Lazaros Family

CEF Alaska Rural Report

2012-02-08T13:26:00.006-05:00

There are people all across Alaska who are going to Hell! There are children all across Alaska who are going to Hell! There is a God who loves these people and does not want them to go to Hell! He has given us His word in the flesh and in written form and would love for the message of what He has done for us to be shared.
It is a sobering thought to process this. As God opens doors for CEF Alaska to share His precious message, we have a responsibility to share from what He has done in our lives. This is not necessarily a formula, but rather an evidence of a changed life for Gods glory. My Iife, your life, and hopefully children's lives in Soldotna, Kenai, Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, the Interior.
It is exciting to me to see adults, and teens in Alaska desiring to share how God has changed their life, forever!
I have been praying and calling and emailing various villages in Bristol Bay to set up our summer 5 day Good News Clubs. Knowing that we will have an opportunity to share from our heart what God has done for us, and what He has done and wants to do in others’ lives!
I imagine a village with children who are raised up having a relationship with God, loving Him, and desiring that not one person in their village go to Hell. Loving and sharing Gods precious message.
We have so many who are excited about sharing this already and working hard to go through those doors that God opens.
Please pray for us as we continue to go foward! Specifically Unalakleet as they will have a CYIA (Christian Youth In Action Training) there this spring and a team from Soldotna including our intern, Ramsey, will be teaching these young teens on how to share what God has done in them, and then Sara Oyumik will take these trained teens to neighboring villages and share Gods word with them. In Port Alsworth as the McKennett's and others will share what God has done in their lives, and then take teams to neighboring villages to share Gods word. In Soldotna as Joyce and others will share what God has done in their lives, and then these trained teens will reach put on the peninsula as well as going out on village trips in Bush Alaska. Genny Brown as she leads clubs and outreach in Galena. Troy Abel and Stretch and Sara Blackard as they share in neighboring villages of what God has done in their lives.
God has changed our life, forever! We want to be part of what He is doing all across this great state of Alaska for all of its people! We want to see others’ lives changed by God for His Glory!

2012

2012-01-02T14:24:00.004-05:00

Time sure had flown by! It is now a fresh new day and a fresh new year in Alaska for the Lazaros family. We have had a very crazy year with many challenges as well as many blessings. As we continue in this path that God has led us in, we have been reflecting on the fact that we knew going to Alaska, and especially ministering with CEF of Alaska would have it's challenges as we would be faced with a real opportunity to grow and be stretched. We have not been let down in thoses pre-concieved thoughts! We have been challenged and have grown! It is never pretty, or desirable as we go through these growth spurts, but it is good!
Some things from this year as I reflect:

Lela went through a very intense operation the end of September. We knew this would take time as we did research, but did not realize all that would be involved in the recovery. We think that when they operated, there was a bit of her brain that was taken out. Although it is slowly growing back!
Shaughn, after working a crazy year and a half as opening manager at our local McDonalds and taking college classes decided he had enough of the Mcdramma and took a long leave of absence form McD's. He has been working for a local pizza place and has experienced a different set of drama scenes. He is realizing that the food industry is not for him!
Matthew has burned himself out as he took over for Shaughn as opening manager at McD's, and took 20 credit hours at Kenai Penninsula College. We encouraged him to step out of McDonalds and he has. His semester is done. He has been spending time at home just getting back to normal! It had been good to hear him laugh again!
The little guys aren't as little anymore! Nathaniel is in the youth group now and becomming his own, very interesting person...Jeremiah is having seperation anxiety as his partner is stepping out on his own now. He also is beginning to step up as his own person.
I (Scott) have just been hanging on. Being pulled in many direction and trying to grow as a leader in my home, community, and ministry.

It is interesting in being in full time ministry. It is not like the jobs that I have had where I knew exactly what needed to be done all of the time. There is always a flow. Sometimes I find myself driving 3 hours to Anchorage to have coffee with someone who God has brought into the scene. Sometimes I sit at a desk at the office making phone calls, praying, plotting, and scheming. Sometimes I take my wife out for coffee so that we can connect and get synced up. Sometimes I am frustrated due to not understanding how others think. Sometimes I find myself working on an airplane and fellowshipping with like minded, God loving, mechanics. Sometimes I find myself remodeling a room in this old house that God has blessed us with. Sometimes I find myself reparing one of our old vehicles to keep us mobile or help out one of my sons on their vehicles. Sometimes I find myself bundled up heading to a village that may be -50 0r -60F, not knowing how God will be glorified, but trusting that He would use little old us in His plan to bring people to Himself. Other times I just find a quiet place to open God's word and sit and listen to Him at His feet.

So, this year, 2012, I pray is a year of getting closer to God. One of slowing down to listen to Him, and family and friends, while keeping momentum going foward as God opens doors, and leads.

I am so thankful for a God who has always had a plan for my life, my family, and He is faithful. He can be trusted. He will never leave us or forsake us!

2010 Wrangell Mountain Bible Conference

2010-07-02T16:55:00.003-04:00

Our family, minus Shaughn, are with a CEF Alaska team of 13 in the Copper Center, AK. area at the Wrangell Mountain Bible Conference.

We are here for 10 days We have had 20-30 kids from 5yrs old to 15 years old in the clubs. Things are going well. We have been blessed to work with a local family as part of our team.

I am posting pictures right now on the Flikr site. It seems to be taking a while, but they should be up soon!

Please keep praying for the rest of the week. We leave Monday to head home.

Blessings,

scott

New Photos Posted

2010-05-08T03:51:00.003-04:00

Check out our flickr sight as we have posted several new photos. Some you may have seen on our facebook sights but some you have not. It is midnight here and time for bed. We will come back and write some updates in the next couple of days. Please enjoy the photos and thank you for your prayers.

God bless you all!! Happy Mother's Day to all of the special "mom's" we know and love!!

Lela and boyz~

Family goes to Port Alsworth...

2010-04-20T19:04:00.001-04:00

Last weekend our whole family went to the village of Port Alsworth for their Spring Family Conference. Our kids were on the team for the children’s ministry. Lela and I enjoyed the conference and met many new people as well as reconnected with familiar faces.

We ended up missing the first day due to weather. The plane could not get into the village due to the weather, so we went Saturday instead of Friday. We had about a 30 minute warning to get to the airport, which isn't far but this was at 8:25 a.m. and we were still in jammies and had to take our showers and get a couple of kiddies out of bed. BUT, we did make it and all was good. Port Alsworth has 2 runways side by side. When we landed, the pilot chose the left runway. Nobody clued him in about the condition. It was VERY muddy!!!! The airplane slid all the way down the runway. The pilot did an excellent job keeping the nose off the ground until he could get in some hard land. Otherwise, the nose wheel would have dug in and the prop woul have hit the ground resulting in $500,000 in damage. Once the runway dried a little, we tugged the airplane back as far as we could in the high ground and took all the weight we could out of the airplane, this left him with about 1500 feet of runway before the lake. He did a nice soft field take off in about 750 feet!! This was Sunday morning and the chapel is located at the end of the runway in front of the lake with HUGE windows on both sides to see all of the beauty. When the plane got off the ground the whole chapel roared with excitement!!!! The preacher stopped and allowed the Praise to continue and everyone gave thanks to God for His faithfulness. I was so excited...I met another Lela!! She spells her name Lelya...she is from Russia. It was so strange introducing her to Scott..."Scott this is Lelya and Lelya this is my husband Scott..." It sounded so weird. LOL Not everyday I get to do that. :-)

Scott and Lela leave Thursday for the village of Quihagak (Sounds like quinihawk) for the Moravian Youth Singsperation. About 330 Alaskan Natives will be flown in from villages all over Alaska. We will have the opportunity to meet many of them.

Scott and Lela have been promoted to CEF ALASKA RURAL MINISTRY COORDINATORS. The boss wanted to see how we did before he gave us the title. This just means that we are responsible for ministry that happens in every village except for Soldotna. :o)

God has been opening many doors for ministry. It has been amazing to see His handy work. We are humbled to be His servants and excited at what the future looks like.

Scott will slowly be trained in the airplane as opportunities come up. In the mean time, I am hoping to be able to use MARC’s Cessna 172 when I have a couple of bucks so that I can stay current. I can use this plane for various meetings around the State.

The boys are doing good. They loved flying out to the village and playing in the mud. Yes, we all had to have mud boots...a necessary item for living here once break up starts.

We pray that all is well with you and please continue to remember us in your prayers for safety in all of our upcoming flying and also for our boys as some of the trips they are not going on and staying with friends. We love and appreciate you all. God bless!!!!!

Lela and Scott

Shaughn, Matthew, Nathaniel and Jeremiah

Employee of the Week and of the Month!!!!

2010-03-31T23:04:00.002-04:00

Shaughn has only been at McDonalds for about a month and a half and came home last night with 2 gift cards and 8 free meals because he was named Employee of the Week AND Employee of the Month!!!! His Dad and I are so proud!! Way to go Shaughn!!!!

My Dad still needs your prayers. His healing process is super slow and he needs the "Joy of the Lord" to shower over him during this time. If you could remember him and my mom, I would appreciate it.

Our local Wal-mart store opened today! This was a huge event here locally as they only had one store to shop at and this will give them a variety. :-) Otherwise, it is off to Anchorage...a 3-4 hour drive for most of us. Our friends in Homer has to add another 1 1/2 hours to that drive. We all went to check it out today after Shaughn got off of work.

Scott spoke today at the local native college. We all went but let him do the honors of speaking to the missions class. He did a great job speaking about CEF and the history of CEF. Each of the kids in the class took a prayer card and said they would be praying for us. They are such a great bunch of teens. We always enjoy going there. It is located just past our office a couple of blocks.

Everyone is doing great. We are preparing for all of our summer projects both with CEF and personal. We have many projects here at the home front...any volunteers to come and help??? :-) Love hearing from you all!

Bless you!
Lela and boyz~

Teeth...

2010-03-13T15:21:00.002-05:00

The latest with the Lazaros Family...

Jeremiah lost another tooth. On the bottom. He was so excited to receive a visit from the tooth fairy. He made sure I took photos. :-)

Matthew lost his front tooth...again!! That was last Sunday. I called a dentist on Monday and got him in on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Totally God!! After 2 hours and $212.00, it was back in. The dentist said he is going to baby this tooth until Matthew is 18 and at that time probably do an implant into the bone. He doesn't have any real tooth left to work with. After 4 different dentists and 4 different crowns, there is nothing left of the original tooth to hook the crown onto. So, pray that we can make this last until he is 18 or stops growing. The dentist is afraid that if they do the implant too soon, that it will cause other problems due to his bones are still growing.

Shaughn has made it 1 month at his job. He just finished working 42 hours this past week. He is pretty tired. He has decided that this is not the career he wants to do for the rest of his life. :-)

Update on my dad: His surgery was Wednesday, March 3rd. They had to take out more than they thought they would have to. He came home the next day with two bags. He went in the following Monday, March 8th for a check up. They removed the drainage bag but found that he was extremely swollen and that it was very unusual. The doctors were very concerned. They had him come back this past Wednesday, March 10th and removed the 2nd bag and he was still very swollen. His blood pressure is pretty low too. He has had some really bad days for pain and is healing slowly. The results came back and showed that it was a good thing that they took out extra because the cancer has moved into the fatty tissues around the prostate. The doctor feels he got all of it but will know more once he is able to do more testing. Dad said he almost wishes he had not gone through with the surgery as the pain is so intense. The rest of his treatment will be talked about next week (I think) at his next appointment.

Scott & Lela are almost done with their on-line class. Only 2 weeks left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that is pretty much it for the moment. Bless you all!!
Lela and boyz~

A time for prayer....

2010-02-23T19:39:00.002-05:00

Thank you everyone who has been praying for my dad. I was able to go to NC last week and be with him during his first surgery. The results came back before I had to leave and they were negative. The cancer has not spread yet. Praise the Lord!! He is now scheduled for his BIG surgery on March 3rd at 10:00 a.m. NC time. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. He will be laid up for some time afterwards. He is not allowed to lift anything over 5 lbs for 6 weeks.
I flew there on Saturday, Feb 13th and returned to Anchorage on Saturday, Feb. 20th. I was suppose to sit at the Anchorage airport for 8+ hours waiting for my commuter flight into Kenai but my wonderful & romantic husband tracked my plane from Chicago into Anchorage and planned an arrival at the same time. He flew to Anchorage and picked me up!!!! How sweet!! He and a friend from M.A.R.C. (Mike, who owns the plane) flew in and "swooped" me away! I was home by 10:30 p.m. How cool is that??? They landed at Lake Hood. Our favorite place to sit and watch the planes take off and land...off and on the water. VERY COOL!! After a 22 day, that was such a blessing!!

Other news:
Shaughn got new glasses. He loves being able to see again. :-)
Scott and the boys did well with mom gone but where very glad to have her home again. :-)
Native Musicale is next week. We are in charge of this and need your prayer coverage.
Scott and I are in the middle of our online class, please keep us in your prayers as we continue to complete the course.
We are loving having our own place again. We are very blessed to be able to live in this home and bless the owner with fixing it up. It really fits our needs. What a blessing!!

