Let the Summer Begin!

We have just finished orientation week here at Victory and campers come tomorrow!! I am excited and I know the summer staff are beyond excited. Praise God, we got everyone we needed to fill the staff roles that were wanting. Of course we weren't surprised because God is so good like that. :) Today was the final day of the classes, certifications, and activities to help the staff get comfortable in their summer roles. This morning they had a time of prayer at each individual camp (Alpine, Ranch, Frontier, SALT, and Adventure Camp) as everyone surrounded the staff specific to that camp and prayed for them and their work this summer. I always love this part of kicking off the summer because it reminds everyone that without God, anything we tried to do to help or encourage the kids that attend here would fail.

We are still in process of raising funds to go to Ireland! This is a room at Drewstown House which gives an example of the type of work that needs done there. We are eager to go and help!

The outside view. How can you not be in awe of a 200-year old manor house?!

There are lots of outside repairs that need done as well

We visited Kenai once more before the camp season kicked off. We celebrated our 7th anniversary while we were there. I made Justin reenact his proposal to me. See what good actors we are?  ;)

In the middle of orientation here at camp we woke up one morning to SNOW! 6-8 inches, and it stuck around for a whole day in some spots! Our poor cat was probably wondering what we did with the summertime. YUCK.

Many trees fell in the woods in this area because of the weight of the snow plus all the summer leaves. Others just bent in half like this one.

Dressed in warm jammies because we had multiple power outages along with the snow!

We hiked down to Hicks Creek with the counselors and other staff to do a campout and also to help get the wall tents set up and campsite cleaned and refreshed for summer. Hicks Creek is where Ranch Camp goes to camp out once a week.

Evie decided it would be funny to throw creek mud in her own face. Strangely enough her mother didn't agree.

Evie attended her first VBS/Music Camp this week. While big siblings were away a friend decided the younger girls should have a tea party! Here is Norah with all her friends.
Evie's musical will be tomorrow morning at church. We are super excited to see her sing and do the choreography she's learned this week!


Some ways you can be praying right now:

-Pray for safety, health, and fun as campers come in tomorrow for the first week of camp!

-The first week is always a learning week for new counselors. Pray that camp will run smoothly, that they will feel comfortable leading cabin devotions (for many this is their first time teaching to a group), and that they will make connections with their campers

-Pray for Jacob, our food service director. He will be on his own running the kitchen for the next couple of weeks and it is a HUGE job!

-We are also short handed at the front desk/reception this summer. Pray that God will either provide someone who can fill in, or that the job will go smoothly and not be overwhelming for our registrar, Elaine

May Update

Summer is kicking off and I'm sure you are busier than ever! Thanks for taking the time to read about how things are at Victory & with our family.
Norah got very sick at the beginning of the month. We never found out what it was, but it resulted in a trip to the emergency room because she had stopped eating or drinking and was becoming dehydrated. Her recovery was slow but she is better now and we're thankful! I just wish we knew what she had. This mother doesn't like the feeling of not knowing!

This is how we take our walks around camp! We have had amazing spring weather and we are thankful for the 2+ weeks of sunshine we had this month before it ever really rained. Evie is officially done with school this week. She had a great school year and learned a lot! Our curriculum for next year is ordered and she is excited to watch the books arrive. Now, I just have to re-organize our schoolroom for next year...thank goodness I have all summer to procrastinate about that. :)

We took a couple of hikes with friends to the top of Teepee Ridge, our favorite family-friendly hike here at camp. The girls bounce to the top and then Norah usually wants carried down. Grady is a champ in the hiking backpack. We are excited for summer here at camp to officially begin. The counselors start coming in this weekend and orientation starts on the 31st. This summer will be a little different with some program changes and we are excited to see how it all plays out!

We took a trip to the Imaginarium with friends in Anchorage on Family Free Day! The girls loved the bubble center. I definitely remember playing there myself as a child. Somehow it's very fulfilling as a parent to watch your children enjoying the very same things you did as a kid.

Grady thought the sticky toys there were awesome.  Or maybe he just loved our reaction when we stuck them on him! He is a very mellow, easygoing little boy with lots of energy to move around. He has been playing around with trying to stand on his own. He hasn't gotten very far with that yet but he is very content to crawl everywhere and walk around furniture! He'll be 9 months old on the 25th.

Norah is our thinker and observer for sure. As she grows we are constantly finding out new things about her personality and I am realizing she is already a very complex person. She is an intellectual and usually keeps her thoughts to herself- but when she shares them they are awfully deep for a 3-year old! We are still struggling to parent her at times as she is incredibly determined and that can cause lots of clashes of will!

One of the interns and our friend here at camp has a cat who had a litter of kittens. We took in the runt of the litter because the mother had rejected him. I hand-fed him for a few days and he was doing well, but the mommy must have known something we didn't because he soon got very sick and died. It was a sad lesson for the girls to see that sometimes life is fragile. But it was definitely exciting while he was with us and the girls didn't seem to take it too hard when he was gone.

This is the view of Victory Peak out the living room window of our house, before the buds on the trees opened all the way. I love being able to see the mountains, and morning time especially is my favorite time of day. I've heard people say that the mountains here look a little bit different every day and I really think it's true! It's so easy to worship God when His amazing creation is right there!

