New Garage Door

As referenced in our previous post The Repair That Wasn't, our aged Armstrong model garage door (you must have "strong Arms" to lift it) had come to the point where repair wasn't an option and replacement became a requirement. We'd known the day was coming from the moment we bought the house six years ago and the Lord, in His grace, allowed that door to continue going up and down safely ever since. Yet, after having it fall out of its tracks while I was under it, learning that no one makes repair parts for that type of door anymore (and we checked with the major stores, local suppliers, and on-line), and that long-term investment in such a door would be counterproductive, we took the hint and, after conferring with our friends at Coshocton Lumber, called Marlon at Advanced Garage Door Systems and Construction for help.

Myron disassembles our old garage door.

The new garage door ready for assembly and installation.

Marlon's a great guy, has worked with garage doors for 25 years, and really did a super job for us. Like our house itself, there wasn't anything standard about the size or the installation of the door because of the "classic" construction. If you're in the Coshocton area and need garage door work, we recommend giving Marlon a call: 740-294-5571. He also does general contracting and remodel work.

A bit of extra framing was necessary and the bare wood needed sealing. With rain predicted two days after he'd installed the door and temps typically below that required for paint, we were blessed with 50 degree temps the very next day. I hurried home from the mission changed clothes and got out there before it became too cool and too dark to paint.

Here I am doing my paint thing...

Long story short, the door is in, it works great, and bowing to the fact we're closer to 60 years old than 40...we did opt for a garage door opener. After six years of getting out to open and close the door in snow, sleet, wind, rain, and hail...it's such a blessing to be able to drive right in!

We praise the Lord for His provision which allowed us to pay for the installation as soon as Marlon completed it. Thank YOU for being part of this project through your gifts and prayers. It is so nice to have a door that doesn't fall on you or create a hernia situation every time you open it!

A New Dog?

Virtual Pet by FooPets.com

Been looking for a pet that doesn't take much work? Meet Marley! You too can have your own dog or cat, name it what you want and even pick the one you want to have. Who'd have thunk it??? Go ahead, throw him his ball! If you play hard don't forget to give him some water before you leave. :o)

Guess What I Found!

Unlike some in our household, the dogs and I really like winter and snow. If it's cold, I like having the white coat of beauty over everything. In that aspect it's been a pretty nice winter. We've had snow and lots of it this year and colder than usual temperatures. So, even I am feeling more ready for spring than I usually am at this time of the year.

Yesterday I ran outside for a few minutes between having tea with my friend Shirley and waiting for my friend Michele to come so I could help her learn more about blogging. When what to my wandering eyes should appear???? This beautiful little yellow flower amongst the brown left overs of winter! I'm sure God knew this tiny little bit of perfection in His creation would bring great joy to His people. It's amazing the joy that came to me from this one little flower.

Spring is here! I was ready to call the construction workers outside (more about them in a later blog) to see the wonderful little piece of God's creation that lifted my heart...but, alas, they were out for lunch. I grabbed the camera to take pictures. I called my neighbor to tell her my first bulb had bloomed and Keith and I both scrambled to tell each other about it when he came home from work and he noticed it too.

The crocus in our side garden

Now I 'm not naive enough to think that we won't have a snow storm or cold temperatures before spring arrives for good, but that little flower gives me hope and joy for the season God is about to "spring" on us (get it!). Until then I'll enjoy using up the firewood on the front porch on those cold days and taking time to read snuggled up by the warmth of the fire. I'll praise God for the beauty of His creation. If we don't praise him the rocks would cry out! How could we NOT praise the Lord for the beautiful little pieces of perfection he put in place to bring us joy?


What "little" things in life are you overlooking that are worthy of praise?

Settling Back Into the Routine

We haven't forgotten about you! We're just settling back into the regular routine after our vacation and things are a bit hectic right now (at home and at the mission). I should have the time tomorrow evening to post some photos and bring everyone back up to speed on everything that's going on. I haven't even had much time to be on facebook the past three days.

I actually needed to leave MMS a few minutes early this afternoon so I could get home while it was still warm enough and light enough to paint the bare framing around our new garage door! Rain's coming and I just had a one hour window to get the wood sealed. Then it was eat, head off to church at 6:00, and we're just back from prayer meeting and worship team practice (10:00) and we need to call it a night.

