Winter Wonderland

Well we are safe and sound in AB and where welcomed with snow and cold temps which we are still adjusting to :).  The kids are enjoying the snow and cold much more than mom and dad, we'll get over it.  So far this week we've had the privileged of sharing at one of our supporting Churches and have had the chance to meet with a number of our friends as well.  It's been a busy but great week so far.

The kids along with their cousins, Grandpa and Uncle Bryce's helped bring home the Christmas Tree and then got it all decorated so now it looks pretty good.

While the tree killing crew was out hunting Christmas Trees, I also got the privilege of working the main street in Innisfail with my good friend Gord for the annual Innisfail Charity Check Stop.  Prior to our move to MB I would join Gord for this annual event enjoying the crisp cold Saturday helping out with food donations for the food bank. It was a lot of fun again this year.

Next week looks a more relaxing week which we look forward to spending Christmas with family.

Punching Holes/Road Trip

Well it has been a while but well worth the wait.  I had the privilege of punching some holes in the sky this past week.   MAF felt it prudent to have me put sometime in their Cessna TU206G before standardization starts in Feb.  And with our travel scheduled and the instructor's scheduled we thought it best to do some rust removing flying before we left.  To God be the glory I hadn't forgotten to much so after a couple fun flights we (the instructor and I) have confidence that the standardization flying should go well without any further flying until then.  I also got to take the kids up Friday night for a night flight in one of the C172's that are heading to SE Asia once they are both ready.  The kids really enjoyed seeing all the lights of town and all the Christmas lights that are up.  Thankfully I could isolate myself so I could hear and talk on the radio.  The kids were very excited which came out in their volume which I could still hear over the noise of the airplane and with my headset on!!!  They had a great time.  Maybe next time we look at taking the 206 and then Julie can come too.

This coming week we are also preparing for our road trip to AB.  We are looking forward to time spent with family and friends over the Holidays.  We plan to depart Thursday morning and if the trip goes smoothly and tiredness stays away long enough we hope to make the trip in one day.  However we have given ourselves and extra day encase.  Again please feel free to contact us if you would work out to get together this Holiday Season.

A quick update on Julie's head thing.  After She dealt with her headache for a week her ears and sinus began to hurt which lead the doctor during her follow up visit to check for sinus/ear infection and low and behold that's what it was.  So praise the Lord, Julie after getting on some meds for that is back to her old self which the kids and I are very thankful for.  Thank you for all your prayers for Julie's health.

Merry Christmas
the Dole clan

Quizzing, Headache & Thanksgiving

This past week or so we have experienced a couple firsts in our family.  First off lets start with the fun part.  Franklin participated in his first Bible quiz meet.  He did quite well for a beginner, we are real proud of him.  Scored a 90% out of 40 questions based on the book of ACTS.  Which got him a gold metal, and to top it off his team placed 3rd overall out of the 40 teams.  It was exciting to see him excel and watch his hard work of studying pay off.  And even more so it brings great joy to see him excited to study the Bible.

Franklin's Gold Medal

Franklin's 3rd Place Team.

 The Headache.  Well for those that have not heard Julie experienced her first migraine.  And even now a week later is still under the weather because of it.  We spent Monday evening in the local emerg.  For a trip to emerg it went so well.  The kids were angles for the 3+ hours we were there.  Sitting quietly visiting and watching the TV together.  It made the visit for me at least so much more pleasant.   During the visit they determined that it was only a migraine and as unpleasant as migraines are we are very thankful that it wasn't any of the other things they test Julie for.  This Tuesday Julie will be going in for a followup visit which hopefully will help sort out what might have caused it and some tools and tricks to help control it a bit if Julie has the pleasure so to speak getting more migraines in the future.

Thanksgiving also came and went this week and despite Julies' head she was able to put a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner on the table.  Things we are thankful for this past year:
- Good overall health of our family
- God's provision in housing & furnishings these past two moves.
- Safe move from MI to ID
- Support network of dear friends and family spanning BC, AB, SK, MB, QC, MI, IN, GA, ID, MN, MT, and I sure there are other places that I can't think of right now.
- Numerous little special blessings that we received over the year.
- For the opportunity to serve with MAF.
- And many other things but for sake of time and space I end with being most Thankful for the gift of Salvation freely givin through Christ work on the cross.

Thanksgiving Feast

Who needs a fork?  I have an extra one.

Post Tech Eval

   Where do I start and how should I express this past weeks experience?  With that in mind I'm sure there are a 101 different and possibly better ways to share the events of the week.

