Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wednesday again... wow! The days keep zipping by at an alarming rate! Garry did a quick flight on Monday and is in the air again today. He was also able to get fuel this week, which a major accomplishment as av-gas is sold nearly as soon as it arrives in town. He is thankful to have enough for several months of flying now!

Many of you have asked how Garry is doing health-wise. That's a rather hard question to answer becuase each day is so different, but overall he seems to be functioning at about 75% of his normal self. While that may not sound great, it's far better than he was doing!

The boys and I have been busy doing each day's schooling and planning for next year. We've been enjoying a good book together each morning and love having a semi-normal routine! When they are finished with school they've been busy in the yard. Kaleb is digging a "well"... it only takes a hole of a foot deep to get to water here. (No wonder we feel like we live in a swamp sometimes!) Kevin is making some new garden beds for green peppers and tomatoes... a sun or shade issue, I believe!

Neva, my helper, is at home with her parents this week. Her brother had a motorcycle accident a couple of weeks ago and now her mom has pneumonia so she wanted to go visit and take some medicine home. The $12 it cost for her mom's perscription was totally out of reach for her family so they were very thankful to have help with the medication. We pray she has a great time at home and it's a nice break for her. Belle is here helping me in the house, which is a blessing!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Garry took Ben up north with him today! They had great weather for flying and were able to spend some time at the location, walking the airstrip and discussing it. I think it was a good start!

We're thankful to have Ben and Suzy here and enjoyed having them for lunch yesterday. I've been looking for healthy food options and recently heard that native chickens are hormone-free and cheap. It sounded like a winning combination so I bought several. We baked some for lunch yesterday only to find out they were rather tough, stringy, and strong-tasting. Coincidence or is that how native chickens taste? We've yet to find out! I'll know it was really bad if Harts turn down our next lunch invitation:)! Despite the chicken fiasco, I enjoyed the chance to reconnect with Suzy a bit (we were neighbors for nearly 2 years in Arizona!) and get to know their two children a bit better.

Yesterday we also cleaned up the last of Kaleb's inventions in the living room. I think next week we'll put the Christmas tree away... we've enjoyed the lights many evening and so have been reluctant to pack it back up for another year. But alas, I think it's time now:)

The boys have been working hard at school this week and are actually finished a bit early-- what a nice feeling! Kevin is headed out to his garden now. He is planting lettuce directly into his beds instead of transplanting it this time, and so far it seems to be working very well. Kaleb is busy looking for rubber bands for ammunition.

Kaleb has lost several teeth recently and is trying to get his new ones. This is a rather short-lived time in a boy's life-- this time of missing teeth, so thought I'd post a picture! Yesterday he cut his head while working with weights at badminton training. We were thankful it wasn't any worse and that he didn't need stitches. Actually, it's neither deep nor long!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Good afternoon! There never seems to be a lack of excitement here... today it was the flights. Early this morning we woke to heavy rain and had rather decided Garry wasn't going to go anywhere. However, weather reports from down south were good, so several hours later Garry took off with his passengers and cargo.

We had relatively good weather for most of the day here, but when he was ready to leave his last stop it began to rain. When he was about 15 minutes out I talked to the tower and they said he could get in. I was surprised... the photo on the left is what it looked like out our door-- it was pouring! He, did, however, make it in to town and we are very, very thankful!

Yesterday we welcomed Ben and Suzy to town. We are incredibly thankful they are here! Ben will begin riding along with Garry at the end of the week and we're looking forward to some good times together over the next couple of days.

Kaleb has recently been interested in setting up things that will topple each other-- if you know what these cool things are called, please tell me! Anyway, he's made some pretty fun courses. Here's a picture of Garry helping him with the set-up and a short video of his first course. Later courses were more impressive, but our videos of them didn't turn out!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Garry's still up in the air... he's been to a location down south and is now up north. Days like today can get a little long with multiple loads and different passengers to organize things with, but he sounds like he's having fun. Actually, Garry seems to be doing amazingly well this week!