Mercedes is a happiest when she is hiking with us.

Sometimes there is a little too much love going around. (See Grady's face? :) )

The kids at the top of Inspiration Point

 

 

 

Evie was in her last dance recital of the year and she did a great job! She actually "performed", as opposed to going through the motions, which is what she usually does because of stage fright! :) We were pretty proud of her.

We have been seeing God work this month at Victory. We've had a big need for just a few more summer staff and it seemed like nothing was happening. But slowly the holes have started to be filled and we know God is doing some awesome stuff already this summer! It is just so cool to me to watch God answer prayers right before my eyes.
We are so excited for campers to get here and have their lives changed by the One who loves them most!!

Some ways you can be praying right now:

-For the last few summer staff needs to be filled. We are especially in need of front desk & gift shop help.

- For safety during orientation and for the summer staff to learn (and remember!) everything that they will need to know for the summer.

-Just for the opening and softening of hearts. God can't work in someone's life until they realize a need for him. Pray that the staff will learn and grow tremendously during their time here and for seeds to be planted in many, many kids' hearts as a result of being here.

-Some praises! Sergei, the intern who was badly burned in an accident, has returned to camp and is recovering well. God is good!

-We have a new couple here on permanent staff to be Operations Director and head of Housekeeping for guest housing. We are excited to have the Cotes here!
-Outdoor education groups got to enjoy some beautiful weather and hiking trails that were clear of snow (something they didn't get last year!). We are beyond thankful for an early spring!

Exciting Update!

Exciting news! As you may have seen me mention on Facebook recently, Justin and I have an opportunity to go to Ireland this fall as part of a mission crew.
Drewstown House is a 19th-century manor house in County Meath, Ireland. It functioned as an orphanage and school until the late 1980s, when it became a Christian camp and retreat center. Justin and I have a chance to join a team that is traveling there in September to help with repairs and maintenance of the grounds. As you can imagine, an estate that was built in the 1800s is going to need some upkeep from time to time! Justin and I don't specialize in any area of maintenance, but we are both willing and eager to help in any way needed. We would leave our girls in Kenai with Grammie and Papa for about a week and take Grady with us. He will be just over 1 year old at that time.
Each team member is responsible to raise their own funds, which brings me to the reason for this post. :) Rather than bore you with several paragraphs explaining our need to raise money, I'll make you a list:

1. Justin's work schedule during this busiest time of year will not allow us to go out and raise funds for this trip. We will have to use the internet and communication as our main tool.

2. Yet through about a month of thinking and praying, we still feel like God is telling us to GO!

3. We have signed up for this trip completely trusting that if God wants us to go, He will provide the amount we need.

4. The amount we need is $4000 total for Justin and I. This includes airfare, a week's worth of room and board as we serve, and passport and additional costs.


May I share some of my heart with you? It's exciting to think about going, but it pains me to ask for one-time funds on top of the regular funds we already live on as our full-time missions support. I'm still not entirely sure what God is teaching me through this but one thing is already clear to me: All the money and resources in the world are God's, and He will use them however He wishes.
Thanks for taking the time to read and be interested in this opportunity we have! If God lays it on your heart, you can send funds to us at:

Glacier View Bible Church
35455 W. Glenn Hwy
Sutton, AK 99674

Please make checks to Glacier View but put our name in the memo. Gifts are tax deductible.

April 24 Update

Mr. Blue Eyes

Visiting the horses at Ranch Camp. Evie prefers not to hand-feed

Norah shares some hay with a friend

This little man is crawling, pulling to stand, and walking around furniture. He is into mom's kitchen cabinets too!

Family picture before the snow melted

The girls love to push Grady in the stroller when we walk

Our kitten has grown into an accomplished mouser. He also likes to follow along when we take walks!

Puddles, minus pants, at Grammie's house

Yelling from the hilltop with Uncles Logan and Max

Coloring Easter eggs

This is one happy Easter morning face!

Norah was not so impressed with the bunny ears

Happy belated Easter! We have had a good couple of months since writing last. Once again I've fallen way behind on updating our blog. Every other week to post seemed reasonable not too long ago...now it seems laughable! There are just more demanding things calling for my attention at every moment as I'm sure any mom would know. :)

We have been running all over the place lately because Justin spends much of the spring months presenting Victory at churches to recruit summer staff, encourage campers to attend, and to build relationships with churches. We usually go with him since it's often a full day that he spends working and we already see too little of him in the summer! Speaking of summer, it's fast approaching and we have lots of counselor and other summer staff positions that need filling! If you are a high school to college age person or know someone who is that's interested in a life-changing summer, visit victorymin.org and print our application!

We visited family in Kenai at the beginning of April and had a good trip. We spent Easter with some good friends and the kids enjoyed being able to hunt eggs outside- we actually have breakup this year around a normal time!

We are loving the extra daylight that this time of year in Alaska brings and the girls are getting excited about gardening, playing at the lake, and meeting new counselors. There are always one or two special friends that Evie seems to make among the counselors each summer that she adores and it's fun to see her form those bonds.

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!

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.