Our last week in Nampa

Our time in Idaho is coming to an end, it is surprising how quickly it began to feel like home for us here.  We are excited to be done with our training for MAF and are looking forward to the next chapter in our lives, but leaving and saying goodbye is never fun.

Last Saturday it was a beautiful day so we decided to do some exploring and check out Camelback Park in Boise.  The fall colors are so much more vivid here than in Washington (the evergreen state).  

Check out this view we had from the top!

Macie was a bit too much into her granola bar to look up and smile.  Sitting on Mom and Dad's shoulders burns a lot of calories I guess. 

We found a snake along the path all stretched out in the sun, and of coarse Mike had to grab it's tail.  This made the snake mad and it coiled up and hissed at us!  I have never seen a snake do this to me in real life.  I did not like it.  I need to toughen up when it comes to snakes, word on the street is that they are MUCH bigger in Tarakan, Indonesia.

I realized that this weekend was probably the last time I will feel comfortable.  The weather was perfectly in the mid 70's and all I had to wear was a t-shirt and shorts.  We are moving back to Washington where it will be cold and rainy and then to Indonesia where it will be very hot.  So mark it on your calendars:  October 25, 2013 is the last time I will be at a comfortable temperature outside until our next furlough in a couple of years.  (I'm not being dramatic at all right now).  :)

Monday and Tuesday Mike fly out to the backcountry in the mountains to finish his flight training in preparation for Indonesia. He took some pretty cool videos while flying, stay posted we will have them up soon. 

Colton and Macie were super excited to watch him land and come home!  Mike says that it is bittersweet to be done with his training, because it will probably be another year before he gets to fly a plane again (we have one year of language training ahead of us).

To celebrate Mike's return and say goodbye to our favorite Nampa hangout, we went to Messenger Pizza for dinner.  We will miss Messenger Pizza dearly.  We have figured out that there are 3 must sees in Nampa, ID:  MAF (of coarse), Messenger Pizza, and the Flying M coffee garage.

Mike still needs to debrief with his flight instructor tomorrow morning and we have to pack up and clean our apartment before we can head home to Washington.  We expect to be home this Friday.  Yay!  

Our timeline for leaving Indonesia is not set in stone yet, we still need to raise about $800 per month in support before we can purchase our tickets to leave.  It looks like the soonest we will be able to leave is the end of January.  We will be spending one last set of holidays in the states (Yay)!

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!