Back In Coshocton and Enjoying Fall

Our trip to Pennsylvania was great. The weather was good up, back, and during the visit; we enjoyed great times with family and friends; and had wonderful worship with Karen's home church, Grace Church at Willow Valley.

Tucker is glad we're home.

We drove the seven hours to Lancaster, PA straight in and started out with a get together Friday evening with our small group from Grace. Hosted by Jake and Ruth Anne, we had a "light" dinner based around a potato soup that was so fantastically rich we nearly had to pay taxes on our caloric income.

Saturday afternoon we visited with Duane & Cindy and family and then with Jack & Pat and family. Sunday was worship at Grace and then the rest of the afternoon was preparation and participation in the Shrom Family Christmas and Holiday Extravaganza (Karen's family!). Wow. It was a three day power-packed weekend with all the food, fun, and fellowship we could handle. We were blessed to be able to stay with Karen's brother and his wife, Steve & Cindy and hung out with "Ace", their son Craig's new Beagle puppy.

We arrived home yesterday evening, slept in a bit this morning, and then enjoyed a wonderful fall day. It was in the mid-40's and sunny and jackets were not required. We stacked wood, I worked out in the garage, Karen ran errands...it was great. We've had winter since before Thanksgiving but it looks like we're going to enjoy November's weather heading into January. That's okay.

We have a bunch of little organizational things we'd like to get done around the house, several ministry projects, and a couple fun things still yet to do in preparation for 2009 and we'll be taking them on one task at a time over the next few days. Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

How Cold Is It?

It's cold enough that at home we're using a kerosene heater to take that extra edge off in effort to minimize the furnace's constant cycling. It's cold enough that the dogs enjoy wearing their jackets. It's cold enough that the dogs choose to snuggle up to the kerosene heater while wearing their jackets!

Tanner (blue collar) and Tucker (red collar) enjoy the additional BTU's.

It's cold enough that at MMS the guys have stuffed couch cushions (used for maintenance purposes) all along the bottom edge of the 60 foot sliding doors in Hangar A and have covered the lower part where the doors join with a sheet of foam rubber to help keep the heat in and the cold out.

However, the arctic air mass is moving on. It was 17 degrees this morning when I went into the shop and it's supposed to be 51 tomorrow afternoon. While the warmer weather will be nice, large temperature fluxuations are challenging and it'll soon be back below freezing.

(Apologies to our friends in northern Canada who REALLY understand what COLD is!)

Christmas C-C-C-C-Caroling...

I guess you can't really call yourself a Midwesterner until you've gone Christmas Caroling in sub-zero conditions. It seems Karen and I just earned that honor. Joyce & Kerry, Nathan & Melissa, Miranda, Rashelle, Curt, Jessica, Ella, and Olivia were also part of the group from church who ventured out this evening to sing carols for twelve individuals and families in the Fresno and West Lafayette area. Well, okay the actual temperature was in the single digits but figuring in the wind chill from the steady 25+ mile per hour winds, the temps were in the negative.

I watched part of a football pregame show today where Dan Deardorf, in Florida for the Buccaneer's game, was talking about the temperature there being about 75 with a windchill of 73. 73--I could live with a little bit of that right now.

Our thermometer currently reads 7.9 degrees, wind chill -6. Yeehaw.

Catching Up

The days are are all blurring together right now as the calendar rushes toward Christmas dragging us along with it.

Wednesday
Wednesday was back to MMS to keep working toward the end of the year. The winter storm never did hit but it has stayed cold in the 20's and 30's except when it jumps to the 50's and rains before dropping to 33 degrees and rain with heavy overcast regardless of what the weather is. But then we've been spared all the nasty stuff that arrived north of us and south of us, east of us and west of us.

Thursday
You know how hard days can be good days (in the long-run from a spiritual perspective)? Well, my Thursday at MMS was a hard day. I praise the Lord for His grace and patience with me and the grace and patience of my brothers and sisters at MMS. Growing is painful but God promises to finish what He starts and He's not done with me yet!

Friday
Friday was as good a day as Thursday was hard as I basically spent my entire day in conversation with Dwight and then in the afternoon with Bob as well. We all agree that God is doing great things at MMS and are excited to discover how He is going to choose to reveal and glorify Himself in and through MMS in 2009.

Karen and I had a fun evening as Tim and Michele came over. We built a fire; enjoyed dessert, egg-nog, coffee, and conversation; and watched "A Christmas Carol" featuring George C. Scott.

