CJ & Autumn Miller

     Autumn picked up a bad habit when she worked at Premiere Aviation as an A&P mechanic.  Her buddy, Jimmy, got her hooked on the energy drink Monster (especially the green ones).  Anyway, I have since become addicted to them as well, but I am starting to reconsider. 
     After my last monster was finished, I threw the can to the side of the garage like any red blooded American man would do.  Autumn can't stand this, but she let it slide for a couple of days just waiting to see if I would pick it up.  Of course  I didn't pick it up, and one day when Autumn got home from work she had had enough!  So with a 'good grief' sigh and a rolling of the eyes, she bent over to pick up my monster can and... this is what she found!  The poor lizard never had a chance.
     Maybe we should consider the side effects of Monsters a little more carefully!

     When we woke up Saturday I gave CJ some chocolates & a iphone arm band for running. Little did I know, the gift came with a understood run to “try it out”, so CJ, Teco, & I ran around the neighborhood in preparation for all the holiday chocolates. When we got back I sent CJ to Lowe’s for some home repair tools & I started brunch preparations. I decorated the table with hearts & fresh daffodils cut from the side of the highway the night before. We ate CJ’s favorite tomato & turkey bacon quiche casserole & homemade blueberry muffins with lemon icing. Yum.

      That night we drove to Tyler for dinner at Bernard’s. We didn’t have reservations & were actually very lucky to get in. It might have been the fanciest dinner I have ever had. While in Tyler we spent our last Wedding gift card at Gander Mtn. on a Red Cross weather radio/flashlight that can be charged through the solar panel or a hand crank. Who knows when we might need that – right?!

We had Scott P. over for dinner at our house last week. He is the AIM Air representative in the United States. He was very kind & enjoyable & we wore him out with questions.

1.       AIM only assigns one spouse to the mission. They do this to leave opportunity for family. CJ would be pilot/mechanic full time & I would have the freedom to do as I wish. I am interested in doing aircraft maintenance in the AIM Air hangar part time & volunteering at an orphanage or maybe even the school Lifepoint is sponsoring in Nairobi. [I already talked to the Feed the Children Rep about this]

2.       AIM Air has the ability to ship some of our belongings on a 20ft shared container to Africa. This totally changes our plans for our garage sale this Spring. I guess we will keep some things we really love & need.

3.       Scott recommended we also ship a comfortable bed mattress, a small gas stove, a refrigerator, & a clothes dryer for the rainy season. I think we may take him up on the mattress & stove idea. Our mattress is a Full size hand me down from a friends-boyfriend’s spare room, if that tells you anything about the quality. I hope to get a new one & shipping it to Africa would make the money actually worth it in time.

4.       We can take our dog Teco. He said missionaries take their dogs over all the time & we just need to be sure & get the correct shots for her. He said purebreds are particularly susceptible to the African diseases for some reason. Good thing Teco thinks she’s a mutt.

5.       According to Scott, missionaries in Nairboi live in small concrete apartments/town homes owned or rented by the organization, sometimes near other AIM people, sometimes in the community. I hope to be in the community.

6.       Scott pointed out that AIM Bush Pilots are not in any way ‘cowboys’ in the way they fly. He said it is imperative to be professional as well as sharp on skills & procedures. Their soft field strips are seriously dangerous if approached incorrectly.

7.       Scott told us to get used to the idea of having bars on our windows & doors. That’s the way it’s going to be in Nairobi. From what I saw in 2007, he is right.

8.       Learning Swahili now may be a good idea. Scott said we will have to relearn it when we get there because of the different dialects, but everyone appreciates effort put in by foreigners to learn their language. We will have to laugh at ourselves often.

9.       I need to start collecting ‘from scratch’ recipes & cookbooks. I am going to have to cook everything the old fashioned way in Africa. At least we will eat healthy!

10.   I am bringing my sewing machine. Every house looks better with curtains & pillows & they have some fantastic hand dyed fabric in Africa. Thanks mom for all those lessons when I was younger!