    So let's start with Monday.  Monday morning the evaluation started in our home with Steve coming to meet with Julie and I.  The discussion was for Steve to introduce himself better to Julie and I as well for him to get to know us better.  The other purpose was to give Julie and I an overview of the week to come which included a warning to Julie of possible behavioral change that may happen in me as a result of the evaluation.

   The evaluation consisted of written, oral and practical exercises.  As I navigated the different questions and assignments I experienced a wide range of emotions and thoughts.  Mostly thinking that I am failing miserably as I felt that I was giving out the hungry bird look way too often through out the questions and processes.  Also making several simple mistakes didn't boost the confidence much either.  At the low point this week "Wednesday evening", a good friend of mine here in Nampa observed and asked me how things were doing.  I shared with him how I thought things were going and he encouraged me which I appreciated.  Things however were different somehow Thursday.  I enjoyed the day and was able to be at peace and have fun doing the project that day.  I was even at peace that if I was not the at the skill level that MAF needed I was okay with a "no" if that was what was awaiting me that afternoon during the debrief.

   During the debrief I was pleasantly surprised with affirmation and a very positive report.  This was at times a difficult week and I'm very thankful for mostly the peace and joy I experienced Thursday before the debrief that either way our God is still Good regardless of the outcome.  Visiting this morning (Saturday) with my friend that I mentioned from Wednesday I was further encouraged as he had prayed for and had confidence that Thursday was going to be a special day.  When he shared that with me this morning it was cool to be able to share with him that yes God did grant a special peace to me that day.

   Not only was this particular friend praying for me but many others as well so let me say thank you from the bottom of my heart Thank You!!  Our family deeply cherishes our brothers and sisters that stand with us in their prayers for our family.

  After the completion of the eval.  Julie and I met with the candidate committee.  This meeting was a chance for the committee to get know us a bit and for us to get to know MAF better.  Placement was discussed and as they get to know us better and like wise for us the final decisions for our placement will be made with better accuracy as to where we (family, skill sets, personalities, etc) would best fit into MAF's ministry.

   So what is next?  Well I will continue to work in the hanger as a mechanic until December.  We will be making a 3 week trip to AB over Christmas.  We hope to visit and share with as many of our friends and family as we can during this time.  So please feel free to contact us as we would love to hear from you and see about setting up a time we could fellowship in person while in the area.  gregjuliefij@gmail.com  In January we will be returning here to Nampa for non-tech orientations aka "candidacy", as we have been officially been invited now.  After which there will be some further MAF specific training that will take place until early May.  We will give more detail on that as the time draws near.  We are still looking at heading to language training or directly to the field depending on the field requirements, this coming spring/early summer.  There will be more detail to come on that as well, after we have received our assignment more firmly in January.

  Here is our speaking schedule again for our time in AB and please do contact us if you are able.

Innisfail Baptist Church ---------- December 16th @ 10:30am

Bergen Missionary Church ----- December 23rd @ 10:45am

Cremona Country Fellowship -- December 30th @ 10:45am

Blessings from the Dole clan.

Tech Evaluation

Monday the October 29th - November 2nd, I have the privilege of navigating MAF's Maintenance Technical Evaluation or TE for short.  This TE will be used to evaluate my mechanical skills and knowledge which will help with the final decisions for our placement.  At the end of the week we will also be meeting with the candidate committee. Meeting with the candidate committee will allow them to start to formulate where we as a family would best fit as far as placement goes.  These past couple months of working here as an intern has been very helpful as I have gained experience and a familiarity which I think will help with the nerves if nothing else. 

Speaking of which these past couple weeks I have also had the privilege of moving over to the training hanger where the 3 training C206's are kept.  I've been involved in a couple routine inspections which has been a welcomed change of pace.  The first inspection went well, and the aircraft has flown a couple times and returned safely. Which brings a sigh of relief to this new mechanic.  The second inspection should be wrapped up tomorrow and it's return to service flight should be soon to follow.

Taken after surviving my first inspection of a live airplane

After the TE is complete I will return to working in the hanger most likely I will rejoin the crew that is working on the C172 restorations.  We will be remaining here in Nampa until December 14th ish.  We will be back in AB from December 15th through first week of Jan.  We will be sharing an update at the following Churches:

Innisfail Baptist Church ---------- December 16th @ 10:30am
Bergen Missionary Church ------ December 23rd @ 10:45am
Cremona Country Fellowship --- December 30th @ 10:45am

Please contact us if you are interested in a visit for we would like to see as many of our friends and family as possible during our time in AB.  This could possibly by the last time that we are in Alberta with time to visit with you our dear friends and family before we head oversea's!

Hanger Update

Horizontal stabilizer all cleaned and ready for fairing fitting.

