From the logbook...

From our lack of blogs over the past few days, one can surmise two things. That nothing much is happening worth writing about, or we are too busy to write anything. It is obviously the later. There is always something to write about. We live in a third world country, remember? In just the past two days I have flown about 8 hours and had 20 landings. I have flown everything from medical evacs, to patient returns, roofing metal, missionaries, medicine, medical teams, etc. . It has been a blast and it makes for good sleeping. Although, I didn't sleep that great last night. I think it was to do with some of the food I ate while in Tsetsakentsa. While there yesterday, they offered me some of the best white meat they know, parrot breast. Not too bad I must say.
The picture above is from Sharamentza. It was a fun strip, and dropped off about 100 feet at the one end into the Pastaza River below. I was dropping off some medical patients returning to their homes.This is a picture of the runway at Tsetzakentsa (TSE). I was there yesterday as part of a radio install again. We were very close to the southern Ecuadorian border with Peru in that village. After we landed, we still had to hike about 15 minutes to the village. Needless to say, I was sweating a little bit. The people of TSE were incredible. They had never had a radio before, and they were so grateful to us for finally coming and putting one in. The simple radio represents such a life link for them. They have had people die just because there wasn't anyone, or anyway to tell someone of the sickness. Now they have hope, through just a simple radio. The villagers fed us until we were bloated, and as we were leaving, they sat me and our radio guy Rob down at a table and they all thanked us personally for coming, and for caring about them. It was very touching indeed. There are many villages that I go into that I can't wait to get out of. The spiritual difference from one village to another that is only 5 minutes away is sometimes very noticeable. This was a typical home in TSE. Surrounding the house is the yucca plant. They harvest it's large root, and make all kinds of food from it, including the famous chicha drink.

Tomorrow I have the day "off." I am on call this weekend to fly, so we try to take Friday off if it is our weekend. I sure have plenty to do tomorrow, but that is better than nothing to do. We are going to try and get our driver's licenses tomorrow. This process has been discouraging to say the least. Please join us in prayer with this simple matter, that we will glorify Christ, as well as walk out of the police headquarters with our licenses.

From the logbook...another radio install

After we figured out some last minute planning this morning with my flight, I was finally off around 10:00am to make my first of 6 stops. We installed a radio in a village called Copataza (CPZ). I actually took both of our radio technicians and while they got started I did some other flights hauling around some other missionaries, and some general cargo. We had great weather today, and there isn't a whole lot to write about. As far as mission flying goes, today was very smooth. It was a nice change from some of the flights I have had in the past week. Below are some of the things I have seen lately...

One of the guys in the village of Copataza had a pet monkey. I forgot what species it is. After living in Costa Rica, I enjoy seeing monkeys, but I would never want to have one as a pet. They are dirty little guys, and in some ways just too human like.


The other day at the hangar, I saw the C-130 on approach to land. This is taken right in front of our hangar. There are no taxiways at our airport, which leaves things up close and personal sometimes.

From the Logbook...

I didn't write a whole lot this week because we were shut down with rain most of Monday, all of Tuesday, and all of Wednesday. Since then, we have had decent weather, but tons of flying to do. Because of this, I have been to tired to do anything when I get home. I have gone to bed at 8:30 the past two nights. My last two days of flying have been very fun.

Yesterday, I hauled some interesting "cargo." I flew a cadaver and a passenger about 50 minutes south near the Peruvian border back to their village called Tucupi, (TUC). When I landed, no body had warned me beforehand what was going to happen. Even while I was still braking during the landing, I began to hear a loud clamoring. When I finally got stopped and shut down, all (you know what) broke loose. We had brought this dead person out alive a few days earlier as one of our medical evacs. Sadly, we weren't returning this person alive like most. The villagers knew that two people had left, and when they saw only one sitting in the airplane when I landed, they knew what had happened. Maybe some of you have seen footage of how Asians and Middle Easterners wail when someone dies, in particular the women. When I finally got stopped and they all saw the casket sitting right next to me, an uproar began of wailing and crying. It broke my heart to be bring such sad "cargo" to this village, and it really shocked me afterwards how they deal with mourning and the death process. I wanted to get some pictures of the whole thing, but I never had a respectful time to do it. I will never forget that landing.

Below, are some pictures over the past few days that I have taken. It has been an interesting few days for sure...
This boy is from a village called Yampuna (YAM), one of the 8 stops I had yesterday. I was waiting there for a medical missionary. While a waited I took a few shots. Does anything look wrong to you in this picture?