Today
Karen and I slept in a little as she was soon off to a morning Christmas Tea at a friend's house. I ventured out in our 27 degrees, ran some last pre-Christmas errands, and am now sitting down to write letters, emails, and thank you notes to supporters, friends, and family. That and to try and wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is Thursday.

Christmas Week
We'll be here for Christmas morning, spend Christmas afternoon with friends, and head off to Lancaster, Pennsylvania Friday morning. We'll visit with our small group from Grace Church that night and visit with family and friends on Saturday. Sunday morning we'll worship with our brothers and sisters at Grace Church @ Willow Valley and then take part in the Shrom Christmas Family Gathering and Holiday Extravaganza (Karen's originally a Shrom), Sunday evening. We should be back late Monday, Lord and weather willing.

Thanks for checking in! Blogging may be rather hit and miss over the next week or so...

Still Waiting for the Storm

Well, right now I'd have to say Intellicast called the weather the closest (as of 6:15 PM this evening). We had a short flurry and a bit of sleet...but that's it so far. No major weather here. It's just cold. But 28 degrees is a substantially warmer than much of the Midwest is right now.

We made it up into Amish country but our primary purpose was to visit the Amish Flea Market in Walnut Creek. It's kind of a crazy eclectic mix of vendors, shops, specialty items across the range of cultures and interests and we drove up and it was closed. Like closed forever. It's so funny, because when we were last up in Amish country, the end of November, it was going full blast with Police directing traffic as usual. It seems they're building a new facility for 2009 and they're building it right behind Zink's Fabrics (which is where Karen shops for fabric and shirt bargains) in Berlin. Zink's sells great polo and other shirts for 3 for $10 and it's kind of a Disneyland of sorts for quilters and ladies who like to sew.

With our trip shortened, we visited Wendell August Forge and had lunch at Cindy's diner right there on the corner of 62 and 39. I had chili in a bread bowl, onion rings, coleslaw, and a vanilla malt. Karen had the cream of broccoli soup with sweet potato fries.

We again saw lots of buggies up and back and let me tell you...they go real slow up the hills and it's hilly out there.

Once over the top of the hill we were able to pass. In Amish country you just need to slow down and RELAX.

Garry's Viewing
There was a wonderful turn out at Garry L.'s viewing this evening. We waited in line for an hour and when we left there was still an hour-long line going in! What an encouragement to his family. Garry was a servant's servant and has left a wonderful legacy behind in his family and in his servantood. We'll be at his memorial service tomorrow morning (weather permitting).

Birthday
And somewhere between yesterday and today I did officially turn 52 years old...thanks for your cards, calls, and emails!

I'll be back back at MMS tomorrow!

Winter Storm or a Flakey Flurry?

We'll soon find out which weather service can be trusted (as if any weather service can be trusted). Intellicast is saying we have a 26% chance of snow with light flurries tomorrow. Accuweather is reporting a "winter storm warning" for Coshocton with heavy snow and ice accumulations tomorrow morning through Wednesday morning. Maybe we'll watch The Weather Channel later and find out what Jim Cantore has to say. We'll let you know what happens.

Actually, I'm taking tomorrow as a vacation day in order to celebrate turning 52 years old! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it won't be long before I can proudly claim my Golden Buckeye Card (minimum age: 55) and start collecting all those "senior" discounts. Oh boy.

Garry's Gone Home
Weather permitting...Karen and I plan to spend some time in Amish country. Then we'll head home for a bittersweet appointment with a very dear friend and his family in preparation for a full celebration Wednesday morning at Fresno Bible Church. Our brother in Christ, church Deacon, and dear friend Garry L. lost his battle with lung cancer.

He will be greatly missed by many people here, while warmly welcomed by many souls in Heaven!

Speeding the Gospel on Friday Afternoon

As snow falls on this cold, pre-winter Friday afternoon, the whine of high-speed drills, the percussion of rivet guns, and the delicate clickety-clack of ratchet wrenches, combine to create a mechanical symphony that drifts through our hangar on the waves of the overhead heaters.

Working in sweatshirts and ski-caps in the heated but nowhere near hot hangar, our missionaries push their projects ahead one step at a time. Christmas is coming, but there are few holiday distractions on the shop floor. Christmas is the reason for our work. The reality of Christ and His Good News needs to be shared. There are many in remote places who have yet to hear.

Airplanes speed the Gospel to the unreached and shorten the time it takes to tell everyone The Story.

