A lot can happen in year

As a new candidacy class starts at Mission Aviation Fellowship I can't help but feel excitement for the new candidates, especially for a certain couple there that are our good friends. I remember how we felt last year, a mixture of nerves and excitement as we left our daughter with a sitter and sat in class for the first time. It was the start of a new journey, only at that time we didn't have a clue of what God was going to do in our lives the year to follow. We think back on our time at Candidacy with fondness about all the people at headquarters we got to know and the fellow students who at first were strangers, but now are lifelong friends. Right now we can relive that excitement as we wait to hear where God is sending our friends and as we focus on completing the tasks ahead of us to prepare us for the task of serving overseas. I'll give you an update on a few of them:


The Oregon House
We've been working hard on our home in Oregon on the weekends, but as you can imagine with a 4 hour drive each way and an adventurous toddler, it gets hard to complete everything. We have some painting left, some yard beautification work and a little more to clear out of the house until it's completely ready to list by August. We'd appreciate your prayers during this process because it's been hard to have quality family time when we're so busy. I might go down during the week to work on the house, but we'll see. Driving alone on the road with a toddler for that amount of time makes the trip feel much longer.

Jenna flying Daddy's plane

The Hiperbipe
As a plus, Eric moved up his plane this weekend to his new hangar location in Snohomish, WA. It's very different from the hangar in Oregon, but it's 10 minutes away from home and that is a vast improvement from close to 4 1/2 hours away. We cleaned up the hangar after we moved the plane out and it was kinda sad to leave it for the last time. But goodbyes are part of the transition process of moving. As a wife of a pilot and mother to an always on the move toddler, I like the Snohomish airport better because it's smaller, there's a great restaurant there, it's a short walk to the hangar, there are actual bathrooms nearby and a play structure for Jenna to play on while we wait for Daddy! Sounds funny, but from my perspective that's airport perfection right there. :) Sometime we'll get  the plane in an enclosed hangar again, but for now the price is right and the location is right.

Jenna at the Imagine Children's Museum

Church
As you can imagine, with us going back and forth nearly every weekend for the past few months we haven't had a great opportunity to find a church up in Washington yet. We've checked out a couple that look promising and hope to start to attend one of them more regularly once we list our home.

Eric reading a book to Jenna

Life in Washington overall is good. In August we'll have insurance from Eric's work so we can finally figure out doctors and set that up. In the mean time Jenna and I are still figuring out where the best and cheapest places are in town to get things. We're enjoying meeting new people in the mom groups up here and building lasting friendships. It's a transition, but we're excited about it. Eric likes his job too so that's a definite bonus. Right now we are just trying to follow God's lead in our lives, we still hope that He'll lead us overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship, but in the mean time we are working on listening to His lead where we're at. There's peace in waiting.