On Thursday we had a radio installation again. The building that we put the radios in had some huge spiders on it. I am NOT joking when I say this spider is as big as my hand.

This is an overall shot of the village of Nuevo Sasaim where we installed a radio on Thusday. It was some of the hardest work I have done in a while, mostly because there wasn't anyone to help us in the village. You can see the antenna and solar panel on the right of the blue and white building. The pole for the antenna was a killer. It probably weighed at least 1000 pounds. Jungle wood is very dense, and this was no exception. I wanted my mommy when we were putting that pole in!

Enjoying Her Room

One of the best things about the house we just moved into was the special, already fixed-up bedroom for Brooklyn. The missionary family that lived here before us had fixed up a darling room for their little girl and we were able to buy the whole set-up for Brooklyn from them when they left. This is the first time in Brooklyn's life that she has had her own very special, decorated room. She has really been enjoying the room - filled with her own toys of course. I caught her this morning with her dolls all lined up in chairs teaching them to sing (that is what she told me she was doing). I am always amazed at the things she comes up with all by herself. What amazes me most is that I remember playing the very same things when I was a little girl. Makes a Mommy feel all warm and fuzzy inside! -- Becca

From the Homefront...

Here I am again, Rebecca - you know the wife of the exciting, adventurous pilot! No, I don't get to blog that often any more. Sean pretty much hogs the computer. His news is a lot more exciting and different everyday than mine is - not that I don't enjoy my days at home in Shell but most people don't find my stories of getting all the laundry done in one day very exciting! Actually, I just don't get much extra time to sit down and write at the computer any more (three words: Brooklyn and Madison) When I do get a quiet moment, I'm usually not sitting at the computer but trying to get a box unpacked, dinner in the oven, myself showered, etc, etc, etc....You get the picture.

Speaking of pictures. I know you all are just dying for more pictures of Madison, so here is one we took yesterday. We find it difficult to get a good picture of her right now - or at least one that shows her as cute as she really is. (I think it might have something to do with the fact that she can't hold her own head up very well yet)
Maddie is doing really well. She's already 8 weeks old! We just moved her into her own room and she seems to sleep even better when she doesn't get awakened by Dad's snoring all night long. She wakes up once in the night for a "midnight snack" and then goes right back down to sleep until about 6 am. We can't take any of the credit for that - even though she can be real fussy in the evenings, Maddie has always been very good through the night.

We had a nice weekend in our own house! We're pretty much unpacked and settled in. We even got our Christmas tree set up (we'll blog later about that ordeal), although it did feel a little strange to be decorating for Christmas when it was so hot outside! I don't know, but where we're from picking lemons in our front yard for lemonade and "dashing through the snow" just don't go all that well together. Like Sean said, it may not feel like Christmas here in the jungles of Ecuador but we're going to fake it anyway. I have a feeling that it will begin to feel more and more like Christmas - especially when family is here to celebrate it with us! I'll just keep playing our Christmas music until I'm convinced - it may take a while though, which is bad since we have really awful Christmas cd's!!

From the logbook...Airstrip map

I know that when I write about where I went and what I did, it can be hard to visualize where I really was, and then where I went, etc. I scanned our airstrip map that we use. I don't claim it to be very good quality, but you can at least get a sense of what we do and where. This portion of the map is only the southeast corner of the country. You may be able to find Shell with the identifier of "SHL." All of the little black and green dots are our airstrips. We have over 200 of them and I have been into about 35 at this point. It will take me years until I have been in all the airstrips. I hope to figure out a way to put a better quality image on the blog when I have more time, and then link the airstrips that I am talking about for those of you who are like me and enjoy maps and finding places. If you click on the map, and then click it once more after that it will be a little better for viewing quality. Today my flight was very simple. I went from Shell, "SHL," to Conambo, "CON," and then back. See if you can find it. It is about 40 minutes to the east from Shell to Conambo.

From the logbook...Radio Install

Today I was part of helping one of our radio technicians install a new FM radio in a village called Chinkianentza. We have an extensive network of radios throughout the jungle. They help us to know the weather, medical emergencies, needs, etc. We have been working on a complete jungle upgrade these past few weeks, replacing old HF radios with new FM radios. Here is a small look into what we did this afternoon...
The men pictured here were the majority of the helpers that we had. Here they had just placed the pole in the ground that holds the antenna. It was stinkin' heavy. The man on the right with the paint on his face is wearing the typical Shuar makeup. He was the only one that I saw wearing the traditional makeup.


