The Sun is Shining!!

I love Spring!!! Today is sporting that beautiful new season very well. Yes, it is very sunny and beautiful here today!! I love it!!!!

Scott called me today with exciting news...he has been given approval to be in this class next week. Please pray for him as he will be taking in a lot of information. He is very excited!! Inspection Authorization Course: March 31 to April 4 Keith Ericson will be here to conduct an IA test preparation course, free of charge. This course is primarily for those who are eligible to test for the Inspection Authorization, but is open to all A&P's. Those desiring to attend should seek permission from their supervisor.

We had very dear visitors here for the last couple of days...Jim and Dot stopped by Monday and hung out with us until today. They went to see the boys play their basketball games Monday night and both of the boys made their very first baskets ever in a game...we were all very excited for them. Then yesterday I took them out to my favorite location...AMISH COUNTRY!! We stopped at every quilt and fabric store in Holmes County, I think, and they were so excited! They are stopping back by one of the towns for a quilt show that is starting today on their way home. It is so fun to see them do this hobby together, they do such beautiful work. We had a MMS family here for dinner last night and it was Mr.'s birthday, so we partied with them and had a full house, we loved it!!

If you guys want to come for a visit, please let us know as we would love to have you. Shaughn is having a friend, Shawn Davis, come for a week today. His parents are dropping him off on their way home from vacation and then meeting us 1/2 way next week to pick him up. So I will have 5 (actually 6 counting Scott) boys here. Pray for me!!! :-)

Shaughn is sporting glasses now. He had his eyes checked last week and has to have glasses. Pray for him as he adjusts to them as they are different for him.

We are all doing well here. We are still praying for a more affordable vehicle to sport around in. The boys start soccer this next week and with basketball and all, I am running or at least will be more than I should with these gas prices. :-)

Dinner is in the crock pot and is smelling pretty good right now, that or I am getting hungry. Want to come for dinner?? :-)

Please know that we love each and every one of you and appreciate all that you do for Jesus and to further His kingdom with us. We could not be here and do this all without you!! Stay strong and mighty for Jesus and know that we are praying for you!!!!

Bless you guys!!

Love,
Lela

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy Monday to all!

We had a great weekend. Slept a lot! I guess we all needed it. :-) This week is TAX week. We are trying to complete our taxes and really need your prayers. We know this is going to be a rough one since we changed careers and moved. Many things to consider. Please pray that it will go smoothly and that I can get it done. There are many receipts to go through and things to remember. UUGGHHH!

We are praying about many things. Ministry wise, our personal devotions, the best way to manage our time with the ministry and the running of it as a business, our children's active sports schedules, vehicles, insurance, etc, etc, etc. We are taking these things to the Lord for direction and wisdom. Thank you for joining in on them.

Time is going quickly already, we can't believe that on April 1st (just around the corner) is our 6 month anniversary of being in Ohio. Wow!!

Scott is starting to disciple 5 boys in the hangar (2 is Shaughn and Matthew) on Thursdays right after work along with a couple of the other MMS guys who are interested in helping. They are doing the John Eldridge book, "The Way of the Wild Heart". The other 3 boys do not have a father. Caleb is the son of Chris (the MMS guy who died a little over a year ago to a brain tumor.) and the other two, Logan and Boone are with their mother, single parent, no father in their lives. Scott felt they could really benefit from the book and their mothers were very eager for their sons to be mentored. MMS has agreed to let them use the hangar after hours to do so. Please remember them in your prayers on Thursdays about 4 p.m.

I have started mentoring my person this past Thursday. We are going to be meeting every Thursday at 1 p.m. for about 90 minutes or so, so if you want to remember us during that time, that would be great. This past week went very well and God was really doing some pretty neat stuff. She said she can't wait for this week and frankly, neither can I. I completed my "homework" for this week all on Friday and have just been digging deeper in the questions. It has been very good exciting. Go God!

We would love to hear from you guys and hear what is going on in your lives. We feel very out of the loop. What are some things we can be praying for for you all???
How's work? How's the kids? How's life? What amazing things has God been doing for you?? What has He been sharing with you in your quiet times?? Anything new????

God bless you all and we do Love you guys!! We miss you all lots!!!!

Have a blessed week!
Lela and boyz~

Going to ALASKA!!

The tickets have been purchased and the dates are set. Scott leaves for Alaska on Saturday, May 3rd and returns on Monday, May 26th.

The flight is an 8 hour flight. Bob is emailing me the details of times. He said they usually fly at night so they can arrive in the morning.

Scott will be flying out of Pittsburgh, PA. That is about a 2 hour drive from MMS. Add that time to the flight time.

We just found out this information last night while having dinner with Bob & Lisa.