Everyone is doing well and loves it here. Bless you all and again, thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

Lela and boyz~

Shaughn has his first job!!!

2010-02-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

Shaughn the morning of his interview.

The morning sky

The evening sky

That's right, Shaughn went for his first interview yesterday and was hired on the spot. He went today for his orientation and starts on Monday!! He will work M-F 8-4. He is excited to have the opportunity and to be able to put something on his resume. It was a little bare. He applied at a place where he wouldn't be tempted...(his favorite place is Taco Bell and he didn't apply there because he didn't want to end up not liking the place after a while)...the only temptation he will have is their milkshakes...and he gets 50% off of anything (for himself only) whether he is working or not...have you guessed it yet??? They gave him two uniforms and a hat. They are ordering his shoes which will come out of his check. Jeremiah is super excited....yep....McDONALDS!!!

He has applied at several places but being a smaller town than Brighton but bigger than Coshocton, we are excited for him. I was hoping for Walmart since it opens up in March but they said there is like 35 openings and over 700 applications (his is one of them) that we are not sure of his chances. We do know with God all things are possible but we also feel this is an answer to prayer.

Matthew is doing great driving. He is a natural. He tries to drive anytime the vehicle is about to move. Unlike Shaughn who doesn't care if he does or doesn't. LOL

Scott and I are puddeling through our on-line class and trying to prepare for our CEF State Board Retreat and CEF Staff Prayer Retreat...all this weekend. We are also doing both workshops in them. We are leading/organizing them and are very excited about it. God has shown himself so much through this process. Different people have stepped up to help out and it has been just great. I spent all day yesterday writing a book for our prayer retreat. I had one of the gals at MSE (McKinley Service & Equipment) print them out for me last night and Scott brought them home...Fun to see how God puts things together.

We are loving it here and loving what God has us doing. We do ask for your prayers as the spiritual warfare has been very active.

Also, I ask for your prayers for my dad. We found out in January that my dad has cancer. He has stage 4, aggressive prostate cancer. They have done a bone scan and a cat scan and both have come back neg. so we are praying that it has not spread. They will know more when they do surgery which is Feb. 16th. He will see the specialist on Feb 10th to find out more details regarding the surgery and what to expect. They do want him to do radiation afterwards because all of his numbers are extremely high. Everything points to it not being good, but with the prayers of God's people so far, both of the scans came back with good news. He will be laid up for some time healing from surgery and all. I am hoping to be able to go and be with mom during the surgery and help her a little afterward. I am not sure if that is going to work out or not. I am leaving it in God's hands. We were not telling many people, only immediate family, per my dad's request until the scans came back and we had more information to share. He just finished his 5 years at US Airways/Pedmont and so he is now vested with them and can have the flying benefits for life now. That was something he really wanted to accomplish. God allowed for it to happen. His anniversary is Feb 7th. The week before his surgery. I have been struggling with the news and really had a hard time processing it. I am trying to leave it in God's hands and just keep keeping on my knees for him.

We are also moving!!! We have been living with an 85 year old gentleman out in Sterling but have found a place much closer to the CEF office and church that will save us a lot in gas money. We will be moving after this crazy weekend. We have already taken some stuff there now but with school, retreats, homeschooling, work, etc...yeah...priorities baby.

Scott is going to start working at the MARC hangar next week a little to help them out. They need the help really bad as they have had a lot of new projects come in and we will be slowing down a bit after the retreat until March. So, Scott will be able to go and help them out some. He is pretty excited about that. Steve took him last week flying and Scott really loved that. It was the first time he has flown since we left OH. They practiced stalls and all kinds of stuff. He was a happy man! :-)

Well, that is most the what is going on here. We are working on getting the newsletter out too, we want to try doing it email so please make sure we have your updated emails if you have changed them recently or would like to receive them. I hope I have them but it doesn't hurt to send them to us anyways to make sure. :-)

God bless you guys~
Lela and boyz~

Look Out!!!

2010-01-19T23:38:00.002-05:00

Look Out!! Matthew is driving!! LOL Seriously, he is doing great!! He past his test on Wednesday and they took his photo and presented him with his driver's permit. He is walking proudly now. :-)
Mom and Dad are white knuckled once again. Seems strange to have 2 kids driving. He is already looking at vehicles on Craigslist and looking hard. Please pray for him as he continues to learn the ways of the road. He needs 10 hours of each: dark, daylight, snow/ice, dry of driving time and so living in Alaska you get 2 of those for part of the year and the other 2 the other part of the year. So he turns 16 in July and has to have his permit for 6 months which has to include 40 hrs of driving in those conditions...well, you do the math. He is driving in the dark and snow now and has to cram 20 hours in before we hit the daylight season...which is coming soon.

Scott and I have started an online class with CEF and, this being our first week, have found it helpful to have the other one taking it too. We find the web site a little confusing for us but we have each other to help muddle through it. :-) LOL

Everyone is doing well. We love it here and are very busy. Please continue to pray for us as we are still adjusting to all of the changes that we have encountered in the last few months. :-)

So, that is the latest with us.
God bless you all!

Lela~

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-04T01:20:00.003-05:00

It is 2010!!
Hard to believe it is 2010 already. We pray that each of you had a wonderful holiday season with friends and family. Our first Christmas and New Years in Alaska was really fun. We missed our families but felt we were exactly where God has called us to be.

We desire more of our Jesus in 2010 and desire to grow into who He has created us to be both individually and as a family. We updated our photo at the top of our blog with a recent photo taken in December showing just how much the boys have grown. My sister-in-law wrote me to tell me that I now look short in our family photos, I told her yes I do but at least all of the tall guys around me are very handsome. :-)

We are working hard on getting our next newsletter out and will be finishing it up this week. We will be trying to send it out electronically via email to help cut cost. Please email us with your email and let us know if you would like to receive it this way. You can respond to this post as well whether you want it email or paper form and let us know.

We pray that you seek Jesus more in 2010 and that you fall deeper in love with our Savior. God bless you all!! Happy 2010!!

Almost Christmas !!!!

2009-12-21T03:35:00.001-05:00

It is the last Sunday before Christmas...hard to believe it is that time already.

Since the first part of December we have had company, 2 birthdays, 3 trips to Anchorage, 1 trip to Homer, a Christmas Party Club Outreach, 3 Christmas Parties, a CEF Christmas all-nighter at a camp, sick people, a new windshield, 1 hospitalization (the gentleman that we live with was taken by ambulance yesterday morning to ER and was admitted due to dizziness and falling 2 times while experiencing black outs, I will tell you more on this in a minute), have taken between 800-900 photos (which hopefully I will get on flickr soon), attended a CEF State Board meeting, plus the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and so forth. Scott has been able to work in the office and in the hangar on CEF's plane and Lela has worked in the office some and homeschooled the boys plus we led our team meeting and led our team's club at a local elementary school. The boys have had lots of opportunities to hang with their friends. They are always having us running here or there. Shaughn took and completed a class with CSI (Career Study Institute) with the local Vo-tech people. He loved it. That was 30-40 hours of class time that helps with writing resume's, interview process, career finding, etc. He loved it. Some businesses around the area will even pay more when they see you have taken this class on your resume'.

This past Friday night we went to our CEF Christmas all-nighter at Solid Rock Camp, which is about 6-7 miles down the road, and early yesterday morning Shaughn called us to tell us that Lee had been taken by ambulance to the hospital. Shaughn had stayed home from the all-nighter due to throwing up all day Friday. He said that Lee had fallen in his bathroom and pressed his necklace button to call the ambulance. When the paramedic arrived, they could not get in because Shaughn was sleeping so hard that he did not hear them at the door. So they called the police which arrived and let them in. They were searching the house over looking for whoever called them when Shaughn came out to see all of the commotion. He explained to the officer who he was and was asked to show his drivers license. I couldn't believe this all happened the one time we were gone. Lee said he had yelled several times for Shaughn but Shaughn didn't not hear him. Scott and I went to see Lee at the hospital and his son Jim was there with him too. The doctors admitted him due to still being dizzy and they did not know why. They thought it was maybe an inner ear infection but they are not for sure. Please pray for him.

Tomorrow is suppose to be the shortest day of the year, the darkest for us. After tomorrow (the 21st) we will start gaining daylight each day until we are on the other side of this... :-) Funny. People crack me up about this, some are loving the darkness and some can't wait for the long daylight.

Well, I just wanted to update you a little. Shaughn did pretty well yesterday except for a headache. Today he is still complaining of his head pounding. Pray for him too.

December update....

2009-12-11T14:32:00.002-05:00

This is Scott working on CEF's Cherokee 6 engine at the MARC hangar.

Lela's mom, Grace, was able to come to Alaska and spend Lela & Nathaniel's birthday with them.

Nathaniel on his big day...turning 12!!

We have really enjoyed our visit with mom. We have been able to see Moose, Eagles, fly over the glaciers, sheep, mountain goats, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and even moose poop in the front yard. Mom has been able to meet many of our friends here and was even able to attend both our monthly club and Nathaniel's monthly club.

Everyone is doing well. Mom had to reschedule her departure flight due to being fogged in. We are driving her back to Anchorage today to catch her early morning flight out. Please pray for her safety.

Shaughn has been attending a job fair class here and really liking it. He has to put in 6 hours at Vo-Tech today.

Bless you all, just wanted to give you an update.
Lela

A Time of Worship...

2009-11-22T19:25:00.003-05:00

Today was such a blessing at church. Shaughn played for the first time at Soldotna Bible Chapel on their worship team. He did an excellant job and was so nervous. I thought I would post a couple of photos of him.

Life in Alaska

2009-11-16T16:53:00.003-05:00

Greetings all. This morning we woke up to -15F. The guys at the dump said that it was -30F there. The nose hairs definitely freeze at that temp!

We have been enjoying the people of Alaska here on the peninsula. As well as I (Scott) had the honor of going with a family who goes two times per year out to the village of Nulato. Nulato is on the Yukon and is 320 Nautical Miles North West of Soldotna. Mark Swensen of M.A.R.C. flew us out there in the Cessna Caravan. It was a great trip and I was able to see CEF in action.

At CEF-Alaska, the staff has been going through the Super Seminar training together. It has been good. Lela and I are in a huge learning curve trying to understand how everything works. We are learning to listen and hear how things are done. Lela has really been cranking out the administrative skills. She is really enjoying being used!

Shaughn has been looking into some options for both work and school. He has been a great help to Lela and I as we go into the office most days. The younger boys are enjoying the fact that not all of their school books have arrived. When they do arrive, the boys will be having some real fun!!!!! :o)>

We look forward to hearing from anyone!!!!! email us, call us, send us a letter.....

I got my first pair of flannel lined jeans the other day at Costco! OOOOHHHHH BABY! I am LOVING these things! I have never had a pair, but when it is below 0, they are VERY NICE!!!!! We are learning.

Please continue to pray for us in our ministry, our relationships, our family, our health.

Thanks,

scott.

2009 Halloween photos

2009-11-11T18:34:00.001-05:00

I have finally posted some photos of the boys from Halloween. Hope you enjoy!!

Snow is finally here and we are all very excited. Everyone is doing well.

Blessings,
Lela

In the office...

2009-10-29T17:38:00.002-04:00

Scott and I have started working in the CEF office this week. So far we have been in training. We are excited to be able to ministry as a family. Everyone here is such a joy to work with. What a blessing from God to be able to work for our King and love what we are doing.

The boys are doing very well. Scott, Shaughn and myself all received our Alaska driver's license this week and Matthew has been studying hard to take the test as well. He will be getting his driver's permit. He can't wait. :-)

Nathaniel and Jeremiah joined Awana's last night and seem to like it alot. Scott has started unpacking some of his many books into the CEF office. He requested more book shelves and they were happy to fulfill the order. :-)

Someone has blessed us with the use of a car until we can find one to purchse. They keep it for missionaries to use that come in from the bush. What a blessing. God has just been providing so much.

We appreciate your prayers and your notes. God bless you!
Lela

In Soldotna, AK!!

2009-10-17T11:27:00.002-04:00

We have made it!! We arrived here about 6:15 p.m. (Alaska time) last night. We arrived in town just in time to make it to a teen training time at church, so our first stop was Soldotna Bible Chapel where we received a huge welcome. We were tired and felt like we had been traveling all day (ha ha) but the huge welcome was a great treat. We came to Steve and Bev McKinley's house (State Director of CEF) and ate ice cream and talked about our journey. They have asked us to stay with them for the first week so we can have time to unwind, sort stuff and get settled and meet Lee.

We can't wait to meet Lee. We hope to connect with him today and meet. CEF is having a Pie Auction tonight as a fund raiser and everyone is very excited that we made it in time for this annual event.

I have woke up at 3 a.m. yesterday and today, so I am doing laundry and blogging while Scott and the boys are asleep. I grabbed Scott's computer to use since mine has been dead since before the trip.

Thank you all for your prayers and comments. Yes, we do read them all. :-) God bless you and more to come...photos too! :-)

Lela

We made it!!!!!

2009-10-17T01:35:00.002-04:00

We are in Soldotna Alaska! We made it. Hopefully tomorrow we will get some pictures posted!!!

