Halloween 2009

My friend from college and her family came over from Grayling to visit us. She is originally from Fairview and knew where to take the kids trick or treating. Her parents first invited us over for pizza and then we went to her parents church for a carnival. Then we went to a local park and participated in the trunk or treat they had. It isn't as easy to go door to door up here so we opted for these two activities instead. Kolby couldn't keep his hands out of the candy bowl.

Moving Day!!

On October 8, 2002 we officially moved in to our new house as Resident Missionary Staff of Camp Barakel. What a crazy and wonderful ride the Lord has taken us on in the last couple of years. We are unpacked and beginning to get settled into life here. We thank everyone for their prayers and support to get us here.

The camp semi pulling up to our old house.

The Sky Trak taking our stuff to the second (main living space) floor of our new house

Logan's Last Day of Preschool and Graduation

Yesterday was Logan's last day of preschool. And on Wednesday he had a graduation ceremony. On the last day the kids from both classes were able to move about both classrooms and outside as much as they pleased. The whole family, except Nate who was in school, joined in the celebration. What a nice ending to a wonderful year. It is so bitter sweet though. You know I hate the fact that the kids won't stay this small forever, but I love how much God is growing them into wonderful children. I was so pleased with Logan's preschool, the teachers and the kids. God blessed my little boy with wonderful friends. There were so many caring parents that touched our hearts. Praise God for this experience. Pictures to come.

Kolby's 1st Birthday Pictures

Kolby's 1st Birthday

Well Kolby turned 1 today. It is very bitter sweet. I love the fact that he is getting older and doing more things each day. But it is a little sad thinking that he is getting older and will never be under 1 again. We as so thankful to God for giving us him. We had a party this evening for him with the family. He loved eating the cake once he stopped playing with it and actually tasted it. There will be pictures to come but I am way too tired to put them up right now.

Not Again

Well I ended up taking Kolby to the doctor today because he was really congested and had a fever last night. I am sure glad that I did because what I thought was an ear infection was really bronchitis. Now he has to do breathing treatments 4 times a day, which isn't too bad, well at least I thought it wasn't. Yeah, you try to get a very active 11 month old to sit still with this thing over his face for 10 minutes at a time. Ugh! Not so easy. Oh, well we will endure.

Kolby's First Steps

For the last month Kolby has started to take some steps. Lately he has started to let go of things by himself and tries to walk across the room. We are all excited for him.

Spring Break

On Friday Mike had the day off so we all went to Grand Rapids to the Children's Museum there. The kids had so much fun playing with all their interactive displays. I think they enjoyed the pretend store the most.

Scrub-A-Dub-Dub Four Kids in the Tub

I think we either need to get a bigger tub or Nate needs to start taking showers, because our tub will soon not be able to fit them all.

Sick and more sick

Will it ever end. Now Kolby and Mike are sick. Nathan and Logan finally went back to school yesterday and are feeling a lot better. Nathan's teacher said that there was a lot of kids out sick, so I am assuming that this all came from school. Tonight we go to Logan's kindergarten round-up. I can't believe he will be a kindergartner next year. We hope though that we will have all of our support and will be attending Fairview school, by Camp Barakel, next year instead. I hate seeing my babies grow up, but it is a happy time as well. Can't they stay small forever.

Sick again

Alright I am tired of my kids being sick. Nathan and Logan now have strep throat. I can't wait until tomorrow when it will be warm enough to open all my windows and air out the house.

First Haircut

On Saturday Maggie went with mom and got her first hair cut. She didn't get much cut off, but it needed a trim.

Thinking of Spring

On friday the weather gave us a taste of what is to come. Maggie and Logan were iching to get outside. They played in the sandbox for an hour or so. Then we ate lunch and couldn't resist going for a walk down to the park. We ended up spending the rest of the day outside enjoying the warm weather. The kids are excited for warmer weather to come.

On the Mend

The kids are getting a lot better. Today Logan, Maggie and I had fun baking cookies. Since Mike is working second shift this week he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with Nate, so he went and visited him at school and brought him some cookies. Nate thought that was great. Here is a picture of Maggie in her fu-fu outfit her Aunt Nadia got her.

3 of the 4 are sick

This weekend we had planned on going to Barakel to work in the kitchen, but God had different plans. Kolby started getting sick on Tuesday night and was still sick on Thursday. We figured that we still would go and leave the children with grandma and grandpa. But then Maggie got sick in the middle of the night, which we believed was our sign to stay home. It was a good thing too because Logan ended up getting sick too. Some of our very close friends were able to take our place at camp. And we stayed home with the three sickos. It ended up being a vary restful weekend at home. God is so good, He knows when we need to slow down and take it easy.

Good Morning

So this is what the Alchin children look like in the morning. This and next week Mike is working 2nd shift so we are getting used to having him home in the morning and gone in the evening. Good news we are now at 60% of our support level. Yeah!!!

Christmas Morning

Update

Well we are happy to announce that we are at 57% of our support. The Lord is so good to us. We had a great time of celebrating Jesus' birthday. The family is doing very well as we get back into the swing of things.

It has been a while

Okay, so I know it has been a couple of months since I have updated this thing, frankly we have just been super busy. Having four kids, Christmas and raising support has really kept us on the go. I will try harder to post more. And have more pictures of the kids. Thanks for your consideration and your support of our family.