Have a great day and, Lord willing, I'll be back to regular posting tomorrow evening. Thanks for your patience and your prayers!

Fireplace, Basement Lights, and Trash Action

As Karen prepares ham balls for dinner, I'm back at the keyboard after two more full days of vacation activity. Well, disregarding the wonderfully slow start each morning...we've put in full days. And if you count all the evening hours we're putting into the second puzzle...we're actually working overtime!

On Friday we attacked the closet upstairs in our "library." Actually, it's not a library, it's the one of our two tiny "guest" bedrooms upstairs that just happens to have most of our books in it (as well as far too much stuff in the closet). Once we fought our way into the closet, we sorted through clothes, sorted through stuff that'd been stored and stacked in there for years, boxed, organized, trashed, and made another drop-off run to Goodwill. After home-made pizza for dinner, we watched a movie, and then returned to the second jig saw puzzle of our vacation. Remember the airplane one? That one only took us two evenings to finish. This new one? It's another shaped puzzle of 750 pieces but we've already been on it three nights and we'll probably still be working on it next week!

Here's Karen and the puzzle after we'd spent three nights (approximately fifteen hours) on it. We plan to hit it again tonight after dinner.

This morning I repaired our fire place--every so often I need to repair the mortar between the fire bricks. Then we ran some errands and returned home to hang the two flourescent light fixtures we just bought in the basement: one over Karen's work space and one over my work bench. That reminds me, I need to post a photo of the bench now that it's completed.

Tucker supervises my fireplace repairs.

The completed basement workbench in my "man cave."

After the lights were hung from the floor joists with care, Karen and I headed out to pick up three full cans of trash that had collected in the alley behind our house. It was a mess left over from the flocks of crows that rip up everyone's trash, the big windstorm of a couple weeks ago, and the fact that some folks have a lower sensitivity to where they toss their garbage than others. I'm a firm believer that trash attracts trash, so having a nice afternoon of weather to get out there for an hour or so and pick it all up was a blessing.

Have a great day tomorrow and we'll be back on the blog Monday! See you then.

Zanesville Trip

Whenever we need to do "city shopping," we typically make the 40 minute drive into Zanesville. If we need "Big city shopping" we make the 70 minute drive north to Akron/Canton or the 80 minute drive West to Columbus. Today Karen and I headed to Zanesville for a quick stop at Hobby Lobby, a browse through Sam's Club, picked up some supplies at Lowe's Home Improvement, scouted the clearance items at Gabriel Brother's and then, for a late lunch, stopped in at Tom's Ice Cream Bowl.

We enjoyed the day even thought the wind-chill brought the temps down to 13 degrees and there were snow flurries on and off pretty much the whole trip. We found several bargains, researched some future purchases, picked up some rooted blueberry bush stock, and praised the Lord for His grace and goodness in allowing this vacation time. We needed the break and it's been a good time of relaxation for both of us.

Tomorrow is unscheduled so we'll see what the Lord has planned.

Thanks so much for checking in. We greatly appreciate your interest and involvement with our ministry! As we look to returning to our regular ministry duties next week, we're excited about how the Lord is working at MMS and at Fresno Bible Church and are thankful for this time of rest and refreshment in preparation for a full schedule in 2009!

Reading, Relaxation, and Jigsaw Puzzles

We had a much more relaxed day today. Karen and I ran errands in the morning (bank, post office, Wal-Mart, Big!Lots) and rested and read this afternoon. Karen's reading Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. I'm reading, The Greatest Game Ever Played, which is about the 1913 US Open golf match telling the stories of US amateur golfer Francis Ouimet and the English golfing great Harry Vardon. The book was made into a Disney movie of the same name a couple years ago. As golf season won't open here in central Ohio for at least another month, I'm getting my game in shape by reading about it. I also recently read Golf Isn't A Game of Perfect.

One of the things Karen and I enjoy doing during vacations is working on jigsaw puzzles. We started a new one Sunday afternoon and finished it up late Monday night. We've taken an interest in "shaped" puzzles that have an outline reflective of their subject matter.

