Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Updated Video: Moody 182 Returns to Service

I've added a slide show of the restoration process of Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 to Paul Jones' original return-to-service footage. Thanks for letting me use the footage, Paul!

Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 Returns to Service from Keith Dodson on Vimeo.

If you'd rather view the video on YouTube, click here.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Back in Town

We had a great trip to PA and are now back in town, arriving last night in time to unload our gear, make some popcorn, sit on our back deck, and watch the fireworks over the fairgrounds.

Traffic back and forth was light and we averaged 40 miles a gallon in our Honda Civic. That's nice when you're traveling 720 miles...Gas was $2.59 on the highway for regular. Just a tip for those heading east from Ohio on US 80...don't hold your breath waiting on a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. But if you like Perkins, Taco Bell, Arby's, and/or McDonald's you won't starve because they have those at EVERY exit...In Ohio you have a Cracker Barrel every 30 miles...

Saturday we hung out at a backyard bbq with family in Mifflinburg and Sunday we visited with a supporting church in Lewisburg getting better acquainted with several members of the missions committee.

Karen's out picking up some groceries as we're hosting a member of Mission Safety International's three man audit team arriving this afternoon. MSI is going to audit us as to how well we're operating as an FAA Certificated Repair Station. The team will be here through Thursday. While the FAA already regularly inspects us as a Repair Station, MSI is able to provide a little different perspective coming from a missions context and will be a complement to the FAA's already rigorous standards.

It's warm right now, over ninety degrees with nearly 50% humidity. Not enough to make one suicidal, but definitely warm enough to make one praise the Lord for air-conditioning!

Tucker enjoys the air-conditioning on the dining room floor.

Tanner enjoys the air-conditioning under the dining room table.

We're supposed to be 90+ through Thursday. Looking forward to getting back on my bicycle tomorrow morning. Have a great week!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Video: Karen's Side Street Salsa Garden

We thought you might enjoy a quick tour through Karen's Side Street Salsa Garden. It's still early in the season so growing is still the priority for the plants. Tomato harvest and salsa production typically occurs on a weekly basis starting in August. This summer's already been hotter than last summer so we should have more of a typical crop cycle than we did last year.

It's not a big garden, our neighbors have a GREAT backyard garden, but we've always been blessed with enough tomatoes and peppers from our little side street strip to can another year's worth of salsa. I usually eat about a pint a week.

Here's the tour. Enjoy!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Thursday Notes and Thoughts

It's been a busy but quiet week. The weather's been very nice. Daytime highs in the 70's, overnight lows in the 50's, sun, blue sky, puffy white clouds, gentle breeze...very Ohio-esque. The humidity is only 42% as I write this which feels kind of like being in the desert after last week's weather. We're to be back in the hot/humid cycle next week.

Monday at the mission I took care of a bunch of loose ends so I could spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and today focused on pulling the August issue of MMS' GroundCrew newsletter together. My normal routine for assembling the GroundCrew is on the first day I select photographs. The second day I write the copy and captions. The third day I review and revise the copy, tweak the layout, and digitally package the project. The fourth day I take one last look at everything before I send the file to our graphic designer. It's going to be an exciting issue providing a direct connection between what we do in our hangar and what's happening on the mission field.

Tuesday evening Karen and I had a date night out to "Lock 27" which is the patio and downstairs dining area for the Warehouse Steak & Stein Restaurant in Roscoe Village here in town. We had lovely little table on the patio. On Tuesdays it's half-price hamburgers which is a great deal. Karen and I were both able to have specialty hamburgers, fries, a half order of onion rings, and sodas for $14 and change. Dinner out for two for less than $15. Not bad. We ran in to two MMS families and our next door neighbors also eating on the patio.

Last night I worked on the yard catching up on the trimming, weeding and edging. This evening I moved wood from our garage to the wood rack and then we took the dogs up to the airport for a bit of exercise.

Karen worked her two days at the mission and has been organizing and clearing our basement at home. I need to clean and patch large areas of our basement walls that are currently behind large shelves loaded with food and household items. Once all that stuff is moved, then I can get to the walls. But to move all that stuff, we need to make room for it.

Young adult Sunday School is going very well. We're nearly halfway through Andrew Murray's Abiding In Christ. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you do so. It's a 31 day devotional that will challenge, encourage, and guide you to desire/experience a deeper level of intimacy with Jesus Christ. It's a powerful little booklet. "Abiding" is a concept very much lost in today's typical church and yet is so critical, crucial even, for healthy spiritual growth. My eyes are being opened to a new reality of relationship.

We'll be in Pennsylvania this weekend for a family gathering on Saturday and we're speaking in a supporting church on Sunday. Monday we'll be home and will host a member of Missionary Safety International's staff of three that is coming to perform an audit of how well we're operating as an FAA Certificated Repair Station.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for your gifts and your prayers. We need both to serve!