Jim here, taking the blogging reigns from Heidi for this one.

Eight years ago, I blogged about the sense of accomplishment felt when I completed my instrument pilot rating. Today, that same sense of accomplishment was experienced by our oldest son at USAFA.

Heidi and I realized we have truly let go of the parenting tether when our 19-year-old son called to explain that he piloted an aircraft by himself. What is extraordinary is that Jake went from zero flying experience to soloing an aircraft in just 14 flights over two and a half weeks with the instruction given entirely from someone aged only 2 years older than him.

In an instant, Jake became what the aviation world calls a “pilot-in-command” (PIC), and that moniker comes with tremendous responsibility. As PIC, you are solely responsible for your aircraft and your actions in it – there are zero excuses accepted for not taking command and control and flying the aircraft safely. It’s a lot like life.

I felt for Jake today as I imagined him lifting off into the sky alone, tasked with carefully negotiating the glider as it was towed 3000′ above the Colorado landscape, released from the tow plane, flying freely through the thermals, and then navigating the aircraft safely back to earth onto USAFA’s giant 4-runway turf landing field. He nailed it.

Here’s a video Jake took earlier in the year that gives you an idea of what he experienced.

I have to admit that I don’t give our kids – or any kids – enough credit or confidence to think they are capable of doing impressive things like this.  What Jake accomplished today is not easy, yet he persevered through the training and the challenge. I determined today I have a wrong mindset.  Sometimes my kids’ limitations are a product of not giving them a shot at something because of my short-selling them in my mind. I’m done with that.

Here’s a pic of his grade card, detailing his progress over his 14 flights. (NG=Not Graded, U=Unsatisfactory, F=Fair, G=Good, E=with Excellence)

And the long-lived tradition of throwing a pilot into a tank of water after their first solo:

The story of Jake in the last 12 months at USAFA has been one accomplishment after another – with periodic setbacks. And through it all – and most importantly – he has identified himself as a follower of Jesus amongst his fellow cadets.

That’s quite a Pilot in Command – he’s flying well. Praise God.

I have recently discovered a fun thing to do when its cloudy. I set the camera on a tripod and constantly take pictures of clouds, and then I combine all these pictures and get a very short but cool time-lapse video of clouds. Unfortunately I cannot find a way to make the time between each picture longer, so I have about 1000 pictures per 10 minutes.

This is my first one, I manually took pictures every five seconds to make this.

I think this one is better. These are distant towering cumulus clouds that will eventually grow into cumulonimbus clouds. The clouds grow from warm air pushing water vapor up.

I just made this one today. These are altocumulus clouds, these clouds usually predict there would be rain in a few hours.

Jake

From Jim – again.  (It’s nice to have some time off!)

This is the season when we say “Peace on Earth, goodwill to men”.

Heidi and I seem to be searching far and near for peace in this house. Case in point, last night as I was cleaning the kitchen, I noticed the kitchen lights above me vibrating severely after hearing loud crashes from the room above – the boys’ room.  Thanks to a new Nerf basketball hoop and ball they received as a gift, their room is now a half-court arena.  However, these boys are football players who, to my knowledge, never legitimately touched a basketball before.  So this game was more of a destroy-the-guy-with-the-ball-before-he-shoots kind of game. Today I have to spackle all nail pops in the ceiling…

As I was reflecting in the quietness of the morning on “peace”, I resolved that despite the craziness of life at times (especially living in a heavily trafficked suburb during Christmas-shopping season), I have no reason to complain – at all.  I dialed up CNN and glanced quickly at the top news stories:

As the Dad, I don’t have the opportunity to post on here very often. However, with Heidi out of the house being a taxi service for our oldest attending Science Olympiad, I have the blog writing cornered for the afternoon.

Yes, Ruth’s birthday was yesterday, the 27th, and yes we have plenty of pictures of the token blowing-out-the-candles ritual and all that stuff, all which will eventually be posted after Heidi parks the cab. Today, more important business was performed: the traditional birthday flight with Dad!

This, of course, piqued the curiosity of all the boys, who asked in unison where their so-called “traditional” birthday flights went. Ever since going full-time in ministry, raising personal support to fly them around on their birthday went way of the Dodo. My flying hours have diminished significantly, and that’s ok.

