AWANA

Awana has started. Awana stands for "Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed." I am a leader of 9 boys in grades 3 through 6. We meet on Wednesday nights and the evening is broken up into four sections. We have an opening ceremony where we say a salute to the flags and hear anouncements. Then we go to game time which really is a blurry whirlwind. Then it is off to handbook time where clubbers recite memorized verses of the Bible. The evening finishes with a short lesson and some singing time. This is the first year our church has done Awana and it has been a blast. Leslie has been working as the game director for the girls and younger children.

Here is my beautiful wife enjoying the sunrise along with an early morning fisherman on the beach near Chattam on Cape Cod.

The summer wrapped up with a wonderful time in Cape Cod. It was very relaxing and a great time to soak up some sun and hang out with the family.

I had to return to Mt Rainier a little later with Ian Hodge. We had a great hike and enjoyed some cliff jumping before lunch. It is a lot safer than it looks. Thanks Photoshop!

Eventually we made it down again but not without some well deserved rests along the way. It was a long day, Muir to the summit and back to the car in 23 hours.

After a number of long hours we arrived at the summit and enjoyed a spectacular view from Canada to Oregon.

A week ago I decided it would be fun to climb Mt. Rainier. I called up my Dad and dragged him out of mountaineering retirement and we headed for the hill. We had probably the most spectacular weather ever and a wonderful hike.

Happy 4th of July (A firework from the Woodinville show)

January 2006 is the 50th anniversary of the deaths of 5 missionaries led by Nate Saint and Jim Elliot in Ecuador. Every Tribe Entertainment has produced a documentary that is available through their site and a feature film to be released to theaters in January. The story covers the missionaries encounter with the Waodani tribe and the amazing story of forgiveness that followed. For more information and a trailer, visit the site HERE.

We enjoyed wonderful weather and beautiful scenery the whole weekend. It was so nice to have a weekend to be with friends, make new ones and just enjoy flying. It was also a blast to encourage the pilots and the many people from Idaho who have been diligently supporting them for over 30 years. For more pictures of our time in Idaho click HERE.

During my flight with the MAF pilot, Leslie captured our challenging landing in a stiff tailwind which we managed narrowly due to the great skill of the pilot. It was exciting.

Johnson Creek is a small airstrip nestled in a canyon near Yellow Pines Idaho. It was a lot of fun to gain some mountain flying experience and get some pointers from the MAF pilots. It was certainly an adventure.

We flew down with our friends Jake and Gina (eight months pregnant).

This weekend we had a wonderful oppourtunity to fly to Idaho for an MAF fly-in at Johnson Creek. We spent the weekend talking to Missionary Pilots and I was lucky enough to go for a flight with one of them in a Cessna 206.

1 Year down, 3 years to go. I wrapped up the first year of A&P school this week. It was a wonderful first year and I feel as though I have learned so much. I can't wait to get started again in the fall. Our class also voted for student counsel and I was elected to represent my class next year. It has been neat to see how our class has really grown close over the year. Many people in the class have big plans for the summer for travel, missions trips and time to be with family. Leslie and I hope to make it back to Seattle frequently this summer to be with family and friends.