Good morning! It's a beautiful Monday here, and we have company! Friends from Canada are here, and we've been enjoying spending time with them since Saturday afternoon. Cliff & Pauline are friends and leaders in our home church. It's fun to see their interest in different things and maybe their visit will even get me some good photos!

We are on school break for the next couple of weeks, so the boys are enjoying not having quite so much structure-- and so am I! Today the guys are headed out toward the hangar to move some tools and shop supplies that we are purchasing from SIL.

I think Pauline and I are going to do some business in town-- go to the post office, stop by a store or two, and buy some fruit.

I can't believe how long it is since I posted... many things have happened since then. Garry did arrive home late Sunday as planned-- it's always so nice to have him home again!

Last week was a really busy week for Garry and Brian as they fixed the airplane and then did a flight on Friday. Garry was also trying to catch up on some e-mails and office stuff (most of which did not happen, but he was trying!).

Over the weekend Kevin played a badminton tournament and our friends arrived, so it was a bit crazy. Kevin got bronze-- not as good as he'd hoped, but much better than it could have been! The boys also got to spend some time watching motorcross races and have decided that Brett, Brock, and Rodney could win the big races here. The track is amazing, though the riders don't get much practice.

Well, it's time to head back upstairs and to the "other part" of life. I trust you have a wonderful day!

Well, I think it's the week of mice... since my post about a mouse in the restaurant I watched one crawl over the pasta at the wet market where I buy my meat, saw 2 just running down the street, saw one in my yard, and saw another at the fruit stand where I often buy fruit. It does make one wonder...

Garry should get home tomorrow! I think he's had an amazing trip, though it's also been really tiring with a lot of different things going on most days. They didn't get permission to fly the airplane, so he'll have to make another trip to do that. However, they have fixed the problems we had with it, so hopefully we can sell it soon. He and Brian arrive in Cagayan on the same flight, so they can share a ride home, which is a blessing!

Kevin and Kaleb have done remarkably well at school this week and have finished everything for the week. It's often hard to get it done when Garry is gone, so I am very proud of them! They've also been riding their bikes a lot and playing quite a bit of badminton. Today they went with a friend to check out the motorcross track they're making in town here. They said it's amazing... I'll have to go see it yet:).

And now, my friends, it is really time for me to go to bed! Hope you have a great day!

Good morning. I'm sitting here with my sweatshirt on hoping it warms up soon. These days have been mostly sunny, which makes for really cold nights and mornings-- lovely for sleeping in, a bit harder for getting out of bed. The other day I was wishing for a little space heater for our bathroom... then by noon you will sweat if work very hard!

Garry has had a very profitable time in Manila so far. He spent a lot of hours at the aviation government offices and got our helicopter pilot started on the licensing process as well as helped Brian get his temporary fixed-wing license. He turned in paperwork to do some work on the hangar up north in preparation for the helicopter flying from there. And he turned in paperwork to do a test flight in the C180. Seems like I'm forgetting something, but you get the idea-- long hours with a lot of things to think about!

Today Garry is driving north with a few other guys. They got an early start then stopped at McDonald's for breakfast at the end of the freeway... sounds like a great trip, doesn't it?! The pictures formed in your mind by that statement probably don't exactly line up with reality... but this road trip is one of the nicest we've done in the Philippines.

Which brings me to McDonalds.... we like going there because it reminds us of home. However, it isn't exactly the same. Meals come with a "regular" drink, which is the size of child's drink in North America. They serve fried chicken and rice here, which is the biggest seller. When you order a sandwich it's prudent to ask for it without something so you know it's fresh. Syrup for your pancakes comes in small carry-out plastic containers, with aren't sealed. And there is always a bottle of syrup sitting on the counter. One napkin, or should I say half-napkin, comes with a meal and you have to ask for more-- there aren't extras sitting anywhere. And, being foreigners you are a pretty interesting study to most people who come in. Similar, yes. The same, no! And where that tangent came from, I'll never know, unless it's cause I haven't had any breakfast yet!

These are some piles of bamboo for building at Kaamulan-- huge amounts of the stuff has been trucked in and turned into buildings!

