Dancing Baby

The other day we were sitting in the living room listening to music and Abigail started dancing. It was the cutest thing ever.

Happy Girls

Abby is pretty lucky to have such a great Mommy. And I am pretty lucky to have two sweet ladies.

Favorite beach activity

Is it wading in the water? Collecting rocks? Filling sand pails? No, it's eating sand. We spent the day keeping her from eating it, and then decided to let her enjoy, hoping that she would realize that sand really is not that tasty. She never came to that conclusion though. She would have continued shoveling it in until she got sick, but we had to interrupt her bliss.

From walking to climbing

I had off on Monday and the weather was beautiful, so we drove up to a State Park on the Chuckanut Hwy. Abigail had a blast. It was a little hard for her to walk on the uneven ground, so she took to climbing. I will have to say she has some skill, there may be a future for her in climbing.

Ok, so she had a little help.

walking faster

This was taken on the afternoon of the day she started walking. As you can see, there is going to be no turning back for her.

Abigail is walking

To our delight Abigail decided to start walking during the morning of my 3 day weekend. That meant I got lots of time to enjoy it with her. She had been walking while holding my finger for several months, so when she decided to use her legs as a mode of transportation she was all over the place, and very excited about it.

Timid Smile

This is Abigail's smile when she is around a group of people. She is very quiet, and observent.

A day with friends

Last weekend we headed up to Lynden to hang out with some good friends. Lynden is near the Canadian Boarder, about two hours from here. It was rather chilly, but hanging out on the piers and waterfront was a lot of fun. Abigail loved holding Daddy's finger while walking around.

Are We Soft Clay?

We are learning again to allow God to shape us and use us for the purposes He has for the present time.... We had plans to go to New Tribes Mission Aviation's technical evaluation this spring and to head off to the NTM mission's training center the fall of 2009. At this time, NTMA's minimum requirements for a pilot's flight hours have been raised to 400 and also 1 year of maintenance experience. Ben has close to 300 hours and maintenance exp. from his training at Moody Aviation, and this job he has now will give him more.

So, for a few days we kind of reeled at this change of our plans... "Lord, what are You doing?... don't we need to go now...."it already takes so long for a missionary pilot to get to the field... "okay, mabye we need to just live for a while...."the past several years have been extreemly intense..."mabye You have need for us here.... "mabye we need to learn to rest, repose and just be in relationship with You, making sure we don't find any of our "worth" in what we do, but who we are in Christ..."yet finding the balance of walking in the good works that He has prepared beforhand for us to do...."but finding our identity in Christ alone..."

That said, mabye it gives you a glimpse into where we are. We are settling into life here, now that we're past the surprise of the change of "our" plans and we have jumped in with both feet to "normal" life in the northwest. It's good. And we can see that the Lord knew exactly what we needed. Of course. : )

Glasair

The blog hasn't been updated much lately since my husband got a job.... so I will be taking on the blog postings every so often. In light of this difficult economic time, we are thanking the Lord that Ben actually got a job. Just when January was feeling very bleak and we had begun to doubt, the Lord reminded us that He has a plan. Ben is now working for Glasair, a company in Arlington that builds small fiberglass aircraft. This job is such a God-send, such a specific answer to prayer... Ben really wanted a job that he could get maintenance experience in and possibly have opportunities to gain flight hours- both of which this job provides. And he is working with a buddy from his graduating class. The comradrie is very encouraging.

Christmas

This picture turned out blurry, but I thought it was so cute. Abigail snuggling her teddy in front of the Christmas tree.

Time with Daddy

I am still in the process of looking for a job, so I have been home a lot. That equates to lots of time with Abigail. If I play it just right, by sitting with her after a nap, I get a little snuggle time with her. Most of the time though, she is pretty active, and into everything.

Teddy Bears

Abigail loves her teddy bears. She very frequently gives them hugs. I just wish I got half as many hugs as the teddies do.

More Snow!

Snow was in the forecast even for the west. Here in Monroe we had nearly 18 inches on the ground at Christmas. It also got down to the teens for about a week. Very abnormal for this area.

Christmas tree

On the Seattle side of the state, rain is more likely then snow. As was the case when we cut down our Christmas tree.

Snow!

After I completed the basement I had a little deterrent to my plans of leaving. We got two feet of snow! So I spent the day shoveling and helping people in our neighborhood get their cars back to their driveways after failed attempts to traveling. The following day I put chains on my truck and headed out, for what I thought would be a long journey home. But once I got to the freeway it was smooth sailing. The road was bare for most of the trip. In all I was gone for 12 days, but it felt like forever.

A Completed Project

Well, from start (Nov. '07) to finish (Dec. '08) that basement was a lot more work that I thought it would be. But it feels so good to be done. The only problem? We don't live there anymore to enjoy it!

Dusty mess

After my Dad left I spent another five days down there sanding. That was a job I am glad to be done with. Even looking at these pictures brings back bad memories. In the midst of this we were also trying to pack for our move back to Monroe, WA. We wanted to be moved before Thanksgiving came. We did get moved, but I still had much to do in the basement before it was complete. So after Thanksgiving I went back to Spokane to finish up. Things like panting, putting up trim, installing a few windows and an interior door, among many other small projects still needed to be done.

Taping and mudding

Our days were spent in the basement, taping and mudding, while listening to numerous Ranger Bill episodes (an old radio drama)http://www.rangerbill.zoomshare.com/. Though the work is not something I enjoy, I very much enjoyed the time I was able to spend with my Dad.

Dad pays a visit

Well it was more like work than a vacation for my Dad who came out for five days to help me get our basement finished. We have rented out the house, but wanted the basement finished before they moved in. Though my Dad and I did put in long hours every day, he got a little time to be with his grandaughter.

New Flight Instructors

The beginning of November brought the end of a challenging course. Fran Burgess (left) and myself, instructed by Bill Kilgore (center), passed our final check ride to receive our licenses.

Learning how to recover from a spin

This fall I elected to get my Flight Instructors License. It was not a required portion of my training, but is recommended by the Mission we plan on serving with. Part of the training required me to practice recovering from a spin. This is a maneuver that we normally do not do intentionally, but as an instructor I need to be confident and ready to recover from if a student accidentally enters one.