Another note: Shaughn and Matthew love playing basketball. They played last night and their teams were against each other, which made it hard for mom to cheer them on. :-) Their youth pastor, Jason, said that Shaughn is so solid and strong that when he learns the game, he will be a brute. The boys love playing but have never played before and do not know the rules yet. They are learning as they go. Jason said that he would love to shot the hoop with them and talk them through a few of the rules. This is only the 2 week they have played on the teams and Jason said he could tell a huge difference in just those weeks. Pray for them as they try to learn something new and venture into something different. I am hoping that it will cause relationships with the other kids. They also will be playing soccer starting the end of this month. So, they and mom will be busy. All 4 will be playing soccer. We were blessed with scholarships for them all. Both, soccer and basketball last through all of April and soccer into mid May. So April I will have 2 in basketball, 4 soccer practices and 4 soccer games all in a week, plus, my husband will be preparing and leaving for 3+ weeks to Alaska. All of this while homeschooling and mentoring a lady.

I am very bored!!!! NOT! ha ha

I know you all have just received your newsletters, but I already have to start thinking about our next one since Scott will be gone the month we do them. We need to have it pretty much completed by the time he leaves and approved. Please pray for us that we will use our time wisely and that God will be praised.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!! Right???? :-)

Bless you all,
Lela

Sleeping well....

Greetings to all!!

Scott made it home safely on Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. then turned around and left Friday morning with all 4 boys for Michigan at 4:00 a.m. He left just before a HUGE snow storm hit. The Lord really kept His hand on them. They arrived just in time for their 10:00 a.m. meeting in Brighton. They enjoyed their meeting and the special guest, Josh Mayo. They then went on to our Brighton home to check on the house. Tony Clark had called Scott while he was in Florida and told him of a leak in the basement. Scott went to check it out and to do a couple of other things.

The boys had a great time at BCC Youth All-Nighter. They really loved seeing everyone again. Scott was in shock over the foyer at church. He tried to explain it to me, but I am not "seeing" it too well. Someone needs to send me a photo of the changes...hint, hint.

While they were in Michigan, I was suppose to be at a MMS Ladies Retreat. Well, let's say that our state of Ohio received the storm of the year. (that is what they are calling it) We were dumped on big time and the whole county closed everything!! It is too funny that the radio station lists every business closed, even the restaurants. They assign levels here and when it is a level 3 it is then illegal to drive on any road. If you do and are caught, you will be arrested! All of the counties around us were a level 3 and we were a level 2 (which is for emergency vehicles only basically). Our county sheriff refuses to call a level 3 due to past experiences with certain people, at least that is what he told one of the MMS ladies who knows him pretty well. When every county around you is a level 3, you get the hint. Needless to say, our retreat was canceled before any of us even began to pack. So, I was literally "snowed in" for the weekend. Due to this storm and me not going away, Scott decided early Saturday morning to come home and try to at least get home before it worsened even more. He left Brighton at 11:00 a.m. and arrived home around 7:00 p.m. He had to drive 30 miles per hour on the way home. It was pretty bad!! Our landlord had plowed our driveway 3 times in one day and it still was bad. Totally un-normal for this area. Our landlord called to see how her little family was doing and then told me it was our fault. :-) Normally they have flowers by now here. We ended up with about 2 feet of snow that came with freezing rain and high winds. We even had a thunder snow storm. That's right, we had thunder and lightening while it was snowing. Very strange.

Scott made it home and I had dinner ready for them and 2 special deserts. We ate and then he and the boys carried in the new bed. We had to let them warm up since they had traveled in the back of the truck during a snow blizzard. :-) My mother-in-law bought us a special prize, a new set of sheets to go on the new bed. They are cotton t-shirt material and very comfy. We set the bed up and everyone piled on it. It is very strange to "get up into bed" instead of falling down into bed. Thank you all so much for blessing us so much!! It doesn't feel like our bed yet, but it will soon.

Scott is back at the hangar today. Shaughn isn't feeling well so he did not go in. Matthew was pretty sick last Thursday and Shaughn is afraid he has it now. I hope not. It was nasty. It did only last about 12 hours tho. but still.

Yesterday all county churches were closed so one of the other MMS families called us to see if we wanted to do a home church for the day. We said sure, plus they were willing to come here. I made a big thing of homemade soup and baked some biscuits and we shared communion, worship and talked about our 40 day fast. I had my piano tuned last week so I played and Scott played guitar and we handed everyone else a percussion instrument. Quite the band. :-) Shaughn had his bass out too.

All county schools are closed today. It is still a level 1 which means hazardous roads and travel only if necessary. Icy conditions and snow is STILL coming down. Isn't that just great?? I know, it fabulous!! Yeah right, for the kids...they love sledding. The only problem with that is that I have 4 boys and only 1 was able to bring his sled when we moved. Dad kept promising the others that they could get it the "next" trip, but that hasn't happened. Jeremiah never had a sled to begin with. I tried to go out and get them a couple more the share about a week ago but only found sand toys and beach toys. GREAT! That won't work. I don't think they need summer toys just yet. So, yesterday we looked out and they were using a plastic tote...Scott died laughing. I told them to use the plastic from the new mattresses, but they had already threw it away. Too funny. At least I did find the rest of the snow pants and coats, now they can stay warm while rolling down the hill. :-)

Thank you all for your prayers and the Lord is Great and Faithful!!

March 4, 2008

Life in Warefare...

