autumn

12 years

August 7, 1999

so thankful for this wonderful man God has given me

SO thankful

summer fun

our T-ball players

creation of the day: a laptop

Welcome back to Sabetha, Brian and Tara, Corbin and Kirsten!

Isaac turned 5.

Grandpa and Grandma Aberle gave him a toolbox with REAL tools.

Isaac squealed, "Are these grown-up tools for ME?!?"

He was ecstatic.

He started building right away. And without any of us knowing, he pried the lid off the paint can and started painting. Thankfully, he uses newspapers now.

Have you ever seen Snap Circuits? For kids who love building, these are pretty neat.

100 different circuit directions. Cool.

Carly's photo of Isaac

Isaac's photo of Carly

Carly's newest achievement

images from oahu

flying high

A KC-135 refueling jet took us on a trip to Oahu, Hawaii. What an experience this turned out to be. Just minutes before leaving, a crew-guy came back and asked if our kids would like to sit in the cockpit for take-off. Of COURSE! I was jealous because there was only room for two. So I pressed my face against a little glass window to watch us leave the ground.

(Isaac in the cockpit)

Ah, flying! What a rush!....the speed on the runway...the fact that you really do have to hold on tight to those canvas seats. It's no commercial-type take-off, but that's beside the point I wanted to make. Ten minutes into the trip, we saw Tuttle Creek (huge from the air).

Two hours later we saw snowy mountain peaks that looked tiny in comparison to the vast ocean we saw two hours after that.

Can you see the little ripples of water? Nothing under us but ocean here.

The earth seemed so BIG. And I felt so little. It's humbling and amazing to stop and think how BIG God is in comparison to this huge earth that is but a dot to Him.

There's no room to complain. I got to sit in the cockpit for landing. Here's the view of the runway in Honolulu: