Journey with Tom and Ali

Solo

2009-08-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

The summer has flown by so fast it's hard to believe that the fall is coming once again here in Spokane. But, it is true, and the cool, rainy weather has perhaps been the biggest reminder that the colder seasons of the year are once again approaching. Meanwhile, we are busy attempting to work around the weather to get our new students the best conditions possible.

We have 15 new students who started flying with us this fall, 4 of which are mine. So, it is back to the basics; teaching them how to takeoff, land, navigate, and all of the other things they need to learn in order to earn their Private Pilot's license later this fall.

We've made it up to the time for them to do their first solo; that's right, after only 4 weeks of training, about 14 hours of flight time, and a week or two of 4:00 mornings to find the calm winds, they are going to go up and fly around all by themselves. It's always a time mixed with excitement and a little apprehension for both the students and myself as an instructor. They've shown me they are fully capable to safely handle the airplane by themselves but my heart rate always goes up a little when I watch them do their first takeoff alone. I suppose it's similar, in a very small way, to a parent sending their kid off on their first day of school, or out for their first drive in the car alone, or off to college their freshman year. You hope that they remember what you've taught them and that they will use it to keep afloat amidst all of the uncontrollable factors that will try and pull them down into a ball of flame. How enjoyable and rewarding it is to watch them succeed; to smoothly return the plane to the ground and taxi back up to the hangar with the biggest grin in the world!

A Year of Flight Instructing

2009-06-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

As my first year of flight instructing is coming to a close, I've had several thoughts about my experiences. The first thought is that I have really enjoyed teaching other people how to fly. When I first started, I suspected that I would like instructing, and, for the most part, it has been even more fun than I anticipated. There is something about working with a few students over the course of a year and watching them go from not knowing how to start an engine, to doing a solo flight to Portland and back (6 hours of flying). It is so rewarding!

One of the benefits to flight instruction is developing a comfort and heightened awareness to the aircraft in which we operate. As a student, I always heard that when you fly one airplane a lot, you acquire a sensitivity to the various characteristics of that plane. I got to experience that for the first time this year and with it came a proficiency and comfort that further increased my enjoyment of flying.

I've learned a lot about myself, and instructing has challenged and pushed me in several ways. My confidence in my ability to instruct has been shaken, and then rebuilt. I've had the not-so-fun experience of needing to sit down with a student after a particularly rough flight and give "tough love." I've celebrated with students after their first solo in an airplane and after successfully passing a stage of training. It has been a year full of growth and change, both for the students and for me as a person and instructor. I'm continuing to process that growth and am excited about the changes that have happened; excited to move into the next year better equipped to teach the next group of students!

2009-06-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

We realized recently that general comments are often made like: “It is so fun to watch God provide,” and often no details are included. One small way we have watched God provide in the last few months financially has to do with health care. We received a refund check in the mail from my (Ali’s) OBGYN for $20.00 that to this day we do not know why we received it. When you receive money in the mail, it does not have to have an explanation like when you receive a bill. We are blessed to have all our needs met in a month and more, yet our budget has little padding for unexpected expenses. Last week my ring finger swelled up. The experience was odd and painful. I was unable to get the ring off even after trying the suggestions from friends that are nurses, and Tommy trying almost every trick he could find online. I felt so funny about paying for medical care for a finger! However, I was told that permanent damage could be done to my finger if I kept the ring on and constricting my finger. We went to Urgent Care thinking they would need to cut it off. Tommy was present holding my other hand as the nurse forced the ring off my finger as I experienced excruciating pain. The co-pay for the visit was $20.00. God had provided the exact amount in the previous month.

The experience led to contemplation of blessings and life lessons. First, what a blessing to have a community of people around me that I was able to call and seek advice from. Second, what a blessing to have a loving, supportive, and compassionate husband who held my hand through a painful experience. Third, what a gift that we just deposited the amount needed for the medical services. I was humbled by all the to-do over a single finger, and through the experience was reminded how important each appendage really is. Every little part is significant, both to our physical bodies and to the spiritual body of the church.