I have said that it rains here right?


Here we are taking the old antenna down, so we can put a new cable and hardware in. Did I mention that it was heavy?


What is a good jungle trip without some bug pictures. Many places I have been in the jungle are literally swarming with butterflies. It is a pretty stunning sight. I think these butterflies were licking salt from the dirt.

From the logbook...

As expected yesterday, I flew a lot once again. At the rate I am going, I am flying about 15-20 hours a week, which by flying standards is a lot. Not to mention I am landing on average every 20 minutes into something somebody calls a runway. But it is so fun!

My first flight yesterday involved moving around a medical team, and taking back some patients to some villages about 40 minutes from Shell. I was able to come home for lunch, which is always nice. During my lunch break I also went and bought a real Christmas tree. Ya, I know, Christmas in the jungle feels weird to me too, but we are going to fake it and give it a try.

After lunch I took all the seats out of the plane except the co-pilots seat, and loaded up two full 55 gallon drums of avgas to take to Makuma. We use Makuma for a staging area sometimes, and like to have extra gas there. Also, when we have to divert there like I did on Monday, sometimes it is nice to be able to put on extra gas if we need it to get where we are going.

En route to Makuma I got the famous "call." The doctor at our hangar was wondering if I would go to Iwia afterwards to pick up a mom, and her 23 day old daughter that was having respiratory problems. I didn't plan on any extra stops, therefore I didn't have a lot of gas, and I only had 1 extra seat. Fortunately I didn't have to use any of the gas I had just brought to Makuma, and I had the one seat for the mom and her baby. So, after Makuma I flew 10 minutes to Iwia and picked up the awaiting patients. Combined the baby and mom probably weighed 120 pounds dripping wet. Shortly thereafter we were on our way to Shell, and 25 minutes later we landed, and the mom hopped into the awaiting ambulance taking them to the hospital.

When I arrived home, I was bushed, and so was Becca. Dealing with two little kids, and trying to unpack would have whupped me to. That crazy lady has just about the whole house unpacked and organized, she did some painting, and she even sewed some slip covers for one of our chairs. I know without a doubt that I would fail miserably and quickly if we were to trade jobs for even a day. I got me a keeper!

From the logbook...

What a beautiful morning I am seeing right now. When I woke up yesterday, it was raining...go figure, equatorial rain forest. As expected, we had a lot of flights to get done yesterday. It wasn't until 11am that I launched on my first flight taking Compassion International folks to a village called Chinkianentza. Even after waiting until lunch time, mid-route I still had to divert to Makuma because the weather was shutting down around me the farther I got out into the jungle. I landed in Makuma with my tail between my legs and was glad to be on the ground. I was there for about 2 hours while we let the weather rain itself out a bit.

All wasn't lost in Makuma. I enjoyed lunch there with there with the Holmes, some missionaries that work with the Achuar Indians. They are awesome people. Dwain Holmes is also a reptile buff. For those of you that think I am always playing with bugs and things...well, he has be beat...bad. He has so many snakes in his house, some don't even have an English or Spanish name...meaning they have never been documented before. He had about 12 different species at his house yesterday. They were impressive. He has even had universities come and study at his house and document these new species. While Dwain is walking through the jungle to Achuar villages, barefoot I might add and in shorts, he takes his snake grabbing stick and just keeps his eyes peeled. Anything that comes close to his path is quickly snatched up and put into the collection, at least for a while.

Finally the weather in Makuma subsided, and I had good reports from Chinkianentza. I made the 20 minute flight and dropped off my passengers, and then flew back to Makuma to bring out some other missionaries who needed to come out to "civilization." When I got back to Shell, the weather was becoming beautiful in the late afternoon, so I loaded up for one more flight to the village of Wayusentsa. Again I had a load of Compassion International people and their cargo. I returned to shell after the 45 minute flight and landed for the last time at about 5:30 pm.

When I got home, Becca had done a great job of beginning to make our house a home. I am so glad for the ability God gave to women to be able to do that. If it were up to me, I would already be content the way things are. Not because I like bare walls and boxes everywhere, I just lack the ability to know what to do.

Today we are busy again flying. I have a least one long flight, and we will see if anything else comes up, highly possible.