How many more Christmases will there be before Christ comes back? Only God knows. But if we puposefully do our job here, allowing others to faithfully do their job out there, we may shorten the time before we begin the true Celebration in Heaven.

Gertjan prepares to replace the bearings in the trim tab actuator for Moody's 182.

Ian fits a new front faring on the 182's vertical stabilizer.

Josh fits the exhaust on the right engine on the Pfeiffer Aztec.

Christmas Haircuts

Tanner's Two Cents...

Well, we're just back from our Christmas haircut session with Linda, our Master Groomer! Linda always treats us very kindly and pampers us as we should be pampered. She even had a Cocker Spaniel herself so she understands us better than most.

Karen dropped us off and we made ourselves at home in our Preferred Customer cage to wait our turn on the grooming table. It doesn't take long for Linda to work her magic on our fur, and then it's back in the cage until Karen returns.

Here we are after our cut. Linda's getting ready to release us from our cage.

Now, of course getting a Christmas haircut may seem somewhat untimely when considering the Midwest winter but Keith and Karen make sure we're comfortable even if we are groomed short. Karen, being the seamstress that she is, has made us several little jackets to keep us warm. I thought you might enjoy having us model our lighter Holiday Jacket with the Peanuts theme...

Tucker in her jacket.

Me in mine. Super stylish don't you think?

Me and Tucker. If we were any cuter, we'd have to take it on the road.
And we're modest too!

We do okay for being missionary mutts. We may even let Keith and Karen sleep inside tonight and give them an extra cookie before bed. Thanks for praying for them. They need it.

Office Christmas Decoration and a Coping Mechanism

Since we shared our home Christmas tree in Saturday's post, I thought I'd share my office Christmas tree in this post as well as one way I cope with the realities of the Midwest winter.

Both my tree and my coping mechanism are in this picture. Can you find them?

If not, first look closely at my computer monitor. The desktop picture is a beach scene featuring a warm setting and a perfect wave. Staring at that in-between various computer tasks helps me deal with the view of snow and ice through the far window. I bet it's 85 degrees where the beach photo was taken. I wish it was 85 degrees here...

Second, check out the bookcase over my shoulder. The Christmas tree might be considered rather subtle so here's a close up.

There are six historical aircraft on this tiny tree!

Whether a big tree or a little tree, decorated with lights or historical airplanes, whether it's 85 degrees outside or somewhere below freezing, whether the waves are perfect or the ocean is totally flat, Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen.

An Inside Job on the Moody 182

Mike's currently the "inside man" on the 182 project.

In order to drive rivets into a repair, it was necessary for Mike
to take up residence inside the 182's tail cone.

While being a contortionist isn't a requirement to be a missionary airplane mechanic, it can help in certain applications!

Join us on the Christmas Tree Hunt of 2008

Hey, come follow me on the great Christmas Tree Hunt of 2008.
Click here to see photos!

Three Down and Locked

A milestone was reached today as the Moody Aviation 182 was taken off the fuselage jig and wood blocks and now rests on its own landing gear. A tail stand is still necessary as, without the engine installed, the center of gravity is currently behind the main landing gear. "Three down and locked" is what pilots say to confirm when the landing gear is extended and safe to land.

The 182 on its own gear.

Progress continues on other aspects of the project as well. Gertjan is fabricating an aileron, Chuck's still working in the panel area, and Ian and David are in the paint booth shooting primer on control surfaces and other airframe components

David shoots primer on the rudder.

It's exciting to see this airplane coming together. Thanks for being part of it through your prayers and gifts!

Another Day in the HR Department

On Thursdays, Karen comes in to help me with HR tasks, handle the phones, and manage the MMS mailing list. It's a real blessing to be able to serve together at MMS.

On the HR side, Karen writes thank you notes to general donors, tracks giving to general operations, processes new partnership pledges for approved candidates raising support to begin service, writes letters, assembles and mails information packets for prospective candidates, makes photocopies and generally makes my life easier at MMS as well as at home!

Karen at her work station processing a stack of about 100 address changes on envelopes returned from the latest MMS GroundCrew mailing.

Karen assembles five program information packets for people who are interested in learning more about our ministry.

The Toner Guy

And yes, the Director of Human Resources is also the "Toner Guy" when it comes to our high-tech copier. MMS' old copier only required three steps to replace the toner cartridge. This new copier/scanner/fax hub requires sixteen steps (though if I study the instructions hard enough, I can learn French, Spanish, German, and Chinese and Japanese in the process). Progress doesn't always make things simpler...

