3 Thoughts Friday

1. The newest plane in Asas's fleet is ready to make its way from the US to Brazil, so  2 of our pilots flew to the US to pick it up and fly back.  They are going to make a few stops along the way to the headquarters where the plane will be based.  One of the stops is even here in Boa Vista, since we're the  city farthest north in Brazil.  But alas, there has been a hold up waiting for permission to be granted that would allow the plane to leave the US and enter Brazil.  So, our two pilots are waiting in Florida, where they have been for about a week now.  Please pray that this clears up so our missionaries can return to the field with this new tool for ministry!

2. We're so appreciative of friends and supporters back home who have helped us in unique ways, especially those who have used their fields of expertise to help us in some way.  For example, there's a family friend who is a tax attorney who has done our taxes for free for the past 7 years!  What a blessing to know that everything is done correctly in our complicated tax situation and to not even have to worry about it!  Then, there's the doctor who recently contacted me and offered for me to email or skype if we ever have any questions we could bounce off of him.  And an organization I just heard about that has built up a collection of books (about 5,000!) and allows missionaries to choose as many as they need and sends the books to the missionaries in the field for just half of the shipping costs (which comes out great the way they send them).  The main target is kids books, since so many families (including us!) don't have access to a library for kids books.  It's so amazing and humbling to be blessed in so many and such creative ways!

3. Lately I've been thinking about family a lot, and how blessed we are to have 2 awesome families!!  Of course we know we are exactly where God wants us, but we miss them a ton and I wish Elijah could grow up around his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on both sides.  I'm so glad to live in a time when internet access makes us so much more connected.  We skype with Jeyson's family and stay connected with facebook, etc.  On my side, us sisters get a little carried away.  We have a lot of long distance fun together by sending video clips, group texting, facetime-ing, following the same news stories/shows, and even playing games in the evenings...all for free!  Awesome!!  Since you family members are probably more than half of the people who read this blog :), here's a big "We love you!"