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.