Happy Friday! Do you remember your days in school when you waited anxiously for every weekend and freedom from the classroom?! I was thinking this morning how much longer a week was in those days! We decided to take a long weekend this week, so the boys have been enjoying a rather Saturday-like day. They've been busy making rubber band guns, shooting a rocket with air pressure, reading, and working in the yard.

Last week Garry needed to take the airplane up for a short flight and needed some weight. We had the idea to ask Belle if she and her husband, daughter, and sister would like a ride. They were very excited to have a ride in a small airplane and arrived at the airport all smiles. Ashley (Belle's daughter) loved the airplane, but Belle got a bit sick from the gusty winds. I think they were glad for the opportunity anyway!

Tonight Kevin and Kaleb are going to be in their first "real" badminton tournament-- the last one was organized just for their class! They'll be competing against teams much older than themselves so are starting with a big disadvantage, but that hasn't dampened their enthusiasm yet!

Good afternoon! It's a rainy day here-- yeah! I'm at home working in the office and love the cooler temperatures. Garry and the boys are coming home on the motorcycle, so they may not be quite as impressed as I am:). On the other hand, there's nothing like a little rain to cool you off!

I can hardly believe I haven't posted since Garry got home... but then again, I do remember losing my post several times. Smart Bro, our internet provider, has been having some problems since the typhoon came through. At any rate, Garry's home since last Friday! He had a great trip, although it was very busy. He was able to get glasses while he was there, and they seem to be working well. Kevin just had his eyes checked and we found out he also needs glasses, so the men are at the optical now.

Another project at our house has been making a water bed for the boys. This is the guys working on it. We were hoping this would help Kevin's allergies, and it seems to have made a significant difference. Thank you, Jesus!

I'm planning to keep up better with posting in the days ahead, so stay tuned for updates!

Garry is in Manila this week, so the boys and I are trying to do some fun stuff:). On Wednesday morning Kevin went to his first badminton class! He's in a class with some other kids that are pretty serious about training and really enjoyed it!

Meanwhile, Kaleb and I went out for coffee then headed to the guest house. A couple of ladies and I had a good time together while Kaleb did some art nearby.

Garry has been busy since he's been in Manila. Wednesday morning he took a communications test required for pilots, then in the evening picked up some stuff at the grocery store for us. Today he skipped lunch to get his eyes checked and is at an optical hoping to get some glasses this evening. The rest of the time he's been in meetings with different people.

Good morning! Have you seen the Philippines on the news lately? If you have, you may have heard about the super typhoon that is producing heavy rains and flooding in various parts of the country. Although we are not in any danger from the typhoon or flooding, we are seeing some interesting weather here in Palawan.

Garry is flying today, and it sounds like he'll be able to finish his flight and come home tonight. Tomorrow he has another flight scheduled to the south of the island. Pray that the weather will hold for him to do these flights before he leaves for Manila next Tuesday!

The boys and I started our day with several games of badminton-- a fun variation in our routine. Now we are into school, radio, and the rest of the more normal things that need done! Kaleb loves to make things, and this is one of his current projects-- a catapult. He loves to make things go fast!

Kevin's ashtma and allergies have really been acting up lately, keeping him awake at night or causing him to take medication that makes concentrating during the day difficult. Would you pray with us that we would know what is the right thing to do, and pray for Kevin to have great endurance and patience?

Garry and I have been thinking lately about God's love for us, how He never distances Himself from us. While we can create distance from God by our sin, He never moves and is always near when we call on Him. He desires our fellowship, worship, and obedience-- the only things that are really ours to give!

Good afternoon! It's been busy since I last posted... the men finished the work on the sewer system, Garry had a birthday, we took a long drive to visit a work up north, had a retirement celebrations for some friends, and another week has begun. Wow!

On Garry's birthday we drove several hours up north to visit some friends who work there. This team of missionaries was planning to begin teaching this fall when their partners were due to return from a furlough in Germany. However, the folks on furlough are currently dealing with cancer, so they will not be back as planned. This delays the teaching and leaves our other friends alone in this location for a year. We were glad to go spend a few hours with them-- sharing lunch, a good visit, and some great coffee!

Yesterday Garry spent quite a few hours in different offices and we all enjoyed lunch at Shakey's Pizza. We were celebrating many years of faithful service with our Filipino friends that were our first neighbors when we lived down south, Ungar and Linda. Ungar is retiring and Garry needed to sign some papers as part of that process. Then we enjoyed lunch together with other missionaries in a small celebration of his many years of service. It was great to see them again and catch up on their lives!

