Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you from Jason, Keri & our "little drummer boy."

Here, There, Everywhere!

In mid-October Jason passed his technical evaluation! YIPPEE!! That means we will be continuing on with JAARS, and will head back to North Carolina right after Christmas. Thank you for all your words of encouragement and many prayers!

We got home just in time for Patrick to turn 2 years old! We had a little gathering on his birthday night. Here he is with his cousin Olivia (cousin Cora in the background looking on) opening gifts.

Patrick and Keri headed to Sparta, WI to catch up with her close friends from college. Front row are Justin & Jayne, back row are Josh & Sharaya holding Chloe, Stacy, Keri & Patrick. What a great time to visit!!

The three of us went to Esko/Duluth for a weekend to see Keri's parents and visit Canal Park. We love it there! Here are Keri & Patrick anxiously awaiting the arrival of a "big boat."

Keri's brother has an iguana named Draco that Patrick just adores. I think they enjoyed each other's company.

Every year Jason makes pumpkin pie from scratch (including the year when Patrick was born just a week before Halloween!!). Patrick got in on it this year and helped by picking at the pumpkin seeds.

Patrick is giving his Uncle Andrew a big snuggle over Thanksgiving weekend. Andrew is Keri's brother, if you can't see the resemblence, and he was home for the first time since leaving for West Point Military Academy in June. What a blast to have him home for a few days!

Troublemakers! Here is Patrick with his cousins Cora (middle) and Olivia (right). They see each other as much as possible.

Make-shift Trampoline!

The stubborness of a 2-year-old!

Jason's Recent Projects

Jason has been having a busy time in the hangar recently, and has been loving it! Here are some pictures of what he's been up to.

These seats that he upholstered will be installed in a Cessna 206 for AIM Air (www.aimair.org), another mission aviation organization. He started with rolls of fabric and a diagram scratched in a notebook, and when he was done he had some very nice looking comfortable aircraft seats!

This airplane belongs to the Seed Company, a partner organization of Wycliffe (www.theseedcompany.org). The engines seemed under-powered; upon further research, it was determined that all six cylinders needed to be replaced. Jason has been given this task to do from start to finish and is currently awaiting the new cylinders so he can install them. It's been a great experience for him to do indepth engine work.

Bubba Ivan Erickson

Here are some recent pictures of our sweetie:

Where's Patrick???

Peek-a-boo!

Patrick's first "fort" under the kitchen table

Here Dad, let me help you do that!

The Wood Bee

On August 8 the "wood bee" flew into JAARS. This plane is a replica of the one that Nate Saint, the martyred missionary to Ecuador, flew up until his death. The one seen here is owned by his son, Steve Saint, who uses it to introduce others to the idea of mission aviation and flew it in the movie, "The End of the Spear."

Patrick visiting with Steve Saint

Bird's Eye View of JAARS

Today was JAARS Day; four weekends a year are designated as JAARS Days and they have each department present how they are involved in Bible translation around the world. Jason was volunteering to help load/unload passengers who were going for helicopter rides. When the helicopter wasn't full, I got to go on one ride and Jason got to go on a later one. It was my first time in a helicopter! Here are some pictures of the JAARS Center from the air.

These are the Bethel Apartments--ours is the one toward the top of the picture. You can see our blue car parked in front of the building. You can also see the playground that we often take Patrick to.

Starting from the top of this picture, you can see the shipping building, then construction/maintenance, then the auto shop right next to the long row of T-hangars and opposite them (the round building) is heavy truck maintenance, then at the bottom of the page is the hangar. Back toward the top of the picture and on the far right are the Creative Services and Vernacular Media buildings.

This is pretty much the whole rest of the center. Toward the right you can see the lots of the RV park and the loop driveway (look carefully and you'll see the boat we have stored there). The large building in the middle is the Townsend Building (the main building on Center and where I work in the kitchen). Behind it is the Information Technology (Computer) building. The building farthest down on the picture and on the far left is Patrick's "School," MK Station. We live just out of view on the bottom of this picture.

The whole center (hidden by trees) and the runway

While I was on the ride and Jason was helping other people, our friend David babysat Patrick.

To and From Oshkosh

We had nice easy trips to and from Oshkosh. The car ran great after all the replacements, repairs and preventative maintenance Jason has done on it. We stopped at two capitol buildings --for those who don't know, my goal is to see all 51 capitols and I have started a scrapbook where I put a picture of the front and of the rotunda for each building on a page along with various information about the state. It is a fun little project. Thank you for your prayers for safety!!

Look what I can do!

We got to Indianapolis before the capitol building opened, so Patrick decided to try to take matters into his own hands.

Indianapolis, IN capitol

We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory after Oshkosh and before staying at a guest house in New Albany, IN.

We stayed at a guesthouse owned by a church and hosted by a sweet woman, Mabel, who used to volunteer in the hangar at JAARS. It is a beautiful, restful area, and we so appreciated the opportunity to meet Mabel. We plan on staying there again on our way to MN in October.

Waiting to eat at Cracker Barrel with Mabel.

The capitol in Frankfort, KY--absolutely gorgeous inside and out!

EAA Airventure 2007!

On Saturday, July 21, we headed off to Oshkosh, WI for the Airventure show there--largest aviation get together in the world, and second only to heaven for Jason! We had a great time and here are the pictures to prove it....

They have a children's hangar where there are all sorts of activities for kids--it was a huge blessing for a tired out mom! It also gave Jason a chance to go out 'n' about by himself for a little while.

Patrick in a Tiger Moth that is just his size.

Patrick's favorite airplane is a DC-3 named Duggy..."the smile in the sky." You can see part of the black "smile" line in this picture. Here is Patrick barely reaching the prop of Duggy.

Completely worn out!

Jason with his friend Nathan (from MN)

We had the opportunity to meet Kent Pietsch, a wonderful airshow pilot and very nice guy.

We also got to quickly meet Patty Wagstaff, an excellent airshow pilot.

Us by a stinkin' huge airplane...the C-5.

Hangin' out by a helio with our friend James (from MN)
Patrick is a monkey!!!

" Ouch...the airshow is so loud I have to plug my ears!" Believe me, when the Harriers and F-22s did their shows and fly-bys, I was plugging his ears! Those things are so loud!!

Weeeeeeee!

Patrick fell asleep right in the middle of his snack

Like I said, he's a monkey!

That is talent!!

We got to go right up to the Goodyear blimp

Jason sitting in the Quest Kodiak--an airplane that JAARS has purchased and will soon be receiving. It is the ultimate mission aviation/bush flying aircraft. He could very likely be flying one of these in Papua New Guinea.

Jason took two classes while we were there--one on fiberglass/composite airplanes and another on making wood ribs to build airplane wings...here he is working on the rib. It is now hanging on the wall in our dining area.

On our last night there, a storm was heading our way. Since we were camping in a tent, a very kind family that we've known of since last year's event invited us to stay at their house near the airport. We stayed here, in their son's room, which was such a blessing! It was so peaceful to have a good night sleep and relaxing shower the day before we headed back to North Carolina.