Which way is up?

As you can tell from the lack of blog posts life has been a little heck-tic to say the least.

We have started to research a bit of our up and coming home and the needed paperwork that goes along with that.  The paperwork has started out with some challenges as we struggle to get passport photo's for Isaac and Jaclynn. We have discovered that the Canadian pictures requirements are hard to acquire down here south of the 49th.  Hopefully by the end of the week we will have a couple different choices of pictures that we can send and hopefully they will pass the requirements this time.  Once their new passports arrive we can begin the visa application.  Julie has also been tracking down applications forms to apply for additional birth-certificate copies for everyone.  Along with arranging doctor visits for shoots and what knots.  Julie in her free time which isn't much these days has been enjoying reading from her fancy flat screened library of books.  Her fancy electronic library has some study aids for learning Indonesian as well.  At bed time I usually run through a couple different short language lessons.  So far, not to much head way.

The children keep trucking along with their school work.  They have been motivated to get some extra school work done these past couple weeks as they look forward to a visit from Grandpa and Grandma, and there uncle.  The boys have also been playing basket ball with a league that the church here puts on.  They have been having lots of fun with a practice and game per week.  Jaclynn the little sweet heart has been getting up early several days a week to give me a hug and kiss as I head of to the hanger for the day.  Special memories as I'm thinking that her getting up early won't last into her teenage years?  I think I might still get some hugs and kisses from her tho just not at 6:30am.


I have been working back in the hanger for the most part since candidacy ended.  I have been working with Juan Carlos on the Cessna 182 that will be heading to Mexico hopefully by the week's end.  Last weekend I had the privileged of joining the men's retreat put on by our church here in Nampa.  We stayed at Twin Pines up in Cascade ID.  Had a great time of fellowship, getting to know some of the guys better.  It was also a very challenging weekend as Pastor Jim brought 5 talks on being a man.  Which tied in great with the Wednesday night bible study that I'm also working through called the "Quest for Authentic Manhood".  Which defines a man as someone who is to; "Resist Passivity", "Accept Responsibility , "Lead Courageously , and "Expect the Greater reward, God's Reward".

What else is there to mention oh ya we haven't started yet but we have the fun challenge of planning what our family will need for the next four years.  Things like deodorant,  printer cartridges,  toothpaste, and brushes.  Just to name a few.  In the next month or so I think we get to go on a big shopping spree to purchase items that are difficult or impossible to get in Papua Indonesia.  Should be a fun day for some of our family, I won't mention any names ;-).

We haven't done much of any packing or sorting yet but I think that will start next week.  I'm planning on putting my tools down for a bit once the 182 is done and south bound.  Then Julie and I can work together gathering and sorting our stuff into our crates.  Woohoo!  That will be a lot of work but I'm looking forward to it as it marks the beginning of the next phase for our family.

This is just a quick sample of the life and times of the Dole clan.

Indonesian Program Assignment (Papua)

Friday morning I got to wake Julie up with exciting news.  The Indonesian program management have chosen our assignment for our family after we have completed language study in Indonesia.  We will have the privilege of joining the MAF team on the island of Papua. We are excited for the chance to serve in an area that has little or no infrastructure outside the cites.

Papua is the island to the far right or east side of Indonesia on the map below.  The island is shared with the country of Papua New Guinea which is the east half of the island which is not shown here on the map, just the Indonesian side of the island.

Ah the reason we are going to Indonesia, for the beautiful sunsets on the beach.  Ah, not however I'm sure we will be able to find time now and again to enjoy the beautiful of the beach as well.

This is the reason we are going to Indonesia to reach out to those that live in these jungle covered mountains with no access to the outside world.

To reach the village nestled into the mountains living in darkness and spiritual oppression, with Christ's Love.

Bringing people a second chance through medical flights.

Bringing in supplies, food ie; pigs, medical, personal belongings, building supplies, to name a few of the physical things we have the privilege of bringing to and from these isolated parts of Indonesia.

Meeting the physical and spiritual needs of many remote villages throughout the Indonesia and for us we will have the great honor of doing just that on the island of Papua.

Beautiful country in many ways.  A huge THANK YOU!!! to all of you that have partnered with us in this ministry with MAF.  We could not do it without you standing with us.

Blessings
The Dole Clan

And The Country Is???

What an exciting week and a half our family is having at candidacy!  Our first week was full of a detailed account of every possible country that we could be sent to along with talking to the directors of those regions.  Talk about information overload!  Also, during those first few days we were able to get to know the other ten families and hear about where they felt God calling them.  Our children have loved getting to know all the new children and think that it is very cool to have a babysitter everyday while mom and dad have to go to class.

All of last week lead up to the big event that happened today with all the families finally receiving their regional assignments.  So as you can imagine most of us did not get much sleep last night and then we were all up early eagerly waiting for the news of where we would be going.  

Greg and I are proud to say that our family is heading officially to the country of Indonesia where we will be starting language school hopefully sometime this summer.  Our language school is on the island of Java in the city of Salatiga.  Which is a little south of the city of Semarang in the middle of the island.  If you click on the bottom map it should zoom in to were you can read the city names.   

Indonesia in relationship to the rest of the globe.

Indonesia's main islands.

Island of Java.

Thanks for all your prayers and support as we feel very blessed to be able to serve the Lord in the country of Indonesia!

Christmas in AB

We had the wonder time celebrating Christ's birth with my family.  We discovered that it had been 5 years since the last time we where able to spend Christmas with my family, a little over due.  However something that will probably be a common thing as we look forward to moving abroad this coming summer.  As indicated in the pictures we spend a number of days (the warmer ones) on the toboggan hill.  The kids had a blast, only one injury that required a trip to emerg for some crazy glue to patch up Franklin's forehead.  During our stay we also were able to share at our supporting Churches in the area.  It was a privilege to share an update and catch up with our friends and family in the area.  When we left last Thursday the 3rd a chin-nook was blowing in and our truck said it was 40F (4C) which quickly dropped as we headed South.  Reaching Nampa we discovered that they do get snow here and it was surprisingly cold 5F (-15C).  To keep things in perspective the 40F (4C) only last a couple days at best and it was a nice -15F (-26C) when we first arrived in AB three weeks prior, Idaho is still warmer at only 5F (-15C).  And if my memory serves me correctly our former residence in MB was much colder but we have been living in the US these past couple winters making us soft :).  

Enough about the weather.  Today we started Candidacy here in the US.  So far very similar to the one we attended for Canada a couple years ago.  However the exciting part is that next Tuesday we get our assignment that we have been eagerly waiting to find out.  The current possibilities are:

Indonesia

Lesotho

Mozambique

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Haiti

2 restricted access countries

Look forward to an update from us next week regarding which of these countries we will have the privilege and honor to serve in.

Family All Together For Christmas

The Faster I Climb The Hill The More Runs I Get!!!

Nice Fresh Snow On A Big Hill

Franklin Trying Out A Snow Board

Common Crash Site At The Bottom Of The Hill

Even This Old Guy Took A Couple Runs Down The Hill

Good Thing Sleds Don't Come With Weight Restriction

Sledding Made Easy

Speedy Spider-man Isaac

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.