Missions At The Airport

This weekend we went to a really great missions event about an hour from where we are staying.  It is called "Missions at the Airport" and was held at a hangar in a small airport and run by a big airplane parts supplier that helps provide parts for our mission in Brazil and the mission we're temporarily working with in Ohio.  They were expecting about 3,000 people, so this was a huge, well run event! But before getting on to the pictures of Missions at the Airport, these are a few other pictures I took this weekend that I just want to share because...well I'm a mom and that's what we do!

Our baby is getting so big...he's wearing shoes

And jeans!

Just something about that combo got to me...it makes him seem like he's becoming a big kid and not just a baby anymore!

Not big enough to put this whole gourd in his mouth though...despite various attempts :)

Oh and one picture we took on the way to the event.  After gawking at how cute this dog is, we noticed he stayed PERFECTLY still...and was in fact a stature :)  Super cute though!

 Anyway, back to the event.  In the hangar there were booths representing about 20 different missions organizations which use missionary aviation (including "our" mission in Ohio), there were a bunch of interesting planes to look at, a music activity tent where you could play with musical instruments from all around the world, a kids tent with some of the coolest ideas to gets kids thinking about missions, you could take rides in planes and helicopters used for missions, there were demonstrations of a Cessna 206 doing short take off and landings (like are done often in misisons), food, and much more.

Jeyson went for a ride in a DC3, which is a plane that was a huge part of WWII but is now often used in missions.  It's a small plane, but big enough to fit missions teams in to fly them to different locations.

An interesting side fact we learned is that Amish can fly on planes!  There were lots of them on the flight with Jeyson, though from what we understand they are not allow on helicopters...no idea why!

 Elijah liked being in the blow up toys, but had no clue what to do.  He mostly just sat still :)

At night (though we didn't stay for it) there was a concert and a HUGE bbq chicken dinner.  Above is the grill the chicken was getting cooked on!

 One of the most fun parts of the day was taking this little hay ride...

 ....over to see a hovercraft demonstration.

 To be honest, I never really knew much about hovercrafts before, but it was so neat the way it just floats so easily right over the water and then hovers easily out of the water...

 And over the land

 I love the contrast of seeing the very traditional Amish people watching this UFO looking technology!

Some adorable Amish children watching with binoculars from a nearby field

All of this right on a tiny pond in someone's backyard!

 Even though we're in the middle of nowhere Ohio, we ran into people we knew!  First, we ran into a couple Jeyson knew from Moody, then we ran into a guy who worked in partnership with Asas for years.  Ironically, the very week we came to the US he came down to Asas after many years to lead a seminar, so we were "supposed" to meet him then.  I guess God didn't want us to miss him and allowed us to meet him in the US instead!

 Sometimes as missionaries in Brazil, we get so focused on the work God is doing there and through our organization.  This event was so refreshing to help us take a step back and see what God is doing throughout the world with and without missionary aviation.  We are blessed to be even a small part of the story.

 On the way home, we stopped at Leyman's - a famous store that has SO much random stuff, but specializes in appliances (like fridges and washing machines) that don't need electric power.  This is perfect for the Amish population, but also missionaries order things from this store that they need to live in remote places with no power.

Outside the store, this is one horse I could handle!

SO many soda options in the store!!!

If only we could teach Elijah to use this duster rather than just think it is fun!

As of Late

I've been a bit absent in blog world because the past weeks have not been normal.  Jeyson and Elijah have both been sick and I've been nurse Stephanie.  It's been a tricky sickness too, because as soon as it looked like they were getting better, the colds came back on again (a few times!).  

Sick babies get to watch a little extra Sesame Street

Jeyson missed a day or two of work, but other than that has been working hard on this airplane that is headed to Honduras.  It's had a complete make over that has transformed it from being a comfortable plane to a flying truck of sorts.  I'll blog more on this later.  Jeyson is continuing to learn a lot and really enjoy his time at MMS.

Before the guys got sick (and in some moments in between where it looked like they were better!) we've had a lot of small town fun.  I am especially enjoying the change of seasons, something we don't get where we live in Brazil.  In Anapolis the weather is pretty much the same year round, so you don't get the change in clothes, colors, food, and activities like here.  We've been soaking it in.  

Labor day we went to the last day the local aquatic center/splash pad was open and had a ton of fun.

And another day we went to an Amish/Mennonite auction where they raise money for missions work in Haiti.  (We're in Amish country here).  It was a huge event with Amish and non-Amish people.  The food was great and they auctioned off everything from quilts to horse and buggies!

Confession:  I snuck a picture :)

 We also bought a baby bike seat from a garage sale for $5 and it was the best $5 spent ever!  Jeyson's always been a great biker and I originally thought we should get the seat so I could sent the boys out and I could have the house to myself!  Although that happens a lot, we were lent 2 bikes and Jeyson convinced me to come along.  And I'm shocked to say it's a ton of fun!  I grew up in a hilly area, but here's it's very flat and easy to go far with little effort.  So we regularly bike to the park with a picnic or just bike around a few miles.

Here's a typical before picture

And knocked out after!

 Another weekend we met some friends at a county fair about an hour away.  We enjoyed the fair, but the highlight (at least for the guys!) was the modified tractor pull.  These tractors are crazy creations, some even had jet engines built in.  It was SO loud we had to cover Elijah's ears (he wasn't bothered, but we were worried about his safety!).

Huge pumpkin at the fair

Record size watermelon...I think it was 119 pounds if I remember correctly!

And I just had to have a funnel cake.  It just represents everything about US summer/fall fun to me that I've missed so much!  Food is SO connected to memories and I wanted to soak it all in!

 Another random thing we did was we went on a tour of a mom and pop cheese factory with a group of local young events.  This group isn't affiliated with a church or anything, but just  group that gets together once a month to do interesting activities.  I think next they're going to go wild mushroom picking and tour a museum exhibit.  It was fun to get out and meet new people.

 And of course see how cheese is made (it's all inside those tubes and you could see bit so colby jack oozing out from the sides...yum!

Lastly, this guy has been growing and changing nonstop!  Here's 10 months old now and all about eating finger food on his own (he is an AWESOME eater!)

And exploring everything...

And everywhere!

Yesterday I celebrated my 28th birth.  28!  I seriously can not believe it!  Where did the time go?  The day before, I got spoiled with a date out to the "big town" ....with a babysitter watching Elijah!!  Then, on the actual day, it was a bike ride, cake, and the day with my boys.

Say Hi!

This may not seem like a big deal to those of you who live more out in the country, but I never have before (though technically we are not even in the country right now, but a small town surrounded by the country).  But I'm from NJ and we live in a city of 300,000 in Brazil, so this is a novel concept to me....waving. 

Around here when driving in the country, people wave at each other.  It's not all the time, but frequent enough to make it not a big deal.  It is usually under these conditions:

1. A car and walker/biker pass each other

2. Two walkers/bikers pass each other

3. On a country road

4. Without a lot of other people 

Even kids who are walking along the road will initiate it and wave at us first!

We thought it was kind of strange at first, but now we have gotten used to it and love it.  It's such a pleasant perk in your day.  It's so interesting to explore a new culture even within your home culture!