Drilling out damaged rivets.

Here are a couple photos from the hanger today.  I continue for the most part detailing (clean) parts for the paint booth.  Inner mixed with the detailing I've done some rivet replacement, etching and alodining which is a process that helps prevent corrosion from forming in the future.  It's extra protection for the parts that get painted and the main protection for the areas which don't get painted.  Last week I fitted the fairings on the left side of the elevator and horizontal stabilizer as well the rudder.  Both of which were an enjoyable change of tasks   Tomorrow I will start on the right side of the elevator/horizontal.  

The projects in the hanger; C182 in the front of the hanger which is heading for Mexico once the annual is complete and the MAF modifications are complete.  C208B farthest away in the picture is nearing completion of it's MAF modifications and inspections and will soon be departing for Kenya.  The C172 in the middle is getting close to paint.  Some control surfaces and one wing are painted or in the process.  Hopefully in a couple weeks we will be able to start reassembly.  The C206 at the bottom of the picture is being used as a template for a stacking system that is in production in the welding shop.  They are hoping to stack 3 C206's over in our storage hanger as it is currently over crowed.  This would free up a lot of floor space as these aircraft wait their fate.  They most likely will be refurbished at some point but they are low priority as we are hoping that a diesel engine is soon available for them in which case they would be retro fitted with the new engine and the airframe would be reconditioned as they have been well used on the field and could use a little tlc before reentering into service.  After the Caravan rolls out I'm not sure which will take it's place as there are several aircraft waiting their turn across the tarmac.  So I don't think I or any of the other mechanics will be running short of work anytime soon.  

 

Overview of the hanger and the projects that are in progress.

That's life in the hanger for the time being.  I've been enjoying working along side a good group of guys here.

Blessings
Greg

Special Visitors

Indeed we had some very special visitors this past week.  My (Greg) parents were able to drive down from Alberta and spend a week with us.  We had some good times of visiting and seeing the sights.  

Gave them a tour of the MAF's hanger and office buildings when they arrived then that evening they helped us celebrate Julie's birthday, 33 years young now, she is looking prettier everyday.

Day two we tried our hands at mini golf. Grandpa coming out on top with the best score, he's still got it. The kids also got a hand at go-cart racing, which they had a blast doing, however their faces didn't show it until after and were begging to go again.

Trying to give Isaac a few pointers.  Which I think paid off. Our second round which was the last day my parents were with us, Isaac improve having the best score among the kids.

Round one, Franklin took best score for the kids on our first round and I think he even beat me.

 Grandpa showing us how it's done!

The Race is on!!! 

Franklin takes the lead and wins with almost a full lap lead.

Day 3 we spend a good portion of it at theWarhawk museum at Franklin's request.  We got a good history lesson from the different displays and articles around the museum.

Sunday after taking in a refreshing worship service we hit a local beach which was almost empty.  That way we didn't have to share :).  Then for supper dad and I prepared a meal of BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, bake potatoes, fried asparagus and mushrooms and some salad to make it look a little healthier.  It was quite the feast.

Monday mom and dad came to the airport and helped with counting inventory while I continued on my project for the morning.  In the afternoon we attempted to make a trek out to a historical almost ghost town town.  However 10 miles short of the town the road got pretty ruff dropping us down to 10-15mph and being late in the afternoon we turned back not knowing if the hotel would be open for supper. And good thing when we check after getting back home that night we would have been pretty hungry as they would have been closed by the time we arrived at our back breaking speed.  So we will have to make a visit to Silver City another time when we have more time to spare.

Tuesday our last day with mom and dad before they headed back to Alberta.  We spend again at the mini golf and this time we golfed our second round which was mentioned earlier.  The rest of the time was spent between the laser tag room and the arcade games.  It was an amazing week visiting with family and finding new things to do that are around here.

Front Yard

PS: Here are a couple of pictures of our new house that we are living in while in Nampa.  This was truly a blessing from God as it came fully furnished and in a great neighborhood. Isn't our God wonderful!!

Back Yard

Ride2Fly and Family Biking

Here are a couple pictures from the Ride2Fly fundraiser that MAF put on this past Saturday.  We joined in the doughnut eating and fellowship at the hanger before the bikes and the planes left for Garden Valley where lunch was served, and a flying demonstration.  

These next two pics are from our family bike trip we made Saturday afternoon in Boise.  We rode about 4ish miles before the kids had enough and we turned back for the truck.  It was a good time and hopefully we can do it again soon.

Unrelated to the pictures we think we have found a Church here that will fit our family pretty good for our time here in Idaho.

Work Pics

 This is a grand caravan that is heading for Africa once it is made bush ready.

