Good morning... actually, the morning is nearly gone already! Garry is flying again today, so the morning has been full of interruptions and interesting changes:). He will be back home in time to join us and our company for lunch-- today we're having lechon manok, a Filipino favorite. It is chicken seasoned nicely and cooked on a spit. We buy it from a little stand beside the road, then add some veggies and rice to make a meal.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience when we got a visit from a community health care worker. She was handing out pills for lymphatic filariasis, something that apparently is on the rise here in Palawan. The plan seems to be to eradicate the sickness by "vaccinating" against it. She provided some good information as well as the medication. I was thankful for Jonie's presence as she is an RN and looked it up for us on the web!

I felt for the lady who is visiting 300 homes, carrying her young baby with her. The baby was fast asleep while she was here, and both were sweating-- yet she seemed thrilled to have this job!

Kevin's garden is looking great! He spent hours mixing common dirt with different things to give the soil nutritional value and a proper PH before filling his raised bed. We still have some dirt and sand in the driveway, and the bed is full. We're looking forward to more fresh stuff soon!

Blessings to each of you today!

We've had an interesting day here at our house... Garry went to several locations this morning, picking up passengers and brining them back "home". The visitors had a lovely time in the remote location!

Jason has been hard at work in the hangar and has accomplished a lot! Jonie came to our house and has been helping me in the office and with the boys. It's been fun to have some time together, and I am so thankful for her help. I think in the next few weeks we may see the bottom of my office pile! I would be incredibly thankful!

The boys did a great job on their school this morning and have been busy with different projects. Kevin is keeping up with his garden and got some pineapple plants to plant today. This is him with the boys that have helped him move a lot of dirt! Kaleb is building another kite, this one with a great tail on it-- I expect it to fly!

Neva went home today-- in the airplane! She was pretty excited, and a bit nervous about her first ride in the airplane. I'm interested to hear her thoughts when she gets home in a couple of days. Belle is one busy lady in the house right now, but she does a great job!

Garry is back in the air today, and will soon be back in town. He's been "delivering" some visitors to friends in tribal locations, and will return and pick them up again on Monday. Although he's feeling much better, pray that the effects of the medication will continue to disappear as some are quite wearing.

Here is a photo of Kevin getting some expert gardening advice from some friends. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a good shot of his new garden bed:)!

Our new friends arrived here yesterday, and we enjoyed getting to know them a bit. Jason and Jonie are at the hangar this morning, working on the airplane we hope to have back in the air soon. We're looking forward to their weeks here with us! Since they are joining our team here in the Philippines this is a great opportunity to get to know one another and hear the "God-story" of one another's lives!

Have a great weekend!

Hello again! We are still busy taking medicine and laying low at our house, though there are some things that have to be taken care of. We are simply trusting God to unfold the coming days and their demands, knowing that He knows what is best!

I thought you might like to see "Lube" and her husband and father who brought her to town. Though she is much better now, you can see that she is still very weak. Pray for her as she is now back in her village, and life can be very demanding!

Kevin is staying very busy with organic gardening. I had good intentions to have a photo of his garden to post, but that will have to be tomorrow! He and Kaleb both have great blisters to show for all their hard work, and soon there will be fresh vegetables to eat!

Blessings to each of you today...

We finished the week with my brother and his family with more excitement and learning! When we went to visit the tribal locations we were a pretty full plane-- if Garry wasn't the pilot we'd have had to leave someone home!

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the beach, enjoying the sand, sun, and waves. Thankfully the waves were about right for the younger kids! We adults also caught a few good waves on boogie boards-- how fun!

That evening we went to a pretty restaurant in town that is out over the ocean. It was a fun time and the food was great, but the wait was a little long- over an hour!

The next day my brother and his family came for breakfast before we took them to the airport. When they checked in they found out the flight had been delayed 3 hours, so we got an extra table game in and had lunch together before they actually had to go!

God has a way of keeping us dependent on Him and aware of our need of Him every hour, every day. While we were visiting friends we got to talking about malaria. Garry hasn't been feeling the best for quite a while, andwe soon realized that malaria has been his problem. He took one kind of medicine that didn't work, and he is now trying a stronger medication. Please pray with us that this medication works and that the many side-effects will quickly go away when he's finished with the treatment. Last night I got a bad flu or food poisoning, so we've been a very quiet household today!

Friday some new friends from Arizona plan to arrive to help on some work on the airplane. Garry also has several flight scheduled in the next few days, so it doesn't seem an ideal time to be sick, if there is such a thing!

Good afternoon! We have had a busy week, enjoying visiting several tribal locations and our missionary friends there. It has been awesome having my brother and his family here!

This is a tribal lady and I, the lady I mentioned in December 05 that we did not think would survive into 2006. And here she is, still alive though not healthy. One of the fun things about visiting this location was having the missionaries there point out different ones who would not be alive were it not for emergency medical flights. And there were many!

Today we are off to the beach! We're hoping for some small waves and beautiful sunshine. We are so privileged to live here and be part of what God is doing... and having family here for a week is an incredible added blessing!

Good morning! Despite our best-laid plans, they seem to change! We were supposed to leave for a remote location yesterday morning, but we had a hitch with our paperwork. So, we spent the morning at the airport and ended up back home for lunch! Today we're trying again... and I need to get some breakfast and get on the road, so I'll run now and let you know how it went when we return!

