While the boys are away...

Tyler and three other students in Standardization left yesterday morning (Monday) for 4 days of back country Idaho flying!  I did get to hear from him this afternoon, and it sounds like they are having a great time learning new skills and appreciating the beauty of Idaho mountains.  While it may sound like they are "roughing it", they actually get to stay as guests at a ranch house and enjoy the stillness of the mountains around them. 

So....while they are away, we women are holding down the fort with our kiddos.  This is our last week of swim lessons for Caleb and Aaron.  Aaron is fighting a cough and both him and Jocelyn had eye infections requiring eye drops.  Despite some not so restful nights, we are keeping busy with our swim lessons, today we visited a Wildlife Refugee in Nampa, and tomorrow we'll complete our last swim lesson followed by a picnic with our friends from swimming.  Of course we are also enjoying sweet fellowship just as wives and the bond that is created from depending on each other when our husbands aren't around.

The guys should get back on Thursday, and on Friday we all begin Orientation classes for the next two weeks.  After we finish that training, we'll move out of this apartment and in with Tyler's parents.  Then it's time to "wade through our stuff" and focus entirely on packing.

Speaking of...a few people have asked us if we have a list of physical needs that they can help with as we prepare to go to Indonesia.  We have put together an Indonesia Wish List on Amazon, and you can view it here if you are interested in helping in that way:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1FPJMVUF3RGG2/ref=topnav_lists_2

If you have any questions about the list or other needs we have, feel free to contact us!

Pray that we would make good decisions about what will really be useful and stand up to hard use in a 3rd world country.

God is good, we are thankful that He is in control of every situation around us.  Be encouraged!

Sweet fellowship

You know that feeling of joy, fulfillment, thankfulness, encouragement, enrichment, companionship, and community you get after an amazing retreat with fellow believers?  or after a really good Bible study/small group or church service?  Or maybe after you've had a holiday with your family?  Imagine experiencing that almost every day for 10 weeks!

I think all of our families here for Standardization would agree that living in community hardly ever gets tiring.  We may not accomplish much inside the house, or keep a normal schedule, or maybe the bread burned and the floors didn't get vacuumed, but hey, it's SO hard to come inside to work when there is constant fellowship to enjoy when we are all outside just hanging out together and watching our kids play and ride their bikes all day long.  Yes, this is a snapshot of our lives here at MAF while the husbands are doing the dirty work fixing and flying airplanes as they prepare for their future in aviation overseas.

So...here are some pictures of our life in community.  I am thankful, humbled, and encouraged that we get to serve alongside these beautiful families with MAF.

 In only 1.5 weeks, we celebrated 4 of the kids' birthdays,

including Aaron (3) and Jocelyn (1)

 It was fun to invite all the families to Tyler's parents to 

celebrate their birthdays!

 This girl is such an encourager!

 We went to the zoo one afternoon with another family

that is headed to Indonesia

 The boys visiting Daddy in the hanger

 During Easter week, one of the wives did an awesome kids 

lesson on the Passover

 Learning about the Passover

 Drinking their first cup of juice for Passover

 "Who's the cutie with the carrot?"

 Another Easter lesson on the Resurrection

 Using marshmallows and crescent rolls to demonstrate Jesus

in the tomb and rising again

 Egg hunt on Easter morning

 First time flying a kite with the kids!

 love of my life

 Playin' games with the neighbor (he already left for Indonesia, sadly)

 Always have to have one kitchen drawer just for the baby

 Fun times in the sandbox (they were making the sand fly from behind their back tires)

 Community meals at MAF on Friday nights

 duck duck GOOSE!  games for another kids birthday party

Another MK birthday party

Until next time!

Tyler and Renae

"Mech-e-nick" (Mechanic) time

For the past 3 1/2 weeks I (Tyler) have been going through the standardization for mechanics.  Just learning how things are done in Mission Aviation Fellowship and having to get my hands dirty with grease :)  Here are a few photos from last week.

 "Wow...that is a lot of twirling gears and buttons."

 "I don't think I want to touch it"

 Doing a 500 hr magneto inspection

"It is the new turbo encabulator"

Watch this video to get the joke.