Special times sharing at churches

"And my God shall supply all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

 Philippians 4:19

We have just come back from visiting family in ND, and while we were there we had an opportunity to take some time to share our missions presentation in three new churches.  It was wonderful to share our passion for missions to people that do not know what mission aviation looks like overseas.  We have met many great people that want to see us succeed and have joined our prayer support team.  We realize that without this vital ministry we could open ourselves up for spiritual attacks.  With the different contacts we have made this past trip we are praying that the Lord will continue to bring more financial support in addition to prayer support.  We are content to wait on Him as we know that the Lord knows our needs and He is faithful to supply all that we need.  Many people have been very generous this past Christmas and we are so thankful to them and that the Lord spurred their hearts to give.

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

Negative temperatures, mountains of snow, endless prairie, icy roads, yep, we are back in North Dakota for the holidays!  Not only have we had the blessing of spending a few weeks with family, but the Lord also provided a few opportunities to share about our ministry with Proclaim/Spokane Turbine Center at a couple of churches.  We have one church left to visit and share with this coming Sunday.  It is so exciting to us to be able to share about the impact Spokane Turbine Center is having on missionary pilots overseas and to share our vision of us going overseas in the next several years. We both still feel the Lord's calling strongly to pursue overseas missions and are excited about the new prayer and financial supporters He is bringing alongside us. 

Here are a few pictures to give you a small idea of what our time in ND has been like thus far:

 Caleb's first haircut!

 the cousins watching cartoons in their little chairs

 sledding down the hill of snow in the yard!

 opening gifts-Caleb loves his new Scout puppy!

 family pictures-Renae's sister's family (with a 3rd due in February)

 Renae's brother's family with their 9-week old twins!

 the 3 of us, soon to be the 4 of us!

 swimming at our hotel pool in Bismarck-Caleb seemed to enjoy the slide

 5 cousins now, with 2 on the way...my how our families are growing!

Thankful thoughts

Even though it's only been a little over a week, Thanksgiving already feels like ages ago.  It's amazing how quick the switch from Thanksgiving celebration is to preparation for Christmas.  Despite the short holiday celebration, we greatly enjoyed our time spent reflecting on what we are thankful for and enjoying fellowship with family.  We were blessed to have all of Tyler's siblings and other extended family join us for the thankful celebrations.  It was such fun having everyone stay here in our house, and Renae really enjoyed hosting the meals and planning for several days of company.

Around a beautifully set Thanksgiving table, we all drew a question about being thankful and later shared our answers.  It was fun to hear the different things we are all thankful for; for example, the invention Uncle Ron is most thankful for is ...airplanes!  Go figure, in a family of pilots...  In the past year, Renae is most thankful for the gift of being a stay-at-home mom.  Tyler enjoys showing his thankfulness towards others by giving gifts, and expressing words of appreciation or some act of service for that person. 

We enjoyed a little black Friday shopping, and had a Schmidt family Christmas celebration on Saturday.  The Lord blessed our time together immensely!

Tyler, Kyle, and Trevor enjoyed setting up their own obstacle course in the backyard and played a little airsoft

Attempting to get Caleb playing in the snow...he wasn't so sure 

about it!  We got several inches over Thanksgiving week.

It's a......!

I promised that I would share with you our news after my ultrasound last week, so, here goes...  It's a BOY!!  Yes, another little Schmidt baby boy.  I am feeling slightly outnumbered, yet am filled with joy and excitement about the new baby.  We are so excited to have a little brother for Caleb.  As Tyler said, "Now he will have a little brother to roughhouse with!"  You can see what Tyler loved doing with his little brothers.  It will be such fun to observe how different our two sons will be. I think we are both most excited about Caleb having a playmate - he just loves other kids and playing with them/ observing them.

We are supposed to see some snow this weekend, but this is at least the 5th prediction we've had and still no snow.  Next week Tyler's siblings will come to spend Thanksgiving at our home.  It is the first time we've stayed home for a holiday and we are super excited to have family here to celebrate Thanksgiving and an early Christmas.  We hope you all have a wonderful holiday whatever you do, and appreciate the many blessings God has given you over the last year. 

Many thanks to you for your friendship and support in our lives!
Renae for the Schmidts

Christmas music before or after Thanksgiving?

I would rather not get into a debate, knowing that many of you are advocates for the "after Thanksgiving day listening to Christmas music idea", but we have never been able to hold out that long!  Ever since we got married, Tyler and I have either been year-round Christmas music listeners or would start about mid-summer.  However, this year we have actually made it until October!  That's right, for the past few weeks we have been enjoying the heralds of angels and the anticipation of family togetherness that Christmas music alone can bring.  It strikes me that though all the sentiments of Christmas are great to look forward to, I do not spend much time anticipating the true reason we celebrate.  That is why during our pre-Christmas listening time this year, I am trying spend more time thanking the Lord for the perfect Gift He gave us.  (having a baby moving around inside me does help me remember to do this too!)

This past weekend Tyler and I were blessed with the chance to attend a Weekend to Remember marriage conference.  What a gift to married couples!  If all couples could attend one every few years, I think it would help many more marriages stay together.  I was reminded and convicted of the importance of making our marriage a priority above the family.  Since becoming parents it is so difficult to love and cherish Tyler the way I did before our precious boy came along!  I am so thankful of the reminder and commitment to put our marriage first (which will hopefully start including some fun and creative dates planned by both of us!).  I am looking forward to the challenge of showing Tyler how important he is to me both through dates, prayer, and special reminders through the week.

