Safari Send-off Party - August 22

Our last hurrah in Wichita will be a farewell party for the kids. A friend is hosting it for us on August 22nd. We are going to decorate cookies, play games, and If you are interested in coming, or would like to help out, please contact us (scroll down and click on "view my complete profile").

Today was our commissioning service. It had a larger effect on me than I thought it would. The realization that today starts a new era for us hit home. It was great to have AIM reps Dale and Suzanne and my friend Rob as well as my mom and dad there to be with us! It was a good time, and the kids did well (despite Grace's concern she would have to go into the baptismal!)

Commissioning service - August 12

August 12th, Eastside Community Church:
9 am & 11am
We are going to share with our home church about where we have been and what are going to be doing. It will be a chance for us to leave for Minnesota with our church's support and prayer.

All are welcome! A map is here.

The countdown is on!

To my immediate right you will notice the number of days until we move~ and the number is getting smaller. I remember last winter seeing 149. Time has flown since then.
I will post up and coming dates for us. We want to touch base with everyone before we leave, but we alas we are also bound by the constraints of time and space. So, until we can find our pause button, we will catch up with as many friends as we can. We will miss our friends here ... and we remember the sting of goodbyes.

Mustang farewell

This week I no longer work on the Citation Mustang. I joined the project in July of 2003. It was my first real stab at doing Electrical design work. My previous projects were installation designs for the electrical components.
The Mustang team was fabulous. I learned and learned and learned about things you never find out about in school. It will be interesting to read the articles on the Mustang and see how well it does out in the field. My gut tells me the reliability and performance numbers will continue to get better. I think it is still a sleeper with regards to revolutionary design.
The highlights for me were the environmental control and the flap control. Both were brand new. We kept everything simple -- saving millions of $ and also improving maintainability. The program hit all the due dates, beating most of them. Performance numbers were better than what were targeted. It's a big deal considering this was a completely clean sheet design.
The entire team was driven, motivated, creative, and practical jokes were abundant (at least around my area). It has been a real privilege for me to have been a part of this. I think only God could have timed this so perfectly!

Olivia, Grace, and I sitting in Mustang Production Unit 2 during the certification party. This airplane was sold through Sam's Club and will be delivered this year.

One month later

I tagged along with my friend, Rob, to fly in an employee's club Cessna 172. As we scanned for traffic and watched the moving maps, reggae was playing on the XM radio (the station, to our amusement, was named "The Joint"). My limited experience with "airborne" XM radio confirms my belief that this drop beat music is the best to listen to while flying! Yes, I know I am spoiled. No worries, I don't expect this luxury while flying in Kenya ... I plan on humming to myself!

Our objective, actually Rob's objective, was to photograph Greensburg from the air. As you know, a massive tornado (classified as an EF-5) tore through the town of Greensburg during its 30 minutes on the ground. In fact, this was the first time a tornado of this magnitude had hit the United States since the turn of the century/ millenium.

There is still a temporary flight restriction, so we carefully stayed at least 3,000 feet above the town.

Outside of town, damage was barely noticeable. Some mangled trees, a twisted irrigation pipe. The grass was green and from the air looked normal. The frequent rains no doubt played their part to cover up the tracks.

Inside the town was completely different. Some houses still were piles of debris. Others were completely dug out, leaving dry, hollow sockets in the ground. National Guard tents were erected to serve as a field hospital. Tents and campers occupied the football and baseball fields. Trailers had been brought in as homes and some possibly to serve as schoolhouses in the fall. Smoke was clearly visible several miles northwest of town, probably burning off trash.

Tempory schoolhouse buildings?

Football field with tents and campers

Field Hospital

Northwest of town

Largest hand dug well (the circular hole amidst the square ones)

I've been told the town will be rebuilt completely from scratch. They plan on using high efficiency materials and systems for the new town. Local response has been awesome, and I know prayers continue to be raised for the citizens of the town.

The return to Wichita left me thinking about tragedies that so easily occur next door and around the world. The reason and purpose seem to grow and blossom awhile after the fact. The greater part is beyond comprehension, but I am sure that I want to be a part of God's purpose, helping until restoration is complete.

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

Moving Sale & Lots of Other Changes

Despite three rainy days, we still did pretty well on our giant moving sale. Mostly we kept everything in the garage and house. We had the generous help of our friends and supporters that worked the sale, watched our kids, lent us tables and donated LOTS of stuff!! We made nearly $500!!

