After much hard work and studying, Slick finished his training in Nampa, ID and joined Zoe and me (Donna) in Colorado last week. He was due in after the two-day drive on Wednesday mid-morning, but pushed through the night to arrive at 1am on Wednesday, blaming it on being “a man in love.” 🙂 Read more about his training on our blog.
Mom, Dad and Mom’s cousin enjoyed playing with Zoe, who gave us adult children the excuse to sing silly songs and to linger at the ice cream social. The plethora of baby sitters freed me to slide down the snowy slopes again a few times, but change is definitely afoot – I almost preferred to forego the steeps in favor of the flats where I could tow behind me the next generation of our family. Hence the cross country skis logged many more miles before we departed the high country for Colorado Springs where I’ll be working on adding a flying rating to my collection, courtesy of an Air Force education program.
As we prepared to leave the snowy heights last week, God gave us two special gifts. The first was one last beautiful mogul run on my last trip down the front of Vail Mountain. Much of the previous day’s powder remained, making the conditions perfect. I felt God’s smile as I gasped for air and danced down the bumps. The second gift was a Sunday full of friends, new and old. Of course going to Africa to fly little planes in support of missionaries is not the most boring potential future…and it certainly opened the door to conversation with many interesting people. The high country proved again that both in the vast but familiar terrain and with the spirits of those who choose to live there, our hearts are at home in Colorado.
Nevertheless, half of our flight training is behind us and the road to Africa on which we believe God is leading us seems ever more certain.
Chili and Zoe on Shrine Pass, a couple miles south of Vail Pass
Spooky and Phantom 