But today we splurged. We offered Ruth her first opportunity to fly with Dad at the ripe age of two years to…Schaumburg! (a whopping 20 miles away for you out-of-towners). Schaumburg has perhaps one of the best fly-in restaurants in the country, Pilot Pete’s. So, Heidi packed up the kids sans Ruth in the car and drove to Schaumburg while Dad took Ruthie to the airport and flew to Shaumburg. (Jeremy pleaded ad nauseam to go with me and Ruth until we eventually caved).

Here are the two of them posing for the obligatory picture in front of the plane shot.

To be honest, Ruthie was not all that sure about this.  When the hanger doors opened to reveal the airplane, she bolted off in the opposite direction.  Here’s where having Jeremy with us proved quite valuable, as she dutifully followed her older brother into the airplane.

Now as you can clearly see from this video, Ruth just loved it!

We saw our house from the air.

Ruthie arrived at the airport and quickly found Mom, who was taking pictures from outside the gate.

After a good lunch, we headed back up in the air (this time Derek and Peter argued their case for inclusion)

During lunch, Ruth was a total chatterbox. “Airpane, airpane up in da skyeee” was all she said. On the way home Ruthie was much more relaxed and excited as you can see. Healthy fear, then food, followed by non-stop talking, equals…

After landing, another obligatory shot…

…and Ruthie explaining to Peter that what he sees is an “airpane”.

For a Dad, all of this is priceless. Happy Birthday little girl.

P.S. For the aviation fans out there, here’s our landing on the grass runway at Naper Aero. Ruth slept through the whole thing.

Ever since I got my telescope, I have had so much fun looking at stars and galaxies at night. The problem is we live in the midst of major light pollution and that shortens the list of things to see at night. The things I can see in this location are the planets and the moon. Unfortunately only one planet is in the sky right now, Saturn. It is an amazing planet with rings that circle the planet, and with my telescope I can see it’s moons and even a band of clouds on the surface.

The cool thing I can do with the telescope is to put a small point-and-shoot camera in the lens and get low quality pictures of bright objects. One night I did just that, and even on a hazy night I got some very good pictures of saturn and the moon.

Saturn and the rings.

Then I turned the telescope towards the moon, and marveled at how clear it is through the telescope.

Lunar “seas”, also called lunar maria were probably caused by molten lava.

Impact craters.

And the curvature of the moon.

Well I just wanted to show you a fraction of God’s incredible creation that He has shown me through the telescope. And I also wanted to thank everyone who helped get this telescope for me especially mom and dad!

-Jake

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19

While we’ve had a great time exploring the area and seeing the many sights Arizona has to offer, yesterday may have ranked up there as everyone’s favorite day. We never got in the car, never saw any grand sights. It was a day of relaxing, playing, and just hanging out together.

Ruthie was quite spoiled this week with 12 people to dote on her. Here are two of the 12 cuddling with her in the morning.

Jake showed Nicole how to whittle.

Later in the day, all the kids set up a trading post of sorts (appropriate for the area–we’ve seen dozens of Indian trading posts since arriving). Some kids were pine needle merchants, some were bed-makers and had to buy needles to make the beds, and some bought the beds. They wrote money amounts on leaves and rocks and began their buying and selling.

Here, the bed makers:

When they came back inside, we had a lineup to compare heights. It appears that the children are beginning to overtake the adults.

After dinner, we had a Bubbie birthday celebration. Jeremy and Nathan were buddies; there was never a lull in their conversation. Mr. Chatterbox, meet Mr. Chatterbox.

The balloons had to pass through quality control:

Then the kids lined up to drop the balloons on Jeremy after we sang Happy Birthday.

The balloon drop!

And just to make sure everyone had enough sugar for the night, we even had a pinata.

A great day from beginning to end.

The week has been abuzz with activity since the Goldings arrived last Sunday. With nine kids running around, there is never a dull moment, at least not before 10pm. But I speak for all of us when I say that we are having a blast–good friends are a blessing.

We began the week touring Sedona, a city famous for its red rocks.

