We had the special treat this week of having a pastor from Togiak and his wife spend a night with us. They had attended a local conference and stayed with us the night before going back home. It was a time of sweet fellowship and encouragement. The village ministry families never cease to amaze me. To describe their work to minister and live as "hard" is an understatement. Please keep the village ministry families in your prayers. Pray for endurance, good health, financial provision, wisdom, clarity in communicating God's Word, and blessings to shower them. Pray that the staff of MARC are a source of help, encouragement, and trusted friendship to confide in to these families.

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day for me. After a wonderful, uplifting, convicting, challenging, self-searching worship service and message at church, we got to have the children of a fellow staff family go home with us while their mom and dad headed to the hospital for the birth of their third child. Our car was full, and I voiced that with our 2 year old and 1 year old afternoon wards we might get a taste of what it would be like to have six children. Well, I think we would have to have the children in our care a bit longer than an afternoon to truly experience what it would be like, for they were cared for and doted on by our children all afternoon that I barely had the opportunity to play an active role in caring for them. We also had friends and their children visiting with us for the afternoon, so it was really a relaxing afternoon for us even with nine children in the house.

The bitter part of my day was finding out that one of my best friends miscarried that morning. It is heartbreaking to see the loss and hurt experienced by those you love. Please pray for them, for comfort and peace, physcial recovery, and understanding for their 3 children ages 6, 4, and 2.

It was around 6:30 when we found out that our little guests have a new baby brother. We quickly packed them up and anxiously headed for the hospital, bursting with excitement to see him.

On our way, we saw MARC's King Air approaching to land from their day's flight, so we detoured to the airport to help the pilots take care of their passengers and the plane. In the picture below Mark is putting the plane away in the hanger. It is always an encouragment to the pilots to have someone at the airport to assist them after a long day of flying.

As we left the airport I got this great shot of one of MARC's navajos with the sunset in the background. The sunset was an incredible display of God's glory.
Finally arriving at the hopsital, we got to revel in the most breathtaking display of God's glory -- one made in His own image. Elisha James was born at 6:02 weighing 6 lb. 15 oz. Mom looked great. Big sister was tickled pink over her new brother. Big brother will come to realize the new addition to the family in the days to come. Please pray for the Boettchers as they adjust. Pray for quick recovery. Grandparents will be arriving in a couple weeks (Elisha decided to make his appearance two weeks early), pray for safe travel for them.

May all glory and honor be unto God in and through our lives each moment.

October is here and we are almost ready for winter. Frost is outside in the mornings and we are running our woodstove continuously. Thank you Lord for a warm home. The garden is harvested and the chickens are cleaninig it out for us. There is still firewood to gather and cut, and other almost finished outside projects that need to be finished.

Jeremiah brought home his first meat a couple weeks ago. He and Mark spent a Saturday morning spruce hen hunting. Jeremiah got this one right as they were about to leave to head home. A good chunk of their hunting time was taken up by helping an 82 year old man who was out moose hunting to get back into his car. In the excitement of spotting a moose he jumped out of his car which locked with the keys still in the ignition. The poor man didn't get the moose and drove home with a damaged hatch window which was how they got into the locked car. Mark "just-so-happened" to have a hacksaw in the truck. Don't you just love how God has us prepared to be useful to others in times of need: just the right tool on hand, scripture to share that we just read or memorized, or a life experience in our past that is similar to what someone else is going through.

MARC's winter flying season has begun. By "winter flying" I mean that our pilots fly groups out and stay with them, working alongside them, and then bring them back in. "Summer flying" on the other hand is a lot of one day trips with a schedule too busy to be able to stay with those we fly. Mark will be flying at least two weekends in October. Please keep him and our other pilots in your prayers for safety, wisdom and discernment, and God's glory.

This week MARC flew Arctic Barnabas Ministries staff to Port Alsworth for their annual Ministry Family Retreat. Port Alsworth is located on beautiful Lake Clark. This picture is a veiw from the beach in front of the church.

It is an incredible location for Alaskan ministry families to escape to for a time of physical and spiritual refreshment. Last Saturday, Alaina and I put together bathroom travel kits for the ABM staff to have available to those attending the retreat who may have forgotten such necessary items. It was a lot of fun sorting and packing the kits. All the items used to create these kits had been dontated to MARC over the last year from various sources.

Please continue to pray for the kids and I as we homeschool. It has been going very well so far this year, but has also been especially challenging for Neakita, now in 6th grade. Pray for clarity and understanding of the materials for Neakita. And pray that I am able to communicate information clearly. Pray they always have a passion for learning.