The Closing of 2010

Well like it or not 2010 is about to end and a new year awaits us. As I ponder over this past year I look back on a year of many changes and adjustments as well as some neat mile stones as well. As many of you already know we as a family have ventured into quite a life changing career by joining Mission Aviation Fellowship. Which has been one of our highlights this year. I thought I would also mention a few of the other hi-lights for the year. Let's try and start from the begining of last year.

The year for me started with my first tail wheel student that came ready to learn and five weeks after he started he left with a private pilots licence. Which is quite a feat not mention that he did it all in a tail wheel aircraft as well. For those that may wonder why I mentioned the tail wheel part, it is more challenging to learn to land and take off with an aircraft with a tail wheel opposed to a nose wheel. In February I passed my instrument rating written exam (INRAT) and in March I flew my 1000th hour. End of April and begining of May Julie and I left our kids with my mom and sister for two weeks as we left for Guelph ON. Where we spent two weeks at MAF's spring candidacy course. In July and August I had the honor of finishing at Harv's Air with having the privilege of training the two top Cadets this year! End of August we started full time with MAF working through our ministry partnership phase. During our MP time we have traveled to the north end of Vancouver Island and back again seeking out friends and family that would be willing to partner with us in this ministry with MAF. In November our family finally returned to Steinbach 13,000kms later for some much needed time at home.

Franklin ended his last day of public school in June with many hugs and some really good friendships. For most of the summer the children spent there days riding bikes, trying out the skate board park, hanging out with friends, and spending hours swimming. Then at the end of August life changed for them as we hit the road for MAF. They spent days in the van, sleeping in different houses, and hunting through rubbermaid tubs for their clothes. One of their highlights of the road is being allowed to all sleep next to one another. Camping life was a great adventure for them! In September and October the kids loved living near their grandparents and all the adventure of farm life. Franklin learned how to ride a dirt bike, Isaac became a dedicated fisherman, and Jaclynn took great care of all the farm cats. November brought great joy for the children as we finally returned to MB and their own house and beds. Since the boys were so use to sleeping together they moved into the same bedroom and started sharing bunk beds. At the beginning of December we were able to attend our home Church here in Steinbach and attend Sunday School were they actually knew kids. These last few weeks Franklin, Isaac, and Jaclynn have been hitting the sledding hills and greatly enjoying pushing their mother down the hill when she wasn't ready yet. I'm sure they didn't learn that from me! Christmas was a special day as they enjoyed a few new toys and learning how to play their new games. Isaac's proudest moment was when he finally beat me in the game Mouse Trap after I had beat him the first few times.

"This year has been a blur" in the words of my wife. Homeschooling, living out of rubbemaid tubs, MAF stuff, house work and mountains of other things that blend into the blur.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year. May this year be filled with many blessings.

Greg, Julie

Franklin, Isaac, & Jaclynn

Happy Holiday's

As our family is getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus and bring in the New Year here in Steinbach we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We hope that you all enjoy and cherish this amazing time of the year. I will gladly admit that Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year! I love driving through town at night and seeing all the houses decorated with beautiful lights! Or going to our mail box and opening it to find that it is full of Christmas cards from friends and loved ones. I have always saw this as a wonderful time of the year as it should be for we are celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! And this was not just your ordinary birth, but a miracle sent from God. As I'm sure the heavens were rejoicing over this exciting birth I think that we need to remember to really enjoy and celebrate the birth of Christ! One thing that Greg and I do with our children is hold a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas morning. We even bake a cake, light candles, sing to Jesus and allow the kids to really enjoy partying for Jesus. So through out all the hustle and bustle of this time of year take time to pause for just a moment and really look around you. And ask yourself if you really are celebrating Jesus Birth this year or is it just another holiday to you? Christmas is a time for celebration, rejoicing and remembering to celebrate for Jesus! I would love to here from any of you who have begun or continue neat family traditions that help your family celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

Julie

Planes and Runways

Adding to the theme of Indonesia I thought it appropriately to post a few pictures of the aircraft we use there and some of the landing strips we fly in and out of. As mentioned previously on this post I was hoping to get a hold of some pictures of the new Kodiak. Thanks from some help in the office I was able to get a couple.

New Kodiak 100

New Aircraft specifically designed for such runways

Cessna 206

The reason we are needed is the DENSE rain forest covering RUGGED mountains. Image the Rocky Mountains covered with thick vegetation and no roads.

C206

Cessna Caravan (C208)

A C206 with a great view

Pray For us this is what some of our runways look like

Few C206s under the umbrella of a beautiful rainbow

C208

C206

Cessna 185 on Floats

C206 Sitting on a beautiful runway "I can't wait to try it out"

C206 on Floats

What a Treat

Dear Friends of ours had us over for some Indonesian Food. It has been their tradition to make traditional food from different countries each year for Christmas. And this year they choose to include us and treat us to a wonderful evening of unique but great tasting food. I enjoyed pretty much all of it, Julie enjoyed most of it, and the kids well they enjoyed some of it. My Favorite was the Mango Chicken Stir fry (Ajam Djahe Mangga)

Someday I may know how to say all these words and know what to order

The center dish (white/yellow with no lid) is the Ajam Djahe Mangga which again was my favorite

Huge spread of great food wish I could have eaten more

Crackers of different Sorts: Peanut, Cassava, and Prawn flavoured

Fruit Salad with Mango's, Mangosteen, Rambutan and Pineapple I think?

Durian Fruit the scary looking thing in his hand

Durian was different. I think it would have tasted better if we were hungry. It had a strange texture and a very unique favor.

Rambutan is the fruit on the cutting board. The red part is the outer shell and the white part the inside which tasted pretty good.

Prawns and hard boiled eggs and I'm not sure what else but whatever it was it tasted good.

Home School Gym Night Tonight

Some pictures of the kids enjoying the home school gym night.

Joined the Digital Camera Age

Well we finally joined the digital camera age so now we just need some good reasons to take some pictures. We are excited to be able to up load pictures more often as we don't have to fill a roll and send it for developing. So hopefully we can get pictures on here sooner and put them up the same time we share our stories.

Our very first digital picture which turned out not to bad for a rookie.

More testing shoots as we figure out our new camera

This calls for a cup of something warm.

Nice enough today to finally get the kids outside to play hurray

Franklin getting help with his math from his very cute teacher.

Once we returned home the boys requested that we turn their beds into a bunk bed and share a room. So far so good.