Mid-summer Update

                           

We have reached the midway point of our summer camps already! It's unbelievable how fast the time flies by!! It has been a great summer so far. We've been very fortunate to have avoided the smoke from Alaska's hundreds of forest fires. We are thankful that God has been gracious enough to allow us that! We are also in prayer for other camps who have had to cancel or had their camps threatened.

Evie goes for her first ride on a dirt bike with our friends Evan and Elizabeth, who are engaged. Evie and Norah love giving Evan a hard time any chance they get! We laugh because our kids go into wild animal mode any time these two come over. :) I think it's because they love them a lot.

We've never had actual portraits of our kids done; we usually rely on snapshots, even for framed photos at home. But it's crazy how much time I let slip by sometimes without really capturing their little faces on purpose! .....*Ahem.....a year*......so we did an (extremely) amateur photo shoot the other day. Here's Grady being his regular impish self.

Thinking he's such a big boy!

My pretty Evie is growing up so fast! She went to her very first week of camp at the end of June and had a blast! (Though I don't think she slept much!) She is a deeply philosophical soul and always asks me questions I have trouble answering. Right now she's decided she'd like to be a teacher when she grows up...or a professional dancer. I think she'd excel at both!

Here is my feisty, spunky, intelligent, deeply intellectual, soft-hearted, crusty-shelled, creative, driven Norah. I would need so many more adjectives to describe her! She is learning nowadays what it means to be a big sister to Grady and set a good example, and she is becoming more and more of Mommy's helper too.

Being goofy. You gotta have at least one of these shots!

On Sunday afternoons, when new campers come, everyone waits outside Miracle Lodge with music, a bounce house, and dancing and playing to meet the incoming campers and the bus. Norah usually contentedly draws with sidewalk chalk for around an hour!

We have two boards in the chapel where, at the end of the week, campers are invited to write down what God has taught them during the week, or write whether they've made a decision to give their life to Christ or rededicate it. It's wonderful to see the numbers of small papers growing and covering the boards each progressive week!

Daddy isn't home a ton in the summer, which means we usually go out and about to find him! But when he IS home, he's in high demand! When I took this picture, all three were yelling "MY Daddy!" (Grady's in that awesome mimicking stage where he'll repeat anything the girls are saying!)

We went on our staff trip last week, to Seward, with the summer staff. Hopefully it was a time for the counselors and other staff to renew and refresh, and reflect on what has happened so far this summer and how God wants them to continue to serve Him in the second half.

 It was awesome to walk down by the lake today and see one of the counselors sitting out of the game to talk one-on-one with her camper and overhear her telling about how Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for sins, the Lamb of God, once and for all. In the midst of real life and running around playing games, God is changing lives here! And I am so thankful He does!

Here are some ways you can be praying right now:

-Pray for health and energy for the summer staff. Right now is when a full month of late nights and early mornings, combined with mental and emotional stress (or just plain busyness) really catches up to everyone! Pray for a deep sense of purpose, and for the Holy Spirit to give motivation to those who are struggling!

-Pray for our barn manager, Doug, who has had bleeding on his brain and a past surgery, and now has the same issue arising again. He goes for surgery next week and there a lot of unknowns for when he comes out. Pray for health and strength for him, and his biggest prayer request was that he can be a good witness for the Lord to the doctors and nurses he meets. Pray for peace and reassurance for his family. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom that's supernatural. Pray also for Caleb, a staff member here who will be taking Doug's place for the time being.

-Pray especially this week for an unnamed camper who is heavy on my heart right now. This camper is very unreceptive to the gospel and doesn't like to hear about Jesus. Pray for God to break into this camper's life! Pray that they will have a desire to know who Jesus is! Pray also for a gentle heart and patience and discernment for this camper's counselor.

-Pray for other camps that have been affected by the forest fires. Pray that the forest fires can come under control of the fire fighters, and pray for safety for those working on containment. Pray that it continues to stay away from VBC!