Jerry decided to put a "for sale" sign in his car during the garage sale instead of fixing the air conditioning for summer. We planned to sell it before moving. He nearly drove it into the ground the last six years. It drove to and from Texas to visit me when I was finishing school there; took road trips to Canada, Mexico, and Pennsylvania, and moved Jerry to and from work across town every day. It was a good little car for us, but we've certainly outgrown it. The Celica was very popular at the moving sale and test driven three times! We finished off our sale on Saturday by selling it!! Life already seems simpler with one vehicle and much less stuff!

Olivia finally got her reading glasses and we think she looks very sophisticated!! She immediately noticed how much easier reading could be! Overnight she has become an immersed bookworm.

Isaiah spent his second night in a big boy toddler bed last night! He'll be 2 in July. He loves climbing in and out of it constantly.

Moving Sale...

It's what's keeping us busy for the next few weeks: sorting, organizing, pricing, placing newspaper ads, making moving sale signs, recruiting volunteers and donations

Olivia's also planning to sell her own hand-made crafts to raise money for summer camp at Camp Kidjam www.campkidjam.org with other kids from our church

(see below if you're in the Wichita area!!)

MOVING SALE!!
The anticipated, yet dreaded phrase....since a move to Kenya, via Minnesota, is in the works for us.

It's not our favorite past time, but we are striving for a well organized disaster! We really appreciate your offers to help us during this transition. We thought up this list of ideas. If anything jumps out, let us know:

DONATIONS of items to sell. Yes, we have plenty of "stuff" to sell, but proceeds will go to cover the expenses of moving. Here's a chance to be part of our ministry without $$
These donations won't be tax deductible, but still of tremendous value to us!

TABLES or makeshift tables to borrow throughout set up and the sale

HELP organizing, pricing and setting up the week of the sale, Mon. May 21-Wed. May 23

HELP during sale to oversee, sell, organize, etc.
Any amount of time you can be here will be a blessing!

HELP setting stuff up and putting away sale days Thur May 24-Sat May 26 in the morning at 7:30 and afternoon at 5:00

Any help at all is appreciated! Please call with any questions or comments :)
Thanks, Jerry, Breanna, Olivia, Grace & Isaiah


P.S. Anything remaining after the sale will go to the Salvation Army

Devastating Wind

Maybe you heard about a tornado yesterday that leveled a town, Greensburg, in west Kansas. We were not effected and are all fine. But please do keep that  community in your prayers.
So far there are 9 confirmed deaths; every building was essentially destroyed.

We visited there March 2006 on the way home from Arizona; they have the largest hand dug well in the world. The collapsed water tower below is the corner of the parking lot for the well.
 
Jerry & Bre
 
P.S. Here's a link to an article & videos about the tornado: http://www.kake.com/breakingnews/7347256.html

Photographs by: Jaime Oppenheimer/The Wichita Eagle

Strength, courage, and the face of the impossible

These days have been in the shadow of a mountain. Mt. "To-Do" rises up from the plain of business as normal, and the closer I get, the deeper I dread. I look back at my plans for the next year and they seem a lot smaller, insignificant ... naive? I realize now that the plans got me going, but the can't carry us over that crest.

"I have to pray big" I remind myself almost every half hour: Changing lanes on the highway to work, getting another cup of coffee, mowing the yard ... "I have to pray big."

But I still feel tension churning deep inside.

This morning I basked in a ray of sunshine. I have been reading a daily devotional at ivpress.com. Today it was on Joshua 1. It says Be strong and courageous at least 5 times in that chapter. Here is verse 9:

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Airliner blocking traffic

This has nothing to do with our family, Africa, AIM-AIR, or Kansas. A friend e-mailed me the link. It made me smile, and I have to share it.
Not your every day traffic congestion. The quotes are classic! The fact that the driver abandoned his truck and now everybody is working around it - delightfully familiar.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The Boeing 737 stuck in city road Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road. It appears that after taking a wrong turn, the driver found himself facing a flyover that was too low for him to take the plane under. "I've been fascinated with planes and never seen one so closely," engineering student Vamsi Shastri said. "It's huge!" His friend Ankur Rane said, "It's fascinating to see an airplane on the roads when one is only used to seeing cars and auto rickshaws." However, for Pradeep Malhotra, who runs a catering service in the area, the plane has become a huge problem because it is parked right in front of his shop. "My work is suffering because the food cannot be loaded in the big vehicles," he said. "I have to load it in the smaller vans and then carry them to the bigger ones parked at the back. Five days on, it is still not clear who is responsible

Jerry & Breanna

Here you are: a recent, and even decent photo. Not many photos at all of moms and dads once you've got cute kids!!

