The Moody 182 Returns to Spokane, Washington

It was quite a morning as flight plans were filed and fuel was pumped for the Moody Aviation Cessna 182's return flight to Spokane, Washington.

At approximately 11:30 this morning the 182 left the runway, retracted its landing gear, climbed into the deep blue Ohio sky and took a westerly heading. It was quite the project. Mike, Ian, and the hangar crew worked long and hard to complete this restoration project and Jim Conrad, Moody Aviation Flight Staff, was very pleased with the results.

The MMS Crew and the 182.

Taxing from the MMS ramp and on to the active taxiway.

The 182 departs Coshocton County Airport.

As you think about it over the next couple days, you might pray for Jim and his son, David, as they wing their way back to the Pacific Northwest.

Health Update

We made the 90 minute drive back into Columbus and had a great follow-up visit with Travis, our physical therapist, this afternoon. He was very pleased with my progress and introduced three new exercises. While continuing to strengthen my gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus, we're now working to strengthen the quads on my right leg. I'll incorporate both sets of exercises for the next week or two and then we'll reassess.

Travis released me to nearly full activity with concerns over my lateral stability due to the over-worked and understrength muscles in my right leg. I can mow the flat parts of our yard, start swinging a golf club again, put in full days at work, and walk, walk, walk. Tired muscles are good, pain in the joints/musles is bad. So far I've been two weeks with out pain...ever since starting Travis' exercise program.

We praise the Lord for Travis, for your prayers, and for God's Grace!

August Coshocton Flyer

Here's our August Coshocton Flyer personal newsletter. Just click on the image to enlarge it. For those of you printing the newsletter--be sure to adjust your printer paper size from letter to legal otherwise you won't get the whole letter on your sheet!

Page 1
Page 2

Seven Years of Marriage!

Seven years ago today Karen and I embarked on an adventure that continues full-speed ahead!

This evening we dressed up and went out for a special dinner at a steak house, laughed and cried tears of joy over our memories, and even ordered appetizers AND dessert. You know it has to be a special evening to bookend the main course...

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us in the beginning and who continue to pray as each new day dawns. Marriage done God's way is a wonderful thing. Amen? Amen!

Isn't she beautiful?

A Video Overview of our MMS Aircraft Projects

Paul Jones, an MMS apprentice, is also a talented videographer. It's my pleasure to share one of his latest video-logs. In this clip Paul provides an overview of the current mission projects at MMS and explains the various tasks with which he's been involved. I hope you enjoy the tour.

Current Mission Projects At MMS from Paul Jones on Vimeo.

Final Salsa Harvest for 2009

Well, it's time to draw the 2009 season to a close here at Karen's Side Street Salsa. It's been a good year with three batches from the salsa patch. While the cooler summer wasn't necessarily the best for tomatoes, the expanded garden still came through with the volume we needed. The peppers did really well. Here are some snapshots of this morning's harvest by Karen. Later this evening we'll fire up the stove and run these delicious raw materials through the salsa kitchen, can 'em up, and put them on the shelves to rest in the Salsa Vault.

Karen in the salsa patch.

Three likely suspects for Karen's Side Street Salsa.

Karen harvests from the other side of the patch.

The harvest.

The spice.

The raw materials.

Stay tuned...can you smell the salsa simmering?

Another Good Day, The 182 Flies, And A Garden Comes Out

Health Update
My second half-day in a row at MMS went very well. This weekend I plan to try my leg driving and, Lord willing, I'll be back on the road Monday headed up the hill to MMS for the regular 7:30 AM start time for the first time in a month! Right now I' m feeling a little bit stronger each day as the exercises continue to build muscle tone.

I do plan to continue half-days next week and then to initiate longer days as able starting on the 31st. Also on the 31st, I'll be overseeing a week of candidate evaluation/orientation.

The Moody 182 Flies at MMS
A major milestone occurred today at MMS. After two years of restoration, Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 RG returned to the sky!

The Moody 182 takes off!

If you'd like to see all the pictures over on today's MMS blog, and learn a little more of the story, click here.

A Garden Comes Out
With the end of the green beans, yellow squash, and cucumbers Karen spent a few minutes this afternoon cleaning out the vegetable garden.

Karen and the vegetable garden.

So much for the yellow squash.

But there's still tomatoes and peppers in the salsa patch (until tomorrow!)

Quick Health Update

Praise the Lord I was able to put in a half-day at MMS today! It's just such a process to learn how to listen to my body and respond accordingly, too walk the fine line of doing enough to rebuild muscle but not too much so more damage or re-injury occurs. I'm still pain free (minus some minor aches and pains related to the exercises) and looking forward to another half day back at the shop tomorrow.