God is still faithful and never leaves us, this we know! Praise God!!!

Scott left for Florida...on Feb. 24th.

Had a 2 hour delay right off the bat.

He makes it there ok. (Praise God)

He goes to Haiti...another 2 hour delay...both due to fog/low ceilings
has run-a-way passengers at one fuel stop that he has to retrieve before customs finds out. (but did just in time, Praise God)

due to delay at beginning of that day, had to RUSH to get back to FL before customs closed...caused stress, but arrived 15 minutes before closing...Praise God.

On the homefront, basement door falls off hinges and door frame splits...must call landlord to fix due to no "man" at home. (He came and temporarily fixed the problem, praise God!)

Vehicle dies...left stranded....called landlord once again to help out and he does (praise God) but only to get it started. Bigger problem...will die again if not fixed now. Cha-Ching....because Scott is not here to fix it, must pay to get it done. Fellow MMS'ers help me out, (Praise God for Bob & Lisa), all fixed with something Scott wishes he could have done because he finds it hard to pay someone else to do something he could do.

Same day as vehicle gets fixed...Scott gets call from tenant that our basement has a crack in it and water is gushing into our basement (at home on Michigan)...we are so not there to do anything about it but Praise God, Ed (Scott's step dad) went to check it out for us. He said no gushing, but something Scott needs to give attention to.

During the week, we have all had our "bad" days with feelings and attitudes...probably because we plan on starting the 58 fast with other MMS families on Saturday, March 1st. The one BCC has done. The enemy doesn't want us to do it apparently. :-) BUT, we did start it and are trying to stay to it. It has been hard.

Scott is coming to Michigan this weekend with the 4 boys and has many things to get done in that weekend. He will be very tired from his trip as they have worked from EARLY morning to LATE evenings everyday...even on Sunday!! He gets home late Thursday night (if there are no delays again) and has to pull out of here about 4:30 a.m. to get to Brighton by 10 a.m. for a meeting. He needs to drop off the 2 younger boys at his mom's before getting to the meeting so he has to plan for that time as well. He has a few people he is scheduled to meet with and then must drop the boys off at church at 6 p.m.

He is also trying to figure out a way to get our new bed home and not sure if it will fit into our truck, Pray that it does. :-)

I have been on a emotional rollarcoaster all this time and not doing the best but God is faithful and is here in the midst of this storm.

Scott is not sure when he is coming back to Ohio from Michigan, I am sure he wants to see everyone at BCC but also, he wants to see me and spend time as a family before Monday...which is when he has to go back to work. Pray for God to help him in this and not feel guilt either way. I am so tired of the "guilt" thing and feeling that I could scream!! The enemy thinks that is his "wild card" and I know God can top it, but anyways...just pray for him.

Scott, I know, is very tired and will be very much so by the time he reaches MI. I know he has a lot on his mind and on his to-do list while he is there, I desire for you to pray for him that God keeps him safe, calm and allows him to accomplish all that he feels he has to do.

I will be at a MMS Ladies Retreat this weekend. That is why I do not get to come to MI. I am on the retreat committee and are implementing many ideas the I have experienced from BCC in the past and they are very excited here to see it happen. They keep telling me that they can tell that I have done this before. ha ha...got them fooled ay? :-)
Pray that God will bless the women this weekend and meet with them. I titled the weekend "Sitting at the Father's Feet". It is on prayer and the speaker is a wonderful lady who is a pastor's wife here and moved to the area the same time as us.
She is so sweet and has such a heart for the ladies.

I have been asked (yesterday) by one MMS staff lady. who is a very dear lady. if I would meet with her weekly and pray with her. She wants me to mentor her in this and help her develop her prayer life and quiet time. Apparently one night when she was over, I had asked her a question about something we were suppose to be praying about. I asked her what God had been telling her about it during her QT. She said that she realized that night that I was an intercessor and wondered if I would help her. She said she didn't have a QT and wasn't sure how to make it happen. I truly feel so inadiquent (sp?) to do this but told her that I would meet with her to pray with her but that God would be our mentor and He would teach us both. Please pray that God would bless her and meet with us during this time because I truly don't know what I can do. I do want to serve God in whatever way He calls me to and when someone asks for me to help them, I don't want to say no but want to be used by God in this. I feel that this request has come at a low time for me and I truly don't feel capable or worthy...not sure what word to put there, to do this, but at least God WILL get all the glory for it because it WONT be anything Lela did...that is for sure.

Sorry this is so long and late. I appreciate your prayers and ask that they still continue...as I am still struggling with many things. We need you and the warriors that you are. Thank you for meeting monthly on our behalf, we couldn't do this without you!!! Your time is so not wasted and God does hear your hearts!! Thank you all!!!

Thank you Brian and Kate for doing such a great job in leading the prayer team. You are such a blessing to all of us on the team!!! We love you and appreciate you.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense or if it is boring to read, but it is all I have. I hope you feel updated and can somewhat sense what is going on. I pray the Holy Spirit reveals the rest.

Bless you all,
Lela and boyz~