Where did the summer go?

I can hardly believe it is already September - where did summer go? If your summer was anything like ours the last few months have probably felt like one giant blur of activity. We've had a great time, but are also happy to have "normal" life back!

July - Visitors!
We had quite a full apartment for the month of July. Ben's cousin Alan came to stay for two and a half weeks, followed by Ben's parents and two younger brothers for another two weeks. At one point there were seven of us in our two bedroom apartment (at least we have two bathrooms!). Packed in like sardines we had a really nice time with everyone. July included trips to theme parks, swimming at the beach, pool, and in the springs, go carting, mini golf, and was capped of by an RV trip to Georgia. Ben put together a video montage capturing the time his parents and brothers were with us. Do check it out!


August - Back to the books
Ben started the Certified Flight Instructor ground school class on August 9th. This three week class spends a week learning about "fundamentals of instructing" followed by two weeks of preparing lesson plans and practicing class room teaching skills. Ben would be assigned either one or two topics each day, come home to prepare lessons and then present them to his classmates and teachers the next day. Talk about intense! I was quite impressed with the focus and amount of work he put into preparing lessons. It paid off too, Ben felt the class really helped him gain a deeper understanding of the material and effective teaching styles as well as helped build confidence in speaking in front of people.

I finally have a sister!
I always thought that when I got married my husband would have sisters and I'd finally gain one too. Well, little did I know I'd marry into a family of four boys! So imagine how pleased I was when my brother and his fiance were married on Sept 3 and now (finally) I have a sister! The wedding was absolutely beautiful :)

So how's September shaping up?
Ben was assigned a flight instructor and will start to learn how to teach in the aircraft. Outside of flying he's putting together his lesson plan binder which he can take with him and teach from no matter where he is. The binder will be a great resource not only when it comes to future teaching, but now as a means of review as he puts it together. Hopefully Ben will finish the CFI course in the next 4 weeks or so. Following that he'll start on the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument course (CFII). 2-3 weeks after that he should be done with training! Please be praying for us as these courses progress and specifically for opportunity and direction upon completion.