Thank you for all your prayers! They are so needed! Isn't it amazing that we can come before the God of the universe, make requests, and He hears AND answers us?!

June 21st Update

We are smack in the middle of summer camps right now here at Victory! We had a great orientation week with the summer staff, and we are now preparing to begin our third week of camp! The weather has been amazingly warm with almost every day in the past week or two hitting 80 degrees. While this is great for swimming in the lake, it's not so good for forest fire hazards. But the kids and I have sure been soaking up the sun. :)

Coming out the front doors at Miracle Lodge. What a beautiful day!

The poster for our theme this summer. I've gotten to write skits again this summer to be performed at Frontier Chapel and it's a great theme to write about! Our theme verse is Romans 12:2.

Everyone getting into the music at chapel. Grady likes to sing a line from one of the songs over and over again. This week is our largest yet as far as camper numbers, so chapel will be exciting!

Last Friday we got to take in the horse show and watch my sister Jessie in her class routine! Yeah for Ranch Camp...it's always had my heart!

The kids with our friend Kelly, taking in the show...also playing in the sand and climbing on the corral...:)

Saying goodbye to campers after a great week. I get the privilege of leading a prayer group of summer staff girls and it's always wonderful to hear the stories that have happened in each cabin through the week, and also tough to hear that some of the kids are going home to regular life and it's going to be hard for them. Good thing we serve a mighty God who hears our prayers.

We journeyed into Hatcher Pass with the summer staff yesterday and went on a family hike. I guess it was our way of celebrating Father's Day with family time since we won't see much of Justin today. He drives the bus to pick up campers and it makes for a long day!

If you look closely you will see the stream winding its way down the mountainside hundreds of feet below!


Some ways you can be praying right now:

-A praise, first of all! I am feeling much better these days. I still have a ways to go to 100% health but I am praising God for his healing and faithfulness!

-Pray for two of our summer staff, one who has had to go home with a broken foot but would like to be able to return before the end of the summer (and whose help we could really use!) and one potential staff member who is from out of the country and is waiting on a visa to be able to come to camp. Pray it will go through quickly!

-Pray for safety at camp, as always, with work teams, at the waterfront, on hikes, etc.

-Pray for the summer staff to keep a good focus and a heavenly perspective. We have a great group of young people this year but the enemy doesn't want to see camper's lives changed and will use distractions and frustrations to knock us off track.

Thank you for your prayers! They are so valuable! We hope you're enjoying your summer!

May 7th Update

We are well into spring here at Victory! We finished up AWANA clubs at church last month with a party and the grand prix car race. Here Evie works on the cars we carved.
We have moved from guest services season into hosting Outdoor Ed groups for schools for the next couple of weeks. After that, our leadership staff for the summer starts coming in, then we'll be into orientation and summer camps! Evie is getting to attend camp this summer for the short week and she is beyond excited! I'm excited for her too, because summer camp was always the extreme highlight of my summer as a little girl and I love it when my kids get to experience the same things that brought me joy!

We had a lot of very weird weather in April...hailstorm after hailstorm moved over us the last couple weeks of the month, with bright sunshine in between, and some snow too in the mix! The skies couldn't seem to make up their mind. In this picture we got a quarter inch of hail that froze into a bumpy sheet of ice! Strange! May has been much milder with temps in the 50s and even up into the 60s some days.

Messy faces and happy smiles! Grady is saying 2 or 3 new words a day and speaking small sentences, and surprising us with some very funny things he has to say. Evie is getting restless with school and is very ready to finish! We'll see if we can finish the 1st grade strong in the next 2 weeks! :) Norah is excited to be a preschooler in the fall and is very proud of her own school workbook that we got her. She has started the first few pages already because she just can't wait! 

As you can see, it's not green yet here, but the moose are out looking for food anyway! This odd combination of a mama and yearling and a young bull were moseying through our yard the other night. Soon we hope we see some tiny ones running around. Calving season is almost here!