Restoration Takes Time

Rivet by rivet, skin by skin, bolt by bolt, piece by piece...the full restoration of an aircraft takes time. Regardless of whether the cause of the restoration is hard use in a difficult environment, neglect, accident, or maybe a combination of all three, the result is the same--you know there's ultimately going to be a large investment of time, energy, and money. Less money if we do the restoration because of our unique ministry, but there's still a substantial cost.

Whether it's the Honduran 206 or on the Moody 182, it takes a great deal of dedication to work at this depth of maintenance for such a long duration.

Josh drives and Scott bucks the last few rivets to finish the floor panel installation in the Honduran 206.

Terry (sitting), one of our volunteers, assists Ian in detailing the 182 wings before they're moved to the paint booth.

David and Gertjan detail the 182's vertical stabilizer while in the paint booth.

An analogy could be made to restoring people as well. Regardless of the cause of the damage, there's going to be a large investment in time, energy, and resources along with a high level of dedication in order for physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration to occur.

MMS is in the ministry of preparing the people who maintain and restore the airplanes that make the Gospel of Jesus Christ accessible and spiritual restoration possible for those in remote locations around the world. Thank you for being part of this strategic ministry through your prayers and your gifts.

One of Our Little Buddies

Here's a shot of Karen and I with one of our little buddies, Jackson. He's the one year old son of Ben & Kerry who serve as the youth leaders at Fresno Bible Church. We were blessed to hang-out with Jackson for a bit over the Thanksgiving weekend. He's getting to be quite the character. Kerry, thanks for taking the snapshot!

Gertjan Gets Into His Work

We're back to a full and busy hangar again now that Thanksgiving is over. The guys are really focused on the Moody 182 project. Flaps are being fabricated, floor panels are going in, landing gear is being prepped and installed, the nose bowl repair is almost complete, control panel work has begun, and testing the wings for fuel leaks should happen this week.

Here are two pictures of Gertjan getting into his work fabricating a flap for the 182.


At My Desk
Me? I had my head buried in my computer most of today working on emails, recruiting, candidate supervision, tracking charts, monthly reports, editing newsletters and, when away from my desk, taking photos down on the hangar floor. Bob and I did meet for about an hour as well.

With the snow blowing sideways by the window for most of the day, having my head buried in my computer wasn't necessarily all bad. I did change my desktop photo to a warm, sunny, surf scene.

Thanks
Thanks for your continued visits to the blog, your prayers, and your gifts in support of our work with MMS. Please feel free to share our blog with your friends. It's always fun to learn of new visitors!

Newsletters and Holmes County

Karen and I've spent the past two days working on the December issue of Coshocton Flyer, our personal newsletter. All the hard copies hit the mail box this afternoon. We're including our new prayer card with the newsletter. We hope you enjoy both the newsletter and the prayer card. Our new card has more of an "Ohio" feel to it.

Once we wrapped up newsletter production and stopped by the post office, we headed north into Holmes County which is the heart of the Ohio Amish population. It'd been several months since we'd been up that way and it's always a relaxing and a beautiful drive. We did some Christmas shopping, some browsing, and picked up a couple products we enjoy that can't be found locally. There were quite a number of Amish buggies on the road today, the corn stalks are all stacked, and at farm after farm, the horses and cows were lined up along the fence lines watching the sun set. It was quite interesting. But then when you're going to be standing outside all night in 15 degrees, even the animals hate to see the sun go down...

Here are some scenes typical of Holmes County:

Amish Corn Shocks

Holmes County road sign

A Holmes County road

Happy Thanksgiving

Karen makes apple pies under the watchful eyes
of the Canine Quality Control team!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and may we truly thank Father, Son, and Spirit for their work, grace, and goodness in our lives.

Tanner's New Hobby: Recycling

There's nothing like coming home in the evening to find
that Tanner's been busy recycling things in the kitchen.

Vacation's Over

It was back to the hangar yesterday morning and it's taken Monday and Tuesday for me to get back into the swing of things. Lord willing, I'll be back up to full-speed and all caught up tomorrow just in time to enjoy the long Thanksgiving weekend.

But while we were on vacation MMS was still busy preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service. All our regular readers are aware of the push to get the Honduran 206 completed. Well, that's pretty much on hold now due to a lack of funds. Consequently, all the manpower (Mike, Ian, Scott, Paul, David, Josh, Gertjan, and Chuck) has shifted over to the Cessna 182 restoration for Moody Aviation.

