Featured

Finally Dad and Mom made it in the papers. Here they are featured in our small town newspaper the "Valley Courier" for the awesome accomplishment of 40 years of marriage. I'm proud of them...and I know the majority of our blog readers are family members that would love to see this too, so I'm posting the article on our blog.

Don't know if you can read the article so here is what it says:

Ecords mark 40th anniversary
Monte Vista - Ron and Vicki Ecord of Monte Vista celebrated their 40th anniversary on February 19, 2007. Ron and Vicki were married in Centroplis, Kans. Feb. 19, 1967. They've been residents of the San Luis Valley for 26 years. Ron and Vicki are owners of Mountain View Aeromotive in Alamosa. They have three children: David (1973-1979), Carrie (Steve) Howard and Rebecca (Sean) Cannon. They also have four granddaughters: Catie, Brooklyn, Audrey, and Madison. The Ecords celebrated with family.

Rebecca's Random Ramblings

• It is good to be home. We made it into Quito Saturday night. The trip down didn't seem as long as the trip up and the girls were great travelers. I'm not saying I'd like to do that again without Sean any time soon (if ever again) but God really gave me the strength, grace and patience to deal with all that came our way. There were two out of my three flights that I was a bit worried about missing - all due to terrible airline check-in service and bad connection times but we made it! The luggage on the other hand...
• My bags finally made it to Quito Sunday night and are now waiting at our MAF hangar in Quito for a flight or drive down to Shell. I'm not expecting to see them until next Monday when a coworker will be coming back down from Quito - unless the rare Quito flight comes up. I know I shouldn't be too hopeful.
  
• The drive down from Quito with Sean was great. My husband is just too wonderful for words. We missed him something terrible and to have 5 solid hours to catch-up was a treat. The views on that drive are some of my favorite and I enjoyed the ride down immensely.
  
• We girls slept in until nearly 9:00 Monday morning. Can't imagine why...
  
• My first day "back to work" was a rude awakening. The fridge was empty and I had lots of cooking to do, not to mention organizing and cleaning. Actually, Sean kept the house nice and clean but then we came home.... Brooklyn was busy pulling out every one of her toys that she hadn't seen for 10 days or outside rolling in the dirt and mud...or in the shower emptying Dad's brand new bottle of shampoo. I was spoiled when we were in the U.S. I didn't do many dishes, never once cooked, and had more than enough hands willing to help with the girls. So you can imagine the shock I felt when I had to get back to reality. Well, at least I didn't have a lot of unpacking to do yet.
• Once again, I just praise God for the awesome opportunity to make this trip. He provided the money for the tickets, the grace to make the trip alone with two babies, and incredible times with family. I had a grand time experiencing all those things from my own culture that I used to take for granted and I was able to pick up lots of treats to bring back home with us (they'll get here eventually). I went on this trip to bless and honor my parents for their 40 years of marriage - which I believe is no small thing - but I was definetely the one who was blessed the most! Anyway, it was a fun surprise to pull off and the memories we'll have will always bring a smile to our faces!
  

They're coming home

In just a few hours I am going to head up into the mountains to pick up my girls who are flying home tonight from Colorado. I have missed them intensely, but I have kept myself busy enough that it has gone by fast. We will be coming home tomorrow assuming all things arrive intact, my girls included. From talking with Becca it sounds like her time with family has been great, and I'm sure I will get an earful of stories tomorrow on our drive home.

Random Ramblings

• With Becca gone, my mental routine of who has what keys, where, finally caught up to me today. First thing this morning I walked out the back door, and as it closed I realized I just locked myself out of the house. Nothing like a swift foot to the door to break it down. Needless to say I had to fix our door this morning. It's not perfect, but we'll get er' fixed a little better later.
• Because of my key fiasco, I organized all of our keys. Ever since we moved into this house, there has been about 3 million keys hanging on our key hanger that go to something. I got all those sorted out, and hopefully I won't be locking myself out anytime soon.
  
• I had today off from work. Most of Latin America is celebrating Carnival. Yesterday I was the only pilot on call while everyone else had Carnival off. I flew almost 4.5 hours, and came home wiped out.
  
