Mole rats and other creatures of the underground

Gracie and David meet in a tunnel in the Underground portion of the Zoo. She's happy to see him!

Gracie with her best friend in the whole world, Megan (the daughter of Naomi, our babysitter).

Isaac and a barely-visible David in the dome that peaks up from the underground tunnels.

Will and a barely-visible Megan

Will was super interested too!

Isaac and David in front of the gross but oddly cute mole rat babies.

David's turn to be fascinated

One of my all-time favorites of Marcie, cooing and talking to the mole rat babies in her high-pitched, ecstatically interested and curious voice. I took a short video on my phone to try to capture the moment.

Darling zoo babies (girls)

Marcie likes to make herself right at home. She climbed into this basket without hesitation. Naomi added Gracie.

Marcie was the only baby I took out of the stroller to pet the goats. I was just so tired of washing hands, and the other babies seemed content to just look. Marcie is pretty nuts about animals, especially furry ones, and LOVED it!

In fact, she loved it so much, she swung her legs up onto a goat to try to hitch a ride.
Looks like she's trying to decide WHICH goat she wants to ride on, though. ;)

Marcie wanted to wear Abby's hat. It was so cute watching her try to put it on!

Thank you, Anna, for helping her out! (And thanks to Naomi for all these great pictures!!)

On the carousel

With Marcie, Gracie and Will (Naomi is behind with Seth and David on the lion) 

David before the ride started. A little unsure . . . 

The rest of us before the ride started. Looks like Marcie is coveting David's lion! Seth is to the far left (my right).

Marcie (again, the ride hadn't started yet)

Naomi with Seth behind and David in front. Thanks for a wonderful day, Naomi and Anna and kids!

Strolling along (and a prayer request)

. . . to the Dallas Zoo! Our friend Megan (Gracie's BEST friend!) with Isaac, then Seth, Gracie, David, Marcie and Will

This monitor lizard was OBSESSED with our babies! He kept climbing and scratching the glass. They liked him too!

Please pray for Seth: He's having trouble keeping his food down and looks kind of "puny" to me. He acts normal, maybe not quite as happy, though. He threw up three times last night. Please pray for better nights. It's sad and exhausting and miserable for him, especially. 

"Hey! That's not fair! David gets to walk on that cool floor!"

Six precious pumpkins!

David, Seth, Will on Isaac's lap, Marcie and Gracie. Poor Isaac had his hands full. He did great though!

David, Marcie, Gracie, Will and Seth (left to right)

Marcie

Gracie

Greetings from Florida

Hello all! Gavin here from Tampa, Florida. We flew down here from the JAARS Center in Waxhaw yesterday.

I first of all want to thank my beautiful bride, Carrie, for allowing me to do this. That last post was wonderful to see (as are all of them)!  She and her family are fully behind me as I come on these trips, so that is a great encouragement to me. The volunteers and other workers that help extra with Carrie and the babies are immensely appreciated as well. It is important for me to keep flying as much as possible to keep current and proficient. The flying opportunities in Dallas have not presented themselves as we had hoped and prayed, especially with the flexible schedule I need to have in these early days with the quints.

Yesterday and today we landed the helicopter at two different Christian schools. We were able to share with hundreds of kids from kindergarten to 12th grade about overseas missionary work and especially about Bible translation and the needs for it around the world. We really feel that it is important to get the kids thinking now about how God might use them for His glory with the gifts He has and will give them. (I was six years old when I knew I wanted to be a missionary helicopter pilot.)

           The kids watching the helicopter come in for landing.

                      The kids were excited to see the helicopter and full of questions.

At one school we participated with some of the students in an on-air radio show. Inspiration 1110 AM did the interview with myself and another pilot as well as a few other missionaries. We actually picked up Pete O'Shea, the radio host, at the first school and flew him to the second for the interview.  Him being afraid of heights as well as a comedian, he kissed the ground when he got off the helicopter.  It was an easy, smooth flight, so I don't think it was a comment on my flying abilities.  

            Pete kissing the ground as I am shutting down the helicopter after landing.

You can listen to the interview here (there is a bit of a lengthy musical introduction, but the interview does happen about a minute in).

               We had the on-air interview in the library with the seventh and eighth graders.

Though we may never know what impact our words and actions have when we speak to these youth, The Lord has some wonderful plans for them. It was wonderful this morning to meet the mother of a pilot who is planning to serve with us in Papua New Guinea in a few years. He heard about mission aviation and Bible translation from us when we visited his school several years ago. I may have been one of the guys who spoke to him when I was there in 2008. The Lord is working and it's exciting to be a part of it.

This one goes out to Daddy

I know he checks our blog and misses us, so this one's for you, Babe! I love you, MISS you, am so glad you are normally here, but am also so glad and proud that you get to be doing what you're doing right now!

Thanks to all you wonderful family and friends who fill in the gaps - huge blessings upon you!

The semi-official "one-year-old adjusted age" birthday photo

Photo shoots are always interesting, but this one of Will takes the cake!

Silly cousins. Isaac is just being goofy and Mari is adorable, but Grace is blocking Seth. Oh well!

Two cute girls at the gate: Marcie and Mari

(I love how Marcie and David have to stand on anything they can find.)