Here are some ways you can be praying right now:Praises:
-We have had several male counselors apply for the summer! We have come very close to having to run camp for only girls so this is a huge praise! We still need 2 or 3 more so thank God for providing these and join us in asking him for more! :)
-My health seems to finally be on the upswing. It has been a long and confusing journey and I know God is not finished yet. Thank Him for a beginning of healing!

Prayer Requests:
-For the program staff as they finish writing curriculum that will become the Bible studies the campers and counselors go over together each day. Pray for God-inspired writing and teaching that provokes the camper's minds to think about who God is, and their relationship to Him.
-For the entire camp in general as we head into the hectic, amazing, crazy, wonderfully tough summer season. It is not for the faint of heart. We love it and the awesome works God does in that time, but it does put stress on families especially, so pray that each family will get the much-needed time together this summer, while also being able to serve the campers and staff as we need to.

April 10th Update

Our little crew is getting so big! Evie is about to finish 1st grade, Norah will begin preschool this fall, and Grady's vocabulary has become huge in the past month or so!

 

Justin and two friends went to Glennallen to get their caribou tags and threw their guns in just in case they saw some, even though they didn't expect to. They found a group of them right off the highway! Now our freezer is full of caribou! What an awesome blessing! Grady wasn't so sure about the big animal in the back of the truck, though.

Yes, there is a caribou carcass laying on top of my reclaimed barnwood dining table...yes, it looks ghetto...it's how we do it in Alaska. The body froze a little more than we intended while it was hanging, so we had to wait for it to thaw for a few hours. In the meantime the men played video games. :) The kids were fascinated by the animal in the dining room!

Our kitchen turned into a meat processing center for about 8 hours! We got around 90 pounds of meat. Here is our friend Mark who shot the caribou and kindly shared most of it with us!

Evie was a good helper when it came time to grind the meat! She wanted to wear gloves and made lots of faces, though. :)

A couple of weeks ago Norah slipped on the ice outside the church after Awana club. She got a good sized cut on her chin but didn't have to have any stitches. This was a few days after getting a 2nd-degree burn on her foot from our toyo stove. She was a tough girl through it all!

Raising their hands when I asked "who wants to dye Easter eggs?" We spent the holiday at my parent's house in Kenai.

Gathered around the kitchen table

Gray showing off his egg

Norah put herself to sleep on the pew at church Easter Sunday

Norah and Max are thick as thieves! They have almost a twin-like connection even though they are uncle and niece...but it's probably because they have birthdays 10 days apart. :) When we visit Grammie's house they play nonstop together.

We woke up Easter morning to snow! 

Family photo

Today is April 10th and the snow is quickly melting, but it obviously isn't ready to let go of this mountain altogether yet. :) 


We were able to meet with several people and families who support us while we were in Kenai. What an encouragement it was to relax and visit! We are so thankful for all who give regularly so that we can continue ministry here, and especially for prayers.

Here are some ways you can be praying right now:-A praise: through eliminating the foods she's allergic to, Norah's eczema has vastly improved! Pray that we can now be faithful to her special diet so that her digestive system can heal and we can lessen or even eliminate these allergies. This includes taking some supplements that Norah doesn't like...and when this girl sets her mind against something it's very difficult to get her to change it!
-Spring time is when Justin's programming schedule really picks up. Between springtime promotional events for camp, interviewing and hiring summer staff, and figuring out the summer Bible study curriculum, Justin and the whole program team are kicking into high gear. Pray that they will have energy and clarity as they make decisions for this summer.

-There have been some issues with the ministry office that have caused some stress and tension here at camp. These are things that have been discussed and worked on for months now, and this weekend the board will be meeting to hopefully resolve some things. Pray that issues will be settled and God will be glorified in our ministry!

-We are in great need of male counselors for this summer! Please join with us to pray that God will touch people's hearts and lead them toward serving here. And if you know any college-age guys who would enjoy serving God in a wilderness setting, send them our way!       

February Updates!

I apologize for the lack of pictures this post! It will be a short one with mainly prayer requests. Life at camp in February usually just means guest groups and not many departures from the usual within our family specifically.:) Without further ado here are some praises/prayer requests/updates!

