Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire

Yes, that's right, chestnuts!  In November, Portugal celebrates "O Dia de São Martinho". The day's name comes from an old legend about a Roman soldier.  He came across a poor beggar dressed in rags on a drizzly, cold and miserable day.  He took pity on him and used his dagger to cut his own cloak in two, sharing with the man in need.  Legend has it that God saw the actions of São Martinho and the next day was sunny and warm.  From that day on, every November, Portugal has had O Verão (the summer) de São Martinho, a time when the days become warm again and everyone enjoys the pleasure of being outside before winter settles in.  

(Diego after Saturday's open air organic market in the Botanical Gardens 

- located next to the old aqueducts)

Now it's a day set aside to celebrate all things autumn and to enjoy a time of togetherness in your community.  Through the city and out into the countryside, chestnut venders abound.  

A euro or two bought me more than I could eat.  (To be honest I wasn't really fond of them but I am in love with the smokey smell and the romance surrounding it).  Huge, beautiful baskets of chestnuts and walnuts decorate every market - oh, the overwhelmingly fall feel of it all!  It's been a pleasure to walk around the "Baixa" (downtown) during class breaks (my "college" schedule includes three hours off midday) or on my way back and forth from one of the boys' schools. My concept of a long walk has drastically changed since we first got here - I look forward to my now "short walks".  Last week I snapped a few shots from around town to share.  I tried to get the real picture and not just the prettiest parts... Enjoy the look and feel of Portugal in November!

(Wow, I wonder who did that awesome parallel parking job?! ;) 

The street Lucas' school is on.)

(The usual daily walk.)

(Headed down to the old district - yes, cars navigate these streets!)

(Remind me to tell you the legend of the rooster sometime.)

(Life in unexpected places - roof of a church sidedoor.)

(Old medieval building... see how each level extends further out?  

That was done on both sides of the street to keep off the street below.  

It worked well, but is one reason disease could spread so easily.)

(A church in the Baixa with street venders... go up a long ways to get back to classes.)

(We love experiencing the city during the day, while still being able to go home on the outskirts of town where it is peaceful!)

We were so excited to be invited over to an American family's home for Thanksgiving dinner.  The spread felt like home, with one "Portuguese" concession added to the menu - soup, of course!  There were six families gathered together, giving thanks and enjoying some oh-so-delightfully-easy-to-understand English conversation!  By the night's end, Diego was in his element.

(The edges of the main square between the University & Lucas' school)

(I really need to learn to knit or crochet...it looks so fun!)

(A family stroll in the Baixa after school... it gets dark by 6 now)

(Lucas' school)

Fall is winding down here with Christmas decorations already up throughout the public arenas (much like the US).  I noticed a Christmas nativity scene hanging outside the mall just last week.  We're trying to soak up the sun and warm afternoons while we can.

 (A street I walk frequently between Lucas' school and the University.  Note the colorful graffiti on the cantina wall mixed in with the fall leaves and cobblestones.)

(Still not a fan of the 125 steps up to campus!) 

(Part of campus - I have some classes in the Physics building 

and some in the one directly behind the bus) 

(Some days it feels a bit like living in a Harry Potter scene... 

traditional student uniform is worn often and includes a black, floor length cape!)

 (Sunset view at the Patio das Escolas - 

on the far right is the old library...where books and bats coexist.)

Thanks for praying - please keep them coming!  We can't seem to keep sickness at bay and school drop-offs are still a struggle for Diego.  Send us a line and let us know how you are and how we can pray for you too.

(Our favorite fruit stand at the market - the owner isn't in the picture because I chickened out on asking her to be, but she knows both boys by name, even when they aren't with us, and remembers all our favorites.)

(The market is a great place to practice Portuguese.  It's also a huge piece of eye candy!)

Happy Late Thanksgiving to each of you.

Nas Escolas

Here's an update on how things are going "nas escolas":

Grady and I just finished our second course -  it covered a full semester's worth of material in three weeks, which meant long days of university classes for us and long days in a new situation for the boys.  (Aunt Jenna watched the boys for the first course, so this is their first month in daycare/school.)  

