new zealand part 1

a good friend of mine moved down to new zealand a few years ago and now he is getting hitched. thats a good enough excuse for me to travel half way around the world :) our two week excursion will primarily be spent on the south island. megan and i are meeting up with a couple of friends to travel around. and then on the way back we are extending our layover in fiji for two days. it will be quite the extreme going from 26 degree days to 85 degree days. yikes. who knows when we will have opportunities to do these kinds of things again, so for now we are going to live it up!


thanks for the photo ryan, many more to come :)

for now... spokane is home

on december 9th megan graduated with her bachelors of science in nursing. a week later she accepted a position in the ER at Holy Family, located in... Spokane, WA. this was her top choice, and is really excited about starting work on february 4th. she still has to pass her "nursing boards" i think its called the NCLEX?

a number of things went in to this decision for us to stay in spokane... bottom line is that it is just a good fit for us right now. we could not be more happy and at peace with this decision. i am looking into a couple of different options for me to finish up my school while continuing to work part time at the airport. ill fill you in more when i find out myself. for now im continuing to take my gen eds through BCC online.




here are a couple of pictures of megan with her "patients" at nursing school. they had an open house for family and friends to check out at her school the day of graduation.


megan during the pinning ceremony.


aaron, megan, kendra and greg after megans graduation.

santa's little helpers...

i couldn't resist posting this...you HAVE to watch it. it features aaron and i, and our dear friends daniel and jenny who live in boston. we miss you guys!

just click on the link below...

elf yourself... (please be patient while the page loads, it will be worth the wait)

just a little update for you all...

i only have one more day left in my practicum at evergreen, then i graduate on sunday, the 9th. i had an interview at holy family hospital in spokane in the emergency department last week. that went really well and they said that i was a good candidate for the job. i also have an interview at evergreen in the ED on December 13th. they had more than 50 applicants for three positions, so i don't know what my chances are of getting offered a position...but i'm staying positive, and i know that God will provide the perfect nursing position for me either in spokane, or seattle area...or who knows where else. 

last week in the ED during my practicum, we were called to a "code blue" up in ICU. a code blue means that someone has stopped breathing and CPR is required. an emergency room doctor, nurse, and tech go to all the code blue's in the hospital, and my nurse who i am shadowing was on the code team that day. we go running through the halls and up the stairs to the room where the code was. there were about 15 people in the room...from doctors, to pharmacists, to respiratory therapy, to nurses, to techs, and the family of the patient. one nurse had just started to do CPR, but was tiring quickly. my nurse told me to jump in there and take over for her. the first couple of compressions i felt his bones cracking below my hands, which is expected because you are supposed to do compressions really deep and hard...but it was a gross feeling. after about 2 minutes doing CPR, the doctor told me to stop compressions because we needed to shock him. after about three cycles of CPR and shocking him, we got a pulse again. when i left the room, his oxygen level looked ok, and he was somewhat stable. that was my first experience doing CPR on a real person. there were so many emotions during and after...it was exhilirating, intense, scary, and a huge adrenaline rush. 

not a bad day's work when you save a life :) 

 

mr. airport baggage handler guy

now when you are traveling this holiday season, think about the little guy. the guy that nobody sees. the guy that nobody notices... until they cant find their bag! ha! now you know what really goes on after your bag disappears off that conveyor belt at the check in counter... :) joke. i take my job very seriously, sort of.

back and forth

megan and i will be traveling back and forth between seattle and spokane during the next few weeks, while megan wraps up her last semester--working at evergreen hospital for her nursing practicum (from what i have gathered, what that means is she basically works without getting paid as a part of a requirement for graduation... sorry babe, i probably spelled that wrong huh?).  

i recently got the opportunity to obtain the video entertainment game halo 3, and in attempts to move our marriage along to the next phase (im not exactly sure what that might be), and to get in tune with our inner most feelings for one another, megan inquired that she might give it a shot as well. so to dan, and ryan, megan is the "friend" that joined us on that lusterous afternoon... here are some images of her in action-

it took megan a little while to get use to the controls... for a while when ever she went to shoot someone, she would wind up just spinning around in circles with her gun pointed at the ground. (for a while i thought that she was trying to see what her shoes looked like)



one she got the hang of it things started to get intense...



this is megan after she finally realized that she could go in to appearance settings and change the color of the generals "outfit" (actually i think this is when she discovered the jump button...)

life doesnt get much better than that. coming home after a fine day of work to find a clean house, dinner on the table, and my wife calling some 12 year old boy names because he keeps on moving when she tries beating him down with the spiker! shes actually not that bad. she does her best when it is spiker only rounds... uncle jerry you gota get in on this!

a year older...