-Justin has begun his interviewing process with the summer staff that have applied so far. Pray for wisdom in selecting a staff and for people who have a heart for Christ to apply!  Praise Him for the positions that have already been filled!
-Camp is also still in the process of doing some budget changes and solving some problems. Pray for wisdom and good stewardship with our resources!
-The warm weather and lack of snow have caused some interesting overflow problems with the creek that runs several times through the properties and homes around camp. Pray it stays under control and also pray that the lack of good insulation doesn't lead to problems with pipes...so far we've been mostly OK and that is a praise!
-I got test results back earlier this month, which is a praise, but continues to be a reason for prayer too. I have a struggling thyroid due to some low adrenal hormones and also a candida yeast overgrowth in my digestive system which has caused lots of secondary problems. Praise that we finally found out what was going on! But now please pray for the treatments we're doing to work! It includes medication and supplements, a weekly vitamin injection, and a very strict diet for the next 3 months. The medicine is making me feel sick which is a struggle but the diet is even harder as it's very tough to take the time to fix myself what I should eat after taking care of my family's meals with the energy that I don't have! :) Pray for me to keep a joyful attitude about everything as well!
-We got some partial test results back for Norah's eczema as well but we have a lot of unanswered questions and more test results we're waiting on, so hopefully another visit to our doctor will help things make more sense. Pray for a clear path of treatment and since it appears we'll have to take some more things out of her diet, pray she gets enough to eat...being a picky eater does not serve an allergy-ridden little chickie very well! :(
-We praise and thank God regularly for all of you who are effectively serving alongside us by your prayers and giving! You will probably never know how truly appreciated you are by us and how valued your service is by God! We love you!

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!

25 Questions with Evie and Norah

We returned from Florida early Saturday morning. Our girls spent a week at the grandparent's house. All our worries about them missing us too much were for naught! We had a good time enjoying warm weather. Justin sort of had to drag me onto the plane back to Alaska. This woman was made for sunshine. :) We got to take a short boat tour of part of the Everglades...it was awesome to see the wildlife and experience a climate I'd never been to before!

 

We came home to a little bit of snow (finally!) and it feels like Christmas! This picture's a little blurry but I always enjoy watching Justin put the lights on the tree. We like finding Charlie Brown-esque trees from the woods around camp. It's always an exciting hunt to find one with just the right amount of character!

Back to Florida because my photos loaded out of order and I am technology deficient. This is a happy little boy eating his chocolate at the marina. We had just spotted a crocodile sunning on the boat ramp!

The girls were very excited to help decorate for Christmas. They got to fill their own side of the back doors with window stickies. 

I love how the gap from her two missing teeth on bottom is visible even from this far away!

Camp is staying pretty busy despite it being the holiday season. There are lots of upcoming family getaways and groups coming through this month. Dusk is falling at about 3:30pm and it's dark by 4:00. This is the time of year I really struggle with living in Alaska (more specifically, living in the mountains, which block even more sun) so it's very healthy for me to be able to get out of state once in a while and I am very thankful that I was able to!
All three of our kids are down with a stomach bug right now and I am only praying I don't come down with it until the little ones feel better and I am caught up on laundry and disinfecting everything! Growing up, my mother never caught the stomach bug when we kids did so I have decided it's very unfair that I always end up getting it along with the kids. ;) Justin is the one in our family with the iron immune system! At least we should all be better by the time the Grandparents come from Minnesota for Christmas. The girls are eagerly anticipating their arrival and they already have some fun things planned!