Yesterday we ended up enjoying an iced coffee with friends at the hangar... or at least half of one each, since about half ended up on the floor of the truck when I stopped rather suddenly! It's been good to see different people who are coming back from field conference and to hear what a blessing that time was for them.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Good afternoon! It's getting quite warm here in the office and I'm fighting the accompanying sleepiness. We've been listening to the radio cackle since early this morning and the sound is making me sleepy!

This is just a random picture of Kevin enjoying a pizza in Manila. While it is one of the foods we've missed since cutting out wheat, we did find a great recipe with an alternate crust!

Garry is just finishing up a couple of flights down south and will soon be home. When he gets back to the hangar he'll add some fuel, give the plane a quick bath, and then hopefully get things together for tomorrow's flights. We are so thankful for his improved health these days and God's many answers to prayer!

This weekend we went to the local dairy farm to get some milk. They were sold out, so we asked if we could reserve for Monday. They took our information and sent us on our way. However, when we returned on Monday there was no milk to be had. We ended up talking to the manager who explained that production is a bit low right now, "We're only milking one cow now, ma'am, and she only gives 5 liters a day"! Wow, no wonder they run out!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Good morning! Yesterday turned out somewhat differently than we had anticipated... Garry spent the night at one of our tribal locations! He spent hours waiting for weather, but we thought he'd get home. Then it began to pour when he landed at one of the stations at 4:30 pm, so there wasn't time for him to get home. He tied down the airplane and spent a cozy evening with friends in this house.

The boys and I had a relaxing evening reading together and listening to "Adventures in Odyssey". I also had a nice talk with my mom while the boys took showers.

This morning the weather looks great and Garry is leaving for home now! We plan to go to the airport to help him wash the airplane then all come home and have a weekend! The boys are busy on their fort in the yard and I'm trying to get a few things done in the office.

It is good to be back in a more "normal" routine, even with the bumps. God is good.
Friday already! Schoolwork for the week has been happily checked off and my helpers are getting things ready for the weekend. It's a rather nice feeling to be nearing the end of another week!

Garry is flying today! We are so thankful that he was able to sleep last night, knowing that was a gracious answer to prayer. He sat at one of our stations for several hours waiting for the weather to clear, but he's now back in the air. He has a couple of hours of daylight left and is hoping to complete his planned flying for the day.

Yesterday I had coffee with a good friend and we were talking about the Body. What an incredible thing that God has done to make us His body-- inter-dependent and inter-connected! How encouraging it is to realize that what God is doing in each of our lives is good for the whole of the Body, that the pain one suffers benefits all and the joys we each have belong to all of us. What a blessing to know that God is building His Church through each one of us and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Good afternoon! Garry and the boys are at the hangar this afternoon so I'm trying to get caught up on a few things. I realize I haven't been here very often... partially it's just been crazy of late, but mostly our internet provider has been having problems. We're hoping they are fixed now, but we aren't counting on it just yet-- since just before Christmas our connection has been poor.

I thought you might enjoy this picture of the painting Kaleb is working on. It's a family portrait for his art class, a project that is taking him a LONG time to finish.

We are scheduled to start flying again on Friday! Garry has had a couple of really rough days, so we are asking God what He has in mind. We know He is up to something here, not only for us but also for those we serve. We trust and pray that Garry is able to fly, knowing that whatever happens God is firmly seated on the throne!

We started school again this week and have enjoyed being back in a semi-normal routine. The boys are doing amazingly well at their work! Kevin is still doing some badminton training several days a week. He's also enjoying watching a new crop of lettuce coming up. Kaleb is currently interested in building himself a train powered by compressed air. Amazingly enough, we didn't find instructions for that on the internet!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Happy New Year! We were blessed with rain on New Year's Eve, so things were relatively quiet here. These people LOVE fireworks, but most of them are just noisy, not pretty, so we don't enjoy them quite so much:)!

Garry's back at the hangar today and I've been doing some school planning. Kevin is at his badminton lesson, enjoying a workout and some practice. Kaleb is busy building an alka-seltzer-powered rocket.

Such is life at our home today. Enjoyable. Quiet. And now on to making some supper!