Climbing and flying

Gavin's parents are visiting us for a few days and we had a good time at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.  Aside from the whitewater course there, they also have a bunch of climbing walls, ropes courses, and zip lines.  Gavin's dad treated us to a day there and we all had a great time.  Isaac loved the climbing wall, zip-line, and the free-fall jump especially.  Carrie enjoyed watching Isaac (and the two of us) have a great time with it all, but was pretty worn out with all the walking around.

They were getting ready to do the Olympic trials there for whitewater the next day, so were getting all set up for that.

Some time in the mountains

We spent the weekend with Gavin's parents and his aunt and uncle where they live in Black Mountain.  It is a beautiful time of year with all the dogwoods and azaleas blooming everywhere.  Isaac really enjoyed our hike up Lookout Mountain. (We could even glimpse Billy Graham's house in the distance.

The blooms are everywhere and gorgeous

Strange wildlife lives in these NC trees!

April Fool's!

I (Gavin) was at the Sun 'N Fun Exposition and Fly-in this past week in Lakeland, FL.  I flew the R44 helicopter down with a colleague.  Our organization had a tent set up along with New Tribes Mission, Mission Aviation Fellowship and Liberty University.  We spent the week there telling passersby about the need for Bible translation, overseas missions, and how they can fit in.  The helicopter was there on display and I spent my time telling people about it and showing kids how the controls work.

The guys from Liberty, having heard the news about the Jones "Quints" showed their sense of humor when they added a few passengers and their necessary equipment  to the helicopter before I arrived in the morning.

Five babies in the copilot's seat, five bibs on the
 cyclic control, and five sippy cups in the back seat.

The For Sale sign says "See Liberty University.  Make an offer."

My first question for the guys was why the five dolls were ALL GIRLS?  Apparently that's all the store had at the time. 

When they took off for breakfast, though, we put up a sign at their booth advertising free full ride scholarships to the first five people to sign up.

A quick background about the Jones family

Picnic time up on Lone Tree in PNG, 2011

In order to avoid having to have every post approved, we are going to refer to the organization we work with as "the organization."  If you would like to know who we work for and more background information, please see our other blog http://gavincarrie1.blogspot.com.  Here's a bit of history on us.

I grew up in Merced, CA. I spent two years in Lomalinda, Colombia, South America with Wycliffe Bible Translators from 1983-1985. I went to Merced High School, graduating in 1995. I then went to LeTourneau University and graduated as an airplane pilot and mechanic in 1999.

Carrie was born in Lomalinda, Colombia and grew up there.  Her parents, Neal and Jane, Peterson, were missionaries there with Wycliffe.  (We were next-door neighbors for 6 months when we were 6 years old!) She returned to the US when she was 16. She moved to Dallas in 1995, where her family still lives. She went to Dallas Baptist University and graduated in 1999 with a Biology degree. She has since gotten her Master's in Epidemiology/Public Health and has done all but her thesis toward her Doctorate in that field. She is serving in several roles here in PNG with her -- HIV/AIDS awareness, Community Health Board with local villages, and, most importantly, loving mother to our son Isaac.

We got married in 1999 and we have one son, Isaac, born in 2004. In 2005, we came over to Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific to serve as a pilot/mechanic and Public Health worker.

We serve in PNG to support Bible translators who are putting the scriptures into the as yet unwritten languages of PNG (still more than 200 languages here do not have a single word of Scripture in their language!) In 2007, God provided for me to fulfill my lifelong dream to be a helicopter pilot and I have had the amazing privilege to serve in PNG flying helicopters.

If you would like to contribute toward our ministry, please go here.

Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and support!

Gavin, Carrie, and Isaac Jones

Ultrasound #3: All's good!

On Tuesday we went in to have another ultrasound after some significant bleeding a few days before.  It was pretty exciting to see all 5 babies there still with strong heartbeats!  One of the first views we had of one of the babies showed him waving his arms and legs.  Incredible, considering they're only the size of a grape right now (nobody's told me what kind or size of grape, though).  I've imbedded just a bit of the sonogram.  Toward the end you can see five black oval-ish areas that are the five baby sacs.  Pretty incredible.

Break dancing at the wedding.

Isaac was quite the ham at Carrie's brother's wedding a few weeks back.  He decided to do some "break dancing" during the dancing at the reception.

Babies everywhere!

Last week we found out Carrie's got quintuplets in her belly.  This past Saturday Jonelle, my sister, had her first baby:  Mari Elena Retsema.

Thom, Jonelle, and Mari

Then today we got news that my cousin and his wife just had his fifth child, their fourth girl.  The Jones-Medefind-Peterson clan is starting to burst at the seams!