Here's Karen after we'd spread the 750 pieces

out on the card table Sunday evening. (Notice the dog.
We saved two puzzle pieces from inside Tanner's mouth!)

The puzzle starts to take shape.

Finally finished late Monday night.

This is our second shaped airplane puzzle.
Our other one focuses on "famous flying machines."

Tomorrow I hope to get back to my basement workbench, rehang the pegboard, and finalize organizing my tools. Karen's going to work on closets and cupboards.

Thanks for checking in. We appreciate each one of you and are greatly appreciative of your gifts and prayers as we serve mission aviation around the world from right here in Coshocton, Ohio!

Carpets, Couches, and the Kitchen Floor

With taxes figured and ready to file and our general house cleaning completed on Saturday, Karen and I spent this day of vacation continuing in the cleaning mode. After a slow start (it IS vacation after all) I rented and returned home with the infamous Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine. Tucker, Tanner, and Hope all get rather excited when we start moving furniture around and so they were excited, we were excited, the Rug Doctor was excited and I spent the day cleaning our carpets and then our couches and cushions and our living room chair.

Here I am loading the Rug Doctor in our living room.

Putting the Rug Doctor through its paces.

Karen worked on the kitchen floor and attacked the laundry.

Smile, Karen...

Tucker supervises the floor scrubbing process.

Between the two of us we managed to get everything completed and all the furniture rearranged just in time to have a nice dinner at home. Karen had organized a Crock Pot meal which we greatly enjoyed.

Then it was on to the second night of working on a puzzle we'd received for Christmas 2007 but hadn't had time to get to before now. We started on it last night. I'll post some puzzle pictures tomorrow.

We're very much enjoying this break in our routine.

Valentine's Day Weekend Report

It's not often we have an evening-out in Coshocton, but Saturday being Valentine's Day and all, we decided to make it a Big Date Night, to really do it up right, and pull out all the stops. When we really want a special time together we usually go out for dinner at a local eatery and then hit one of the hot-spots in town. We hold hands, look into each others' eyes, and remember what it was like to date each other. Now, living in a small town in rural Ohio, may put a bit of a different spin on the specifics, but the intent and the result are the same.

So when it came time to head out, we put on our jackets, gloves, hats, walked into winter and drove the three minutes to our first stop on our Big Date Night. When we arrived, the parking lot was nearly empty and the restaurant was empty too. When we walked in the lobby to be seated the dining area was dimly lit. It was a wonderful chance for a quiet meal together...if the restaurant was even open. Someone yelled from the kitchen, "We'll be there in minute."

Karen and I looked at each other, pleased that service would soon be provided with the usual personal touch enjoyed so often in our small town. When our hostess came to the front I asked about the dim lighting and the vacuum cleaner in the dining area. "Are you guys even open?"
And she replied, "Yes, but we were hoping to close early because it's so slow."
"And then we came in?"
"Yep, and then you came in."
"Would it be all right if we ordered?"
"Sure, go ahead."
And we did order and we even received an extra sandwich at no cost because it was so slow. We greatly appreciate the staff at Arby's as they were very pleasant and helpful and worked hard to make our evening enjoyable. Our food was great and the restaurant was clean. I love the Horsey Sauce and the Curley Fries.

Once at our private booth, Karen and I laughed, we talked, we looked into each other's eyes and held hands as we praised the Lord for His grace in bringing us together as husband and wife. I had proposed to Karen on Valentine's Day seven years ago and we thought back to how young we were back then.

As we finished our meal and picked up a doggie bag for the extra sandwhich and condiment packs we thanked the kitchen and counter staff for their personal attention and departed on the next leg of our Big Date Night. Where did we eat? Why, at one of the many fine dining establishments along restaurant row on Second Street...Arby's (which is right next to Hardees and Wendy's which is next to KFC!).
From Arby's it was off to one of our favorite local hot spots. A place where we can walk, and talk, and see what's new in the area. To get a real feel for the local life style and become even more enculturated as missionaries. It's a special place where we can relax and yet keep our fingers on the pulse of Coshocton, a place to see and to be seen, and maybe even find a special treasure to commemorate our evening out. It was Saturday night, it was Valentine's and we were off to Big!Lots.

I know, I know, we could have gone to Super Wal-Mart but Super-Walmart just doesn't have the hometown, home-grown Coshocton ambience that Big!Lots does.

