picture essay

Quick Update... I do mean "quick"

I'm working at Air Evac as a Completion Mechanic. I am working towards a goal of becoming an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic in 3 years. I LOVE my job!!!

A missionary friend is sending an airplane my way. I'll be flying a Cessna 150. I should be able to log 300 hours over the next 1-2 years. I'm fired up about that. If you're in the West Plains area and you want to come along for a flight, give me a call.

The kids are healthy and happy. Ransom is determined. Evie is hilarious. That sums them up.

Sarah is healthy, happy and beautiful.

Our family is doing very well. We've never felt so blessed. Its been great getting to catch up with so many great people.

God is good!

sound of settling

I wrote this post a few days ago. Forgive the time lapse...

Tonight is the first night in our new house. We’ve been living in the basement of Sarah’s parents house since moving back to MO. 

I’m not going to lie... living with Sarah’s parents was great. We had free baby sitters around the clock. A crying baby could always be passed off to a smiling grandparent in a moments notice. 

I probably would have invented excuses to stay longer had THE DOG not arrived. 

THE DOG’s name is Lola and she arrived last night. She belongs to Sarah’s sister. Lola is a carrier of allergens. 

Sarah, Evie and Ransom all developed colds about a week ago. I kissed Sarah, Evie wiped her nose on my shirt and Ransom sneezed in my face. Did I get sick? NOPE!!! Yet, somehow, Lola shows up and I become congested. My eyes started itching and my throat felt like I was swallowing sand. All of this happened within ten minutes of her arrival.

Lola is the biological weapon that brought my super-human immune system to it’s knees.

You might be wondering why we didn’t move in sooner. Here’s a list of reasons:

we didn’t have a refrigerator

the water was shut off

the plumbing was not finished

the gas stove was faulty

Work was being done to get the house ready from the day we arrived. Sarah's Dad can fix anything. There just wasn’t a rush to move in... so we took our time. 

That changed today. Lola ran me out of our cozy basement dwelling. The last thing to do was buy a fridge. That arrived this afternoon.

I’m staying in this house alone for tonight. I’m supposed to make sure that no monsters come out of the closets at night. 

If I’m still alive in the morning... Sarah and the kids will join me tomorrow.

Oh man... I just realized that I won’t have any food for breakfast.

I’m listening to my favorite playlist. It’s called Tokyo. Right now Death Cab for Cutie is playing. I can’t get over what a strange band name that is.

I’m very happy to be home. I don’t feel like I ever left. My friendships are just as strong as they were 3 years ago. Some are stronger. Sarah and I are glad to be back with friends and family. 

I was amazed to find out how many people read this blog. I keep running into people that are excited to tell me how often they check my blog. 

Thats very cool.

I’m unemployed. I just thought I would throw that out there. 

I’ve applied as a substitute teacher. I think I will love doing that. I have 63 college hours, so I’m eligible. I should start sub-ing in a week. That should give me enough free time to fly... once I buy a plane. 

Thats another story.

I need to buy an airplane. 

I need to save some money.

I need a job.

Funny how everything ties together.

Thats all I’m going to write for now. 

  

welcome home... self

Its been a whirlwind.

By the time you're sitting down to read this, we are back home in Missouri. If you follow our blog, this is no surprise.

Our assignment in the Dominican Republic took some unexpected changes. We learned so much about the way that Agape Flights needs to operate overseas. The original plan was to set up a foreign office and ready the island for an in-country flight service. This was part of the reason for cramming flight lessons last spring.

Things began to look quite a bit different once we moved onto the island. Last November. Unexpected obstacles started blocking our path. Almost a full year had passed since Agape suffered a plane crash and we still did not have a plane for the island. Running a ministry out of the Dominican Republic also required more staff than we had available. On top of this, Sarah and I struggled to get by with our limited Spanish. Our son, Ransom, was born September 11th which placed a HUGE stress on our family to get his paperwork figured out. Oh... and did I mention that giving had dropped 30% during this recession? 

After these things started cluttering our vision, we had to take time to step back and ask God what He wanted. It turned out that God didn't have the same plan that we had. The huge vision that we had over a year ago was starting to look impractical. We could put Agape's resources to better use.