Lucas goes to the creche (baby daycare center).  For the first two weeks he wailed everyday at drop off and his nighttime sleep pattern became more of an hourly wake up routine.  Thankfully they bumped him up from the baby room to the 1 year old room last week and his teachers' report a much happier baby!  He's now getting the stimulation and space to roam that he needs.  Drop off time only involves a little crying and his sleep patterns are slowly improving (emphasis on slowly... keep praying).  

(Graduation day - he's WAY too active for the baby room! 10 months old.)

Diego was very excited to begin school, but is having a really rough time.  He still loves to read his book ABOUT school in Portugal but everyday it is a struggle to drop him off.  On Thursday I had to pull him off the gate. :(  Pickup time always finds him happy but the I don't want to go to school comments often begin again at bedtime.  He is making some friends besides the teachers - I now hear stories about silly faces.  We think the language barrier bothers him more than he says.  Thankfully, he is picking up new vocabulary everyday, appears to love learning Portuguese.  He has a wonderful teacher who can speak English with him and it is clear that he really likes her.

(All the kids have these bibs over their regular clothes for school. 

Diego is being a CRJ in this shot - see his winglets?) 

The toughest part of his day is definitely lunchtime.  The school has lunch included - soup followed by chicken or fish with rice or potatoes and fruit - and none of it has dairy or beef (his allergies).  This means although he doesn't LIKE his food his options are to eat it or wait for afternoon snack.  He has a deal with his teacher that he'll eat five bites of soup - one for each year of his life.  Our progress is that he is trying a few more things.  Now instead of coming home with a changed shirt (from throwing up something at lunch) he comes home talking about how he ate EIGHT bites just because.  Little steps that are celebrated as almost-miracles in the Nace household!  

Still, he is struggling to adapt and you can just SEE the eagerness with which he embraces the weekend.  We are trying distraction techniques, different drop off times, rewards, switching who does the drop off... we may have even used a bit of bribery.  Please keep praying for this little man's adjustments.  We would love to see his excitement for school return.

(Weekend family fun on a rainy day.  Diego says "Tyler Lockett is my favorite player in the NFL.")

Grady and I look forward to starting our first regular semester course and hope life reaches a slower pace.  It is a struggle to retain everything when it is thrown at you so quickly in the intensive courses.  We have been living "corre corre" as the expression goes. (Running, running).  I also hope that Lucas will get back to sleeping... The last week was a big improvement because he only awoke 4-5 times a night instead of 8!  Having a brain that is fully alert would be such a boost to my learning.  This semester begins October 1st and continues until February.

(Keeping life interesting...and loud.)

A few recent highlights to tack on the end:

Lucas - Spends the days holding onto the highchairs at the creche while walking.  He eats soup several times a day like a good Portuguese baby.

Diego - School supplies include hat, sunscreen, toothbrush and toothpaste - all of which are regularly used.  He says "obrigado" (thank you), "sim" (yes) and "não" (no) more often than the english version.  Today he tried pomegranate from our landlords' garden... and surprised himself by liking it!

Navigating the Doctor's Office

Time to celebrate!  Why? Because I managed to take both boys to their doctor appointments.  No big deal right?  I've been doing it for years now.  Except these were PORTUGUESE doctor appointments and who actually learns medical terms during your first weeks of language class?  

I fretted about it for days.  Grady, my go-to-make-him-talk-in-another-language-I-don't-fully-understand guy, had class but I have no classes on Thursday afternoons.  Lucky me, I thought.  Gah, how am I supposed to do this?  