• Tomorrow begins Ash Wednesday. The reason for Carnival dates back hundreds of years, and originated as a Catholic "celebration." Because of the various fastings, and things abstained from during the season of Catholic lent, the tradition has been to "let loose" one last time before you celebrate the Lent season which terminates at Easter, 40 days later. In the Spanish language (and most Latin based languages) the word "carne" means meat or flesh. Therefore, Carnival (carneval) is a celebration of imbibing of all pleasurable things of the flesh. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is basically an American version of Carnival for those of you like me that might need a mental picture to understand the large amount of partying going on.
  
• After picking my fruit trees of practically every piece of fruit about 3 weeks ago, I still managed to pick a 5 gallon bucked again this evening, full of lemons, limes, and oranges. I will give it to our maid.
• Since Becca has been gone, my diet has really been great. Yesterday I had bread and yogurt all day. Tonite for dinner I walked into town and bought a piece of cake and some coke. For lunch I had good ol' macaroni and cheese.
  
• Tomorrow we will be busy flying. The president of Compassion International is flying into the jungle with us to see some of the work first hand that his organization is part of.
• Our dog Maya has been wondering into the house a little bit lately as I leave the doors open as I walk in and out. I heard her barking inside this afternoon, and upon further investigation found her in front of the hall mirror wondering where that other dog was at. It was pretty funny!

Brrrrr.....

No, Ecuador isn't experiencing record temperature lows but the Cannon girls are! This is Becca. Sean mentioned that I took our girls on a little trip, here's some news from me!

Madison in her carseat wearing the new stocking hat Aunt Carrie had waiting for us at the airport in Colorado Springs....she looks like she's in a bit of a shock, don't you think?

Brooklyn enjoying Grandpa Ecord's horses. The best part about going out in the cold to feed the horses with Grandpa is the reward of riding one of the horses for a little bit. Brooklyn was about a year and a half old when we left Colorado so everything here is a novelty - snow, horses, chores outside in the cold, grandparents' old and new toys, new dogs to meet and big, fast cars!!

It is hard to believe we are really here in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. In many ways it feels as though we never left...and yet so much has changed in the two years we've been gone! There are new stores, restaurants, and buildings and yet so many things are unchanged that I somehow expected to be different. What has changed the most? Me! Guess living outside your home country will do that sort of thing to you.

Things I've noticed:

• Space! Even in the city, things don't seem nearly so crammed together. And there isn't a jungle blocking my view of anything for miles and miles around.
• HUGE parking lots for GINORMOUS vehicles! WIDE highways with lines painted on them! Police officers and State Patrol....
• Speed. You people drive way too fast. I got up to just past 65 mph and about passed out for fear...of course, there weren't any potholes or even any stretches of road where a landslide or lava flow took out the road. No overloaded trucks wobbling their way around tight curves trying to pass a slower wobbly, overloaded truck. Nice!
• Blue skies...Colorado and especially the SLV are famous for that. We don't see so much sky in Shell, even on a "clear" day.
• Options. Most of the gas stations here have more available than the best little grocery store in Shell. And Target....oh, my. Super Wal-mart? Don't get me started.
• Sniffles, sneezes, stuffy noses, fevers, dry, scaly skin. Oops. We hit Colorado right during cold season. Brooklyn's already been down with a fever and I've been stubbornly battling the beginnings of a cold. Maddie's nose is stuffed just from the dryness of the air.
• Quiet. Aaaaaaaaaah.
• Cold. We were getting quite adjusted to the warmer weather in Shell. I love the snow but the cold is just so...well, COLD.
• Time. I have to admit, I prefer Latin time - late is right on time! Seems people go much more by their watches here in the States - had to buy a watch first thing!
• Strangers. They don't talk to you here or say something kind in passing or admire your kids or ask you why you are here. It can be annoying at times to be so conspicuous in Ecuador but here, I feel invisible. Don't know which I prefer - maybe a little of both in the perfect balance?!
• Milk in a jug, dishwashers, hot water in every sink, Mountain Dew, Sun Chips, Salad-in-a-bag, laws that I understand, bathtubs and bubble bath, manageable hair, watching KU basketball games with my Dad, the comfort of relaxing in the house I grew up in...

