They came to pick up our crates this morning. They will meet us in Papua after language school. I hear its like Christmas when you open your crates back up. There's a lot of stuff you forgot you had!
We were pretty happy to get to see one of Heather's sister Madison's volleyball games before we leave. It's her senior year, they had their first game last night. Here's Ian hanging out with auntie Holly at the game.
Clearly volleyball isn't his scene. And then he fell asleep....
It's been a while since I've shared some pictures. I hope this isn't picture overload!!
So we leave for Indonesia on Sunday! It's getting very close.
Every now and then someone does, says, or writes something that helps remind us why we are getting ready to move to Indonesia. Yesterday we got this letter from a 5 year old. If it's too small to read you might have to click on it to read it.
I wanted to share the pictures I took last month at my Mountain Flying Training in Idaho, also known as the Back Country Course. The first group of pictures are flying related, as we trained each day on the nearby airstrips. Then the last group of pictures are all related to the fabulous place we stayed, called Allison Ranch. Myself and two other students, Aaron and John, and two instructors, Tim and Scott, set off for northern Idaho one Sunday. We stayed three nights at Allison Ranch, heading out each day to practice on challenging airstrips down the Salmon River gorge from Allison Ranch. There are no roads into Allison Ranch, just a (very challenging) airstrip. The care takers Jim and Gloria made our stay wonderful with good conversation, good food, and amazing stories of the many bears that Jim has encountered in the area and the harrowing adventures he has had navigating the Salmon river by boat. The majestic roar of the Salmon River, the breathtaking pine covered mountain sides, and the amazing tranquility were not captured on camera but they were captured in my mind! The lessons learned in the airplane were intense as I experienced the types of extreme approaches and airstrips I will face in Indonesia. When flying, Aaron and I split time flying and observing/taking pictures. We had a blast. Some of these pictures are me photographing Aaron, and vise versa.
Day three of ten days away from my bride and kiddos! I am back at MAF headquarters in Idaho for the culmination of my flight training that came to a hault when our little Ian came into the world a couple months ago! I was bummed to realized when I got out here that I didn't bring any pictures of Heather or the kids, nor did I bring my computer (im borrowing my neighbor Aaron's right now). I was delighted to see that Heather had taken my camera the night before I left and took a few videos of Elise and Ian. It just warms my heart to watch those! Here's two of my faves.....Heather even appears in the second one which made me happy.
So I flew into Boise tuesday morning, and we hit the ground running Tuesday afternoon with a refresher flight. Wednesday and Thursday (today) we had two great days of practice on some really challenging and beautiful airstrips a little North and East of Boise. Here's a few pics.
A gorgeous morning, ready for a beautiful day of flying on Wednesday. It was a little hot in Boise (90 plus) but up in the mountain air-strips not so hot! The plane sure performs differently when it's so hot.
After landing at an airstrip, we shut down the airplane and had lunch on a hill on the side of the strip. The river ran by, and this was our view across the river. Beautiful! The sound of the river, the wind, and the birds was so peaceful.
My fellow trainee/new friend Aaron approaching this airstrip after we already flew in. This airstrip was quite a challenge, at 1500 feet in length and rather narrow between the pine trees with an 8 percent uphill slope.
Aaron took this video of me taking off.
These three days of practice are preparing for the big trip to the "back country". Technically, these airstrips we've done the last few days are part of the back country. But Sunday we are going to depart for a place further north in Idaho called Allison Ranch. We'll there three nights, and every day practice some of the airstrips in that area that are just a little more challenging than what we've already done. Great practice! I am soaking it in, because I know as I become more proficient and safe, myself and the Lord's precious servants I will fly in Indonesia will be safer for it.
