Workin' Away... (Kristine)

       These next few weekends are going to be super important weekends for the Reed household, but not for the reasons they typically would. Sunday is our 6th anniversary as a married couple and the Saturday after that is Kristine's 30th birthday. We'll be spending those weekends working on our Oregon house to get it finished and ready to sell. We are super super close, but still have some painting on the inside and outside, some landscape work and finishing removing our belongings from the location. It is our hope that this can be accomplished in the next few weekends so we can formally list the house with an agent. If you are in the area and would like to visit/help let us know. If you want to watch Jenna while we work, that would be an awesome way to help as well. We'll be visiting with Eric's parents some while we're down there, so we're looking for help around those times.

      Lately we've been trying to find a new normal up in Washington. It's a weird feeling to feel "at home" but also in a time of transition. We don't want to invest too much in the house we're renting up here knowing we hope to move closer to Eric's work, but at the same time we want to enjoy the time while we're here. I've been starting to invite people over for play dates for Jenna and have been starting to get involved in mom's groups in the area. The weekends we've been able to be up here, we've attended a few churches. A couple might have the potential to be a home fellowship for us, but we don't feel like we've found the exact one yet. We're seeking God's direction in this and would love for you to join us in prayer for God to lead us to the right place to get plugged into. Which is another reason for getting our Oregon house done, to really invest in the area up here! 

      The weekend before last we stayed up here for the Arlington Air Show on Saturday. Eric was able to fly his plane in while Jenna and I took the short drive up there. Jenna loved seeing the different airplanes and helicopters. She did pretty well during the air show and stayed with our beach towel. She loved the grass more than the aerobatic pilots though. She also was convinced the military tanks were trains though... This girl is developing a serious love for trains which is hilarious because we barely have any trains in the house! She can hear them at our house though and says, "CHOO CHOO! TRAIN!" all the time. She's got good hearing! To redeem her on the airplane side, she can hear a plane in the air, spot it and say plane. She can even spot one while we're driving in the car. So I don't think airplanes are out of the "cool" toddler crowd yet. 

      I (Kristine) have found a great local Asian grocery store to buy most of our vegetables, sauces and meat from and am working on finding a great fruit stand, bread store and place to purchase dairy from. Yes there are big chain grocery stores, but I find the best values are at the local places. PLUS the Asian grocery store I found is fabulous. It's got nearly anything I could ever want for my Asian recipes which definitely encourages me to cook Asian food more often. I say Asian because obviously there are many many many different types of cultures and food in that part of the world. A part of the world we still hope to live in someday. :) It'll be fun to cook some of the same dishes as our friends in Indonesia in this part of the world. I guess it's kinda my way of coping with the transition, plus my family benefits on the great food. 

    Jenna has been thriving lately. She says multiple words and has great comprehension of the English language even though she doesn't say any real phrases yet. It's fun to see her excited to see other kiddos or light up when her favorite show is on. She loves digging in dirt and playing in water. Which makes gardening a good hobby for her. I am trying to teach her...we shall see what happens. I don't have a green thumb! Which is why I buy actual plants versus seeds. I figure if the plants already got a good start, we stand a chance. 

  Prayers for our health would be appreciated too. The past few days I've felt under the weather and I am not quite sure why. Jenna's been teething and being a picky toddler so that adds to things. Thanks so much for all your support. Please feel free to ask us any questions you like. :) Off to work as a mama!

Blessings,

The Reeds

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.

Changing Mindset (Kristine)

I had a radical thought the other day, well maybe it wasn't so radical to most of you, but it sure was a perspective changing thought. For years now I've been actively seeking out God's will for my life. Wondering, pondering, dreaming about what His plan for me is. I've looked online at different ministries that seemed awesome and gotten involved in many different ministries. All the while I've been looking forward to the future rather than stopping and looking at the present.

As I was driving down the road thinking about my life it hit me, God desires us to serve Him where we are as who He made us to be. Yes, it's good to train for future ministry, but we can't lose sight at the ministry opportunities right around us. I was so focused at finding a church and finding a place to serve that I never realized I could serve just by being me. Simple thought, yet it's so hard to do sometimes. I can serve by how I interact with my neighbors and friends. How I interact with that homeless person or how I react when someone hurts me. I can serve by helping others in their time of need and showing people the love of Jesus but how I live. THAT is serving. It doesn't need a label as "women's ministry" or "children's ministry" or "homeless ministry", it's actively living for Christ and ministering as you live out your life. It's perhaps the hardest ministry around because you have to actively be thinking about where God is presenting opportunities for you to serve Him and mustering up the courage and strength to stick your neck out in faith and do it.

