We passed our MAF technical evaluation!

Huge news! The past couple of weeks we've been at MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho doing our technical evaluation. We are pleased to report that we've passed! Praise God! We've been invited to come to the Candidacy for two weeks in July. During that time we'll find out which country we've been assigned to. Then for three weeks or so after that we'll be doing some different trainings. It's a very exciting time for us! It's totally a God thing and He opened lots of doors for us on this trip. I don't have much time to write and will write more later, but we passed!!

Blessings,

The Reeds

It's Tech Eval time!

Yes indeed, we are in Nampa, Idaho for our Mission Aviation Technical Evaluation. We'll be here approximately a week and a half. During this time Eric will be evaluated on his flight knowledge and skills (written and practical), we'll be evaluated by a psychologist, meet with the board, get to know several MAF staff and talk about our IT (Informational Technology) and Teaching skills. At this end of this evaluation we'll know if we have passed this step in the process and can proceed further. It's a huge deal!

We are praying for God's will in this. As many of you know this has been on our hearts for a long time. With Kristine she's felt called to be a missionary for years. Eric's also wanted to use the skills God gave him in flying, programming and technology to serve for years as well. We're going to work hard and try our best to pass. If we don't pass, then God has other plans. It could mean we should try again or it could mean that we need to look into a different organization to serve with. God is the only one who knows. And we are actually content with that. If we do pass we'll be invited back to Nampa, Idaho to do a longer training.

So that's the basic information. Here's where our story begins... several hours ago in Salem, Oregon.

We both stayed up super late the night before packing and making sure that we had everything we needed. Kristine worked on a few last minute sewing projects and Eric worked on compiling all his required flight materials for the evaluation. We got to bed really late that night and woke up a few hours later to leave for Nampa, Idaho where MAF headquarters is located.

Taking the I-84 route seemed the fastest and easiest. Plus Kristine had already figured out places to stop for food along the way that seemed safe. It was a long trip but Jenna did pretty well. We stopped in Hood River to eat at Bette's Place. The food was good, reasonably priced and Jenna did great there. We put her in a high chair for the first time at a restaurant and she decided to make it her own and lounge in it. (Pictures will come later) It was pretty funny. She dumped a glass of ice water all over the table. That was not so funny. After we ate and had a good break we were on our way.

We stopped at a rest stop after a few hours and had some fun. We can't remember which one it was but Jenna got a good break. (Photos to come later) Also we swear she has red hair.... sometimes it's hard to see but I got it perfectly in the sunlight during this rest stop.

After this rest stop it was time for me (Kristine) to drive. I think we were getting near Pendleton at this point. The Sun was shining and we were doing great. Then...out of no where it seems...the rain started. It poured and poured on the road. Which is not quite nice when you have semi-trucks all around you! A few times I couldn't see the road! To make matters worse, since we are getting close to having to replace the tires, the car was hydroplaning on the road! I was feeling tired before, but not anymore! The fact that I REALLY had to pay attention to what I was doing or else we'd go off a cliff or crash with another car or just get into an accident myself woke me up. I was so afraid! Going around curves and not knowing if the car was going to hold it or not. Believe me a lot of prayers were said. It was by the grace of God that we're here. :)

After a while Jenna woke up again and we decided to stop in Baker's City. We stopped at Sumpter Junction restaurant. I really don't think we would have stopped here had I not researched it. It sounded like a fun place. They have a little model train running on a track around the restaurant. It was fun. Jenna liked it there and liked watching the train. The waitress wanted to hold Jenna and she didn't look scary, so I said okay. :) (Pictures of this part of the trip to come later)

We got back in the car and made it to Nampa! We got into our MAF apartment and it's really nice. They have apartments at their headquarters for missionary families who have to do training or are back home on furlough. They let us use one apartment during our technical evaluation time. We are very thankful they let us because it makes the costs a lot less than what they would have been had we stayed in a hotel. Plus living here for a week or so lets us meet other people who are here during our stay too. We've met a few other couples, one who's due with a little one any day now! It's been fun.

Tomorrow we have an introductory meeting with the committee and Eric starts his flight eval process. Please join with us in praying for 1. Sleep (Jenna has to adjust to being in a new place and we have to adjust to her adjustments!) 2. Clarity of Speech and the most important 3. God's will.

Blessings,

The Reed's

Being Crafty

In an effort to help bring the every day life into this blog, I (Kristine) wanted to show you what I've been working on the past few months. It's definitely been a learning curve, but fun. I wanted to make Jenna some dresses, but couldn't figure out how to read the pattern, so I made my own pattern. :)

I took some women's dress socks and made some cute tights for Jenna to wear. It's super easy to do.

I took some old headbands and cut them in half, then sewed flowers on them. Jenna seems to like the headbands...until she pulls them in front of her eyes!

My parents bought me a food dehydrator for Christmas; so I decided to try it out!

