all sorts of new-ness

Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks.

First off, we moved out of our 1 bedroom college apartment and into a very nice and spacious 2 bedroom/ 2 bath condo (still in College Station). It's almost double the square footage and CHEAPER! woohoo! The other bedroom is kinda like a guest bedroom/study/storage/room for Joshua's stuff. He will just sleep in our room in a pack & play for his first couple months since we will be moving about 2 months after he arrives in our world! We have all of our own furniture now and this just feels more like home to us. I can't wait to bring Joshua here for his first home. I ordered his dresser online and we've received it. We just need to put it together. That we will try to conquer here soon. It's really the only thing we have left to do. Daniel did an amazing job organizing and finding a nice place for all the stuff we hadn't got to yet last Sunday while I was at Chelsey's baby shower. It was so sweet and awesome of him.

Also, last Friday we went to the doctor for another check up. Everything was great still. My blood pressure was great, measured accurately, no swelling, and got to hear his beautiful heartbeat (my favorite part). I saw a different doctor this time since my doctor was out of town, but the guy I saw was super nice and great. His wife and him actually started this doctor's office back in 1997 I believe he said. It was nice seeing another doctor in the office since depending on when I go into labor, any of them could be on call and deliver me if my doctor isn't available. I think there's like 6 or 7 doctors that could potentially deliver me. Oh, and I got an 86 on my glucose testing from the last time which is very good (one of my doctor friends even said it's like one of the lowest scores she's ever heard - which is a good thing!) because anything over 130 or 140, they make you do a 3 hour test that involves fasting- not fun! No gestational diabetes for me. Praise God!

We've also mailed in our registration and money for our childbirth & breastfeeding classes! I'm pretty excited about them and just to learn more about everything together as a couple. We will do the breastfeeding one Sept.8th in the evening & the childbirth one on Sept. 11th all day. I believe I will also be having a baby shower Sept. 12th, so that should just be an exciting week!

My (Amanda) last day of work will be August 19th. I'm sad because I will miss the two sweet kids I nanny, but I will need that time to rest and prepare for Joshua's arrival. Plus, some real exciting news is that Daniel has accepted a job with Terracon Engineering for the fall. He starts Monday, August 16th, and will work for them until we move to Virginia. They are very understanding about his commitments with the Marine Corps, but look forward to having him as their full-time guy for the fall, since most of their employees are grad students who take off or go part-time for the fall semester. Daniel was very excited to put in his 2 weeks to HEB after being with them for 7 years and 1 week. It's time for him to move onto a big boy job where he can actually use his degree. This Thursday will be his last day (YAY!) and then we are going out of town for the weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! WHOOP!

All the praise goes to God for everything. Without Him, we would be nothing and none of this would truly mean anything. We are blessed and oh so thankful! =)

It's been a while... Sorry!!!

Well, we're just bad bloggers, I guess. I will try to get better, so I can keep y'all better updated on the Lane household as we await the arrival of our first child. We are so excited and eagerly await the arrival of our baby boy. As of yesterday, I started my 27th week, aka the start of my 3rd (and FINAL) trimester! Joshua could be here anywhere from 10-13 weeks from now and be considered full term. Makes me a little nervous since we still have so much left to get and do before he comes, but I know it will all work out with God in control. We went to the doctor on Friday, and Joshua is measuring accurately with a strong heartbeat. He's a healthy little one which we are so thankful about. I had to do my glucose test which consisted of me drinking this orange drink and then having my blood drawn an hour later. We should hear the results back from that sometime this week, so pray that it comes back normal. We go back in a little under 3 weeks, and then, I think she's going to start seeing me every 2 weeks. My back has just started hurting some, especially when I bend over to pick something up. It's like a nerve is getting pinched or something. Good thing I have a sweet husband who is willing to help me out. For example, today, we dropped some stuff off at Goodwill, walked around Target, and went grocery shopping. Well, by the end of all that, my back and my feet were really hurting (luckily, nothing is swelling- at least not yet), so he told me to go lay down when we walked in the door, and he put everything up by himself. He, also, cooked us dinner. Very much appreciated!!!

