Aviator Nursery and MAF

It is so much fun to plan a nursery! I had a few things that I needed to keep in mind before settling on Chandler's nursery decor. First, I wanted it to have the navy, deep red, and celadon green that are in Owen Ray's room. I knew I wasn't going to re-buy the same pattern that Owen Ray had ($$$ what was I thinking!). But, eventually, these two guys are going to be sharing a room, and I want to be able to move in all Chandler's stuff rather than buying new things when the time comes. I wanted the theme to be 100% boy. I also wanted to incorporate my love of all things vintage. The result of my scouring the internet for fabric samples has produced the following: "Wild Blue Yonder." I ordered lots and lots of this fabric, and I am so excited for it to arrive.

In my quest for coordinating accessories, I happened upon an adorable (but way too expensive) model plane. The plane is sold through MAF. What's that you might ask? I didn't know either. It is Mission Aviation Fellowship, an organization that reaches unreachable people through their missionary pilots. In their gift shop, it said people who bought the model airplane I was looking at also bought Jungle Pilot and other books about missionary aviators. Jungle Pilot is evidently a missions classic that recounts the life of Nate Saint, who was martyred by the Waodoni while trying to bring the Gospel to them. I knew this story already, but I found myself clicking links to read articles about Nate and other missionary pilots. The result? Instead of exploring nursery decor, I find myself fighting tears (unsuccessfully) while being incredibly touched by missionaries who forfeit their earthly lives for the glory of God.