First victory of the day?  I used my Portuguese to let the ladies at the Creche (Lucas' daycare) know I had to pick him up early for a doctor appointment - yahoo!  And guess what, when I got there, they were actually expecting me.  It's like they understood! :) 

Google maps worked and I found the building, but it turned out to be a complex structure with poor signage, in Portuguese.  Sigh.  I found an office and took a ticket (Portuguese offices love the number ticket system) even though I had no idea what I was taking a ticket for.  It worked, and I got to talk to someone and ask where in the world I was supposed to go.  Go outside, head around to the other side, in to the elevator and up to the third floor.  We've got this Diego!  Or not.  Third floor, another wait for the receptionist.  She kindly checked her computer to find me the right place to go.  Then it was up to the fourth floor.  But there were no signs saying whose office it was, no one was home AND the door was locked.  So it was time to wait and hope that they were just late getting back from lunch and that we were finally in the right place.  Tick.  Tock.  Tick.  Tock.  Do we wait or go back down?  Finally we head back downstairs but as we arrive we hear people walking on the floorboards above and rush back up.  

With much patience and kindness on the part of the receptionists, nurse and doctor we made it through both checkups for the boys.  Height, weight, conversations on diets and baby activities, a prescription for Lucas vitamins AND translated vaccination records all done!  Explanations on Diego's allergies, asthma and current medications - done!  Letters of health certification for their schools - done!  It might not have been pretty or correct Portuguese throughout, but all the points were covered and understood!  When the doctor learned we were moving to Mozambique after this she jumped right on the need to start those vaccinations as well and understood me explaining which ones we had already gotten and why we were waiting for others.

(When you move around with kids, you end up with quite the collection of vaccination records - Costa Rica, Tennessee, Washington and Portugal)

Whew, I got out of that office feeling like I had been run through the wringer and come out on top of the world!  Grady suggested I thank him for giving me this opportunity to triumph . . .  I'm not sure I go that far, but it did feel good (in the end).

So, what does it teach me?  Maybe I will finally start learning to let tomorrow's problems wait until tomorrow before I worry.  

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what I forgot... to tell them about the dead plant Lucas knocked over in their waiting room and all the dirt on their floor.  Whoops, sorry!

Ironically, when I started the next week of classes... we were studying all health related vocabulary.

(So this is celebrating my birthday and not the appointment's success, but aren't they cute!?)

(Diego-Mommy date to Santa-Clara-a-Velha, a convent that was once underwater in Coimbra.)

A First Glimpse of Portugal

Well we’ve been in Portugal for about two and a half months, and I’ve fallen a bit behind on these blog posts.  If you did not get our June newsletter, here is a link to it http://www.maf.org/document.doc?id=3939 and it explains our move and landlords.

(Standing on top of the university's clocktower in Coimbra)

Right after we sent that letter out our first Portuguese course started, and it is an accelerated course that crams a semester’s worth of language learning into one month.  You feel like you are breathing Portuguese, but we did learn a lot in a month!  I have even had people tell me my Portuguese is “the best” and “perfect,” but Holly thinks that has more to do with a culture that occasionally values politeness over factual accuracy . . .

Seriously though we were both very impressed with the course.  My Spanish background allowed me to test into the second level, so Holly and I were in different classes, but we both really liked our teachers and were very impressed with how the program is set up.  Holly’s class only had 6 students, and mine had 15, so student teacher ratios were really good.  The students are from everywhere; my class had students from every continent except Africa and Antarctica.  Most of the other students were just there for the summer, but there is a Venezuelan couple in my class who will be with me the whole year.

Portuguese is in some ways very similar to Spanish, but different enough that it can really mess you up.  It has much more complicated sounds, and, like English, two words spelled identically can sound different and mean different things, and two words written differently might sound the same. . .

Next week Lucas will start daycare and Diego will start Kindergarten (both in Portuguese), but for the summer course that was not available, so my oldest sister Jenna flew out and watched the boys while we were in school.  I’m still not sure what we would have done without her, and she did a great job getting Diego to eat new things (this is hard), and helping them adjust to life over here a little more gradually than just throwing them straight into a Portuguese school.  While she was here (but luckily for us on a weekend) Lucas started crawling, and he has quickly learned to climb steps and open things.  Unfortunately his motor skills are way ahead of his risk assessment, so he’s keeping all of us on our toes.

