Good afternoon! There's another typhoon going through and we're enjoying the rain it's brought us. I trust it isn't causing heartache elsewhere.

Kevin and Kaleb are jumping on the trampoline. I got on there yesterday and decided it's not for me.... I'm not sure if it's age or not, but I found myself getting more airborne that I felt comfortable with, regardless of the fact that Kevin says my jumps can be measured in mere inches.

Work on the airplane is going slowly but surely ahead. Today the guys are busy weighing the planes. That's always an interesting process, and I really should be out there taking pictures, come to think of it! They borrowed a scale, but since it is only one scale they have to weigh at each wheel, which is quite a job.

I had a nice chat with Suzy this morning. She was working on some bookwork and had a few questions, so we took the opportunity to catch up a bit. It was good to hear what's happening on Palawan and made me miss home just a bit.

Here is where Garry is working-- it's beautiful, as you can see! The front of the hangar is open so the guys often push the airplane out front... actually, they probably push it out to run it up, not just to enjoy the scenery! But it is pretty.

Yesterday we got word that our paperwork is delayed a bit, so we won't go to Manila on Monday as we had planned. I think there is some other work that needs done on the airplanes sooner or later, so the guys will work on that first and we'll go to Manila later in the week.

Kevin and Kaleb are playing frisbee right now, and I think I need to go join them, so I'll keep this short! Actually, my internet connection does that for me-- it always kicks me off! this time I hope to beat it-- leave it before it leaves me!

Good morning! It's cool here this morning, a lovely blessing. It was cool enough that I actually had on a long-sleeve shirt when I first got up! Kevin and Kaleb are still sleeping, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to update the blog a little.

Garry, Jason, and Steve are w0rking on two airplanes and are making good progress on both! Garry has been primarily inspecting over the past few days, although he's also spent a bit of time trouble-shooting with the other guys. They hope to be finished with the work by the end of this week so we can take the paperwork to Manila next Monday.

One of the airplanes is a Cessna 180, for which Garry doesn't have a license here in the country. We had hoped he could just fly it, but the check pilot told him yesterday that he'll have to have checkride in it. A checkride isn't a big deal, except that it means scheduling a time for the checkpilot to come to our location, which is sometimes difficult to do. We're praying that God moves in such a way that we can avoid this step and the time involved in it.

In between work we've been enjoying a porch swing on our back porch here! Drinking our Paraguayan tea has been a great way to relax together!

It's beautifully sunny here this morning! Garry, Jason, and Steve are hard at work on the airplanes. Things seem to be going well, though they have found an alternator problem that is not quite diagnosed yet. It's pretty exciting to see the airplanes getting ready to fly again... one after an accident several years ago and the other after having been stored for several years.

Kevin got a nasty cold yesterday and Kaleb seems to be following suit. Thankfully they're both in good spirits anyway and we have lots of great books to read. We've been enjoying some interesting fantasy lately.

Very slow connection here, so no photos today! We are in northern Luzon, enjoying one of NTM's locations. Tomorrow the guys will start work on the paperwork for the airplanes.

We had a great trip up... good roads and not too much traffic. We're glad for this time here with two of our NTMA co-worker couples. It will be good to spend some time together.

We are in the huge city of Manila these days, enjoying some coffee at Starbucks and meeting friends. We are incredibly blessed to be staying in an apartment at our mission guesthome! We have some space to cook here and the hostess has been so helpful with Garry's special food needs.

We were glad to be able to see Paul and Pat, our friends and bosses from McNeal, for a few days. We've had some great meetings with our flight program team and field leadership as well. I really should take some pictures of this city... or get some from a friend!

The boys' coach really encouraged them to play some badminton here so they could get more exposure to other players. We played the other evening for a few hours and are planning on another few games tonight.

The plan is to head north tomorrow. Garry and the other guys will be working from this hangar, getting 2 airplanes flying again. The aircraft have been in northern Luzon for quite some time, but since our location there is closing down we need to move them. The current plan is to fly both aircraft to Palawan for storage until we need them.

Neva texted that she's back in town-- yeah! She says she's ok, but I guess I'll have to wait to hear the rest of the story tomorrow. She'll be staying at our house while we're gone, for which we're very thankful. And I'm extra thankful that she'll be washing up all the dishes that have been piling up while we were packing today!

Last evening we went to a small badminton tournament and Kaleb spent the evening entertaining the kids with paper airplanes. They made a LOT of airplanes and everyone seemed to have fun.

Tomorrow we head for Manila then northern Luzon. We're planning some meetings with our friend who's here from Arizona. We'll be discussing the future of the flight program here and some of the options for equipment here in the Philippines. Then in northern Luzon we'll be finishing up some work and paperwork on the airplane. Hopefully we'll be able to fly back to Palawan in it!

You may have heard about the typhoon that's passing through the Philippines. The damage that's being reported is on another island, but it is bringing cool, rainy weather to us. Ben has a flight scheduled tomorrow, so we pray there's a break in the rain so he can do it!

Yes, it is great exercise:)! We had some good play the other evening as well as good times with friends. Our badminton friends have been on my mind a lot lately... maybe because we've been seeing them quite often. While our friends are very "religious" they seem to have lots of questions. Great questions! And they try so hard to do the right thing, but like all of us, find they simply can't do it on their own. Pray with us that we would have opportunities to share the Hope that is in us and the truth of God's abundant provision!

Neva headed home for a few days yesterday and today I got word that she was in a "minor" motorcycle accident on the way. She is out of cell phone coverage area and I'll really like to check on her... I'm just praying she'll get signal long enough to text and let me know how she's doing! She's planning to stay in our house while we're gone, so I'm glad she is able to take a few days with her family first!

Work on the airplane in Luzon is progressing well. We're so thankful for our team members who are there working hard to get it put back together. We'll be heading that way on Monday, planning to stay there until we can finish the paperwork and fly the airplane back to Palawan for storage until we need it in Mindanao.