Jeremy and Nathan entertained us with some sword-fighting.

Then we returned to Sunset Crater to hike the lava flow trail. The kids had a great time spending some energy on the hike and even managed to learn a few things about volcanoes.

Lunch amidst the lava…

While at home, we have taken advantage of the extra hands–more children means more laborers. They have had cleanup duty after dinners.

Ruthie sure enjoys having girls around. She is receiving constant attention.

Yesterday we drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and learned that the Colorado River, which lies at the bottom of the canyon, is more visible from the south than from the north.

Jake taught the difference between uniformitarianism and catastrophism.

After finding a quiet spot, we managed to gather everyone together for a picture…with almost everyone smiling…no small feat!

Before embarking on our hike, we had a lesson on the dangers of walking too close to the edge. Here we are looking at some hikers who had scrambled down the canyon a little ways and were walking along the edge of a steep rock outcropping. We weren’t sure if we should watch them to see what would happen, or avert our eyes.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1)  Spectacular.

We prepared dinner the old fashioned way last night–we hunted and gathered. Or was it caught and cleaned? However you say it, we saw our food swimming in the morning, then cooked on our dinner plates in the evening.

We found a place called Rainbow Trout Farm a few miles south of Flagstaff. It’s a great business idea–they stock a pond full of rainbow trout and rent out poles, nets, buckets, and bait for $1.00. Then you fish away and are virtually guaranteed to catch something. You pay for what you catch, and they clean the fish and put it on ice. They also have several grills and picnic tables around if you want to cook and eat your fish right there.

The fishing poles were at least three times the kids’ height.

Jeremy was the first one to catch a trout. I think it took him all of 3 minutes.

Peter caught two by the time we were finished, and his fish were by far the largest.

Derek seemed to have the touch, as almost every time he put his pole in the water, he made a catch. Meanwhile, I was seeing dollar signs add up since throwing your catch back in the water is prohibited.

Jake was a natural too–must be due to all those hours fishing in the pond at home.

Every time the boys pulled out a fish, I was happy I had Ruthie duty that day. After prying the hook out of the mouth, Jim had to wrestle each slippery trout into our bucket. Yikes.

When all was said and done, the kids caught eight fish. After the little buggers were cleaned, we had them packed on ice and put in a cooler. The fish, that is, not the kids.

This is the part that made me very very thankful for grocery stores and their arrays of boneless, skinless eyeball-less fish fillets. It must have taken Jim and me over an hour to debone and de-skin those eight fish. But it was worth it for the family experience. From pond to table in one day; dinner doesn’t get much fresher than that. We threw in some onions, butter and limes before wrapping them in foil and throwing them on the grill.

No one seemed bothered by the fact that we were eating the same fish that were swimming in the pond earlier that day. Except Peter. You see, the boys and I watched the whole cleaning process at the farm, and the fisherman was having some fun with his audience. I won’t go into detail here, but let me just say he was going for major shock value.

As we sat for dinner, Peter was hesitant to dig in. I asked him why, and he just recounted the bloody water in the bucket and the fish being cut open. It didn’t take him long to get over it, though, when he knew that s’mores were on the menu for dessert.

While Jim and I prepared dinner, this sensitive little guy took care of Ruthie. The pictures speak for themselves.

They’ve been bonding this week.

“Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:25-27)

I love when spiritual truths are confirmed in the physical life. This proverb was playing over and over in my mind when we visited the Grand Canyon on Wednesday.

In our prior research of the Grand Canyon, we learned that it has two visitor centers with trails, etc.–one on the south rim and one on the north rim. Most people go to the south rim because it has more civilized trails, amenities, and it’s much closer. But the north rim draws less of a crowd, has better views, and not to mention the trails are more…interesting. This planted the idea in my beloved husband’s mind that we must drive to the north rim. Never mind the fact that it takes 3.5 hours to get there.

I must admit, though, that even during the drive, the views did not disappoint. When we finally arrived at the canyon, our jaws hit the floor. Amazing.

Here, the kids pose from a safe perch near the parking lot of the visitor center.