for my birthday (which was last friday, the 26th) aaron and i went back to seattle for the weekend. it was so nice to see our families and some friends. aaron then surprised me with my birthday present...a trip to victoria for a couple days :)

since aaron has benefits through his work, we took the short plane ride (only 20 minutes) over to victoria. our hotel, miraloma on the cove, was in a small town called sydney, about 10 miles out of victoria. the hotel was amazing! we highly recommend it. it was basically a mansion with 22 rooms right on the cove. they had to bump us up to a suite, which was pretty much bigger than our apartment here in spokane :)
we ventured into victoria for the afternoon checking out the sights...the famous empress hotel, the legislative building, and all around town. it was such a relaxing weekend...we look forward to many more adventures taking advantage of aaron's flying benefits :)

san diego

On my day off last week I took full advantage of my benefits and headed down to sunny San Diego! i flew down wednesday morning and back on thursday... simple 

as that :) 

i stayed with my pal josh, we had some mexican food, In and Out, played old school nintendo, went to the beach and checked out some caves, drove around the city and watched transformers. not a bad way to spend your day off. good times.

these are megans socks... she had to put them on when we got home the other day because spokane really has two seasons: summer and winter. i was really looking forward to the fall, but we went from 75 degree days to 35 degree days in about a week! its pretty cold outside but there are still the colors of fall, and i would rather it be cold than hot... cold is definitely better.

double trouble

i am finally done with my training for horizon, and am now an official "ramper." its so nice to have a consistent schedule now, even though i wake up at 4:00 am to be at work by 5:15 am, im done at 11:30 am, and ive got the rest of the day to myself... to get done whatever it is that i need to get done. i work friday, saturday, sunday and monday. (i traded my thursday morning shift with a guy for his monday afternoon shift... giving me a "double" on mondays)

so monday i worked my first double... i saw the sun rise from the ramp, and i saw the sun set from the ramp. 13.5 hours! my uncle larry is a mail-man and he's been getting up that early for years and working many shifts that long or longer... larry, you the man. thats tough, the reason it was probably so tough for me was because even though i tried going to bed at 10 pm... i didnt get to sleep until 1:00 am... (thats 3 hours of sleep o tizzle). so it will take my system a while to adapt to the new sleeping pattern.

im really happy with my job right now... we will see how much i like it, when i am deicing planes for 6 hours in 19 degree weather :) 

-aaron

bonjour...

in all the busyness of school, work, and moving, we forgot to post some pictures from our wonderful honeymoon. aaron surprised me and took me to paris and london! we spent about 5 days in paris and 2 days in london. although we were really tired after the wedding and from traveling, we made the most of our trip, visiting most of the touristy sites...here are some of my favorite memories :)

the Louvre was incredible! we were blown away by how huge it was. the building behind us was just one of the three buildings that made up the museum. this picture was taken on tuesday, when the museum was closed. so we decided to come back on wednesday after 6 pm when admission was half off...and the crowds were much smaller...

i can't remember what this painting is called, but it was pretty incredible...and massive! notice the guy in the bottom of the picture with the red backpack...just shows you how large the painting really is...

under the Louvre pyramid...

notre dame

au revoir to paris...

hello to london

our hotel, or should i say castle, was directly across the river from the london eye (the big ferris wheel). that is parlaiment and big ben in the background...

in the queen's telephone booth...

we were walking right alongside the royal band on the way to the changing of the gaurds at buckingham palace

parliament...the lady that took our picture cut off big ben on the right :(

such an amazing trip...i hope you enjoyed seeing just a few of our pictures. we definetly recommend going to paris and london someday. we enjoyed paris, but they are so mean to tourists there...so unless you speak french, expect to be treated not so nicely :) in london, because we spoke the same language, we felt like we were treated in a little better and we enjoyed the city a lot. maybe someday, we will visit again....although i'm sure it will be waaaay down the road...

hope you all are having a great week!

-megan

the real world...

this last week has been very interesting and challenging...i am just now coming to the realization that we are grown up and are now living in the real world! well, i technically am still a college student, but have to start seriously thinking about what i am going to do when i graduate in december. school is winding down and i am forced to start writing resumes, looking and applying for jobs, and studying for the NCLEX...which is going to kill me. we are trying to decide where we want to live in this next phase in our life...who knows...maybe we'll end up in boston? (jenny you would love that :) among the options are alaska, oregon, california, chicago...pretty much where ever i can get a job and where ever aaron can keep his. about aaron's job...he started working this last week and his schedule is opposite of mine for the next couple of weeks as he finishes up training. we don't get to see each other all that often, but that's the "real world" right? as all of us growing up and are moving in all different directions, i am just reminded that God is in control and is guiding our every step. my mom has this quote hanging up on the cupboard in her kitchen..."lack of faith is panic." may the Lord strengthen my faith in the next couple months...because i am definitely panicking! 

