Too close to call

Hi,

I know that I haven't blogged in a while; but I have something interesting worth blogging. I came across this story that was originally written March 8,1986. Its an interesting story that gives you an idea of what we some times have to deal with.

It had not been week for the faint-hearted. First the Duvalier government had laid on a state of siege, with troops everywhere. Tensions were running high as country people as well as city people alike waited for some one to make the first move in the showdown between the people and the government of Haiti. Stores were mostly closed either in protest of the government of Duvalier or in fear of the mob attack by those who were trying to force the downfall of the Duvalier regime. In Cap Haitian there was one grocery store that opened for a couple of hours each morning to serve the needs of desperate shoppers. The store itself was like a mad house as people pushed and shoved to get what groceries they could before they would all be gone.

Then on Friday Haitian National Television announced what everyone was waiting to hear... Duvalier had fled the country. People everywhere erupted with wild shouts of joy, and joyful dancing in the streets. Then the downtrodden turned on the oppressors and the search began for those Tonton Macoutes that had caused so much suffering in Haiti during the Duvalier Regime. the common people became angry mobs of vigilanties, seeking out and beating or killing any Tonton Macoutes they could find.

The new government of Haiti, the Council of Five, attempted to restore order by closing the country's borders, roads, airports, and seaports, and imposing long curfews. That Saturday morning Agaps flights was hurling down the airways to Haiti when Miami center boomed over the pilots headset and told the pilot to turn back to the States; Haiti was closed up tight-no flights allowed.

Tune in next week for the rest of the story!

Loose lips...get me mad.

Wednesday the 25th I was flying for God. When I landed for the day I thought I would check out my wife's blog . Only to read that Some one At the fountain had made a nasty comment to one of my kids teachers.
If it bothered this person soooo much why didn't she confront my wife? or me, I was there.
Its so easy to to make assumptions when you don't have all the facts. "Miss perfect parent " probably doesn't know that my kids are special needs, and when they don't listen one must get stern sometimes. Miss "perfect parent" probably would not be able to handle my kids; since she lives in a "Disney" reality where here kids are perfect automatons and doesn't have to go through the emotional ups and downs that we do because of people like her and her comments.
By the way; My wife is the best mom to my kids, she is attentive, caring, loving, and she has patience that amazes me,(the ex-corrections deputy).

Engines,Mail bags and such...

Boy! Has it been a month since I last published? Well let me catch you up!

The king Air was finally flown out of Eluthra with a rental engine, and tweaked here at Venice. The nice folks at King's Wings were very kind in letting us use their Cessna 401 while all the fixing was going on with the King Air. When bad things happen... You meet some really nice people.

Agape got some bad news about the engine that blew; it would cost more to fix than to by another used and in better condition. So after spending alot of money we have a new engine, and again King's Wings is letting us use their Cessna 401.

Here's an interesting story. King's Wings was in a bind and asked if one of Agape's pilots could fly a team over to the D.R. in there Cessna 401, no problem. I fly over to N. Palm Beach airport to meet the team, only to find Ruffin Stepp from Venice Presbyterian! What a small world. Ruffin got to be my co-pilot for the wonder flight to Eluthra. I love how God puts people in our lives.

Here we go again.

A lot has been going on here at Agape... But one thing is clear: God is in control. We all have this grand illusion that we are in control, nothing could be further from the truth.

Last week when the King Air was out on its weekly run, the right engine blew shortly after taking off. Our boys had to make a 180 turn and go back to Eluthra. With everyone safe, the forces of the Holy Spirit, and of the most high God kicked in!

Dave Spagler who is based in Eluthra put his airplane in to help us out. Boxes for the missionaries we transferred to Dave's plane and on they went to Haiti, and the next day on to the D.R. the supply line continued!

We could flip-out and say "What are we gonna do now?!" But no, it's in God's hands. The plane will be fixed, and in the process we will all have grown a little bit and experienced blessings that other wise we would have missed. It's all good... God always has our best interest in mind, I know its hard to believe sometimes, but its true.

You gotta eat.

Well its Wednesday here at Agape, and the fist thing we do is eat! I can't complain. I must say my physical tummy is full , but lately I've been feeling spiritually hungry, a definite sign that I have not been in the word as often as I should. So if you see me, ask me if I've had my "bread " today. Sometimes I get busy & I forget, so remind me.

