This is what we fit in the trunk of the Accord - minus Maycie and Dylan, of course. There were times when we considered stuffing them in the trunk and keeping the duffel bags with us… but it never came to that.

We ended our roadtrip a couple of days early, on February 12, because we were losing our minds! Not really, but we felt that the kids had taken all the car-seat-time they could handle. We were also feeling a little pressured for time since we have several meetings this week and next week in California.

We had a wonderful trip and really enjoyed catching up with friends and family. We came home tired, but encouraged and we hope the folks we visited were mutually encouraged by all that God is doing in the Philippines and all that He has done through their involvment in our ministry.

We were eager to make it home, but we also felt sad that we couldn’t spend more time at each place we visited. We were truly blessed by everyone we were able to see and we are truly thankful for everyone who took time out to reconnect with us.

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Maycie’s birthday is coming up and she
is starting to think about her party. So far she seems decided on a princess theme. After breakfast this morning she informed us that she wanted to be excused from the table so she could “go shoot”. While still dressed up like a princess, she proceeded say, “I think maybe I want a gun for my birthday.” That’s my girl!

Later that same day, she convinced Bailey to give her a monster truck tatoo that came with a toy we bought her on our road trip. She was quite proud of her new ink.

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We left home on January 18th on the day that the biggest snow storm in years was forecasted to hit the Northwest. We had a pretty tight schedule to keep so we decided to inch our way North until things got too slippery. It seemed like we averaged about 30mph from Redding to Spokane, WA but we made it. The worst was certainly at the Columbia river gorge where 50mph winds combined with football field-sized patches of ice kept things interesting.

We want to thank all those who have been praying for us on this trip, our kids have been better than we expected and have been great travelers. However, it is evident that we should come home a couple of days early for their sake. We are expecting much nicer weather as we hit the road again in the morning. We are leaving Warner Robbins, GA and ending our trip a few days later in California. We would sure appreciate your continued prayers on this long drive.

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We will soon be very well acquainted with this little grey car. We plan to spend over 120 hrs driving in it over a period of 30 days.

We are so blessed to have found a car for our road trip. It’s a used Honda Accord and we think we’ll be able to fit everything in it for the trip, but if not, we’ll just have to leave some things behind. During the next few weeks Brian will be making any necessary repairs to the car in hopes that we’ll have a breakdown-free trip – especially since it’s going to be cold in the Northwest during January. We’re also getting mentally prepared for that rude awakening!

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We are so blessed to have such a nice home in a quiet neighborhood. There is even a park just around the corner from us where our kids love to play.

We finally made it to California after quite a long sprint to-the-finish in the Philippines. We were very pleased to leave a fully functional flight program in the capable hands of Joel and Missy Davis. The transition took a lot of work, but we were able to make the switch without any interruption in flight service at a time when a lot is going on in the ministries that we support with the airplane. We praise the Lord for a safe checkout for Joel and for safety in Brian’s final flights. Thank you for praying for us, we feel we were able to finish well.

We arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and drove North to our home town in Santa Maria. We had pre-arranged to rent a house from a family in our church and were expecting it to be a pretty empty house when we arrived. To our surprise folks in our church had rallied together to collect furnishings, decorations, dishes, and everything you’d need to make a house a home. It was incredible! All we had to do was unpack our suitcases and we were in a functioning home – it was even decorated with the few decorations that we had left in storage along with many others that folks had contributed. It was such a blessing because we had arrived so incredibly tired from the previous months that we didn’t even feel jet lag this time around. It would have been a very difficult task to setup a house in the state we were in.

Before we left the Philippines we could see that no matter how we planned things, we were going to be so busy that making arrangements for our home assignment would have to wait until we arrived in the US. We made a definite decision to concentrate on what we had to do in the Philippines since that’s our main focus anyway. We decided to trust that God would fill in the details and we would continue to walk that exciting road of faith as we watch God meet our needs one day at a time.

We want to express our most sincere “thanks” to those who have contributed to help us with not only our monthly needs but also many special needs that we’ve had.  Everywhere we look we are encouraged by the sense of teamwork we have felt. Seriously – everywhere we look there is something that someone has done for us because they are investing in what God is doing in the lives of the Filipino people. One way or another God will accomplish what He wants to in the Philippines, but it sure is awesome He’s chosen to let all of us be a part of it.

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Shortly after our new baby is born Maycie will turn 4, and Dylan will turn 2 years old.

We are back in California and getting used to living in the States again. There are so many things we are really enjoying and not the least of them is being able to choose a Doctor and hospital for the delivery of our third baby. During Bailey’s recent appointment we had another ultrasound and can now say with confidence, “It’s a boy”! We are really excited to have a brother on the way for Dylan and we look forward to watching Maycie develop into one tough big sister. We are expecting the guy’s due date to be April 9th; one week before Maycie’s 4th Birthday. The doctor says both Bailey and the baby are healthy and progressing normally.

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This plus one more bag is all we could take with us for 9 months. We were so thankful to our home church who setup and furnished a house for us to come home to. All we had to do was unpack our bags, and we were settled.

We arranged the house to make room for the chaotic packing job.

Maycie and Dylan were excited to help us pack up.

We went through every room in the house and just pulled out the most important things and set them inside open suitcases. The things we left behind needed to be packed in such a way that they wouldn’t mold or get eaten by pests in our absence, so we put them in another pile which we would later seal in containers with desiccant.

