Tornados! Where.

Yes I'm still here after several tornado's touched down (thanks for asking). Luckily none of them were where we were staying.
I think that they are wrapping it up here at Covington, it should be done some time today.
I can't wait to go home, don't get me wrong; the folks here at Covington are great, all are firm servants for Christ, and their hospitality is beyond compare, but I'm home sick and I miss my family (I know, I'm a wimp).
Stand by for the local Mexican restaurant report!

Hanging out in Oklahoma.

Patience, the mere mention of the word conjuors up visions of waiting for a very long time. Cobwebs and skeletons come to mind. I'm sitting at Covington engine, and waiting for some things to get done, but the wait is never easy. Good things come to those that wait, or so I am told. Impatience is not good. The Israelites got impatient with Moses to return from Mt. Sinai and things got ugly.

The engine on the plane is split open so they can inspect all the goodies inside (fascinating stuff).
I would love to be on my way back home. I'm such a home body, I would have never made it in the airlines, I would be too home sick!

Oklahoma is a big open place, windy & cool, what do people do here? The folks here at Covington are up to thier ears in work because all the crop dusters are in for work. I always thought that they were small. These planes are huge, with massive engines!

[I am struggling with layout here... Help, anyone??] Picture 1: As you can see, there isn't much here. That big pickup was given to us for the week. I have never driven an f-250 diesl; it's a nice ride. Picture 2: The big plane is a Grumen Abatross, its huge! Unfortunatly it hasn't flown in 3 years, kinda sad. Picture 3: The tubine disk is what makes all the power (550HP) not bad for a little disk. Stay tuned for more updates.

Not Me Monday

Howdy folks, I haven’t “not me’d” in a little while. This is a blog carnival started by MckMamma at MyCharmingKids.net. I have no idea why it’s called a blog “carnival” – but it is… So when you are done feeling like a better mom than me, go over to her blog and you can see a whole slew of other denials. By the way, it is NOT Sunday. I mean, it's Monday in Australia, is it not?

Mark is not sitting here contemplating how to make my Sunday afternoon difficult. He did not scheme up the plan to leave me with the van - but take the only set of keys with him to Oklahoma... I did not have to get rescued by Drew and Jeff. They did not leave what they were doing, come to my house, get the extra set of car keys, go to the airport, get the car, bring it back to me, and then go about their day. I did not have to call four of five people before I got these two guys. I did not try to call Mark a 100 times when he was stopped in Mississippi for Chili dogs and ice cream. He will not tell you that he needed fuel and a bathroom break. The real reason is not for the free chili dogs and ice cream. Oh and just in case you were not wondering, I did not/will not rat him out.

Speaking of Mark and Oklahoma, I am not jealous that he is spending a week in a hotel – with maid service – while I’m at home with the kids. I am not thankful that at least I get to go to work and get a bit of a break. I am not going to keep the babysitter for date night and have a date with myself. I am not planning on using aftercare at school at least twice. I am not that selfish (well maybe I am…).

Do not be fooled by Ryan's apparent cuteness. It is not part of his ploy to take over the world. Here is not snuggled on his dad's legs. He acts all cute and innocent and then wham! He attacks - usually in the form of whining - but even better - he gets into your stuff and makes a mess. He does not love to play in the kitchen cupboards, refrigerator, and dishwasher. (Oh, we did not take the boys to Lowe's this week so they could open doors to the refrigerators to their heart's content.)

I am not seriously considering swapping my pots and pans, cleaning supplies, and pantry ingredients with the toys in the toy room. I mean seriously, Ryan has gobs of toys, but what does he not play with? My stuff in the kitchen. So if I swap, will he then play with his toys? How much of a pain would it be to walk to the toy room to get a baking dish? It’s not that far away…

I do not think Zach grew at least half an inch this week. His pants did not fit last weekend. Today, they are not too short. Maybe that was why he was not grumpy last week - maybe he did not have growing pains. He was not a nightmare for his teacher on Thursday. He has not had this teacher for 3 years – and she has not been through many ups and downs with this little man.