-megan

pdx

i am in portland for the week doing training for horizon along with 23 other agents from the region. this morning there was a buzz in the lobby as we waited for the shuttle to take us to the flight opps building because of news that 113 horizon flights were cancelled today due to a mechanical air to the aircraft... turns out that scandinavia airlines had a crash landing when one of the landing gears failed upon landing... (the same model aircraft as one of ours, the Q400) so the first question we all had was, do we still have a job :) and the second was, how are we getting home on friday with all these flights grounded? for your information horizon was not required to do this. horizon is all about safety and customer service, with safety coming first. and by being safe we are providing excellent customer service!

the training is going just fine, i miss my wifey, but hubby needs to be able to put bread on the table... for now :) i just got back to the hotel after going out with my good childhood friend, adam nevins. he showed me around the city of portland, we shared a meal and talked about life together... a moment i will cherish as he is heading down to new orleans at the beginning of the new year.  

"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." -Mark 16.15

i see people that i grew up with and people that i care about, and we are all going in different directions and finding ourselves in different places around the country, and the globe... and it is exciting! it is sad that we are not all together, but it is exciting to see guys that are being sensitive to the holy spirit and are not staying in their comfortable space where it is safe, but are acting on the passions instilled to them and using the gifts blessed to them. from bellevue to n.o. to boston and all over... there is no distance that will keep us apart, the bond we have is too strong, the one thing that keeps us united is in christ and christ alone. 

HIS

love 

endures 

forever.

spokane apartment

im not sure how long we are going to be calling spokane our home, but for now we are happy with with what the lord has provided for us. we find ourselves in Browne's Addition, a historical part of spokane, just a five minute walk west of downtown.



across the street from our apartment is Coeur D'Alene Park with basketball hoops, tennis court... it is really nice :)



and then to top it off, across the street from the park, is Vintage Faith Community; an Acts29 church, planted just three years ago, using space at a lutheran church to have a time of worship on sunday evenings. we feel so blessed to have found a church to call home while we are here in spokane, in so short an amount of time.



i fly to Portland on sunday for a week of Ground Service Agent training for Horizon. and then online classes start in under 2 weeks. megan is having a friend stay with her while i am gone. i cant believe she has been in school 3 weeks already. and we have been in spokane over a month! that just shows you how time flies... when you're happily married :)

to see the inside of our apartment, click on "apartment slideshow" over on the left column, under "pictures and videos"

-aaron

it's always better when we're together...

 | sander's mansion | 07.20.07| auburn, washington|

getting ready...


the wedding party...

"you may now kiss the bride..."

mmm...we had cupcakes instead of a cake

well we finally tied the knot on july 20th after 5 wonderful years of dating. it had not rained on july 20th in 120 years. what a record, huh? despite the weather, the wedding was beautiful... God is good! the dessert was amazing, the dancing was fun, and we enjoyed having our friends and families there to share in our special day. 

if you would like to see more wedding pictures...go to www.ryanpflynn.com. choose "flash" if you have high speed internet or "html" if you have dial-up. then click on the "clients" tab on the bottom. the password is "spokane." hope you enjoy looking at them! contact ryan to order prints... 

its been a while

what once use to be a way for me (aaron) to tell about all the happenings of my time at bible school, has changed since getting married over a month ago to me lovely bride megan! so now the story continues with the both of us, starting off life together in spokane. it has been busy since the last post, but we will try and catch up here in the next week or so... stay tuned :)

coming home

here is a picture with the team that went to Romania. It was a really good week, God's love is unconditional and was evident in many people i came across. Im at a hotel in vienna, my plane leaves on sunday... and the business begins right when i step off the plane. wedding countdown is 27 days and counting... gidee up!

romania

im in romania right now, and turns out we got a sweet pension with high speed internet... i have posted some pictures from the trip so far on an online photo album that you can check out. there is a link under "links" on the right column of this page.

im home in 5 days!

today was the last day of bible school... it has gone by so fast, but it will be good to be home, and get married, in 5 weeks, 35 days, from today... :) i leave for romania in the morning, its a 10 hour drive and then we are going around to different villages etc. for 5 days and then head back home on friday. i fly out of vienna, so im going to get dropped off on the way through... and then i will be home on the 25th. pray for me and the team, that we can put some of the stuff we have been learning the past 8 weeks into use to the gypsies, kids and at the orphaniges. thanks. see ya in 10 days!



this is me and luke (who is from idaho, also going to romania) battling in the sandpit... i just grabbbed a scoop full and am about to attempt to get some on luke :) i had a difficult time getting the thingy to swivel...