I am going to strive to be more purposeful in my friendships and my interactions with others. To build friendships and relationships to be able to talk with people and hear their heart stories. To be a better mom for my daughter and a better wife for my husband and really focus on what example I am setting for THEM at home. Family is perhaps the most important ministry of all and sometimes we get so outward focused we lose sight of that.

I still hope that God will allow us to serve overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship, but I don't want to let my desire to serve overseas shadow the work God is wanting to do through me here. We're getting closer to finding a church to be a part of and a community group to join and it's exciting to be a part of a community of believers again. We'd love prayer for our home in Oregon to get completed (we're almost done) and sold soon so we can move forward up here. God is gracious and we are thankful He still works in us.

Washington Residents

We're officially residents of Washington state. I know this may not seem like a big deal, but for me (Kristine) it's nice to be back "home". Right now I am trying to navigate life as a stay at home Momma to a toddler while Eric works full time. It's definitely not easy, especially since this is my first born child. I barely get time to blog let alone research everything I am supposed to do to prepare her. Fortunately for me, she's one bright little lady and somehow, by the grace of God, she's learning things. 

She can identify animals, letters, body parts (head, eyes, nose, knees...), loves to color, loves to read and is a whiz with electronics...all at 20 months.  The teacher in me wants a curriculum to follow, some way to navigate our days so that the mornings aren't spent watching Sesame Street and the afternoons aren't spent with ample toys on the floor with no direction. I'm working on it, but sometimes she's quicker, heck most times she's quicker than me. I think that's the hard part about being a stay at home momma, you don't have time to research what you are supposed to do, you just do it. 

On a different note, we're making progress on the house in Oregon. After painting the past couple of weekends I definitely realize why people have painting parties. Painting takes FOREVER. Seriously. I feel like I barely accomplished anything when I painted for six hours. But we're pressing forward. We are really hoping to list it most likely by the end of June, if not sooner. It's just hard to work on things when you only have the weekends. 

It's been interesting watching and praying for those that were in the same class with us at MAF continue on with  building their ministry teams and getting closer to going overseas. We think about how we could have been at that point too, and get a little sad sometimes, but then remember that God has a plan for us. We have not a clue what it is, but we're trying to seek Him to figure it out. We hope it's still eventually going overseas with MAF, and we're working towards that still, but we're trying to be open in case God wants us elsewhere more. 

It reminds me of something I heard in regards to finding your "soul mate". A lot of us feel there is only one match out there for us. Like one person in the universe that would work well with our personality, and that person is who we are to marry and somehow we have to find them. No other person will do. In reality, there are many people that would work well with us, it's finding the person that fits best. I feel this is the same with ministry. There are many ministries that we may fit us well, but it's finding the specific ministry that fits us best so that we can continue to carry out God's purpose for our lives, that's the goal. 

We hope to update this blog frequently with family happenings as well as ministry stuff. So keep on checking back! We just get little spurts to be able to update here and there. Hopefully soon we will have a few pictures. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers, we do appreciate them! 

Love,

The Reeds

Moving Onward....

God sure has a way of waking us up to the fact that HE is the one in charge and it's HIS plan that matters, not our own. This past few months have been a major transition for us. We go from being almost certain what God has in mind for our future, to have it completely turned upside down and sideways in a different direction. We don't know whether this direction is merely a loop back to the original trail or is a different path all together, time will tell. 

All I (Kristine) can say is that this is where we are supposed to be for this moment and this day in time. We've both felt such a peace about being up here. Eric is enjoying his work and I've already found a few mom's groups via meetup to hang out with. There are several people in the area that we know, many from when I lived in Washington before, but also Eric's sister is close to us as well. Previous to this we only got to see her maybe once or twice a year. 

We are continuing to work on the things we need to accomplish to feel ready for MAF again. Right now our priority is getting our Oregon home on the market and sold. So on weekends we head down there to work on it. We're making progress, but it might take a few more weekends of driving down there. After it's listed then we can finally start to find a church around our Washington home. Then we'll work on other things once that is taken care of.

One thing we have learned is that this is a process. There is no clear cut path to the finish. While it would have been nice for it to be that way, that's not how God intended it to be. I can already see how our experience with MAF has helped me tremendously to be more outgoing. I've already met a few of our neighbors, as I mentioned before I joined a few mom's groups and I am being more forward in talking to moms on the playground. Does this sound like me? I guess it's the new me. The one God is transforming, pretty cool eh? It's not without prayer let me tell ya! 

I need to go watch a show before Jenna wakes from her nap. If I can get on tonight I hope to post pictures of our place and other pictures from our time here. Our main laptop is down again, which is why I haven't posted any photos from my actual camera. Although, my phone camera is pretty cool. :)