It was so nice to make the final stretch from Anchorage to Soldotna. It felt like we were going home!!!

Good night all!!!

We are in Alaska!

2009-10-16T00:23:00.003-04:00

We have had no internet or cell phone connection for several evenings! We stayed in Watson Lake BC two nights ago, and then Haines Junction last night. We are in Glenn Allen Alaska tonight at the Caribou Hotel. We saw many Caribou, Moose, and Elk along the way in BC, The Yukon, and then in Alaska. We will try to get some pictures up soon!

We plan on being in Soldotna tomorrow evening!

Everything mechanical has been great!!!

More later...I am tired!

peace,

And on the 8th day...Fort Nelson, BC

2009-10-13T10:10:00.003-04:00

Well Happy Thankgiving! It is Thanksgiving here. Or... "The Long weekend". We spent it driving through extreme snow storms, and through three huge mountain passes. One had a 10% grade. I am very thanful that we made it safely. We saw one truck pulling a u-haul trailer that had flipped on it's side.

Gas and groceries are Definitely getting more expensive! I just paid $1.19/ liter! OUCH!!!!

We are in Fort Nelson tonight, and plan on making Watson Lake tomorrow. Although, not many options for staying the night there.

On to Whitehorse the next night, and then TOK, AK!!!! WooHoo!!!!

Blessings all!

Grande Prairie Alberta and our first blow out

2009-10-11T00:28:00.002-04:00

Today we planned a "light" 288 miles today and 5 hrs plus stops. All was going very well. I was even getting 6.5 mpg rather than the 5 I had been getting due to the winds. The GPS just showed we had 59 minutes left, and I started to call Lela and BAM, whap, whap, whao, whap!!!! The passenger side inside tire blew! So we called U-Haul and 2 hours and 25 minutes later Andy from Fontaine Tire showed up to change the tire. He put a sweet Good Year tire that actually had tread rather than the highway tires that were on it. I wish he would have change all 4 of the mains!

Well, I sent Lela and the boys ahead of me so they could get some grub and get settled. Shaughn and I made it to the hotel at 8:30pm, ate some food, changed into our swim suits and enjoyed the water slide.

We may chill tomorrow. It is their Thanksgiving here and Sunday on top of that. Probably not much open! We are over half way now. About 1600 miles to Anchorage.

I will post more pictures in a minute.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta on day 5

2009-10-10T09:49:00.003-04:00

We did anothere marathon run yesterday. About 500 miles from Regina to Fort Saskatchewan, AB, which is just outside of Edmonton. This puts us about hald way. Still have over 2000 miles left. This will take us through the mountains. The rig is pulling well. It is really top heavy, so I have to be on it all the time. No slip ups! Thankfully there have been no weigh stations open so far. I don't think we want to know how much weight we are pulling!!

Everyone was toast last night. We had a good swim, Lela got laundry done, and we had some good pizza, and a good sleep. We will be debating if we will stay an extra night and relax. The next town is Dawson City, about 386 miles away.

I am uploading pictures to the flicker site now. These pictures have only been from my camera, we still have Lela's perspective to upload.

We went through some pretty good snow falls yesterday. We almost stopped due to the accumulation on the road and the ice. And there was a camper trailer that slid off the road. But we stopped for lunch and the sun came out for a bit. Still had some snow squalls, but the rest of the trip went fairly well.

Jeremiah is a total fish in the water now. He was determined to pick up dive toys in the deep end without goggles. I don't know what it was, but our lips and faces turned purple in the water. It may have been the paint on the walls, or the elevation....not sure. It was funny though!

Well, another Super 8 breakfast of the champions!

Oh Canada!

2009-10-09T01:16:00.004-04:00

Well, we made it through the blowing snow storm to Regina, Saskatchewan. We are al REALLY tired. We are downtown and 12 stories up. Hotwire only showed 1 hotel option.

At the border, when they asked if I had guns, I said no, that I shipped them. They wanted to know who had them. They even called my mom and Ed to verify that they had them.

We snuck Zamu up here tonight since it was so cold outside.

Tomorrow, we are looking at driving to Edmonton, or near there.

Good noght all.

Fargo North Dakota

2009-10-08T00:42:00.002-04:00

We made it to Fargo North Dakota. Had a swim in the pool, and going to sleep!! Will add pictures tomorrow!

Day 3 Alaska Road Trip 2009

2009-10-07T11:12:00.003-04:00

We are in Rockford Illinois. Last night we had dinner in Chicago. It was very interesting driving the rig through Chicago. I set up a folder for Alaska Road trip 2009 in our Lazaros pictures link. Check it out. Also trying to figure out how to just post on the blog and have it show on Facebook.

Today...On to Fargo, ND.

Chicago, ILL

2009-10-06T20:13:00.002-04:00

We are now in Chicago, ILL having dinner with one of Scott's friends, Kurt. So far we have encountered rain, wind, construction, traffic and sun during our drive today, even driving downtown chicago with all of the craziness. Everyone is glad for the wonderful sleep they received last night...I mean this morning. Thank you Ketcham family for the wonderful bed and breadfast.... :-)

We are heading for Wisc. tonight. I am on here trying to get a hotel cheap. I think I might try Hotwire.com or something like that. We will see. I took several photos today, I will post them in a bit.

God bless you all and keep checking back. :-)

The drive to Alaska...Leg 1

2009-10-06T04:24:00.003-04:00

We left West Lafayette at 8:50pm Monday evening. We just arrived at The Ketchams home in Indiana at 4:00 AM. Pictures to come. It was very weird leaving in one trip to move across the country! Those that we didn't get to talk to in Coshocton and West Lafayette...Good bye for now! Love ya all!

Now...I am going to sleep...

Still here!

2009-10-04T22:07:00.002-04:00

Well, we thought that we would be gone by now as well! However...I (Scott) had to do some repairs to the Suburban this weekend and we have had quite a time purging our junk! It is amazing how much stuff we have gathered over the years! We keep wondering where all the stuff comes from. Lela's piano is packed, so it won't be long now. The U-haul we ordered was supposed to be set up for trailer brakes, and it is not. So, hopefully when we call in the morning U haul will say, we have a brake module we can bring right over and instal and get you going! If not....a single match and 20 gallons of gas is what I am thinking!

Well, keep praying and hopefully wheels will be up by tomorrow afternoon!

Blessings.

I PASSED!!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!

2009-09-25T11:07:00.002-04:00

Finally after all of these years I passed my checkride!!!!

We are still alive!

2009-09-23T11:32:00.003-04:00

Our family has been in transition mode for a while now. To top that off, I (Scott) have been preparing for my check ride for My Pilot License.

We have made several trips up tp Michigan to share with our friends what the future looks like for our family. We had wanted to get to Maryland, and missouri, but have ran out of time!

If all goes well, I should pass my check ride on Friday, then jump in to the mix of loading the moving truck. Lela and the boys have been doing an awesome job of purging, packing, and getting things ready!

Hopefully we will have some more picture up here soon. We will also try to blog frequently on the journey to Alaska as we drive over 4000 miles on the edge of winter!

More later...

Our Time in Michigan!!

2009-09-09T15:16:00.003-04:00

We are in our home state of Michigan and loving it! It is a crazy time with all of the meetings and all but it is such a joy to see so many people that we love. We are speaking at Faith Temple tonight at 7 p.m. in Brighton and at the moment, hanging out with Scott's mom.

We have many appointments lined up during the week. We need to raise an additional $1500 per month in support before we leave on September 21st. Our sending church has a policy that they will not send anyone out who is not 100% supported. We are at 83% now. We also need one-time gifts towards our moving expenses. So, we are praying that God moves in His incredible ways and moves these mountains. We have a small window of opportunity to get to Alaska before the bad weather moves in and leaving on September 21st is the date that would give us the time we need to get there before October 1st.

Another need for prayer is that we would find the home that God would have us rent in Alaska. As of now, we do not have one. God knows all things and knows which house would best fit our family.

Shaughn is now 18, (as of Saturday 9/5), and Jeremiah is now 7, (as of Monday 9/7). We had a great time celebrating their birthdays with some company from MI. The Pohlman's came down and hung out with us for the Labor Day weekend. We all laughed so much and it felt so good. Great times and great memories.

That is about it for the moment. We will try to keep you all updated as we can. God bless you all!!

A Time of Prayer

2009-08-27T18:08:00.002-04:00

This morning we woke up and received a phone call from Scott's previous employer. He shared with us the news of a very dear friend and ex-co-worker who had been killed last night while riding his motorcycle. This has hit Scott pretty hard as they are very close and had just spoken yesterday on the phone. His name was Dave Peters. Dave was a great friend to our whole family.

I know we don't know when God will call us home, but it is still hard for us that is left behind to imagine life without them around. Dave is in a better place and we can not wait to see him again.

Please remember his wife and step-son and brother who he leaves behind. He will be greatly missed by many!!

We will be making a quick run to Michigan for the funeral on Monday. Please remember us in your prayers. We need to leave OH around 4-4:30 a.m. to make it there. We will return to OH after it is over.

Blessings to all,
Lela and boyz~

The Private Pilot written test

2009-08-26T23:22:00.005-04:00

I passed my Private Pilot written test today!!!!!

This is a pretty big deal for our family! I should have taken this about 20 years ago. For many reasons, I did not. What a HUGE feeling of relief to get this behind me and press on! The plan now is to schedule my check ride a week from this Friday. Lela has been EXTREMELY gracious in allowing me to study as she and the boys pack the house and get things ready for our move! I am very thankful for her and for the boys!

Our schedule in this next month is very busy. I will be studying for the check ride, finding a trailer to tow our stuff, having two waves of friends stop in from Michigan (which we are very excited about!), celebrate with two other MMS'ers as our three families move on to our next phase of ministry (The Mozombites, and the Kamporst's.), a week long trip to Michigan to share with several churches and many friends about our future, then back to Coshocton to share with another church and pack up the Lazaros gang and head West, and then North. Our travel will take us to Missouri, Colorado, San Francisco, Washington, then up through Canada, and on to Alaska.

We are trying to raise additional funds needed for the journey as well as living expenses while up there.

We are getting very excited about what the Lord has in store for our family as well as those around us. How humbling to be a tiny part of advancing the Kingdom!!!!!

We could not have done all of this with out His provision of friends, co-workers, airplanes (Good ol' Mator!!!), family, and His Grace, and Mercy!!!!

Blessings my friends....I am standing in awe of a creator who is alive and well and active in our lives!

scott~

Mid August Already??

2009-08-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone,

I thought I would try to jot a little update on what has been happening in the Lazaros household. I have been sick and in bed for the last two weeks, running a high fever and freezing (yes, even during our 90 degree days I was freezing). I had gotten a sun burn during our garage sale weekend and we thought it might be from that, but not for sure. I haven't eaten anything in over a week but trying to keep ice water going down as much as possible. Yesterday, Scott started me on juice to see how I did with that. I have taken more cold baths and sat with more ice packs on my neck and feet than I care to count. That is not fun when you feel like your already freezing. Yesterday morning and this morning I woke up wet from sweat and feeling like my fever has finally broken. That was the truth yesterday for the first couple of hours, then it started to climb once again. Please pray that what ever this is, that God would purge it from my system and allow me to get back to my family and my duties...both household and packing.

Scott and the boys have been super with taking care of things while mom is down. I appreciate and love them so much. This is getting old for Scott. He is not used to doing all of the "mom" duties. He is trying to keep a positive attitude, but it is also keeping him from getting his "to-do" list done. Please keep him in your prayers too.

We have received Official Approval from CEF Alaska. We are very excited about this and can't wait for the next step. We are trying to figure out the best way to get our stuff there and Scott has been working very hard trying to plan our route that we will be driving. We are hoping to leave mid September and make it there before the snow falls on the Al-Can Highway. There is much to do before this can happen and support that we need to raise both monthly and one time moving expenses. Please keep this in your prayers that God is the pilot in this journey.

Speaking of Pilot, Scott has been working very hard on finishing up his Private Pilot's License. He has a dual night time flight scheduled for tonight and his pre-test check ride next week with one of the other MMS guys. He is scheduled for his written next week and his final test check ride on Aug 29th. Another great prayer request. :-) We also are very thankful for our great friend Paul Jones and how God has gifted him as a pilot, but also as a teacher. Without him, Scott would not be able to finish his pilot training. We are also thankful for "Mator" and Bob Schwartz, the airplane and owner of the airplane that Scott is flying.

August Already

2009-08-01T20:05:00.002-04:00

Hard to believe it is already August 1st. Wow, where is the year going??

We just finished up a 3 day garage sale with another family that is leaving MMS and it was a very good turn out. We both did very well and was pleased with the out come. We both also got very burned!! We are now sporting a new look, it is called "LOBSTERS".

We just got back this week from spending a week in NC with my family and seeing different supporting churches and supporters. It was a great time. I was able to meet my new nephew who is only 3 weeks old. (4 weeks by the time I left.) It was very hard saying good-bye to family when you know you are leaving and moving a very far distance. Very hard indeed.

We are all doing pretty well and packing and purging still. We are going to have a family night so I need to go and settle in. :-) God bless you all and Good night.

