Newsletter Part One

Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry for the delay in the newsletter, we were waiting for a few things to happen before we wrote you again. We are still waiting on a couple of details, but figured sending out an edited newsletter is better than waiting another month or so for details to sort out. There are many new things to mention, so this letter/post will be a bit longer than our normal letters. We've separated sections with titles to help you be able to scan the letter. The next newsletter will be much shorter. If this is your first time receiving a newsletter or viewing our website welcome! We invite you to read and enjoy what has been going on in our lives.



MAF

Right now we are prayerfully moving forward with our preparation to join MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship); an organization that utilizes aviation, technology, learning technology, communications and other related services to help individuals, communities and nations be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can learn more about MAF by going to their website at: http://maf.org/about .

Servant Wings

In July we took a major step towards this goal by being involved in an organization called Servant Wings. (http://www.servantwings.org) Servant Wings helps missionary pilot candidates get the training they need to join mission aviation organizations. They are a stepping stone on our path to joining MAF. Eric is working with them to finish his flight ratings and earn flight hours using the Servant Wings planes. It's been a major blessing for us!

Because Servant Wings is a charitable non-profit organization, we raise full support to be a part of it. Our monthly support helps them to pay for the maintenance of airplanes, student training costs, purchasing aviation fuel, scholarship funds to help eliminate debt and other general costs. If you are interested in supporting us financially, information is located at the end of this newsletter. But first, we'd love to update you on our progress these past few months.



Eric

Huge news for Eric! He earned his commercial pilot rating! Praise God! He's also finished both his Moody Bible School correspondence classes (Elements of Bible Study and Old Testament Survey). He is now working with Servant Wings to complete his instrument rating and after that he'll begin working on his certified flight instructor rating.

Kristine

Big update! Kristine finished her Old Testament Survey class and got a job! It's not as a full-time elementary teacher but as a full-time teacher's assistant in an early intervention program for 3-5 year old autistic children. This program is year round, has a great schedule and more important full health care benefits. She really enjoys working with her co-workers and the students. She's learned a lot about autism and has had great opportunities to be trained in different methods of working with children. Most recently she had the opportunity to attend a Handwriting Without Tears conference in Seattle. She really enjoyed it!

Both of Us

We are now working hard to get our house ready to sell. This includes: painting and installing new molding throughout the house, to finish painting the outside of the house, finishing the main bathroom flooring and some light landscape work. With the help of family and friends we are getting these tasks accomplished in a timely manner. We are also looking to give away our cat Gibson. We would love for you to join with us in prayer for us to be able to finish these tasks and sell our house as soon as possible.

Soon we are starting a new bible correspondence course through Moody Bible Institute called New Testament survey. We are excited about this course because it will allow us to go more in-depth into the bible and to move closer to our goal of 12 college bible credits each, a requirement of MAF.

We also have had a setback financially that is causing us to re-evaluate our path to missions. After looking at options we feel the best school for Eric to attend is SMAT (School of Missionary Aviation Technology) in Ionia, Michigan. He has applied to the program and is accepted. He will start there in August 2009 (This year!). We are excited about this school because it has lower class sizes and is a one year course versus a two year course. It will be intense, but we feel having it be so intense will help Eric to learn it more effectively. It does mean that this summer we are also moving to Michigan! More on this to follow in other blogs and newsletters.

Website

Congrats! If you are reading this you are on our website/blog. We hope to have more frequent updates on here in-between our newsletter updates. This site will also have prayer and praise updates too. Please continue to visit this site to learn more about our journey towards missions.