To really stretch the analogy, it makes me ponder and pray about what parts of my spiritual body I need to un-constrict in order for the part not to die or be damaged. An area of growth for me is learning to have a Godly anger towards injustice and not a destructive anger. Join me in asking God to transform my heart through His Spirit and through His truth in Psalm 37.

Season of Thanks

2008-12-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

As we celebrated Thanksgiving last week and reflected on God's goodness to us, Ali and I were blessed to think about how supportive and encouraging our friends and family have been for us. We have many reasons to be thankful; not the least of which is an abundance of people who walk alongside us in many different forms.

It's amazing to think of the impact that each of us has on each others' lives. We cross paths with people every day and are touched, in some way, by them just as they are touched by us. I hope that we make a point to be intentional about the kind of mark that we leave on people. May we never take for granted the power and gift of a well placed action, word, or gesture. God has given so much to each of us, may we respond by giving deeply to others!

Clouds...Weather...Instruments....

2008-11-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well, the weather has finally started to cave in on us :( Actually, it held out for a long time this fall; it's been the best fall weather we've had since Moody Aviation moved to Spokane. The blessing of all the good weather has been that we were able to stay almost right on schedule throughout the semester with the flying. Of course, now that the clouds have come in and are hanging around more, it's limiting the flying we can do to finish up the semester.

If you are wondering why the weather is an issue, it might be helpful for me to explain a little about the different licenses that can be earned. The Private Pilot license, which is what my students are working on, gives the holder the ability to fly under what is called Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Basically, the requirements for VFR are that you cannot fly in the clouds or when the visibility is less than 3 miles. On top of that, there is a minimum distance we have to stay above the ground, so you can imagine the difficulties we run into when there is a low overcast layer with fog and rain (which significantly reduces visibility).

So you might ask, how do people fly in the clouds? Well, there is another license, which is a part of Moody's training, called the Instrument license, which allows the holder to fly under what is called Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Essentially, flight under IFR allows you to fly in the clouds with no visibility, with the exception that there are minimum weather requirements for landing at an airport. Some of what I have been doing this past week and will be doing over the next few weeks is "upgrading" my Flight Instructors license to allow me to give flight instruction for the Instrument license.

That's right, not only is there a separate license to fly under IFR but there is an additional license to instruct under IFR. This is called the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) license. I am getting this training as "staff development" through Moody at no charge, which is such a blessing! It is continuing to build my instrument proficency and experience while preparing me to teach the concepts and skills of instrument flying to these students here at Moody. I am really excited to have the opportunity to earn this license and continue my growth as a pilot and instructor!

Death

2008-10-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Death...it's quite a significant event...it's one that none of us who can read this have experienced, but something all of us will come face to face with. I've had cause to to consider it a little more than usual in the last month with the death of Ali's grandfather (last month) and my uncle this past weekend. One was expected, the other came as a shock...quick and without warning. Ali and I traveled to Florida for the service and to be with my family for a few days and that also prompted several thoughts.

It sure would be nice to know when people are going to die, you know, have a milestone where everyone knows, "this is when you are going to die." How much differently would we live if we knew when our time on earth was over? Wouldn't we want to make the most of our time? So why doesn't the mystery of death and the realization that our turn could be tomorrow, or today, move us to live with purpose? I, for one, want to live life to the fullest; even if I live for another fifty years I want to make each day special and unique.

My other thought relates to the after life. The awareness of death and life after death, either with or without God, impresses the importance of the gospel on me. Every day people around the world die without Christ, every day that passes is one less that another person has to live. I want to do my part in drawing others into the Kingdom of God. That means here and now, today, in my world, with everyone I meet being a mirror that reflects the light of Christ. Part of that is aviation, and more specifically, aviation that delivers the "mirrors" who will reflect Christ to those millions of people around the world who have never seen Him. What a purpose! That is why we are here!