Lela

Honduran Cessna 206 for Missionary Air Group

2009-07-23T13:08:00.001-04:00

The paint is mostly done now. The wings are actually on, but I can't find the picture I took. More later.

Scott receives his MMS Certificate of completion!!

2009-07-07T12:46:00.002-04:00

Yes, today Scott received his MMS certificate of completion and we are very excited about it. Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and now we have two things to celebrate when we go out tonight for dinner. :-)

As you may or may not know...the burb is back in "not working" order. Scott spent the entire holiday weekend trying to get it up and running but the breaks and the parts did not cooperate with him. He and Matthew spent one entire day there both coming home black and dirty, the next day he and Shaughn spent the day/evening there until 4:30 a.m. With it being a holiday weekend, the parts will not be in until tomorrow...7/8. So, it sits and waits. What is wrong you ask? It is the breaks. Last weekend Paul had the boys out and taking them to DQ and the breaks went out. So Scott and I met him and Scott drove the burb back home...carefully and then up to the hangar...again, carefully. Not too much fun without any breaks.

The boys and I have been trying to purge through stuff. I have made it through and got rid of about 15 totes full and 3 garbage bags out of the closet. Sounds like a lot???? It is not even the tip of the ice burg. UUGGGHHH. Since Scott has completed his service with MMS, he is free to be at home and help with the "getting ready" part and only has to go into the hangar when he wants. This will help a lot. After purging this past week and bending over into the totes, I couldn't move much for a few days. My back was KILLING me. Shaughn did the lifting of the totes but sitting there and bending over was not good. I was on high doses of ibuprofen and ice packs with tiger balm....yeah.

Matthew has started packing some stuff upstairs for me and getting it ready for the move. I have started offering different items to people for sale to start getting rid of the bigger things. Slowly but surely it will all happen.

Scott made is solo cross country this past weekend and has another one to do that is longer. A couple of night time flights and 3 hours of ground school stuff then his test. He figures about 8-10 more flight time hours total to be complete. Give or take. We are excited about this too. He has been trying to fly at least 2 times each week with one being on a Saturday with longer time.

The boys are doing good. Shaughn has put in some different job applications around town but nothing yet. Matthew did not get the ice cream job as it was a government funded job and they said we made too much money last year from our income tax return...we have to claim our rent we get from our MI house and that counts as income, even tho it goes right back out to pay the mortgage. So, he was bummed. They are all going through their stuff too and purging...I am very proud of them. They are a lot of help.

My sister had her baby last Tuesday..June 30th. Another boy, Luke Wyatt Parnell. He was 9 lbs 12 oz and 22 inches long. Yes, she had him C-section. :-) It was already scheduled due to her last pregnancy also needing one. He is healthy and beautiful. I can not wait to meet him.

Michigan Open House Completed!!!

2009-06-21T19:24:00.002-04:00

Shaughn had such a blast yesterday at his Michigan open house. He had around 200+/- people show up to bless him. We are in awe of the folks who came out and blessed us. It was so much fun seeing everyone again and those who didn't come out...we missed you! The weather played perfectly into the plan. God held back the storm clouds and rocked us with beautiful sunny weather! The food was AWESOME...thank you Joe and Becky Suminski!!!! You guys rock!!

We have paid for a year of flickr and are in the process of posting a lot of our photos on there. Please check it out often, as we will post whenever we are at a high speed location. The link for the site is on the side of our blog here under Lazaros Photos.

We really want to say thank you to everyone who helped us get ready for and host this huge event. We could not have done it without you!!!

Thank you again!!!!

Bless you all!!
The Lazaros Bunch!

MAG's Cessna 206 from Honduras is almost ready for more colors.

2009-06-16T16:18:00.000-04:00

Ohio Open House Completed.

2009-06-13T20:28:00.002-04:00

I am sitting here at the hangar after a very neat time with a bunch of our Ohio friends. Scott is working on the brakes on the Suburban. The boys are outside enjoying the great weather God blessed us with today. Shaughn was very blessed today by all of the folks that stopped by.

We made it home from our MI-AK-MI trip safely and found tons of tiny bugs in our house, so we set off a bomb and after a couple of hours we went back in and found no bugs. So, all is good.

Matthew came home safely today from his aviation camp and had a blast. He flew everyday and can't stop talking about his adventure. He is sporting a tan that he received while play lots of volleyball...a farmer's tan. :-)

We are planning on heading to MI again this coming Thursday morning for our next open house...next Sat. in Hamburg, MI. We are excited to see everyone then and get to hang out with them a little.

Bless you all and thanks for stopping by.

lela and boyz~

The Graduate!!

2009-05-26T11:41:00.002-04:00

Shaughn has received his high school diploma!! He is very excited. He has also received his class ring that he is also very excited about. He has completed everything and has done so with receiving straight A's in his classes. We are very proud of him. Way to go Shaughn!!! What a great example for his younger brothers to follow. :-)

We have arrived in Alaska and are heading to Soldotna today to begin at the CEF's CYIA kids camp. We are very excited to see what God has in store for us and pray that this trip will reveal more of His plan and desire for us.

Our flight here was good and long! God really blessed us on our way here, at our stop over in Seattle we were blessed to be able to hang out with some of our long time friends, Adair and Heather and Emerson and Noah Hinds. They picked us up from the airport about 8:30 p.m. and had a wonderful BBQ chicken dinner prepared for us and had great fellowship until about 1 a.m. and then got up at 3:30 a.m. to make it back to the airport by 4:30 a.m. What a blast. We had not seen them in about 5 years and it was so great to catch up a little and see their kids and home. Such a beautiful family!!

With little sleep on our side, we arrived in Anchorage and was met by my uncle Fred. We hung out with them and stayed with them last night. Aunt Lorraine made some wonderful stew and homemade cookies...yum! We stayed up playing games and had lots of laughs. At 10 p.m. we got ready for bed, which was odd since the sun was still shining. At 4:30-5 this morning, Scott and I woke up to the sun shining...too funny. Hard to believe that we were here literally last month and the snow was still here and now the leaves are all out and the flowers are planted and spring is in full swing, just like at home. Things really do "bust open" at spring time here. Very beautiful. As we were landing, the boys kept saying, "so this is what Alaska looks like with no snow." It was pretty cute.

We are excited about this camp time and to see what God is doing among the kids. We hope to be of service to them and not just dinner for the mosquitos. :-)

Scott went for a run this morning and just came back raving on how beautiful it is here. I am very proud of him. :-)

Please pray for us as we search for God's wisdom in making the right decision as to our future ministry. Bless you all!!!

May 4th...already

2009-05-04T13:23:00.002-04:00

Only 20 more days until we take off from Detroit for Anchorage again. We are so excited about it. We are working hard at organizing our house and stuff and trying to purge through our junk. Do we ever have a lot of it too. Wow!! Scott is scheduled to do another cross country flight tomorrow night and has been trying to plan his flight plan for it. He is very excited to see the end getting closer and achieving his long awaited for license. He and Paul have sat down and determined that this can be accomplished by the end of the summer and are determined to do so. That does mean that he will be gone a lot from home and that means the job of purging and sorting will be mostly left up to the boys and I. Yeah. :-)

We have been busy planning Shaughn's open houses. We are having one in Ohio on June 13th and one in Michigan on June 20th. He has been working very hard to finish up his classes. We have received a cap and gown from a friend for him to borrow (he looks so cool with it on)and his diploma has arrived. His class ring has been ordered (thanks to his Grandma-ma)and will be here the end of May. He is totally geeked. Here in Ohio at our church, he is getting to participate in the honoring of Graduates on May 17th and they wear their gowns and caps during the service. On Sunday, June 7th at our home church in Michigan, BCC is honoring their graduates and Shaughn will be there to participate as well. (that is the weekend we get back from AK.) He is so blessed and excited! They will be doing a slide show of their grads so I need to get Karin some photos...(I will Karin...very soon). So much fun here in the ol'Lazaros house.

The other boys are working hard as well. They are getting excited about the future and what it may be looking like. We are meeting the Ohio director for this region this Thursday night. He is coming over to share his vision for CEF in Ohio. We are excited to hear his heart.

I still have had no word on my Bible. I am very heart broken about it. Scott and my mom both have bought me a new Bible but it is not the same. I still ask for your prayers on the recovery of it.

Scott has worked, once again, on my computer and hopefully has fixed the problem. So, hopefully I am back on and can keep you better updated. :-) Isn't technology great? ha ha

I have been busy taking Shaughn's senior pictures. We have been having tons of fun doing so. Matthew has been helping us come up with different ideas for poses and such...every clear blue-sky day, we are out taking shots. On rainy days we have even sat us a back drop and lighting for inside shots. Too much fun I say. :-)

This weekend we are expecting some friends to come for a visit. We are pretty excited about it. Rick and Kim Hulbert are suppose to come and hang out with us. Yeah!

Bless you all and see you soon!

Catch up from March 28th

2009-04-19T09:25:00.002-04:00

Well, this is scott, and yes I know we haven't updated in a while! It has been a bit of a whirlwind in our lives lately. So I will try to catch you all up.

So, we finally left Alaska on April 3rd at 9:30am. Flew to Minneapolis, we had lunch and hung out there, and then off to Detroit and made it in there @ 11:45pm. Our good friend Dan Brown was waiting there with his warm wonderful smile and he had our Suburban cleaned and shiney! (Quite a bit different than the vehicles we left in Alaska! We washed the Swensen Burb, and in two days you couldn't even tell that we had! They apply dirt to the roads for traction and when the snow and ice start to melt it is very, very dirty for a while!)

We made it home to my mom's home in Hamburg and all of us went right to bed! I got up in the morning and went to Costco to get new tires for the Burb. I had ordered them back in January and they honored the sale. The old tires were bald, so it was definately time!

We had a wonderful time running into Rick and Kim Hulbert and had a chance to hang out with them. They happened to be at Costco and gave me a ride home. And My friend Dave VanHorn came to visit and gave me a ride back to Costco.

We decided to leave that night to head back to Ohio. We drove back and on the way had troubles with the Burb again. The engine started knocking. I gingerly made it home. I am thinking that one or two of the lifters may be stuck, so after all the work I had just done in the fall on the engine, I will take the engine apart again. So until I have time, we are down to one vehicle.

So we got a good nights sleep in Ohio, and the next day crammed into the truck and headed to Williamsburg VA. My sister had a time share condo for us, my sisters family, and my mom and Ed to stay in. We had a great time. We spent plenty of time in the pool with all of the kids. We had a great time visiting Williamsburg.

Friday morning we headed back to Ohio. Saturday I put new clutch discs in my motorcycle, and took it for a ride and the lifters on it our tapping very loudly as well. So that will have to be torn down as well!

Sunday we were back at CCT to see all of our friends and worship with them on Easter. Everyone was talking about going to family dinners. We came home and fired up the grill and did some work around the house.

Monday brought me back to the hangar at MMS to see all the guys and worship with them in the morning. It was good to be back. We finished up an annual on a Cessna 210 wich has retractable gear. Wednesday the annual was finished and two of the guys stayed late and ran it up. They tucked it back in the hangar when they were done. The next morning when we all came in there was a puddle on the floor underneath the airplane! It was hydraulic fluid! So, we had to jack the airplane back up in the air and remove the landing gear to replace o rings. It was all hands on deck to get er done!

Once back together and several gear swings later, everything looked fine. We set it back down, washed it and the owner took it for a Return To Service flight. Paul weaseled his way on board to go for the flight. This wasn't hard as the owner loves his plane and loves to fly it!

Well, Bernie, you would be proud! I road my bike into work on Thursday and Friday! I haven't really ridden in 3 years. I rode a couple of times last year and a couple the year before. So, places hurt that I have forgotten about! But I am riding with Paul and we are trying to encourage each other in getting healthier! Our family is focusing on getting healthier as well!

My friends in Alaska, it has been in the 70's the last couple of days, but there are no views of the mountains! We miss you all and are very thankful to have spent time with you and served our King with you! Don, I am drinking a coffee and thinking of you! Blessings brother!

So we have a very busy summer ahead of us.We are heading back to Alaska on May 24th to serve with CEF in there CYIA camp for ten days. We are seriously looking at serving with them in the future....more to come on that.
I am planning on finishing my Private Pilots License this summer. We will have to purge and pack things up for a move this fall. We will have to make the transition to the next place of service which is looking like it will be in Alaska.

Lela and I are on our sanctuary weekend at Doe Run Retreat Center in Warsaw Ohio. We have had a wonderful time meeting up with the owners Rick and Susan Parris and spending some very peacful time with God! We have found that it is absoloutly a necessary thing for our marraige and for our relationship with the Lord to get away from everything at least two times a year. Every time we have gone has been fruitful, renewing, and restful! I highly recommend these kind of weekends.

I have been procrastinating on getting my portion of the newsletter done (sorry Keith) so that is on the forefront for me this week.

Thank you for reading. We love you all. We are filled with a joy that can only come from a creator who loves us!

p.s. Lela is very upset. Somewhere in Anchorage, Lela lost her Bible which had her journal, and a life of notes in her Bible. If you could, please pray for a safe return. We have called every place that we can think of and no sign yet. Thanks!

p.p.s. I will try to get some pictures on the blog at the picture link on the side today.

