February 21st Update

I have to apologize for not posting any pictures... I made the huge mistake of allowing Grady to hold our camera for about 60 seconds and he managed to use his ample drool to destroy the camera in that one minute. So the fault is totally mine and now we need a new camera. :(

Winter is continuing on and we are pushing through! I feel like February in Alaska is the month where winter is still in full force and spring is at least another month or two away, and it feels like we'll never be through with the snow! Thankfully we do have the sun coming back over the ridge and visiting our house from about 11am to 3pm. Here's a few updates on our family since I have been very lax about posting regularly:
We are in the midst of allergy testing and diet change for Norah right now to see if it has an effect on her behavior and her eczema. The doctor we're seeing (whom I am not convinced that I like very much) suggested a yeast cleanse since being on many courses of antibiotics can allow yeast to build up and colonize in the gut, and Norah had 8 rounds of antibiotics in the last two years for ear infections and complains regularly of stomach pain. While trying to kill any possible yeast we have put her on antifungals and had to cut out all sugar and simple carbohydrates (white flour). This has proven to be difficult since my little grazers live on things like goldfish crackers! But it's been good for us too since we have eliminated lots of sugar from our diet as a whole. Norah had blood work done last Monday to check for food allergies and antibodies to yeast (she was so brave! they had to take blood from both her little arms and she was such a good girl!) so we should know more in the next week or so.
Evie is more than halfway through Kindergarten and is doing awesome in school. She (usually :) ) has a willing and attentive attitude when we sit down to our schoolwork. She is reading short little books and excelling in math and she loves that she gets to choose what she'd like to study for science. Right now we are learning all about orcas and other undersea mammals!
Grady is officially crawling and yesterday evening he started to attempt pulling up to stand. He is still working on his two teeth...they broke the surface of his gums 2 months ago and have stayed right there! I'm planning to start him on some cereals on his 6-month birthday next week.
Things in the Program department here at Victory are picking up for Justin and won't slow down now till after the summer. He will be working on recruiting and interviewing summer staff for the next couple of months, and also presenting Victory's summer camps at churches around the state to advertise for campers.
That is what's going on with our crew! Here are some ways you could be in prayer for us and Victory right now:
-Pray for patience and wisdom as we continue to look into Norah's possible allergy issues.
-Pray for Victory and its permanent staff as there are several staff changes taking place and it's always challenging to settle into new roles; also praise God that He has provided new staff that we love!
-Praise Him that the church we attend up here in the community, Glacierview Bible Church, has hired a new full-time pastor. We're excited to see how God is going to strengthen and grow the church through this!
-Pray for the summer staff that we are building right now. We currently only have one male counselor signed up for the summer and are definitely in need of more! Pray that the people God sends our way will have a heart for Him and for reaching out to kids this summer.

As always, we love and appreciate each one of you and we're thankful for your support through prayer and giving! We are so blessed!

Big Snow

Looking like his daddy in this picture

Showing off the headbands our sweet friend Jessica sent us

Pulling the cat's tail...cat didn't seem to mind!

Snow baby in a basket

The littlest snowman!

Our house stays pretty snug in the snow

Looking down our driveway in the fresh snow

You can see a bit of the mountains over the ridge

We've gotten around 5 or 6 inches of new snow in the last few days and more is forecasted! This has meant plenty of snow removal for all the staff around camp. Everyone has their assigned areas to keep clear of snow. If there is a guest group on the grounds the staff are required to check around 6am for snow and if there has been any, to clear it away before the guests need to be out and about.
SnowMania is coming up next weekend-- this is a Jr. High retreat run by Victory. Hopefully the temperatures stay reasonable so the kids can enjoy all this fresh snow!
We had a great Christmas break visiting family in Kenai. As soon as we got home, Norah came up sick with something. It was just a fever but it lasted a long time and made getting back into the regular school day routine difficult. Norah has been exceptionally grouchy and irritable lately (even after recovering from being sick) and I am beginning to suspect a food allergy, so I'm starting to remove a couple of different things from her diet.
Grady surprised everyone by popping out 2 teeth around New Years'! Evie and Norah were much later with their first teeth (Grady is only 4 months) so I was not ready for that. I'm not giving him solids yet because I'd like to prolong the sweet baby stage...and judging by his abundant pudge he is doing just fine on breastmilk for now. :)
This is the time of winter that I tend to get the blues so badly. It's definitely worsened by our extra loss of daylight from being behind the ridge. But it helps to stay active and staying active is easy when you have 3 little ones!
Justin's schedule is definitely starting to pick up with the new year. Applications for summer staff are starting to come in, so he is kept busy with interviews and other things. Soon he'll begin traveling to different churches to recruit summer staff and to get the word out to families about summer camp.

