Stearman Flight

Today I got to do my first stearman flight and aerobatic flight. I had a BLAST, doing a couple of aileron rolls, loops and a hammer head. The weather was so beautiful after being rainy/snowy that there was no excuse not to go flying when I was asked.

With an open cockpit and a rumbling 450hp radial engine in front it didn't take long to leap into the air and start clawing up into the sky. I don't think I could wipe the grin off my face if I wanted to.  This was definitely an experience that I don't want to forget.

Thanks Jay for the ride!

Teaching in Sub Zero

Just like the mail man motto, "in rain or shine, snow or blizzard..." snow and wind didn't stop class time.  I dragged out those poor students, from the warmer hemispheres, for PT6 engine runs.  

They were good sports about it even though it was around -7 degrees with wind chill. They even said they learned something about the engine while they were losing feeling to their toes. Now before you label me a "mad professor" or something worse I want to point out that I was out there freezing with them.  Due to having only a limited amount of time with our students that fly in from all over the world. Weather can hinder some of the  learning opportunities, but I think we just made some memories for Dave and Jon to take back with them.

 Here is a short clip of a startup of the PT6 engine

 Not all of my teaching had to be done outside in the snow.  I picked up a section in Kodiak Systems and taught about autopilot operations.  It was my first time and it seemed to go pretty well, although I was a little nervous teaching guys that have already 1000's of flight hours of experience. Later there is a possibility to take more sections of the systems course later to help relieve some of Ken Smoll's work load.  It is amazing how much more you learn about a subject when you have to teach it rather than just sitting in a class and learning. At the moment my responsibilities have returned to developing some more curriculum while the students finish up different courses and return home.



Till next time,

The Schmidt's

Indonesia, Africa, South America...?

Just last week STC finished yet another round of training pilots on the PT6 engine.  I did a lot of sitting through classes again, refreshing my knowledge as well as making changes to the workbook.  During these weeks of training, Renae and I had the pleasure of housing two of the men upstairs in the guest house.  As always, we were blessed and encouraged as we shared several meals and the super bowl party with them.  Ricki and Daniel are both heading out to the mission field of Indonesia later this year as first time missionaries.  And, both of their wives are also expecting!  Needless to say, we had much to talk about and were able to learn more about candidacy with MAF and the preparation part of becoming overseas missionaries.  Renae and I are discovering that there is always something new to learn and think about as we continue this path of missionary life.

Recently we have been challenged both by the Lord and the president of Proclaim Aviation to really be praying about when to start the application and Technical Evaluation process with a mission organization.  Since we have been in the mindset that it could be 4-5 more years before our student loans are small enough to start that process, it is exciting to think that we might be able to begin several years sooner than expected.  There is a possibility of fund-raising support to help with our loans so that we do not have to wait as long to go overseas.  Please pray for us as we pray about this, for the Lord's ultimate timing and for Him to make it very clear what our next steps should be.  At the soonest, I might be able to take my technical evaluation in January or July of 2012.

In the meantime, we are still trying to decide on a name for our newest baby coming in about 5 weeks!  It is so exciting to look forward to the blessing of another baby.  Renae is definitely ready to be done being pregnant, although neither of us are looking forward to sleepless nights again.  (at least it's only a short phase of our lives, right?!)  As always, we pray the Lord make his peace known to you each day and gives you joy.

serving Him,

the Schmidt's

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