Tomorrow I have my 20 week ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy, and also to find out if it is a boy or a girl.  We did not find out what we were having before, but are most likely going to this time.  Of course I could wait another day and then post this blog so all of you would know, but you will just have a wait a week or so while we let all our family members know!

I hope this entry finds you healthy and joyful, abiding in the strength of the Lord.

More Fall Happenings

Goodness, time flies when you have a full work schedule and a family at home to keep you busy!  Since our last update we have had several things going on...

First off I had the option to go to Prairie School of Mission Aviation at Three Hills Canada.  This was the last flight on the summer tour with the Kodiak.  It was only a day outing but was a good opportunity to show off the plane to some of the future missionary pilots and tell the students there that they could also get their turbine training at Spokane Turbine Center.  I was also excited to go because this would give me some more flight time in the Kodiak.  As we were passing over the Rockie mountains, I was once again awed by God's power and majesty in the creation I was looking at.  Some of the mountains went straight up 3 or 4 thousand feet  with no interruption in its climb for the skies.  Even though we were cruising at 19,000 feet I still felt very small compared to the peaks that were jutting up all around me.  On our return trip back to Spokane we started to run into weather and the night time.  The temperatures were starting to drop and ice was starting to to form on our wings faster than it could sublimate, so that started to get the heart rate up trying to think of our "outs" (ways to get out of the weather) and options.  It was good experience for and it was amazing to use the full capabilities of the G1000, using the XM weather which overlays where the precipitation is happening over your moving map.  All in all the flight was completed successfully even if it was long day and we didn't arrive back home till the wee hours of the morning.

 

Most recently I have finished my Certified Flight Instructor Instrument rating as of Oct 22.  This has a huge burden mentally for me and hasn't been easy.  I had been working on this rating for almost a month and was starting to get some pressure from work to get it finished since they needed me back at the "office" and not boring holes in the clouds all day. 

Caleb is lovin' life as he figures out new skills and develops his own little personality!  Around 14 months he finally took off walking, and now he never stops!  He is a busy little guy, and keeps us entertained and on our toes at all times.  He's really smart too.  One of his favorite activities right now is taking at least three of our pot lids and spinning them on the floor.  We watched him the other day and he has a method:  he holds them a certain way to be able to throw them so they always spin, and he can have all three lids spinning at the same time!  It's pretty incredible the things they can figure out to do.  One of the cutest things he does is "talk" on the cell phone.  He has a toy phone that he holds to the back of his head and walks around gabbing like he's talking on it.  Precious! He also loves to stack things and knock them over, and if we'd let him he'd pull all of the toilet paper off the roll.

Big news in our lives right now:  Caleb will soon be a big brother!  Renae is about 19 weeks pregnant and due around March 20.  We should find out soon whether it is a boy or a girl.  We are SO excited about the blessing of another child and the joy it will be to have two little ones to train and love. 

Renae still loves the blessing of being a stay-at-home mom and is keeping herself busy with a women's Bible study, Tots and Co. at church, spending time with other moms, and teaching a couple piano lessons.  She also enjoys the "baby" reading time at the library once a week, which apparently is just a hilarious time observing fifteen babies together with their parents singing and listening to short stories.  

I realize this entry is a little lengthy due to our lack of current updates...I will try to post sooner so that you don't feel as if you are reading a novel!  Hope you enjoyed the current news, and feel free to send us an update on your lives too!  We would really enjoy hearing from you.  God bless!

We love the fall...

Fall just happens to be my (Renae's) favorite season.  I love September in Spokane, and especially  love picking peaches and apples and enjoying pumpkin donuts at the local fruit orchards.  Life has been busy since we returned from our 6-week long trip this summer.  Though I enjoyed the time with my family, I am so happy to be home again.  As fall starts, so do programs that I am going to try being involved in this year.  I will soon be attending my church's women's Bible study, and also Tot's and Co.  Both will be a nice outlet for Caleb and I.

Tyler and I were so encouraged by several people who have committed to supporting us during our vacation/deputation/work(for Tyler) time.  We were especially blessed to share at my home church in Rugby, and experience the love and support of those that I have known for a long time.  I am sometimes still overwhelmed and discouraged by the amount of support we need to raise, and the lack of traveling time we have to visit churches or people.  But we have seen God provide so much already and know that it is not anything "we" can do, but what He can do.  Tyler has to remind me often that God will raise the support we need, not us.

Though Tyler is back to at STC, he is spending much of his time at Moody Aviation once again, working to get his CFII, which certifies him to instruct instrument flying.  Pray that he would continue strong with his studies and work hard for his flights and the lessons he has to teach, as studying can get very tiresome!

Caleb continues to outgrow the baby phase!  He has taken several steps on his own, though does not try it very often.  He babbles all the time, but not recognizable words yet.  And last week he decided to see what it is like to play in the toilet. "Why haven't you let me do this before, Mom, this is fun!"  He could probably spend the entire day outside and be a happy boy, except for meal times of course.  We love watching him change and grow all the time!

Thanks so much for all your prayers, hope this gives you a snippet of our life recently.