Mt. Redoubt Blows Again!

2009-03-28T22:18:00.004-04:00

Mt. Redoubt Blew Again!!!!

2009-03-26T15:54:00.003-04:00

For the 7th time since Sunday, Mt. Redoubt has blown again...this time, a biggie! 65,000 feet. They are telling us that the ash from this one will hit us good. It is suppose to arrive between noon and 2, it is 11:56 a.m. now. We are all told to stay inside and get the face masks out and ready. We have to put all electronic (computers, etc.) into big garbage bags since the ash dust will get inside the houses. We have to put wet rags put down under the doors to help keep it out. Not allowed to drive more than 50 miles without changing air filters or it will not be good!! Advised to keep cars covered and indoors (garage). All animals have to be brought in and they are telling us that this could last for weeks if it doesn't rain or snow. (GREAT). :-) So, I thought I would update you and then leave you. I will write when I can and let you know how it is going. God bless you all and still enjoying the adventure....the Lazaros Bunch!

Trip to Homer, AK

2009-03-23T15:29:00.006-04:00

Mt. Redoubt has erupted!!!!!!

2009-03-23T15:05:00.002-04:00

I took these photos of Mt. Redoubt on Saturday while we were flying to Port Alsworth. We flew up and around Mt. Redoubt to get to Port Alsworth. It was a beautiful view! We had no idea that the very next day it would erupt. How cool is that? If you look closely at the one photo, you can see the scar from the last eruption that happened in 1989...20 years ago. Since we have been here, it has been called a level yellow to orange to yellow to orange so many times that we were for sure thinking it was going to wait until we left to do anything. Who knew that it waited until the week before we left to do its thing. We are so excited to have been able to be here for it. We have found ash in the front yard. They boys picked it up and brought some in...show and tell you know. :-) They want to find bigger pieces to bring home. LOL

We have encountered earthquakes, volcano's, seen Eagles and Moose galore. We have been blessed to go on 2 plane rides...Friday night we went, as a family, over some glaciers and ice fields and saw the prettiest sunset...wow, then Scott and I was able to go on Saturday to a small village, which he says was the prettiest and neatest flight he has ever taken in his life. We, as a family, took a day and drove to Homer, AK and feel in love with the "spit" there and the views. Being on the ocean like that was amazing and the waves were beautiful with the mountains in the back ground. I will post photos of that trip next. We have truly been blessed!!!

The boys love snow machining and feel that they have had such a packed 3 months of "firsts" that they can't wait to tell everyone about it.

We have been blessed to have the opportunity to be able to come back to Alaska the end of May for 2 weeks. Transportation for our family has been taken care of and we are just in awe. MMS has given us the approved time off and we can't believe how God is working.

We ask that you continue to pray for us as we continue to seek His will and direction in our lives. Also pray that this in no way interferes with our flights home. They are saying, depending on the wind direction and all, it could effect flights for weeks or longer. We are hoping it doesn't. :-)

March 10, 2009 Some Photos and Updates

2009-03-10T21:27:00.002-04:00

I thought I would post a couple of photos. Two are from the Native Musical (Scott doing an object lesson for the kids and the other is of Jeremiah playing a tag game and this little native girl hooked onto him and wouldn't let go. Too cute!!) and one is of the boyz on the day they went riding on the snow machines. We call them snow mobiles and they call them snow machines here although I have learned from Samantha (my native friend from Hooper Bay) that they are called snow-go's. :-) We have also learned that we are called chichaco's...meaning "newcomer" and that you have to do something major to become an Alaskan. After a while (2 years or so) if you don't do anything to become an Alaskan, then you most likely become a "sour dough" which means that you become sour about living here and want to go back home but don't have the dough (money) to do so. :-) We thought that was funny. Samantha is coming over on Thursday night for dinner and she wants to teach us some of her tribal language. We are so excited. She is also going to make me a "cusbuck" which is a dress like outfit that they (the natives) wear a lot. I am so excited about that too. I couldn't believe that she wanted to do that.

We are going to some friends house tonight for dinner. We went snow machining this past weekend and Ricky (an guy from MARC) let us bring 2 of his snow machines home with us. The boys are so excited. We went out again Sunday evening and Steve (CEF Director) brought 2 of his machines over too. We had so much fun. Matthew rolled one and broke the windshield. Now we have to replace that...but he is ok. Just like his dad...ay? UUGGHHH. LOL He wasn't going fast, just tried to stop on the road area and it decided to turn over.

Shaughn cut his finger pretty bad. Almost needed stitches. He was helping cut lettuce for taco's and whack...into the finger. He said it hurts a lot. We are keeping it cleaned and covered. Hopefully it will heal up ok.

After 2 weeks of colds and stuff, we are all mostly feeling back to normal. Hard to believe that our time here is almost done. I don't think any of us are wanting to leave. We are wanting to get back and get things accomplished tho and see our friends and family. We miss our Zamu too (our cat). :-)

Scott was able to work on the King Air today, the one that had a crash landing. They have is all torn apart and hopefully will have it back up and running by May/June. That is if they can find all of the replacement parts they need. Scott hopes to have the Navajo ready or near ready to return to service too by the time we leave. He has been working hard on it.

Well, just wanted to say hi and drop a line or two. Gotta get going, don't want to be late for dinner. :-)

Bless you all!!!
Lela and boyz~

Lovesick CD

2009-03-05T23:40:00.005-05:00

Hey, I (scott)finally figured out how to do this. You can order The Ken Ferguson band CD by clicking the album cover in the upper corner. I had the awesome opportunity to play drums on it.

Feeling better

2009-03-04T15:13:00.002-05:00

We have all had something yucky in the last week or so. Nathaniel started us off and Jeremiah joined in. Shaughn pick it up too and then I joined the group. Monday Scott hopped onboard and so far, Matthew is the only one who hasn't got "it". We have all had something a little different so we don't know what the "it" is but we know for sure that "it" is not fun.

The folks here have been so sweet. They have called everyday asking if they can shop for us and they have made and brought us dinner for the last couple of nights. Extremely thoughtful!!! What a blessing!

Scott is back to work today and so far, hasn't come home. He wasn't sure if he could make it for the whole day or not. He wasn't feeling 100% yet. Please keep him and the rest of us in our prayers.

Hard to believe that we are leaving here in less than a month. Scott and I were talking last night about it. There are so many things that we are going to miss here. The people, the beauty, high speed internet (ha ha ha), we have a long list. We are hoping to enjoy the rest of our stay healthy if we can. :-)

Our time at the Native Musical was very exciting. We really enjoyed working together in ministry as a family. Our kids really enjoyed it too. God was there and led the way, it was beautiful to join Him in His work. The team we worked with was amazing. We met so many wonderful people. Some were pastors from the bush and some others were natives. It was a great weekend. The drive to and from Anchorage was breath-taking. I took many photos which we will try to upload soon. As we start feeling better I am sure we will update soon.

I just wanted to say hi and let you all know that we are still among the living. :-) God bless you all and we appreciate your prayers.

Lela and boyz~

King Air Down

2009-02-19T20:01:00.006-05:00

This week, Tuesday, we had one of our (M.A.R.C.) King Air airplanes crash. The pilot landed the aircraft 50 feet to the right of the runway. It was by the grace of God that the pilot and co-pilot are safe and sound. They are emotionally wounded, but physically safe. Scott helped the team dig out the aircraft and get it ready to be moved into the hangar. The right landing gear was ripped off and the nose landing gear went straight up into the aircraft. Both engines are lost and the propeller had to be cut away during the moving because it kept hitting the ground. They had to use an inflatable raft thing to lift the wing up, you can see this in one of the photos. Please be in prayer the pilots involved that God will give them the confidence they need to pursue flying for Jesus. Also, that MARC will have the wisdom as to how to go about fixing or replacing it. A King Air is a million dollar aircraft. This is a hard week for all of us at MARC and we appreciate your prayers.

Scott painting at MARC.

2009-02-17T17:48:00.001-05:00

This is a photo of Scott painting yesterday in the hangar at MARC. Thought you would enjoy seeing him too. :-)

Lela~

Tuesday....

2009-02-17T17:35:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share a few things with you, some are funny and some are not. The first thing is that over the weekend, Scott took the boys tubing and during the event Jeremiah was the victim of a pile up and lost another tooth! Yes, he now is missing 3 of his top front teeth. I made him jello because I told him he wasn't leaving many teeth to eat with. :-)

Yesterday, the boys and I went to a CEF training time at ACC (Alaska Christian College). We are going to be training this week and next week to help them at the end of Feb. in Anchorage at a Native Music Camp. We were informed that Scott and I will be teaching one of the classes during the event. :-) We are very excited about it.

Today...we received very sad news that a very dear friend of ours from our home church in Ohio lost her mother. They were very close and her mom was an awesome lady. Please hold that family up in your prayers as this is a very difficult time for them. This came very sudden and unexpected. I know that God knows all things and His timing is perfect, but it is hard for us while we are the ones left behind to remember this and to go on without them. We are very sad today for our friend and wish we could be there to hug/hold her. We have asked Jesus to do this for us.

Please remember us in your prayers and thank you for hanging out with us and reading this. :-) Bless you all!!

Lela and boyz~

Valentine Cookies for the Native Students...

2009-02-12T21:10:00.004-05:00

As you can tell from the photos, the boys and I helped to bake and pack Valentine's cookies for the local college here that only has native students. We, along with the women of M.A.R.C. and Samaritan's Purse, baked & packed and delivered cookies to the local native students. In the top photo, the boys are with Samantha. We had met Samantha the other night at dinner when we went to Bob & Joyce's house, a MARC pilot. She is a native from Hooper Bay, west of the Bearing Sea. She is, at the moment, over to our house visiting us and having dinner and hanging out. She had called me and asked me to pick her up because she wanted to hang out with us. We love talking to her and hearing her stories of her village.

She loves playing with the boys and all of the animals. She had never held a bunny before and loved it. She is a peanut butter lover just like the rest of the Lazaros gang. :-) We just ate Moose steak, cut up on top of rice, for dinner and she kept telling me that it was the best she ever had, even better than her moms...of course she IS a bright student and one of my personal favorites. LOL (that means laughing out loud). :-) She had two big helpings and just made my day!! Her birthday was yesterday, she turned 20. She is teaching Nathaniel some words in her native language. He is loving it!!

Everyone here is doing well. We are loving our time here. One of Scott's projects at the hangar is painting. He is missing MMS' big paint booth. :-) We would love to see M.A.R.C. be blessed with some type of booth for the guys to work in. I was able to take the left over cookies that didn't fit into the bags for the students to the hangar and pass them out to the guys. It was very cute watching their faces light up that A)there were left overs and B)that they were getting them. :-) The were like little kids. :-)

I found out today that my baby sister, Amanda, is having another boy!! That will make 6 boys on my side of the family. No girls. She is due in July and her little guy will be 3 at the end of February. Please keep her in your prayers.

That is about the latest on this end. We would love to hear from you. Take care and God bless you all!!

Lela and boyz~

2009-02-10T13:39:00.002-05:00

A Beautiful Picture of Mt. Redoubt

I went to a Ladies Cafe last night at Soldotna Bible Chapel with one of the MARC wives and we made origami boxes out of fabric. It was very fun. We listened to a lady give her testimony and I found it to be very encouraging.

Scott is working on the Navajo Piper that he worked on when he was in last May. They are hoping to get it ready for the engines to be installed before we leave. This is the plane that landed gear up. He is enjoying it very much.

It is -14 this morning. The sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining. I just love waking up and watching the sun come up and building the fire for the day, marveling at God's wonderful creation. My mom called me yesterday and laughed at me when I told her I was stoking the fire. She said she thought it was funny how God was teaching me different things. She said that God was teaching me to live in the country and doing without (high speed internet, close to stores, t.v., etc.) and now he was teaching me how to stay warm with fires. She said it reminded her of her life growing up. LOL

Well, I just wanted to say good morning and let you all know that all is still good here in Alaska. They are still monitoring Mt. Redoubt and tell us that the activity level has increased and show pictures of the steam coming out of it but that must be from the other side of the opening because we can't see the steam from this side.

God bless you all and until next time...

Lela and boyz~

Boys having fun at Home Depot

2009-02-07T18:21:00.002-05:00

This morning Scott took Nathaniel and Jeremiah to Home Depot for Kids Craft Day with a couple other guys from MARC. Travis and Greg took their kids too. Here is a photo of their time there.

Enjoy!

MAF Chad 206 Dissasembly Video at done at MMS

2009-02-07T15:16:00.003-05:00

http://vimeo.com/2916131

This is MAF Cessna 206 project that we had at MMS. This gives a really cool look at the types of projects we get to help with. My friend Paul Jones took over 10,000 pictures for this time lapse video. This airplane will be returned to missionary service in Chad Africa.

This was the first project that Scott started on when we started our time at MMS and seeing it to completion is a great honor. Paul did a great job putting this together and I hope you enjoy it and get a taste of what MMS does and how it helps missions around the world.

Enjoy!!

Lela

God blesses again!!

