and I feel ready to take on the second half of winter! (If you don't live in Alaska, we don't get spring until May up here in the mountains, so it is still a long way off!)
We celebrated Norah's 2nd birthday yesterday. We had a small party with friends over to have cake & ice cream, but I think Norah's favorite part was the many balloons we blew up and released on the floor. She especially enjoyed sitting on them and bouncing until they popped. There are only a few balloons left now! My favorite part was immediately after she blew out her candles, when she tried to plant her face in the frosting on the cake. We stopped her in the nick of time but I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see a face print in the cake. :) Of course, I can't find my camera's battery charger at the moment, so there are no pictures. We were able to get a few grainy shots with our webcam when she opened gifts. We are thankful to God for giving us such a funny, tough, good-natured little girl.
In other exciting news, the sunshine is back! With gaining about 5 minutes of daylight a day, the sun can now climb high enough over Teepee Ridge to just shine in our windows for about 20 minutes each morning! That is, on days that the sun is out. When it's cloudy it's much warmer and we can play outside, so I'm not sure which I prefer.
Today one of the water lines in camp broke, and it caused all of camp except Ranch Camp to be without water. Being the wonderful housewife that I am, I was way behind on dishes and laundry and had planned to finally get them all caught up today. Not anymore! Justin and few of the other staff hauled water from Ranch Camp to the families around campus so that they could at least manage. I did attempt washing a small load of laundry in the bathtub and it did not go well. Am I ever thankful that we live in the age we do and have all kinds of modern conveniences. I would not do well as an Alaskan homesteader!
If you don't receive our mailchimp updates, Justin has announced that we are at about 97% of our support goal and while that is incredibly exciting (I honestly couldn't imagine that we would ever make it so far!), that  we now have to raise our goal slightly to $3800 per month rather than $3330. This is for several reasons-
1. Our family is growing- and our budget will have to follow suit! :)
2. We were unaware when we initially set our support goal that all families on staff are required to live at 3% less than they actually bring in. This is to provide a cushion for costs and while we do agree and appreciate it, we were not able to include that fact when we set our original goal.
3. We forgot to allow for taxes to be taken out of our monthly income (silly us- we forgot that Uncle Sam always takes his cut. :) ). While our income has still been enough to live on monthly, our savings funds and things we would like to eventually save for (retirement, children's college fund) have had to be left aside.

We want to be good stewards of the money God has so graciously provided for us and stay honest with our needs. And while it's a terrible sinking feeling to go from 97% to 85%, which is where we believe we fall with our new goal, we know that God always provides, obviously! He has done things that we will never forget and that have grown our faith considerably since arriving here. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for supporting us financially and in prayer. We love every one of you!

P.S. If you would like to receive our quarterly updates written from Justin by email, just shoot him an email at justin_scott_hostetter@yahoo.com and he will add you to the list!

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!

Merry Christmas!

Decorating Christmas cookies at home

Taylor, Evie, Raeghan and Norah play Hungry Hippos on Justin's birthday

Our 2nd new little buddy, Po. The girls love the guinea pigs!

A blurry picture of Justin with his birthday pie :)