In other news, Daniel is not scheduled to report to TBS (combat school for new Marine officers) until mid- December, so we will be moving to Quantico, Virginia for that around the end of November/ beginning of December. Until then, we will be staying here in College Station which means our baby boy will get to be born in the great state of Texas. We're excited about that, especially since that means the doctor I've seen for my entire pregnancy so far will get to deliver me most likely (the exception being if Joshua decides to come at some odd hour when my doctor isn't available or the doctor on call since there are several doctors at the office we go to). The part we're not as excited about is that we'll have to move with a 2 month old baby, but we'll survive- no big deal. Anyways, our lease is up on our current apartment in August, and we are excited about that because these are young and loud college apartments and we're ready to get out of them to be in a quieter, more ideal setting for our expanding family. We have found a 2 bedroom/2 bath 1 floor townhouse that is almost double the square footage of our current apartment and $200 cheaper a month in rent. We plan on moving July 30th & 31st, and then, we'll actually be able to put together the nursery (even though it will only get like 2 months of use). I'll finally be able to let this nesting itch in me get out and to work! lol. We've had quite the clean 1 bedroom apartment lately since there isn't much I can do here. We might even be purchasing a queen size bed tomorrow which is very exciting since we've slept on a full size bed with a cheap mattress for the past year.

Besides that, we're just working and enjoying our summer. I'm still nannying and enjoying it. The little boy just turned 1 year old at the end of June and is so fun and cracks me up. The little girl is 2 1/2 and just as sweet and talkative as can be. I'll be sad when I'm not their nanny anymore because I've really had a blast. Daniel is still at HEB, poor guy. I know he's so ready to move on from it, but the Marines don't start paying him until he reports for TBS (unless, they start this language school at the end of August like they've mentioned). The email they sent out was asking to see how many lieutenants would be interested in doing it before they report for TBS, but no word has been said as to if they will actually do it or not. It would be nice if they did though, because Daniel would enjoy it and learn 2 Afghani dialects. Plus, he would start getting paid and we would receive a housing allowance.

Basically, we're just trying to live by faith and give all the control to God. There's no use worrying about things because God promises to take care of those who truly love Him and seek Him. Hope y'all enjoyed our update, and I will try to not to wait so long before I blog again. 

Latest Happenings

My wonderful husband took me for a flight that same day that he got his license, and it was awesome. He is just such a natural at it and made me feel more comfortable in that plane than I've ever felt flying (and I've flown a lot!). He taught me a lot and flew me out to Caldwell where he did some touch-and-goes before we came back in. We celebrated with a dinner with a couple friends at Chili's. It was a great day!

In other news, this past Wednesday, Daniel and I went to my latest pre-natal doctor's appointment. It started with an ultrasound where the lady completely checked and measured all of the baby. I couldn't take my eyes off that screen. Seeing our baby is such an amazing sight. The love I already feel for our little one is unmeasurable. Everything looked great and measured right on track for my current due date- October 9th. Of course, we found out the sex:

We are thrilled to become parents to our son, Joshua Austin Lane. *note: click on picture to enlarge.*

On top of all that, we had an amazing even filled weekend. It all started Friday at noon in Rudder Theater on the Texas A&M University campus. It was Daniel's official commissioning into the United States Marine Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant. It was a really awesome ceremony that included us, the family. We had several family members come into town: Mom & Dad Lane, Jordan (brother), Rebecca (sister), Stefanie (sister), Lane Grandparents, Youngblood grandparents, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Glenn, Matt (cousin), Uncle Roger, and Aunt Merle. There were 25 young men commissioned as officers into the U.S. Marine Corps or Navy, and they all looked great up there in their uniforms and new officer insignia that us family members were able to pin on them. After the ceremony, we went outside in front of the Rudder statue where the new officers gave their first salute to an enlisted military soldier. This is a tradition in the military which includes the newly commissioned officer giving the soldier who he gave his first salute to a silver dollar. Lots of pictures were taken, and here are a few:

After the commissioning ceremony, all the family came back to our apartment, and we gave them a tour and just hung out until dinner. Dinner was at Wings 'N More in South College Station, and it was a great time with family and celebrating Daniel's commissioning/graduation & Rebecca's 17th birthday. Also, we had held off on telling people the sex of the baby until we had informed family in person, which we did here at dinner. We gave Mom & Dad Lane a gift, which had in it a blue & green trimmed bib that read "I love grandma" and some blue burp cloths, to show them that we are expecting a baby boy. We, also, passed around the ultrasound pictures for everyone to see. From here, we headed to Reed Arena for Daniel's graduation ceremony. Some of the out-of-town family members went ahead and headed home since the weather was raining/storming and his graduation ceremony didn't start until 7pm. There were probably about 900-1,000 people graduating at this ceremony, so it was pretty long and boring as you can imagine. After the ceremony ended, we said bye to family after showing them his diploma and headed home. Saturday morning, Daniel and I had a celebratory breakfast at Cracker Barrel (so yummy & great service). Later that day, we had the University Commissioning ceremony. It was a part of the 2pm graduation ceremony for that day, but before they called out the names of those graduates, they brought out all of the newly commissioned officers for each divisions of the military (71 total). They, again, took the oath in front of everyone, and then were called by name to walk across the stage and shake the hands of several military officers. It was nice, and we were able to leave before they called the names of the graduates. We took some pictures with the Rencurrel's, and then headed home. We even ended the evening with a free Roger Creager concert at Wolf Pen Creek, which is right across the street from where we live.

