Oshkosh

Today we head up to oshkosh for the 2012 EAA Airventure.  For those of you who have never heard of OshKosh or the EAA Airventure check out http://airventure.org/.

 Here are some of the facts I found on wikipedia.

• It is estimated that 10,000–15,000 aircraft visit OshKosh during the EAA airventure.
• About 300,000-500,000 seperate people visit OshKosh during the EAA airventure.
• More than 4,000 volunteers contribute approximately 250,000 hours before, during and after the event
• Approximately 1,100 portable toilets are supplied for the event, and EAA estimates that more than 2 million sheets of toilet paper are used (you probably didn't want to know that.)

 All that to say that this is a huge event. Our organization has a presence here every year along with many other mission organizations. This year there are over 200 representatives from different missions. Kars will be helping man a booth, being the face of our organization, who many people have never heard of.

part of the main display at the airshow a few years ago.

The 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub

Train to Chicago!

One of B's favorite shows is "Thomas the Train." Since the kids have been restrained in their car seats for many hours and will restrained in them for many hours in the future. We decided to take the Metra in from the suburbs where we are staying.
 It was a fun day of seeing old friends and familiar places. But also a day of 7 miles of walking in the heat pushing two little kids in strollers. Missing a train by mere seconds and having to wait an hour in the ogilvie station. Overall a full day of adventure! Next time we'll take the van :)

We thought just B would be Excited but J was very excited as well.

Both boys really enjoyed looking outside

Seeing friends at Moody, not many of them left on campus

Eating lunch with Joel.

The stroller fits perfectly in the bike section.

Drops!

One of my favorite things during mountain week was the opportunity to practice drops. In some cases overseas missionaries don't have runways and still need supplies. Even though this is not so common anymore, pilots would often drop mail, medicine and whatever supplies were needed to these village teams. The packages would be dropped from 200-500 feet  above ground at 70 miles per hour.

 During mountain week I had the opportunity to sit in the backseat of a Cessna 206 with the removed, working together with the pilot aiming for a 50 foot circle. For a guy who is scared of heights this was quite an experience.

In Chicago

We made it to Chicago! The kids did pretty well over the two days we drove. By leaving prior to 7AM both days we were able to make it to a stopping point prior to afternoon nap.
Thank you for praying. It made a difference.

Hitting the road....

Tomorrow we will be leaving NC and starting our BIG cross-country adventure!  Really, I'm hoping it will feel like an adventure for all of us, especially the 2-year-old in our family. :) 

We hope to see many family and friends in the next 3 months, literally spanning the country, from Illinois to Nebraska to Washington State.  If you live in any of those states (or the ones in between) and haven't heard from us yet about when we'll be there, let us know you want to see us and we'll make every effort to work out something!  The goal of this trip is two-fold:  first, to spend time with family and friends one last time before we leave the country in 6 months and second, to share about the ministry that God is calling us into with mission aviation and invite others to join the team of those standing behind us in prayer and finances.  It WILL be an adventure!

Thanks for praying for our trip!