Macie is three!

While we were in Idaho for training Macie turned 3!  That makes 3 birthdays in three different states for Miss Macers.

1st birthday in Washington...

2nd birthday in Alaska...

3rd birthday in Idaho...

I was looking for a picture to post of Macie and Colton together and I came across this gem.  It pretty much sums up their relationship.  Colton is supposed to be feeding his sister a bottle (I was trying to capture a "cute" moment) and notice what he is staring at with admiration in his eyes.  Yes, an airplane.  Not lovingly at his baby sister.  

Macie is a sweet little girl and she is always trying to make people laugh, she already has a great sense of humor.  She is pretty much a self proclaimed fruitarian, loves riding her razor scooter, likes to color, and (I don't know how this happened) loves princess things.  

Next year her birthday will be in not only a different state, but a different country!  We have a well traveled little girl.

Flight Standardization

 Hey All,

Angie figured that I would be the best one to fill you in on how things are going on the technical orientation side of things.  We have been learning a lot about what these airplanes are capable of.  MAF has been operating these planes for a long time and have a very good grasp of just what their capabilities are.  Couple that with some very talented instructors and you have what I have experienced these last few weeks.  It has taken a while to knock some rust off since I had not flown for over a year.  Some things came right back while others took a little longer.  As a result I stayed behind from the big backcountry trip and I will finish up after our non-technical orientation is done in 2 weeks. 

Practicing Aborts and Drops

These last few weeks have been really challenging for Angie and I as our plans have been up in the air.  It has caused us both to pray more and to seek God's wisdom for our lives.  He has once again confirmed that he has us right where we need to be.  The guys in the training department have been a huge encouragement.  They rearranged the timing of the backcountry trip to allow me to fly with another instructor and while the rest of my class was in the rugged backcountry of Idaho, my instructor stayed behind to help me get the things ironed out that I needed.  This was not the path that I would have taken on my own but God has walked Angie and I through this together, strengthening our relationship with Him and MAF in the process.  I am so thankful that God has put us where we are at and I look forward to what he has for our future.

Thank you all who are praying for us in this process!  We have seen God work in your prayers!

Mike

Looking Downhill at Holdout in Eastern Oregon

Taking a break at Holdout.  This little ranch has been around since the 1920's according to the owner who was out spotting deer.  5% slope and about 2000 ft long.

Not a view you would expect out of a small airplane!

Pros and Cons of Missionary Life

There are aspects of our lives as a missionary family that I absolutely love, and there are parts of it that are very hard and I do not love so much.  I love the fact that Macie and Colton have the unique opportunity to travel and see and experience places that most kids don't have the chance to see.  I love that they also get to meet a lot of different people and make new friends.  I do not love the fact that they also have to say good-bye.  A lot. 

It makes me smile to watch them make new friends so easily, and it is so fun to watch them laugh and play.  It breaks my heart at the same time though, knowing that they will have to say good-bye to their new friends in 3 weeks because their new friends parent's have a different assignment than we do and they are moving to serve in a different part of the world from us.  This is the hard part, knowing that in 3 weeks there are going to be tears and loss to deal with.  Of coarse new potential friends will be coming to MAF soon after the old friends leave, and we will start the whole process over again. 

I can't end this post on a sad note, so I will add a couple of pictures from this weekend.  Our family had the opportunity to fly on an MAF plane that was going to an event at a nearby airport.  It was actually a tractor pull/car show/air show (hey this is Idaho).  MAF had a booth set up to build up awareness in the community of what we do, and also try to ignite a passion for mission aviation in the next generation of kids interested in becoming pilots.

Macie was a little nervous to fly, it has been awhile since she has been on a small aircraft.

Colton pointing out all the different shapes of the fields we flew over.

Hanging out in Petey the Plane.

Train ride!

Bouncy House, we sure got our money worth out of this.  I think Colton jumped for 45 minutes straight!

"Mom, Dad, can we fly home now we are tired."