Cross Country

2008-10-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

In training pilots, we spend a lot of time staying close to our home base. We practice take-offs and landings, different maneuvers in the practice area just north or south of the airport, and short 10 minute hops to airports every now and then just to mix it up a little. Of course, the goal isn't to make pilots who won't ever leave their little corner in the sky and go somewhere else, the whole point of aviation is to travel from point A to point B in an efficient manner. That's why, once a student has learned enough of the basics to manage the airplane we introduce them to something called a cross country flight. The name is a little deceiving because we don't actually cross the country, however, we do leave the training grounds and go exploring to new cities and airports and scenery. I launched into the cross country phase of training with my students this past week and they have now flown several with me as well as one on their own. At this stage of training, our cross country flights are usually in the area of 3-4 hours long. We generally go to two other airports and end the flight back in Spokane. One of these flights took us from Spokane to Pullman, on to Wenatchee (which you can see in the picture), and back to Spokane. All in all, the flight was right at 4 hours, and we covered ground that map quest says should take 7 and a half hours by car! There is such a difference in time between flying and driving, and this is here is the U.S. where we have highways and interstates. Many of the places where the gospel is still just being introduced do not have the benefit of an infrastructure as useful as we have here in the States. Just think of how much more impact the airplane has in those countries where the roads, if they even exist, are in horrible condition and we can cover in an hour what it normally takes a week to travel!

Night Flying

2008-09-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Question: What do white dresses, tuxedos, moonlight, and airplanes have to do with each other?
Answer: A bride and groom's getaway from their wedding!
Picture this: A warm summer night....a full moon illuminating the contours of the ground as they drift past far below you....the occasional farm light standing out like a star that planted itself in the earth....conversation and laughter with people you enjoy....the lights of the city twinkling in the distance, slowly becoming more distinguishable as you approach....the steady drone of the engine that is propelling you through the smooth air....a grouping of red, white, and green airport lights that identify your destination....
This is the experience I shared with Ali and our two "special" passengers last month over the countryside north of Spokane. John and Kristen Robbins (in the picture to the left) created the opportunity and reason for this particular flight which took place after their wonderful wedding Saturday night August 16, 2008. We had the great pleasure of flying my friends from Chewelah, WA back to Spokane on a beautifully clear summer night. Not only did we enjoy their wedding and company, but also the opportunity for a special kind of date for Ali and I... after all, we flew up there just the two of us, and as far as the flight back... well, what more needs to be said? It was so great to be able to serve our friends in such a meaningful way; it makes me all the more excited about using aviation as a means to serve others both here and overseas. What a blessing to have a skill that can be used to bless others!

We're Back!

2008-08-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, we're back! It's been a while since we posted anything, but we're bringing our blog back online. A lot has happened in the last six months...we'll try and keep it brief.... For starters, our honeymoon was wonderful; Sedona, AZ is a beautiful area and we thoroughly enjoyed the time to get better acquainted with each other in such a lovely setting! In February, God blessed us with a new (used) car which we were able to purchase completely with money that people gave us around the time of our wedding! It's a needed and wonderful gift!

On the job scene, we prayerfully decided to remain with Proclaim Aviation Ministries for the next two years and are very excited about Tom's transition to being a flight instructor at Moody Aviation here in Spokane. Ali's year commitment at New Community came to an end this summer just in time for her to go back to school this fall to start a two year Masters in Counseling program at Gonzaga University. The summer has been a blast - visiting family in California, backpacking in Canada, watching our friends get engaged and married, and just enjoying the warm weather (which did finally come).

Well, there's the short and sweet of it; stay tuned, we intend to make our future posts a little more frequent. :) Thanks for following our journey! Blessings!