At this point I'm to continue doing the exercises while building up my endurance and strength. Unless there's a need before then, and Lord willing there won't be a need, we'll head back out to Columbus for a follow-up with Travis sometime next week. We're scheduled for a phone consultation Sunday evening.

Up at MMS, the Cessna 182 is supposed to fly tomorrow so it'd be fun to be there to take pictures of its first flight after restoration.

Karen's doing well and recovering from being a 24/7 home care nurse for the past month...

Thanks for your prayers!

Four Days Without Pain Pills

Hey, I haven't needed a pain pill in four days! Praise the Lord! The exercises I'm doing that Travis recommended appear to be addressing the causative issue. While I'm still working at home and running the MMS HR Department from our dining room (as opposed to the bed upstairs like the 3 1/2 previous weeks) my endurance isn't quite up to what it should be. That, and the fact that I need to learn how to listen to my body and incorporate varied times of sitting, standing, walking, and lying down, is keeping me around the homestead a bit longer than I'd thought.

It was really nice to get outside twice today. Between projects and phone calls I was able to take Tanner for two walks around our block. Now that isn't all that far, but it is the farthest I've walked in the last four weeks. And all the walking was without pain. Wahoo!

Here we are heading out one of our two walks.
That's quite a hat, isn't it?

We're to check back with Travis tomorrow evening and then maybe return to his fitness facility for a follow-up later this week.

It's wonderful to be able to walk.

Thanks for your prayers, and cards, and concerns. It looks like we're making a little bit more improvement every day.

Lord willing, and weather permitting, I'll be up at MMS for a short time tomorrow to take pictures of the test flight of Cessna 182 the guys have just finished restoring.

Karen's doing fine and is thankful she's no longer in charge of 24-hour patient care! Me too!

A Salsa Special Day: Batch 2

Even if I'm not quite up to pounding peppers, the salsa harvest and production must go on. While I'm doing well and am not in pain, I have learned that my healing (retraining the weak muscle on my backside while allowing the muscles on the front of my leg to repair themselves) is going to take time. I need to carefully monitor my body and listen to it. I've tried to balance my sitting with my walking and my resting. This is uncharted territory and we're learning as we go. So far, so good. Every day is a new day and I'm approaching things as such. But with ripe tomatoes on the vine, Sandy, a good friend of ours (herb expert and former master gardener) volunteered to assist Karen with preparing this latest batch of Karen's Side Street Salsa.

Thanks, Sandy. We couldn't have done it without you.

Sandy was the head pepper chopper.

Bell, Banana, Hungarian, and Jalapeno peppers waiting for the chop block.

Karen peels tomatoes.

Karen slices and dices tomatoes.

Tucker and Tanner closely supervise the action.

Loading the first set of jars.

The complete 2009 Batch #2.

OH YEAH...

An Encouraging Day!

Keith posted yesterday how excited we were to have an appointment this morning near Columbus with Travis Timmons. To be honest, We arose early with a bit of fear and trepidation about the 1-1/2 hour drive in the car. Riding in the car has NOT been a good thing for Keith's comfort! We want to share with you the results of today's visit.

Travis, the PT, did an extremely thorough evaluation and although we can't be 100% sure that what was found will do the trick it looks very promising so far. God blessed Keith so that he was not in horrible pain with the car ride...a miracle in it self. Simply put, it appears that several muscles in Keith's right"posterior" are not doing their job and so all the hip and thigh muscles have been working hard to compensate and finally were not able to do so any longer. We have started with some isometric exercises to try and retrain those muscles and we'll see how it goes over the weekend. Travis was wonderful and we were so very encouraged to have him work with us on this problem!!! If you ever need a physical therapist or trainer we would highly recommend Travis Timmons at Fitness Matters in Worthington, OH.

This won't be an over night fix but already one technique that he is using has brought times of pain relief and we are so encouraged! Please pray that we will be diligent in taking this very slowly and recognize and respond to the cues of his body that tell him what is enough and what is too much activity. We all know that trap of feeling better and wanting to jump in and do too much too fast. This is going to be a little tricky that way and critical that we don't move (pun intended!) too fast. Slow and easy wins the race!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, concern and support. God is answering those prayers. May He be glorified in this and every situation!

Please Pray For God's Glory and A Diagnosis

We are blessed to have an appointment with a sports medicine specialist in Columbus tomorrow morning! After three and a half weeks of pain pills, bed rest, and a couple days in the shop, the pain in my knee, leg, and hip isn't getting any better and has worsened considerably since those two wonderfully pain free days last weekend.

