Two is More Than One

Hello! We hope you are all doing well. We pray that the Easter season was a time of family and fun times as well as a time to rejoice for the gift of life Christ gave us at the cross.
We are doing well. We are in count down mode now until Jess gives birth to our second child. He/she is due April 27 and we are very excited about the new arrival. Jess has felt well the entire pregnancy. Eli says with authority that the baby will be a little sister so maybe he knows something we don't! I'm sure whatever sex the baby is he or she will be a great blessing to us. Two is definitely more than one. I'll have to find a new name for our space here!
Eli is growing and learning more each day. His vocabulary is amazing to us. He has endless energy and really keeps us on our toes. He is in his 'terrible twos" so he is sometimes a challenge, but overall he is a good little boy most of the time.
Tomorrow is April 1, 2008. That means in 24 days Echo Ranch will host its first retreat of this year's camping season. That's exciting for us! It's a little hard to imagine since there is still 2-3 feet of snow on the ground out there. This time of year is always exciting for the staff, because we know that what the Lord does here at camp changes peoples lives forever. It is feels wonderful to be a part of what He has planned for this season!
I recently had the opportunity to give my testimony at a luncheon for home school kids here in Juneau. I enjoyed this opportunity to share very much. Afterward I found out that one of the home school kids had actually recommended me for this speaking engagement! He had been one of my campers several years ago when I was in charge of the Wilderness Program at camp. It was very affirming to know that something I had done at camp had some lasting meaning in a child's life. I felt truly blessed and honored. It is awesome to know that God can use you to impact other's lives even when you don't realize it!

Winter in Juneau

When we returned from the lower-48 in January we were quickly reminded that we were back in the greta white north. Lots of snow! We've gotten used to it now and it isn't so bad. They keep the highways plowed off well, so we are always able to get out and go places to relieve our cabin fever that we sometimes feel with a 2 year-old. Alaska is a always a beautiful place, but even more so when it is iced with snow. Eli of course, loves the snow and can't really get enough of it. He especially loves to eat the foot long icycles that grow off the side of our house. He dips them into the snow for a little extra flavor! He went sledding with me recently and he would go down the hill all by himself! He's pretty fearless about most things. He's a cute one. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. He is also a speller. He spells out every word he sees! He knows all of his alphabet, numbers up to about 15 and shapes and loves to point them out to you. He makes us happy every day!

We are also anxiously awaiting the birth of his new sibling. We don't know what sex it will be. Jess is due in April and everything is gone fine so far. It has been a very active baby inside of her so far. Sometimes you can see Jess's belly move and it is a little like something out of an Alien movie!!!

Jess remains busy with doing business type stuff for camp and I have been busy getting brochures of camp out to just about everyone I can think of. This is a slower time of the year for us, but it less than 2 months things will start hopping again for us with camp and a new baby!!

14000 Miles, Baby News and Frankinsence

Hi and happy 2008 to all of you,

This fall Jess, Eli and I went on furlough down south to the lower-48. Jess and Eli flew down in August and I drove back in September. We ultimately drove about 14000 miles in all. Jess and Eli flew back two weeks ago and I drove back from Ohio with my father-in-law Bob. He and I drove to Seattle and caught a 2 1/2 day ferry trip up to Juneau. It was a good time for both of us. It was great to finally get back to Juneau and get back into our normal routines. We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to vosit our supporting churches, many of our supporters, friends and family.

Jess is pregnant and we are expecting this child to free itself from its warm cocoon in late April or early May. We are excited about it. Eli still isn't quite sure about what's happening, but I guess he will figure it out soon enough.

He is doing well. His vocabulary has grown in leaps and bounds. He even says frankinsence with much confidence!!!

The snow in Juneau this winter has been much less than last year. I have to admit, I kinda miss it!

We had our camp winter meetings last week. It went very well and now we all move into the planning mode for summer 2008. It'll be here before you know it!!!