Good morning! Garry is off to Manila today and the boys are still sleeping... great time to catch up with you all! Garry will be spending some time over the next week in government aviation offices and at 2 locations in northern Luzon. Our helicopter pilot and his family arrived here on the field a few weeks ago and Garry is going to help him start his pilot license process. They will also be checking on the property in northern Luzon where we plan to locate the helicopter when it arrives. Somewhere in there Garry will also be checking out our C180 that is currently stored in northern Luzon-- 3 of our pilot/mechanics are headed there to do some work on it and do an annual inspection.

As a matter of prayer, the helicopter is ready to ship when the needed finances are received. Northen Luzon will be without flight service from March when SIL is finished flying there until the helicopter is operational.

The parts we needed have finally arrived, so when Garry and Brian get back here they will soon be flying again. We are very thankful they were finally released from customs and delivered! Thanks for praying!


This weekend is the opening of a large festival here in Bukidnon. It's called Kaamulan and has something to do with ethnic groups... we'll learn more about it's meaning later. For now, it has been amazing to watch people building bamboo buildings-- what was an open field 2 weeks ago is now FULL of bamboo shops. It's incredible the effort people are putting into this yearly event. And the innovation and creativity is mind-boggling! The photos are all of these temporary shops-- most of them won't be up for more than a month!

Yesterday Garry and I took some time to go out for coffee before he left today. There is a nice little place in town where they make fresh fruit shakes and espresso coffee-- a perfect combination for us! Yesterday after we'd finished our drinks Garry got up before I did. While I was still sitting there I saw a small mouse scurry under my chair. I don't remember a restaurant, even a nice one, in Palawan where we've never seen mice, so I wondered if it was even worth mentioning. When I told Garry I'd seen a mouse his reply surprised me, "Oh, I saw it before! I was just hoping you wouldn't see it!" Too funny.... I guess you get used to funny things!

Good afternoon! Here are some photos from my birthday last week-- what fun we all had! Garry took us to a place that's about a 45 minutes from here and has great food. They have a lot of "western food", right down to a great hamburger and rich desserts! Saturday Bailey found out I hadn't had a birthday cake a proceeded to make one and invite us for dinner... a special treat! The other thing interesting about my birthday this year is that it's the first time I've gotten "you're not really getting old" cards.... so, guess I am!

We continue to pray that the parts will arrive here soon... they are still delayed in customs, though apparently they are currently being assessed. We know God's timing is perfect, but we also realize that we need to continue to pray His will.

Garry and Brian are at the hangar today arranging some flights for tomorrow with SIL and getting the airplane ready to install the parts when they arrive. We have been really challenged again lately to simply pray for the flight program here and for God's leading and work in our lives and around us. Simple. Basic. Yet something that can get "lost" in the busyness of our lives.

The boys and I have been doing school and normal life today... what a great feeling to be able to report that! We have had so many unusual days I was afraid I wouldn't even recognize normal when it happened!

A big thank you to those of you who log in and read our blog. Thanks for caring and for coming here to check it out. Thanks for praying with us and standing with us in what God is doing here!

Ever have a day you wouldn't want to repeat-- not one with major catastrophe, just a remarkably normal day that somehow got crazy? Well, this has been one of those for me! It started when my radio didn't work properly this morning... or maybe it was that the atmosphere wasn't allowing my radio proper propagation? At any rate, what is usually a quick check-in turned into a longer process.

I went upstairs and found out that Kevin hardly slept last night. His allergies were worse than they have been since we moved to Mindanao. We decided he needed something, but that makes him so groggy.

The boys and I ate breakfast ("this again, mom?") and I realized I wasn't quite ready for my day.... what's for lunch? I forgot to print school papers. yeah, one of those moments. So I scurried off to take care of those things, when my mom called. Of course, I haven't talked to her for a while. So, that was a rather nice interruption.

We finally got school started, then I got a Skype that I was needed by the radio. Back to the radio. On the cell phone. Skype chat. One communication problem solved, then back to school. The accounting course didn't explain something properly, according to my son. So that took a while. Kaleb's waiting for me. The spelling sheets still aren't printed.... yeah, it just went on like that! So, it's late afternoon now and I can't say I'm sad to see this day coming to an end.

After all, even if tomorrow's the same, at least I can start again after some sleep-- hopefully!