2009-02-04T22:08:00.002-05:00

We wanted to share with you another HUGE blessing that God threw our way. In the mail, we received a letter from a very dear friend that said she had received our newsletter stating how God had provided our entire trip to Alaska for all 6 of us for under $300. She stated how she got excited when she read that and wanted to be a part of the whole process. She felt God prompting her to step out in faith and that He wanted us to go to Alaska...FREE!! So, she apologized for taking so long to get it to us but the outcome is still the same...GOD HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!!! He has provided the entire cost of all 6 of us...round trip to Alaska!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!! From whom all blessings flow!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!!!

Common sights here in Alaska

2009-02-04T16:31:00.003-05:00

A Bald Eagle in a nearby tree.

Good afternoon from Alaska!

We are stopping for lunch here in the Lazaros Homeschool Class and I thought I would do another post for you.

God is so amazing. He woke Scott and I both up last night (or this morning) at 3 a.m. Neither of us could go back to sleep so Scott got up and read 3 chapters in Hebrews and went before the thrown in prayer. Later, we both discussed what we felt the Lord was telling us and then spent some time in prayer together. Scott rolled over and went back to sleep...I did not. Apparently God wasn't finished with me yet. I prayed some more and felt God directing me to read something in my new DJ (Discipleship Journal) magazine that I had received just before leaving Ohio. I had totally forgotten that I had got it and that I had brought it. The Lord is so good like that.

I took Scott to work today since I needed the vehicle to run the older boys to church early tonight for worship practice. We also are going to go to the library today and return a few things. So, errands I will run and then pick Scott up by 5 from work.

The days are getting longer pretty fast lately. Cozene, MARC's Director's wife, told me at the Superbowl Party that on March 15th there will be 12/12...12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark. They will start gaining daylight at approx. 5 minutes per day from there out. Pretty amazing. The weather here is very dry. We are using lots of chap stick and hand lotions. :-)

The boys are all doing great and loving the new youth group they have been going to. They are having a difficult time with the whole "let's try other churches too" thing. Daddy wants to try at least 3 different churches while we are here, each for 3 weeks, and they are not too excited about it. They don't want to leave the one at the Chapel. They are willing to try others for 1 weeks, they say, but the don't want to miss anything at the Chapel. Pretty funny to listen to them and their dad try to share their view points. I am not sure who will "win" so to speak this debate. I think they are afraid of liking them all and having to choose. :-)

Well, off to do the errands. God bless you all. We love hearing from you so drop us a line if you want.

Lela and boyz~

Jeremiah lost his front tooth this morning!!

2009-02-03T15:04:00.003-05:00

Yes, we are all happy for Jeremiah!! It has been "dangling" for over 2 weeks now. Yeah...it is finally out!

The weather here is cooler today but very sunny. -17 but the fire makes it nice. Scott is loving the fact that the garage here is heated to 50 degrees. He doesn't have to go out and start the vehicle before leaving for work. It makes it really nice. The sky is a pretty blue and the trees are lined with snow. Beautiful!!

Everyone is doing good. Shaughn is keeping us stocked with wood for the fireplace and is loving having 2 big dogs to play with. He says they are his size and he doesn't feel like he will hurt them as he does with small animals. :-) The pets here at the Swensen's ranch are all very good animals. We are enjoying them a lot.

Some Lazaros Photo Moments...

2009-01-30T20:17:00.003-05:00

Matthew helping Mark Swensen to make MOOSE JERKEY!!!

If you would like to see more, check out my facebook. :-) I am trying to load on both here and there. :-) God bless you all and thanks for looking.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

2009-01-29T14:48:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Snowy Alaska!!

We have been watching this beautiful snow fall for 2 days now and the flakes just keep getting bigger and bigger. It is so pretty to watch. The trees are full and the ground looks so soft and fluffy. The boys are having a great time playing in it. The temp today is about 19 degrees and the wind is calm.

The Mt. Redoubt condition is about the same. Actually, the level went from yellow to orange and you can follow it on this web site.
www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt
It is still on the news a lot and they are telling us to get supplies in case. They say it could erupt any day or in the next few weeks. So, we don't know. They have it under 24/7 watch.

We took the boys to youth last night and they really enjoyed it. They asked Shaughn to come to worship practice next week, he is pretty excited. Matthew and Shaughn are planning on going to a Super Bowl Party with the youth and the rest of us are going to Len & Cozene's house, they the director of MARC, for a Super Bowl Party.

Scott and I went to Steve & Bev McKinley's house last night for dinner. They are the State Directors for CEF Ministries here in Alaska. We had delicious Halibut for dinner and a great time of fellowship afterwards. What a neat family.

Scott had to shovel his way out of the garage this morning. What a fun experience. He did not put that into his time frame of getting ready and so was a few minutes late for work. ooopppss. :-)

Scott came home for lunch on Tuesday and the boys and I took him back to work so we would have a vehicle to run errands with. We went to the post office and found our first pieces of mail from a real person...that is the best kind :-), and then we decided to go to the library and see if we could get a library card. She said we needed to have a piece of mail that had been addressed and delivered to us within the last 3 weeks...I said we have a Valentine's Day card that was sent to us, she said that would work along with a photo id. So, the boys and I all have library cards for Soldotna, Alaska. Matthew said, "wow, now I have 3 for 3 different states". :-) I told him we all did. LOL

The boys and I are going swimming tomorrow with another MARC family to an indoor pool. We were going to go today but changed it until tomorrow. I will have to take Scott to work in the morning so I can use the vehicle for the day. :-)

Saturday we are suppose to watch a dog race at 11 a.m. and there is also something else going on at the sport center for families with all kinds of crafts for kids to do and other fun things. They also have ice sculptures carved out and will be putting them all over town. That is fun to look for. Saturday evening we have been invited to a CEF training time and dinner. We are all looking forward to that. They play games and different stuff so it will be cool to check out.

Matthew is going out to snow blow the driveway. He is all bundled up and loving the boot cleats that everyone uses up here. I must agree, I love them too. Scott bought me a set and they really do let you walk on ice without falling.

Sorry if any of this is doubled in a previous post. I can't remember what I put on here and/or on facebook. :-) Scott has us an Skype account now too. We are having fun talking to different ones via different ways: emails, texting, facebook, facebook IMing, Skype (still learning this one) :-), phone. It has all been fun but after a while, I can't remember who I told what to. :-)

Scott's mom's surgery went well. The surgery was more intense than was expected but she came through very well. She still needs your prayers for healing and for her other knee that has to have the same surgery once this one heals.

Bless you all and we love hearing from you!! Stay warm!!

Lela and boyz~

Mt. Redoubt is alive....and active....and RED!

2009-01-27T12:27:00.002-05:00

Mt. Redoubt is an active volcano that is 50 miles west of Kenai. Kenai is about 7-10 west of Soldotna. Mt. Redoubt has went from a level orange to a level red as of yesterday. The last time it erupted was in 1989. It shot 40,000 feet straight up in the air and hit a jet that was flying over. We are carrying out camera around hoping to get shots of it when it decides to erupt. It has smoke coming out which they say happens just before it erupts. It is all over the news here. Please be in prayer for us as we have no idea what to do and are totally at His mercy. :-)

Also, today Scott's mom is having knee surgery. Please remember her in your prayers too. :-)

Just wanted to keep you updated...Bless you all!

Lela and boyz~

What a weekend...

2009-01-26T11:55:00.002-05:00

We have had a fun but interesting weekend.

The Swensen Family left last Thursday for their furlough time in the lower 48. After Scott and I took them to the Kenai airport and dropped them off, we came home and Scott got ready for work. Around lunch time he called me asking me if I would be ok with him leaving for a few days to go into the bush to fix an airplane that one of our pilots had flown out. I said sure no problem. So, he came home and packed for his trip. We all said good-bye and he went back to work. Scott and a couple other guys were suppose to fly out that afternoon sometime. Just before they we to leave, they received a call that the pilot had re-assessed the problem and decided to try and fly it home. We all prayed that the pilot and plane made it home safely. They did. So, the trip was cancelled and Scott came home. He was kind of bummed that it didn't work out but was looking forward to spending time with the family alone too.

Friday Scott came home and we ate dinner then went out to do some grocery shopping. We topped it off with taking the kids to the one and only DQ in the state of Alaska...yep that is right...it is here in Soldotna. So, we took them for baby sundaes and Jeremiah had a dipped cone. They have all kinds of airplanes hanging from the ceiling, very cool.

Saturday...Scott was making his "daddy breakfast" and I told him that I was shaking and couldn't stop. That my chair was shaking too. He said he didn't feel anything. I told him that I did and that it was very weird feeling. He came over and held me to see if he felt anything. As he did, we looked at the eggs in the bowl on the counter and saw them shaking. Then we looked outside to see the Christmas bulbs that are hanging in the window all dancing. I said, "Scott, the whole house is shaking". We realized that we had just felt an earthquake. He got on the computer to find out and sure enough, a 5.7 earthquake just about 80-100 miles away in the cook inlet. Shaughn and Matthew were still sleep and when they woke up, we filled them in. They were both bummed that they had missed it and couldn't believe that they slept through it. Teenagers... :-)

Later that day we took the trash to the dump and saw tons of Bald Eagles. A very beautiful sight. That night Shaughn and Matthew went snow tubbing with the youth group here and had lots of fun.

Yesterday we went driving around after church and saw 3 moose walking in the road. The boys loved it. Shaughn said..."wow, an earthquake, eagles and moose all in 2 days...what is left for the next 2 months?" We all laughed.

Scott left for work this morning and please remember him in your prayers. He desires to serve and bless MARC while he is there. The days are longer in hours than at MMS and that has been an adjustment. They start at 8 and end at 5 with an hour lunch. He said he would prefer an 1/2 hour lunch and end soon. So would most of the guys. :-) But he really enjoys the guys there and the work so he is adjusting. :-) The days are getting longer just sense we have been here. When we first came it was dark by 4, now it is more 4:30-5 ish. Still early tho...we feel we should be in bed by 6-6:30 because it has already been dark for so long. LOL

The animals are all doing good. We are watching: 2 big dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds, 1 rabbit, 1 gunea pig, 1 salamander, 1 turtle, lots of fish and a house full of plants. We have all been assigned to something different so not one person is doing it all. :-) They keep us busy. We also have a fireplace that we are enjoying very much. The home we are watching is just beautiful and fits us so well that we told the Swensen's that we may not give it back. LOL They laughed. Seriously, they do have a beautiful home and we are very blessed to be able to watch it for them. We pray that they have a great time on their furlough. Mark (Mr. Swensen) left a to-do list for Scott and Scott has been plugging away at it. We really want to bless them for letting us stay here. They are a precious family!!

Next weekend there is a dog sled race. Some people who race the Iditaron use this as a practice race. It is here in town and we get to meet the dogs and mushers. That is on Saturday at 11a.m. then the Super Bowl in on Sunday and the youth group is having a party that Shaughn and Matthew want to go to and the director of MARC and his wife are having a party for the rest of us at their house at 2p.m. So, next weekend should be another fun weekend. :-)

Well, that brings you up to date. I will post more photos when I get on my own computer. I am using Scott's right now because it is sitting here. LOL

God bless you all,
Lela and boyz~

Wed. Jan 21, 2009

2009-01-21T20:37:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went and got our P. O. Box for the time that we are here in Soldotna. I went a head and rented it for the next 12 months to cover the time of moving here as well if that is still how God is leading. We are pretty excited about it.

Tonight we are taking the kids to youth group and awana then us adults are going out for a Kaladi Brothers Coffee. Oh yeah! Scott and I have been craving them since last May. The Swensen family leaves tomorrow for their 10 week trip and have been busy packing all day. Nathaniel and Matthew helped Mr. Swensen make moose jerkey today. They are pretty excited to sample it. It has smelled so good all day cooking. I told them that all we needed now was some Amish Butter Cheese to go along with it. Of course they asked why I didn't bring some with me. Who knew?

The weather here is still beautiful. A little cooler today but the boys went out to play in the snow and had the Swensen's dogs pull them in the sled. They have special harnesses for their 2 big dogs. One is an Alaskan Huskey. Matthew had a ball.

Well, it is almost church time. So, I had better get off of here. Chat soon.

Blessings,
Lela and Boyz~

A normal day in Alaska!!

2009-01-19T14:22:00.002-05:00

Well, it is Monday here and Scott got up and went to work, the boys woke up and took their showers and did their school. I got up and have the laundry going and checking their school. It all seems like a normal day just like any other. But...we are in Alaska!! How cool ay? The Swensen Family is trying to pack up and get ready for their trip to the lower 48 and their children do not have school since it is all packed up. They are eagerly waiting for our children to get finished so they can play.

Our boys love having 2 big dogs for the next 2 1/2 months and are getting all of the tips on how to take care of them.

Michele is taking me today to the post office so we can get our P. O. Box. Their suburban has 3 bench seats in it and seats 9 people. I bet you can't guess what Scott wants now. Yep!! He has been wanting 2 bench seats for ours but now the bar has been raised. Too funny. :-) He wants to check out some junk yards to see if he can find some. :-)

Well, on with our day. I just wanted to give you a little update.

Bless you all!

Lela and boyz~

Sunday afternoon....