Thanksgiving in Ecuador

We got back from our retreat just a few hours ago. Since then we have been doing the standard unpacking and getting back into the swing of things, although we are still figuring out what that swing is with our new house and all of our things in tubs still. But, it is still good to be home nonetheless. Our Thanksgiving weekend was truly one to remember. We had an incredibly refreshing time, and a lot of fun too. We have a wonderful team here that we work with, so to all be refreshed and encouraged together was wonderful. We had 4 people come down from California to "put on" the conference. We arrived in the town of Cuenca about 6 pm on Thursday evening. It was a long trip, about 10 hours, but it was really enjoyable for Rebecca and I. Seeing new countryside was wonderful. This country could really leave you captivated for years if all you did was travel from one corner to another. There is so much diversity in Ecuador, all in a country about the size of our home state of Colorado.

Of the 4 people that came down from the states, one is on the MAF board, and he did most of the teaching. By trade he is a judge in Orange County. He was awesome. He had some incredible teaching and encouragement for all of us. The other three on his team were 3 college kids that gave up their Thanksgiving to be with us, and mostly to watch our kids while we were meeting together. They really did a great job with our kids. Brooklyn seemed to grow up even more with all the social interaction in just a few days. Sometimes I feel like she is already getting away from me, and all I can do is watch.

This coming week is sure to be busy. While I cannot say for sure what will happen or in what order, I am sure there will be a lot of flying to be done. We also need to finalize some of Madison's Ecuadorian paperwork, as well as finish our driver's license process. (Thanks Vicki, the special papers arrived with the California team.) Not to mention getting unpacked and trying to put a little order back into the home front.

On the way to Cuenca near the place where we ate lunch, Brooklyn was dying to go see the nearby burros and sheep grazing in the nearby pasture. So while everyone was waiting in the restaurant for their food, we snuck off and went and petted the burros. She thought that was pretty cool. They were really woolly also. They average temperature where we were is about 56 degrees year long. Quite a difference from the jungle heat we are used to.

This hill is a good example of the endless patchwork quilt like fields that cover the area. It is amazing where they farm, and that most of it is still done by hand. But is does make for a gorgeous landscape.


Most of the Andes Mountains from Columbia to Chile are inhabited by one of the world's largest indigenous groups called the Quechua. They are remarkable people, and are as diverse as the countries in which they live. They are incredibly hardworking as noted by the farms above, but most striking to me are the beautiful garb that they wear.

Happy early Thanksgiving!

I know that tomorrow is the real holiday, but I am writing now for many reasons.

1.) We thankfully just got done this morning moving to our new house. While everything is moved into our house, those that have moved know what is is like, and our situation is no different. Our house is a WRECK! We already have internet service at the house, but I don't think I will have our computer hooked up for a few days. I am writing from our hangar right now.

2.) We are also leaving on a 4 day retreat tomorrow. With our recent move, and the retreat tomorrow, I can't give the time to get things hooked up before we leave. MAF is taking us to a mountain town called Cuenca. It should be a good time of refreshing and "bonding." There is a group coming down form the states that is going to minister to us, take care of our children, etc. It should be a Thanksgiving to remember for sure. We come back late Sunday night.

Talk to you all next week!

Smiley Face

Madison 6 Wks.

Due to some people complaining that we haven't put enough pics of Madison on (I admit, we haven't, but she isn't very photogenic) here you go people.

A picture for the Vickies

Being that Becca's mom Vicki, and my mom Vicki, both have an affinity for arachnids, I caught this one in the office this evening, and I thought they would enjoy the picture. Happy sleeping!
note-This picture is life size :)

"Mission to the headhunters"

A few blogs ago I told you about the book called "Mission to the headhunters." I also told you I found it in the local school library, and let me just say, it is awesome. I am about half way through it, and I just cannot believe sometimes what I am reading, and that it is describing the same places that I serve and fly. Things have changed so much here in Ecuador in the last 50-60 years since the stories in this book took place. I highly recommend anyone interested to find this book and read it. Amazon.com has it for about $10 new, if you wanted to buy it.

On a side note responding to some of the things Becca wrote about in her last blog, I just need to clarify some things. First of all, I am in total agreement that the home life is much more dangerous than my "day job." It goes without saying that living with 3 women, and three girl dogs, and 2 girl cats is very dangerous. I am the only form of testosterone to be found for miles.