I wanted to share something precious: Yesterday morning, Evie asked me, "Mom, can you be rich in something besides money?" I asked her what exactly she meant and she said, "Well, we have a lot of toys. Does that mean we're rich in toys?" I replied yes and she began to list all the things we are 'rich' in. I love her perspective and her heart, and how she cultivates that heart of gratitude from such a pure, childish point of view. It was so valuable for me to hear her words as well, since at this time of year I can easily make my goal for everybody to get everything they want as far as presents and the whole Christmas 'experience'. She reminded me that I don't need to worry or stress about budget and material things for Christmas because we are already rich in so many, many ways! She concluded our little conversation by saying "Wow, we're really rich, aren't we?" Sometimes I am the student and she is my teacher. :)

Last year I did an interview with Evie and Norah that I enjoyed so much and found so amusing I wanted to make it a tradition (at least till they're a little older). So here are this year's 25 Questions with Evie and Norah!
(if you want to read last years' interviews and see how their answers have changed, here is 2013's: http://hostettersatvictory.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html )

Evie's Interview

1. How old are you? 6. 
2. What makes you happy?A hug from my parents.
3. What makes you sad? When I'm sick.
4. What makes you laugh? A trampoline. It's so much fun. I laugh at fun things.
5. What do you like to draw? I love to draw elephants, and other animals.
6. How old is Mommy? 27.
7. How old is Daddy? 32.
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Have a friend over, and they stay all day.
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a schoolteacher.
10. What are you really good at? Ballet.
11. What is your favorite food? I don't have one yet.
12. What is your favorite Christmas song? Away in a Manger.
13. What do you hope you get for Christmas? I hope I get like an Elsa and Anna house. And there's Elsa and Anna and a bunch of furniture. And Kristoff, and Hans...
14. What does Daddy do for work? He probably writes stuff on papers and does stuff on laptops.
15. What does Mommy do for work? Take care of the kids.
16. Do you know why we have Christmas? 'Cause Jesus was born.
17. Where do you live? In Victory Bible Camp.
18. Where is your favorite place to go? Disneyland!! Well, I want to go there. So that would be my favorite place in the world to go.
19. What are you going to do on Christmas? Spend time with family.
20. Who are your friends? Lucy, Alison, Taylor, Raeghan, Makayla, Kannika, Elizabeth, and I have one more...what's her name? Darci.
21. What is your favorite thing about bathtime? Getting wet.
22. What are your favorite books? A Frozen book.
23. What is something that Mommy always says to you? Turn that frown upside down.
24. What is something that Daddy always says to you? I'll see you after work.
25. What is love? Um, it's when you like to do the same things. And you just really like each other.


                                        Norah's Interview
1. How old are you? 3.
2. What makes you happy? That I would get an Elsa doll.
3. What makes you sad? That Grady hits me with a super hard thing.
4. What makes you laugh? When Daddy tickles me. Then I laugh like this: (proceeds to giggle)
5. What do you like to draw? Pretty princesses.
6. How old is Mommy? 27. And Daddy's 28. Is Daddy 28?
7. How old is Daddy? 28.
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Feed the cats cat treats.
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A chef. I would cook food you like, and Evie likes. Like sausage, and beans.
10. What are you really good at? Well, painting pumpkins. Really good at painting pumpkins.
11. What is your favorite food? Jello.
12. What is your favorite Christmas song? Jingle Bells. I like Away in a Manger too, but I like Jingle Bells a little better.
13. What do you hope you get for Christmas? Well...a Frozen set, and it's like Elsa and Anna and they have their own castles with lots of furniture...(describes everything in detail)
14. What does Daddy do for work? I forget.
15. What does Mommy do for work? I don't know.
16. Do you know why we have Christmas? Christmas lights.
17. Where do you live? Camp. And we do live in camp!!
18. Where is your favorite place to go? Lucy's house.
19. What are you going to do on Christmas? Open presents.
20. Who are your friends? Lucy, Makayla, Alison, Kannika, Darci, Raeghan and Raylee.
21. What is your favorite thing about bathtime? Playing with the toys.
22. What are your favorite books? I have a Frozen coloring book. And You Choose!
23. What is something that Mommy always says to you? Do chores.
24. What is something that Daddy always says to you? We're going to go to Disneyland someday.
25. What is love? Kissing and hugging. Now can I have chocolate chips?