After being charged with Junior Ranger instructions, we set off on our hike–but first another 45 minutes in the car to get to the trailhead. Now, I didn’t know what to expect as far as safety measures go. Were there guardrails? Paved paths? I had read that each year several people die at the Grand Canyon by falling. But it is a national park. How dangerous could it be?

It didn’t take long to realize just how dangerous it is. As soon as we got out of the car we found a spot to take a quick family picture. Gorgeous backdrop, but no paved path, and definitely no guardrail. The longer we stayed on this cliff, the faster my heart beat and the more my palms sweat. If you looked over the edge, you could barely see the bottom of the canyon. But we did manage to snap a photo before I had a panic attack.

I probably would have handled it much better if we didn’t have curious children underfoot. For the first time in my life, I wished we had them all on tethers. Notice where I’m positioned in the picture–closest to the edge. I wanted to see everyone and be sure that no one was too close. That edge was not one you would tumble down if you went over; it was a sheer dropoff to the bottom over 4000 feet down.

This relatively short experience on the cliff set my mind spinning with so many thoughts of God. How vast the Grand Canyon is, and yet He created it and the earth that holds it with the words of His mouth! Looking out over the chasm terrified me. It is downright dangerous, and I feared and respected the Lord in a whole new way that day. Once our feet were on safer ground, it drove me to be utterly thankful for His protection and His mercy.

You can imagine my relief when we began our hike on a paved path which at times even included guardrails. People were laughing at me as I walked around saying how much I like guardrails. Still, I held onto Jeremy’s hand for dear life.

When we walked out onto this rock, named Angels’ Window, Peter, Jeremy and I sat on a rock away from any edge. Peter, who had a healthy fear of the edges, said, “That’s good God put this rock here so we can be safe.” Then Jeremy wisely stated that “You don’t have to be afraid because Jesus is protecting us. And Jesus is way bigger than you because He made this whole place.” Such an apt reminder from the little guy.

Jake and Derek were considerably less fearful. I’m not sure what to think about that right now.

And sweet, trusting little Ruthie perched in her spot on Daddy’s back.

We plan to return next week, only this time to the south rim, with the Goldings. And we plan to watch the path of our feet and not turn to the right or to the left.

The family embarked on our first day out to nearby Sunset Crater National Park.  The place is quite interesting in that about 1,000 years ago (scientists estimate) the place was covered in lava as a volcano erupted. Even today, it looked as if a bulldozer wreaked havoc on the place.

What was simply amazing is that despite there being acres of ash and lava rock as far as the eye can see, life prevails. Our minds immediately drew the parallel with what is quoted in Psalm 113:7 “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” Whether its human life or a mere tree, God enables life to rise above a catastrophe for all who call on His name.

Ruthie continued being a hearty traveller.  Her first experience in the baby backpack was pure bliss.  As we walked the one mile lava trail, she was giggling, laughing and then fell fast asleep.

Meanwhile, the family took in the sights and the experience of walking on an ancient volcano.

The National Park Service has a neat program for kids called Junior Rangers.  We were thinking that all you had to do is run through a few tasks and you get the obligatory participation certificate.  No so.  The boys did have to finish certain tasks, but when they went to the park Ranger to turn in their task list, they were quizzed on everything they wrote down – even Jeremy! When Jeremy forgot to circle something, the Ranger walked him over to a display and had him point out the correct answer to a question she asked him.  After an acceptable test result, the boys had to take an oath, raising their right hand and reciting with the Ranger that they will participate in taking care of the National Forest lands – pretty heavy stuff!

I couldn’t participate in the “ceremony” since I was with Ruthie in the car, but I heard what was going on inside and snapped the oath-taking from afar.

And here’s the badge they earned (which have been worn ever since)

We arrived yesterday, safe and sound. 25 hours of driving and the kids did really well, especially Ruthie.

After leaving Albuquerque, NM in the morning, we had a mere 300 miles to drive, far less than the 700 miles we were averaging the last two days. That being said, the 300 miles turned into 400 miles after we had to detour from our route 60 miles short of Flagstaff, AZ. I’ve been stopped by bizzard conditions and flooded roads before, but the cause of this detour/delay was a first:

Those are not ominous storm clouds in the distance, that’s zero visibility blowing dust from an unusually strong Pacific storm that moved through the area.  The Interstate was shut down for two days!