Secondly, I did not offer my help to Becca to hang the curtain. Any wise man would know to steer a wide course around such trouble. When I walked into the room, she said, "hey, you, mister, get yer' little tail up here and help me before I get mad." Being the diplomat and humble servant that I am, I quickly and willingly jumped in to help narrowly avert destruction and ruin.

Third, yes I did have a close call on the roof yesterday. As with most things of this matter, in hindsight it is really funny. It was just like you see on TV. There I was "just a hanging on the precipice," in fact hanging for dear life by only the strength of a few fingers, and Becca finally got out of bed and made her way onto the roof to help me. I must have been hanging there for 10 minutes by the time she came. If she was going to take so long getting up there, the least she could have done was to bring the camera and get a picture of me hanging there like Sylvester Stalone in the movie "Cliffhanger." But at least we will always share the memory of the "roof day."

Fourth, stinkin electricity. It finally came on about 4pm yesterday afternoon. Of course almost all of Shell had electricity, but our block got pretty fried by a lightening bolt, so it took them a while to fix it. Praise the Lord we had a generator to keep things cold. I am going to have to buy one when we move to our new house. The electricity goes off at least twice a week. Usually it comes back on in decent time, but every once in a while it goes for a day or more. But, on a side note, it is fun to eat dinner by flashlight. While I wouldn't go as far and say it is romantic, it is memorable nontheless.

ps-Kids, be carefull on those roofs!

A Word from Becca

Sean tells you all about his exciting days as an MAF pilot but in a minute you'll read the rest of the story...

You see, Sean's flying adventures account for about a quarter of what life is like here for the Cannon family. Most of it isn't very exciting, I'm afraid. Occasionally, though, exciting things do happen in the day to day routine.

Last night (Friday) Sean brought home Chinese for dinner on his way home from work at about 6:30 p.m. I was in the bedroom trying to hang a stupid curtain and was ready to become very unladylike when Sean showed up. We are getting ready to move into our own house (yes!) and so I spent all day Friday washing and re-hanging curtains (no!) in this house that we have been house sitting. I was almost done and was trying to hang a swag thingy in the bedroom. Sean walked in on me standing on a chair strangled by billowy green fabric, trying to keep my balance, pull the curtain out of Brooklyn's grasp and get the thing to stay put on the curtain rod, which by the way, it refused to do after repeated attempts. Anyway, he offered to help and between the two of us we managed to put the thing up - it ain't pretty but it's clean and it isn't falling down on anyone's head....

Madison was pretty fussy by this time in the evening (it seems to be her habit to get mad at around dinner time) and so I told Sean to go ahead and eat while I tried to calm Maddie down. So Sean dished up some fried rice and breaded corvina (fish) for himself and Brooklyn. A big storm moved in and BAM! no more lights. We're used to that by now, so we just got our flashlights out and everybody kept eating. It wasn't long before the lights were back on and Madison seemed content enough for me to be able to eat. Well, Madison didn't stay happy for long and so Sean picked her up so that I could finish my plate. Next thing we know there was another very loud blast and it all went black again. Brooklyn had been fine with all the loud thunderclaps that had been going on all night but that one was very close and frightening - so I was hurriedly fumbling around for the flashlight that was next to me on the table while Brooklyn and Madison were both screaming at the top of their lungs. Once I found the flashlight and things calmed down a bit I finished my already cold meal holding a scared Brooklyn in my lap. The electricity never did come back on so we all went to bed early (and that was fine since Sean had a tiring day of flying and I was exhausted after losing a wrestling match with a stupid green curtain.)