Breanna's Poem or Where We've Been

Where have we been?
We'll tale you a spin

Had our wills made
Jerry took first aid

Visiting scores of church supporters
Hoping, while there, our kids WON'T be performers!

Lots of calls with AIM
and Proclaim

Grace turned four
It snowed some more

Said goodbye to our cat
But we'll have more goodbyes than that!

Picked out a date for a vast moving sale
we hope and pray for no storm gale

Getting a contract on the house-
We could sure use Mighty Mouse!

Will we move, as planned to Worthington?
Or instead will it be Washington?

We'll know in May
Where we'll go and which way

The move in August
affects all of us

Sony Oz Update

Several people have asked how the land cruiser is faring. Sony Oz - Grace's nickname for the car - is doing better and is back on the road.
During the down time, Dave and Jennifer, loaned us their Astro van, which was very cool. The Celica is a teensie bit small for the whole family to ride anywhere!
A friend and former PNG missionary, Richard, spot welded some pull tabs on. Using a come-along, he was able to straighten out the body enough to fit the tail light back in. The rear lift gate and right door were able to close, as well.
I ordered a replacement right rear sliding window and tail light.
After some stretching, pounding, even tearing, the car is functional. We are thankful to our friends for this answer to prayer.
The next step is grinding off the rust, then spraying a coat of primer to save the exposed steel.
You don't have to leave your home town to have a bit of adventure!

A lullaby

Isaiah should have been sleeping, and the music should have been helping. But I was listening to the lullabies more than Isaiah.
"This makes ME tired!" I remember saying.
Breanna smiled. She felt the same way, I know.
Looking at her I confessed "I actually love this remake ... It's really soothing."
"The CD cover said it's based on a South Pacific lullaby. Can you tell what the language is? Maybe we can figure out where it is from."
I was surprised, "South Pacific? I thought it was from Africa."
I said it might be Melanesian though. Those sounds sounded a lot like Nasioi. Definitely not Polynesian. It was more ... complex.
Didn't Deep Forest "record" that album from samples in Central Africa? Wasn't it from a pygmy tribe?
I just recently did some internet digging, and the story is fascinating and slightly scandalous. Our lullaby CD liner notes were correct. The song originated as "Rorogwela" and sung by Afunakwa in the Baegu language. She is from northern Malaita in the Solomon Islands.
I was ecstatic. That is about 300 miles from Bougainville Island, where I grew up.
The Deep Forest song actually overlays African voices over this Solomon Island melody. My blood is now pumping. The thought that this mix of something from my yesterday and tomorrow were together in a song I knew for over 10 years. A song used on commercials, movies, and who knows how many compilation CDs. Amazing. I had no idea ...
I guess it's always jolting to receive the surprise memory from home. Like a pat on the back from almost forgotten friend I never expected to see again. A whisper to keep going. The journey isn't over, and the destination will have something that sounds familiar.



The Deep Forest version and the lyrics with translation can be found here.

Kiswahili

A new evening ritual involves index cards, quizzes, and brand new words. We usually spend the last 10 minutes around the dinner table going over Swahili words and phrases. It goes with saying that the kids do really well at it. Grace is tatu years old.
Breanna has got me seriously thinking about the Rosetta Stone Swahili program. It's a little pricey, but it doesn't require scratching words onto index cards, so it might go a little faster.

Another video

Below is a video off of the AIM-AIR website. We added a poll on the right. This is something I am playing around with. Look for weekly updates...




We are also adding some videos to our kid's blog. We couldn't script these any funnier even if we wanted to!

Mr.Glass

When last we we posted, it was broken glass we were cleaning out of of our family ride. This time, it's a bit more beautiful.



Jerry has completed his first custom panel, on his own -his design!
I think it's gorgeous, but we're throwing it out there on e-bay to see what he can get for his hard work! If you're interested in seeing it, or bidding, here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330082146037&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:2
the auction will end next Sunday evening (at least for those of us in the western hemisphere)