Some ways you can be praying right now:-Praise God that we haven't had the issue of frozen pipes all over camp that we had last winter. The snow is good for more than making things look nice!
-Pray for the retreats happening throughout the rest of the winter- that people would stay safe, enjoy their stay, and that God would be made much of by their time here.
-Pray for patience and wisdom in parenting our three, and especially for Norah who is going through a difficult time in her little life.

25 Questions with Evie and Norah

Evie watches Daddy top the tree we cut from the lakeside

Finished tree..complete with snow boots

Grady ponders falling asleep in his jumperoo

I love the bright red rosehips and how God's creation puts up Christmas decorations too :)

My date & I at the staff Christmas party

Our lovely mugs. Grady is winking!

Evie looks down the tube hill at camp. We got to tube with our friends the Engles when they came to visit!

Happy kiddos!

Merry Christmas, everyone! What a special time of year this is, and it's so fun to be a parent and see the joy and anticipation of Christmas through my children's eyes and remember what it felt like for me as a child. In honor of that thought, I'm sharing an interview with each of my girls to see what life is like for them right now in their own words. (I interviewed Grady too, but it didn't amount to much because all he did was drool.) :)

Norah's Interview:
1. How old are you? 2

 2. What makes you happy? Going to a hotel.

 3. What makes you sad? Sitting on the chair.

 4. What makes you laugh? When the kitty gets on me when I lay on the floor.

 5. What do you like to draw? A paper doll family. I like when you draw paper doll families with me.

 6. How old is Mommy? 10

 7. How old is Daddy? 2

 8. What is your favorite thing to do? To have a tubby. To go to the restaurant.

 9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A fairy.

 10. What are you really good at? Holding the kitty.

 11. What is your favorite food? Chips with cheese and beans.

 12. What is your favorite Christmas song? Max and Ruby Christmas.

 13. What do you hope you get for Christmas? A Max and Ruby house and a Max and Ruby toy.

 14. What does daddy do for work? Call on the phone.

 15. What does mommy do for work?  Mommy doesn’t do work. Daddy does work.

 16. Do you know why we have Christmas? Because.

 17. Where do you live? At home. Over here.

 18. Where is your favorite place to go? To Chuck E. Cheese.

 19. What are you going to do on Christmas? Open my presents . It will be a toy cake. And play with my toys.

 20. Who are your friends? Raeghan and Raylee. And Daddy.

 21. What is your favorite thing about bathtime? Playing with a beach ball.

 22. What are your favorite books? Dora the Explorer.

 23. What is something Mommy always says to you? You get a spanking.

 24. What is something Daddy always says to you? He says no. I get a spanking when I scream.

 25. What is love? Dough. (No matter how many times I asked, this is the answer she gave.)


Evie's Interview

1. How old are you? 5.

 2. What makes you happy?  When you make me paper dolls.

 3. What makes you sad? When I don’t get to watch TV.

 4. What makes you laugh? When Nory plays with Daddy and pinches his fingers.

 5. What do you like to draw? People. I mostly draw ladies.

 6. How old is Mommy? Um, 80. I don’t know.

 7. How old is Daddy? 32.

 8. What is your favorite thing to do? Draw.

 9. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanna be a Vet.

 10. What are you really good at? Typing things on the computer on my own.

 11. What is your favorite food? Ramen.

 12. What is your favorite Christmas song? Jingle Bells.

 13. What do you hope you get for Christmas? A castle with Rapunzel and nice furniture and stuff. And Rapunzel’s mean mommy.

 14. What does daddy do for work?  Looks at books, types on the computer.

 15. What does mommy do for work?  Watch the kids at home.

 16. Do you know why we have Christmas? Because that’s when Jesus was born.

 17. Where do you live? In Victory Bible Camp.

 18. Where is your favorite place to go? To the tubes and I get to go down the tube hill.

 19. What are you going to do on Christmas? I’m gonna open my presents. Then, we’re gonna go to Grammie’s and open more presents.