2009-01-18T18:05:00.002-05:00

This is the sky as we pulled out of the driveway for church this morning about 9:15 a.m.

We came home and Michele had made stir fry and sushi (homemade) YUMMM!!!

The kids are all watching Wall-E right now. The sun continues to shine and melt the snow but we are told that is about to change. Snow is scheduled for tomorrow and on through the week. Scott couldn't get over the whole idea that we drove to church on pure ice. Matthew is totally getting into the studded tire thing and the indents that they make in the ice. Michele has let him use her shoe studs, that slips over your shoes and gives them claws for the ice. He thinks he is all that with those on. He has even been in their ICY driveway playing basketball with them on. :-)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

2009-01-18T11:08:00.003-05:00

Well, the Lazaros family is mostly up and are among the first to awake here in the Swenson house. It is between 6:30-7:00 a.m. here but we feel like we have slept all day. LOL

We are up and eating cereal, waiting for the towels to dry that was washed last night. We are going to start taking showers and getting ready for our first Sunday as a family and going to Soldotna Bible Chapel. Their youth pastor has emailed us a couple of times and is looking forward to meeting the boys today. He has even added them and me as a friend on facebook. They were pretty tickeled about that. :-)

We had moose steak last night for dinner with twice baked potatoes and boy...was it yummy. It was a fresh kill...this week in fact. :-) They grilled it and it was so juicy and thick.

The kids have all played very well together and Shaughn and Matthew are loving the high speed and using mom and dad's computers. They are chatting with many of their friends on-line. :-)

Bless you all, it is time to go for now. Will chat more soon.

Love,
Lela and boyz~

We're in Alaska!!!

2009-01-17T16:57:00.003-05:00

We made into Anchorage about 7 p.m. their time (4 hours behind MI & OH time) with no problems. All of our luggage arrived and we were met my Travis and Heather from M.A.R.C. The drive to Soldotna was pure ice and Travis did a great job delivering us to the Swenson's. We are having fresh salmon homemade pizza...yum!!

After being up for 26 hours straight, we were very glad to be able to lay down and sleep.

The weather here is extremely warm. 42 degrees and sunny!! Floods everywhere and very messy.

The boys are loving the pizza and all of the animals. They are also enjoying being able to meet the people that Scott and I have talked so much about for the last few months.

Matthew and I have been taking lots of photos on this trip. We will post some photos very soon and often...so check back often. :-)

Have a great day and chat again soon,
Lela and boyz~

We are in Michigan!!

2009-01-14T10:24:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it to our first stop in our journey to Alaska. We arrived in Michigan about 7 p.m. and Scott's mom, Stephanie, had a great dinner waiting for us. Our drive to Michigan was good although we did drive through a snow blizzard. :-) Scott was able to make it to our "home/sending" church's missions meeting last night. He was excited about that. It was good to see everyone again.

We are having friends over today, kind of like an open house. They are free to stop in whenever they can and visit for as long as they wish. Stephanie has food for the day and it should be lots of fun.

When Scott and I woke up this morning, we heard someone playing pool...we thought it was Jeremiah since he had just left our room. We had told him to be quiet in case others were still asleep, so Scott got up to hush him up only to find it wasn't him...it was our Shaughn playing a game of pool with his friend Sean. Yes, our visitors started pretty early. LOL We just cracked up and had a good laugh. Sean is our 5th adopted son...or should be. He is Shaughn's best friend and always calling or visiting. We love having him around and enjoy his company very much. It was great waking up to see his smiling face. :-)

Scott is at our local Costco...only 10 minutes away from here.... :-) He was there when they opened this morning. He has already called me 2 times to run things by me before buying...he is having a blast there. A kid in the candy shop so to speak.

It is hard to believe that we are on our 3 month journey already. Time has come quickly. We are excited to see what God has in store for us during this time. We bought each of the boys a journal for them to keep a record of the memories and quiet times of their trip. They seem excited about that.

Well, that is it for this update...check back soon...there will be more soon. :-)

God bless you and thank you for reading about us.

Lela

The after Christmas ride home.

2008-12-28T13:49:00.003-05:00

Well we had a wonderful time at Lela's folks house for Christmas. We are on our way home, actually we took a lunch stop at Panera Bread in Gastonia, North Carolina. We worshipped with family and friends at The Family Worship Center in Kings Mountain this morning.

Yesterday we went to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. What a cool experience to see the life of a man who stayed the course and preached the simple message of the gospel throughout his life! He is 90 years old now.

We are on our way home and looking forward to chillin with our family. Scott got Flight Simulator X for Christmas and just has to try it out!!!!!!

Just over two weeks away from leaving the lower 48 and heading North to Alaska!!!!! Which reminds me, I got the movie "North to Alaska" with The Duke for Christmas!! We will have to watch that too!!

We trust that all of you had a wonderful time with family as you celebrated that most precious gift! We hope that you all will have a Jesus filled New Year. One of being servants to all. And loving the lowly!

Oh...My class in Manitoba was Awesome!!!! It was a heavy maintenance class on the PT-6. (Pratt and Whitney jet engine with a prop, also known as a Turboprop engine). These engines are used heavily in Missionary aviation around the world and with the shortage and expense of Avgas, we will be seeing more aircraft using these engines, like the Kodiak.

Lela had an appointment with a wonderful Doctor and friend in Coshocton for her ankle before we left. He said that she had damaged two tendons heavily and one slightly. He hooked her up with a new brace and shoe supports. He said that it is healing and will take a while, but she is on the mend. If only we could just take the bad parts out and put new parts in like an airplane......

Stomach flu's are going through the family!! Yippee!!!!! So as we take off for the rest of the journey home....well....you get the picture!!!! PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!!!!!

Love you all!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-26T09:15:00.002-05:00

We have so much to be thankful for. God is so good to us. We are so thankful for our friends and family who constantly encourage us and support us with their love and prayers. We thank God for each of you.

We are going to spend Thanksgiving with another MMS family and are very excited about it. It is a family who we have not had the opportunity to "hang out" with as of yet. We are so blessed to have been invited to their home for the holiday. There will be other MMS families there too and we are excited about that as well. MMS is like a big family who love getting together but is not able to as much as they would like. Just like our real families. Schedules and obligations keep us from being able to get together more, but God is so gracious to bless us with holidays like this that is set aside for special friends and families. What a blessing.

Scott has been working hard on the suburban. He has worked most of the past weekend and late everynight this week. He has taken the rest of the week off for vacation. We thought we were going to his sisters for Thanksgiving but plans changed with the suburban needing attention. He and the older boys plan on going in today and Friday to work some more on the suburban, (burb for short), and hopefully things will work out smoothly for him. So far, some parts that were ordered for it were not the correct parts. This has caused some delays. He is sleeping in this morning, actually the whole family is still asleep and it is already 9:30. They never sleep in this long. I feel like I have the whole house to myself.

I baked fresh banana bread and have Scott's pot of coffee all done...just waiting for him to rise and greet the day. :-)

Nathaniel lost his last baby tooth. He asked me if this makes him a grown up now. I had to laugh. Jeremiah walked up and told me that he is half of a grown up since he has also lost some of his baby teeth. Too funny!!

The kids are getting excited about the upcoming holidays. Nathaniel's birthday is a week from tomorrow...Thanksgiving. He will be 11 on Dec. 4th. So, he thinks December is all about him with presents all month long. Sure, ok...I told him. LOL I guess I ought to start thinking about what to get him. Wow, I am a little behind. :-)

Bless you all and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Lela and boyz~

Tickets for Alaska

2008-11-22T14:16:00.002-05:00

God is so good. He has provided even the smallest details. We have been blessed to purchase our round-trip tickets for all 6 of us to Alaska for only $289.00...total. God has blessed us through other people with them giving us their air mile points and it totaling enough for us to basically get free flights. We only had to pay for the transferring of the points on some accounts. We are leaving from Detroit, MI on January 16, 2009 to Anchorage, AK and returning on April 1, 2009 to Detroit. One of the MARC guys is driving to Anchorage to pick us up and drive us back to Soldotna. We are staying at a MARC families house that will be in the lower 48 during this time for their furlough. They have asked us to stay in their home and care for their family pets while they are gone. We have the use of their home and vehicles while we are there. God is so amazing to have worked out all of the details of the trip so far. What a huge blessing.

Upon our return to Detroit, we are going on vacation with Scott's sister and her family for a week to VA. This trip was planned before the Alaska trip. We are very excited about all of this. We will return to Ohio the middle of April. Please be praying for us during this time and check back as we will have high speed internet while we are in Alaska and on vacation and will be making more frequent updates.

I am at the hangar right now while Scott is working on the burb. We had it fixed while we were in MD which was the transfer case. That cost $2000.00. OUCH!! Now, he is working on the head gasket as it has some leaking issues. He is spending most of Thanksgiving week working on this as well as hunting. He went last night and purchased his hunting license and is all legal now.

Scott is scheduled to do his cross-country flight this Sunday...wow, that is tomorrow already. He and Paul are flying to some town south of Columbus. He is pretty excited about it. He has been spending a lot of time studying for his written test and can't wait until that part is over and this is all completed. Neither can I. LOL

We went this morning and helped a very dear family pack up their u-haul as they are moving to IN to finish raising their support. They have finished up their time here at MMS and are going to be joining JAARS in NC as soon as their support is in. They were the first family who had us over and really connected with us. They have children about the same age as Shaughn and Matthew and they all had a lot in common. Shaughn and Matthew are really going to be lost without them. They have had many nights where they have played games and hung out. They also looked out for us as we do not get a TV signal of any kind where we live and would tape our favorite shows for us as a treat, especially when Idol is on. :-) They were the ones who housed us every time we were going through town before moving here and even while we were moving here. They are like our 2nd family. This is the hard part of being in ministry...making dear friends and then saying good bye. Everyone knows this part of it coming to MMS, but it doesn't make it any easier. Thank goodness for email.

My foot...a dear supporter sent me a walking boot to wear and that has helped a lot. I fell again a week after it happened and sent me into pain heaven. I mean...OUCH!! My ankle is still somewhat swollen but not like it was. I am able to hobble around and feel much safer with the boot on. I have been told that I have to allow for the weakness in the ankle to heal and that will take about 8-10 weeks total. I am counting. Since it has starting the snowing thing and ice is out there, I am taking even more caution and holding on to others as I walk outside. Please pray for a quick recovery and for me to be patient enough for it to heal correctly. LOL

We are going to be spending Thanksgiving here with another MMS family. Actually, from what I hear there may be three families there. We are very excited about this. I love getting together with other MMS families, especially the ones that we don't get to see very often.

Stranded...in Maryland

2008-10-31T14:38:00.003-04:00

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~

A Fall Day...

2008-10-21T09:33:00.002-04:00

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~

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

2008-10-01T11:13:00.002-04:00

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.

The Fair is Coming!!!

2008-09-23T16:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, it is that time of year here in Coshocton, OH. Everyone is busy getting ready for the county fair. Not only are they busy getting ready for it, but everyone is expected to work at it. LOL I am getting the privilege to work for a really sweet lady who owns American Harvest Bulk Food store. I love shopping there and really enjoy her conversation so this will be a blast to help her out in this way. Everything here is postponed or canceled for the week of the fair. All soccer games are canceled. :-) We find this pretty funny since we have not really experienced this before.

We enjoyed an Air Show at the local airport this past weekend. They really did a great job. They even had a jet powered port-a-potty. Yep, it drove up and down the active runway. We captured it on video. Too funny.

Scott is working on a King Air this week and is really enjoying it. He is trying to take it all in and learn all he can.

I am at the hangar right now using their high speed internet to update this page. The joy of high speed. The down side is that it keeps bumping me off line.
What is up with that? LOL

Our "Tweener's" ministry at church is going very well. We are still trying to come up with a name for the kids. Something besides "tweener's". If you have any ideas, pass them along. :-)

Matthew has made the try outs for the traveling drama team at church. He has also been asked to head up the web page (design and upkeep) for the youth ministry. He has joined the AV team for the church and heads up the AV team for the youth. He is getting very involved here and loves it.

Shaughn loves being 17 and having his very own phone. He has waited so long to get one and now he is trying to figure out how to get all of the cool ring tones to go on it.

Nathaniel and Jeremiah have had a little cough lately. The weather change is the cause of that I am sure. They love playing soccer and have started practicing for the Christmas play at church. I know, it is only September, but they start that early around here. Nathaniel has the lead part of Joseph. He is very excited about it.

Me, I am keeping busy with everyone's schedule and life in general. I meet weekly with 2 ladies who are such a blessing. We are doing a study together and actually have only just begun. We are in the first chapter so we are all excited to see how it goes. It is nice just to be able to meet and pray for one another. God is so good.

Scott and I are filling out our applications for M.A.R.C. to serve with them in Alaska. We are waiting until October 1st to mail them off. We are excited to see how this process goes.

Scott is flying and loving it. He is just about ready to solo again. Paul is really pushing him to get to that level and it has been good for Scott. Now he has to begin the studying part so he can be confident to pass his written test.

