Sunday, April 22, 2007

Hello! Tomorrow we travel for some business meetings and a couple of days away! We're looking forward to going away, and then to coming home again!

Here are our friends that came to visit. We spent hours talking here at home, in the coffee shop, and at the hangar. However, I don't have pictures to prove it! We were able to talk through a number of important flight program issues as well as catch up on one another's lives.

The boys also enjoyed a lunch out with Ken and Cathy at Shakey's Pizza here in town! Kaleb calls it Shakey's Pizza Hut:).

We are thankful to be part of a team that is committed to what God is doing here in the Philippines. Thanks for being a part of it!

Friday, April 20, 2007

An up-to-the-minute snapshot of life here in our house! Garry is flying, the boys are working on school, and I'm teaching and blogging (well, going between the two!). In fact, you can see my empty blog screen on the computer if you look closely enough!

Garry is taking some friends back to their location after several weeks in town for meetings and to do business. They are glad to go home!

After Garry left this morning I talked to a local lady from another location who has a patient that needs to come to town. Apparently this man can no longer eat for some reason, so he needs to see a doctor. I think Garry will pick him up on the way back to town!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Good morning! How are you this morning... or how was your day? Garry is flying this morning then we'll do some business this afternoon together with our friends. Between flights and business meetings, Garry has been arranging for an engineer to come here and weigh our airplane. Another inspector also needs to come inspect it. This will allow him to begin flying 660, the aiplane we've slowly been getting ready to go-- and it looks like these men will come tomorrow!

The boys and I doing school and enjoying time with our friends, drinking coffee and chatting. It's been great! Now I suppose I better get started on that whole school business!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Good morning! How are you doing today? This is the beginning of a new week, a new beginning! The boys are doing school and I'm here blogging just a bit!

Garry and Ken are working at the hangar this morning and Cathy is here with me. At noon our co-workers that do supply-buying and run the guest home in town are joining us for lunch. The girls are making stuffed bobka and lettuce salad. Sounds great!

Garry and Ken had a great, profitable time in Manila. They spent time with a lot of different people, discussing field and NTMA issues. They were blessed to hear what God is doing in different areas, ways God is unfolding His plans, and things different people are learning. Thanks for your prayers and we covet your continued prayers as our time together progresses.
Good evening! Garry got home today-- yeah! We are so glad to have him back! We had a great morning with Ken and Cathy, then had some lunch together. After lunch they took the boys to play badminton and Garry and I went walking. It was so great to catch up-- we've decided that you can't really talk unless you walk!

They brought us lots of fun goodies... a paper airplane book for the boys, decaf tea, school books, chocolate, and on and on. Many things were gifts from friends in Arizona-- what a blessing to be reminded of their care and concern for us. Thanks so all of you!

In the past few days Cathy and I have spent a lot of time talking about homeschooling ideas. It's been so helpful to glean from her years of experience and make some good plans for the coming weeks!

It's just nice to be home together!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Good afternoon! I started working on this yesterday, but somehow it just didn't quite get finished:)! Know how that goes?!

On Thursday our friends and coordinators from Arizona arrived! Ken stayed in Manila and Garry went there to meet him for some meetings. Cathy came to Puerto and we have been having fun and getting a few things done. Cathy has been helping with Kaleb's school, which has been fun for him (and me!). We've drunk many cups of coffee and enjoyed some serious conversations and a few laughs.

Thanks for praying for Neva's mom. Neva is back "home" here in Puerto today and her mom was released from the hospital today. Apparently she had an acute kidney infection that required some pretty strong intervention. She seems to be doing much better, though I can only imagine she'll need lots of rest as well as to finish her antibiotics and other treatment.

Tomorrow Garry gets home! Although we've had a fun few days, we'll sure be glad to have him home!

Trust you have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Ever think about what it would be like to have a family member sick and not able to be treated because there wasn't any money? I always think that would have to be one of the hardest things that could happen!

Neva, who works for me, found out last night that her mom is really sick. (These are her parents at the right, still quite young!) They had taken her to the hospital with severe pain on Monday, but when the doctor said she needed to be admitted they went home becuase they couldn't pay for it. Today they headed back to the hospital to see if anything could be done. A cousin texted Neva by cell phone, but she had no way to contact her parents.

