Join us at the Moody hangar for a tour...

The kids and I had lunch with Sam yesterday, so we'll give you a tour of the hangar!

My favorite part of the hangar is all the flags from the different countries where Moody students have graduated and served.  Very motivational on a tough day!

The flag we're working towards.

They also have banners from different missions the Moody graduates go on to serve with.  Here's ours!

JAARS (Jungle Aviation And Radio Services)

I just come for the cute mechanic.  

Upstairs in the loft is Elaina and Sawyer's favorite part of the hanger.

And when they're all tuckered out, there's even a couch to crash on :)  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."  

-Acts 20:24

Meet the class (and other fun!)...

Potluck BBQ Friday night with Sam's maintenance class.  It was so great to meet the other students and hear their plans for serving on the mission field in the future!

Still working on the egress windows in the basement apartment we are staying in.

 These are just for kicks.  Elaina's new favorite... jumping off the swing.

 Moody friends Jason and Jen let us borrow this barrel of laughs for the weekend.

 We got to visit with long time Africa friends, Tim and Helen Smith, last weekend.  

Hard at work putting in egress windows.

 "Anna, why do you always need pictures of me for our blog?"

Discussing how to remove the mother of all rocks :)

There's one....

and there's two.  Nice job, boys!

The kids and I were out hiking yesterday when I heard Sawyer yell "MAMA!" but it was too late...

Gopher snake

because my foot had already committed to the step.  All I saw was tan and black coiled up and thought "Rattler!" and felt that yucky squish under my foot.  Each hand held a kid and I threw them as far as I could and jumped off of the snake's coils.  Elaina landed on her feet and ran, Sawyer landed on his back  2 feet from the snake and in all the confusion didn't know which way to roll to get away from it.  I ran back and grabbed him and sprinted out of there.  I prayed quickly that no one had been bit and checked each of our legs.  We watched the dazed and confused snake slither away.  I was relieved to see that the head wasn't the right shape for a rattler nor did he have rattle.  After a solid adrenaline rush and trying to shake it off, I thanked God that it wasn't a rattler and that if it was poisonous, God had probably helped me step on the poor guy's head because he didn't retaliate.  I realized this was one of those great teachable moments for the kids on the human relationship with serpents from Genesis 3.  I did google the snake later, and evidently gopher snakes ARE often mistaken for rattlers because of their coloring :)

"You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel."  Genesis 3:14b-15


 So there, ya nasty old beast!

Sam's first class

Yay for early mornings!

Sam started auditing his first class on engines on Monday.  It is a two week class with 6 projects due, a study of Romans, and scripture memory.  He is really enjoying the classroom instruction and getting to know the other students.  Most evenings, he puts in a couple of hours studying or doing homework.  His studies for his own review, but also to get a good grasp on how to explain things when he has a group of students in the hangar.  

We discovered new things yesterday...

...such as the hiking/rock climbing trails 5 minutes from our house...

...that our kids have a new passion for rock climbing...

 ...and that ant lions exist in the United States!

 Poor ant!  He didn't stand a chance!

Up close and personal with the ant lion.

Back to hiking!

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."  Genesis 1:31  

We are delighting in all that God has made here in Spokane and are exploring every chance we get.  What a joy to see his wildly creative side in the outdoors!

Sam's job at Moody Aviation

Sam started work at Moody Aviation on Tuesday and is excited to be back in the work force!  His title is "Maintenance Instructor" and his duties will include auditing aviation maintenance seminars, working on the planes Moody aviation students use, and teaching mechanics to Moody students.  The priority right now is auditing the maintenance seminars (classes) and the other duties will fit in the breaks between these 1-2 week seminars.  This week is teacher in-service and Sam is getting to know the fellow Moody instructors and his way around the hangar before students come to school.  Starting next week, the day will start with staff devotions at 6:45 a.m. and will end at 3:30 or 4.  Also starting next week is Sam's first maintenance seminar on engines.

There have been a lot of transitions with the Danforth Four lately, so to re-cap in a nutshell, we are currently Proclaim missionaries on loan to Moody to gain experience before we join JAARS and Wycliffe to serve overseas.  One step at a time ;)

We continue to be so grateful to God, Moody, and Proclaim for this opportunity to grow.  We are also grateful to you who have been sending encouraging blog messages, emails, texts, facebook messages and phone calls.  We are continuing to build our prayer and financial support team and are humbled and grateful to those of you who have joined us.

More to come!

Freedom

Today we celebrate our Independence as a nation.  I am grateful to those who have fought for freedom of choice and government and to those who take a stand to maintain a sense of justice today.  I am humbled to think of the freedom from the bondage of sin Christ offered on the cross to reconcile us to God.

What is this thing called bondage of sin?  What exactly do I need to be reconciled FROM?  As the human race, we need to be freed from thinking we are the highest standard of truth, of love, of mercy, of justice.  I KNOW I'm not the perfect standard of truth or love.  Ask my husband, my children, my siblings, or my co-workers.  We are imperfect and yet we try to glorify and praise ourselves as if we are the highest standard by which to live.  What if MY standard of love, truth, or mercy was the ideal for everyone?  What a sorry thing to strive for!  I am grateful that it isn't.  I have a perfectly loving, perfectly just, perfectly faithful, perfectly sovereign, perfectly truthful God who doesn't want to let me settle for glorifying and setting my sights on anything less than the perfect standard and only true reflection of these things.  I have freedom from thinking I am to be glorified, I am to be praised.  I am free to know that God is greater than this pitiful semblance of perfection I try to create and I am free to personally know him.  I am only free to know this because God  sought to make my broken relationship with Him right through Christ.

Years before Jesus was ever identified as being the reconciling link between humanity and God, his saving death was predicted in Isaiah, a truth of freedom that I find poignant today.  "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."  Isaiah 53:5

Reflecting on my freedom in Christ today.

Fun in the Son

Thanks to the Pilgrims who put on Fun in the Son to spread God's love and word and thanks to our International Missiona Team who raised funds from soda sales for us!  YOU ARE AWESOME and we love being part of the Grace Brethren family!

Pastor Ron selling soda

The good ol' Pilgrims

Connie and Brad