White, beautiful, cold, and treacherous

At a quarter to six I drove down a stretch of elevated highway near downtown Wichita - my typical afternoon commute home. I noticed I was unusually tense and a sore neck reminded me why.
Two days earlier we enjoyed some rare snow time by taking the kids and two friends to go sledding. On the way home the volume in the car was boisterous and rising! I tried a diversion by turning on a CD of South African music, hoping to quiet down conversation (not a brilliant idea, more of a tired feeble attempt!)
Grace was not happy with all the noise, and I made further adjustments to the stereo. On a straight stretch of downtown flyover, with ice and snow remnants left by the plow, the land cruiser started drifting sideways. I pictured the rear tires frantically clawing at pellets of ice, trying to establish traction.
I tried to correct, and the swerve became aggravated and in the opposite direction as my confidence in our four-wheel-drive icon of invulnerability flew out the window.
We started a spin while sliding towards the left shoulder. Past 90 degrees the front right corner of the bumper hit the cement barrier, keeping us squarely from a 15 plus foot drop. The car bounced off this rotated further and hit the back right corner with an unforgiving, resolute crunch.
I remember disappointment when I heard that sound. It wasn't a bright crunch, like someone biting down on a crisp taco. It was dull and painful. Perhaps the immediate thought of bending metal made me wince inside.
Judging by the sore necks Olivia and I have, at that moment our bodies must have strained against seatbelts.
We stopped, facing east, on the left shoulder as snow flakes continued to fall. Fortunately no other traffic was nearby. I crossed over to the right shoulder and stopped to gather my thoughts.
Breanna noticed our spare tire was back in the left shoulder. It took some time to calm down the kids. A firm "We are OK. We are stopped and we are going to be alright" seemed to work.
Walking across the slick highway made me wonder if I really wanted to cross it again, between spaces in traffic, with the tire . I thought of dropping it off the overpass to pick it up down below, but I didn't think it would fare too well and who knows where it would bounce!
I got back to the car. As I started tying up a now dragging piece of trim, the highway patrol pulled up. They wanted me to exit the highway and meet with them at a convenient parking lot to fill out the accident report.
Aside from being sore and rattled, no one was hurt, and we give all the credit to God. The car damage could have been worse, and if anything, it re-awakened me to the realities of driving in poor conditions, even in a four wheel drive tank of a car.
Our daily reality, regardless of whether we remember it or not, is we must trust God in everything. I can't explain why this needed to happen right now, but I know He has in His hands the way to Nairobi, body panels for the Land Cruiser, and the lives of our family and friends. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I love seeing the snow covered lanes under trees sporting highlighted branches. But, maybe, Spring would be nice ...

And we're off ... 2007!

Over half way through January and this year is tearing along! From a week long Christmas break, it is back to a familiar routine with freshly sprung challenges. And the silent questions in all our hearts ... what are you up to and when do you leave?

This is my quick attempt to answer. The rosy new year persuaded us to become serious about exercising the body, mind and soul (unfortunately a new diet idea didn't stick), making time for family, and preparing for our journey.

The best way we prepare is to pay off debt. A great opportunity has realized and I occasionally moonlight as a stain-glass-window-maker-apprentice. My good friend, David Strouse, runs the custom window department at a nearby glass shop, and I enjoy learning the trade and hanging out with him. I will write more about this later.

A couple evenings a week Olivia and I work through a kids book called “Let's Move Overseas.” I love spending time one on one with her and watch the apprehension ease from her shoulders as she adjusts to the idea of leaving Kansas.

I enrolled in a class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately, the class was canceled after the first week.

We have been reading. These books relate to our new vocation and my existing one. My books have been The Emotionally Healthy Church, My American Journey (Colin Powell's autobiography), Who Moved My Cheese?, and Revolution (by George Barna). More on this later, as well.

Our plans are (come August): sell the house, leave Cessna, and join Proclaim Aviation for a year (pending official acceptance). From there, we will (God willing) complete the technical evaluation and leave with AIM-AIR as full time missionaries. This will likely be our last winter in Kansas for a long time.

The family is well, aside from the sniffles and sore throats. Isaiah mastered walking ... and walking away with whatever his little hands find. Breanna started a unit study with the girls on Africa (something Olivia requested), and we slowly work on packing up the house.

I can tell this is going to be an exciting year! I feel like a wooden ship driven by a strength I can feel but not touch. It fills the sails and tightens the ropes which strain to pull this mortal vessel on a tightly steered course. And over the bow comes the crash of waves and salty air filled with adventure and purpose. Hang on ... and thanks for coming aboard with us!

-Jerry

Christmas Joys & God's Creatures

Christmas morning we (the 5 of us & Jerry's folks) all enjoyed a special treat! After weeks of viewing the Botswana waterhole, that's linked at right, we had only seen impalas, warthogs and birds. So on Jesus' birth-day, what a gift we got in seeing a herd of elephants at the water hole, with 4 babies!

We then visited our local zoo and got to see our lion showing off his bravado... roaring at us. Maybe all these animals reminding us of Africa, where we will continue to journey toward throughout this New Year!

We ended our relaxing Christmas by watching the Nativity Story. We pray your Christmas was just as blessed! May you bask in His love daily!