Chuck pre-fits the rudder pedal assembly inside the fuselage.
That's Scott in the lower left corner installing the nose gear.

Gertjan bucks while David drives a rivet into one of the flaps.

Brian (a visiting MMS grad) works with Ian
to repair the horizontal stabilizer.

As you can tell, there's still a substantial amount of work left to accomplish on this project too.

Brian, Terah, and their three children finished MMS a little over a year ago and now serve with Missionary Flights International, in Ft. Pierce, Florida. They're up for a visit over Thanksgiving. It's great to have Brian back helping in hangar and to have Terah, Evan, Luke, and Sierra back in the neighborhood for a week.

Saturday In-Activity

Karen and I are enjoying a quiet Saturday as we wrap up a week of vacation-at-home.

We enjoyed a late start and a big breakfast together. It's easy to sleep in when it's only 17 degrees outside. Toughing out the weather, Karen went into town to run some errands and I took our kerosene heater out to the garage to replace its wick. After getting that done, and working together to cut back the mums, rake some leaves and prune a branch or two from our rose trellis, we called it a day around noon. But so did the rest of Ohio as the Ohio State/Michigan game kicked-off about then. The entire state of Ohio suspends all non-essential activity during Buckeye games. Folks are pretty serious about their football out here.

Karen stitching her quilt

But that's okay with us. We'll take a slow day now and then. Karen's working on her quilt, Ohio State is beating up on Michigan (sorry Scott & Lela), I just finished a bowl of Karen's home-made Side Street Salsa with tortilla chips, and the dogs are sleeping.

The beating underway

And after the Ohio State game ends...the Penn State game starts! Does a double-header get any better than that? As Karen's a Pennsylvania girl, she'll be pulling for Penn State. I'll probably root for Michigan State to keep things interesting. I'd better grab another jar of salsa, another bag of chips, and open another Dr. Pepper.

Posting this blog

We hope you're having a great day and that it's warmer wherever you are than it is where we are. Thanks for checking in!

Contrasts

In traveling, there are always contrasts. Before trains and planes, an overland trip from Coshocton,OH to Los Angeles, CA could have taken several months. Now, by aircraft it only takes several hours. This heightens the contrasts inherent in travel.

We'd like to share some photos of the contrasts in our recent weekend trip.

California

One of the locals surfing at Sunset Beach

75 degrees at 9:30 AM

Barefoot, short sleeves, short pants and a big smile.

And then...four hours later...

Ohio

Warm shoes, tall socks, long sleeves, jacket and a frigid grimace.

21 degrees at 7:30 AM

One of the locals hauling wood in Coshocton.

Now THAT's a contrast...

Thanks for your prayers.

Our Weekend Trip to California

If you've been following our recent posts, you're aware we flew to southern California over the past weekend to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday.

Our trip began simply enough with an uneventful 75 minute drive to Port Columbus International Airport. We have three airports to choose from within a two hour drive of Coshocton (Columbus, Akron-Canton, and Cleveland) but typically fly out of Columbus. We parked the car in the Red Lot, shuttled to the terminal, cleared security and made it to our gate with time to spare. The stewardesses arrived, the pilots arrived, all the out-bound passengers arrived...all we needed was an airplane to fly in. Unfortunately, our airplane didn't arrive until an hour and a half after we were supposed to leave!

The airline did get the airplane unloaded and cleaned, and then loaded us on board in about 40 minutes. Then it was off to Atlanta where, because of the departure delay, Karen and I hurried from one terminal to the next in order to get to the gate where they were already boarding our connecting flight to Orange County. At least there was a plane at the gate!

We made it on board, buckled up, and caught our breath as there were only a few minutes left before the plane was to push away from the gate. It was very warm inside the plane and it was only getting hotter as departure time arrived. Just then the stewardess came over the PA system to apologize for the heat: "We apologize for the heat," she said, "but we don't have any pilots to turn on the air-conditioning system. In fact, we don't know where our pilots are, but we're trying to find some." That's nice. A fully loaded airplane. No pilots. 90 minutes later our pilots arrived and thirty minutes later we departed on what turned out to be the most turbulent four hour flight we'd ever experienced.

Along with that...the personal video systems didn't work, they ran out of food before they got to our row, and we were seated in the very aromatic section next to the lavatories. Delightful.

