the change: how it all began {part two}

Missed Part One? Read it here.


Like I said before, Danny and I just knew that change was coming. We had come to a place in our life where anything was possible--we had no house to tie us down, plus a career change was definitely on Danny's mind. But what? And where? Those questions loomed in ours minds daily as we prayed and sought and wondered. We just needed some sort of direction, just a little spark, so to speak, to get things going.

The spark came unexpectedly one night in July 2011 as we were hanging out with our friend Jared. We were asking him about his job and college (he is pursuing an accounting degree) when he tells us that although he has almost obtained his degree, he has realized that he does not want to do accounting the rest of his life! His current job was confining him to a desk all day and he found out that was just not for him. He went on to say that he plans on finishing his degree (since he's so close) and afterward doing what he really wants to do: go to medical school.

I must admit that I immediately teased him for changing his major (again) :-) However, a light bulb (the spark?) lit up in Danny's mind. He encouraged Jared's decision--I mean, if it's his dream, he should go for it! Yes, it will take time and hard work, but in the end it is worth it if that is what you were made to do. If you are going to do something the rest of your life, you may as well enjoy it. If you have a dream, why not pursue it? As this all processed in Danny's mind, he realized this encouragement wasn't just for Jared--it was for himself.

Right then he started looking up helicopter flight schools.



So where exactly do helicopters come in?

Since a boy, Danny has always thought that helicopters were "cool." He loved the rare sighting of them in his hometown of Seeley Lake, Montana. Time passed, and after getting out of school he started doing random jobs to make money. He then completed wildfire fighter ground training in hopes of being a wildfire fighter. In the back of his mind he thought it would be so exciting to one day be one of the guys flying the helicopters above the forest fires carrying the huge buckets of water. He never really seriously considered going that far with it though. Doesn't helicopter school cost a lot of money? Take a lot of time to complete?

He never did get to fight fires since he ended up moving to Ohio shortly after completing his training. Becoming a helicopter pilot was pretty much not a valid option anymore, just an unattainable dream. Fast forward 7 years to 2011, now being married with two young children and at a turning point in his life where he just knew he had to do something different. It's interesting because about a month or so before this conversation with Jared, Danny and Caedon would sit at the computer together and watch helicopter videos. Danny has casually mentioned to me a few times over Caedon's life how "we should send Caedon to flight school when he's out of high school. Wouldn't that be so cool if he could fly helicopters?" It was as if Danny wanted Caedon to experience the dream that Danny had had long before but never really pursued. Obviously this helicopter dream was still alive in Danny's heart.

So our road had lead to this fork: does Danny just stick with his job for money & security's sake, find a house, and just continue with what we were doing? Or do we, as a family, take a risk together, change our life story, and go for it--follow the spark?

I think you know what we decided :-)



As with a spark hitting a pile of wood (or a dynamite fuse, more like it), things started happening quickly. We had made the decision to pursue Danny's dream (which, by the way, became my dream, too) and God was very much paving the way for us and confirming that this is what He wanted for us. At the end of September Danny visited Oregon, fell in love with Jerry Trimble Helicopters (the school that from the very beginning he just felt was the one), and while on the trip found the perfect place to live and was guaranteed a job! WOW! Our plan was to leave by October 26th (giving us less than a month to prepare to move across the country!) yet things seemed to be falling into place! Ah, smooth sailing!

Or so we thought...


Part Three coming soon!

Photos were taken in early October on Danny's trip to Oregon with his friends Christian & Mark. The helicopter picture is the demo flight Danny went on at the Jerry Trimble school.