We're in an exciting time at MMS with three major projects all coming to completion within weeks of each other. The wings are going on the Gabon 207 so it can be ready to fly in October, the landing gear repairs are being completed on Wings With The Word's Cessna 402 so it can fly next month as well, and the amphibious Cessna 206 for use in Brazil by Asas de Socorro, is now flying!
It's fun to see the airplanes fly!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Heading Into Fall
Karen's spent the week in VA visiting with her sister, Brenda. Today she's headed into PA to take part in a baby & baby shower for her niece-in-law(?) Lina, married to Matt, Brenda's son. Matt & Lina are having TWINS! Karen's already made their baby blankets and crocheted them little baby baseball caps.
So I'm at home, shopping, busy doing laundry, and baking cookies (break & bake CC). I discovered one of our favorite regional ice creams on sale for half price at Bakers IGA, our locally owned grocery store!
Tucker and Tanner are sleeping in their beds. Tucker REALLY misses Karen. With the two Alpha Males (one human, one canine) running the show, she appears to be a bit intimidated.
Tucker 
TannerBut we're not doing too bad. I followed the instructions on the cookie dough, "cook for 10-11 minutes OR until golden brown" and kept putting them back in the oven for two additional minutes at a time because, they weren't
"golden brown" yet. Well, believe it or not, cooking chocolate chip cookies twice as long as it says on the package STILL doesn't turn them "golden brown". They just immediately turn BROWN, DARK BROWN when you finally take them out of the oven. The second batch I cooked for 11 minutes and didn't pay any attention to the color. You know, the second batch looks like chocolate chip cookies. The first batch just looks like chocolate cookies...And the laundry? I know enough to put the whites in one batch, the dark colors in another. Warm on the whites, cool on the colors...but the batch of whites was really small so I put the water level on "low." Good idea. But then on the second load, which was a FULL load of my shirts, I loaded up the soap and the clothes and the load...still on the "low" water setting.
When I went to move them to the dryer...they still really smelled of soap and just didn't feel right to an experienced laundry monger like myself. I threw them in dryer anyway and set the temperature to TOAST. I like my dry laundry DRY.
It was when I started the next full load of clothes that I realized the low water level setting...moving it to HIGH for this load I pulled everything out of the dryer and set it aside for a re-wash. No harm, no foul, just a few more gallons of water into the rinse cycle of life.
Thanks for your prayers as we fend for ourselves...Lord willing, Karen will be home on Monday!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Saturday Update, MMS, and Video
We were going to be visiting in VA this weekend but health issues with our host family and flood issues with other expected travelers from PA led to our staying in OH.
Karen's in the basement sewing. I'm upstairs in the "Cabana Room" typing. The Cabana Room is our little in home "hideaway" where we've created something of a soothing, tropical motif. It's kind of our own little indoor oasis where we can escape for some alone time...some clear head and heart time.
Geoff & Celia Linkleter
With our change in travel plans we were able to get up this morning and welcome Geoff, Celia,
and Miriam Linkleter to the United States. The Linkleters are the latest family to come over from England for apprenticeship with MMS. They're staying a few doors down while they locate long-term housing.
We took them on short walking tour of the neighborhood to include: Collins Market (our local, old-style, still has a real butcher, family market), the Farmer's Market at the Coshocton
County Fair Grounds, and the Cheese Cake and Old Fashioned Donut Shop just across from the fair grounds. Now there's the ticket...homemade cheesecakes AND some of the best donuts in Coshocton County all under one roof.
Miriam, the Linkleter's 4 year old daughter enjoyed a popsicle from the market and an M&M cookie the size of a manhole cover from the cheesecake/donut shop. It was sunny then, but now it's clouded over cooling things down to the low 70's with a cool breeze.
Jake & Cayton Heath
At MMS, I was excited to call Jake & Cayton on Thursday to give them the go-ahead to make their move to Coshocton in December. Jake & Cayton have spent the past two years raising the financial support necessary to begin
apprenticeship with MMS and are finally at the point where they can start packing their gear to make the move from Redding, CA to Coshocton, OH.
They'll arrive fresh from California just in time to experience their first Midwestern winter. Considering they intend to ultimately serve with a mission agency in Florida...they'll need to benefit from every REAL winter they have a chance to endure.
