Here are the the final birds shots of Spring 2026!
Downy Woodpecker, Male
House Finch, Male
Northern Cardinal, Female
House Finch, Female
Red-bellied Woodpecker, Male
And then from last month's newsletter:
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Eastern Robin, Male
Eastern Cardinal, Female
This spring we had Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, and Chickadees nest and fledge in our yard. It's always fun to watch the birds.
Thanks for taking a look. Once fall hits we'll load the feeders again, charge up the camera batteries, and see what flies within range. We appreciate your friendship, partnership, prayers and encouragement!
April arrives next week, yet winter has yet to fully relinquish its grip. We're riding a roller coaster of really high temps followed by several days of really cold temps. 40 degree temperature variations overnight are not uncommon. Some of our friends in Pennsylvania are simultaneously suffering from sunburn and frost bite. We run air-conditioning for a couple days then kick the heat on for a couple days. It'll be nice to have the temperatures settle into a sweet spot for a time.
And with Spring comes Backyard Bird Photos. Our backyard birds have been cooperative with more than a few posing long enough for me to focus and press the shutter. Here's our first bird-batch for 2026.
White-throated Sparrow
Carolina Chickadee
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird
Yellow Warbler or "Butter Butt"
Quick Personal Update
Karen and I are doing well. In April and May, several of our friends will bless us with the privilege of watching their dogs. Karen continues to sew for Newborns In Need. I recently returned from a trip to MMS for a candidate evaluation and have another trip planned to MMS later in April. I'm currently coaching five missionaries while overseeing two applications for service with MMS.
Over the next few weeks we hope to have a newsletter out and post more bird photos. I've been asked to feature some of my poetry and have had several poems and photos published in on-line journals recently. My sister and I have another photo/poem project in the works. It's just been too dark and cold these past few months for creativity. Sometimes you just gotta hunker down. And then un-hunker. WE could be reaching the un-hunker stage!
Shredding and Deleting As we move into 2026, I find myself unloading binders of material I haven't used for years, shredding, deleting, and reorganizing folders (manilla and digital) to lessen my administrative footprint. There are files on my computer going back 26 years with the vast majority of those files created in a format that will be discontinued this year.
Dinosaurs For context, I still remember 5.25 inch floppy disks which makes me something of a dinosaur. Dinosaurs (like old files) come and dinosaurs go. I've always been a Luddite (cautious of/resistant to technology), a "laggard" (one on the trailing edge of technology adapting only to the level demanded by work or to maintain a minimal level of societal/cultural comfort), and now it seems I'm an administrator on the verge of extinction. A dinosaur to be sure. Don't get me started on Artificial Intelligence.
Keith as a dinosaur.
Vintage Video from MMS Aviation
All that being said, it's one thing to be a dinosaur and it's another to be vintage. Something vintage remains interesting regardless of age and/or technology. In a recent journey through Windows File Explorer, I came across a digital folder of vintage MMS Aviation videos I put together years ago.
I've decided to share a selection of these little gems as evidence that my video productions, in these days of Hi-Def and wide screen format, have become truly vintage. Each is a vignette, a brief insight, into a moment or a project from my "old days" with MMS. Here's the first one: Air Calvary Landing Gear. The Air Calvary project was a complete restoration of a Cessna 207 used for ministry in Gabon, Africa.
Enjoy.
Andy, the apprentice in the video, successfully completed apprenticeship and served in Africa with MAF International as a Aviation Maintenance Technician. It's interesting to note that this same aircraft is currently back in our hangar for another well-earned restoration.
MMS's 50th Anniversary Celebration went even better than planned! Our staff, apprentice families, and volunteers worked long and hard to prepare, coordinate, and facilitate this once-in-a-lifetime, three day event.
Friday Night
Friday night we hosted a "homecoming" dinner for past graduates and staff. MMS's first graduate, Tim Tiffner, was there! It was a very emotional and encouraging night as 50 years of MMS missionaries "came home" to reconnect, tell stories, break bread together and celebrate God's goodness.
MMS graduates, families, and staff from the past 50 years gather inside Hangar C for our first ever "homecoming" meal. We're second row on the left.
Saturday
The Coshocton County community came up to our hangar facility on Saturday and, under blue sky and warm sun, enjoyed tours, airplane and helicopter rides, ate hot dogs and hamburgers, enjoyed live music, and were exposed to the width and breadth of missionary aviation right in Coshocton, Ohio.
Some of the crowd in Hangar A on Saturday morning. The hangar was like this all day!
Sunday
Sunday it rained, but a surprisingly dedicated group of folks made it into our hangar turning a wet, windy day into something much more. I had the opportunity to escort Denise Neff through the hangar. Denise is a staff writer for The Coshocton County Beacon and was intrigued by the MMS story. She shared that years ago, her father actually landed at MMS for maintenance on his airplane before continuing south to deliver critically needed supplies to Haiti. I mentioned that I thought I remembered his visit and asked if her father flew a Cessna 310 (a twin-engine Cessna). She said yes. I said, "I took a photo of your dad's airplane on our ramp!"
Denise's Dad's airplane is the maroon and white, Cessna 310 in the center of the photo. I believe I took this photo about 15 years ago. Crazy connection, huh?
Denise asked great questions, took great notes, and then wrote an EXCELLENT article about MMS and the event. Just click the hot-link to the article and you just might recognize one of the guys in the photo!
Thanks for making all this possible through your ongoing friendship, love, encouragement, prayers, and financial partnership. None of this would happen without you. We may be here, but you're the reason we can stay. Granted, the MMS' 50th Anniversary celebration wasn't all work.
We praise God for each one of you making it possible for us to be your hands and feet in preparing people and planes for worldwide missionary service!
With all the crazy weather this spring (unseasonably WET) and summer (unseasonably HOT), it's been challenging to take backyard bird photos. When I'd have time to take photos the weather would be uncooperative, and when the weather was cooperative, I didn't have the time or drive to wait on birds willing to participate. However, here are some bird shots I salvaged from spring.
Eastern Bluebird
Chipping Sparrow on Fence
Northern Cardinal
Chipping Sparrow in Tree
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Junco
I hope you enjoyed these snaps from spring. I'm working up a selection from summer.
Jack is inside a Cessna 206 fuselage bucking rivets as Ben drives rivets from the outside.
Ben drives rivets to secure a belly skin to the 206 fuselage. Jack Harper is inside bucking the rivets Ben is driving. Each "cleco" in the skin is a place holder for another rivet.
Rebekah wires up a power bus as part of a missionary aircraft control panel upgrade.
Sharee bucks rivets inside the engine compartment another Cessna 206 restoration.
Sharee, Ben (in hat) and Jack discuss structural strategy as they build the engine compartment on a 206.
Two missionary Cessna 206s under restoration in Hangar B.
There's always a lot going on at MMS Aviation where we've been preparing people and airplanes for missionary service for 50 years!
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