And the number one thing I've noticed about this trip...

• I love Ecuador. I love what we are doing there and the life that we live there. I am completely content in the calling that God has on our lives. I know that our time in Ecuador will not last forever...and what will happen after that or where we will go is a mystery but there is just nothing like being smack-dab in the center of God's will for your life. Yes, this visit to the States has been a HUGE blessing and I praise God for the opportunity to come like this but this little trip has only confirmed for me that we are right where God wants us (and right where I want to be), rather than make me desire "what used to be" or "what could be" here in America. LOOKOUT SEAN I'M COMING HOME!

Ecuador weather

For those of you with an interest in weather, I've added the link we use to see the radar picture in Ecuador. Besides this, radio reports and looking out the window are the only things we have to use before we set off on a flight. The American government has those satellites watching Ecuador to help monitor the volcanoes, not the weather. But, thankfully we can use it for both reasons. Shell is located about a finger's width to the east of Tungurahua.

Immigrants

Finally...I can tell you the covert ops we have been part of, now that the grandparents all know about it. What am I talking about? This past week I blogged about my trip through the Andes, and how beautiful they were with all the snow capped peaks. What was I doing in the Andes in the first place when Shell is in the jungle? I was on my way home from Quito, after dropping off Rebecca, Brooklyn, and Madison at the airport.

Wednesday morning they started an epic, yet successful, journey to Colorado. Currently, my 3 girls are at Becca's parents house. The purpose of the trip was to surprise Ron and Vicki (and everyone else involved) for their 40th wedding anniversary. It sounds like everyone was more than surprised. Of course, we couldn't have pulled off this kind of secret operation without some trained help. Many thanks to the Howard's for their role in providing a transport mobilization unit, encrypted communications, and some good ol' bluffing. Thanks to Anita, Richard, and Steve as well for keeping things on the down low.

Total, my girls will be in the good ol' USA 10 days. I will leave next weekend to go to Quito and pick them up at the airport.

I'll leave it up to Becca, if she desires, to share what she is feeling, seeing, smelling, etc, after being gone from our homeland for more than two years.

Now, if I could just remember how to run the washing machine!

Smokey!

Today was the worst haze/smoke I have seen. I had one flight in the afternoon, but I had to let another pilot do it, since he is approved to fly IFR and I am not. The smoke had reduced visibility to about 3 miles at one point. It really made for some weird looking daylight. I need a little more field experience before MAF will turn me loose to do IFR flights. (IFR meaning control of the airplane solely by reference to the instruments)
This is what it looked like when Steve took off on what was going to be my flight, in the middle of the day. Looks like sunset!

From the logbook...First landing in Nemonpade

This past Tuesday I made my first landing in a Huarani village called Nemonpade (NEM). I was there to pick up a Compassion International team and move them to the village of Tiwaeno. It was a fun little strip, and the people just the same. I have mentioned before the different atmospheres that each village has in the jungle. Some are very nice, happy, and excited that you are there. Then, you fly 5 miles away and feel like you are getting the cold shoulder. Of all the Huarani villages I have been going into lately, it has been a nice change of atmosphere. In all the villages the people just seem generally happy and excited to live. It is fun to land in their villages and enjoy their sense of humor, and the ability they have to laugh easily.

Here is a group shot of some of the people that were at the airstrip the other day in NEM.

For those of you who have seen "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" you may recognize the guy on my left. That is Mencaye, who played a large role in that documentary. This was my first time meeting him, and he was just as nice in person as he seems in the documentary.

I should be going back into NEM today. Hopefully I can find it. We have been covered in smoke here in Shell. So bad in fact, that they have almost closed the airport because the visibility is too bad. I'm not sure where the smoke/haze is from but I have heard it is from cane fields that are burning in Colombia and Brazil. Regardless of where it has it's beginnings, it sure makes the flying interesting here. We haven't had much rain for 3 weeks now, so instead, something had to come and make the flying a challenge, this time it is dense smoke instead of rain and clouds.

