Summer coming to an end

     July is almost coming to a close. We had a lot of beautiful days this month. Not too hot though. Only a high of 79 outside. The kids have played outside and made a fort. They have attended the rodeo where the campers show the skills that they learned from the week. Also there is always a crazy skit for entertainment.

         

This Skit was so funny. They were telling a story about hunting and how to follow tracks. One of them followed tracks and was run over by a train. It was a good time.

Yes they are knee boarding behind a horse...

We have gone to the Matanuska river with the work teams. It is wonderful to see their reactions to the mountains and the river.

That is the moon between the mountains there.

 We have the Hudsonville reformed church work team helping out around the camp right now. It is fun to have some more West Michigan people in the area. We will have them over and see who we know. The gentleman working in the shop with Jared used to work for Rich at Dykstra's Auto back in the day. It is fun to hear their stories. This group has been coming up here for years. I think one of the guys is on his 10 time up to Victory. Here are some of the projects that we are working on this week. Some are mowing and building and working in the kitchen. There is 14 people in the work team.  They are such a blessing to the camp and helping us keep things going.

Here's Bob Alexander working on a new deck and next landscaping.

Spreading more rock for the fire pit area.

 Marv is fun to watch work with heavy equipment.

Jared and Chuck working on DOT inspections.

  Evelynn had her surgery and it went great. She was great through the whole thing. That day we took a few wrong turns and ended up at a park. I brought along lunch so we had a pinic and let  the kids play and we walked on the beach. It was a beautiful day out. Also it was right by the airport and we got to see planes land. On another runway we watch planes practice for the air show this month. We will have follow up appointment next month for Evelynn. But she is healing great. Here are some of the picture of our wonderful family day. 

Evelynn after the surgery and a nap. She was so happy.

All the kids had fun playing. It was a beautiful family day.

So there are a lot of flowers out right now. It is beautiful. Plus the berries will be able to be picked in about a month. Raspberries, blueberries, mossberries, and there are a few more. Mmm My mouth is watering and I am planning on freezing some so we can enjoy them throughout the winter. We have had the most wonderful rainbow. Then it turned in to a double rainbow it was breath taking.

The kids fort.

 

Evelynn loves the views from up high.

 There is always someone to prank. But it sure makes us laugh what they come up with

 Having popsicles with some friends

 stamping while other kids took naps

 

Campers playing flag water fight. The water gun sprayers have flags that the kids have to get to get the sprayers out. Some fun ways to cool down on a hot day.

 Rhubarb pie. 

The Lord has been working through camp this summer. Stretching us in ways that are needed. Thanks for all the prayers and support. We are so happy to serve a wonderful God together.

July so Far.

It has been so beautiful these past few weeks. Sorry for all the people having to deal with the heat and dry weather in the lower 48. We celebrated Alison's birthday on the 2^nd.  She is now 5 years old. Here are some pictures from her birthday.

All ready for the rain.

 The fourth of July up here is not filled with fireworks and swimming. At least no swimming this year for us and it is light at night so fireworks are a waste of money. We had a potluck with all the community It was fun we didn't know even half of the people there but it was fun seeing everyone come and enjoy the day. It was a ton of fun and we were able to talk to a lot of people. Oh and the normal things happened like launching off 2 cars from a cliff and launching a bowling ball into the air with a cannon. Yes the normal things.

Here are some video and pictures of the actions. Jared helped get the cars ready to launch and was one of the guys launching the cars.

if you click on them you can see all 4 of the planes. They are from kingdom air core they train missionary pilots and are located towards town a little ways.

one of the cars that went over the hill that day.

This vehicle is great for getting through the mud and going across the river to hunt or get wood

They support Green tractor up here!!

Getting ready for the cannon launch. The person in the hoodie lit the fuse.

 

The car launch.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th and we are so blessed to be able to shout God's name and we have the freedom to worship Him. We pray for the people in countries where they are under oppression from the government.

Rhubarb in Alaska

This is a Kacie post by the way so it is not confusing. So today was gorgeous the sky was so blue it was breath taking. It is amazing how much beauty there is here  and what God has bless us with. Me and the kids went and picked rhubarb from a friend's house. So we went overboard on picking but it was hard to stop and it was so nice to let the kids explore a new place. So I thought I would let everyone in on our day.

Kids running through the garden. They had a blast.

The indoor garden. So the tomato plants will touch the ceiling.

Showing how big the leaves are.

I didn't make a dent in the patch

Kenten showing off the biggest leaf.

The view from their house.

Love the mountains.

 All washed  and ready to cut.

All cleaned and cut up ready to turn into something wonderful.

There is a total of 6 gallons of cut rhubarb for the freezer

and 5 tupperware of freezer jam

15qt of canned Jam

7pt of canned Jam

All the work is worth it and thanks again to the friends for sharing the rhubarb.The kids helped out so much. And to end my busy day I cleaned my dish and had to try out the Jam with some toast.

To put icing on the cake for the day I seen a mom and baby moose tonight. She was a very caring mom.

First Week of campers

Wednesday was rainy and cool. But the campers came in with all the excitiment needed to brighten the day. This will be a short week because we have younger campers. The kids are second and third grade. It is fun to see their excitment and we are overjoyed to see what God is going to do in their lives this week at camp. Even though the week is short, God is still at work.

Here are some pictures from when we went to the Lodge to greet the new campers as they arrived. Yes, it decided to rain, but it was fun. The kids were very hyper and excited.

This week, the counselors took their swim test in the lake. The water temp was a warm 38 degrees. bbbrrr!!! The air temp was like 50 degrees.I did not get out to take pictures because I was unsure of when they were doing that. Oh well I am pretty sure there are a few counselors that would splash the by standers just for laughs.

Also, we have the privilege to have a work team in from Pennsylvania. There are many skills in this team. They are finishing up their projects for this week. It is wonderful that they are so willing to come help out at camp and to work side by side as missionaries. Some of the skills that they have are heating and cooling, electrical, wood working, carpentry, auto mechanic (he has been working with Jared), ladies helping out with cleaning and cooking for the kids. I can't believe all the talent in one group. There are also some people here all summer helping out in the kitchen. Camp would not run as smooth with out the extra hands. We, here at camp, have been blessed by all of the people that came to help. So if you come up to help, Thank you for your partnership in the growing ministry. If you would like to come up and help out on a work team, let us know. We will have you talk to the right people here. So let us know if you have any questions. We were up on work teams before being full time.

I tried to sneak some pictures of the work team with out being in the way.

 Here is what I got.

They are working on a flower box

fixing a electric problem with one of the lights

 Jared working with the work team to replace a phone line.

In deep thought. 

What a place to work with mountains around you?

Here are the moose that have been gracing us with their presents. It is a mom and twin yearling. 

If you click on the picture you can see my clothes line right above his back. I am glad I didn't have clothes out or the moose would get stuck in it.

Yes that is next to the window..

They always turn the wrong side to the camera.

Okay this is a face picture.

The fruit truck came in and we were able to get some real fresh fruit. We also got oranges. Yes you know Kacie and the kids started eating as soon as they got home. 

Oh and last but not least. Pictures of the mountains with the clouds breath taking can't get enough of them. The river is high too. Tomorrow we hope to drive to the river with the work team what a fun night it will be fellowshipping together.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  We can't wait to see what God has planned for this week.