Did all that really happen in just two months?

Have you ever had the feeling that you aren’t making any progress and then one day you realize that a whole lot was actually happening? That is exactly how I would describe the last two months.

For starters Ben and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on October 5th! We had a wonderful dinner at a Brazilian steak house in Orlando. Very delicious but I left feeling like I’d consumed my lifetime allotment of skewered meat all in one night.

Then at the end of October (in the midst of all his studying) Ben became a US citizen! We submitted the application in late July and on October 27th he was called to the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) office in Orlando for an interview and civics test. Passing with flying colors he was then scheduled for the oath ceremony two days later. On October 29th I snapped as many pictures as I could while Ben stood with right hand raised and pledged an oath of allegiance to the US. Exciting stuff! So now all our US visa woes are over. Ben has all the rights of a citizen that was born in the US with the exception that he can’t run for president. And just in case you were worried, he still gets to keep his British citizenship! Soon he’ll have two passports, one red and one blue.

On November 10th we got to see James Ferrett who came down with a DTS (Discipleship Training School) to attend YWAM’s 50th anniversary celebration in Orlando. We met up at the new YWAM base, went for dinner at Steak N’ Shake and then back to YWAM for the main event. Loren and Darlene Cunningham (founders of YWAM) were in attendance and it was great to hear them speak.

Of course the really big news is that Ben is now a Certified Flight Instructor! That’s right folks, if you want to learn to fly a helicopter Ben is now qualified to teach you! This was the last major course and it is a big relief that it is complete. In the flight training world the final exam is called a “check-ride” and consists of an oral exam and a flight test. Ben’s oral exam lasted from 9am-3pm! That’s a whole heck of a lot of testing! He was scheduled to fly directly after but the weather made a turn for the worse and the flight was rescheduled for the following day. When we woke up the next day the weather was still terrible. After a morning of praying the weather cleared within an hour of his flight (it got worse again later). He was able to finish off the check-ride and come home with his temporary certificate in hand. A couple of months and the official one will come in from the FAA.

So now on to the last course! The final course to take is the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII). This is a short course and should be relatively easy to accomplish. Ben hasn’t flown instruments in a long time though so will take a bit of brushing up.

We’ll need you to please keep us in your prayers over the coming months. Ben will apply for a job at the helicopter school where he’s training (this is the same place I work and where he previously worked as a mechanic). Working at the school would offer lots of opportunity to build flight time and experience while being paid. That said we are under no illusions here, the school hasn’t been hiring a lot of new instructors this year with the economy and student financing suffering as it is. So please do pray for us in this. We’re open to whatever God has in store, but also have our own ideas of what we’d prefer!

You’ll remember a blog post from summer when Ben went down to fly and do a bit of maintenance with Samaritan Air. That opportunity still exists, but the flying isn’t really pre-scheduled or guaranteed. It’d be wonderful experience but is very dependent on whether someone calls to hire the helicopter. It may be that Ben travels to Jupiter during the week and then comes home on the weekends.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Here's a quick run down with what Helimissions requirements are and how far along we have come:

Pilot requirements:                                   Current progress:
500 Hours Total time                                   352 Hours Total time
100 Hours Turbine time                               0 Hours Turbine time

Mechanic requirements:
A&P License with 3 years exp.                   A&P License with 5 years exp.
w/ 1 year on turbine helicopters                  minor turbine experience

1 Factory field maintenance                        0 Factory field maintenance
course specific to AS350                            course specific to AS350
Helimission helicopters                               Helimission helicopters

Busy June

Busy, yes that is definitely the word to describe the month of June! We headed back down to Jupiter twice, once to put the tail back on the R44 (I even helped turn a few wrenches this time!) and a second time to drop Ben off ahead of a ferry flight to Omaha, Nebraska. Ben finished up the Rotorcraft ground school and has started working on his CFI binder. Ben turned 30 and we had a visitor from YWAM come through on his way to dropping a truck load of Haiti aid to the port in West Palm. Here are some highlights:

Ferry Flight

Ben flew an R44 up to Omaha, Nebraska where it will be crop spraying. The flight was a wonderful opportunity to build time on a new type of helicopter. To meet the special requirements to fly the R44 he first had to take 5hrs of instruction and receive a sign-off for his logbook. These were the first instruction flights in quite a while and were great to have before flying the aircraft cross-country 1,300+ miles! A second pilot named Jack also went on the flight and Ben enjoyed the company. With the 5hrs of instruction and the ferry flight Ben has about 11 hours in the R44. Hopefully timing will work out and he can fly the aircraft back down to Florida in August and add a few more hours. If he wants to instruct in a R44 he'll need 25hrs total.

Ben's 30^th birthday!

Amid the absolute chaos of June Ben turned 30! He's been asking to go jet-skiing for years so with some good friends we headed out to Merritt Island and splashed around the Indian River at 55 miles an hour. It was great fun! Afterward we headed to the beach then out to lunch at Tiajuana Flats. In the evening our friend Chris put on a fabulous murder mystery dinner. Ben “Bo Jalais” turned out to be the killer!

Visit from James

The YWAM visitor with Haiti relief was James Ferrett one of Ben's school friends. James and his wife Kelly serve on the YWAM base in Madison, Wisconsin. James drove a truck with a 25ft box filled with medical supplies, food and clothing down from Wisconsin to drop at the port in West Palm. A long trip for a truck with air conditioning that only worked when the truck was at idle!

So that's it for June. July is already shaping up to be another busy month, but promises to have lots of fun in store for us! Ben will continue working on his CFI binder and on the 11^th we'll get the first of our 5 UK visitors. I hope they all bring chocolate! :)