(Lucas - 9mo)

In August the University shuts down, so we had some time to see more of Portugal.  Jenna’s husband Carl flew over and the six of us spent a few weeks travelling.  We mainly stayed in people’s houses (with Airbnb), so we were able to keep practicing Portuguese, and even learn some new vocabulary.  New places meant we had to keep interacting in Portuguese in different situations: getting directions, finding restaurants, looking for diary free food, etc.  I also got a few chances to try and explain MAF in Portuguese.  Portugal is a beautiful country with some of everything, and we have not even been to all the regions yet.  Everyone is very friendly, and it is the cheapest European country I have been to, so you should come visit us!

Next week classes start again with another accelerated course, and then in October the regular semester long course begins, so the pace will be a little more sustainable.  Diego is excited to start school, but please pray for him as starting kindergarten in a different language is quite the adjustment!

Thank you again for all of your support, and we will leave you with a video of Diego giving a tour of our house here:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a White Christmas, although nobody else around us did:

Here’s how that happened:

My brother Jody was thinking that our odds of a White Christmas for the foreseeable future are pretty low, as in Mozambique Christmas is in summer and usually 90-100 degrees.  Uncle Jody came up with a magical surprise.  He woke up early Christmas morning (think earlier than kids who don’t sleep because they’re so excited for Christmas early), drove my mom’s truck up into the mountains Mount Baker, and loaded it full of snow.  He arrived with perfect timing as the truck pulled onto the lawn just as Diego was awakening.  Holly’s family was also in town from Texas so it was a huge family adventure!

I’ve been reflecting on the Christmas story a lot since I met a friend for breakfast last week to talk about MAF and missions.  We had started talking about the story of the wise men, and the star of Bethlehem.  It was probably not some huge cosmic spotlight as we usually see depicted – it seems that no one in Israel even noticed it (Herod had to ask when it had appeared, and even when the wise men left Herod and went to Bethlehem, it seems they were alone in following it).  It is much more likely to be some sort of astrological sign which was so significant the magi were willing to spend months and riches to follow it and bring gifts.  A link to a few good candidates for the magi’s star/sign: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20730828

But if it was just a “normal” astronomical event isn’t the story a huge disappointment in place of our miracle star story?  Just the opposite in my opinion. It is so powerful that when God created the heavens and set the stars and planets in their place, He orchestrated them to do exactly what they needed to do to draw the pagan wise men to Himself.  From before creation He had a plan to reach the nations through even the birth of Christ!  Before this year I’ve always missed how the story of the star is missional. 

If you’re interested in how almost all of the Bible’s stories are missional and how they really are a part of one epic story stretching from Genesis to Revelation, you can listen to a sermon I preached on the topic here: http://naceswithmaf.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.  Or better yet, go take a Perspectives class: https://class.perspectives.org/.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Newest Nace

Mr. Lucas Charles Nace was born at 9:38 this morning via a C-section.  Both Lucas and Holly are doing great now.  He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and is 19 inches long.  Holly is thrilled because he was born on the day she guessed - five days late - Saturday the 15th!  Below are some pictures of the little guy as well as a short run down on the birth.

Holly went into labor around 2:00 am, woke me up about 4:00 for showers, and we arrived at the hospital a little after 5:00 for check-in.  When I woke him up to take him to Grandma, Diego had been really excited to learn his little brother was coming and said "I would LOVE to go!"  Thankfully he settled for sleeping more with Grandma and visiting later in the day.

Things were progressing well, although from Holly's back pain the nurses suspected Lucas was sunny side up.  (Diego had also been in this position.)  Her water broke around 6:40 with meconium and the anesthesiologist strongly recommended an epidural in case we had to go to a C-section.  We got that arranged and Holly was able to relax enough to get a little sleep.  She woke back up around 8:30 and things started progressing faster again, although Lucas' heart rate dropped with every contraction.  Then about 9:00 his heart rate started dropping pretty dramatically during a contraction and we got about 10 people rushing into the room.  They put Holly on oxygen, and flipped her into a different position which somewhat stabilized things, but it was time to go for a C-section.