Nampa from the air, you can see the airport and our apartment in the distance.

Life at MAF Headquarters

I can't believe that we have been at MAF headquarters in Nampa, ID for over two weeks already!  We love living here at headquarters, it has really become a second home to our family.  

Many of you have asked what daily life looks like for us right now.  For Mike daily life consist of A LOT of studying.  He is focusing on maintenance right now for the Cessna 206 and is in class from 8am until 4:30pm.  Since the MAF hanger is right across the street from our apartment he gets to pop over for a quick lunch every day, which is nice. 

Mike was expecting to do three weeks of maintenance training followed by three weeks of flight training, but due to the fact that MAF has three airplanes available to fly and 7 pilots to train they had to shift things around a bit.  Long story short, Mike will do some flight training next week!  He is very excited to get off the ground again and back up into the air, it has been too long since his last flight. 

Macie, Colton and I have been settling into the apartments nicely (I won't lie there have been a few "bumps" along the way).  There are a lot of kids living here at MAF during standardization too, so there are always friends to play with outside.  It is awesome to always have playmates, but sometimes a bit overwhelming.  It is a good opportunity to learn how to share and how to resolve conflicts, but it can be exhausting!  The kids spend a lot of time outside whizzing around on Razor Scooters and Colton has been riding his bike a bunch.  Which leads me to this...

 This is the bottom of a flip-flop.  Notice the thorns stuck in the bottom of them?  This is what happens every time a person wanders off the sidewalk here, their shoes (or worse bare feet) are covered in these crazy thorns!  If you look at them closely you can see why they are called "Goat Heads".  They look like deranged goats!

 

What does this mean for Colton and his bike?  Four tire repairs so far!  Mike is also getting a lot of bike tire maintenance in this week too.

 

You know that you are an MK when...your bedroom is a closet.

These past couple of weeks have been a blur!  We sorted and packed all of our belongings, moved out of the house we were living in, drove to MAF headquarters in Nampa, ID, and Mike has started training.  We couldn't have done it without the help of our friends!  You know that you have a true friend when they come and help you do yard work and scrub your kitchen and bathrooms for you!  Having such good friends made it even harder to leave.  It helps to know that this is just a temporary goodbye until October when we will get to see everybody for a short while (then the real goodbyes will happen).

A HUGE answered prayer happened the day before we left!  Our beloved stray cat Orange didn't have a home lined up, and we were pretty stressed about it.  Out of the blue our neighbors walked over and asked us if they could adopt Orange!  Turns out he is friends with their cat already and has been visiting them.  We couldn't have asked for a better situation for him, it is nice to know that God even takes care of the minor details of our lives.  

Our crates being loaded up onto a trailer.  They will hang out in Battlerground, WA for a few months and will catch up with us in Indo in about a 1 1/2 years.

The kids are pretty much pros at road trippn' at this point, so a little 7 hour drive wasn't a big deal.  It also helped that Auntie Katy sent them some activity books in the mail to surprise them with for the trip to MAF.

Headed out to Nampa.

Nampa or Bust!

We are going to live in the MAF apartments across the parking lot from headquarters for the next couple of months.  It is fun, it kind of feels like camp (with a lot of homework for Mike).  I'll give you a little tour of our cozy apartment.  We went from living in a 3 bedroom house on 5 acres to a 1 bedroom apartment.  You know what, it totally works.  I have WAY less to clean!  

Here is a little tour of "home".

Our living room (complete with Mike studying). 

Our kitchen.

...and yes.  Colton is sleeping in the closet (don't worry he LOVES it). 

Where are you guys?!

Why haven't you been blogging lately?  Short answer.  We've been busy.  

I find as I sit here and scroll through this blog I have made a mistake by only posting about the fun stuff we get to do.  There are two reasons for this I think.  1.)  I don't want to bore you.  2.)  I don't like to be a "downer" and sound like I am complaining.  So from now on I promise to write out every little detail of our lives.  Just Kidding!  I will, however, make a better effort though to put the "whole" picture of our lives in this blog.