Staying in the Dominican Republic

Hi, I trust that everyone is doing well. I flew on March 4Th, and I stayed with one of our missionary families. these folks are the nicest you'll ever meet, and when I learn that I will be staying with them I always look forward to it.
The family lives in a small house and when we come to stay for the night we end up displacing two people out of their beds which makes me feel bad, but the excitement at the house when we arrive is always at a fever pitch. His daughters all come out to say a shy hello and his young son comes out to greet us to try out his English on us.
His wife who used to be a hotel chef always makes the best Dominican meals. Their hospitality is hard to beat.
Rodger's son was showing us some of his art work, I must say, he is very talented. I wish I could show you some of the work this 10 year old does! Rodger was telling me that he would like to send him to art school, but that he could not afford it, it broke my heart! However I will be sending him some are supplies, if anything its the least I can do.
Rodger is quite the carpenter, and furnture maker. All his living room furniture is made by him, I wish I could show you.
This is what its all about, fellowship. If we could all get along this way and do God's will in the process the world would go far. God's kingdon is great! and this is a small look into it. Its awsome!

Tornados! Where.

Yes I'm still here after several tornado's touched down (thanks for asking). Luckily none of them were where we were staying.
I think that they are wrapping it up here at Covington, it should be done some time today.
I can't wait to go home, don't get me wrong; the folks here at Covington are great, all are firm servants for Christ, and their hospitality is beyond compare, but I'm home sick and I miss my family (I know, I'm a wimp).
Stand by for the local Mexican restaurant report!

Hanging out in Oklahoma.

Patience, the mere mention of the word conjuors up visions of waiting for a very long time. Cobwebs and skeletons come to mind. I'm sitting at Covington engine, and waiting for some things to get done, but the wait is never easy. Good things come to those that wait, or so I am told. Impatience is not good. The Israelites got impatient with Moses to return from Mt. Sinai and things got ugly.

The engine on the plane is split open so they can inspect all the goodies inside (fascinating stuff).
I would love to be on my way back home. I'm such a home body, I would have never made it in the airlines, I would be too home sick!

Oklahoma is a big open place, windy & cool, what do people do here? The folks here at Covington are up to thier ears in work because all the crop dusters are in for work. I always thought that they were small. These planes are huge, with massive engines!

[I am struggling with layout here... Help, anyone??] Picture 1: As you can see, there isn't much here. That big pickup was given to us for the week. I have never driven an f-250 diesl; it's a nice ride. Picture 2: The big plane is a Grumen Abatross, its huge! Unfortunatly it hasn't flown in 3 years, kinda sad. Picture 3: The tubine disk is what makes all the power (550HP) not bad for a little disk. Stay tuned for more updates.

Not Me Monday

Howdy folks, I haven’t “not me’d” in a little while. This is a blog carnival started by MckMamma at MyCharmingKids.net. I have no idea why it’s called a blog “carnival” – but it is… So when you are done feeling like a better mom than me, go over to her blog and you can see a whole slew of other denials. By the way, it is NOT Sunday. I mean, it's Monday in Australia, is it not?

Mark is not sitting here contemplating how to make my Sunday afternoon difficult. He did not scheme up the plan to leave me with the van - but take the only set of keys with him to Oklahoma... I did not have to get rescued by Drew and Jeff. They did not leave what they were doing, come to my house, get the extra set of car keys, go to the airport, get the car, bring it back to me, and then go about their day. I did not have to call four of five people before I got these two guys. I did not try to call Mark a 100 times when he was stopped in Mississippi for Chili dogs and ice cream. He will not tell you that he needed fuel and a bathroom break. The real reason is not for the free chili dogs and ice cream. Oh and just in case you were not wondering, I did not/will not rat him out.

Speaking of Mark and Oklahoma, I am not jealous that he is spending a week in a hotel – with maid service – while I’m at home with the kids. I am not thankful that at least I get to go to work and get a bit of a break. I am not going to keep the babysitter for date night and have a date with myself. I am not planning on using aftercare at school at least twice. I am not that selfish (well maybe I am…).