They got Holly in pretty fast, and since she already had the epidural I was able to come back (although they did not let me watch the actual cutting/removing like they did in Costa Rica with Diego.  I was much more tired/starving this time though, so maybe that was good).  When they got Lucas out he was not breathing, which initially was OK as they wanted to clear the meconium out, but he did not start afterwards and his heart rate was low (they had about four people working on him).  It was rather nerve wracking to watch, especially since we could not see Lucas through the crowd.  They used a respirator on him and stimulated him a little to get the heart rate up, and in just over a minute he started breathing on his own.  Turns out he WAS sunny side up and the cord was slightly below him to where it was compressed with every contraction.

He and I went the the nursery where they monitored him for a couple hours while they sewed Holly up.  A little while after recovery Diego came to visit and meet his little brother.  Diego was pumped to meet Lucas and give him a present he had picked.  Then he was REALLY excited to get a present "from Lucas" - a Planes 2 Fire and Rescue BLADE RANGER!  (That is how he would explain it).  As Lucas slept all the way through the meeting, who can blame Diego for being more spellbound with the helicopter than the baby?  There were also visits from Grandma (my mom), Uncle Jody and Grandma Great.

Thank you for all your prayers!  Praise the Lord for a healthy little guy to hold and love on. 

A Look at Our Timeline

 

Currently we are in Washington State, working on building up our partnership team.  This is people who are committed to praying for us and/or supporting our ministry.  We have the privilege of meeting with many different individuals, families and churches to share about Mozambique.  Sometimes we have people over for dinner or go to their homes.  Other days involve large group presentations at churches, bibles studies, mission conferences and civic organizations.  Often it finds us working at connecting over the phone, internet or by mail.  It is a full time job!

NOVEMBER 10, 2014: DUE DATE

Along with the ongoing team building, we are also growing our family.  We are preparing to welcome baby boy #2 this November.  Diego is especially excited to have a brother, and has proven to be an excellent helper.  His arms become a forklift with which to organize baby clothes and he is so eager to introduce his little brother to the world of baby toys!

Diego began pre-k classes three mornings a week in October.  We wanted him to have the opportunity to adjust to school now, rather than among so many other changes coming next year.  He walks in confidently carrying him Thomas backpack by the handle since there is NO WAY he will wear it on his back and waves goodbye when his teacher reminds him. He is already saying that he’d rather go all five days…

The Pre-K classes are also making our work time more efficient and that gives us extra time devoted intentionally to Diego when he is home.  We’re trying to make the most of our days off as well, enjoying friends and family in the area and crossing a few things off the family “before we leave we should _____” checklist!  Visiting the space needle was high on Diego’s suggestion list.  We visit the pool to keep progressing on his swim lessons from this summer too.

 

JANUARY 12, 2015: MAF FUNDING DEADLINE

We are very excited to let everyone know we have reached 97% of our outgoing funds! It is such an encouragement and blessing to see the many different ways the Lord provides. Friends, family, strangers… we are so thankful. Monthly support is also growing weekly. To date we are over 2/3 of the way to fully funded. Our goal is to reach 100% on both by January 12th. That is the MAF deadline to sign up for the next scheduled training session offered March-May.

  

Assuming we are funded by January and that our timeline is the Lord’s, that will give us time to pack up/sell our belongings in January/February.  We will be making decisions on what to take to language school in suitcases on the plane, what to put in crates bound eventually for Mozambique and what to leave behind/sell.  We also have work to do with visas, school applications, immunizations and such.