So, January of this year we changed our plans once again. Not only did God want us to change our plan, but He wanted us to pull out completely from Santo Domingo. We spent the month shutting down the only team center that Agape has in-country. Over an entire month was spent shutting down something that was being built for over 2 years. Agape's service to the missionaries remains the same. God wanted Agape to get back to the core of its ministry.

So what is next for us? 

Sarah and I have moved back to Missouri to be close to our family. I am going to get back into flight training as soon as possible. This probably means buying a plane. Sarah and I also hope to finish our Bachelor's degrees. A lot of people are asking what our long term plans are. We don't know. Every time we focus on our plans it seems as if God has to tear them down to accomplish His will. We want to be where God wants us. For now, we believe that is back home with our family. We aren't complaining. We are THRILLED to be back home.

We are looking forward to focusing on our family. Ransom is just 6 months old. He is fat. There is no way to sugar coat that. He is a big dude. Evie is still petite. She will be 3 years old this summer and she is wearing the same size diapers as Ransom. 

We are loving being with our family. Sarah and I have so many great memories of growing up close to our grandparents. We want the same for our children. Grandparents have a funny way of making up for our bad parenting. Sarah and I can get a lot of things wrong, but our parents will always swoop in to make our kids happy again.

We can't wait to bump into more old friends. God has taught us to really value the relationships that we have back home by sending us to a country where we were totally alone.

Thank you for all of the support that you gave to keep us in the field. We were blessed to be with Agape Flights for 2 and a half years. Your support made that possible. It seems strange to close this chapter in our lives.

Give me a call if you have any questions, or if you just want to talk. My cell number is 417-257-4093. We'll keep updating our blog. Check there if you want to see what we are up to. There are sure to be many new developments over the next few months.

We love you.

Homeward Bound

I know the title of this post has caused our friend Cary to start humming a Simon and Garfunkle song.

Anyway... If you don't frequent our blog, you might need to catch up. 

Read the post "Why are we packing?"

Sarah and I are STILL packing. It never ends. We are trying to get 500 pounds of our stuff moved back to the States each week. That's a lofty goal. Its embarrassing to realize how much junk we still own. This is our 6th move in less than 3 years and we still own 2000 pounds of... stuff. 

Our family is heading to Venice, FL in mid February for a few days before moving back to Missouri. We've decided not to take a new position with Agape Flights. 

When we joined Agape, I took a position as Cargo Manager. I processed cargo that came to Agape for missionaries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Sarah's hands were more than full with Evie who was only a few months old. Honestly, I think I was getting off the hook going into work.

A year later I was asked to take a position in the office as Human Resources Director. That was familiar territory as I had worked in HR before. Sarah took on a new position in the Accounting department. After a year of employee files, recruiting, staff events and accounting, Agape suffered a plane crash.

Everyone at Agape began scrambling to figure out how we were going to keep going. We knew that insurance would eventually cover part of our financial needs but that was going to take months. 

Sarah and I began talking to another family at Agape and we believed that we had a plan. We wanted to move to the Dominican Republic and set up an organization on the island. From there we could purchase a plane and shuttle cargo and mail to all of the cities that we already served. All we needed to do was ship our cargo commercially to the island. Then we could pick it up in our plane. 

It wasn't a new idea. FedEx uses huge cargo planes to get all of their cargo to this island and then they put it on trucks to move it into the cities. We wanted to copy that basic idea rather than use the same plane to do everything.

It all sounded great in the planning phase. We believed in it so much that Sarah and I volunteered to go to the Dominican Republic to get started. Shortly after arriving, we started seeing new obstacles. I had a pilot's license but I was hardly rated to fly through the unpredictable island weather. Where were we going to station a plane? Who was going to coordinate our logistics in Haiti? 

Suddenly, the plan seemed less than perfect.

Meanwhile, Sarah and I were taking on a lot of new tasks that weren't part of the original plan. The job that we began doing was not our passion. That's when we re-evaluated. With everything we had learned and accomplished, this wasn't the best plan for us or Agape.

We were able to accomplish a lot of cool stuff. We moved thousands of pounds of cargo between Santiago and Santo Domingo. We've learned a lot as an organization. This was, by no means, a waste of time. 