It's been pretty eventful lately, but it's all been a great time with family and friends. Words cannot express how proud I am of my husband for his great accomplishments and how honored I am to be his wife. We feel truly blessed and give all the praise to our Lord.

Flight Log 05-02

I am now a Private Pilot! I got to the airport at 8:00am and got all my resources in line to use for the oral portion of the exam. I checked and re-checked the weather forecasts and notices for the Brazos Valley area, and brushed up on basic knowledge that I thought I might need. Bob Hans, the FAA examiner for my Private Pilot Certification Test, arrived shortly before 9:00. Bob is a 777 pilot for Continental and in his spare time he travels around southeast Texas administering these exams - and with an examiner's fee of $400 a pop, that's some serious loose change on top of his Captain's pay.

We started out with basic requirements and limitations, which involved short bulleted answers and progressed quickly. As we moved into more open-ended questions about operations, Bob started becoming more of a teacher than an evaluator. The other instructors had told me before hand that Bob "liked to talk", which is good for me because the more talking he did, the less answering I had to do!  I would give the answer, which he would acknowledge as being fundamentally true, then he started talking about the way things work in the real world. What he did more than anything was describe fatal accidents he had witnessed throughout his 40+ years of flying that involved a pilot error in the specific field we were discussing... after hearing about 10 of these stories I wasn't so sure I wanted to fly today. To put everyone else at ease, all of these involved pilots trying to beat out thunderstorms or not watching their instruments at all during critical stages of flight. He also made the point that a brand-new pilot would be safer to fly with than a guy that had his license for a year: "I've seen it happen a few times: a kid gets his license, but none of his friends want to fly with him because he's inexperienced. So he flies solo maybe once a week, then once a month, then the money runs out so he stops flying all together. About a year later his friends say 'hey, you're still alive, so you must be a safe pilot...' so he loads up a small plane with three of his friends. It's been 6, 7, 8 months since he last flew, his skills are rusty, and the plane is overloaded. Bad combination." We wrapped up the rest of the oral exam, took a short break, then briefed for the main event.

The clouds were almost overcast, but way up at 10000 feet. I love flying on cloudy days with high ceilings- the sun isn't beating in your face, thermals aren't around to bounce you, and the winds are pretty calm. I took off on a simulated flight to Fredericksburg, and before I had hit my second checkpoint I received the 'divert' command. After the diversion he checked out my instrument flying, which was over in maybe 10 minutes. He asked to see some slow flight and stalls, then go down to 1000 AGL for S-Turns. Almost everything I did today felt simplified and easy compared to the long rigorous tests my instructor's put me through on the progress checks, like trying to cross-reference VOR's to determine my location on a map with the hood on, while the plane is pitching and rolling in turbulence. When we were out over the practice area it started to rain a bit, which was a fun new experience. At Hearne I displayed my short-field landing abilities. On the first approach I came in perfect- I got down close to the ground as I came over the overrun area, an extension of the runway not suitable for landing, aiming for my touchdown point right on the numbers. I was about 10 feet up and as I crossed the threshold (a white striped designating the beginning of the runway) I got excited- this was on the money. I pulled out the throttle to bring the plane down then - go around! He caught me completely off guard! Only 3 feet up, I jammed the throttle forward. I had never been that low on a go-around before. The next approach was almost as good but about 50 feet to long... still within the test standards though. We went back to Easterwood and my soft-field landing was about as soft as could be, then I pulled off the runway and taxied to the ramp.

 Before I could shut down the plane Bob shook my hand and said, "Congratulations, you are now a Private Pilot!"      

Final Prog Check, pt. 1 & 2

Monday was a long day at the airport, consisting of 2 hours of oral quizzing and another 2 hours with the aircraft. Neither portions of the curriculum were completely finished today. In the air I showed my skills well, successfully navigating and flying via instruments. A new maneuver was added - on the checkout before the exam they want me to try something new? - I performed a power-on stall while in a climbing turn. A bit different and a little more hairy because the plane is less stable and more susceptible to entering a spin. Time was running out so we landed, logging 1.4 hours.

