An Interview With Franklin

This morning as I was thinking about writing a new blog my mind went to my son Franklin.  As he is planing on turning nine years old in a couple of weeks I thought that it would be fun to ask him some questions about life as a pre-field missionary kid.  God has blessed him with such a tender heart and one amazing active imagination that as a mother I can't wait to see how God will use him on the mission field. So here are a few questions that I sat down with my son and asked him this morning.

What was your first thought when you saw your first MAF video and what did you want to do?

- I thought that it looked pretty cool to be a missionary!  And I wanted to pack my backpack and go and help those people that day. I was pretty sad when my parents told me that it would take awhile before we could help those people.

Do you enjoy traveling all over the place and staying with different people?

- I enjoy it most of the time except when I get a head cold like right now. It is fun to play with other peoples toys but I miss having my own space.

How did you enjoy your first year of home schooling compared to public school?

- It wasn't that bad! I enjoyed the reading and history that we did however I could live without math!
However, I miss seeing all my friends everyday and having three recess daily.

Was it hard to pack up all your belonging and sell your house?

- Yes, because we had to get rid of so much stuff and then most of the things that we did get to keep are in the trailer until the middle of August. I am missing my stuff animals and my own bed!

What has been the hardest part of your mom and dad's new calling?

- We don't really stay at home that much. But I think that I like have missionaries for parents.

What have been some of your favorite memories since your family joined MAF?

- Learning about the country that we are going to live in and meeting new people!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing from Franklin and that you will continue to lift him up in your prayers.  As a parent it has been interesting watching God change and stretch Franklin through this past year. He is looking forward to home schooling again next year and to moving to the States!  However, changes are never easy and do take a toll especially on children. Thank you for all your prayers for our family and your continued support.  We arrived safely in Waldheim, SK last night and are greatly looking forward to attend the mission conference here.

The Most Asked Question

One of the most asked questions that people love to ask me is, "how our you really copping with your busy life and how do your children handle the constant moving?" This always brings a smile to my face because if you had asked me this question one year ago I would not of had a very positive answer for you.  However, we serve a great and powerful God who always provides the strength for the task that he puts in front of us! So now I can say with a smile on my face that our crazy life seems almost normal now.  Our family has learned that it doesn't matter were we lay are heads down at night it matters that we are following God's calling. I am always amazed how God has provided strength and understanding among our children as we continue to add constant changes to their lives.  There are days that it is their energy that has kept Greg and I going forward!

Here are some updates on our family:

Last week Jaclynn experienced her first real crash with her bike on pavement.  Even though she thought that she was dying there were just lots of scraps and bruises. And we realized that we need to work more on riding down hills and the importance of using our brakes.

Safer way to crash!!!

Game time at Great Grandma's

Chillin in my favorite chair.

And their off and the blue car takes an early lead.

All three children have enjoyed their birthday presents from their grandparents which were season passes to an amusement park in Calgary.  They have gone know twice and hopefully will be able to go a few more times before we head back East.  Then last week all three children attended a VBS at Greg's Grandmothers church and enjoyed meeting new children.

Not sure who was braver; Julie for going up there or me for letting her go up there?

Job well done even with a smile!!!

Greg and I have been busy meeting with friends and family and sharing about the ministry of MAF.  Plus Greg has been able to help one of his friends wire his new house.  I was even able to go and help him a few days last week and spend some time with Greg.  He even asked and then allowed me to help him pull some wire through the garage rafters and do some hammering up there by myself (actually I think that he didn't really expect me to say yes so I really surprised him by saying yes).

Big Praise Item!!!! Last year I applied for my Canadian Citizenship and I finally heard last Friday that everything is finalized and that I past my test.  So on August 4 I will be sworn in as an Canadian Citizen!!!  This will allow us to receive visas easier when our whole family is from the same country.

Riding in Style

During one of our visits with one of our supports we were treated to a ride in a hot little sports car.

That was totally Awesome!!!

I feel a need for speed!!!

Jaclynn's warm up run.

Thumbs up I'm ready!!!

Move Pictures

Can we ride here?

Day one the important stuff; tools and workbench.

Day two next important stuff; the beds

Still day two had to rearrange to heavy in the front.

Day Three Trailer number 2 for the AB stuff.

Last day trailer one full for MI & trailer two waiting across the street for departure.

Truck full too!!

Time to roll.

On Top of the Move

Along with the move we have been busy with a few last minute visits.  On June 5th our home Church in Steinbach prayed over us as a send out and then June 10th - 12th I got to escape the chaos of our house to attend  the men's camping retreat.  That was a lot of fun getting to know some of the men from our Church better and I also can report that I caught my first pike & walleye.  I didn't keep the pike but the walleye and perch that I caught sure tasted good.

I have also got sometime in for a bit of RC flying which I'm still no good at but I having fun trying.  Practice practice makes prefect right.  I'm thinking that I should stop practicing crashing and try to practice flying.

Greg

Other then packing I have been trying to enjoy as many libraries books as possible from the library before we move.  And the kids and I have gone for a few bike rides to get a Slurpee's on some of the warm days.  One of the highlights for our family was attending our church picnic and enjoying having service outside, sharing lots of food, and playing all the silly games with our friends.  It was a great day for a picnic!

Julie

 

Piles

 It's been a while since our last post so it may take us a couple of short post over the next couple of days to catch up.  The best way to describe our house during the last few weeks other then piles of stuff  is walking through paths ways and mazes to get through one end of the house to the other.  As we started to prepare for our next step on our grand adventure in His service by packing and sorting our house. We had fun creating a few piles in our garage like a pile of stuff for the dump and one for the MCC store (second hand thrift-store in town) and then a few piles in different parts of the house for our Michigan trailer.  Then we had little piles filled with small treasures that we no longer need and that our friends thought they could use. Finally we come to the pile for the AB trailer which was mostly stuff we wanted to put into long term storage with my parents.  Our family is very grateful for the help we received from our friends and church family here in Steinbach as we wouldn't not have been able to be packed, trailer loaded, clean and out of the house with 10 minutes to spare this morning.  The house is no longer ours as of 10 am this morning and we have our Michigan trailer containing the stuff we wanted for the next year and a 1/2 parked at a friends house till we return to Stienbach in August.  All in all it has been a great couple weeks and months as we prepared for today.  In a lot of ways it still hasn't sunk in yet.  I did shed a few tears last night as I wandered around the empty basement after tucking the kids into bed.  Over the course of the past 3 years we lived in Stienbach I can say that I have left a piece on my heart behind and will miss our friends and church family very much.  And coming soon pictures from our packing.

Greg

PS I couldn't have timed our stay in the motel any better as I got to watch a whole hockey game with a picture clear enough to see the puck.  And it was a great game as well.  Sorry to those that are Vancouver fans.

Departure Time Line

Now—June 15, 2011      Build Our Ministry Partnership Team (MP) Packing Our House Up

June 15—July 22, 2011  MP Continued in Alberta.

July 22—July 28, 2011   MP and Missions Conference in Waldheim Saskatchewan

July 29—Aug 20, 2011   MP Continued in Manitoba/Multi IFR Recurrency Flight Training

August 21, 2011             Move to Ionia Michigan

August 24, 2011             Aircraft Mechanics Course Starts

August 10, 2012             Aircraft Mechanics Course Complete

Aug—Sept 2012             Move to Nampa Idaho (MAFUS Headquarters)

September 2012             Start MAF Standardization Training

December 2012              Enjoy Our Last Christmas in NA for a While

Jan—Feb 2013               Depart for Indonesia for Our First 4 Year Term