Almost Christmas !!!!

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....

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...

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

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

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...

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!!

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!!!!!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!!!!

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

We are still alive!

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!!

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

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

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??

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

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

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!!

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!!!

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.

Ohio Open House Completed.

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!!

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

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

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!

Mt. Redoubt Blew Again!!!!

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

Mt. Redoubt has erupted!!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Lela~

Tuesday....

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...

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~

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

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

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!!

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

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!!

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...

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.