C172 that will be heading to Asia for flight training.  

Another C172 that is being prepared for Asia as well.

Day three at the hanger it's been good.

I've done a few different things since starting work in the hanger.  The main project however that I have been involved with is the C172 that doesn't look like much of a plane yet.  It will be a matching pair once we get this one all back together with a new paint job and a few other items.  I've been enjoying working with the crew here.  There are a lot of projects waiting in the T hanger across the apron once these projects finish up and move out.  There is no shortage of work here that's for sure.

Tears, Stress and Blessings

Over the past four weeks my days have been filled with many different emotions all wrapped up inside of me.  I have expericed that wonderful emotion of stress as we packed up our house hoping that it would all fit back into the trailer again.  Which I am happy to report that it did all fit and every thing arrived safe and sound without breaking anything.  I will admit that for some reason this step was very stressful and I found myself torn between packing and wanting to sit down and play with the children. My Isaac shares the same view with me as I sat down to tuck him in last night and he shared with me that life would sure be a whole lot easier if we could just skip the packing and unpacking stage.  A huge thank you goes out to my parents as they took the children for those last few days so I could focus on packing without having to be a parent at the same time. And to our church in Michigan as they came and helped us load the trailer in the rain.  Along with the stress came many tears as we said good-bye to my family and our all wonderful new friends that we made in Michigan.  Even know as I sit and write this blog the tears have started to flow again when I think about our past year and how God just blessed us not only with physical things but with many spiritual blessings for both Greg and I.  As a wife I had the most amazing year of witnessing my husband open his heart and allow God to work in his life and lead him through a year of growth that has completely changed how he shares his faith, his passion for serving with MAF, and how he leads his family.  Man can our God work when we are willing to let Him move within us!! For myself God blessed me with really teaching me that this is truly His work we are doing and that I am just His hands and feet.  This is another part where I shed many tears over as I would become so overwhelmed with this whole process (especially during VBS) as I had to just come to the point that I would tell God that I could not possible do this and then watch as He would step in and truly begin His work and I was only a bystander.  Now we have arrived here in Nampa and of course more stress with unpacking but first came the tears as God provided a place for our family to live in.  Just picture me walking through a house that was completely furnished (remember we came with no furniture) with everything that we could have asked for.  Like desk for all the children as we are home schooling the children, to a kitchen completely setup already, and all the beds were made ready for a family to use them.  Now to a woman who has just packed up, said goodbye to friends and family, traveled to Canada for a week of intense visiting, and had be trying to entertain the children through many hours in a truck I was just unprepared for how God provided within two days!!  Then to top it all off I started Franklin's first day of school (we are waiting for Isaac's and Jaclynn's books to arrive) today as we are having him repeat grade four because of how far behind he still is with his reading and writing.  This year we want Franklin to be able to do most of the reading by himself as I did most of the reading for him last year.  Today I sat down with him and he was able to do most of the reading by himself with me as we took turns reading paragraphs!! Yes, I am still crying but they are still tears of joy as most parents will agree it is very hard watch one of your children struggle with something for so long and to finally see answers to prayers begin to happen before you is amazing.  Thank you for all of your prayers for Franklin concerning this and please keep praying that he will not become overwhelmed with how hard he has to work at his schooling.  And thank you for all your prayers throughout out this very busy month.

Julie

Nampa Idaho

We arrived safely this past Wednesday after a 2600 miles road trip which included a short stop in Steinbach MB. Our family will now be residing in Nampa for the next 8 months or so.  The trip as a hole went well with only one minor mechanical problem as the alternator went belly up 40 miles out of Idaho Falls. We are very grateful that this happen during this part of our journey as there were many miles of remote travel which would have made this repair much harder and cause a lot more logistic problems. It was with much relief that  we made it to Idaho Falls and found an alternator! I fixed it in the parking lot of the parts store and we were back on the road in short order.  The kids traveled pretty good considering the length of time I would go between stops.  Nobody had to get out and walk although we did get close a couple times (You would think that Julie would be better behaved at her age).  The children are very happy to have come to the end of this long road of travel and are starting to settle in well.  We are going tomorrow to look at what might become our home over the course of our time here in Nampa.  I will be starting in the MAF hanger possibly as early as Monday working as an intern mechanic.  This will be to help out MAF as well help me dry the ink on my newly signed A&P certificate.  Julie's main focus this coming year will be home schooling all three children which will likely be a pretty full load for her. Thank you for all your prayers as we have been travelling these last few weeks and God bless.

We also apologize as did not do a very good job taking pictures during our trip.  We have taken a few thou since we have arrived in Nampa.