 20. Who are your friends? Molly, and Elizabeth, and Alison.

 21. What is your favorite thing about bath time? When I feel the hot, hot water.

 22. What are your favorite books? The Grinch. And princess books.

 23. What is something Mommy always says to you? Clean up your room.

 24. What is something Daddy always says to you? Bye bye, I’m going to work.

 25. What is love? Love is when you like someone a lot and you think they’re really cool.

November 30th Update

Grady takes in his first hockey game and watches his Uncle Isaac play. I told Grady to take notes!!

The girls helped bake and decorate their own fall cupcakes!

The quality of light around 3pm. The sun no longer makes it over the ridge. We'll see it again around February! :(

Norah loves school too when she can help Evie with projects. The volcano before...

And after!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was a little interesting due to having the stomach flu visit our house the day before Thanksgiving.We'd had a plan set in place with some good friends and so of course that didn't work out. Our poor little girls were not in good shape so we spent Wednesday cleaning up messes and watching cartoons and on Thursday we slept in and had Thanksgiving dinner at our leisure  (well, Justin and I did...the girls' appetites weren't up to par). All in all, though it would have been more fun to celebrate with friends or family, it was a relaxing day and we enjoyed the company of our kiddos and were able to focus on our many blessings without the worthy distractions of traveling, cleaning house, or being busy!
Victory's high school retreat was cancelled last weekend due to some pretty awful weather. If you live in AK, you know what I'm talking about! When roads close in Alaska due to weather, you know it's bad. Anchorage, Palmer and Wasilla received freezing rain which turned cars to ice cubes and roads to skating rinks. We didn't get much warmer than 13 degrees here at camp, but we got some wind and blowing snow that caused a power outage that lasted about 36 hours. That was a bit of a challenge with 3 kids, being the longest outage I've experienced since living up here. (We have frequent power outages but they usually only last a couple of hours.) We were thankful to have lots of candles and flashlights, a gas range rather than an electric one, and a woodstove! We ended up putting the contents of our refrigerator and deep freeze into coolers on the back porch. Did you know that you can freeze eggs and then thaw and use them again? I didn't either, but now I do. :)
We are looking at December now and the girls are awfully excited about Christmas. Last year we started what seems to be becoming a family tradition of making an advent calendar with a fun Christmas activity to count down every day till Christmas. It especially helps Evie because she can see the time pass in a more understandable way (versus Norah who is still at the age of being excited but not completely sure why).
We hope your holiday season is great and that you don't let the happy chaos of the next month or so overshadow the TRUE reason for the joy that we can have! I will be telling myself that often enough in the next few weeks. :)

November Snow

Our resident beaver was making himself a little too comfortable. The pond was starting to flood. So now the beaver is trapped and skinned and we got to watch the breaking up of the dam by heavy equipment!

Right before our big snow. You can see the mountains were ready!

Our new mouser Rajah really loves Norah...even though she tries to kill him daily!

This little man is almost always smiling! If you place him in the middle of a blanket he will have used his legs to push himself across it within minutes! He just needs to figure out the use of his arms. :)

The snow is here! We got around a foot in a night & a day. Evie's snowpants are mysteriously lost in our house at the moment, so the snow outside remains mostly untouched by little footprints. (They are like their mother anyways: huge lovers of the outdoors but only if the temperature remains above freezing!)
November as a whole is pretty quiet this year around camp - last year it was quite busy so it differs from year to year. There will be plenty of snow removal duties for everyone, though, so they shouldn't get too bored. :)
Evie came down with an ear infection over the past weekend and we made the drive to town to see the doctor on partially unplowed roads and lots of fresh snow. The highway was cleared  much better by the time we drove home in the dark, but we are thankful for snow tires and 4-wheel drive!

Ways you can be praying right now:
-For safety for staff members on the roads & around camp with all the new snow
-For wisdom & discernment as Justin and the program staff discuss next summer and any program changes that may need to take place
-Though there is a lot going on at camp, it is far too easy for me to get my focus stuck inside my own little bubble. Please join me in praying for the recovery from typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines, and the many hurting survivors who lost loved ones. Please pray also for North Korea at this time to be freed from the evil that is going on there. Pray for God's love & power to be shown in both these places right now!