Candidate Evaluations
Last week I was also pleased to confirm two upcoming candidate evaluations. The Pottners (Wisconsin) will spend a week at MMS in October and the Everts (Ohio) will spend a week at MMS in November during which I'll oversee their evaluation as apprenticeship candidates.
Video Production
I'm still working video production into my MMS routine as able. It's amazing to me how long it takes to shoot, edit, sound track, title, narrate, and produce even a one minute clip. While video is a nice distraction from my otherwise steady diet of administrative duties, it does present its own challenges. The learning curve never stops, and I now have two computers in my office. One for my administrative responsibilities and the other for all the video work.
Speaking of video...here's the latest clip I put together. No narration in this one, just a sound track and titling. I hope you enjoy it.
Karen's in the basement sewing. I'm upstairs in the "Cabana Room" typing. The Cabana Room is our little in home "hideaway" where we've created something of a soothing, tropical motif. It's kind of our own little indoor oasis where we can escape for some alone time...some clear head and heart time.
Geoff & Celia Linkleter
With our change in travel plans we were able to get up this morning and welcome Geoff, Celia,
and Miriam Linkleter to the United States. The Linkleters are the latest family to come over from England for apprenticeship with MMS. They're staying a few doors down while they locate long-term housing.We took them on short walking tour of the neighborhood to include: Collins Market (our local, old-style, still has a real butcher, family market), the Farmer's Market at the Coshocton
County Fair Grounds, and the Cheese Cake and Old Fashioned Donut Shop just across from the fair grounds. Now there's the ticket...homemade cheesecakes AND some of the best donuts in Coshocton County all under one roof.Miriam, the Linkleter's 4 year old daughter enjoyed a popsicle from the market and an M&M cookie the size of a manhole cover from the cheesecake/donut shop. It was sunny then, but now it's clouded over cooling things down to the low 70's with a cool breeze.
Jake & Cayton Heath
At MMS, I was excited to call Jake & Cayton on Thursday to give them the go-ahead to make their move to Coshocton in December. Jake & Cayton have spent the past two years raising the financial support necessary to begin
apprenticeship with MMS and are finally at the point where they can start packing their gear to make the move from Redding, CA to Coshocton, OH.They'll arrive fresh from California just in time to experience their first Midwestern winter. Considering they intend to ultimately serve with a mission agency in Florida...they'll need to benefit from every REAL winter they have a chance to endure.
Candidate Evaluations
Last week I was also pleased to confirm two upcoming candidate evaluations. The Pottners (Wisconsin) will spend a week at MMS in October and the Everts (Ohio) will spend a week at MMS in November during which I'll oversee their evaluation as apprenticeship candidates.
Video Production
I'm still working video production into my MMS routine as able. It's amazing to me how long it takes to shoot, edit, sound track, title, narrate, and produce even a one minute clip. While video is a nice distraction from my otherwise steady diet of administrative duties, it does present its own challenges. The learning curve never stops, and I now have two computers in my office. One for my administrative responsibilities and the other for all the video work.
Speaking of video...here's the latest clip I put together. No narration in this one, just a sound track and titling. I hope you enjoy it.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Home-Front Update
Labor Day Greetings from Coshocton, Ohio, where the weather is finally a bit cooler and the moisture from Irene floats overhead.
It's so hard to believe it's already September and that Fall 2011 is on our doorstep. We certainly won't mind the cooler weather after slogging and sweating our way through this past summer.
Pepper Relish & Salsa
Believe it or not, we actually were able to cobble together a few pints of salsa from our garden after all though we ended up focusing more on making relish by picking the green tomatoes that weren't going to make it to ripeness before rotting.
We were also blessed to have one of the MMS families donate two batches of tomatoes to us. So, thanks to Mike and Isobel, our salsa season wasn't a total bust. But because our peppers also failed so miserably we were blessed to support the local farmer's market to supply what we needed to go with the tomatoes.
Preparing to slice and dice green tomatoes, onions and Bell peppers for relish.
Karen loads up the relish jars.
Home Project: French Drain
To help pull water away from our house I recently installed a french drain. When heavy rains coupled with already saturated ground, sometimes we'd have some water weep into our basement. The drain eliminates the "ponding" that used to occur along the sidewalk beside our house and directs the runoff down over our berm and into the street. It's been tested several times since I dug it in and it's working great!
Cutting the sidewalk concrete.