This is just a sample of what I've been up to in my "free" time the past few months. I like it because I am learning new practical skills that I can use forever. I hope to make myself a dress if I get good enough. Luckily, I have Jenna to practice on! :)

-Kristine

Educator.com

As a teacher, I am always looking for new ways to help people learn. I got the opportunity to try Educator.com for free for a month and thought I'd share that with you. All you have to do is sign up for an account, click on the Basic one month plan and below under special payment put in this code: BUZZFA626 and you'll be set!

I've checked it out a little so far and it seems to have a lot of math and science stuff on there. It seems maybe geared towards adults or high school students but perhaps upper elementary would help too. I could see parents looking at this to be able to help their students with math and science. So far it seems pretty good with a video lecture and it give you time to practice what you've learned. :)

So I invite you to check it out, afterall.... it's completely free for a month and the sign up is only for a month so it would seem you don't have to cancel anything. :)

The Ultimate Blog Party 2011!

Welcome those of you who are joining us from the Ultimate Blog Party 2011! For those of you who don't know what this is, click on the button above to check it out. It's a great way to get to know other people in the blog realm and get exposure for your blog! Now for those who are new to this blog, let us introduce ourselves.....

We are the Reeds (Eric, Kristine and Baby Jennavieve) and we feel called to become foreign missionaries for Christ. Specifically we'd love to use our skills as a pilot (Eric) and a teacher (Kristine) to serve others for Christ. Right now we are prepping for a technical evaluation with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) April 18-29th. That's right...in two weeks! Through this evaluation we'll find out whether they'd like us to serve with their mission agency. We've been working specifically towards this goal for the past five years so it's a huge time in our lives. :) We'd love it if you'd pray for God's will regarding this. We place it entirely in HIS hands.

I'm sure you'd love to know more about us! Well you now know that Kristine has a teaching degree and Eric has his pilot's license. (Above photo was taken while Kristine was pregnant.) On September 12, 2010 we had a baby girl named Jennavieve Elizabeth. You can read about it on our family blog This Little Life in Mine! She's got a great personality and is quite adventurous. Which should serve her well if God wills for us to serve overseas! Right now Kristine is a stay-at-home momma and Eric works full time as a software engineer for an aviation gps company. :) Here are some pictures of our little love:

Over the years God's allowed Kristine to take a few mission trips. She's been to Esperanza, BC, San Francisco's tenderloin district and Nicaragua to name a few. Eric was able to go to Mexico with a church youth group and serve there. We both had the opportunity to go to check out what Mission Aviation Fellowship does in Quito and Shell Ecuador. It was a great trip and helped solidify our desire to serve with them. Here are some pictures of our trips:

In case some of you are unfamiliar with MAF, they use aviation and technology to reach people for Christ. For example, when the disaster struck in Haiti, they were already there in the country. They were able to set up satellite communications, evacuate people in remote areas, do air ambulance work, fly supplies into remote areas and also fly humanitarian crews in to help some of the worst struck areas. You can read more about MAF's vital role serving Christ in Haiti on their website here. They provide a vital service in many countries this way.

Imagine you were injured in the middle of the jungle. Your choices are riding in a canoe up a river for several days, trekking through a dangerous jungle for multiple days or you could take a short flight to a hospital. Which would you choose? Right...unless you were delirious... the airplane choice sounds the best! :) But...how would you let the airplane know you wanted them to come? Well MAF solves this too by helped to establish satellite communications in remote areas so missionaries and aid workers can communicate with the outside world. Amazing eh? You can probably see why we want to join this agency to continue this important work. MAF does this and much much more. Please check them out at their website at http://www.maf.org/home .

Hmmm....what else can we add here for fun? Kristine LOVES to cook so maybe a recipe? Here's one of her go-to recipes found on Allrecipes.com. Photo by Manda taken off the Allrecipes.com site.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 (10 ounce) can chunk chicken
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, drained

Directions

1. Open the cans of corn, chicken broth, chunk chicken, black beans, and diced tomatoes with green chilies. Pour everything into a large saucepan or stock pot. Simmer over medium heat until chicken is heated through.

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See it's super easy! She loves making lots of recipes but these days because of the little one it's hard to find time to make the detailed ones. We invite you to check out the recipe above. Kristine didn't create the recipe, but she uses it a lot.

Finally, what would our blog be without a bible verse to send you on your way! Here's a little encouragement: Philippians 4:19 "..and my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. "

How wonderful it is to have a God that knows what we are going through and will help us out in His own way and in His own timing? It's fabulous! No matter how tough it gets, God is there for us. Praise God for that! If you are interested, we'd love for you to follow our journey! On the left you can click to follow via Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs or Subscribe via blogger. Also you can add our button to your blog too if you like us a lot! :)

Blessings to you and yours,

Eric, Kristine and Jennavieve Reed