Merry Christmas

December 2013

In the midst of all the gift buying, cookie baking, mince pie making, and decorating, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for your love and generosity to us over the past year. We sincerely appreciate your prayers and encouragement! 



 

What a Year!

2013 turned out much differently than we ever expected.

On Valentine's Day we adopted our son Isaiah...



March we accepted Helimission's invitation for Ben to serve as a pilot and mechanic in Papua, Indonesia...



April we enjoyed a South American cruise with Ben's family...



June and July we left our much loved jobs at the helicopter school...



July we spent a week helping Friend's of Refugees with at the annual Summer Spectacular Camp and Ben flew to Arizona for a check flight with the Chief Pilot at New Tribes...



September we started a semester at Elim Bible Institute in New York and enjoyed the changing seasons as well as our classes...



December we flew back to Titusville to say farewell. Ben preached his first sermon and we had a lot of fun at our goodbye party and church small group Christmas party...




2014 will bring many more changes for us as we move to Indonesia for language and culture school and then to our base assignment in Papua. We are learning to enjoy each day as it comes. Thank you for your encouragement, prayers, and support. We couldn't do this without you!

Merry Christmas,

Ben, Anisha and Isaiah

Full Steam Ahead

Our train barrels down the tracks a million miles per hour.  No time to stop or rest until we reach the station. Sweaty and exhausted we push shovels into the coal and with shaking arms and burning muscles heap load after load into the engine’s furnace.  We round the bend and the station appears in the distance. Faster! Faster! Not long now!

A sudden violent shudder runs through the wagon as the train jolts off the track and is lifted into the air. We’re thrown off balance but manage to land in a safe place. The train careens off the tracks and in an instant it’s over. Stunned, but thankfully unhurt, we climb out of the train. The station is only a little way ahead.  We stare in disbelief at the train disengaged from the tracks and resting on its side in front of us. We hold each other and wonder, What on earth just happened?

 

Today Ben was scheduled for his License Skills Test with the Head of Training for the European flight program. The preceding four weeks were filled with day and night stress and preparation for the today’s test. It was particularly important that today went well as he’s already been assigned students on the European program who are eager to start flying with him on Monday. Also the instructors on the European team are overloaded and need to pass on some of their students. To add further complications changes to European aviation regulations are coming at the start of April and the credit Ben received towards his European flight instructor rating will no longer be applicable. We both looked forward to the steady pay check Ben would earn but even more so to him completing this final test and not having to think about studying or exams for many years to come. In an instant the unthinkable happened. The train left the tracks.

Ben completed the first two hours of the license skills test and was about to head out for the flight portion when it came to light that he doesn’t actually meet the flight hour requirements. Everyone had assumed that because he met the Pilot in Command requirements he must also have met the Flight Instruction requirements. This would be the case for most instructors, but Ben logged many of his hours flying for maintenance not as an instructor. In total he is 84hrs short. 

We sit on the grass and stare at the train lying on its side with the platform so close, but now totally out of reach. We feel strange and numb. Ben said, “I feel like I’m unemployed again.” This isn’t the case as he’ll be transferred back to the FAA team for the time being, but with such an abrupt change the feelings are strangely similar. We hope the train can be lifted back onto the tracks and all the effort Ben put into unlearning and relearning teaching methods be rewarded with the opportunity to instruct on the European program. 

I don’t know how it will be possible to build 84hrs in a month. Ben is a hard worker and no doubt will put all his effort into attaining the required hours. I just hope the goal is attainable. If he doesn’t log the hours, he’ll have to complete a lot of additional training to suffice the new regulations.  

Aside from this set back, I have a lot more to tell you about. Over the last two months Ben’s mom and dad visited, we attended Heli Expo, we were assigned a new adoption case worker, and attended the Empowered to Connect Conference with my parents. We’ve formed great memories amid a lot of chaos and excitement.  Here are some pictures to sum everything up.  

 Fun at Epcot! It was our first time there and now officially my favorite Disney park.

 Being goofy and making John smile.

 Picnic lunch following a morning of bird watching.

 Kayaking! (Yes we had more than one boat)

 Crazy big Russian helicopter called the Hind at Heli Expo

 Helimission friends at Heli Expo!

 Awe, don't we look nice :)

 Empowered to Connect Conference. Learning how to parent

and love children from hard places. My mom wrote an awesome blog 

called "The Suffering Child"about the conference. 