Fall Update

The view from the living room window of our new house

Grady is 2 months old now!

The house has no bathtub so we bathe the girls in totes...Norah is also a ham!

She loves her baby brother

The girls decided our pumpkin needed makeup

He is definitely our most smiley baby!

Norah plays at Grammie's house with our new kitty...his name is either Rajah or Plum, depending on who you ask

Hello after a 2-month break!  (An unintentional one, of course...)
Fall has come and gone up here at Victory and now we are waiting on winter to show up. It's been a very mild fall (usually we have snow on the ground by now) that seems to be imitating our higher-than-average summer temperatures. I am personally just fine with no snow yet...because when it does come it stays much longer than you want it to!
We moved into a new house on September 24th. It is far bigger than the 700-ish square foot house we had been living in, so we are very thankful for more space so our growing family can spread out! We have space for a schoolroom as well so that has made school much easier & less stressful when we can leave projects out and have a defined space to do schoolwork.
Evie is loving Kindergarten and is eager to learn every day (she is bummed on Sundays and Mondays because they're not a school day!). She is learning in her ballet/tap class as well and is excited for the several recitals she'll have throughout the school year. We like being in the IDEA program. The only tough thing about school is fitting it into our shaky new routine with now a school-age child, an active toddler, and a newborn!
We are now going in to town once a week (Evie has dance on Mondays, Justin's day off) instead of twice a month, which means more trips in the car, more appointments and shopping trips all crammed into one day, and more general busyness!
Norah is going to be 3 in just a few months and she is always looking to Evie as her example, which can be both good and bad! She has been kept very busy the past few days with the new kitty that has joined our home. She likes to spend lots of time playing with the kitty but has also unintentionally nearly murdered him a couple of times...he will grow up to be a tough cat and hopefully a good mouser!
Grady got to meet my family (those who hadn't yet seen him) when we visited Kenai last week. It was fun to introduce him to my dad and watch him smile & coo at his Papa, whom I think Grady resembles greatly when he smiles! We were also able to have Pastor Phil Reemtsma, at our sending church in Kenai, do Grady's baby dedication. It is special to us because now all 3 of our children have been dedicated by the same dear friend & pastor in the same church.
Camp has been very busy over the last couple of months. To take from a fellow camp wife's blog:

Here comes a huge stretch of groups coming to Victory. We have a secular competition choir, a mission organization bringing in all of their field families, 2 air force groups, a pastor's retreat of local pastors, a group that has been coming for the last 30 years, 3 large youth groups, and a men's group that helps men battle addiction and struggles in their lives. And that's just October. What an awesome opportunity to show the love of God by serving these groups. Please be praying for their retreats and our interactions with them.

Justin got to enjoy a Halo party yesterday evening with some of the other men on staff (and one good friend who drove up from Palmer just to play!). They were out till midnight. :) I love that our coworkers here are also our friends; we are blessed to live in a community that is also our family!

I am adjusting being a mommy of 3 and the constant prioritizing that comes with it. I am constantly tempted to get frustrated because I tend toward needing to be in control of my surroundings...and with a family like ours that is simply not possible! There are so many voices (and not necessarily bad ones) in the world that tell you that to be a successful wife & mother you need to have an organized home, well behaved children, a hot meal on the table 3 times a day, and a creative hobby on the side that you are good at...and while these are all great things, they are very hard to achieve at the same time! I struggle with being frustrated when I don't see myself measuring up to that standard. But I read a blog posting the other day that was very encouraging to me; here's a snippet:

Our pastor was pointing us to the Scriptures and encouraging us to minister to our children, reminding us of our call to disciple them through instruction, discipline, and relationship.  I think being reminded of all of the good we can do in our children’s lives might be what caused the Spirit to prick my heart at that moment with this thought:
I process my life through the lens of failure.  I have trouble seeing the good and focus only on what I’m not doing or can’t do.
Like a camera with an improperly focused lens, my perspective was blurring what should have been in crisp focus and drawing my eye to what belonged in the fuzzy background.
- See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/is-your-lens-properly-focused-mine-wasnt/#sthash.zenNHfVR.dUATyZc1.dpuf