Jaclynn's arts and crafts while visiting Steinbach.

MAF here we are.

Kid's making themselves at home in the sandbox.

Let's go Herbert!

Our new front door for the time being.

Not sure what he's up to? preparing for a crash or lining up his cross-hairs on something.

View Larger Map


Here is the map of our trip with our stop overs along the way.

July/August Michigan

Sorry for the delay of getting a blog post up.  We've had some eventful and busy last couple weeks here in Michigan. Julie's parents hosted a family/Constantine area farewell for us, as well our Church sent us off in style with cake, prayer and fellowship Sunday evening (August 5).  A group from our Church (Bowne Mennonite Church) here helped load the trailer Thursday night which was a wonderful blessings.  And among the packing and sorting, many goodbyes were said.  Then came the final day of packing and grad which we celebrated with my fellow classmates this past Friday in mechanic style.  Yesterday we fellowshipped with a our favorite midpoint Michigan stop over in Iron Mountain. This week we will be spending time with friends in Stienbach MB before we move on to our next stage which takes us to Nampa Idaho.  Once in Idaho I will be putting my newly learned skills to work as I will be serving as an intern mechanic until December.  The following pictures are for a few of the different fair well parties and activities we were involved with these past few weeks.  We've had to say a lot of goodbyes many tears as well.  I'm very thankful for the friends we have made this year in Michigan and look forward to seeing them again sometime in the future.

Family photo with Julie's Grandma from TX.

The boys at the horse races on last time for a while.

Franklin & Julie spent a day at Word Missionary Press helping out.

Church farewell party.

Church farewell party.

Tuesday morning Bible study group.

One of our final assignments at school.

Grad pictures, it was a great celebration to commemorate what was a great year.

So serious.

I did smile, Julie and I need to work on camera/smile coordination however!

SMAT Grad Class of 2012

Closing Another Chapter

The time is drawing near again for us to close our chapter here in Michigan.  These chapter endings in our journey come with mixed emotion.  They bring great excitement as we look forward to the next chapter, but along with the excitement also comes the always difficult good-byes.  One thing that I have noticed with myself now that I have completed most of the testing for my course, the motivation to stay engaged at school has become increasingly difficult.  Lord help me remain disciplined these last couple weeks.  The kids are starting to sense the on coming change which has brought with it some unwanted behavior.  Mom and dad need to be vigilant that we don't ignore the kids during this time and they seem to weather the change better.  As we pack we are also winding down the ministries that we've had the privilege of sharing in this past year.  The year has gone by very quickly as I look back at a few highlights.


Family highlights:  
- Found a good Church to fellowship with early after moving here.
- Moved close to Julie's family
- Isaac & Jaclynn had the privilege of attending a nice small community school which was a great experience for both.
- Spent Christmas & New Years with Julie's family.
- We are able to take in a few museums as a family this year.
- Wonderful mini get away with the family in Detroit over the Memorial Day weekend.
- Countless other memories and blessings


Ministry highlights:
- We've had a few opportunities to speak at a couple different Churches, (Which I'm starting to enjoy when I get the opportunity).
- Julie enjoyed getting to know the ladies in the ladies Bible study.
- I was stretched in leading adult Sunday school through a study on the book of Esther.
- I also had the honor of being apart of a small discipleship group Thursday mornings and a Bible study Tuesday morning.
- Julie did an excellent job co-leading the VBS that our Church here put on a couple weeks ago.  We saw some new decisions for the Lord and some re-commitments.


Learning highlights:
- I've learned a lot about aircraft maintenance which was one of the main goals this year.
- However I think more importantly I've been learning a lot about being a sheep and having Jesus Christ as my Sheppard and what that looks like.  I pray that this will continue to be my main focus of learning as we continue to move forward as Christ leads us.


Blessings


Dole Clan

Sharing God's Promise's

VBS is a time of laughter, fun, food, and a time of sharing God's word with the children.  During the last week of June I had the privilege of leading/directing VBS with another lady from our Church. We had a great time on  Promise Island teaching the children five promises from God. Through out the week we challenged the children (average was around 52 children) to raise money through a penny war between the girls and boys.  The money raised was going to be used to fill shoes boxes for Samaritan's Purse at Christmas time. At the end of the week between the boys, girls, and some parents we raised a little over $1,000 to help fill our shoe boxes. On Wednesday evening we held a invitation for the children and ten children come forward and ask Jesus into their hearts. I felt God stretching me and asking me to really let Him do the leading as the teacher and I was just presenting His words to the children. It is truly an amazing thing to watch children when their eyes light up as truly realize God's love for them.