A Fall Day...

Good morning. What a “cool” morning it is. As I look outside, I see he frost on the ground and vehicles. I even heard the furnace kick on this morning for the first time. We have it set for pretty low still so it had to be pretty cold to turn on.

Scott left for Alabama on Sunday and is there for the week in an engine overhaul class. He is pretty excited about it. He said the instructor is compacting a lot into their time. He said he hopes to be able to retain most of it. 

The boyz and I have a pretty full week this week while daddy is gone. I was hoping it was going to be a relaxing week but instead it is going to be fun and full. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are coming down to help with it and I am so happy. They are a lot of fun and we are excited to see them. They are always such a huge help…what a God send. Please remember them in your prayers as they are having many health issues that come with a lot of pain. They are such troopers that they want to come anyways. I just hope they can enjoy their grandsons.

Last week Scott was able to SOLO again in his flying. He was so nervous and excited. Now he has to be planning for his cross country solo’s that is next on the “to-do” list. He also has to study, study, study and study some more for his written test. With the weather changing and all, he is trying to get as much done before the yucky stuff as he can. He really wants to get to the point where he can have his license and take his family up. We really want that too. 

We are in the planning stages of our up coming trip to Alaska. We are leaving in the middle of January (around the 15th) and returning the first of April. There is a family there that is going on furlough to the lower 48 and would like for us to come and watch their home and animals while they are gone. This will give us a chance as a family to see what winter is like there and the “all day night time” thing. We are very excited about it. God seems to be working out the details and that is the best part. We are praying about the tickets and the “gear” that we will need while we are there such as the parka’s and boots, mittens and snow pants for all of us. Everything that we have is not rated for such cold weather as they have there. We are excited because we know that God will provide.

The boyz are doing good. They are really missing their friends from MI as we all are. It seemed to hit us all hard around the 6 month mark of being here and now again at the 1 year mark. We know we are doing what the Lord wants us to do but it is still painful at times when you are uprooting your life. You miss the friends who know you so well and accept you no matter what, the ones who hold you accountable, encourage growth and love you unconditionally. It is hard to find friends like that and it takes time to build those kinds of friendships. It is hard when you know that you are leaving within a year to try and do that here. We have made friends and we feel many of those friendships with last a long time to come but they are still young and haven’t had the time to grow deep like those from home. Please pray for us in this area. We know that we are all a part of God’s big family and we are excited to meet more “family” members.

Shaughn and Matthew will be traveling this Friday morning to Virginia to a Christian Camp who has invited the youth from our church here to be their worship leaders and drama team for the campers. Shaughn is playing bass for the worship team and Matthew is on the traveling drama team. Scott and I took Matthew to his last practice and stayed to watch it. It was very powerful and they did a great job. We are very proud of him. Scott looked at me during Matthew’s performance and said, “we have some great kids don’t we?” I agreed. God has truly blessed us with great kids. It is all His doing. I pray that they find connection while we are in Alaska with some kids there as they did when we were getting ready to move here to Ohio. It really helped them to feel more connected having had the opportunity to meet and start friendships with some of the MMS kids here. Having the opportunity to be in Alaska for 2-3 months will give them some time to meet and get to know some folks there.

Yesterday at MMS, they planted a tree and some of Chris’s ashes to mark his 2 year anniversary with Jesus. It was a very moving time. Everyone who desired too was able to drop some of his ashes into the tree roots and then gave Dana a hug. It was very moving. Then we went around and shared memories of Chris and had a song of worship, a prayer time and then finished it with eating together. We ladies all brought a pot luck dish to share and at dinner at the hangar. It is hard to believe that it has been 2 years since Chris went to be with Jesus. My boys had not seen ashes before and didn’t get the whole cremation thing and keeping them in your house for 2 years thing. It was a learning experience for them. They found it not cool to do. They didn’t understand why someone would want to keep ashes from a person in their house. They kept asking why they didn’t put them in the ground like everyone else.