It was neat how the Lord arranged the contact. Karen was at prayer meeting last night talking with our pastor's wife about my situation. Karen mentioned she felt it would be good to find someone who specialized in treating sports injuries so that they could evaluate my knee, muscle and hip pain from that perspective. Near as we can figure, my bicycle ride into the mission triggered the episode.

Our pastor's wife mentioned that the son-in-law of one of our deacons is a sports medicine specialist and wondered if we might give him a call. Perfect.

Karen emailed a summary of my situation to the specialist. He emailed back that we should give him a call. We chatted with him on the phone this evening and we have an appointment with him in Columbus tomorrow morning at 9AM! Wahoo! Thank you, Lord.

Please pray that God would clearly reveal the nature of my injury, that we could arrive at a diagnosis and a plan of treatment, and that the Lord would be glorified through this process!

Thanks. Stay tuned.

My Wife Isn't Only Beautiful, She's Talented Too!

What was that old TV commercial...you know, the one that ended up, "My wife, I think I'll keep her."? I have no remembrance whatsoever of the product they were trying to sell, but I do remember the line from the ad. And I totally agree with the statement.

The Lord has blessed me with a wife who exceeds anything and everything I could have dreamed up. I don't deserve her, but God knew how much I needed her back on that fateful day, October 16, 2001 when Karen's dog sent an email to my dog to introduce Karen to me.

Not only does Karen make world class salsa, not only is she a fantastic home manager, not only is she a great missionary, not only is she beautiful, she's also totally talented. She demonstrated another of her talents today.

As I had felt so much better over the weekend, we'd returned the laptop computer stand that Dale & Deborah had loaned us. Well, this morning it was obvious I need to spend more time flat on my back in bed.

Since it now looks like this could be a long-term need, I searched out some different styles of laptop stands on the internet and found they ranged anywhere from $19-$100 depending on style and versatility and were manufactured from plastic, metal, or wood. I also found plans for a do-it-yourself model.

As a cost-conscious, bargain hunter, Karen was greatly attracted to the home-built stand. She loves doing things herself and enjoys it even more when she knows she's saving a pocket full of cash. The more she looked at the plans the more excited she became. It wasn't long before she went out to our scrap wood supply, made a trip the local Ace Hardware store, and headed down to the basement.

An hour or so later she came upstairs with my very own adjustable laptop stand made out of scrap wood and a couple bucks worth of hardware! Is that cool or what?

Karen uses a Dremmel tool to shape the wood.

Drilling one of the leg sets.

Finished product!

Thanks, Honey. You're amazing.

Hip & Knee Pain Returns, Tucker Gets A Buzz

Well, I had something of a setback in the healing process related to my pulled leg muscle. Not sure about much, just that Saturday was a good day, Sunday was all right, Monday I was sore and today I'm hurting again. While I don't think I'm doing anything, evidently I'm doing too much and whatever we gained on Saturday I seem to have given back. Okay. We're not out of the woods yet.

Maybe half-days at MMS are all I can handle. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Sitting, which is what I do all day at work, seems to put the most stress on the muscle. Jolly. Oh well, we'll work something out.

While I was lying on the couch this afternoon alternating the heating pad and ice pack on the injured leg, Karen took Tucker outside to give her a front-porch grooming.




Tucker's now cooler, as summer in Ohio just became much warmer.

My Hip and Knee Pain is Gone & Salsa Appears!

Karen and I are rejoicing over the fact that all my hip and knee pain is gone! Thank you so much for your prayers.

We knew yesterday's visits with the chiropractor and massage therapist were helpful but we had no idea how helpful until this morning. Yesterday I was consuming 4,000mgs of pain relievers. Today, I haven't had one pill since 6AM this morning. Wahoo!

When I woke up this morning my leg felt the worse it'd felt in the last couple of days...I figured it was the aftermath of all the activity at MMS and the two appointments. But that's okay, we were convinced the healing process had commenced. So I hobbled around for about thirty minutes and the leg started to loosen and the pain started to decrease and now my right hip and knee are like they'd never hurt at all! Thank you, Lord!

Thank you Dr. Snyder (chiropractor). Thank you Mike Stiers (massage therapist). Thank each of you for all your prayers! Your prayers have been answered in full!

I have full mobility, no pain, and am pain reliever free. Amen? Amen!

Not only that, but we made our first batch of Karen's 2009 Side Street Salsa today. If you'd like to see the photos, click here.

The first batch of Karen's 2009 Side Street Salsa!

