Mike, Noah, and Jesse worked hard all morning putting the flyer together! It was a bit tricky at spots, but that just makes for good bonding time :-)

By mid-afternoon they were ready for a few test flights! It was a beautiful sunny day and the wind was just right. As you will see from this short clip, the biggest problem we had was actually keeping the flyer in view of the camera!

Wright Brothers Flyer from Sallie Anderson on Vimeo.

Do you visit the gift shops in museums? What sorts of things do you buy?

Sallie

My mother, Emma, suffered a massive heart attack yesterday morning (August 6th) and passed away. We are in complete shock at the moment and I think many of us feel like we are simply going through motions without any real thought of what is going on around us. I told my husband, Mike, that when I think about things in the whole sense, like packing our bags and getting ready to travel, I know what needs to be done. However, when I break it down to each individual piece to pack in my suitcase my mind goes blank. The same with knowing what to do with the car, house, pets, etc. I'm thankful for my husband and children who are loving on me so much right now when I need it. The constant hugs and kisses and "are you OK?'s" are helping me keep my head straight.

Our faith in God is strong and I know He will see us through. Still, I covet your prayers during this time of sorrow and grief, especially for my father, David. He loved my mother dearly for over 35 years and her passing will not be easy for him. The picture below is one of my favorite ones of them in recent years. It was taken at my sisters wedding in 2008. They are holding my sisters grand-daughter, their first (and only... so far) great grandchild. My mom will be sorely missed!!

Emma Belle Townsend Beard

September 5, 1947 to August 6, 2010

I love you and miss you already very much, Mommy!!!

Sallie

I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted my thoughts and ideas here at my blog. I feel as if I have neglected the one or two people who are steady readers at my blog but I assure you that my neglect has not been on purpose. I just haven't had much to say lately, or rather, I have lots of things to say but I don't think it is prudent at this moment to say those things!

Our family has traveled a lot in the past several months. Back in March we drove to Triangle, Virginia (MCB Quantico) to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps and to meet new friends. A few weeks after that we went to Beaufort, South Carolina for a friends wedding. We have known Tina and her family for about 15 years now. Mike was Tina's Sunday School teacher in second grade. We wouldn't have missed her wedding for the world! We also stayed with and visited our soon to be niece, Mary, in Savannah, Georgia. Mary is the sweetest young lady, and a very talented artist. We have enjoyed every meeting with Mary that we have been afforded over the past year and are thrilled that she will soon be a part of the family! Our nephew Josh is a lucky guy :-)

We traveled even more still this past week by taking a trip to Arlington Virginia for a memorial service for a Vietnam era POW. Our family has been associated with the family of Lt Col Gary Fors since we were stationed in South Carolina and Mike requested a POW bracelet specifically for a Marine. He received information about Gary, who also just happened to fly with the squadron that Mike deployed to Japan with twice. Gary's story hit a chord with my husband and we have tried to stay in touch with his family and receive updates throughout the year. I wonder if other people who wear POW/MIA bracelets do the same?!

We were also able to spend some extra time in the VA/DC/MD area visiting friends and doing the tourist thing. Our daughter has a very good friend who lives in the area and we spent quite a bit of time with him and his family. We did a fair share of walking around DC and toured some museums... some of us got to see more than others. Our boys were able to tour The Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland on Friday and Saturday found us in West Friendship, Maryland at the Sheep and Wool Festival followed by a youth orchestra concert in Frederick. 

I think we are still trying to catch up sleep this week but we wouldn't have changed a bit of what we did, except to stay even longer, and tour even more places. We were a little disappointed that we missed out on touring Mount Vernon (for the second trip in a row) and so feel like we have to go back again if for nothing else but that :-)

I will leave you with a bit of music I heard for the first time on Sunday at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD (Josh Harris preached a wonderful service on our hope being in Jesus). I have a tendency to scribble song lyrics that touch my spirit on any bit of paper I can find when I hear them. The lyrics "heaven can't contain the glory of the Son... Jesus is the Christ the Saving One" were scribbled on my bulletin along with lyrics from another song we sang... maybe I'll share that one later this week if I can find it on youtube as well!

Sallie

I have a people problem!

Those were the words I muttered to my sister with the utmost sincerity this past November. We were ALL crowded at my parents house after my dad had hurt his back, and mom had just gotten back home after an emergency appendectomy. There were lots of people in the house, and my nerves were pretty close to the edge of being rubbed wrong for the umpteenth time. It was several weeks before Thanksgiving but we were trying to have a family holiday meal that day because we knew we wouldn't all still be there at Thanksgiving and it was the first time in a long time that all the siblings were present.

My sister and I have had some good conversations about depression via phone calls since that day. Today as I read Oswald Chambers daily devotion, I thought of our conversations regarding this topic once again. Maybe it was the title Arise and Eat that really caught my attention since we were cooking a lot of food that day at my moms house or maybe it's because I'm cooking a full course holiday type meal today for church (ham, au gratin potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls...yum). Maybe it was just the subject of depression once again that caught my eye and made me think of our conversations. Either way, I thought I'd share the daily reading from My Utmost for His Highest devotion with you all today.

Arise and eat-1 Kings 19:5

The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive-only material things don't suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God's creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

Life isn't meant to be all peaches and cream and even the best-est and strongest of us sometimes suffer from depression. We can't sit and wallow in it, though. We have to get up and move (one of my hubby's favorite phrases) even if its just in doing the little things. Listen to God and He will propel you up and forward!

You can read Oswald Chambers daily devotions here.  

Sallie

First, let me say that I appreciate all of our friends and family (real life and blog/twitter/facebook world) who have been praying for my dad, Victoria's college interview, and our travels. Your prayers have been felt, and are deeply appreciated!

Victoria and I left out of here on Friday afternoon and arrived in KY very early Saturday morning. My dad had been released from the hospital after his surgery at about 9 o'clock Friday evening. He was back at the ER within a few hours of our arrival. That seemed to set the standard for our trip -- he was back and forth between the ER and doctors appointments 4 or 5 different times in a few short days. He has appointments with another specialist this Friday, and a visiting nurse will be at the house twice tomorrow (Thursday). Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

Victoria's interview and tour of Berea went well. We really enjoyed our time at the campus and everyone we met was very helpful and informative. We could not have asked for a better planned event! We will not know if she is accepted for another month or so but we continue to leave it in God's hands. Berea is the school Victoria really wants to go to, but God knows what is best and we trust Him to open and close the doors that are appropriate for her life.

I'm not sure how long I will be back home for. I think mainly it will depend on how Dad's appointment on Friday goes, and what information they find out. I feel more comfortable knowing at least that they have a wonderful church family watching over them and offering guidance and wisdom.

Special thanks to Leslie and Richard who fed Mike and the boys on Sunday afternoon after church and got them out of the house on Monday to go to the Aquarium and Fort Macon. They really enjoyed themselves and I so appreciate your friendship :-)

I think that is about as good a blog catch-up I can do for now. I got in at about 8:30 this morning after driving all night and I'm only surviving on about 3 hours of sleep but I have lots of stuff to catch up on. I'm pretty sure I'll sleep like a baby tonight!

Praying you all have a blessed week!

Sallie