Days 79 & 80

Wednesday we woke, left the hotel, and went off to see Matthew’s grandfather.  It was a short visit, but we were so happy to spend some time with him just east of Tulsa.  We then set off across the state back to Enid, where we had spent Sunday.

We arrived at our hosts’ house (a new one for this stay) and settled in a bit before heading out for dinner and Wednesday evening service at the church.  Dinner was an amazing little taco place and church was really refreshing.

Thursday morning we got some computer and paperwork done, then went out to lunch with the pastor and his wife.  It was nice to spend some more time getting to know them a bit better.  After lunch, we went on a little tour.  Here in Enid is the premier spot for repairing Cessna Caravans, one of MAF’s favorite planes.  This company, ASIC (Aircraft Structures International Corp.), gets airplanes out of where they crashed, brings them back to Enid, and repairs them, often having to start from the main frame.  Once in a while, MAF will need to use their services, not hopefully not very often!  It was neat to see the entire operation.

After lunch and our excursion, we headed back to the house and BOTH kids took a nap!  Matthew and I got more work done until it was time to head out to dinner – back on Vance AFB where we stayed on Sunday.  Levi is quite taken with their kiddos, especially 5-year-old Cali, was super excited to see her again.  After we ate, our host, who is a flight instructor, took us all on a tour of where he works.  We got to see his airplane, aT-6, where he take some kids on some of their first flight hours.  It was neat to be on the tarmac around all of those planes – Levi was especially excited.

After seeing the planes, we got to go to the simulators!  These are not your arcade-style that just anybody has access to, these are the real deal.  I was super proud of Matthew that after just some coaching from our host, he was able to take off, fly around, and LAND!  He even did a few barrel rolls and came back from a stall.  The kids all got turns as well, but not me.  I wasn’t terribly interested, nor could I physically scale the side of the “plane” because I’m roughly the size of a small whale.

We arrived back to their house just as it got dark, enjoyed popsicles in the driveway while the kids ran around, and headed back and went straight to bed.

Today will be another fun day – Matthew is helping the pastor work on his daughter’s house and then we are joining their families for dinner.  Matthew very much misses his role working on houses and the like, so was excited for the opportunity to pick up some tools.  The kids and I are heading back on Vance AFB to have a play date…