After an hour exploring Big!Lots, we were ready to call it a night. We'd found canned salmon on sale, located some Magic Shell for half price and were pleased and tired. It was a wonderful evening, a special time together, and we looked forward to making the five minute drive home to relax on the couch and watch "Keeping Up Appearances" on cable.

Thanks for enjoying this little slice of life with us from Coshocton, Ohio. We'll keep them coming over this week of vacation and beyond. I did get our taxes figured and ready to file Saturday before we went out. Thanks for praying. The longer we live here, the more we become like here and that's all part of God's perfect plan!

End Of the Week Headed into Vacation

After not having any power at the mission on Thursday because of the high winds on Wednesday night, full power was restored to MMS sometime Thursday night. This allowed everyone to report for a full day of work this morning. I had a very structured plan for the day which lasted right up until my day started. Some days are just like that. Before I knew it, it was 4 o'clock and nearly everyone else was going home except me and Mary but Mary never goes home (just joking Mary!). It's not often I work later than she does but I did tonight! Actually, Mary's a walking, talking, working miracle after needing emergency brain surgery last year. She's a testimony to God's grace, prayer, and a whole lot of faith.

Speaking of Mary, she posted an interesting blog tonight about the damage the wind did to the barn belonging to a mutual friend of ours. You can see pictures of the damage and enjoy Mary's blog by clicking here.

There were several projects I needed to finish before I left the mission tonight as next week Karen and I will be on vacation. We'll keep the blog up this time so check back often to stay current with our adventures.

To whet your appetite--our vacation starts tomorrow with me figuring (and Lord willing, filing) our taxes for 2008 (Wahoo!) and Karen cleaning the entire house (Whoopee!). Now, wouldn't you like to start every vacation of yours like that?

We have promised each other to do something fun together this week (besides filing taxes and cleaning house). We'll see what exactly that is as the week goes by.

Working From Home

We experienced some very high winds last night. One of our friends lost a good portion of the roof of their barn, trees are down in various places, and there are many people without power in the county. We're fine here in our part of town, but the power up at the airport is down so Karen and I are working from home today. Oh yes, and the county is under a flood watch because of the recent rains and snow melt. The typical low-lying areas are already wet. We must be getting close to spring...in February? Spring normally doesn't set in until April. March could be another wild weather month.

When there's nothing else to talk about in Ohio...there's always the weather.

Moo Cows And A Dairy Farm

Today, Karen had the opportunity to go visit with one of the young adult women she'd previously mentored. Now married, this young woman of God is helping her husband start a small dairy farm. Karen was able to see all the improvements they'd made to their barn, the new milk house, the new calves, the new cows and see the joy in this young woman's heart.

Being an independent dairy farmer has been her husband's dream since he was a young boy and now, the Lord has provided the means for them to get started with several cows carrying additional calves, and one milking machine. Both this young woman and her husband were part of our young adult Bible Study we led in our home several years ago.

It's such a blessing to see the Lord working in them and through them as this young couple grows in their faith and walks in obedience to His calling to milk cows.

The Woodsman

It was a full day at the shop today. I had my usual Monday morning department head meeting with Tim and Bob and then spent the rest of the day wrestling with my computer and all the document design projects that demand a keyboard, Microsoft, and a bunch of memory. With a SMT meeting on Thursday, trying to clear the desk for five days of vacation next week, and prepping for a candidate evaluation the first week of March, the day went fast.

As fast as it went, my day wasn't through when I left the mission. While I worked well into dark Saturday evening sorting and stacking wood, there was still a good selection that was too long or too mishapen to be stacked. So when I arrived home this afternoon, I changed clothes, hauled out my folding work benches, and borrowed Tim's chainsaw. THANKS TIM!

A couple hours later the wood was cut, trimmed, stacked and the debris clean up (or at least spread out to an acceptable degree).

Here are a couple snapshots Karen took from our deck. Notice all the snow has melted!

I was working along the side of the garage that faces the house.

Nice hat, eh? My mom knitted it!
Notice the complementing eye protection, ear protection and heavy gloves.

Ah, there's nothing like a little quality chainsaw time.

Thank again for making it possible, Tim!