We found a route south that navigated the mountains and it ended up being a beautiful two-hour drive through the world’s largest continuous Ponderosa pine forest.

This morning we woke up at 5:30AM (body clocks thinking it was 7:30AM) and the Legos made their way out.  The house is more than accommodating and the kids, at least, were well-rested.

On to Sunset Crater National Park today, and some groceries (the locusts’ appetite are insatiable!)

Yes, you have a geek for a Dad/husband when the GPS gets dusted off and tracks your every move on your vacation.

Note the elevation gain as we made our way from Tulsa, OK to Albuquerque, NM

OK, according to the blue graph, you can see I largely stayed within 5 mph of the 70 mph speed limit (75 mph in New Mexico). We also took two rest stops.

There was an unplanned third rest stop when I was pulled over by a Texas State Trooper (around 4 hours and 30 minutes on the blue graph).  The trooper came to the window and saw all the wires connected to GPS devices hanging off my windshield.  He asked me for my license and insurance and said I was speeding.  I replied kindly,

“Sir, GPS had me going no more than 75 mph”

He said he clocked me at 77 mph.  Then he looked at all the wires again, paused, and then declared, “Say, I’ll just write you up for a warning – no fines or penalties.” Five minutes later we were on our way, cruising at 74mph.

It pays to be a geek.

We’re off to Arizona.  Just a quick post of pictures of our first day, which included a rainy start…

…but Ruthie was well attended to. She loved the attention and was a stellar baby for the 10 hour drive to Tulsa.

This was how she was able to catch a glimpse of Mom despite her seat being rear facing.

And she spent hours playing with her toys, which the boys quickly gave her the moment she attempted to communicate any complaint.

The boys switched between playing games, to Playstation, to watching movies, and to asking Dad “How much longer?”

And when we arrived in Tulsa, we stayed at the Janowski’s house. Heidi and I took Braden’s $185,000 car out on a late night Taco Bueno run after the kids went down to sleep. Heidi looks like she fits just fine in it.  Me on the other hand…

For the record, Ford produced only a handful of these cars in 2005 and 2006 to prove to the Italian sport car manufacturers that they could produce a better, faster sport coupe. The car easily tops out at 200mph, although we never hit above 60 going to Taco Bueno.

After breakfast it’s off to Albuquerque, NM and then to Flagstaff, AZ

I have come home from my sixth trip to Africa and it never gets old.  Few things compare to sharing a close, blood-like bond of brotherhood in Christ with people so vastly different than yourself.  Yet that is exactly what happens when we are connected to the Vine.

This trip centered around our annual short term missions trip with athletes from Wabash College. It’s a favorite of mine simply because of my ability to participate along side a movement of the Spirit – in a most unlikely situation.  You see, Wabash is an all-male university with high academic credentials as well as a reputation for heavy partying. Six years ago my college roommate, Neal Neathery, coached the football team and began voluntary chapel meetings prior to every football game.  At first, five players reluctantly showed up.  Six years later 95 out of the 109 players are enrolled in weekly Bible study and the team has embarked on their third short term missions trip with OneWay to Botswana.  The campus is in a revival.

On the mission field, this team is such a blessing to the villages and the youth in the area our full-time missionaries minister in.  You can see on the kids’ faces the team’s arrival is a highlight of their year. The platform these men have leads the way for one of the clearest and most effective communications of the saving power of the gospel I have ever seen.  And for a few of the Wabash men who came on the trip unsaved themselves, well, the final day we celebrated with a baptism service welcoming them into the family of Christ.  Like I said, few things compare to sharing life in Christ   -Jim

Every post should start off with a picture of an airplane. Before the team arrived, we took a flight over Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the world’s only inland river delta and saw from a bird’s eye view elephants, buffalo and hippos.

This river delta pours itself onto a desert for two months out of the year and turns a brown, arid wasteland into a lush green haven for wildlife.