Health Update and Newlsetter Production

Health Update
I was blessed by a great appointment with both my chiropractor and massage therapist today. We're making progress to be sure. To make a long story short, at this point we're leaning (no pun intended) more toward the diagnosis of a severe pull of the sartorius in my right leg instead of a pinched nerve. The sartorius is the largest muscle in the body and connects the knee to the pelvis. With our doctor providing the pain management resources, my chiro getting everything aligned, and my massage therapist working the muscle to release points...Karen and I are very confident that we'll have this whipped over the next few weeks. I had another great day at the shop. I still need help tying my shoes...but I can get around now much better than I could nineteen days ago! Wow.

Thanks for your continued prayers as there's still a ways yet to go.

August 2009 Coshocton Flyer
We're up at the mission as I write this. Karen gave me a break from helping with newsletter production so I could work on the blog. Yes, that's right. It's Friday night in Coshocton and we're up at the mission copying and folding our latest Coshocton Flyer newsletter. Once we're done we may head over to Long John Silver's for a whale of a good time and turn the evening into another classic "date night" by wandering around the Odd Lots store for a bit.

Newsletter production in high gear.

Can you handle the excitement?

Back At The Shop & Scan Results

Praise the Lord I felt good enough to spend six hours at MMS today! What a blessing to be back at the shop after two and a half weeks away.

And it was a busy day in my office as the team returned from Oshkosh with 18 requests for program information and 17 requests for information related to volunteering with us. Karen jumped right on organizing the program info packs for mailing. We'll organize the volunteer response packets tomorrow.

Karen organizes info packs for 20 prospective candidates.
(18 from contacts made at Oshkosh).

Scan Results
The results of Monday's scan were inconclusive.

We'll continue to address the pain through chiropractic care and massage therapy to see if we can eliminate the need for medication. If not, we'll follow-up with an orthopedic doctor.

Thanks for your prayers! We'll get good rest this evening and see what tomorrow brings!

Released to Limited Service

While we have yet to receive a diagnosis for my hip and knee pain, the chiropractor has released me to return to MMS on an "as able" basis starting tomorrow. Praise the Lord!

Though still taking the maximum pain relievers to make it through the day and night, my mobility has increased and the pain appears to have stabilized to the point I can return to the mission for light duty. The last two chiropractor appointments have been very beneficial.

Lord willing, I'll work my way back into a full-time routine over the next week or so. We'll see how my body responds.

I just talked with our doctor's office and they confirmed my scan results had just arrived from the hospital. Doc Miller will review the report after her rounds this evening and give me a call tomorrow with the results and her recommendations.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Stay tuned...

Working from Home

Today is a good day in relation to lowered pain and increased mobility. Though I'm still not able to return to the mission, I was able to sit at my desk downstairs for a couple hours and work on some ministry projects. It felt good to sit. It feels good to walk instead of hobble.

Lord willing, we'll move toward a diagnosis once the results of the scan are in tomorrow.

No problem with the scan. Man, it feels so weird when they IV that dye into your blood. It was like an intense "warmth" that spread in seconds throughout my body starting from my mouth all the way to my toes. I could feel it "bounce" off the inside of my skin and reflect back like ripples of water on the surface of a calm pond. Our circulation system is rather amazing in design and function. It's so totally God.

The bright hospital lighting; the humming and whirring and clicking of the donut-shaped scanner as its internal mechanism spins up to speed; the robotic "breathe, hold your breath, breathe" instructions from the machine's sound system; coupled with the smooth, silent back and forth motion of the scan table through the donut's hole...you've been there right? If not, it's always something to look forward to.

The barium "smoothies" I had to drink prior to the scan weren't all that bad. Raspberry flavor.
Yum.

With that behind me (yesterday) and the results before me (tomorrow), after a morning downstairs, I'm now back in my temporary"office" upstairs. It's not fancy, but it does allow me to keep my hand in the game.

Here I am in my "home office."

Karen designed and fabricated the handy-dandy laptop sling that allows me to work from the horizontal position. She is an amazing woman.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers as we take this one day at a time!

CT Scan Today at 1:00

Well, it's been something of a physical roller coaster the past two weeks. Since having to leave MMS because of pain in my right hip and knee back on July 17th, there've been a couple good days (Friday and Saturday morning were nearly pain free) and a bunch of not-so good days. Right now I'm flat on my back again doing the wobble-hobble when required to move from Point A to Point B. For some reason the pain pills seem less effective than they were last week.

The bright spot is I'm scheduled for my second CT scan this afternoon. Lord willing, there'll be something the doctors can see in the scan so that we can come up with a plan.

Karen continues to be the perfect nurse. Tanner is concerned and lays at my feet when I'm downstairs (the dogs aren't allowed upstairs). He's very quiet and just stares at me and wants to be close. Tucker? She's wherever there's a chance of food.

Thanks for praying. Lord willing, we'll know more soon.