Cash Registry

2007-12-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

About our Cash Registry:

Tommy currently drives a 1987 Ford Escort that he received as a gift three years ago. While it has been a great blessing, it is deteriorating and rapidly becoming expensive to maintain in a reliable condition. We believe that purchasing a newer, more reliable car that will last for several years would be wiser than trying to keep Tommy's current car running. We need help with this and would love to receive a monetary gift from you instead of an item off one of our other registries. We have set up a registry where you can give a monetary gift to us, so if you are interested in blessing us in this way, click the link below to "Our Wishing Well."
Thanks!

http://www.ourwishingwell.com/registries/view/16544108

Acquaintances...Friends...Engaged

2007-10-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

How We Met

Ali and I (Tommy) have been attending the same church (New Community) in Spokane for the past four years; she was a small group leader for a college women’s group, and I worked at the church as an intern and then on staff. So we knew about each other and occasionally ran into one another at different times, but we really wouldn’t have considered ourselves to be friends (even acquaintances would have been a stretch). I remember being impressed with what I heard of Ali and in the little interaction we did have, but since I really didn’t know her and our circle of friends didn’t overlap, I never got past the thought: “she seems like someone I could really like to get to know.”
Well, this past February we ran into each other again at a prayer and worship night at New Community and I was once again impressed with Ali and thought to myself, “man, it’s too bad we don’t know each other better, I wonder if anything could be done about that...” As a result, I became much more aware of her presence on Sunday mornings and looked forward to seeing her and possibly “running into her” casually as everyone milled about before and after the services. Well, I wasn’t really sure what to do, but since I knew I definitely didn’t want to just sit back and do nothing (I was way too interested in Ali to be content with that) I decided that the best thing to do was pray and ask God to intervene somehow. So I did; I told God that I really desired to get to know Ali better, but I didn’t want to move forward unless it was clear that this was part of His plan. God worked on me for a few weeks and actually brought me to a place where I could honestly say that I could be content even if Ali wasn’t for me (though I was really hoping that wasn’t the case).
So I focused on school and post-graduation planning and started to pursue an aviation job that would take me away from Spokane. In the meantime, I didn’t avoid Ali, but I also didn’t go out of my way to talk to her. Then came the Sunday before spring break at the end of March; I ran into Ali (quite unintentionally) and her friends and as we chatted she invited me up to her house to have dinner with her and her roommates later that week.
I (Ali) had no interest in Tommy at this point. I had seen him from a distance and had run into him multiple times, but really didn’t know him. He was someone that I perceived as really cool, and I was interested in getting to know him, but as far as romantic interest- there was none. I am pretty traditional and if I had any interest in him I never would have invited him over- that would have been me, a female initiating. I actually partially felt bad that he was eating alone, I hate eating alone. I enjoy getting to know people, so Rachie (one of my housemates) and I invited him to dinner.
It turned out that it was totally innocent; I was house sitting for some friends and Ali felt bad for me having dinner by myself and thought it would be nice for me to be able to eat with some other people. Of course I accepted the invitation gladly and went up later that week to eat with them. Now at this point, I still wasn’t convinced that I could pursue her, so I spent the time on the way to and from her house talking myself into being ok with just being friends and not getting any hopes up. The three or so hours that I spent at her house that night were great and I came away thinking that I definitely liked her and wanting to hope that maybe God was answering my prayer and giving me the go ahead to pursue her.
I like to say Tommy spent four hours at our house. I was very impressed by his intentionality and genuine interest in everyone at the table. He asked each person specific questions about there lives. He brought the conversation past surface questions effortlessly. I really enjoyed dinner with him, and Rachie, and Dustin. What I was not ready for was the next morning! I woke up thinking about Tommy! I felt ridiculous! I thought: Ali, how can you like someone you have only spent 4 hours with?! However, the thoughts about Tommy didn’t go away. So, I combated them with prayer. I decided each time I thought about Tommy, I would just pray: Lord, if these desires are from you, may I win his heart quickly, for in several weeks I go home to California. At this point, I had NO idea he was interested in me. He had shown no signs at dinner of being interested in me at all. I thought I was praying a ridiculous prayer. Basically, I thought I was asking for a miracle. There were about 8 weeks of school left and I was going to be spending the next 2 of them in Israel.