MARCH 9 ~ MAY 16, 2015: MAF STANDARDIZATION AND ORIENTATION

The training we will do March-May is at MAF headquarters in Idaho.  There’s ground school, flight standardization and maintenance training for eight weeks which are followed by two weeks of orientation.  Flight standardization is what every airline or air taxi does to make sure all their pilots are flying their way, but at MAF it is a little more than that.  MAF uses very short strips in remote areas, sometimes built into the side of a mountain.  Landing on that kind of slope is something we have never done before, so MAF will teach us how to do it safely.  Here’s a link to some footage from the spring 2014 flight training by our fellow MAFers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2phgCmTrmRk

Grady will do something similar in maintenance.  In the US, when most components need overhauled, the mechanics' job is to pull them off, send them to a specialty shop, and install a new one.  But in Mozambique there is not a specialty shop, so often we are overhauling the components ourselves.  Grady is excited to learn how to do this, as well as MAF's general maintenance procedures.

Orientation is MAF's cross cultural and ministry training.

JUNE 2015 ~ 2016: LANGUAGE SCHOOL

After all of these classes are complete, it will be time for us to head to language school.  Because Mozambique speaks Portuguese, we will be attended a university in Coimbra, Portugal for classes similar to English as a Second Language classes here.  The university has over 700 years of experience and is also used for language studies by Wycliffe.  Classes there begin in June and will last about a year.  While we are there, Diego will be in school too – kindergarten – and the new baby will be in childcare during our classes. 

 

Photo by: Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de

JUNE 2016: MOZAMBIQUE

Then it will be off to Nampula, Mozambique in June 2016.  MAF terms run in four year cycles with 3.5 years on the field and then 6 months back in the states for updating supporters and family time.  Our first term includes language school so it will actually involve 1 year in Portugal, 2.5 years in Mozambique and then 6 months in the states.  We intend to remain indefinitely with MAF, which means the cycle will begin again with another Mozambique adventure June 2019. 

 

Whew, I can tell it will be a whirlwind!

Answered Prayer

A couple weeks ago I was worn out.  While still excited about moving overseas, I was discouraged.  I could not help but think – this is going to take forever, we’re never going to get there and if we do I’m going to be too old to fly! 

Rationally, my brain could chastise my heart and say “shape up Holly, God has perfect timing” or “God has this under control”… but my heart just wasn’t feeling what I knew to be true.  Ever been there?  So Grady and several friends and I had been praying for an attitude change for me.

Zoom forward a few days and you would have found me in the kitchen, washing dishes.  Next up, one of Grandma’s big pots.  And as I washed that pot back up to a shiny silver sparkle, I could not help but be back in Grandma Unruh’s kitchen with its avocado green oven.  Her arthritis was bad enough that she sat and taught me, taste testing the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.  Perhaps we needed more salt, or another stick of butter (this is the Midwest mind you).  Pies would have been covered earlier in the week.  If I was lucky, I had already made town by then and gotten a lesson in rolling out pie crusts as well.  (And probably followed the filling recipe exactly instead of listening to Grandma about her slightly smaller pans, thereby overflowing pie filling into the oven…)

Grandma spent much of her life on a farm, but my memories are all of her in town, in a corner lot home built by Grandpa with flowers and a vegetable garden out back.  My mom, as a little girl, remembers the day a traveling salesman came out to the farm and sold Grandma all her pots and pans.  She said he talked her into hosting an event for her friends and he cooked for them with no water in the pan!  So many of our family and friends were privileged to eat delicious meals made in those pots while visiting around their table.  Now I am blessed to be cooking out of them and hopefully continuing their legacy.  And to be taking them to Africa with me.

Back in my kitchen again, I could not help but laugh to myself when I thought of how surprised Grandma would be to hear her pots were going to Africa.  Somehow I doubt she ever guessed her little Holly, the one she had to chastise for doing somersaults and handstands near the china cabinet, would be headed overseas.  But she would be happy.  Excited by the work the Lord is doing in Mozambique. 

And so, as I stood there with that dripping pot going in the drying rack, God gave me a gift.  A flood of joy at the thought that in many ways, Grandma is coming with me to Africa.  In our pots and pans and most importantly through my memories.  I just had to grin and dance a little jig.  Because we had prayed and the Lord had answered.  It was as though he said, “See, I’ve got this.  Everything is all lined up with perfect timing, just trust in me.” And I could feel His peace. 