The men are finishing up the project in the yard today, for which we are very thankful! Since Garry needed to talk to the foreman before he went back to work, he opened up our washing machine to see if he could reduce the amount of noise its making. He found the problem and he and the boys are fixing it!

I thought today I'd post a few pictures of our biggest store here in Palawan. If you need anything, NCCC is the place to go! The air conditioning attracts a lot of non-shoppers as well as shoppers, so the place is usually very busy. Because it's also the only place in town where you can buy everything at one location, lines are usually long.

We got a laugh out of the walkers and canes displayed by the exercise equipment!

Motorcycles are a great form of family transportation here, so most parking lots have a place especially for them. This is at NCCC.

While NCCC is very convenient and much more pleasant than shopping at the market, I try to avoid it. Belle and Neva are great at finding what we need here at home and sending them to the store saves me a lot of time. We are very blessed to have capable, reliable help here!

Good afternoon! What is going on in your life today? Here things are pretty quiet, for the most part. Airplane maintenance. Import and export questions to think through. Parts to order. School. Flight requests. Accounting... we aren't bored by any means, but this is a blessed slower time!

Here are a couple of photos of the fueling system Garry made and how it works. The cart is wheeled back and forth to the airplane for easy use. When Garry isn't fueling the cart and fuel are stored in the special fire-proof room constructed for that purpose.

There are still men working in our yard... the sewer upgrade and rain gutter improvement were supposed to take a week. It's nearly two weeks now, and the project isn't done. However, things are progressing slowly but surely. The new septic tank looks about done and the rain gutters are installed (though the men said they have to be changed a bit). Maybe tomorrow!

Kevin and Kaleb are into making and spinning tops again. One of the men that's working outside was trying to convince them to make a new kind with a long nail on the bottom, but they haven't decided to change their plans yet! Yesterday they had to prune a tree and the branches are yielding some nice wood for their project.

Good morning! It's a beautiful overcast day here, perfect for a cup of tea and a good book... but instead we're enjoying the refreshment from our desks. Kevin's allergies and asthma have been acting up again, so he's been suffering through school. The medication that controls his symptoms is so hard on him.

Kaleb, on the other hand, seems to be feeling great and has been sewing a kite this morning. A while ago we bought a book about making kites and he has put it to good use. In fact, it's beginning to fall apart!

Both boys are looking forward to their badminton lesson after lunch and the chance to run around a bit.

I'm including a couple of shots of airplane maintenance here in Puerto. Brian and Larry helped Garry with some stuff after he got back from his flight one day while they were here. What a blessing to have someone else to look at the airplane!

Today Garry's in his office also... catching up on e-mails and organizing his filing a bit.

Happy Saturday! Garry is busy flying the team from the UK from one of our locations up north back to Puerto. This morning when we asked for the first weather report the missionaries thought a storm was blowing in. However, so far the weather has been cooperating, and Garry only has 1 more flight to do!

Larry took a lot of pictures of Puerto, so I thought I'd share some of them over the next while. It's funny how quickly everything becomes mundane and you need to see it through someone else's eyes! This is the hangar from the ramp-- isn't it beautiful?! We are so thankful for the folks who built this hangar and for the privilege of working out of it.

660 is now our only airplane in Palawan. It is running well and serving our missionaries! Garry enjoys flying it-- I think it handles better than 2773. In the background you can see the second floor storage-- things that are in the hangar for a longer period of time. Just behind the hangar is the office, fuel storage, a small sitting area and the restroom.

The water tank is on the second floor, which assures us of good water pressure and availability.

Good morning! It's a nice cool day here in Palawan. Garry is at the hangar, doing some office work as well as other business. The boys and I have spent the morning doing school, as usual.

Larry and Brian left yesterday morning. We really enjoyed our time with them. Garry appreciated the opportunity to "talk shop" with other experienced pilots. We also enjoyed reminiscing about other times together and talking about other places that we've all worked or visited.

We all enjoyed a lot of good meals that the girls prepared! Here is Belle putting the last of the food on the table...

Tomorrow Garry is going north to pick up a team that is visiting a tribal location. There will be several shuttles to an airport where over half the team will transfer to buses for a 4-hour drive home. The rest of the team will come back with the airplane in about a half hour!