Well, more opportunities arose over the next two months to spend time together in groups, and then by ourselves on occasion and it didn’t take me long to decide that I wanted to pursue a relationship with Ali on more serious terms. I had already decided that God had given me the green light and so after speaking with my parents about my interest in Ali, I decided that I would tell Ali about my feelings on a hike we had already planned for later that week.
Ok, I always hated it when girls ditched girls for guys. I had watched so many friends do it to me, that I swore I would never do that. Well, I was hanging out with one of my good friends Liv, and Tommy called to see if I wanted to go sit at the hanger while he manned the radio so a friend of his could fly, but he wanted me to go within the hour. I was worried that if I declined his invitation he would interpret it as me rejecting him. So, with knots in my stomach, I cut my time with Liv short and went to the hanger with Tommy. One of the things that impressed me the most in all these times of hanging out with Tommy is that each time we hung out, he asked my plans for the next day or rest of the week. Then, whenever he invited me to do something, he would mention what he knew I already had planned. For example, when he invited me to go to the hanger he said “I know you were going to grade the psychology exams, so you don’t have to come, but I was wondering if you wanted to come grade them and keep me company while my friend flies.” I was very impressed that he both remembered and considered my schedule each time we hung out. (the best part… he still does!)
So the day of the hike came, and after picking Ali up at her house, we drove to the house where I lived and walked from there to the trailhead.
It was before this hike that I said to my housemate Amy: “Ok, if he doesn’t make his intentions clear tonight, I have to pull back. My heart is too invested. I am too interested in him to hang out one-on-one if this isn’t going anywhere.” I knew that I needed to place boundaries on our time if my heart was going places other than friendship and his wasn’t.
My initial thought had been that I would express my interest to Ali when we got to a waterfall that is on the hike; however, once we got there, we discovered that we had company…mosquitos. So, needless to say, we didn’t stay there but kept on hiking as I switched over to plan B – sit on the bluff overlooking the town and tell her then. I hadn’t intended on doing this part of the hike initially, so I didn’t have a pre-planned route to get from the waterfall to the bluff. Basically that meant taking trails that looked like they went in the direction I was trying to go and hoping they actually made it there. I knew there were enough trails that we would get there, and, worse case scenario, it would just take a little longer than it might otherwise have taken, which, given the fact that I was really enjoying our time together, wasn’t a bad thing at all.
Well, we made it, and found a nice spot to sit, rest, drink some water, and talk while looking over the town. We talked about random things for a little while and finally I decided, “ok, it’s time.” So, I directed the conversation a little until I could dovetail off and say, “…yea, I’m glad you came today, I really enjoy spending time with you…’cause actually, the truth is, I really like you a lot…”
At this point I was stunned! I was hoping for this to happen, but definitely did not expect it. I am a pretty talkative person, and I was left speechless… which only increased…
I proceeded to explain to Ali that I wanted to get to know her better with the intention of seeing if God was leading us towards marriage and I wanted to ask her dad (who I knew would be in town for the weekend) for his permission to pursue a relationship with her. I also explained that I didn’t like the terms dating/boyfriend/girlfriend because of negative connotations that I had in my mind and so, while I didn’t know what exactly we should call it, I didn’t want to call it dating. At this point, I had no idea what Ali would say; I was pretty sure she liked me, but for all I knew she might look at me and say “that’s ridiculous, what’s your problem with dating?” I was really relieved when she not only accepted what I said but agreed with it too!
Tommy did begin to explain that he did not want to date. All four years of high school I had been anti-dating for various reasons. I had watched so many friends get hurt. My dream had always been to marry my best friend. Actually, I had MANY thoughts about who I wanted to marry and how I wanted it to look. My family and friends (with a few exceptions) always said that I was going to have to compromise, that “guys like that don’t exist”. Due to life’s circumstances, I had come to agree. I figured if I ever wanted to marry, I would have to date. And that I would have to compromise my standards. In essence, I had given up on my dreams. Here I sat and listened to a man describe exactly what I had always dreamed it would look like. I became more and more speechless! I knew he had no idea how much I agreed with him. He continued to explain for 20+ minutes. I sat as I heard my dream unfold. More and more in awe, more and more speechless, and more and more thinking I must be dreaming. The thought: “I can’t believe this is happening right now” played over and over in my head. Tommy did not meet my dreams… he exceeded them, and continues to daily. God is so good!