It's Melting!

Welcome to a wonderful 54 degrees! Can you hear the snow and ice melting? Oh, the breeze is fresh and, at least for a couple days, winter is rushing down the storm drains...we should be back to our more traditional 20-30 degree temperature range next week. We'll certainly take that over the arctic experience we've enjoyed so far.

Today, Karen's up in Canton attending a Sheila Walsh seminar with ladies from church and I'm manning the homestead with the three dogs. I've spent the morning working on the computer, catching up on communication, Dave stopped by (Thanks for fixing my car, Dave. It's so wonderful having heat in it again!) and we had some man talk for a while, I shoveled some ice, returned the videos, and am staying busy with a couple small projects while waiting for a wood delivery. I'd hoped to have it delivered this morning but it looks like it should arrive this evening instead. In my perfect little world I would have had it all stacked and cleaned up before this evening, but that's not to be. I'll probably start stacking it tomorrow after church. But then, Karen can help!

Last week at MMS was a busy one. I had several meetings, Karen and I conducted a team change interview with Gertjan & Glenda (we'll interview Paul next week), I actually completed a couple document design projects that had been underway for a while, updated several forms, helped an associate with deputation plans, worked on recruiting, scheduled another candidate evaluation, and handled the usual load of emails, photo taking, and letter writing.

One of the meetings I had was with my Candidate Evaluation Team. We anticipate at least four candidate evaluations this year and it was a lot of fun to get everyone together to talk about our plans for 2009. Here'a snapshot of the team:

From left to right: Karen, meals; Cathy, social activities; yours truly;
Dana, housing; and Lisa, encouragement and support.

It only took these ladies an hour and a half to whip me into shape and straighten me out. We had a great time and accomplished much in our meeting. Our candidates are going to enjoy some of the best evaluations ever in 2009.

Thanks for helping make it all possible through your prayers and support.

Here's Something Fun to Watch!

It's not unusual for aircraft in remote locations to be disassembled and then sent to us in shipping a container for restoration and repair. Such was the case of the Cessna 206 recently completed for MAF. And, once the restoration and repair was completed, the aircraft needed to be disassembled and "containerized" for the trip back to Africa.

What was unusual about the process is that one of our apprentices, Paul Jones, chronicled the entire restoration in a slide show and featured the disassembly and packing of the 206 as a time-lapse video.

The video piece is really cool and demonstrates well what MMS Aviation does. It opens with pictures of the aircraft damaged in Africa, moves through its arrival and restoration at MMS, and finishes with the time-lapse portion of "crating" the 206 for its return trip. We hope you enjoy the feature. Special thanks to Hugh and Norma who came down to oversee the containerization.

MAF Chad 206 Dissasembly from Paul Jones on Vimeo.

The Moody 182 Fuselage is Moved to Hangar C: Part 2

While the trip didn't really take two days, here's the second part of moving the Moody 182 into Hangar C.

Gertjan & Scott approach Hangar C.

Entering Hangar C through the roll-up door.

Rolling the fuselage into the paint booth.

The fuselage is in position for painting.

While all this airplane work has been going on, I've been pretty much held in or around my office with meetings and various projects and tasks. Sometimes it seems like my missionary world consists only of Dwight's office, Mary's office, Bob's office, the receipting room, the conference room, and my own office. I do look forward to tomorrow afternoon when I'll meet in the conference room with my Candidate Evaluation Team (Karen, Dana, Cathy, and Lisa) to get ready for the MMS Aviation 2009 Candidate Evaluation Season. I anticipate at least four candidate evaluations this year with the first scheduled for March 2-6. Tomorrow morning I'll be glued to the computer developing documents, updating forms, handling emails, and doing a bit of recruiting. Tomorrow evening is prayer meeting and worship team practice.

How's your week coming along?

The Moody 182 Fuselage Is Moved to Hangar C: Part 1

After final taping and wrapping prior to painting, the Moody 182 was moved to Hangar C this afternoon. This series of shots gets us headed in the right direction. Part 2 will post tomorrow.

The final taping and wrapping of the Moody 182 is underway before painting.

With the taping and wrapping completed, the 182 is rolled out of Hangar A...

then around the side...

then down our taxiway to Hangar C.