And where there is wildlife, there are people.  Notice some of the huts that are being constructed.  There are few mortgages in Botswana and most people do not have bank accounts.  So when you need to build a house and have enough money to afford a single cinder block, you buy the brick and immediately mortar it to your foundation.  When you have enough for another brick, you do it again.  In a year or two, you have a completed one room house.

Here some of the Wabash men learn some African dancing.  Now you know why I like to be the one taking pictures.

Then men memorized Bible stories, which after the sports camps they would share them with the village or school.  Here, a Wabash man teamed up with one of our African missionaries and together practiced sharing the story in both English and Setswana.

Ever play the game Sharks and Minnows with 400 kids? We did!

At a village named Sehithwa, over 700 kids aged 6 to 18 showed up.  Here two school teachers, along with many students accepted Christ.

Always a favorite is the prison.  This quite possibly is the most fruitful time of the trip as these men are broken and very receptive to the gospel, two key ingredients to eternal life.

How many Wardens in the US would welcome the gift of Bibles and freely distribute them the prisoners.  I don’t know the answer, but in Botswana Bibles are gold in the eyes of the prison officials.  This man told us he has never seen a freed inmate come back to prison after they accepted Christ behind bars.

Because we lacked adventure in our week, we set out with our 4x4s after a village meeting into the bush to catch glimpses of some wildlife

It’s hard to miss sighting an elephant when he’s ten feet from the truck

And the week ended with professions of faith in Christ from some of the Wabash men.  Of the 23 men who came of the trip a few did not have Christ in their life.  We chose to take them with the hope that God would work in their life through the other men and the experience.  He did.

I made this funny comic story out of legos and I’d really like to show you it.

By, Jake

submitted by Jim

There are 613,746 pilots in the US.  I am one of them.

There are 325,247 pilots who possess an instrument rating, the FAA’s first-in-a-series of ‘professional’ ratings and the most difficult to obtain. It’s like organic chemistry for a pre-med major – the weeder course of aviation.  As of last Tuesday, August 11, after 40 hours of flight training and 15 hours of ground training over a two year time period, a two hour written examination, a two hour oral exam and a three hour exam flight, I finally became instrument rated.

As I reflect on the countless hours I spent pouring through the Bible-sized FAA Federal Aviation Regulations and Aeronautical Information Manual, DVDs, study guides and whatnot, I cannot help but consider the amount of knowledge and training the government requires before allowing someone to fly in the clouds without visual reference to the ground. I then reflected on the amount of time I studied with the same intensity the Bible-sized Bible – God’s manual for flying by faith without visual reference of the spiritual realm. No doubt priorities were askew, but lessons learned.

When I fly by instruments, I have to prepare in advance for the day ahead. First I check the weather and ask myself is it even safe to fly today? Forecasted thunderstorms, ice in the clouds and extreme turbulence are not things that pilots willingly subject themselves to.  They are to be avoided at all cost.  Either I am to fly around them, or not fly at all. Sounds a lot like looking ahead and avoiding situations where sin and temptation could ultimately undo me.

Second, I file a flight plan based on where I would like to go.  This serves as a form of communication with others and the FAA that they will know where I will be flying at all times – Accountability.  However, every time I file where I want to go, Air Traffic Control (ATC) amends my file to where they want me to go. ATC no doubt understands where I want to go, but they also know where everyone wants to go and they work hard on making sure we all don’t bump into each other 10,000 feet in the sky in the clouds. Omniscience – I find God altering my desired course all too often too.

After preparing and filing, I have to actually fly, perform.  As ATC barks out commands, I have to follow them – no exceptions. I have to be mentally ‘with it’ – no excuses allowed. When they say climb to 9,000 feet, it’s 9,000 feet plus or minus 100 feet, that’s it.  If I fail to maintain that, I’m getting a friendly reminder that I am not complying. Obedience, plain and simple. The alternative to obeying is a close encounter with a 500 foot radio tower, another aircraft, fuel exhaustion or simply flying off course.

After this observation, shouldn’t we challenge each other in our faith in the same manner the FAA challenges pilots? Is not our walk with the Lord and the eternal life He gives immeasurably more important than a pilot license that will lose all authority the moment I die? When was the last time I asked someone to test me for two hours on how well I understood the Bible? How would I do? I’m not sure I want to know.