In God's strong hands

I have no words of my own, except for thank you for the love and compassion you have poured out on our family. God bless you all.

May God speak to your heart through the following passages:

Romans 8:35-39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us.

38 FOR I AM CONVINCED that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.

2 Corinthians 4:7-8

7 But we have this TREASURE in jars of clay to show this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

8 We are hard pressed on every side, BUT NOT CRUSHED; perplexed, BUT NOT IN DESPAIR; persecuted, BUT NOT ABANDONED; struck down, BUT NOT DESTROYED.

Ups and Downs

Hi everyone--Just wanted to update you on how Adam's flight training is going. It's been a wet, cold week with very few opportunities to fly. The clouds finally lifted high enough that they could complete a cross-country flight and check another "must master" off the list. Adam came home very encouraged, feeling like things are really starting to "click."

God is making sure that we rely on him for everything. There are only 10 days left and Adam has 9 more flights to get in! Please be praying for clear weather, wisdom for Ron to organize the schedule in a way that will get all the training in before we have to leave, safety, and complete understanding and retention of all the knowledge Adam is getting.

The kids are doing really well. Micah is working hard at Kindergarten and is loving math--we started money this week. Holly is very intrigued by this whole school-thing and so wants to be part of it too. She draws while I work with Micah.

Tomorrow 10-18-09 is my dad's 80th birthday. Have a great day dad, we love you!! We'll enjoy cake and ice cream with you when we get back :)

Thankful for God's great love and mercy for us,

Carrie

No flying today.

At 9am I was on the porch praising God for the beautiful weather He sent for Adam to fly his cross-country lesson. I asked for a safe flight, for God to guide Adam's mind, hands and feet, and to give Ron wisdom. An hour later, when Adam was supposed to be in the air, he calls. Uh oh, I'm thinking the worst. Turns out they didn't go up at all because there were very strong winds at the altitude they needed to fly. A bumpy ride is not conducive to good teaching. They will try again tomorrow. Back to prayer for good weather and all of the above.

Why We're Here

Well, the reason we're down here is to get some additional flight training in the kind of airplane we'll be using in Zambia, the Cessna 206. The airplane we're using here, N120MS is actually owned by a man in Chicago who leaves it here specifically for this purpose - training missionary pilots. My instructor is Ron Royce, a retired Moody Aviation instructor for 40+ years. In fact, the airport here, Elizabethton Municipal Airport (0A9) was the home of Moody Aviation until about 3 years ago when they moved to Spokane, WA.

So far, we've had about 3 lessons. The day usually starts pretty early with going over the lesson plan, doing the preflight inspection, and then going at it. A big emphasis on these early lessons is controlling the airplane in all flight configurations. For example, flying at a constant airpseed, altitude, and heading, while adding or removing flaps. Or, putting the airplane in a 30 degree bank to the right or left, at a constant speed, altitude, and bank, and adding/removing flaps. After the flight is done, comes the post-flight briefing - going over what went well and what didn't. Then we usually spend some time looking at the next days lesson.

This is really an incredible opportunity to get this kind of one-on-one training from an instructor of this expertise. Most pilots who go into missionary aviation get their specialized training from their flight schools, such as MAF, Moody, and JAARS. So this has been good for me to get this specialized training that doesn't necessarily always come from the common, run-of-the-mill pilot program. I can only praise God for his provision in all this!!

Our disciples

Since we got down here, God has really been impressing on our hearts the need to teach our young kids, Micah (5) and Holly (2) as much as we can about the Kingdom of God, specifically, the parables taught by Jesus. So as I was pondering how to do that, God gave me a concrete idea while I was in the shower (where most of my good ideas are born). Micah has been on this pirate kick lately and while I was in the shower he rushed into the bathroom and announced that we need to do a treasure hunt TONIGHT. Ah ha, the little boy wants to seek

for hidden treasure. We can do that. Below are the pics from the occasion.

Sometimes you have to literally get on your face to search for that treasure. Here Micah is looking under the bed.

Sometimes you have to crawl into those dark, lonely places to search for the treasure. Here is Micah under the covers.

Sometimes you have to get search in high places to find that treasure.

Here are our cuties with their treasure map. Micah insisted that a treasure map is essential to any serious treasure hunt. He is right--our treasure map is the Bible.

Sometimes you have to really dig around and push things out of the way to find the treasure. Here is Micah tearing apart the contents of the closet.

He finally found the prize. We wanted the kids to understand that there is a treasure, that it takes work to seek the treasure, there is great satisfaction and reward in the seeking and finding the treasure, and that God promises that we will find the treasure when we seek with all our hearts.

Sharing in the Kingdom of God

One of the ways we have felt God's love for us and experienced His provision for us is through the generosity of our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers at White Stone. While we dealt with the flooding and packing up of our apartment, we had dear souls help with the following: watch our kids while we worked, sort and pack up our stuff, deliver things to be donated, hold a rummage sale, give us food, let us stay in their home, let us use vehicles to move stuff, store things while we're away, sell our furniture, clean our home, support us finacially, pray with us, listen, talk, cry, and laugh with us.

The month of September has been a whirlwind event in our lives, but it has been a pleasure to watch God work through our little band of believers. Thank you Lord!! We truly have been experiencing Mark 10:28-30 through this time of transition.

Our ride down to Tennesse was really fun. Micah was excited to see mountains for the first time and Holly thankfully slept most of the way. The Graham's cabin where we are staying while in Elizabethton has a stunning view of the mountains. It is quiet and peaceful here, like being on a retreat. People are so friendly here, although I have to really focus on what they're saying--are we all speaking English!? We are so thankful God has brought us here to learn more about Him and His purpose for our lives.

We're still in search of a reliable WiFi to post pictures. I'm doing this post from the pilot computer at the airport. Adam flys with Ron today and it sounds like he will keep a very disciplined schedule while we're here. So much to learn, pray for Adam that he is able to soak every bit of it up.

"Lord have your way with us. Teach us, mold us, change us into your likeness to fulfill your purpose. We love you."