Do not be fooled by Ryan's apparent cuteness. It is not part of his ploy to take over the world. Here is not snuggled on his dad's legs. He acts all cute and innocent and then wham! He attacks - usually in the form of whining - but even better - he gets into your stuff and makes a mess. He does not love to play in the kitchen cupboards, refrigerator, and dishwasher. (Oh, we did not take the boys to Lowe's this week so they could open doors to the refrigerators to their heart's content.)

I am not seriously considering swapping my pots and pans, cleaning supplies, and pantry ingredients with the toys in the toy room. I mean seriously, Ryan has gobs of toys, but what does he not play with? My stuff in the kitchen. So if I swap, will he then play with his toys? How much of a pain would it be to walk to the toy room to get a baking dish? It’s not that far away…

I do not think Zach grew at least half an inch this week. His pants did not fit last weekend. Today, they are not too short. Maybe that was why he was not grumpy last week - maybe he did not have growing pains. He was not a nightmare for his teacher on Thursday. He has not had this teacher for 3 years – and she has not been through many ups and downs with this little man.

I am not freaking out about my ankle or Achilles tendon. It is not sore and I do not have a marathon all paid for and ready to go in April. I am not worried about next weekend’s half marathon in Sarasota. I am not planning on doing some serious cross-training this week and absolutely no running. I am not looking for prayer – even though it is silly. I am not thankful that I worship a God who cares about the ankles as much as he cares about the bigger problems. Speaking of God, I am not totally enjoying reading through the Old Testament. I mean where else can you read about battles where people were killed with a jawbone of a donkey? Or a battle won because the other people were confused and the Israelites did not even have to fight? It’s not cool stuff!

I am not reading Twilight. It is not engaging. (Seriously, vampires and werewolves are not a genre I would choose – but I like this book.) I am not loving the fact that I can talk to kids at my school about this book… Although, I do not not-think these kids should be reading this – it’s a bit “mature” for tweeners. And, gasp, I am not actually getting excited about my cushy position being eliminated and going back to a classroom. I am not actually looking forward to having students again. I am excited now, will I be in October??

And finally, I am not counting the minutes until Mark returns from Oklahoma where he watched an airplane get fixed. Oh yeah, I am not pestering the people at google about my blog being disabled. I am not frustrated that you can’t actually find the steps to get it corrected. I am not secretly hiding a million other things I did not do this week. They usually involve short-temperedness with the family... Oh, and I was not thankful that I listened to my friend Jen's morning-with-two-children stories. I have not had my kids paint their face with Kool-Aid powder the day of school pictures -with minutes to get out the door and get to school. So I am not thankful that it could be worse...

K

Campfires, track, and ramblings

I haven't blogged in a while and I am still pretty bummed that my personal blog is down, so I am still taking over Marks.  He was blogging yesterday about the weather and I deleted his post because it wasn't what I wanted.  And I've I wanted to put some pictures up...  (I don't know what's up with the picture placement and I don't have time to play around.  I'm caught up in reading the Twilight Series and I just got the 3rd book.  It is horrible literature, but I want to know what the kids at school are reading.  I will say that vampires and werewolves are addicting...)

Last Saturday night Zach came up with a great idea.  He wanted to roast hot dogs over our fire pit.  For those of you who know Zach, he really only talks about 3 things, Cars movie, riding the bus, and where's Daddy.  So out of the blue, he told us very clearly, that he wanted hot dogs over the fire.  When Zach speaks clearly and uses a new sentence, he pretty much gets what he wants.  So of course, we cooked hot dogs over the fire.  I was a nervous wreck because the boys kept walking around and getting too close to the fire for my tastes.  But all went well and we had fun...  Of course, my favorite part were the s'mores...

Zach's next Special Olympics sport, track, started today.  All four of us went and had a great time.  Zach made a new friend and I think he will like running.  Maybe he can do the marathon with me in April?  

above: Zach is running the 50 m dash - I won't say his time, but he stopped in the middle...

below: Mark, the clown, is juggling the 4, 6, and 8 lb shots from the shot put.

Speaking of marathons in April, my ankle is bothering me.  Please pray that I figure out why and that God heals it.  After about 2 miles it really starts hurting.  Today it wasn't too bad once I got past mile 6, but I don't want to do any long runs while it is bothering me.  Ugh...