The next morning we were able to sleep in a little bit. It's an unspoken rule that I get to sleep in on Saturday morning since I never sleep a solid night anymore. So Sean (after much prodding by me) got up with Brooklyn. Since the electricity had never come back on, Sean decided he'd better set up the generator so that our stuff in the freezer didn't go bad. I was laying around in bed still when I heard him up on the roof (the roof is flat and there is a storage space up there) banging around. I heard a loud noise and then heard Sean saying "Becca I need your help - NOW!" Something in his voice told me that I probably shouldn't even take the time to go to the bathroom before heading up so I jumped out of the bed and made my way up the stairs. I was trying to clear the cobwebs from my head when I heard a rather desperate plea again - "Becca, are you coming?" It sounded serious but not deadly so I didn't break into a run our anything but I did pick up the pace as I took the last three steps to the roof. I could see Brooklyn - she was fine but had a funny look on her face - but Sean was no where to be found. Then I heard him say "I'm over here." Still I couldn't locate him...until suddenly I saw just the top of his blonde head and his wide blue eyes peeping over the generator (which is about a foot and a half tall). There he was with his arms and one leg, barely holding on to the edge of the roof! There was a sort of desperate look on his face...but he was surprisingly calm there clinging to slick tile for his very life. I hurried over to him and immediately started firing off questions about how he got himself into such a predicament. Ever so calmly he reminded me that it wasn't really a good time for him to have a chat and began instructing me in what to do to help him. Once the generator was out of the way, I was able to help him crawl back onto the roof - miraculously he had been caught by a water drainage pipe on his way down or I would have been taking him to the emergency room with a broken something or other. Whew! Who knew that the real danger Sean faces would be at home.

Hangar Happenings...

Man, what a crazy past few days! I was flying a lot earlier this week, but on Wednesday, I had to be the flight coordinator, which means dispatching all the airplanes with their appropriate loads and people, with the right amount of gas, and with flight plans, ect. It also means taking radio calls from the jungle in case emergencies come up, dealing with new passengers and cargo as they come in, and generally just being around the hangar being available to help anybody for anything. It had me tired. Flying is a lot easier than coordinating.

Yesterday, I was on the flight schedule again. I had to wait until about 11am until rain in my sector of the jungle had lightened a little bit. Finally I was off again for Makuma taking some more missionaries that live their home as well as their cargo. I also had some FM radio equipment. We are in the process of a massive jungle radio upgrade, which means we are putting numerous radios into villages throughout the jungle. I did find the book I mentioned earlier called "Mission to the headhunters." I will let you know how it goes. Yesterday in Makuma, I did recieve some interesting "cargo" to bring back to Shell. I was handed a mustard jar full of urine, so that I could take it to the hospital when I got back and have it tested. It is from one of the Shuar bible translators who is in Makuma right now, who has turned very sick lately. When I got back to Shell, I had the test done at the hospital, and everything came back ok. This doesn't mean the fellow isn't sick, it just means that he has something else than previously thought. I used our old HF radio system to relay the test results back out to the jungle once I got the tests done.

Before I could start helping with testing urine, I still had another stop. From Makuma I made the 8 minute flight to a village called Copataza. By far it is the shortest strip I have been turned loose into as of yet. It has about 380 meters of usable landing length, which made for a fun approach. I wish I had a video of it. On final approach you are flying over the Pastaza River, and actually descend below the cliffs on the north side. Suddenly, you are over the river, below the cliffs, and the airstrip appears like an aircraft carrier and you either stick it on right there, or you pour on the coals and give er' another try if things aren't looking right. I went into Copataza to pick up a Compassion International team of 3 that had been there since Monday.

Last night we had a guest over for dinner. He is a volunteer from England. He seemed like a fun guy, and VERY intelligent. Afterwards, Becca took him "home" on her way to bible study. I thought I would blog a bit this morning before heading off to work. I don't know what we have planned today as far as flying goes, but I will know soon enough.

From the logbook...

Once again, another good day of flying, although the weather sure gave us fits. I was to have a decently long flight with several stops, but some of my patient returns never showed up (very common) and so I just reduced my total number of stops to 1, planning to take the bible translators back to Makuma, with about 600 pounds of cargo. This prop is from a C-130 Hercules that was in Makuma a long time ago. From the picture you can tell that things didn't go to well. It's original intention was to bring a hydro-electric power plant into Makuma, which it did with no problem. Any military operator of the aircraft will tell you of it's short field capability. The problem that this airplane had, occured on taxi. The pilots were taxiing to the end of the runway (it's a "long" runway, about 2400 ft long) in order to take off. Due to the large size of the C-130, the aircraft began to sink into the soft dirt-mud, and became stuck. The pilots tried to use the extra power of the 4 engines to try and get er' unstuck, but what they accomplished instead is kinda funny, in hindsight anyway. At full power trying to turn around, the aircraft wouldn't budge. What happened instead was the hot exhaust from the engines caught the nearby grass on fire, which in turn caught the airplane on fire, and burned it to the ground. No one was hurt, I don't think. I was told that most of the airplane simply melted, and what remained they just hauled off into the nearby jungle, which is where this prop now lies. I had to stomp down a lot of 6 foot tall grass in order to clear the area a bit to get a picture. All of the work in Makuma, including the story of the C-130, is told in a book called "Mission to the headhunters." I have yet to read it myself, although I want to. I have been told it is awesome. (If anyone has read it, let me know what you thought) Makuma is a bible translation hub so to speak, and is one of the oldest airstrips that exist in the jungle. Dan was also flying today, and landed at Makuma bringing in Shuar Bible translators from the distant jungle. I was waiting in Makuma, because Shell was shut down with heavy rain. I was on the ground there about an hour and a half. Once I finally did get a good report from Shell, I still had to divert a long way around a storm cell before turning on course to Shell. Weather is definetly a factor EVERY day here in Ecuador. It isn't like flying in the desert southwest of Colorado.