these are the roomates, jeremy and gustav... striking a pose after cleaning our room. i was fortunate to have one of the cleanest rooms at tauernhof, which allowed me to sleep good at night (i also found a fan laying around, which didnt hurt either)

bible school is full of surprises... the most recent came last friday, the theme for our "social night" was ninjas and pirates... apparently this is a well known thing that if someone comes up to you and says pirate or ninja you are suppose to claim your allegiance to one or the other. so everyone was suppose to dress up for dinner and an evening with festivities. now i am about to get married right, so this whole charade seemed a little childish to me, but to disprove that i was not to cool to participate i gathered together a costume with what i found laying around (i didnt see ninja and pirate attire on the packing list). im not going to lie, it was entertaining for about 5 minutes :)

ummm, our speaker this last week, svekter weissglas, spoke on christ as life... a refreshing perspective from a guy who has been a missionary for 20+ years in greece and romania, doing mostly evangelism and speaking engagements, some paid, some not, but all for the glory of God. he talked about how we are no longer under the law, and how the church often acts like we are. i have a deep respect for svekter, not because i agree with everything that he says, but because he has a genuine passion and love for people and for the gospel. his zeal for life is contagious, and probed me to think. more than anything, i have done a lot of thinking these past weeks, critically about what i read and hear, and it has been so good.

sunday afternoon after lunch i tried to find chappy's "spot" where he would have his time with god while at tauernhof... i grabbed my pack and bible and headed up the mountain behind the school. 10 minutes turned into over an hour and i found myself half way up the mountain, and tired. chappy, i dont think i found it... :) i just couldn't stop though... theres a skt lift that just started up last week for the spring for tourists to ride, that i planned to take down once i made it to the top... and to make a long story short, i ran out of water, but came across a cabin where a guy offered me a glass of water, and i got to the top but the lift was closed! i was perched, but found an unopened bottle of orange soda beside a bench...thank you God, hit the spot! i was contemplating sleeping up there and taking the lift down in the morning, but then got cold after sitting on a bench for a while, my shirt drenched in sweat, decided that i needed to get down. then came across a gal that worked at a restaurant near the mountain peek that gave me a ride back to town. i missed dinner so i walked down down and got myself a kebab... something you must have if you are in the area... it was a crazy afternoon, but exciting and scary at the same time :)

im enjoying my time here, my appreciation and love for gods word is growing, even though it is easy to say that now. this is something that i have wanted to do since high school, but it is amazing how God's sovereignty has lead me here at this time in my life, it is so perfect. thank you to those who have prayed for me while i have been gone. it has truly been a rewarding and growing experience. 2 weeks left, followed by a week in romania.

shout out to CBC Youth! miss you guys!

half time

well... i have hit the half way mark. 4 weeks down and 4 more to go, it has gone by so fast. loving it. missing mnd. anxious to get home. soaking up all i can get :) this last weekend we had a travel weekend, where folks went to Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, camping and other places... i took advantage of this guy, Hans Peter's bed and breakfast up on one of the mountains... the deal was that you work for 2 hours a day and you can stay there for free... i thought that sounded nice. we get so busy with assignments and outreach and projects that it is hard to set aside a good block of time during the week... but lets just say when i thought of a sweet bed and breakfast up one of the mountains with a sweet view, it was actually an old BARN, with a bunch of rooms in it... up on one of the mountains with a sweet view... plus a group of 16 elementary kids staying there for a weekend retreat as well... but i did have some good time of quiet and solitude, i was just a little bummed with the accommodations.. oh well.

Hans peter just wrapped up his series on revelation... 25 hours was not enough time, but it has changed the way that i see the bible. he did such a great job of painting a picture of scripture in its entirety through Jesus... the word of god is truly living and active, it is such a pleasure to meet with god through out the day. i got some mail today from the CBC youth team (thanks rene), it was a note of encouragement from my Ensenada team this year (thanks for all the nice words guys... we should get together before people start leaving). each person had a page with their name on it, and everyone else writes encouraging things about that person from the week. and then they sent each persons page to them as a reminder and encouragement from the trip. it was a real treat, brought back some great memories!

i have decided to take advantage of an opportunity to travel to Romania with some other students from tauernhof to do some outreach in an orphanage and a gypsy village...among other things. i had a week after school to do some travel, but i dont know if i would ever have a reason to go to Romania again... so thats what im going to do... and i am not one to turn down a chance to serve right? plus, i would just miss my megan too much if i was off seeing cool place like Venice, Rome, or Paris... :)

austrian life

this is dani and heidi's house, my family group moms :) it is vary austrian!


randy, michelle, and amber... family group time.


this was the "bed and breakfast" i stayed in over the weekend... hans is a cool guy.


i worked for 4 hours on friday as my payment for staying there. the wook was soaked and full of knots... not too bad.