Getting Stuck

Well, here I go. Writing this blog for the second time since the first time it disappeared into cyber space somewhere!

This is a satellite picture of a weather system that is passing through the Philippines. On Thursday and Friday the edges of a developing typhoon passed over Palawan (the long skinny island off to the bottom left). They are predicting that they system will develop into a full typhoon and hit on Monday.

The good news is that the system brings rain, a break from the heat and my hibiscus bushes are blooming like crazy. The not so good news is that it means long days of flying, busy weeks and often getting stuck.

Thursday ended up being a crazy day. We woke up at 4:30 so that Jason could get off to the airport about 5:15. The plane took off just after 6:30 and Jason and Garry were able to deliever the family into the tribe. They stayed part of the morning so that Jason could do some touch and goes on the airstrip in order to finish his check out there. By the time they were through and headed over to the old flight base to fuel up and head back to town, they ran into a wall of clouds. The guys ended up being stuck from about lunch time until 4:00. Jason was able to dodge his way through the clouds enough to fly back to town and landed about 5:00. He and Garry stayed until about 6:00 getting the plane loaded for the next day's flight.

Since the weather delayed Jason from getting home earlier in the day he hadn't had time to do any flight planning for Friday's flight. After a quick dinner and getting the kids to bed, Jason spent about an hour getting his flight plan worked out, calculating weights for cargo, etc. before we turned in for bed early about 9:00.

Friday morning it was up at 4:30 again. It had been raining off and on all night and the satellite pictures made the day look not very promising. After heading out to the airport and waiting a few hours, Jason and Garry decided about 9:00 that it was a no go for the day as it was raining here in town and the tribal locations were reporting rain. Jason and I and Garry and Cynthia headed out for lunch and discussed further details of handing the over the flight progrm to us.

Saturday ended up being a beautiful day. Go figure! After a weather check on the radio at 6:30 in the morning and a clear report from the tribal locations, Jason headed out to the airport to do Friday's flight.

This next week will probably be a crazy week of flying too. We have several flights scheduled, among which are flights for a family that has just finished their national language study and is moving into the tribe for the first time.

The forcast is predicting that the system could develop into a typhoon and hit Palawan this week. That means lots of long days and probably, getting stuck.

Surprise!

It is hard to believe it has happened, but my little brother has tied the knot! Matt and Heather married on May 27th on the beach in California and from what I can tell from the pictures they had a great time!

We were so excited to hear a few months ago that they would be getting married. We figured, however, that we unfortunately wouldn't be able to come home for the wedding. Between just having returned to the PI in January, Jason being in the middle of his check out process, the kids finally getting settled and the amount of money it would cost for all of us to fly back, we thought that there was no way to make it happen.

I had kind of resigned myself to missing one of the most important events in my only brothers life, as hard as it was, but I would still found myself getting teared up when my Mom would send a picture of her going with Heather when she was trying on wedding dresses and it would hit me again how much I miss being around family and being a part of what's going on. Out of desperation one day I sent an e-mail to Jason's parents asking them if they wanted to come fly over to baby sit so that I could fly back by myself to go to the wedding. I sent it mostly as a joke and figured that there was no way that it would actually happen. They wrote me back right away saying that Jason's dad already had vacation scheduled at the end of June (which he had asked off for months in advance!) and that they would love to come out if it would free me up to go to the wedding. God is good! I love how He plans fun suprises for me to remind me of just how good He is and how much He loves me!

I was originally going to come back for their CA beach ceremony but would have missed spending time with them when they left for their honeymoon so I decided to wait and come for their AZ reception. I was able to keep the visit a surprise from Matt and he certainly was surprised to see me!

I've had such a great time here spending time with Matt, Heather and my new nephew Kristian! It has been such a blessing to be able to be at their reception and be part of their wedding experience. Congratulations! We're so happy for you all as you start out your new life together.

It has been so much fun being here. Pretty wierd being away from Jason and the kids, but a wonderful vacation for me :-) The best part about being here is feeling like it is time for me to go HOME. I haven't felt that way in a LONG time! Besides my husband and kids - it is great to know that I have a life, a house, a bed and even a dog that is waiting for me to come home!

Into the Tribe

Last week we made our maiden voyage as a family into a tribe! We had been waiting years for this day. Ever since we arrived here in the Philippines, we have waited for Jason to be able to fly our family in to visit our co-workers in the tribe. Since Jason was able to get his pilot's license, we were his first offical passengers.

Mirielle thought it was great having Dad as the pilot. I had fun seeing Jason in his element and had to admit that I was pretty proud of him being able to do such crazy flying. Kellan just slept through the whole ride after moving from his carseat to my lap. A much more comfortable ride!

The tribe we visited was about 45 minutes to the north of us. It was a beautiful flight along the coast and we saw some amazing scenery. We had a great time with our co-workers Ray and Chris Pollock. Jason had met them previously as he had flown into their strip getting checked out but it was my first time meeting them. We enjoyed getting to know them and were excited to hear about their ministry in the tribe. They have lived in the tribe for a few years and are beginning to near the point in language proficiency where they will be able to start preparing Bible lessons. Please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom as they work on getting the language down and understanding the best way to communicate the truth of His word for the first time!

It was a blessing for us to be able to go in as a family and to see first hand the work that is being done. Please pray for the NTM team here as we all work together in our ministries to bring the Gospel to the people of Palawan.

Check out our pictures of the tribe in our photo gallery.

It's never as easy as you think

In a previous post we asked you all to pray for Jason's check ride. Thank you for keeping him in your prayers as he passed this week and is now officially able to carry passengers while flying on his own, unaccompanied by our chief pilot. It was quite the process though.....

We had originally scheduled Jason's check ride for Thursday the 18th. We bought tickets for the examiner to fly down to Palawan so that he could fly with Jason in the NTMA plane. Two nights before he was to come down, we received a text from him that his travel request was denied and that we would have to postpone the check ride until the following week. We changed the dates on his tickets and were planning on him coming the following Thursday (this last Thursday).

On Monday afternoon Jason and Garry received another text asking if it was okay for him to come down the next day on Tuesday. We were happy to accommodate his travel schedule, as he was being very gracious in not requiring us to travel to Manila for the check ride. Unfortunately, Jason and Garry had just finished loading up the plane for their scheduled flight the following day, so they had to go back in the morning and unload the cargo which included a washing machine and a stove among other things. The examiner's flight was scheduled to get in at 8 in the morning. The guys had to leave EARLY in the morning to unload the plane so that they had time to dry off from all of their hardworking sweat before the examiner arrived.

That morning ALL the flights were delayed. Instead of the examiner arriving first thing in the morning and being able to leave on the last flight out of town, his flight was the last flight to arrive in and didn't come in until after 1 o'clock in the afternoon. He was very helpful and confident in giving Jason his temporary pilot's license with no hesitation after seeing the number of hours that he has flown and his experience. The delays also meant that the examiner was able to pre-process Jason's paperwork and give him his license the day of his check ride instead of having to return to Manila to process his paperwork after the check ride. We were very happy to have the check ride over and done with and a license in hand! This is a big step in Jason's checkout process as he can now carry passengers on his own without the oversight of Garry on board.