Men's Retreat-DC3

This past weekend, Ryan went on the annual AIM-IS Men's retreat. They fly our DC3 to the coast and have meetings, snorkel, listen to a speaker, and beat up on eachother playing Water polo. The wives stay home with the kids and hold the fort down.
Ryan had a better time than he thought he was goint to. Said the speaker, snorkeling, and water polo were good. Ryan rarely says things are great so that they were 'good' is still saying quite a bit.
Other news, home schooling continues to go well but getting behind in other stuff including paper work. AIM switched health insurance so need to figure out new forms to submit. Let's see, getting colder here but boys still only want to wear shorts and tshirts. Was 50 degrees this morning at sunrise. In unheated houses, thats a bit nippy.
Planning one year BDAY party for Seth and need kid game ideas. Not my forte. 

Colton Anderson

Colton was born on June 14 to Amber and Tim Anderson at 2:48 PM weighing 6 lbs 7 oz and 20" long. When I get some pictures, I will try and post them. Levi thinks that's a great day to be born!

The Dinosour and the Train by Caleb Williams

Once there was a train and there was a dinosaur egg and the train was carrying dinosaur eggs. And than dinosaur hatched and than it was so tired and the baby dinosaur slept on the track. And than the train came and almost rolled over it. The end.

Every week Caleb is to write (dictate) a story about 8 sentances long for his Home Schooling. He tells me the story and I type it exactly the way he tells me with no corrections of grammer. Than I read it back to him and he edits. Than when he has it how he wants it, I print it out for him. They also recommend sending it to someone like a grandparent so I am blogging his stories.
If you remember any of his made up stories, can you remind me. Its easier to get him started if he can retell a story to me he has already made up. Otherwise I get the 'I don't know any stories' response.
I was surprised with how well he did with this one. He is capable of alot more than I think!

Kindergarten Science Experiments

We started Home Schooling on Monday. Caleb and I sit on the guest bed in the afternoons when Levi and Seth are napping and work through the assignments. It is going to take sometime for him to get used to the routine. But we are usually done in little over an hour. I can't beleive how much he is learning already in Kindergarten.
He doesn't like handwriting on lined paper so we have made a picture Ff paper and he drew Ff's on it. Also drew Ff's on the bathtub with a paint brush and soap mixed with food coloring. I need to find fun ways to get him to do his writing. Maybe in the sand box or in flour or with playdough.
Tuesday night the boys did science experiments with Ryan. Three experiments with hot air and cold air to see what happens. Does something contract or expand? Pingpong ball, 2 liter plastic bottle, long necked bottle with a coin on top, ice cubes, and hot water. They enjoyed it. Seth sat in his high chair and ate an icecube. 

The McMichaels

A special family left AIM AIR Nairobi this past week. Ethan is 8 ( I think). Austin is 5 (4 months older than Caleb. Isaac is 3 (6 weeks older than Levi). And Andrew is about 8 months (4 months younger than Seth). They lived on the same compound as us 5 houses down.
They are taking a year leave and praying about where God wants them to serve next with in AIM.
The compound is ALOT quieter and we miss them. Mostly I am thankful for the years we got to know them and the positive influence their boys had on my boys!
Kelly and Chris had many responsibilities and
Ryan and I have only taken on one of those. We are now in charge of maintenance on the two compounds that join together. Kelly hasn't even been gone a week and already I can't understand how she did it all.
I am used to seeing Kelly every Monday at our grocery store which we like more than Wal Mart. And at prayer meetings every Friday. And walking by several times a day every day. And walking for exercise almost every night up and down the driveway. She has a ready smile and a wonderful spirit. I am looking forward to seeing where God leads them next for they are a gifted family ready and willing to serve. 

Seth-a-cakes

Need I say more!?.


 

More

 

Shop Foreman, Piston Fleet Supervisor

I guess I haven’t taken any pictures the last two weeks to post. And I didn’t post last week, so let me think what we have been up to. Last Wednesday Ryan and I had a 3 hour conversation with Ryan’s Manager that was very useful for me. We talked about Uganda and what course we need to take to get there.

It boils down to two things that management would like Ryan to have more experience with. One, more training in maintenance. We found that communication had broken down because people use training and experience interchangeably. But not Ryan. When he hears training, he thinks classroom. So he is frustrated with the lack of training that AIM AIR offers. But experience is what they really offer. Also Ryan feels like he has gained enough experience and his managers would like him to have some more. Two, experience being the Shop Forman, piston fleet supervisor. Ryan has had this role informally for several months our last term and feels he understands the job and has confidence he can do it. But it would severely cut into our family time. The thinking is that Ryan will be managing personal in Uganda. Which is true, but here again management thinks he needs more experience and Ryan doesn’t. I have a lot of confidence that Ryan can do it.

I want to support him but know my own limits with three little boys at home. I can do it for 6-12 months, that is manage the long hours. But not more than that. We fear we will be exhausted after this one year and too burnt out to make the move to Uganda and than still be effective.

But at least I feel like I have a better sense of what we call the AIM AIR mentality. Ryan thinks it really boils down to that they need him here in Nairobi this next year more than in Uganda. That may be true but I think a year of being the shop foreman etc. would make him more effective in any ministry. Its just not his gifting so will be a stretch for him. My gifting is not to be a single mom so this next year will be a stretch for the boys and me.

Other news, we participated in a yard sale. We had 12 foot lockers full of stuff to sell and came home with 3 I think. We made $175 by selling stuff for less than a dollar. We went out for Ethiopian with two other families to celebrate and because we didn’t feel like cooking.

We have a volunteer staying with us for one week. Joel is from LeTourneau where Ryan went to school. He is going into his senior year and doing the flight program. His hidden talent is media. He’s great at making videos for missionaries to use for presentations. He first went to Zambia for 2 weeks to record another work teams stuff and than flew here to see AIM AIR for one week. He is having a good experience. Went flying Tuesday to Tanzania and flew over Amboseli Game Park and saw elephants up close. Went out for Ethiopian with us. Has met two other pilots who are starting a media department. He is asking very good questions and is very helpful man.

The boys are enjoying Mr. Joel and not getting to bed on time. Joel is learning a lot about family life and what it means to have 3 boys to come home to at night. He can’t believe what Ryan does working all day and than having some energy left for family. He also has been nice about complimenting me on my cooking and thinks our house is wonderful to come ‘home’ too. That is my goal for Ryan. To have a haven for him to come home too.

Levi’s Bday is coming up soon. We might go to the game park this Saturday. I will write more later if I remember more but Seth is not sleeping through the night. He had the stomache flu last week and I think now he is making up for not eating and is hungry at night. So I feel a little wifty and tired. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!