Day 2 was set for Tuesday. Due to time constraints (and class) I could only fit in the flying portion. Today was focused on ground-reference and emergency procedures. During the emergencies I spent a lot of time buzzing farmer's fields- on several occassions I brought the plane down to 50 feet before the go-around was ordered! No sooner would I climb up maybe 500', the engine would 'quit' again and I would have to evaluate my options and make vital decisions once again. With a descent rate of 500 feet/min, you get 60 seconds from the time the engine goes out until you're on the ground. Remeber the ABC's of engine failure: A-airspeed; establish best glide speed of 65kts - full aft trim. B-best field; no runways, the roads are too narrow and lined with powerlines - plenty of open fields - landing into the wind is optimal - land with the crop rows... not across! C-cockpit checks, if time permits - fuel valve on both, mixture rich, carburetor heat on, ignition switch on, primer in and locked. The engine is still out, we're committed to a landing. I really enjoyed this section as it gave me a chance to simulate what I would need to do in the event of an engine failure on takeoff. The last time my short-field landings were evaluated it was nearly six weeks ago, and I received high marks. Since then those skills were unused and got rusty! I picked up a new tip today and hit the touchdown point within 10 feet. After 1.2 hours in the air, the flying portion of my progress check was complete.

The remaining oral exam review session will be on Thursday. Today I got a call from Bob Hans, the Practical Test examiner - he had been away on a trip to London (he's an airline pilot) and said he wouldn't be available until May 10th. Then he asked where I was located... after learning that I was with Brazos Valley Flight Service at Easterwood, he asked if I wanted to meet him at the airport in two hours! Today would have been perfect for the final exam, but a plane was not available and I had a project to work on. As of right now, the test is slated for Sunday at 9am. Hopefully skipping church for the test isn't bad luck!

Total Log Time: 36.4 hrs

One more flight!

Friday (4/23) was my last scheduled solo flight. The winds stayed down and the clouds cleared just in time for me to fly at 2pm. After takeoff I made a quick run-through of ground reference maneuvers just outside the College Station airspace, then flew over to Coulter to practice short-field landings. Lately I've been struggling to get the plane down on target, and today I was landing long by about 50 feet each time. After the third attempt I was satisfied. One more technique I needed to practice was a forward-slip to landing, which is useful when you are coming in too high and fast, or need to make a steep approach over obstacles. A slip is performed by banking the aircraft into the wind about 10-15 degrees, then jamming the rudder in the opposite direction to make the aircraft fly straight ahead instead of turning. This combination of crossed control surfaces generates a lot of drag and 'turns on the elevator' as we like to call it- you really come down fast! Once over the runway you neutralize the controls and return to a normal level-flight attitude for landing. Today's flight time: 1.2 hrs

If weather stays clear I will make my final progress check on Monday. As long as the examiner is available, I will take the practical exam sometime in the middle of the week!

Logbook Totals

Total:  33.8 hrs
Night:   3.0 hrs
Solo:    7.7 hrs
X-C:      6.6 hrs
IFR:      3.5 hrs

Long Day In the Air

One of the most exhausting flights to date. Today we covered everything from day one to present, and made a thorough check of all my skills. After demonstrating ground reference manuever proficiency (turns about a point, s-turns, etc.) I went 'under the hood' for instrument flight. From the very start I was struggling to stay on top of the controls - the thermals were bouncy today. I would check the airspeed for a second, then find I was 200' above altitude. As I was fixing that issue I caught sight of a drifting heading indicator, and the artificial horizon displayed I was in a 10 degree bank to one side. In the process of returning to my assigned heading I could hear the engine RPM's rising, and sure enough I had entered a dive and the airspeed was climbing. It was pretty warm out today too, and the air vents in the cockpit weren't doing much to keep me cool. No sooner would I finally feel like I had the airplane trimmed out, I would receive a new set of instructions. Not wanting to delay the progression of today's lesson (and having the stubborn 'Right Stuff' mentallity...) I complied without requesting a pause to get my gimbals in order. Had this been the checkride exam I certainly would have stopped for a breather! We wrapped up instrument work with the dizzying unusual attitude recoveries.

After flying blind for nearly an hour, I removed the hood and was instructed to proceed towards Coulter Field in Bryan - a new airport for the list! Coulter was northeast of my position (060 degrees) at 10nm, but when I turned to heading, nothing looked right. The airport in front was most definately Hearne, and the distance readout (DME) was increasing up through 12nm... After cross-checking my naviagtion radios, I realized that the heading indicator was about 100 degrees off from the magnetic compass- during the unusual attitude phase, my instructor had twisted the knob around to intentionally offset it and fool me. I was thoroughly confused and flying in the wrong direction for a while, but eventually I caught it. Over Coulter we simulated an engine out scenario; once it was clear that I had the runway made I throttled up and performed a go-around. After a normal approach to landing and a short-field landing (which I overshot by 120') we returned to Easterwood. I made a nice soft-field landing, setting down easy and keeping the nosewheel up. 2.0 hours today; I was exhausted. This was the last 'lesson' with an instructor, next is a solo to work on weaknesses, then a final progress check before being signed off for THE exam!

Logbook: 32.6 hrs