Engagement

Well, I had been contemplating proposing for a while, and had brought my parents into the discussion I was having with myself about a month prior. So, after lots of thought and discussion, I called them on Monday, August 6th to tell them that I was ready to ask Ali's dad for his permission to propose and that if everything went well, I planned to ask her on Saturday.
They gave their blessing and so the following morning (Tuesday) I called and spoke with Ali's dad about my desire to marry Ali and asked his permission to propose to her. He gave his permission and so I proceeded to purchase a ring and plan out the details of how I would propose.
I knew that Ali was scheduled to take her GRE Saturday morning; we were planning to celebrate the test being over that evening due to Ali’s request. So, I figured this would be a great opportunity to do something special without raising her suspicions.
Saturday came and I told Ali about this really neat place I had heard of on Lake Coeur D'Alene, where we could have a picnic dinner and watch the sunset, and asked if she wanted to go check it out. (We had a habit of watching sunsets, exploring new places, and being around water together) She said yes so off we went. We arrived at the lake, parked, and hiked the ten minutes or so in to find this great spot right on the water away from the crowds of people. We ate our dinner as the sun was setting and then just sat next to each other to watch the actual sunset. Everything was going great, I wanted to propose right as the sun was setting and the timing was working out perfectly. And then it occurred to me that we were both sitting, and I wanted her to be standing so I could kneel when I proposed. I thought to myself, "How am I going to get her to stand up?" I started wracking my brain trying to come up with some smooth natural way to get Ali up on her feet...but nothing came to mind. At this point I was watching the sun start to set, my adrenaline was going a mile a minute and I realized that I was starting to quiver with excitement/nervousness/trying to figure out how to get her to stand up.
By quiver he means shake violently. I was leaning up against Tommy and felt what seemed like convulsions! I thought: what is going on? Maybe his is getting cold? I have a coat on and he doesn’t… yep, maybe he is just cold? Still, I was getting very curious…
I knew I couldn't just sit there, so I said the only thing I could think of, "Could we stand up for a second?" "Sure...(as she stands up)...why?" "Umm...well...(as I'm standing up, now holding the ring in its box behind my back)..." So once she was up I turned to face her and started into my mini speech.
His voice was shaking and as he turned to face me and reached to hold me hand I thought: oh my goodness! Is this really happening?! Is he proposing?! In case he wasn’t I told myself: no, couldn’t be.
I told her how I was amazed at how God had brought us to where we were and had grown our friendship like He had, and that I was awed with who she was and with the fact that I had been blessed to have her a part of my life for the last five months. I continued to say "...and I look forward to spending the next five months, and five years, and fifty years, and the rest of my life with you. I love you. So, Alison Marie Weaver," (as I got down on one knee) "will you marry me?" She gave an excited yes! and the rest is history.
Yes, he was proposing!! I still can’t believe it. The ring is perfect (he picked it out). It has been a whirl-wind. If I didn’t have a ring on my finger, and wasn’t planning a wedding, I would question whether or not Tommy is just one big fantasy I created. He continues to be more than I asked for and better than I could have imagined. God had such an amazing story planned… I can’t wait to see what is on the pages to come.

Getting Married

2007-09-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for the complete story of how we met and got engaged!