Friday already! I have been sending out some updates, but for those of you who do not get news elsewhere... Manila was hit by heavy rain and severe flooding last weekend. Garry helped drive for a rescue and clean up for some of our national friends. He could not believe the devastation. And no, he did not take any photos. I did post a link to a video of one drive on facebook:). And I will see if I can get copies of photos from anyone, though maybe the news is doing a great job of keeping you all informed!

Both families he helped are OK now. They will have to replace everything they lost, which will take time. One family has to rebuild part of their house. We are amazed at the way people are just rebuilding and moving on.

On a more personal note, Garry got his temporary pilot license today! He has to fly 10 hours then get an inspector before he gets his 2-year license. He was also able to get permission for some maintenance stuff. In between he has been in meetings:).

The boys and I have been doing our best to do some school. So far I think we have done remarkably well! Kevin is quite interested in atomic structure these days and Kaleb is working hard at writing and art.

Sunday we hope to head to Palawan if the typhoon is not too bad. We are looking forward to seeing our 2 other NTMA families there and working together for a couple of weeks before we head on to Mindanao. We also scheduled a container to ship our stuff next weekend. We will see how that goes!

We arrived in Manila on Tuesday, Sept 22nd at 11 pm-- Yahoo! We are staying at the guesthome here and are enjoying seeing many of our friends. When we woke up on Wednesday morning Kevin commented that it feels like we're back home again... I guess we have spent a lot of time in the guesthouse!

Our trip back was great-- one of our best across the ocean. We flew with Asiana and were very impressed with their equipment and service. The boys enjoyed each having their own personal TV and video games during the flights and Kaleb actually enjoyed the food. We all did some sleeping during the 14-hr and subsequent 4-hour flights. The Seoul, Korea airport is lovely. And I wasn't in any restroom that didn't have TP-- which may not be amazing if you haven't' traveled overseas much, but it impressed me greatly!

For some reason jetlag has hit me the hardest, but I'm hoping it will pass soon now. Garry spent Wednesday getting his papers in order and headed to the clinic for some tests he needs for his flight medical on Thursday. Monday he plans to turn in his paperwork to the aviation department and hopefully get his pilot license and medical back. He also has a number of things he needs to check into while he's at that office.

We met our new co-workers Wednesday and are lookign forward to supper at the guesthouse togehter today. Both families have also invited us to their home for dinner next week, so we're looking forward to that.

But maybe I should back up to McNeal and our time there for a moment... we had a great time and really enjoyed connecting with many friends while we were there. We met a few new people there also, which was also a treat. Garry was also involved in quite a few meetings related to the Philippine flight program, which went well.

The photos on this post are from Arizona... Amy, who helped me get our prayer cards mailed and the boys doing "normal life" in Arizona.

Wow, how the time flies! Most of our friends have their kids back in school, and we are back to school also (as of this morning!).

Our packing and moving when exceptionally well, though I can't say it was without its moments. Moving is always a bit sad-- it's hard to say goodbye and tie up all the loose ends of a life you've enjoyed for a number of months. We were incredibly blessed by many of you who stopped by to pray for us, who took time to say goodbye, and for the many who have sent encouraging notes as we left.

During our last weeks in Manitoba we enjoyed a lot of good times with Garry's parents and sister-- meals together, good laughs, and great memory-makers. We also did some dirt-biking, coffee drinking, camp fires, and timbit eating with friends.

We arrived in Arizona on Wednesday afternoon and spent the afternoon and evening with some good friends in Green Valley. Thursday morning they took Garry back to the airport to pick up our rental car and we headed out for McNeal, our flight headquarters.

We are getting settled in our guest house here and even got some school done this morning. Garry has been busy at the hangar, meeting with people and getting things organized for our time here as well as things we need for our return to the Philippines the 21rst.

As we reflect on our months of home assignment we cannot believe how blessed we've been. Thank you to each of you who have been a part of that!

Good morning! I just wanted to let you all know that we are out of our rental house! We are currently staying with great friends in Manitoba until September 9th when we head to Arizona. Thanks for your hospitality!

God has worked out the details of our move out amazingly well... from generous people who brought trucks to help return our furniture and other borrowed items to people who helped us clean, to the encouragement we needed to keep going.

Last week some friends generously sent us to Grand Forks for a couple of nights. It was a wonderful time with Garry's parents and together as our smaller family. It was really fun to just "play" for a while!

This week we're enjoying time with family. We also plan to take the boys for one more evening of badminton, finish some paperwork, sell our van, and do a number of other "last minute" things.

Thanks for being part of our journey. We are so thankful to be part of an amazing team!

Good afternoon! We think we purchased tickets... I say "we think" because we haven't received a final itinerary from the travel agent yet. Our plan is to fly to Arizona on September 9th then continue to the Philippines September 21rst. I'll let you know if those plans change:).

These days we're still enjoying great times with many friends and supporters. Last Saturday we hosted a coffee for quite a few friends from church. Even though we'd invited a number of people I was rather expecting a small turn-out. After all, it was a long weekend! However, about 70 friends showed up and blessed us with their encouragement and interest in what God is doing in the Philippines. It was a great evening!

Kevin and Kaleb are in an evening badminton camp this week, which has been pretty fun for them so far. It's a lot of driving back and forth, but we've been able to do business in the city each day so far. We'll see if we finish our business before badminton finishes!

We've had a great week visiting with many of you as well as making plans for the Philippines. I could tell you about great meals and great conversations we've enjoyed, but there are too many people that are too closely related that read this blog. So, suffice to say that we've enjoyed amazing meals and incredibly encouraging times in the past week!

We're also looking into tickets for our return to the Philippines. We are planning to go to Arizona and continue from there to the Philippines. At this point we're not sure whether we'll be driving or flying to Arizona, but we're working on it. There are also a number of things that we need to return to those who lent them to us and some things to buy and pack for the Philippines.

I uploaded quite a few photos from our trip yesterday and today, so scroll down and check them out if you're interested!

Tomorrow I will try to get another post in...

It's been too long, and once more I'm a bit in a quandary about where to begin. So maybe I'll start with now...

Garry is back at work today and the boys are enjoying another visit from Dustin. We continue to be amazed at the grace the family is receiving after Darrell's passing on just over a week ago. His funeral was a testimony to simply living out one's faith and investing in authentic relationships. His family continues to live the faith they're in the habit of living, and it's beautiful to see.

My parents were able to spend last week with us and we so enjoyed our time with them. I think they remain amazed at the amount of ice cream Kevin can consume in one sitting and the number of things Kaleb can think up in the course of a day. We enjoyed taking them to several badminton events as well as playing games, going out for breakfast, and talking, talking, talking! We were very thankful that they were able to meet many of our friends, and sad that they didn't see other ones. It was hard to say goodbye on Saturday, but a hard goodbye is a testimony to a good time together.

This week we're looking forward to dinner or coffee with several friends. We're also beginning to look into shipping our things to the Philippines and a timetable for leaving Canada.

In the Philippines plans are moving ahead in regards to where to place our support base and helicopter program in Luzon. At the end of the week one of our pilots will be heading to one possible location to look around a bit. Ben and Suzy continue to stay busy with the flight program in Palawan and a new baby. Congratulation, Ben & Suzy! Ben's also working on paperwork for 405, the airplane that we'll take to Mindanao when we return.