Starting Over.

So, here is my feeble attempt at getting this blog going again! I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I've enjoyed using Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family, but I'm finding out that not all of you are on there, so perhaps you'll enjoy catching up with me here! I won't bother running down all that's happened since my last post; we'll just start up from today...

Eric has been in Manokwari since Monday. If the weather stays decent he'll be back here late Friday afternoon. He has Marc with him. Marc has officially begun his Porter training now, and at the same time he is getting familiar with the Manokwari area. So far he's doing fantastically in the plane, and Eric is pleasantly surprised! If things continue going this well Marc will be fully checked out in the Porter by mid-October and ready to transfer full-time to Manokwari. This will be a real big help since that will then leave just Wamena to cover with pilots rotating every couple of weeks. We have a new pilot with us now, and he lives in Wamena, but he'll only be flying part-time, so we need to keep rotating someone out of there. Perhaps sometime next year we can look for a full-time Wamena-based pilot, once we have a house available.

Zachary enjoyed a four-day weekend thanks to the Idul Fitri holiday. He had a very light amount of homework so enjoyed spacing it out to allow ample time to sit around and do nothing! We got his progress reports last week and so far he's holding a steady B average. He got a few really bad grades the first week or so of school, which is to be expected, but the grades have been steadily rising and will hopefully average out nicely by semester end.

Monday evening Jason went along with Bob to visit the contractor who is working on the new hangar. He is Muslim and was having a traditional party at his house to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Basically, it's just like come-and-go Christmas parties in the States. You go, eat a bit, chat a bit, shake the host's hand, give your greetings to everyone, and leave. Jason had fun and can now boast having done something that Eric, Zachary and I have yet to do...! Yesterday Jason and I went to market to try and find some nice t-shirts for Eric. The ones he has are getting so ratty! I was nervous there would not be too many vendors open for business today due to the holiday, but there were lots of folks doing business. We found one guy selling loads of t-shirts, but they were all either white, black, or covered in designs, all of which Eric doesn't want! I did manage to find a few that he might like, so we purchased those and we'll see what the verdict is later this week. The good thing is, if Eric doesn't like them I can just stick them in a bag and send them out to a village somewhere and they'll be greatly appreciated! Jason really, really likes going to market with me, and I'm glad he can have this cultural exposure.

Today was a good day. I have been meeting the last few Wednesday mornings with a new friend, and she's been a huge encouragement to me by helping me deal with a lot of things that have been weighing heavily on my spirit in recent weeks. Jason stays home and spends time with Grandma & Grandpa while I take this time for myself...it's real nice... On top of that it's been real gray and rainy for the past several days, so that's a nice reprieve from the heat that will soon be upon us again...

Stay tuned...!