Two In The Bag, a Lifetime To Go

Well, yesterday Eli celebrated his 2nd birthday. This time in Michigan without me his daddy. Kinda sad about that, but that's how it goes sometimes. He blew one of his candles out but decided to pinch the other one out with his bare fingers. He's okay, but I think he's learned that fire is HOT!

I'll be leaving out Friday to drive home. I'm looking forward to the trip. It'll be fun to be on the open road. So, I'll see y'all soon...

The End is Near!

Hi again,

Today marks the first day of the last summer camp of the season. It sure has flown by. Jess and Eli leave next Wednesday to fly home to Ohio as we begin a long fall break from Juneau. We hope to see many of you, our friends and family, while we are at home. I will be leaving on the 1st of September to drive home. I am really looking forward to that.

Lots of kids at camp this year. It is the most we have had in many years. Cool huh? It has been a good year overall.

Eli will turn 2 years old on Aug. 26. He's 37 lbs and 36 inches long! He's a monster!! He's off the charts. Luckily he's proportional or else he'd make a great bowling ball.

Blueberries and Birthdays

Here are a few pictures from my birthday and from today's Sunday afternoon wild blueberry picking. Eli ate quite a few berries. He was like a BEAR!!

4th of July and the Other Days Too...

The 4th of July is a big day here in Juneau. They have several parades filled with floats and what seems like a never ending supply of dogs. (Alaska is a dog-loving state if ever there was one.) Echo Ranch marches in Juneau's parade each year, so that is what we did this year too. Eli seemed to enjoy it and was entertained by all of the crowd waving and cheering for him. I'm sorry, in my head they are all cheering for him. It's my job you know to get him prepped for what it will be like when he wins his first of what will undoubtedly be many Super Bowls or World Series! Hey, I can dream can't I??? Anyway, we all had a good time and I hope you all had fun on your 4th too. That's Eli on the peddle go-cart with a friend In the other pic you see Jess and Eli marching in the parade. Eli is munching on a saltine and Jess is talking to a friend from camp.

The rest of the month has been busy with camp. we've been blessed to have lots of kids at camp this summer so that has kept us busy. Last week there were 100+ middle school kids at camp so it was a madhouse out there! We like a lot of kids!

Bear count for this year stands at 7 for me and 6 for Jess. Kind of a slow year.

Eli is talking more now with every other word seeming to be "bus." He's pretty funny with these new words of his. His vocabulary now includes bus, yes, no (a word he uses often, but doesn't seem to always understand when we say it), stuck, more, mama, didi, Leah, bath, Elmo and others I just can't remember at this early hour. He babbles a lot so we think we may have a chatty little boy.

I had my 44th birthday on the super lucky day of 07-07-07. Jess made a fancy cake and overall it was a nice day for me.

Okay, so I'm not the best blogger around...

Hi,

Sorry it has been so long since my last posting. My neice Erin questions why I even have the blog if I don't post occasionally to it. She is ever the logical one, my little clown.

Things are going well here. We endured almost 200 inches of snow here this winter. That's a record for Juneau. Eli loved it! He didn't have to shovel the stuff!

Camp is almost at the mid-point for the summer. We have been blessed to have lots of kids this year. That has been awesome. They are why we are here.

We will be home from mid-August until January this year to visit with our supporters and churches. We hope to see as many people as possible.

We sold the "Pig" recently. The "Pig" was our name for our 1990 Suburban which we bought in Glennallen and used to haul all of our stuff up to Alaska a few years ago. It was big and not so pretty, thus the name "Pig!"

Eli is well. He gets bigger each day and is sure to be a middle linebacker someday. His vocabulary is also getting larger each day. It's a little scary.... He loves momma, anything with buttons, anything electronic, driving the camp's school buses (pretend of course) and anything with cheese. He's our little boy!

I have seen 7 bears this spring, one right here in our parking lot! That's life in Alaska...