The volcano strip

I was driving through the Andes recently and had one of the most beautiful drives I have ever seen. It was definitely the clearest morning I have experienced here in Ecuador while being in the Andes. Below are some of the pictures I was fortunate enough to take before clouds came in and began their daily covering of the awesome peaks.This is Tungurahua Volcano(16,596 ft.) and El Altar Volcano (17,553 ft.) in the background. They are about 40 miles off in the distance in this pic, thus explaining the lack of clarity. A little steam can be seen exiting the vent of Tungurahua.


This is Corazón Volcano. It is 15,800 feet high, and dormant. It can be seen just south of Quito from the Pan-American highway.


This is Chimborazo Volcano. If you were to stand on the top, which many people do, you are closer to the sun than on any other point on earth, including Mount Everest. Chimborazo is the tallest volcano in Ecuador, at 20,823 feet, and the highest active volcano in the world. Because of it's proximity to the equator along with it's altitude, you are at the point closest to the sun on planet earth.


This is Illiniza Sur (south). Many people climb this 17,318 foot peak before they climb some of the higher volcanoes in order to acclimate themselves.


This is both Illiniza Sur and Norte. I drove a little off the beaten path getting these photos, but that was half the fun. Being able to take side roads, and see parts of the country that are lost at the high speeds of a highway is an integral part in developing a feel of the people you live with, and how they feel attached to the land they live in.

Hangar Happenings

Recently Alas 10 went into maintenance for many reasons. First of all, it is getting a new engine. Hopefully we will get it soon. Right now it awaits in customs in Quito.

Secondly, we are doing some airframe modifications. We will be "retiring" Alas 12 this Spring, therefore we are "robbing" some modifications like wingtip extentions and putting them on Alas 10 since it will be staying in the fleet. Alas 12 will probably make it's voyage to the States sometime in April or May. Any buyers?

Thirdly, all of our airplanes are getting major instrument and navigation equipment upgrades. This process is very time consuming, and as you can tell labor intensive. Our radio technicians have torn into the cockpit and about cleaned it out, preparing for the new instrumentation that will be installed. "After" pictures will be sure to follow, although it might be 6-8 weeks before Alas 10 is online again. Once Alas 10 is done, Alas 11 and 13 will be following to receive their new engines and avionics. Alas 14 already had the equipment and airframe upgrades before it left the States, therefore it will just keep flying along keeping the rest of the fleet afloat while they are undergoing reconstructive surgery.

From the logbook...

The past 2 days I have been able to fly Alas 14. Yesterday was my first operational flight in it since I last flew it in July, after flying it down from Kansas. We haven't had hardly 10 minutes of rain in the past 2 weeks (it's a nice thing), therefore the villagers have been hauling out a lot of fish as personal cargo, since the rivers are so low. The fish you see below was a unique one.
This is Ron our base maintenance manager. He flew out with me today to pick up a snake bite patient. As stated, one of the cargo items was fish. I don't know the proper name of this fish, but we call it an armor fish. It was really weird.

Here he is laid out on our cargo cart. After our 45 minute flight from Conambo, and who knows how long out of the water, he was still alive. They say the fish will live sometimes a few days outside of water if the conditions are right. When you tapped on the fish, it was as though you were hitting a coconut. He really had a hard "shell." His scales were REALLY rough as well. Notice how deeply set his eyes are into his sockets.

And of course, what is a good gross picture without a good gross mouth. Wouldn't want to be on the kissing end of those lips.

From the logbook...

We have been really busy flying this week. It seems like I always say it is busy, but I guess it's true. The other great (and unusual) thing is that we haven't had hardly a drop of rain in over a week. This doesn't make conditions conducive to growing a jungle, but the flying has been easy. Because of this, I was able to fly over 4 hours yesterday and I made 13 landings. Most of my flying entailed moving people from Compassion International around to some extent or another. Some went with me from one community to another, while others came out of the jungle altogether. It was neat to realize again as I was flying yesterday that the folks we fly for Compassion could not do their work without someone flying an airplane. They do awesome work, and very effective work as well. To be part of their team is a good reminder of how we all fit into the body of Christ. Some are feet, others arms, but we all come together under the head of Christ.

