Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Happy Tuesday! It's already Tuesday afternoon here, and we've had quite the beginning to our week. Yesterday in the early afternoon the guys were working in the yard and Kevin slipped on a sharp rock. To make a long story short, he is now the proud wearer of 3 stitches on the bottom of his big toe. We are so incredibly thankful for a great hospital here in town and for the good care they provide.

The other day Kaleb decided to measure Kevin to see if he's grown any. Apparently Kevin is slowing down-- no noticeable difference in the last month. Kaleb, however, is trying hard to catch up to his big brother and has gained a bit over the past month.

This morning early I got a text from my helper to say she's sick. Hopefully she gets to feeling better by tomorrow-- both for her sake and mine! The pile of dishes I'd saved was quite large, to say the least. After getting things a bit organized for the day Kevin and I sat down to breakfast (Kaleb was still sleeping!), only to find the cereal was spoiled. It's a dry mix I make with oatmeal, powdered milk, and chocolate drink mix. I mixed a large batch yesterday, and apparently the oatmeal was bad. Stink! On to option 2-- toast. Which I burnt. From there a day can only improve.

Tomorrow some of our friends are arriving in Malaybalay! We are so excited to have Dave & Abby and their 4 children back in town and on our team. We first met Dave & Abby when we came to Mindanao the first time in 2005 and always enjoy spending time with them. Their servant hearts are such a blessing on a support team!

The past couple of weeks we've been doing a lot of driving back and forth to Cagayan. We as an aviation program are selling an airplane to a man there and it's required several trips. Garry has really enjoyed meeting this gentleman and getting to know him a bit. The sale of the airplane is a HUGE blessing to us and an answer to many prayers as it means the helicopter for northern Luzon can now be shipped from McNeal to here. Yeah, God!

Kaleb continues to make and fly model airplanes-- this last one he designed himself. Amazingly, it flies. He's enjoying it.

Garry and I have been reading and thinking a lot about faith lately. Without faith it's impossible to please God, no matter how amazing our talents or abilities. No matter how clear God's leading in our lives, we won't see fruit for our investment if we don't continue in faith. Faith is a challenging, sobering, and exciting concept. And an even more exciting way to live!

The nature of our ministry and work here is changing as more pilots begin serving. Garry's job is progressively more management and training: it's less hands-on flying and maintenance. As we pass on what God has taught us, we see these new families starting out in a good place. It's so neat to see God's work, yet harder to share as it involves so many people's lives in a different way than when we were running a flight program ourselves.

5 comments:

Patrick said...

Mary and I have met a young Vietnamese Christian named Koui. We knew him before he became a Christian. We are willing to spend some time with him and try to mentor. Please pray for us as we also think about faith in action.

The Roundy 7 said...

interesting that in church Sunday we were talking about faith. In Romans it says that God gives us faith. So without it is impossible to please him and he gives it to us.

Jen Schwab said...

I'm so glad that Dave and Abi are joining you guys. Lovely is the word that comes to mind to describe Abi. I hope that their friendship is a great blessing to you guys!

Granny said...

Very interesting to note that your Dad preached for the past two Sundays on Hebrews 11...the theme last Sunday was 'without faith it is impossible to please God'. He also mentioned how Noah began to build a boat having never seen rain, and how His faith sustained him through 120 years of people laughing AT him!!
Guess spoiled oatmeal, burnt toast are the 'bumps' in life we grow on, huh?
As you know, I love reading your blog!

Garry and Cynthia Barkman said...

thanks for all the encouraging words, guys!

patrick, is that the same vietnamese young man we met there a year ago this spring? will be praying for you guys

curtis & anita-- yes, good reminder that to even obey God we need Him!

jen-- yes, lovely is a perfect word for abi!

granny-- thanks... 120 years of being laughed at would be VERY long!