Weekend Catch-Up and TV Interview

The weekend is here and June starts on Monday. With the speed that this year is passing, Christmas will probably be next week. Unreal. The days are so full and so fast that it makes my head spin.

At MMS
At MMS, I'm still trying to catch up from being away for a week. Between what stacked up during our absence, what cropped up after I returned, and the projects and tasks already on my desk...I currently have too much job security. Ha.

I'm not complaining, far from it. I'm blessed and am just amazed at all the different ways that God is at work in MMS and through MMS: four different missionary airplanes are being maintained, modified, and/or repaired; we're developing a new format the apprenticeship program; we're looking at ways to modify our operational program to better meet the needs of the missions we serve; and as a group we're spending dedicated time each month to learn how to communicate and understand each other better (which everyone agrees is harder and more emotional than just working on airplanes!).

Specifically related to HR: three apprentices are in transition to field ministries, I'm supervising four families raising support to begin service, I'll oversee a candidate evaluation next month, and it looks like I'll soon schedule an additional candidate eval for the fall. I'm also in contact with several possible staff candidates, several pre-candidates interested in volunteering, regular volunteers, and twenty people interested in learning more about MMS.

For several months I've worked on creating a new brochure for MMS. Well, I picked the brochures up from the print shop last week and they look great! THANK YOU, TAMMY for all your hard work and dedication in helping make the brochure such a professional piece. Tammy is Karen's cousin. She is also a top-notch professional graphic designer who graciously donates her time, energy, and skills as a ministry to MMS. She's the reason the GroundCrew looks so good and why our brochures look so nice.

Tammy and I are currently working together to create a new display that MMS can use to promote its ministry at churches, conferences, air shows, and other venues.

Being interviewed by WHIZ TV, Zanesville

Oh, and I was interviewed by a regional TV station last week. WHIZ TV from Zanesville sent a crew to MMS to do a short feature for their evening news programs. The feature ran about two minutes on the 6 PM news, 1 minute on the 11 PM news, and by the time they posted it on their website, all that was left was a thirty second clip of me talking.

If you'd like to read the written copy of the article, click here.

If you'd like to watch me talk for thirty seconds...click here.

Karen's Still On Vacation
By the way, Karen's still on vacation! She extended a week to spend a week in Georgia with her sister and niece. I'm much better at being a husband than I am at housewife. Tucker, Tanner, and I look forward to Karen coming home next Wednesday.

Thanks
Thanks for visiting our blog! We greatly enjoy hearing from you and are thankful for your gifts and prayers which enable us to serve.

May Flowers and 2009's Salsa Is In The Ground

Roses
I mentioned our roses in yesterday's post and said I'd try to get a snapshot up today. When we left on our week's vacation, we didn't have one bloom on any of our three rose bushes. When I returned home on Monday they were loaded flowers. Today I was able to borrow a digital camera (Karen has ours with her down in Georgia) and actually found a moment of filtered sunlight between all the convective activity (thick, dark clouds; hot humid air) to snap a shot of our flower garden and rose trellis. Their collective aroma on our front porch is amazing...

Our side flower garden with rose trellis.
(Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

2009 Salsa
Just before we left on vacation, Karen planted our 2009 Salsa Garden! We expanded its size this year to add onions, additional pepper plants, and give everything a bit more room to grow. Ahh...now it's just a matter of keeping the neighborhood bunnies from eating everything for breakfast! It's not easy being a salsa farmer...

Looking east: The enlarged main garden of tomato and jalapeno pepper plants.

Looking west: The expanded garden featuring bell and banana pepper plants and onions.

Oh boy, do we enjoy salsa...

Back to Blogging

Hello Everyone!

Lord willing I haven't lost you over the past week of our blog break and you're checking in today as I'd said I'd be back on line!

Karen and I were blessed to enjoy the past week as guests of dear friends at their time share in Kitty Hawk, NC. Many of you may remember we were married on the Beach at Kitty Hawk back in August '02. It's always nice to go back there. This time we took our bikes which was a great way to explore and see the sights. Thanks Jack & Pat, and Jay& Rene!

From there we went up to PA for the wedding of one of Karen's nephews. They're going to make a great couple. He's a landscape engineer and she's a ballerina! It was a great wedding (outdoors, string quartet before the service, steel drum band during hors d'oeuvres, and a DJ during and after dinner. It's always so fun to get together with all the "kids" (and now their "kids") and be one of the "old" folks who still wear ties to weddings! HA! Josh, you're not an old folk even though you did wear a tie. Very stylish...

Steve & Cindy, thanks for letting us crash at your pad, feeding us, and putting up with Ralph and I while we talked politics!

On Memorial Day I drove back to Coshocton and Karen rode off to Georgia with her sister and niece. Karen will be down there through next Tuesday.

Tucker and Tanner did well during our absence and in the loving care and under the watchful eyes of their Uncle Tim and Aunt Michele. I'll soon assume cat sitting responsibilities at their house for a short time.

I returned home to find our roses in full bloom! Of course the camera is with Karen in Georgia so I don't have any pictures to share. I'll see what I can do to come up with some flower snapshots for tomorrow's post.

Thanks for checking in. Oh, here's a picture from the hangar today of Scott and Paul working on LAMP's Cessna 337. We're overhauling both engines (one of the front, one of the back) and inspecting the airframe.

Scott, Paul, and the front engine of the 337.

Thank You And A Blog Break

Thank you to every one who said prayers, sent emails, posted comments, mailed cards, and/or gave us a call in response to "In Remembrance of Hope." We appreciate your love, care, and concern in our saying good-bye to one of our dear missionary mutts. The house is a little quieter without her but Hope is still very much a part of our lives. We greatly appreciate your kindness and concerns.
Thank you for reminding us how close we are in relationship even though we're separated from many of you by so many miles. It's a joy to have you as part of our team.

Blog Break
As a heads-up, Karen and I are going to take a short blog break. I plan to be back on the blog May 26, after Memorial Day.

If you're new blog follower, this will be a great time to go hit the archives and catch up on all the older posts from Post #1, March 17, 2008. You can see and read about our mission work, church service, home projects, various trips, and all the other fun and exciting stuff that the Lord has involved us in over the past year and two months.

Enjoy the archives. We'll be back on line soon!