We gave Neva what we could and put her on a bus to see her mom. I was blessed when I dropped her off at the bus station and saw her get on van that was ready to leave! She texted this afternoon to say that she is at the hospital and her mom is really sick. The money we sent isn't enough for all that needs done. At this point it sounds like an acute kidney infection, or something similar.

Pray with us for Ming. Tomorrow we'll see how we can help some more!

Monday, April 09, 2007

We enjoyed coloring our eggs! Sitting around the table with fun little cups of colors and crayons was a great time to talk about Easter and the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection. What a privilege to serve a risen Lord who brings New Life to every aspect of our lives!

On Sunday it was fun hiding and finding eggs. In fact, after we'd hidden them for the boys they hid them again for us to find! What good fun. (I think they may be better at finding eggs than we are!)

Yesterday the boys helped Garry at the hangar and I had the special treat of coffee out with a friend. It was great to talk about what God is doing in our lives!

Garry has been trying to finish up an inspection on the airplane before he heads to Manila in a couple of days. There is quite a bit left to do, but hopefully with Kevin's help he can finish it this afternoon and tomorrow. For now, he's still flying!

We trust you had a great Easter weekend and that this week is one of trusting God to do for us what we can never accomplish on our own!

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Garry just finished his first flight with team members, and he has 3 or 4 more to go. I guess it depends on the winds he has when taking of from the remote location. He actually left early this morning, only to have to turn back because of bad weather. Thankfully things have cleared a bit now!

Kaleb's artwork. He really does love to draw, color, paint, etc!

Kevin's really sick with a flu or virus of some kind. He doesn't feel like eating and is just shivering with a high fever. Tylenol has helped a bit, though he's still pretty miserable.

Now, I wonder whether we'll get those Easter eggs colored? Such great fun, but I'm not sure how it's all going to work out!
Garry has been busy with administrative stuff, but is slowly finishing up 660. He sent the paperwork to Manila a few days ago, but it didn't arrive before everything shut down for Easter holidays. Now he is waiting for the papers to arrive in Manila and be filed with the appropriate office. He has a few more small projects to finish on 660 before it's ready to fly. We're praying things go smoothly, because with the flights we have scheduled he will have to do a large inspection on his current airplane if he needs to keep flying it!

This morning the girls and I finished baking cookies to give out to a few friends at the airport. Easter seems an appropriate time to thank those who bless us at the airport, so we made a few plates of cookies to pass out. Garry will deliver them later this afternoon.

We are looking forward to another busy day tomorrow as Garry brings the group out. He's also taking some patients back to the location-- patients he brought out Tuesday that hopefully have gotten adequate medical care and are ready to go home!

Blessings to you this Easter weekend!

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Today Garry and Kevin are both at the hangar! Garry is moving a large group of people to one of our locations, and Kevin is his main ground support. Kevin has been weighing up people and baggage, cleaning up the airplane between flights, and helping fuel today. This is a huge time-saver and very critical on a long flight day like today!

The logistics of today's flights looked rather hard, but God has worked out the details in amazing ways, and Garry is just finishing his last load! Thanks to those of you who prayed for good weather-- God granted your request!

These folks will be doing some physical labor and also have a chance to get to know local believers a bit. At the end of the week they'll get to witness a graduation ceremony for several students who have completed a discipleship and farming course.

We are so privileged to be a tiny part of His work here!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Good afternoon! Garry is flying and the boys are done with school, so thought I'd take a minute and let you all know what's going on in our lives. This is what Garry should be seeing about now-- a nice little airstrip, beautiful beach, and people anxiously waiting beside the runway!

This week a team is coming to help in this locations. They will be working on a project while having the opportunity to rub shoulders with local Believers. Their schedule is very tight, so we're praying for good weather for their flights on Tuesday and Friday.

God is good-- all the time! Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, God is good. Good nor bad circumstances are a reflection of God's character-- He is unchangeable while our circumstances change continually.

Blessings to you as you see Him unfold the plans of your life today!