Friday, October 31, 2008

Stranded...in Maryland

What a trip this has turned out to be. We left last night to spend a weekend with Scott's sister and are suppose to speak at her church this Sunday. On our way, we pulled off the freeway for gas and some coffee. As we approached the end of the exit ramp, we started hearing some "not so good" sounds coming from the engine section of the burb...the is short for Suburban. As we pulled over to investigate it more, it grew louder. We ended up getting a hotel for the night and calling his sister to let her know that we would not be arriving at 2 a.m. as we thought. Scott started calling mechanics in the area first thing this moring to see if they could fit us in and inspect further. The results...they can fix it but the part will not be here until Tuesday morning at the earliest and the price...$1500-2000. Ouch!!

Cindy, Scott's sister, is about 2-2 1/2 hours away and is coming to pick us up. We will stay with her until the burb is fixed and then she will bring us back and homeward bound we will be. We called MMS and they are so great. They said not to worry about it and they will see us when they see us. What a blessing to work with such great people. Bless you guys!!!!

Last weekend I fell and hurt my ankle. It is still swollen and bruised. New bruises everyday, it seems. Pain is still pretty strong at times and I am keeping it wrapped and elevated to hopefully help it to heal. Please pray for me and for the healing of it. I have not went in to have it checked out as we do not have medical insurance. I was hoping it was just a little twist/sprang. I still hope that is all it is.

Please pray for us as we are trying to enjoy the journey but are feeing like we are at the center of the enemies attacks. He always thinks he knows just how to hit us but we know we serve a BIG God and we are victorious through Christ.

Bless you all,
Lela and boyz~

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Fall Day...

Good morning. What a “cool” morning it is. As I look outside, I see he frost on the ground and vehicles. I even heard the furnace kick on this morning for the first time. We have it set for pretty low still so it had to be pretty cold to turn on.

Scott left for Alabama on Sunday and is there for the week in an engine overhaul class. He is pretty excited about it. He said the instructor is compacting a lot into their time. He said he hopes to be able to retain most of it.

The boyz and I have a pretty full week this week while daddy is gone. I was hoping it was going to be a relaxing week but instead it is going to be fun and full. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are coming down to help with it and I am so happy. They are a lot of fun and we are excited to see them. They are always such a huge help…what a God send. Please remember them in your prayers as they are having many health issues that come with a lot of pain. They are such troopers that they want to come anyways. I just hope they can enjoy their grandsons.

Last week Scott was able to SOLO again in his flying. He was so nervous and excited. Now he has to be planning for his cross country solo’s that is next on the “to-do” list. He also has to study, study, study and study some more for his written test. With the weather changing and all, he is trying to get as much done before the yucky stuff as he can. He really wants to get to the point where he can have his license and take his family up. We really want that too. 

We are in the planning stages of our up coming trip to Alaska. We are leaving in the middle of January (around the 15th) and returning the first of April. There is a family there that is going on furlough to the lower 48 and would like for us to come and watch their home and animals while they are gone. This will give us a chance as a family to see what winter is like there and the “all day night time” thing. We are very excited about it. God seems to be working out the details and that is the best part. We are praying about the tickets and the “gear” that we will need while we are there such as the parka’s and boots, mittens and snow pants for all of us. Everything that we have is not rated for such cold weather as they have there. We are excited because we know that God will provide.

Shaughn and Matthew will be traveling this Friday morning to Virginia to a Christian Camp who has invited the youth from our church here to be their worship leaders and drama team for the campers. Shaughn is playing bass for the worship team and Matthew is on the traveling drama team. Scott and I took Matthew to his last practice and stayed to watch it. It was very powerful and they did a great job. We are very proud of him. Scott looked at me during Matthew’s performance and said, “we have some great kids don’t we?” I agreed. God has truly blessed us with great kids. It is all His doing. I pray that they find connection while we are in Alaska with some kids there as they did when we were getting ready to move here to Ohio. It really helped them to feel more connected having had the opportunity to meet and start friendships with some of the MMS kids here. Having the opportunity to be in Alaska for 2-3 months will give them some time to meet and get to know some folks there.

It looks as if it may work out to see all of our immediate family just before going to Alaska for the winter. We are very excited about that. We are thinking of spending Thanksgiving with Scott's sister and dad, Christmas with my family and New Years with Scott's mom and step dad. Then, we would leave mid January. It is so neat to see how God works out the details of even those things that mean so much to us. Thank you Jesus!!

We were able to go on a county wide Fall Color Tour here in Coshocton just before Scott left for Alabama and it was beautiful. They take you all over the county and you have different stops at different kinds of places. One was a dairy farm and they gave out free ice cream, then a boys scout camp who had free stew and homemade ice cream with hot coffee and hot chocolate. The fire hall with lunch available for super cheap and the boys could sit and look inside of all the fire trucks. A sheep farm that had people spinning the wool and making sweaters with it. A shooting range that Matthew fell in love with. It is one of the only long range shooting ranges in the U.S. There were 10 stops in all and it took us all day to do. It was a great way to spend the day together before daddy left. I was excited to get my camera back just in time for it. It had an error code that kept coming up on it and I had to send it off to NJ to the Canon dealer to be fixed. It arrived back all fixed on Thursday. What great timing. Praise God for His timing again.

Well, I will sign off for now. We would love to hear from you and will be updating you again real soon. God bless you and thank you for reading about our life.

Lela and boyz~

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008...1 Year in Ohio!!

Hard to believe but today is our 1 year anniversary in Ohio. 1 Year ago we loaded up and started out on a journey, a new adventure. During this past year, God has been so faithful! He has shown us his beauty not only in the beautiful landscape and star lit nights but also in His people. We have met so many wonderful people on this journey and have seen so many beautiful sights.
As I was driving home this week from working at the county fair, I took a moment and looked at the trees. The colors have all begun to change into their beautiful fall colors. It was such a pretty ride. The winding roads here and the many trees make driving from place to place a real treat. The nights are getting cooler and it is time to start to bring out the long sleeves on occasions. I love hot tea and am finding it more exciting during these cooler nights verses the warmer ones for such a drink.
Scott and Shaughn have had a small bought with some flu thing this week. From what I hear, others at the MMS hangar have shared it as well. So far, the rest of us are ok. Thank the Lord. :-)
We are officially mailing in our application for service with an organization in Alaska. We are very excited to see where this goes and what the Lord is up to. We desire to be in His will and work according to His plans.