Read it here: http://www.drawacircle.net/

August Update

Jeffrey and Eric

A couple weeks ago we participated as a host family in an Education First (EF) homestay program.  As part of the program kids come from all over the world to learn English and experience American culture. Our group of EF kids came from China and we enjoyed the roles of British/American parents to Eric and Jeffrey. Both are 13 years old (Jeffrey turned 13 last during the two weeks with us) and both are really great young men! Sure they are quiet and Jeffrey is a bit shy, but I think that has mostly to do with his lack of confidence in his English skills.  Eric’s English is much better as he spent time in New Zealand last year and so is able to act as translator when needed. 

We took the boys to watch sea turtles come up the beach to nest, shopping at the mall, had a pool party, taught and played card games, celebrated Jeffrey’s birthday, and capped off with an afternoon at the beach. We were impressed by Jeffrey’s insane skills with the Rubik’s Cube and Eric’s piano playing. And so you can be impressed too I’m including the videos!

Settling into the new job

Ben is working crazy hours and trying to cram as much info in as possible, but is at the same time doing very well! He’s finished up the orientation process and his 141 checkout with the Chief Pilot. The checkout is the official “aok” and allows him to start flying with students. When he called me after everything was over the first thing out of his mouth was, “Well before that flight I used to think I knew how to fly helicopters!” But the flight couldn’t have been quite that bad because the Chief Pilot was pleased with how things went.  

To date Ben has flown with two other new instructors familiarising them with our local area and procedures, a few flights with a student who was having a little bit of difficulty and needed a “fresh approach”, and started with his one actually assigned student. Hopefully he’ll be given more students with the new class starts on September 12. 

Ben’s also one of the flight instructors who teach in the ground school classes. Ben’s subjects are Charts and Aerospace for the Private Pilot class and Systems and Components for the Commercial Pilot class. Last week he had his first go teaching the class by himself and felt it went well. I was so proud of him! Next week he’ll be teaching some more in Private and also in the Commercial class.

Even though his 141 checkout was completed Ben stills needs to be checked out in the R22 and R44 (two other types of helicopters) and for instrument instructing. He’s done one flight in the R44 and needs one more before going up with the examiner. It will be a few more weeks before he has completed all the necessary checkouts and can just focus on instructing. 

This whole move from student to instructor has been a funny transition for me. I find myself wondering at Ben “Who are you and where did my husband go?” I mean imagine with me – My Ben classroom teaching…and enjoying it?! I am immensely proud of him and know he is a good pilot, but my brain just hasn’t quite realized that he is the teacher now! 

Adoption

It’s been a really frustrating month. We returned from Clarkston and attempted to contact our case worker, Dawn,  to finish up the home study. We had agreed with her before we left to turn in all our paperwork so she could write the home study while we were away and plan to wrap everything up in August. I couldn’t reach Dawn on her work number, cell, or e-mail. After a few attempts I called the main office and left a message for the Director. She called me back and explained that there have been changes at Intervention Services, Dawn no longer works there, but I shouldn’t worry because Dawn is still contracted to complete our home study. The Director told me she had Dawn’s new contact details and would give Dawn a call and ask her to contact me the next day. No call came, so I called the Director back. She would promise again, and again I wouldn’t receive a call. I was polite and courteous, but still calling the Director every day to ask for an update. This went on for weeks and I never really got any good answers as to why Dawn wasn’t calling me back.

Finally on one last call the Director said she would insist to Dawn that she contact me as “this really needs to stop” she sounded quite exasperated. I again thanked her for all the help she’d given me and told her that I know there are issues at the moment but I really appreciate her allowing me to call for updates. The next day Dawn did call and as suspected, there was much more to the story. Turns out Intervention Services lost the contract with the county and so no longer was on the books to do home studies. As a result of the lost contract there were a lot of staffing changes and Dawn went to work for another agency. The county asked Intervention Services to still complete the home studies that were pending. However, Intervention Services did not write a contract for Dawn and so as she wasn’t employed by them had no access at all to our file. She couldn’t have contacted us if she wanted to and I suspect the Director wouldn’t give me Dawn’s contact information because Dawn would tell me she can’t do anything until this mess is sorted out. Well, by the time I did hear from Dawn she still didn’t have a contract with Intervention Services but was feeling confident that one would be coming soon because the Director released our file to her (even though she wasn’t supposed to, and probably only because of my daily pestering). 

So now Dawn has our file and I also resent our documents to her new work e-mail. That was last weekend and I haven’t heard from Dawn all week. I’ll give a call on Monday to see where we are at, but I suppose this means there still isn't a signed contract. The whole situation is frustrating. Hopefully this won’t continue for too much longer!