From the Homefront...

Becca, here, with a little news from the Homefront. We've had a great weekend as a family. Sean spent most of his time outside "piddling" - his favorite! Our yard looks great and he spent lots of time pruning the citrus trees so that now there is lots of light in the front yard. It has been downright HOT lately - no rain in several days! We hardly know what to do with ourselves. It's nice for a change...but I'm starting to want that rain back to cool things off again! I'm making a chocolate cake today and we're going to grab some Chinese for dinner before watching the Superbowl!!! What a treat.

Okay, so here's a couple of pictures you might enjoy...no airplanes or bugs today!

Maddie is getting to be such a joy! Here she is in her Sunday outfit, happy and smiling. We've seen more and more of her smiles lately. She'll often wake us up in the early morning with happy coos and giggles. She seems to have adjusted more to life and is becoming much easier to keep content....her newfound interest in toys and using her hands has caused her (and us) much delight!

Brooklyn loves to pose for pictures, as you can tell! Here she is in our orange tree just being a princess! I'm amazed every day with how much she is learning - she colors in the lines, recognizes a good 80% of the letters of the Alphabet, counts to 10, and is becoming quite the little communicator. She's a big help around the house now and even does her own chores in the morning (making her bed and feeding the dog and cat).

From the logbook...14 getting it's feet wet (or muddy)

We began using Alas de Socorro 14 this week. This is the C-206 that I helped fly down to Ecuador from Kansas last July. Just this past week it finally cleared all the hurdles of government red tape, and is officially usable.
One of the flights it had today was bringing out...you guessed it, a patient. This guy looked really bad. Somehow while he was cutting down a tree, he got walloped in the head, and it didn't look to good. Our hangar doctor said he may have a fractured skull, definitely a fractured cheekbone.

Cannon Web Album

If you look to the side of our blog, you will notice a new feature. I am working on starting a web album, which will take a few days since I have a lot of pictures I want to get on there. I will still be putting pictures on the blog, but now there will be a place to see more pictures of a wider variety of things than I put on the blog, for those of you who like pictures.

From the logbook...

Today we had a busy day flying, and once again we had great weather. I sure hope the past few days indicate that a change has occurred in the season, giving more good weather than bad. Our main objective today was transporting various pastors from all corners of the jungle, and bringing them to Makuma. You may have read about something like this we already did this week. These flights were different, as another missionary/pastor is holding a conference with some of these pastors. It was a neat thing once again to be bringing all of these kingdom workers to one place for a long weekend of encouragement and teaching.

MAF is paying for the majority of these flights that we did today, although it was asked of the pastors that we flew that they pay $10 towards their flight. I received money from some of my passengers, and then the last pastor I picked up told me he would pay me when we got to Makuma, since his money was in his bag, which was in the belly pod. When we arrived in Makuma, he was prompt to give me his money which, it turned out, was 3.5 grams of gold. He comes from a part of the jungle where gold is found, and he was paying me with it. I hadn't a clue on what to do with it, so I told him to keep his "money" and pay the host in Makuma that was holding the conference. We had heard of people getting paid with gold from people of this sector of the jungle, but I think I was the first to ever get paid firsthand with the real thing.

Later, for my return flight to Shell, I had a not so happy flight. I landed in a village called Chumbi, to bring out 3 teachers and their families. What makes it sad, is the government, along with Compassion International, decided to close this school. I don't know all the reasons, other than they aren't good. So, this community will be given another chance at a school this fall, but for the time being, due to their behavior and choices, they had lost their privilege of having their own school staffed with teachers.


On my flight to Makuma, I met up with Chad en-route, also flying to Makuma. He was making the rounds as well picking up pastors, and we just happened to be coming from the same direction and had the same ETA for Makuma. We flew in "formation" for about 30 miles, which was a lot of fun, and I got some good air-to-air photos, which we don't get a lot of.

Fernando Update

Yesterday morning Fernando was able to leave the hospital. He hasn't been back to work yet, and I think he was told to come back when he was good and ready. Thanks for all of your prayers to help him get out of the hospital. I would expect him to be back to work next Monday.