What's happening

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted to the family blog site. Usually I'm posting some corndog story on my "Fluff" site, but tonight I wanted to write an update so that you can have a better idea of where Jamie and I are at on this journey towards becoming a missionary family.

On the aircraft mechanic school front: Since January I've been studying and physically taking apart aircraft engines ranging from small piston engines to jet engines on old Air Force jets and Army helicopters. There is nothing more empowering than to dive into a course of study without any prior knowledge or experience and later waking up one day realizing that you could now overhaul your truck, much less a Teledyne Continental A-65 4-stroke horizontally opposed engine. That's where I'm at now. I completely finish maintenance studies this June and will begin flight training, starting at Instrument (learning how to fly without looking outside.

On the Chad and Jamie are moving back to the Everett area front: Well, I guess I just summed it up there. Recently Jamie was accepted at Seattle Children's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and will be starting early this April. This is a huge blessing for her because 1. She's always dreamed of working with pediatrics and 2. the PICU is pretty much as good and complicated as it gets, so this is definitely an awesome step up for her that could help her immensely overseas. No, I'm still not entirely sure what I think about the prospect of having a long distance marriage for 2 months, but I guess its a consolation that we'll have weekends together. And the fact that I'm not being deployed for 4 months to 2 years to the eastern sandland. While Jamie is orienting and learning her new job, I'll be working to finish my powerplant mechanic studies. Once the middle of June rolls around, we're hoping to have found a place to live around the Everett area and will be packing up once again to move once again. I think your prayers would help us a lot during this time of transition. Not to mention, I will be selling the house I co-own in Tacoma during this time. I would be lying if I said all this doesn't raise our stress bar a bit. I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't learning the true meaning of casting all of my cares, burdens, concerns, and even my very life into the hands of our Living God who created us, ordained all of our days before the creation of time, who holds us, is near to us, knows our every thoughts, loves us more than we love ourselves, and can move every mountain and flatten every valley before us for the price of a mustard seed sized portion of faith in His mighty and powerful Name, which is above all names, that at that name every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is God. (I know that was a bit of a run-on sentence, but I got passionate)

Well, I guess that sums it up pretty well. We have life changes happening in very short-order of time. I'm going to try to figure out how to post some pictures too. I'll see if I can get Jamie to help me out with that since I'm getting older and computers just don't seem to have MSDOS or 3.11 anymore so I can't keep up ;-)