We have less than 2 weeks until we drive out to Mission Aviation Fellowship headquarters and start Standardization and Orientation training for the next 2 1/2 months.  Before we leave we need to have our possessions sorted and packed, and have our house scrubbed and emptied out for the owners who are returning after we leave.  By the way, does anybody want an Orange cat?  His name is Orange.

A couple of weeks ago we had a big garage sale trying to raise some cash to buy a stove for our kitchen in Indonesia and to clear out some space in our house.  Colton was such a trooper he not only let us sell a lot of his toys, but he actually helped.  He turned out to be quite the wheeler and dealer.  (Not sure who he inherited that trait from).  As a reward he got to pick out a Nerf dart gun to take with him to Indo.

Colton was obsessed with selling this baby food grinder (and he did eventually).

We have to (get to) sort our stuff into two different shipments.  Some of our things will be packed into a wooden crate and shipped directly to our final base in Indo where we will see it in about 1 1/2 years.  The rest of our stuff will travel with us to Language School in our checked luggage.

Our crate.  See you in a year and a half!

We also have to write out on a spreadsheet, in detail, everything that we pack and it's value.  Here is Mike going through ALL of his tools.

Sorting tools for the crate.

By the way, do you like our new couch?  We just sold our other one this week.  Kind of feel like I'm in my early 20's again sitting in camp chairs in our living room!  It is nice to have the cup holders though. 

Our current "couch".

In between all of this we have still been building our support team and sharing about MAF with others.  Mike and I had the opportunity to lead a club at our church's summer kid's program.  We taught the kids what a missionary pilot does and a little bit about Indonesia.  During the week the kids raised money for Mike's flight helmet he will need to fly with in Indonesia.  They raised over $500, praise God!  In the course of this week I also confirmed the fact that I am completely scared of talking to kids between the ages of 7-12!  I would feel more comfortable speaking in front of an entire church than a small room in front of kids.  (Something to work on).  

Watching "Petey the Plane" and learning about MAF.

Missions Weekend at Oak Harbor

This April our family had the opportunity to share about our ministry with Mission Aviation Fellowship at a church up in Oak Harbor, WA during their missions conference weekend.  It was very encouraging to share with so many people who share our excitement about missions, and it was fun for us learning about what other mission organizations are doing around the world as well.  We finally had the chance to meet a missionary in person after seeing his picture on multiple refrigerators over the past few years, which was fun.  (I'm still getting used to the fact that we are hanging on people's fridges).  

We also met two girls who grew up in Indonesia because their dad was a pilot with MAF!  How crazy is that?!  It was encouraging for me as a mom to hear that they loved growing up in Indonesia and that it was a positive experience for them.  One of my biggest fears about moving overseas and serving with MAF is that my kids would feel "deprived" looking back on the whole experience, so it is good to hear that it can be positive for them.  

Always fun riding on the ferry to Great Grandma's house.

We stayed at Grandma's house which is always a blast for the kids and relaxing for us.  Colton loves his "Whidbey Island Grandma" and Macie loves her "Island Grandma".  The weather was beautiful and we recharged our batteries running, biking, kayaking, throwing rocks into the Pudget Sound and reading.  Grandma has no internet at her house and we only got one bar of cellphone coverage (by a window) so we were forced to take it slow and relax. 

Colton helping Great Grandma in the garden.

We were invited to stay with a couple who live in Pt Townsend, just a short ferry ride away from Grandma's place.  Their house, much to Colton's liking, had a doggy door that he could fit through.  Even though we only stayed in Pt Townsend overnight, I fell in love with it!  There are so many outdoor activities to get involved in, I don't think you could ever get bored.  We went hiking/exploring at Fort Worden state park and checked out all of the old army bunkers the US built before WW1 to protect the Pudget Sound from invading ships.