Our pastor was pointing us to the Scriptures and encouraging us to minister to our children, reminding us of our call to disciple them through instruction, discipline, and relationship.  I think being reminded of all of the good we can do in our children’s lives might be what caused the Spirit to prick my heart at that moment with this thought:
I process my life through the lens of failure.  I have trouble seeing the good and focus only on what I’m not doing or can’t do.
Like a camera with an improperly focused lens, my perspective was blurring what should have been in crisp focus and drawing my eye to what belonged in the fuzzy background.
- See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/is-your-lens-properly-focused-mine-wasnt/#sthash.zenNHfVR.dUATyZc1.dpuf

Our pastor was pointing us to the Scriptures and encouraging us to minister to our children, reminding us of our call to disciple them through instruction, discipline, and relationship.  I think being reminded of all of the good we can do in our children’s lives might be what caused the Spirit to prick my heart at that moment with this thought:
I process my life through the lens of failure.  I have trouble seeing the good and focus only on what I’m not doing or can’t do.
Like a camera with an improperly focused lens, my perspective was blurring what should have been in crisp focus and drawing my eye to what belonged in the fuzzy background.
- See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/is-your-lens-properly-focused-mine-wasnt/#sthash.zenNHfVR.dUATyZc1.dpuf

"I process my life through the lens of failure. I have trouble seeing the good and focus only on what I'm not doing or can't do. Like a camera with an improperly focused lens, my perspective was blurring what should have been in crisp focus and drawing my eye to what belonged in the fuzzy background....
You have had a unique life during which you have had experiences and training that make you who you are as a person and a mom.
...So, stop feeling bad that you're not doing life with your kids someone else's way, and do it your way. That's the way the Lord would have you do it. After all, he did give your kids to you! And I have a strong feeling that there are wonderful things happening in your home simply because of who you are as mama to your little ones."
(From itakejoy.com)

You are “Just Right”:  You have a unique life during which you have had experiences and training that make you who you are as a person and a mom.  I think that’s pretty stinkin’ cool!  You may be a crafter extraordinaire.  If you are, craft it up with your kids.  Share with them what makes your heart sing.  Or, you may be useless in all things domestic but love the great outdoors.  So, stop feeling bad that you’re not doing life with your kids someone else’s way, and do it your way.  THAT’s the way the Lord would have you do it.  After all, He did give your kids to you!  And I have strong feeling that there are some wonderful things happening in your home simply because of who you are as mama to your little ones.  (Don’t believe me?  Ask an outsider for their perspective!) - See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/is-your-lens-properly-focused-mine-wasnt/#sthash.zenNHfVR.dUATyZc1.dpuf

And it's true! While I may struggle with keeping the laundry caught up (...ok, it's NEVER caught up) or the dishwasher loaded, it is very easy for me to spend the whole afternoon reading with my girls or taking them outside to explore the yard & woods around our house. As my super wise, super experienced mom told me when we visited last week, "It's OK to lower the bar a little bit!"
...So if my husband comes home tonight to find the house a wreck, one of the girls up to her elbows in peanut butter, the other girl with a whole bowl of cheez-its dumped out all over the floor (that actually happened yesterday), the baby screaming, and me happily reading a book, I'll tell him it's OK because I'm lowering the bar just a bit. Alright, just joking, but really, it is comforting to know that I simply need to love my children and I'm already doing the only job that I TRULY need to do!

So here are some ways you can be praying right now:

-For the groups that are coming through Victory in the month of November to be ministered to by the staff here, to feel the love of Christ and see the beauty of God's awesome creation in their time here.
-For Justin in his daily job of seeing to details and dealing with individuals in the workplace, that he can do everything as though for Christ
-And the same for me in my job as wife, mommy, homemaker, and schoolteacher, and for a consistent routine to begin to take shape in the midst of our busy life
-On a side note, please pray for my brother Luke and his wife Holly in Kenai. The heavy rains that covered much of the state this past weekend caused there to be flooding in the area of Kenai that they live in. They are currently faced with the choice of trying to save their apartment or abandon it...the state is going through the measures of declaring disaster and sending relief but in the meantime there isn't a lot of help for them.

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!