Placing the pipe in position.
Local Flora & Fauna
A bumble bee enjoys one of our Purple Hyacinth Bean flowers.
Another bumble bee enjoys one of our Mexican Daisies.
While our veggies didn't do all that well, our flowers along the deck have thrived creating quite the gathering place for friendly honey bees, butterflies and bumble bees. With our little bird feeder nearby and a couple families of Cardinals nested across the street (and rabbits and squirrels and a neighborhood skunk) there's always some sort of suburban wild life activity going on around here.
In fact, Mr. Skunk and I had a close encounter early the other morning when I stepped off the front porch on my way to the mission as he came around the corner of our walkway from behind the bush and we both ended up trying to occupy the same piece of cement. There was all of 18 inches between his nose and my left ankle.
He was caught by surprise as much as I was and I graciously offered my verbal apology for disrupting his (her?) morning rounds, slowly stepped out of his path, and gave him the right of way. The skunk accepted my apology with great aplomb, gave me a nod, and continued on his pre-dawn journey across our front flower bed and beyond...
It's so hard to believe it's already September and that Fall 2011 is on our doorstep. We certainly won't mind the cooler weather after slogging and sweating our way through this past summer.
Pepper Relish & Salsa
Believe it or not, we actually were able to cobble together a few pints of salsa from our garden after all though we ended up focusing more on making relish by picking the green tomatoes that weren't going to make it to ripeness before rotting.
We were also blessed to have one of the MMS families donate two batches of tomatoes to us. So, thanks to Mike and Isobel, our salsa season wasn't a total bust. But because our peppers also failed so miserably we were blessed to support the local farmer's market to supply what we needed to go with the tomatoes.
Preparing to slice and dice green tomatoes, onions and Bell peppers for relish.
Karen loads up the relish jars.Home Project: French Drain
To help pull water away from our house I recently installed a french drain. When heavy rains coupled with already saturated ground, sometimes we'd have some water weep into our basement. The drain eliminates the "ponding" that used to occur along the sidewalk beside our house and directs the runoff down over our berm and into the street. It's been tested several times since I dug it in and it's working great!
Cutting the sidewalk concrete.
Placing the pipe in position.Local Flora & Fauna
A bumble bee enjoys one of our Purple Hyacinth Bean flowers.
Another bumble bee enjoys one of our Mexican Daisies.While our veggies didn't do all that well, our flowers along the deck have thrived creating quite the gathering place for friendly honey bees, butterflies and bumble bees. With our little bird feeder nearby and a couple families of Cardinals nested across the street (and rabbits and squirrels and a neighborhood skunk) there's always some sort of suburban wild life activity going on around here.
In fact, Mr. Skunk and I had a close encounter early the other morning when I stepped off the front porch on my way to the mission as he came around the corner of our walkway from behind the bush and we both ended up trying to occupy the same piece of cement. There was all of 18 inches between his nose and my left ankle.
He was caught by surprise as much as I was and I graciously offered my verbal apology for disrupting his (her?) morning rounds, slowly stepped out of his path, and gave him the right of way. The skunk accepted my apology with great aplomb, gave me a nod, and continued on his pre-dawn journey across our front flower bed and beyond...
Friday, September 2, 2011
The STC Kodiak Visits MMS
Spokane Turbine Center's Kodiak arrives at MMS.Last week there was an air of excitement around the hangar as Spokane Turbine Center brought their Quest Kodiak in for a visit. After spending the weekend at Missions Fest, in Lancaster, PA, as part of a missions display, the STC crew stopped by our hangar facility to renew relationships, tour the facility, and provide flights for MMS personnel and family.
STC provides flight training for Kodiak operators and provides mission-specific training for mission aviation organizations around the world. We partner with STC through providing maintenance on their Kodiak when they're in the area.
The Kodiak is the first airplane designed by missionaries for mission aviation and is a unique blending of high technology and real-world utility. More and more mission agencies are purchasing Kodiaks in order to put them to Kingdom work in some of the most remote and challenging locations in the world.
Through STC's generosity, many of our families were able to enjoy their first flight in a Kodiak. Thanks, STC!
Some of our family members prepare for their flight.
The Kodiak exits our ramp for the active taxiway.
STC's Kodiak takes off.
The Kodiak, coming soon to a mission aviation program near you!
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