Then there was the issue of the house itself, our vehicles, dogs, etc. It is very likely that the house would be broken into by thieves if we just left it without a caretaker. We had to arrange someone to watch the house, cut the grass and pay the bills. We also had to sign a new rental agreement on the house to be sure it would be ours when we returned, and we needed to arrange for someone to care for and exercise the dogs regularly. After that, we arranged for a couple of people to drive our vehicles periodically while we’re gone, someone to register them, a way to get insurance updated, and a means for transferring money to those who are helping us, etc, etc, etc.Needless to say, leaving for 9 months was a daunting task and a very expensive one. Thanks to a wonderful community of missionaries and Filipino friends, we were able to make the necessary arrangements and get packed up with time to spare. Things will most certainly come up that need our attention while we’re gone, but we now have one more major “missionary” experience under our belts.

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Many have tried but there is just no way to look cool driving a minivan. It's like a scab, picking at it just makes it worse.

That’s right. We came as a family of three when Maycie was just 4 months old and we’re returning with a 3 1/2 year old, a 1 1/2 year old and another one in the hangar due to arrive in April.  We are so excited about a third Pruett to add to the clan and to be at home for the first time when one of our kids is born – Maycie was born in Arizona during our flight training and Dylan in the province in Mindanao.

While we are extremely excited at the thought of having another little Pruett running around we also realized that we can’t fit three car seats across the back seat of a normal vehicle along with all the regular kid paraphernalia required for long road trips. We’re entering into the minivan class-oh no! We are now looking for a Toyota or Honda minivan when we get home and I’m looking at features like hooks to hang grocery bags, holders for bottled water, and lots and lots of kid safety features. It’s a far cry from the diff locks, mud tires, and high powered headlights that we’ve needed in a vehicle here in the mountains of the Philippines.

What have I become?! I’ll tell you. I’ve become a proud father and with it comes sacrifices that I once thought were pretty big. In the end, driving a minivan is a wonderful thing because it means we get to have another child to call our own. I can also see that having normal tires on it and no more roar of the turbo diesel engine means we can hear what is going on in the back seat. On second thought, I’m not actually sure that that’s a blessing. No matter how that one works out, we’re absolutely delighted to meet our third child!

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Our family just days before we left for the Philippines. Maycie was 4 months old and Dylan was nowhere to be found!

Maycie is now a big 3 year old girl and Dylan will be one and a half years old when we get home.

This week marks our three-year anniversary of life in the Philippines and it has been an incredible three years. We have really felt God give us unnatural strength and endurance through some really hard times and incredible stress. As we look back at our first term here we see better than ever just how important it is to have a team of folks standing behind us, praying for us and encouraging us.

We are coming home in November for 9 months for our home assignment. We are looking forward to encouraging all those who follow our ministry with what God has been doing here in the Philippines. God has done an incredible amount of work in the lives of people here – Read Bayhon’s Story. All of it is a result of people like you getting involved with our ministry and we want to make sure that anyone interested in hearing about it has a chance to. We are also going to be coming home in a state of exhaustion and burrito and tri-tip depravation so we will need to recalibrate our senses – which shouldn’t be a very difficult task! We also desire to recover emotionally and physically in the comfort and company of our family and friends so that we can head back to the Philippines refreshed and ready to go at it again.

Maycie considers life here "normal" but we think it is important that she also adapts to her "native" California culture. That will also be an important part of our time in the States.

We plan to be in the States from the middle of November until the end of August 2012. It is a little over 9 months so we have decided to rent a house in Santa Maria, CA. God is good, and before we even put our need for a house out there, He has already provided a great home for us through the incredible generosity of some friends from our home church. We are so thankful to them as this is beyond anything we had hoped for.

We will also be looking for a vehicle to drive while we are there. We are thinking we will at least need to drive throughout the Western US if not all the way to the East Coast as well. Consequently we are praying the Lord might provide us with a reliable vehicle that is conducive to traveling as a family. Please pray with us for this provision and if you have any leads on a vehicle that might work for us please let us know.

We are really looking forward to our time at home and hope to spend time with as many of you, our friends and supporters, as possible. As we know more about our plans, we’ll be sure to share them with everyone.

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Limited Edition "American Idol Pizza"

When we first arrived on Mindanao we were invited to go out to eat at a restaurant down the road with our friends. It was described to us as “good if you’ve lived here for a while.” At that time we hadn’t lived here long enough. It wasn’t very good, but it was edible. 1 1/2 years later, we found ourselves back in the same restaurant eating and enjoying the same food and debating about whether or not the ketchup was “real” or banana ketchup. That got us thinking, “what else have we adapted to that might be an indicator that we’ve been here a while?”

Here are ten things that we felt are indicators that “we might be a due for recalibration.”

1. We go to McDonald’s to get a good burger
2. We no longer flinch when passing around a corner on a mountain road.
3. We (actually just Brian) think that a Jolibee hotdog is nearly as good as anything else you eat in town.
4. We enjoy the “free” rice and meat breakfast buffet at some hotels (no continental breakfast here)
5. We can’t remember what a real pizza tastes like
6. We consider hotdogs a big treat for a 4th of July BBQ
7. We go to McDonald’s for good ice-cream.
8. We pick the bugs out of our food and keep eating without a second thought
9. We instinctively look in a prescription drug reference book and then research it online for recalls just to buy a decongestant or cough syrup.
10. We naturally allot a full day just to renew our vehicle registration – and realize that even that might not be enough.

It will be interesting to see just how far out of calibration we’ve become. I think we may be in for culture shock in reverse!

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