Water Egress Training!

I must say that last Friday was quite interesting.  I attended a water ditching survival class in Lakeland with some of my colleagues in the missionary flying biz. I don't know about you , but where can you go and be repeatedly dunked in pool with all your clothes on, and learn a bunch of cool survival stuff; yup, in God's service.

The class was taught by a navy rescue diver, and was very informative. We learned how to extricate ourselves from an inverted cockpit that was fully submerged. We were also induced to a bunch of neat survival gear, and got to play with an inflatable raft and practiced climbing in after each dunk. All in all a good time was had by all. God forbid we should ever have to use these skills, but we are now better equipped mentally if we do.

Not Me! Monday

Not Me! Monday is a game started by MckMamma at mycharmingkids.net.  Basically it's a chance to deny what you have done over the course of a week.  Go to her website and check out oodles of other people's denials.

Let me start this by using the obvious [not] me...  I did [not] have my own blog disabled because blogspot thinks it's spam.  I am [not] checking it frequently to see if it is back up again.  I have [not] taken over my husbands blog.  I do [not] really think they should be combined since his is Mikarts FAMILY.  It's just that I do[not] like my blog better than his.  (How do I word that so I say that mine is better than his??)  

I did [not] go completely lazy for the last two weekends and not clean my house thoroughly.  I did [not] jump for joy when Mark decided he would mop the floor this week!  I do [not] have a huge back-log of cleaning items - that I so neatly sorted using Travis's Spring Clean Year Round system.   

I am [not] in this huge renovation kick.  Ok, actually, I'm not - I just want to be... I did [not] drive Mark absolutely nuts with all these plans and ideas.  I do [not] want to get rid of the carpet in the bedrooms.  I am [not] tired of cleaning poop off carpet.  However, I am [not] the greatest poop-carpet cleaner ever!  I was [not] completely over said carpet when the dog got in on the carpet-pooping action.  I am [not] writing about poop in my husband's blog.  Nope, not me!

I am [not] disappointed that my Mephisto clog's only went for $15 bucks on Ebay!  The last pair of Mephistos did [not] go for $92.  I am [not] contemplating taking the boys to the Bargin Barn this afternoon for more bargins.  I have [not] struck out the last few times.  I am [not] a bad mother because I'm choosing Goodwill over the playground...  On that same vein, I'm [not] choosing to blog over getting dinner prepared.  

This is a pretty mild list, I am [not] sure there is more that I can deny... But how do you top poop and carpet?  Can you tell I teach  middle school????

Kristin 

I'm temporarily taking over Mark's blog!!

Aaahhhh...  I have had my blog disabled!!  So now I'm using Marks. I would say "hijacking" but since he is a pilot, that's probably not the terminology I'm supposed to use - even though I just did.  Why is that when I don't have my own blog, I have all sorts of stuff I want to talk about??  

Here's what I think happened to my blog.  The blog robots that search the blogs to make sure they are "ok" thought mine was spam.  I embedded a map of my most recent run and that was the last time I "saw" my blog.  It wasn't even that impressive of a run - just 12 miles.  I was all set to brag about this weekend's 18 mile run.  Oh well.  I put in a request to get blogger to look at my blog, and I don't know how long that takes.  In the mean time, Mark's blog is going to become my own!

I really don't have anything to say - other than - I hope they fix mine soon!

K

I'm off...Fly'n For Jesus!

Well here I am, the day before a flight. I'm getting the last few things ready, maintenance is working feverishly to fix some small last minute things, and the last of the cargo is loaded. I don't think we could fit another Bible on that plane.

My thoughts race as to what we will encounter in our travels. Will the airports have any issues? Will the weather be cooperative? Fuel availability? (That's a big one.)  I remember calling an airport in the Bahamas the day before a flight and having the fuel guy tell me "We have plenty of fuel mon, com down". Only to arrive and have the guy say, "We out".  I called you yesterday and you said you had plenty! "That was yesterday mon". And so goes international flying.
The trip will include Eluthra, Cap Haitian, Port au Prince, Santo Domingo, Santiago, and back home.