Last week we lost power, as most of Ohio did, due to the Hurricane Ike winds that blew through here last Sunday night. During that wind storm, our suburban decided to quit as well. I found out that walking in high winds of 70+ mph (ish) is very hard to do for very long. My legs hurt and so did my chest. We broke down not too far from the church and had to still pick up the boys. Due to the winds, our cell phones did not work so we couldn't let them know what had happened. Praise the Lord there was 2 other families there who drove our family home. Many fallin trees on the roads and debre everywhere. Some people are still waiting for their power to turn back on. We lost ours for 2 days and thought it was horrible. Please remember those families who are still without.

God bless you all and take care until our next update.
Lela and boyz~

Jeremiah's 6!!

2008-09-07T22:11:00.000-04:00

Our baby boy is 6 years old today. Hard to believe that Jeremiah is 6. He has had a great day. Cindy Shirak, a friend of ours from MI, came down on Friday to surprise Shaughn and Jeremiah for their birthdays. Friday was Shaughn's 17th. Cindy bought the boys a pinata and filled it with candy and we all had a huge laugh swinging at it. Cindy got it on video and we got her. We had a lot of laughs with her. We all made Amish Homemade Pretzels last night, what a hoot.

We are sitting at a Christian Coffee House in Walnut Creek and eating pizza and having a great time.

We have been given the go ahead to fill out and mail in our application for Alaska as long as we keep our ears and eyes open to the Lord in case He decides to show us another place to serve. We are open to that as we desire to always be in HIS will. :-) Please pray as we move forward with this decision. :-)

We are well on our way with the Tweener's class at church. It is going very well and our helpers are so great. God has blessed in this class. We desire your prayers as we continue to help this ministry to grow for Jesus.

Well, Scott is wanting to leave now due to it is getting late. So, I had better go for now.

God bless you all,
Lela and boyz~

Shaughn's 17 today!!!!

2008-09-05T08:18:00.002-04:00

Happy 17th Birthday Shaughn!!

Hard to believe 17 years ago Scott and I held our first born in our arms for the first time. He is a little big to do that today in the same way but he is still one for hugs. He is growing into such a gentleman and a man of God. He is and has been such a joy to our lives.

Last week at MMS, the boys and I were able to go for a ride in the famous Kodiak. What a huge exciting opportunity for all of us. Scott went on a ride in July, but MMS arranged for the rest of the families to be able to go on rides before it left for MO.

We have had many visitors lately and loving it all. Scott's mom and step dad came down for a week in August and Scott's dad and step mom came down over Labor Day weekend. This weekend we have a friend coming down from MI for the first time. She is a really fun person who we have all fell in love with and can't wait to spend time with her. She was on the worship team at our home church and went with us to the Philippines in 2004. She also served with us as a youth sponsor during our time of serving in that ministry before we moved to Ohio. Can't wait to see you Cindy!!!

Labor day weekend...we camped out at Wagner Lake here in town with the children from our church and surrounding churches. Shaughn and Matthew were counselors with about 8 kids assigned to them to keep up with, Lela was the photographer for the weekend, Nathaniel was an attendee and Scott & Jeremiah hung out and helped where they were needed. There was 32 kids that attended. We had great weather and a really fun time. The Wagner's attend our church here in Coshocton and have a beautiful private lake on their property. They have it set up really nice for events like this and this was their 15th year doing this. They call it the "Back to School" campout for kids in grades 2nd-7th.

Scott loves being back up in the air flying again. He has went up a few times already and Paul told him to be getting ready to start doing it solo again. He felt it has come back pretty quickly to him. He hadn't forgot as much as he thought. :-)

Sunday is Jeremiah's 6th birthday. Our baby...already 6 years old. Where does the time go??

Jeremiah and Nathaniel started soccer practices again this week. Their first game is tomorrow. They are very excited about it. Shaughn and Matthew are sad that their age group does not have a fall team. They miss it a lot.

Our food coop is really booming now. We had tons of tomatoes and other veggies. I am making salsa today and canning it. We love salsa and popcorn so we are trying to store some up for the winter months. Yum!!!

Everyone is doing fine. Allergies are not so good but it is the season. We look forward to hearing from you all and pray that you have a great day. Bless you all!

Lela and boyz~

Flying high....

2008-08-25T10:45:00.002-04:00

Today is another beautiful day that the Lord has blessed us with. Today, Scott is going up flying! He is finishing up his private pilot license and today is the first day he is going up in a long, long time. He already has over 70 hours but he needs to freshen up on the air time as he is studying his ground school portion. Paul, another MMS'er, is also an instructor and is helping Scott to finish up getting his rating. We are very excited about this. God has provided once again. He is so faithful to complete what He starts.

The boys and I are doing good. Our allergies here are doing their thing. Shaughn and Nathaniel have had it the worst and I am bringing up 3rd place. I do believe it is worse here than in MI. :-)

We are looking forward to our long weekend coming up. We are going camping with our local church and their kids program. I have been asked to be the photographer and am very excited about that. We will be compiling some videos and photographs together for a presentation for Sunday morning. This should be fun. Please pray for good weather.

Scott's mom and step dad came down for a visit last week and that was very fun. This weekend his dad and step mom is coming down for the first time, we are very excited to show them around. They have never seen MMS yet, Scott can't wait to show them.

Hope you are planning a fun holiday weekend too. We would love to hear about it. God bless and take care.

Lela and boyz~

God at work

2008-08-14T11:07:00.002-04:00

We are back from vacation and had a great time. We made many memories and had lots of fun.

We started the "tweener's" program at church this week. It went very well. God totally blessed us all by all of the great things He did. We had 43 kids and everyone of them seem to have had a blast. The evening was action packed and Scott gave a great devotional at the end. This was a "kick-off" so it was meant to be fun-filled. Next, we going to cover the armor of God and each week teach on a different part of the armor. We pray that God continues to lead this time and helps the kids to fall into a deeper love relationship with Him. We have some great people to work with and the church is so supportive. It has been a real blessing to be a part of this ministry.

This weekend we are hosting a Prayer Retreat for our Core Prayer Team from MI. We are very excited about this and can't wait to see what the Lord has instore for all of us. We sense it will be a time of refreshing, change and renewal. Everyone seems very excited about it. That only builds the excitement for me. :-)

Matthew has joined the drama team and church and also the Y-US team. That is Youth Using Stick's ministry, sort of like dancing with long sticks to a Christian song. He is also on the new ministry team for the youth's web page and videography. He wants to be the youth's photographer and videographer and help keep the web page updated. Like doing the A.V. and sound board wasn't enough. :-) I love seeing him get so involved. He seems to be finding his nitch and it is fun seeing him become who God has created him to be. Shaughn loves playing the bass and is doing it all the time now instead of switching off. Nathaniel seems to be a born leader and has zero fear. :-) He is very excited about the new "Tweener's" ministry.

We are trying to come up with a name for the Tweeners. Please pray that God will give us a name that they can identify with and that has meaning. This is His ministry and we desire to name it what ever He wishes. :-)

That is about it for now. I am sure there will be more next week. :-) Thank you and come back again soon. We would love to hear from you so please leave a comment or email us if you would like. God bless you all!!

Lela and boyz~

On Vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN

2008-08-06T15:12:00.002-04:00

We are here in Pigeon Forge, TN having a blast. We spent two days in Dollywood Theme Park and tonight we are going to the Dixie Stampede. We went to the Smokey's National Park to view Cades Cove and wow, we saw so many wonderful sights like: bears, deer, wild turkey's, snakes (yuck), waterfalls, old 1800's churches, homesteads, mountain views, etc. The weather here has been in the 90's and very humid. The pool has been very refreshing. We have made wonderful memories with our family. The time of relaxation has been wonderful!!

God's beauty is so amazing. It has been very fun taking lots of photos to help remember it all. We will try to get them uploaded to our site so you can share in the beauty and in some of the funny moments too. :-)

Blessing to all of you. Keep cool and thanks for stopping by.

Lela and boyz~

Michigan Trip Last week

2008-07-27T19:30:00.006-04:00

We had such an encouraging time in Michigan! We were able to keep a "Lazaros Marathon" Schedule! We had great opportunities to share with many groups what we are doing @ MMS, and how things are going. It was great to re-connect with many of our friends and family. It was so good hanging out with all of you!

Last Thursday and Friday the Kodiak airplane was here at MMS for a visit. The hangar was buzzing with visitors and press. I (Scott)had the wonderful opportunity to go up in the Kodiak and actually log time flying it. The Kodiak is a single engine Turbo Prop airplane that was disigned with Missions in mind. The Kodiak will be a replacement to many aging aircraft in missions, and an answer to the great expense and shortage of Avgas around the world. Check out their site.
http://www.questaircraft.com/

Check out the pictures on our picture site of the Kodiak. Click on our pictures link at the side.

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend at "Camp Wagner" with a group of young men who are in a "Way of the Wild Heart" mentor group. Josh Adelsberger and I led the campout. The boys had a great time swimming, and eating hot dogs. We all went exploring through the woods and had opportunities to talk about our faith and encourage each other.

Tomorrow I will be starting with a new team leader. Mike Dunkley. I have been with Ian Hengst for the last seven months. I have grown under Ians leadership.

In Michigan

2008-07-17T12:19:00.002-04:00

We are in the middle of our time here in Michigan. We are having a blast seeing lots of old friends and meeting some new ones. It is great catching up with friends and family. There has been a lot of new building going on here too. Things are starting to look different from when we left 9 1/2 months ago.

The weather has been in the 90's and is very hot. We have been blessed to be able to swim often at friend's pools and lakes. God is good. :-)

We appreciate your prayer for traveling mercies and our times of connecting with friends. God bless you all.

Lela and boyz~

Sunny Thursday

2008-07-10T09:46:00.002-04:00

What a beautiful day here in West Lafayette, OH. The sun is shinning so brightly. Scott had his T.E. (Technical Evaluation) this week and it went really well. He was very excited with the outcome. God is so good!!

Today we are going to Berlin (about 45 minutes north) to our dentist. Matthew is having his 2nd crown put on. His first one feel off after about 2 years and so we are hoping that this one last for years to come. He is such a trooper about it all. It is his front top tooth. I feel so bad, he is so young to be dealing with this. This all happened in a snow sledding accident a couple of years ago. He ran into our swing set in our back yard in MI. It wasn't a pretty sight but he did very well.

Matthew has a friend visiting with us this week. Justin, from MI, came to hang out with him. We are taking him back home this weekend as we are going to MI for a week of deputation. Please pray for our travels and our meeting together with old and new friends. It will be fun to see familiar faces and to meet new ones. Scott and I both have family reunions while we are there so we will be blessed to see many family members as well.

Everyone else is doing well. We are just packing and getting things ready for the trip.

God bless you all,
Lela and boyz~

A beautiful Weekend!

2008-07-06T07:34:00.002-04:00

Wow, God is so amazing! He has created the most beautiful weekend. Friday, July 4th started out very rainy, but then cleared up and occasionally drizzled here and there. We spent the day with some friends from church at their private lake/camp on their home property. It was so much fun. The entire family had a blast. Then Saturday, July 5th we had a BBQ and invited all of the MMS families over. We had over 35 people here. The sun was shining beautifully and it was a perfect day. It was so nice having everyone here. The kids played so well together and the adults even joined in on valleyball. It was so much fun. Today is another beautiful day. The sun is shinning once more (this is a rare thing here lately, it has rained so much of June and July so far). Today we have to meet some friends in Columbus and pick up their son who is staying the week with Matthew. We will take him back to MI when we go next weekend. Then later today we have some friends stopping by on their way home to tour MMS and come to hang out at the Lazaros pad for a while. We are so excited. We love visitors to stop by.

We hope you have had a blessed 4th of July holiday weekend too. Enjoy the rest of it! :-)

Tomorrow is our 18th wedding anniversary. We are pretty excited about the mile stone. It is so much fun reflecting on what God has done and has taken you during those years. We are excited to see where the next ?? years take us.

(I know this post sounds like we are really excited about a lot of things...but we really are.) :-)

Until next time...
God bless

July 1st, 2008

2008-07-01T12:56:00.002-04:00

It is already July and only 6 more days until Scott and I celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. Wow, how time flies. We dated 6 years before we got married. I can't imagine being with out him. I feel I grow more and deeper in love with him all the time. I feel very blessed to have such a sweet soul-mate and best friend.

It is sunny here today and Shaughn went to work with Dad at the hangar. He normally goes on Monday's but yesterday MMS had seminar on doing blogs. He was excited to go in since it had been a couple of weeks since he has been able to.

We have had so much rain here lately that the sunshine is very refreshing. Everyone here is doing fine and enjoying summer. We pray that all is well with you and that you have a safe and fun July 4th week-end.

Bless you all,
Lela and boyz~

Hello Everyone and Welcome to our NEW Blog Site.

2008-06-30T10:45:00.002-04:00

We want to welcome all of you and encourage you to come back often to view our new blog site. We hope to keep this updated at least weekly if not more. We are going to include a photo album link and many other neat stuff. We encourage you to drop us a line and comment often. We love hearing from you. We are sitting in a blogging class here at MMS learning all about the new things we can do. We hope to use this to help in keeping you better updated and more visible. :-)

God bless you,
Scott, Lela, Shaughn, Matthew, Nathaniel and Jeremiah