But praise the Lord, we landed in Orange County late but safe, picked up our rental car without any problem and drove up to Dad's where Karen and I were staying the weekend.

In Columbus we had pilots but no airplane. In Atlanta we had a fully-loaded airplane but no pilots!

Grandma's 100th Birthday

On Saturday, November 15, forty family members (including me and Karen) gathered from across the country and throughout California to celebrate Grandma's 100th Birthday by having lunch at the Jagerhaus Restaurant in Anaheim, CA.

Grandma Piatt, 100 years old!

It was a great time of fun, fellowship, and great German food! Grandma looked great, enjoyed all the company, and ate her fair share of the red cabbage, goulash, sauerkraut, carrots, knockwurst, bratwurst, polish sausage, and spatzle.

For those of you already experiencing WINTER, the weather out there was in the 90's and, if it weren't for all the ash and cinders falling from the smoke-filled sky, it would have been beautiful. The "Triangle Complex Fire" (Chino Hills, Brea, and Corona) started as we drove to the restaurant to prepare for the party. We saw the early smoke plume. The fire was several miles east of us but nearby freeways were closed because of the fire threat and needing them for emergency equipment. This was after the Sylmar fire, several miles northwest of us, started during the night.

"Fire Season" is part of living in Southern California. Also, there was an earthquate "swarm" while we were there. Sorry you missed it...

But the party was great and we were able to spend Sunday afternoon with Grandma as well.

Jane, Dad, me, Karen, and Grandma.

I'll write more about the trip soon.

And yes, there's snow on the ground here...

Welcome Calvary Bible Church Members!

A hearty Midwest welcome to all our Calvary Bible Church blog visitors! Thank you for stopping in.

Keith & Karen

We hope you'll enjoy looking through the recent and archived posts and become regular visitors to our blog. By regularly visiting our blog, you'll be able to stay updated on our ministry at MMS, at Fresno Bible Church, and our missionary lives at home.

Karen and I appreciate each one of you who are interested in us, care for us, pray for us and support us financially. Please feel free to leave a comment using the comment link below or email us direct at kdodson368@gmail.com.

Our two month visit with you earlier this year was still way too short. Consequently we're excited to be able to stay connected with you through our daily blog. It will be a great encouragement to us to know you're stopping in for a look-see.

Please know we are praying for Calvary and hope to be back in Grass Valley in 2011.

May God receive the glory!

Administrative Activities

Another week draws to a close up at MMS. Yes, I know it's only Thursday, but more about that later. Karen's up at the shop today assembling & mailing information packets to prospective candidates, preparing the "calendar" letter for mailing next week, and tackling the somewhat daunting task of maintaining and updating our "wall of the world" which illustrates the worldwide impact of MMS Aviation.

Karen and the "wall of the world."

We use this map as a visual tool to help people grasp the strategic impact of MMS' ministry of preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service. The map features photos of the families and individuals who have completed service with MMS and where they continued their mission service beyond our hangar doors. The map also features "airplanes" which identify the more than 87 different missions we've served (and continue to serve) and where an airplane has come from to be repaired here in Coshocton. There are "wrenches" on the map representing the locations where MMS has sent maintenance teams to repair airplanes that weren't able to come to Coshocton. MMS has sent 116 of these Rapid Response Teams to locations around the world.

One small part of the wall with grads, airplanes, and wrenches.

After so many years, many of the photos have suffered some wear and tear. Karen is removing the photos, re-backing them in a uniform format, laminating them, and replacing them one by one. She's also collecting prayer cards from recent grads and adding them to the wall.

Keith's Day
My morning was spent working on a combined project with Bob, our Training Manager, and then taking part in a group meeting. My afternoon was spent on a drive to Zanesville to pick-up the December issue of the MMS GroundCrew newsletter from the print shop. The newsletter is scheduled to be sorted, stuffed, and prepared for mailing next week.

Here I am after returning from Zanesville with a "Jelly Bean" full of GroundCrew newsletters.

A Short Week
I started out mentioning that the week at MMS has drawn to a close. Well, at least for Karen and I it has. We leave tomorrow for a weekend trip to California to attend my Grandmother's 100th Birthday! We leave for CA tomorrow morning and head back to Ohio Monday morning. It's going to be quick trip but a fun trip. 100 years is pretty amazing.

But then, my Grandmother IS pretty amazing. We love you Grandma, and we'll see you very soon!