Sarah and I have learned a lot. It's impossible to explain our spiritual journey in a blog. Some people try... I'll be brief.

God has taught us how to live out Jesus's teachings in a very real way. That isn't to say that we are even close to perfect. We've just gotten a better idea of what God wants us to be. We've learned the true value of relationships. God has shown us the importance of family and close friends. God has shown us that Christianity is at its best when it isn't "organized." Christianity is about real people loving one another.

With all of this in mind, Sarah and I are really looking forward to being close to our family and friends again. We have so many stories to tell. We're saving those to tell over coffee. You can pick the place.

So, what is next on a personal level?

Sarah and I both have our Associate's Degrees and would like to finish college. I'm going back to flight school to get my Commercial License. That will keep us busy for a few years.

I'd love to give you a well drawn up plan, but God has a funny way of destroying our plans. We're excited to see what He has for us.

Thats all for now. We're glad you care enough to read about us.

this country is nuts

I woke up at 5:15 to the sound of my phone screaming. Thats my alarm? Yup.

I dragged myself downstairs and loaded 500 pounds of cargo into my truck and drove away. I was Santiago bound. First I picked up Julio. How's a guy supposed to get any work done without a little help?

We were in Santiago in record time. My boss reads this blog so I will leave out the details. I wasn't speeding. *wink

Once in Santiago, I had to unload my cargo and get it onto the plane. Sounds easy... I had to pay some fee that didn't make sense and wait for a drug dog to smell my packages. It was a labrador... beautiful dog. After that we waited for an hour to get some form stamped. 

I also picked up 600 pounds of inbound cargo before heading back home. 

The drive between Santo Domingo and Santiago is really pretty... the first few dozen times. Now its old. The same mountains fly past me on the right while I dodge vehicles that should never be on the road. Today I actually had to dodge someone crossing the highway on foot. I don't think the guy knew it was a road. He seemed startled when he heard my truck horn.

This country is nuts. I'm not joking.

I was almost home when my phone rang. "I think they turned off our power." My wife was right. Our power was off. 

In this country, they turn the meter upside down as a reminder that your bill is overdue. A few snipped wires later and I was back in business. Its really easy turning your power back on. The hardest part is getting the panel open to access the meter itself. Once you get that far, pull out the meter, flip it over and plug it back in. I was proud of my handy work.

I paid my bill just to be sure that it didn't get turned off again. My bill was only 6 days overdue. There is supposed to be a grace period of 3 months. Pay as you wish...

...pretty much a typical Thursday. 

Why are we packing?

Sarah and I are at it again. 

For the 6th time in 3 years, we are moving. This move is a little less expected. Its impossible to describe the entire chain of events, but here is a brief summary:

You probably remember that I was in flight training before moving to Santo Domingo. The goal was to get my license and then be a part of a team that would operate a small aircraft out of Santo Domingo to move cargo around the island.

Recently, Agape was given a great opportunity to pay off our property in Venice, FL. The bank carrying our loan went under and our loan was auctioned. We approached the buyer and worked out a deal to pay of the loan. The result... our reserve is too low to purchase a plane for the island.

Thats not the only reason... Shortly after arriving, we were able to see that things did not always go like we thought. This isn't the United States after all. The logistics of using a plane on this island were not lining up as expected. 

Add to that the high cost of living in Santo Domingo. Fuel finally dropped to $3 a gallon. Groceries are about 20% higher than in the States. Its a long list. We were quite surprised when our budget jumped by several thousand dollars.

We've all agreed that God brought us here for some very important reasons, but not to put a plane on the island at this time. Our "permanent assignment" will now be finished by Feb. 24th. We have a few more things to do before then.

So what do we do next? Thats a good question. The next step for us is back to Venice, FL to debrief. Our bosses are coming on Monday and we will finalize our plans then. We have some big decisions to make for the whole organization as well as our personal decisions.

On a high note: God's perfect timing is worked out again. Ransom's passport and birth certificate came last week. We are no longer prisoners! We can actually board a plane and go home. FREEDOM!!!

All of these signs are pointing to... its time to pack.

Please pray for God's wisdom in our decisions.

We will send out a more official update after we know more. We've already asked several of our friends and family to be praying for us. Its only fair that we explain why.

Thanks for reading our blog.