Ben’s Big News!!

If you’ve been following our progress for any length of time you’ll know that for six years now we’ve been in a continuous state of not knowing what we are doing.  You’ll also know how faithful God has been to us at every turn.  One of my favorite bible verses is Proverbs 16:9 The mind of a man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. This is certainly true for Ben and I! We see and plan for the big picture of missions clearly, but every step of the way has been veiled. 

At the end of June Ben flew out to California to a pilot safety course and once it was finished I flew out to meet him so we could have a week holiday to visit with far away friends and see some mountains. On the first day of our vacation Ben got a call from the Chief Flight Instructor at Bristow Academy offering him a job as a flight instructor! Keep in mind that Ben had applied for this job and already been turned down a couple months ago. So needless to say we couldn’t believe it! Working as a flight instructor is a tremendous blessing as it will enable Ben to log about 60 flight hours every month!

We returned from vacation late Sunday night and Ben was at Bristow to meet with HR at 9am Monday morning getting the paper work started. Right now he is still going through the new hire process and will have some standardization flights and a part 141 checkout to complete before actually being assigned students to fly with.  

So now you’re probably wondering about all that was planned with Samaritan Air. Before taking the job Ben called and let them know about the offer. It was with Samaritan Air’s blessing that the job at Bristow was taken. Although we won’t be involved with Samaritan Air on a fulltime basis we will remain connected and still hope to get to Haiti in the future. 

To finish off here’s our prayer list and a few photos from our vacation! :)

Job at Bristow Pray that as much of the in processing stuff as possible can be taken care of asap. We are leaving for the mission trip to Friends of Refugees in Georgia on Sunday and so are very pressed for time. Pray that the standardization flights and 141checkout will all go smoothly (these will be scheduled for after we return from Georgia). That Ben would find his feet quickly and settle in at the Academy.

Friends of Refugees We are still preparing lesson plans and getting the details nailed down for the trip. Please pray for the team and all the work still to be completed. We leave early morning on Sunday.

Adoption That the home study can be completed in August as projected. For our hearts and the hearts of the child or children we adopt.

Samaritan Air Pray for the funds needed to complete the work on the helicopter being refurbished for Haiti. Rest, endurance, safety, and funds/supplies for the Parker family and all involved in Samaritan Air’s work. 

 

Where did the summer go?

I can hardly believe it is already September - where did summer go? If your summer was anything like ours the last few months have probably felt like one giant blur of activity. We've had a great time, but are also happy to have "normal" life back!

July - Visitors!
We had quite a full apartment for the month of July. Ben's cousin Alan came to stay for two and a half weeks, followed by Ben's parents and two younger brothers for another two weeks. At one point there were seven of us in our two bedroom apartment (at least we have two bathrooms!). Packed in like sardines we had a really nice time with everyone. July included trips to theme parks, swimming at the beach, pool, and in the springs, go carting, mini golf, and was capped of by an RV trip to Georgia. Ben put together a video montage capturing the time his parents and brothers were with us. Do check it out!


August - Back to the books
Ben started the Certified Flight Instructor ground school class on August 9th. This three week class spends a week learning about "fundamentals of instructing" followed by two weeks of preparing lesson plans and practicing class room teaching skills. Ben would be assigned either one or two topics each day, come home to prepare lessons and then present them to his classmates and teachers the next day. Talk about intense! I was quite impressed with the focus and amount of work he put into preparing lessons. It paid off too, Ben felt the class really helped him gain a deeper understanding of the material and effective teaching styles as well as helped build confidence in speaking in front of people.

I finally have a sister!
I always thought that when I got married my husband would have sisters and I'd finally gain one too. Well, little did I know I'd marry into a family of four boys! So imagine how pleased I was when my brother and his fiance were married on Sept 3 and now (finally) I have a sister! The wedding was absolutely beautiful :)

So how's September shaping up?
Ben was assigned a flight instructor and will start to learn how to teach in the aircraft. Outside of flying he's putting together his lesson plan binder which he can take with him and teach from no matter where he is. The binder will be a great resource not only when it comes to future teaching, but now as a means of review as he puts it together. Hopefully Ben will finish the CFI course in the next 4 weeks or so. Following that he'll start on the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument course (CFII). 2-3 weeks after that he should be done with training! Please be praying for us as these courses progress and specifically for opportunity and direction upon completion.

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! :)