Good morning! Well, actually it's almost afternoon! We had a wonderful day with my brother and his family yesterday. The younger ones enjoyed a little "swimming" in a blow-up pool yesterday and we adults mostly just talked... and talked, and talked! It's so much fun to see them again! And their kids are adorable... Elena almost fell asleep on her plate at dinner, and Emmanuel wasn't far behind. We did eat at 6 PM, but guess that is 4 AM where they're from. Wow! Poor thing...

Today Garry is back in the air. We are enjoying a game of Risk and watching the kids be inventive and have fun! We're having company for lunch and then hoping for a relaxing afternoon! Tomorrow we're off to visit some of our friends in remote locations. Although Garry has been everywhere, the rest of our family hasn't spent much time in the locations.

Family is a blessing from God, a tie that doesn't end. If your family is close by, count your blessings! If they are far away, say a special prayer for them today and try to stay in touch-- it's worth it!

Good morning... I'm here a bit early (or late on your side of the world!) but wanted to check in quickly before our day gets going. My brother and his family arrive today. Yeah! We can't wait to see them! We're also saying goodbye to Jason this morning, and Garry is scheduled to have his annual flight check ride. It promises to be a fun, busy day!

A few more things that have happened lately...

When Garry came home from Manila, one of the special treats he brought us was 2 quarts of "fresh" milk. Not exactly fresh like the wonderful fresh milk we sometimes have from the farms at home, but much fresher than the long-lasting milk we buy in Palwan. You know, the stuff that looks like milk but can sit on the shelf, unrefrigerated, for months or maybe years? What fun to enjoy a bowl of cereal with real milk, share some chocolate milk, and just savor the flavor.

Since we work with folks from the US, the SuperBowl is a major event. Here in the Philippines the live game began at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning and lasted till nearly noon. While we didn't watch the whole game, the guys went to the party for the last quarter and enjoyed the company and fun breakfast food they served!

Hello again! The days have been passing us by more quickly than we could keep up with them! The patient Garry brought out is much better now and is scheduled to return home at the beginning of next week. We were amazed by the generosity of people in donating blood, by the great care she got from the doctors, and by the paperwork involved in the process. Pray with us that she will continue to heal and that she will one day hear The Great Story and spend eternity with us all!

Jason is in town this week, packing up their house and making a shipment of their things back to the US. It's been good to see him, but I've missed Jen. We are thrilled about what God is doing in their lives, but it is still hard to say goodbye. Pray with us for God's clear leading in their lives and that He would make their paths straight as they move into a new chapter.

Garry is flying today, taking some visitors to one of the locations to spend several hours. I'm sure he'll enjoy the visit as well! Kevin, Kaleb, and I are trying to get the house in slightly better order. They are also planning to go to the hangar this afternoon to help Garry wash the airplane. Garry has a checkride scheduled for Monday, the same day my brother and his family arrive!

Blessings to each of you!

The past few days have been crazy, so it's taken me a while to get back to my story! On the way to take Garry to the airport the next morning we made a quick stop at the hospital to check on the patient and make sure it would be OK for Garry to make his trip. She was beginning to regain consciousness, which was a good sign, so Garry headed to Manila.

Once in Manila Garry headed to the medical part of the aviation offices. When he was almost finished with what he needed to do, he was told the last doctor he needed to see wouldn't be in her office until Monday-- how would this one work out?! Very unexpectedly, he later found out that she was going to stop by the office for a few minutes later in the afternoon, though not to see patients. Garry sat in the office for several hours until she came, and was glad that she took care of him that afternoon! Not to mention the boys and I, who were thrilled that he would come home as planned!

On Friday Garry was able to spend time with a few different people, discussing business and being encouraged in what God is doing here in the Philippines and in the lives of people. Saturday he was home again, rather against all odds!

While Garry was gone the boys and I enjoyed an afternoon at the orphanage we mentioned before. We also played some badminton, read books, and played some board games. I didn't, however, get a lot of office work done!

Saturday was my birthday and I thought I'd post a few photos... I'm trying to teach these men how to use the camera! The best thing about my birthday was having Garry home... and I got very spoiled by all three of my men!

Maybe tomorrow I'll get back here to let you know what's happening with the patient Garry brought out and what is happening this week...

Some things become rather routine in our lives, and sometimes things happen that are totally new-- like yesterday's adventure! We had a plenty interesting morning getting Garry ready to leave and taking him to the airport. We'd just arrived home when we got a text that Garry was checked in and enjoying reading a book-- what a nice feeling! Not 5 minutes later we got another call-- the patient who had been out for help had arrived home and collapsed. The missionaries were asking for an emergency flight to take her to a larger town. Garry checked with the airline, asked for his suitcase to be returned to him and headed to the hangar to get ready to make a flight the other direction!

Soon he was in the air, heading south to pick up a very sick lady. He arrived at his destination, loaded the patient and those accompanying here, and brought them back to town where she is receiving excellent medical care. Unfortunately, she is very, very sick and the doctors have been unable to diagnose her illness. Pray for "Lube" as she comes to mind.

As we've been passing messages via radio to the missionaries still in a remote location we've learned many things. Like the fact that if you need blood here, you may have to find your own donors. While the blood bank has a list of potential donors and blood types, it is your job to contact these people and arrange for them to give blood. Once blood has been donated it is also your job to pick it up and transport it to the hospital. The generosity of folks on the blood donor list and slight acquaintances has been amazing!

We spent a while this afternoon at the travel agency, arranging tickets for Garry to try to get to Manila tomorrow. What story will next unfold?!