May 2011 Update

I’ve been sitting on this blog update for quite a while now and waiting to finally have news on what we will be doing next. I feel like over the past year anytime we’ve been asked what the future holds the only possible response is a shrug and a “We really don’t know.” After being in suspense for so long you’d think I’d be used to it! While I still can’t give you any firm details, here’s what we’ve been up to:

Pilot licenses/ratings completed!
Ben completed his Certified Instructor Instrument Rating and also had a checkout with an FAA pilot examiner to be able to teach in the R22. This was the final course to take, although in the life of a pilot and mechanic there is always additional training whether required or simply recommended.

At the end of June Ben will travel back to the Robinson factory in California for a pilot safety course. This short four day course is required by many insurance companies and is a must have for working with Samaritan Air. At the end of the course I’ll fly out to join him and we’ll spend some time with Mercy Ship friends and do a little road trip.

Samaritan Air
Once the Robinson Safety Course is completed the plan is to start working with Samaritan Air. In addition to flying relief flights in Haiti they also train and equip pilots for the mission field.  To serve in the mission field you generally need 500 hours. They help pilots fill the gap with real-life flight training.  Exactly what this will look like is still coming together, but we are definitely excited! Samaritan Air is working on establishing a permanent location in Haiti to offer continued air support. Right now they are in the process of clearing the land in Haiti where a hanger will be located and are also refurbishing aircraft for the field. Samaritan Air has had a long relationship with Haiti and served the country for years with air support after hurricanes and the earthquake in 2010. It is a tremendous privilege to be joining with the ministry as they step out in faith with this field location! Please keep all involved with Samaritan Air in prayer, especially the Parker family who lead the ministry. Please also consider supporting the ministry financially. You can find more info here: http://samair.org

Adoption
We received our home study packet in the mail and have begun to pull together all the required paperwork. We were delighted to learn our case was assigned to Dawn, the lady who led our MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) class. We know and love Dawn from class and are excited to be able to have her do our home study! Her first visit to our home will be on Thursday May 19th.

Day to Day
I continue to work at the flight school and very much enjoy my job. I’m also still taking piano lessons and have surprised myself by sticking with it for a year now. Together with some of the ladies at work I’ve also started running again. Partly because I live such a sedentary life with my office job and also because I’m turning 30! I’ve never been much of a birthday person but this milestone has reminded me that time is ticking away. Running a long distance race has always been something I’ve wanted to do and so now seemed like as good a time as any to go for it. It’s early days though so we’ll see if I can stick with it. I also continue to help in Children’ Church every other week and absolutely love spending time with the kids. We’ve seen several get baptized recently and I am so thrilled to see Christ take hold of their lives!

Now that Ben is done with training he has a lot of free time on his hands. Ben did apply for an instructor position at the flight school and although invited for an interview he didn’t get the job. He has been keeping busy reading helicopter books, editing videos, attending bible studies, and getting all the stuff done that home that we never seem to have time for. Last week he shampooed the carpets for which I am really very grateful! Ben also continues to play in the worship band at church and really enjoys being part of that team.

We had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Samaritan Air, Pastor Volner from Haiti, another Helimission candidate couple, and a pilot who may be joining the Helimission candidate ranks soon! It was a wonderful time of encouragement!

Prayer Requests
• Focus on Christ.
That we would fix our eyes on Christ, not on meeting flight requirements. He is the reason we are preparing for missions. Proclaiming his name and story are more important than anything else.

• Encouragement and perseverance.
I sometimes wonder if I had really known how long this road would be, would I have so willingly signed up? After six years of training we’ve made great progress, but at the same time ache for the mission field.

• Adoption.
That we would follow God’s leading in this process. For our hearts and for the hearts of the child or children we adopt. Keep in mind we will take these kids to the mission field with us!

• Samaritan Air.
For wisdom as arrangements are made for the field location and the aircraft refurbishment. For the funds necessary to complete the work.

Next Steps

Finally something new to report! It has been a shamefully long time since I wrote last and I am pleased to be able to give an update of progress. This last month has been both exciting and scary all at the same time. Ben quite his job at Bristow Academy maintenance after more than four years there. Thursday April 1 was his last day in the hanger and the team gave him a nice farewell complete with cake.

Being unemployed Ben spent the following week at home organizing and cleaning the vehicles. You could have eaten off of the Maxima's hood! But being a house husband wasn't to last long and on Friday we both drove down to Jupiter to help Brian Parker (runs Samaritan Air) take the tail boom off of an Robinson 44 helicopter and get it packed up for shipping to the factory. Helimission introduced us to Brian via e-mail back in January and about a month ago we visited Jupiter to meet him face to face. Ben will be flying and doing maintenance with Brian to get some "real world" experience to better prepare him for work with Helimission.

Ben worked on the R44 with a New Tribes Aviation guy, Justin Wallhoff, who is also flying with Brian to build experience. Justin and his wife Courtney are at the end of their training (10 years of training!) and will be heading to Sulawesi, Indonesia in a couple months. We hope to be able to see them on the field one day and maybe we really will get the chance to - they will be operating a Helimission aircraft!



In addition to meeting and spending time with some really great people we were absolutely spoiled rotten by the Parkers! They cooked us breakfast and fed us like royalty. Robin spent Saturday morning showing me the sights, I relaxed by the pool in the afternoon and occasionally wandered out see how the boys were doing with the helicopter. Sunday morning we went to church (Christ Fellowship), out for brunch and then headed back up to Titusville. What a weekend!

So the plan is now that Ben will head back down on Monday for a week of flying and I'll stay here in Titusville and continue working. He'll come home on the weekend and then look at re-sitting through some of the ground school classes at Bristow Academy. The weeks he isn't in class he'll be down in Jupiter. And sometime in the coming months he'll look at doing his Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) rating and attending the pilot safety course at the Robinson factory in California. I'm sure things will be crazy, but we are very much excited about what lies ahead!

Samaritan Air is a a helicopter ministry that trains and equips pilots for the mission field. Samaritan Air is also currently operating an R44 down in Haiti.
They do some pretty amazing work, please take the time to check out their site http://samair.org

Justin and Courtney Wallhoff are missionaries serving with New Tribes Aviation. Justin is both a fixed wing and helicopter pilot as well as an A&P mechanic and Courtney is a counselor. They are headed for Sulawesi, Indonesia in July. Check out their blog http://wallhoffs.wordpress.com