Meet Paul.

It's been quite the week, folks. It seems so strange that no matter where you are in the world, life continues. This past Thursday we received word that a pilot that Josh works with in Indonesia was killed in a plane accident along with two Indonesian passengers. We were crushed, immediately feeling the miles that separated us from our team. Josh and I were constantly checking our email and facebook looking for any information we could use to begin to piece information together. Our hearts ache for our friends and colleagues who had to plan the memorial service for their friend.

Here's Paul.




Here is the casket with paper wreathes of condolenses from friends all over the world. We ordered one.



These are the Indonesian teammates who load the planes.


Notice the crowd...


Here are the pilots.


Here are the mechanics and technicians.


Here are the Bible translators.


The photos we saw were very moving. We are truly apart of much more than a team. That team that you work alongside everyday becomes your family. These photos show our family coming together in a time of crisis and standing firm, not allowing the Enemy shake our foundations. They were allowing the Light of Jesus Christ to shine during a dark time. Hundreds attended this service. As our friends were carrying the casket down the hill, God reminded them that He had not abandoned them- a rainbow stretched across the sky. The memorial was a time of celebrating a life that loved the Lord and LOVED serving those around him.

Furlough Goals

Furlough rumors and realities:

1. America has deliciously unhealthy food!
2. It's almost certain that you will gain weight while you're on furlough.
3. It's possible that you might return to Indonesia completely exhausted.

These are some "rumors" that we heard just before we were going to go on furlough. The truth is- these are NOT rumors! This is reality! So to fight against these things, we've set some personal furlough goals.

Here are my goals:
1. Complete requirements for recertification of my Texas teaching license.
2. Participate in a 5k- maybe in every state we're in IF possible- not likely in California or North Carolina.
3. Take a test to get certified to teach mathematics in Texas.

Goal Progress:
1. I've finished all the requirements and now need to complete the paperwork.
2. Josh and I ran in our first 5k- story with photos below.
3. I've checked out a math book with examples- so I sit around doing math problems in my free time :)

5k Story-

This run was to benefit a non profit organization that builds houses for people.

I thought the run started at 9:30, BUT when we got there at 9:20 the only people standing around had blue jeans on and were holding cameras. We asked if the run had already started. Yep, it started at 9. Ooops! We asked if we could still run. Sure, they said, but your time will be all messed up and you probably won't win. We said we're not in it to win it. Grabbed our numbers and music and were off! I kept our time on my watch. We passed a hand full of people and finished 76th and 77th (out of like 80 people!) with an "official" time of 54 minutes... but our "unofficial" time (according to my watch) was 35 minutes. Not too shabby for us considering we had just finished week 4 of the Couch to 5K program.

Looking back at my motivation and attitude I think it's a lesson learned. In reality I knew there was no way that I would win... but what if I'm the only female in my age group? All I have to do is finish to win! What if the spirit of competition motivates me to push harder and finish faster? What if I could be better than I really am... what if my dreams could become reality?

**Reality Check**
You can't win races if you show up 20 minutes AFTER the race starts!
You can't win races if the first place runner was FINISHING when you were beginning!
The reason for running is NOT to win but it's to fight against an unhealthy lifestyle.
If we're honest, we're running for the t-shirts and to support good causes.


We finished!


The official- unofficial time.


The trophies we didn't win! :) **note** these were for the 10k runners- some finished right about the same time we unofficially did!


This is the first place finisher- notice the time in the bottom right hand corner.


Wooohoo! I finished it! Notice there is no time... they didn't write it down for the back of the pack.


Here's the proof that Josh finished too. I beat him because he LET me go first :) so sweet.


I'm a goal setter.

Furlough in a Flash- Friend Edition

I tried to correct the spelling of "edition" in the previous post but wasn't able to.

One thing that is really cool about being on furlough is that other people that we live with in Indonesia are also on furlough. Everyone is traveling from here to there and back, and the chances are pretty high that you could plan to meet up.

While I was in Texas I visited Chase and Kelli Reynolds along with their three handsome boys (Uriah, Nathan, and baby Corin). We spent the afternoon catching up, complaining (just a little bit) about the heat, and making the most amazing sign for the Rangers game.

I went the Rangers game with Tim and Kyle Cripe. Tim is the high school principal at Hillcrest International School, where I teach middle school. During the World Series some friendly bantering was going back and forth between the three of us.

Kara is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. It's like that game "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" You know that game, and if you don't find it. Right now. Play it for days and learn something. :) I still remember my good friend, Abby, having that game growing up. I played for hours, and she went to bed. :)

Joel, Elaine, and Esther made their way to Camano Island. (I'm going to throw in some USA lingo that other people around the world don't know about or use.) They live in Minnesota and "GPS-ed" our address. We were so excited when they came! We hiked, camped, grilled out, hiked some more, ate incredible icecream, and visited with one another. Control yourself, you're about to see some incredibly CUTE pictures. :)