(Although I imagine my mashed potatoes could still use a little of Grandma’s tasting expertise...)

Role Models

“My mind leaped for joy at the thrilling thought of combining flying with my love for God.” ~ Betty Greene in Flying High

Betty Greene ~ MAF photo

 I recently read through a book full of stories from Betty Greene's life.  It showcased the loving spirit with which she served so many.  Betty was a remarkable Christian woman who used her talents flying for the Lord all across the world.  With many others, she helped found Mission Aviation Fellowship and she flew MAF’s very first flight to Mexico in a bright red biplane.  Throughout her lifetime she gave to the Lord her efforts and time for his service in a wide range of environments that included the US, Mexico, Peru, Sudan and Dutch New Guinea. 

 “(Betty) showed… an overall commitment to give her best in response to God’s calling, working cooperatively with both men and women in service together under the lordship of Christ.  She was a quiet pioneer who demonstrated by her life that serving God faithfully provides both the greatest satisfaction in life and all one needs to make life challenging.” ~ Dr. Marguerite Kraft in the Epilogue of Flying High: The Amazing Story of Betty Greene and the Early Years of Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Throughout our lives Grady and I have both been blessed to have many examples of Christian believers at work for the kingdom at home, church, work and in formal missions settings.  (I say formal because we are firm believers that we should all be missionaries sharing Christ’s love in all the different settings we may find ourselves).  We have had the privilege of being raised in Christian homes by loving parents who gave of themselves to others on a regular basis.  There are grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, friends and neighbors who have shown us regularly what it means to love one another as Christ loves us. 

Grady's Grandpa & Grandma Ellis, long time missionaries on the Navajo Reservation

Grady's parents, strong Christian role models

Holly's Grandpa & Grandma Clark, gifted in hospitality

Holly's Grandpa & Grandma Unruh, faithful servants

For that we are truly thankful and can only pray that we will do half so well at showing others Christ’s heart for them.  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on this journey.  We need the Lord’s strength and support to minister to others not only overseas but also here as we prepare to go. 

As pilots we are delighted to be able to use a skill we love to aid the work of the Lord.  I feel a kindred spirit in Betty, my sister in Christ, as I read her words: “My mind leaped for joy at the thrilling thought of combining flying with my love for God.”

A collection of shots, showcasing our love of aviation:

A family legacy of aviation in missions ~ Grady's Grandpa flew as an air ambulance on the reservation.

Grady, the private pilot

Holly's first solo flight, with her instructor Wally Funk

Holly's parents fly in during college for a visit

Holly & her Dad during her internship

Holly & Grady out for a flight over the San Juan Islands

Diego in Opa's RV8

Pink or Blue?

Friday was an exciting day in the Nace household!!  Despite three sets of runny noses, we got up early to go see the baby in the ultrasound.  We are already 24 weeks along but due to all our travels this was the soonest we could schedule for.  Sure was fun to see the baby yawning and punching away! Diego's attention was held the whole time.  

Here's some pictures of the newest Nace, due November 10th.  I see resemblance to Diego as a baby on the 3D shots (Grady agrees in that he feels all ultrasound babies look the same...).  What do you think?

Nice big yawn - the baby must think it's early too!

Profile

Already a thinker?

Perhaps prepping for self-defense against an older brother?

We're thrilled to announce that Diego's wish for a little brother is coming true - he is excited to have a playmate in Mozambique!  Looks like a lot more blue in our future (which just happens to be both Grady AND Holly's favorite color... yippee!)  

Here's a little video of the yawning action we saw during the ultrasound as well.

Now we're off to show Diego the pictures of when HE was in Mommy's tummy... 

and to pack for our week long trip to Idaho & Oregon.  We've got several days of security training at MAF Headquarters and then a Sunday School presentation just outside of Portland on the way home.  Pray for Diego, Grandma and Uncle Jody as he is staying with them instead of making the long drive with us this week!