September

In keeping with the rest of summer September turned out to be a very busy month. 

Girls Group

I was excited to join a new small group with some of the girls from our church. Six girls from middle school, high school, and just starting college make up the group.  We started the book Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild. The book compares the “wild woman” of Proverbs 7 to what a “wise woman” would look like. It isn’t your traditional Proverbs 31 woman kind of book but draws on a lot of other scriptures to pull out what a “wise woman” would look like. One of the girls has already been through the book and so far things are going well for the rest of us. I have loved hearing from the girls – they are already wise!  Their faith and love of Jesus challenges and encourages me. I am so glad to have the opportunity to get to know them a bit more over the coming weeks.

Perspectives is coming to Titusville!

Perspectives is a course that looks at the world Christian movement – searching the scriptures to see God’s purpose for missions as well as looking back over history to see what God is doing/has done. The course has a different missionary speaker each week.

Ben and I had signed up for the course in Merritt Island but it was unfortunately cancelled due to low enrollment.  In the end it will work out better for us! The January course will be held at our church here in Titusville and I get to be part of the planning team! I am convinced I have to coolest of all the jobs! My role is to contact the missionary speakers a couple weeks before they are scheduled to arrive and offer hospitality services. You better believe I am excited and hope to have the opportunity to host some of the speakers in our apartment. I know there are others who would like to host too so we won’t hog all of them, although I am tempted!

Flight Instructing

For the most part Ben is checked out vfr (visual) and ifr (instrument) instructing in the S300, R22, and R44. Only one more checkout for ifr in the R22! Then finally on to just giving instruction.  He now has four students, although at the moment is only flying with one. The other two are both in the Instrument Ground School. The class is quite an intensive three weeks so Ben will wait until they are finished before adding flying and simulator work to their schedule. The fourth student is a part-timer whose wife is an astronaut! Part of the registration process is to have the student’s photo taken for their ID badge. The picture wall is right between two posters, one of helicopters and the other of astronauts. I pointed the student to the picture wall and he said, “Ahh, there’s my wife.” Pointing to the picture of one of the astronauts. It was quite comical and I told him to bring her in so she can sign the poster!

Another house guest

With Eric and Jeffery gone the spare room was once again open. The timing turned out great and we were able to offer the room to a friend of ours who is moving back to Titusville from Germany and will work at the flight school as an instructor. Adam left his wife in Germany to continue with the packing and arrived here last Wednesday with two of their four cats! Nadine and the other kitties will following in about one month. We’ve enjoyed having Adam around while the apartment and vehicle hunts.

Fun at work

While my job at the helicopter school sometimes wears me out and can be pretty taxing, it is also a lot of fun! Just last night we had a kayaking trip of 50 students/staff/and friends. We had hoped to see bioluminescence in the water, but it was really patchy and not as bright as previous years. We still had a lot of fun though!

Last week I got to launch a new program called Eat with U.S. - Dinner in an American Home Program. Through the program I’ll match international students with local families for a casual dinner together. The host families will invite students to their homes and provide a free meal. When talking to one of the students from Thailand about the program he said, “Why would an American family want to have me come over for dinner?” I responded, “To welcome you to our community and learn about your culture.” He was shocked, “You mean American families want to learn about my culture? Wow, that sounds nice. Maybe I could even cook them some Thai food and bring it with me.” I hope he does decide to sign up for the program and I’m sure his host family would enjoy trying some Thai cooking!  

Earlier this week I matched the first student with a host family. So far I have two students and two families signed up. The matched student is from China and literally signed up for the program within an hour of the announcement e-mail being sent. I am excited to hear how the dinner goes. The second student is from Holland and as I don’t personally know the host I’d like to match him with I’ll make a home visit next week to introduce myself.

I am really excited about the program and hope many students and residents in the Titusville area decide to participate!