Evie and her Uncle Logan watch a movie together at the Mese house

Merry Christmas! I'm sure you and your family are getting ready to celebrate this awesome season. We're celebrating twice! Since Justin has to be on call at camp the day before Christmas and work the day after Christmas, we decided to take our trip to Kenai for a Mese family Christmas a little early! We'll celebrate on Saturday with a meal and gift exchange with my parents & family and then we'll have our own family Christmas up at camp on the 25th. It's kind of exciting to have our own little Christmas day, and hopefully start establishing some new traditions together. Both the girls are extremely excited and it's so fun to see them grow up and experience that joy & wonder that I felt as a child at this time of year!
In case you hadn't heard our news, our family is growing! Baby Hostetter #3 is on the way and will join us sometime around the middle of August. We are so excited and feel it is yet another blessing from God and we are so thankful for the wonderful gifts we've had from Him in the last few months. It cements for us the feeling that God has indeed called us to Victory, and while we know it won't always be easy, it is His faithfulness in the present that will help us trust Him when hard times do come.
We celebrated Justin's 31st birthday on the 15th with friends, dinner, and dessert. I'm so happy to be married to him, and know that he is a gift from God!
Norah has surgery to insert tubes in her ears scheduled for January 9th. We are thankful to have found a good doctor/surgeon and we're just hoping she holds out and doesn't get any more infections between now and then.
While visiting here in Kenai we have had cold & stomach bugs (of course! It never fails! :( ) and have also gotten to enjoy a Christmas singing service with our church family at Calvary Baptist. We've got hockey games on the agenda and tomorrow night Justin is planning a Mission Impossible night for the Calvary and local youth. Thanks to everyone for reading, and for the prayers and support! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Some ways you can be praying for us right now:

-For my energy level and responsibilities as mom...morning sickness has come early :(
-For Norah to stay healthy until her surgery, and prayer on January 9th for a quick, smooth procedure
-For the guest groups scheduled to be at Victory around Christmas time, that their souls are fed and they draw closer to God during their time at camp

December 5th Update

Thanksgiving fun on Index Lake

4 o'clock moonrise

Overflow from the lake has made accidental 'ice sculptures'

This is what Norah does to Evie when Evie falls asleep

Evie showing off the advent calendar she helped me make

'Tis the season for pumpkin everything!

Norah decided Minnie needed a bath...using the toilet and her toothbrush

Our new little buddy. He's a guinea pig and he has many names at our house! Norah calls him "piggy-pig"

This morning at Victory it is 8 below zero and windy. It's not surprising that I don't want to leave the house today! If we got a little bit of sunshine in exchange for the cold it might be worth it, but even though it's been clear almost every day lately, most of the buildings on this side of camp are too far in the shadow of Teepee Ridge and the sun doesn't rise above it from about November 1st to February 1st. So we are (or I am) definitely feeling the effects of a long dark winter--and it's just the beginning! :( My lovely mom bought me a happy light and I have been sitting in front of it daily. For those of you who haven't heard of a happy light, it's a daylight-simulation light. It's supposed to lessen the effects (low spirits, low energy) that a lack of sunlight can cause. So I'll let you know how it works!
We had a wonderful thanksgiving. Most of my immediate family was able to come up to Victory-- it was about a 5-hour drive from Kenai-- and our awesome friends the Meeuwsens offered us their house to use for extra sleeping space and to cook our big meal in! My family is definitely bigger than average and we always appreciate a little extra elbow room. We spent 4 days together and enjoyed lots of board games, floor hockey and ice hockey, 4-wheeling on the lake, and of course eating! Maybe we'll make Thanksgiving at camp a yearly tradition, who knows?
We were in Anchorage on Monday and saw an ENT specialist about Norah's ears...unfortunately she fits the criteria for needing tubes, and while the choice is still up to us, through prayer and talking to the doctor we've decided that we will go ahead with the surgery. It was comforting to know that it's not a very long procedure, but it will require general anesthesia, which I hate the idea of. We will hopefully know soon the specific date and we would appreciate prayer.
God has truly opened the floodgates of His blessings lately and we are so thankful! Aside from getting to 90% support in the last month, we've had a few surprise blessings that can only be attributed to God and His grace. We hope that you're able to focus on Christ and his love this Christmas season, and pass that love on to others. Thank you as always for your support and prayer!

Some ways you can be praying for us right now:

-Continued health as there are cold and stomach flu bugs still going around camp
-For Norah's ear tube surgery- peace for me and Justin, and improved ear health for Norah
-For the weather to warm up so we can get some snow! If we don't get some snow for insulation soon, there will be a lot of pipes that will freeze around camp and a lot of extra work for our maintenance crew.
-For Justin and the program team; they are beginning work on the summer Bible study. Pray for God's leading as they choose how to write the studies for young people and that the studies will have a positive impact for Christ.