I am not freaking out about my ankle or Achilles tendon. It is not sore and I do not have a marathon all paid for and ready to go in April. I am not worried about next weekend’s half marathon in Sarasota. I am not planning on doing some serious cross-training this week and absolutely no running. I am not looking for prayer – even though it is silly. I am not thankful that I worship a God who cares about the ankles as much as he cares about the bigger problems. Speaking of God, I am not totally enjoying reading through the Old Testament. I mean where else can you read about battles where people were killed with a jawbone of a donkey? Or a battle won because the other people were confused and the Israelites did not even have to fight? It’s not cool stuff!

I am not reading Twilight. It is not engaging. (Seriously, vampires and werewolves are not a genre I would choose – but I like this book.) I am not loving the fact that I can talk to kids at my school about this book… Although, I do not not-think these kids should be reading this – it’s a bit “mature” for tweeners. And, gasp, I am not actually getting excited about my cushy position being eliminated and going back to a classroom. I am not actually looking forward to having students again. I am excited now, will I be in October??

And finally, I am not counting the minutes until Mark returns from Oklahoma where he watched an airplane get fixed. Oh yeah, I am not pestering the people at google about my blog being disabled. I am not frustrated that you can’t actually find the steps to get it corrected. I am not secretly hiding a million other things I did not do this week. They usually involve short-temperedness with the family... Oh, and I was not thankful that I listened to my friend Jen's morning-with-two-children stories. I have not had my kids paint their face with Kool-Aid powder the day of school pictures -with minutes to get out the door and get to school. So I am not thankful that it could be worse...

K

Campfires, track, and ramblings

I haven't blogged in a while and I am still pretty bummed that my personal blog is down, so I am still taking over Marks.  He was blogging yesterday about the weather and I deleted his post because it wasn't what I wanted.  And I've I wanted to put some pictures up...  (I don't know what's up with the picture placement and I don't have time to play around.  I'm caught up in reading the Twilight Series and I just got the 3rd book.  It is horrible literature, but I want to know what the kids at school are reading.  I will say that vampires and werewolves are addicting...)

Last Saturday night Zach came up with a great idea.  He wanted to roast hot dogs over our fire pit.  For those of you who know Zach, he really only talks about 3 things, Cars movie, riding the bus, and where's Daddy.  So out of the blue, he told us very clearly, that he wanted hot dogs over the fire.  When Zach speaks clearly and uses a new sentence, he pretty much gets what he wants.  So of course, we cooked hot dogs over the fire.  I was a nervous wreck because the boys kept walking around and getting too close to the fire for my tastes.  But all went well and we had fun...  Of course, my favorite part were the s'mores...

Zach's next Special Olympics sport, track, started today.  All four of us went and had a great time.  Zach made a new friend and I think he will like running.  Maybe he can do the marathon with me in April?  

above: Zach is running the 50 m dash - I won't say his time, but he stopped in the middle...

below: Mark, the clown, is juggling the 4, 6, and 8 lb shots from the shot put.

Speaking of marathons in April, my ankle is bothering me.  Please pray that I figure out why and that God heals it.  After about 2 miles it really starts hurting.  Today it wasn't too bad once I got past mile 6, but I don't want to do any long runs while it is bothering me.  Ugh...

Water Egress Training!

I must say that last Friday was quite interesting.  I attended a water ditching survival class in Lakeland with some of my colleagues in the missionary flying biz. I don't know about you , but where can you go and be repeatedly dunked in pool with all your clothes on, and learn a bunch of cool survival stuff; yup, in God's service.

The class was taught by a navy rescue diver, and was very informative. We learned how to extricate ourselves from an inverted cockpit that was fully submerged. We were also induced to a bunch of neat survival gear, and got to play with an inflatable raft and practiced climbing in after each dunk. All in all a good time was had by all. God forbid we should ever have to use these skills, but we are now better equipped mentally if we do.