From the logbook...

Again, today, they had me busy flying...yesss! Man, what a joy to be flying so much lately. It looks like I will be flying as much as possible in the near future due to our lack of pilots. At this time we have more airplanes than pilots, which is good for the new guy that wants to fly a lot.
This is a shot of my second of three stops called Pitacocha. I took two Compassion International workers and a LOT of cargo, about 500 pounds to Pitacocha. When we landed the community jumped right in helping me unload, which is nice, because it can make you tired in the jungle heat.

My third flight was again to Montalvo. I took doctors back out, as well as a Compassion International "scout." His name is Juan Carlos, and he is coming out tommorow. His purpose of being there is to see the possibility of opening up Montalvo to the work that Compassion can provide. I look up to him, because he didn't know a soul, and was simply walking in faith to see what doors the Lord is going to open up for him in the next day or so for future work. Join me in prayer for him.

From the logbook...

Today was my longest day yet of flying. We only had two pilots and lots to do, so me and my co-worker Steve went at it. I flew just over 4 hours today, and had 8 landings. I made my last landing at about 5:30pm, which to us is only 30 minutes before sunset. I had two different flights that oringinated in Shell. My first flight was out to Montalvo taking some patients back, and then picking up some teachers and bringing them back to Shell. My second flight was a little more involved.
For my second flight I went first to a village called Pimpintza. I was dropping off a medical return, a man and his son. Just as I was getting ready to leave, trying to beat the rain, it "caught" me, and I had to shut down and stay about 15 more minutes until the rain lightened and passed by a little bit. You can tell from the picture that the kids there in Pimpintza were a lot of fun, and enjoyed having the wing for a place to stay a little drier.

From Pimpintza, I flew 15 minutes to Surikintza, also to drop off another patient and his baby. Everything there was a non-event, and soon after I was en-route 10 minutes away to Charapacocha.
I dropped off my last medical return here in Charapacocha. I then loaded about 250 pounds of corn seed in the belly pod, and made the 5 minute flight to Numbaimi. There I dropped off all the corn seed, and picked up a government medical team of 3 ladies, and took them 5 minutes back to Charapacocha. We took them into the jungle on Tuesday, and we have been moving them around everyday to a different village. Tommorow we will bring them back to Shell after a week in the jungle. Of the three women on the medical team, one was a doctor, one a nurse, and the one seen here a dentist. Immediatly they had a lot of work to do, and the doctor quickly found two patients that needed more professional help from a hospital. So after spending a little time in Charapacocha, I loaded up my 2 patients, and headed for Shell. 45 minutes later I made my 8th and final landing of the day, and saw my patients to the awaiting ambulance, for a ride to a hospital in nearby Puyo.

God's glory of creation

On my way to bible study this morning before work, the sunrise was very powerfull. I have blogged before about the volcanoes, but I thought this pic of El Altar that I took this morning was worth putting on. Remember, almost 18,000 feet tall, and snow capped year round on the equator.

From the logbook...Villano roadkill cafe

Last week I took a team of Compassion International people into a village called Villano to do various things for a week. Today, was their ticket out. When I arrived, they were not quite ready to leave. This was the only flight I had today, and the weather was good, so I told them I could wait for them. Here is a little look at what happened while I was there...
This is the cooking area for this part of the village. It was almost lunch time when I arrived, so they invited me to eat lunch with them. I gladly accepted, knowing that today's lunch might be an adventure.
We had a little free time while lunch was cooking, so I thought it would be a good idea to start getting their cargo near the airstrip, so that when we were ready to leave, it would be there ready to be put in the airplane after lunch. We have been shut down the past 2 days with rain, and they were not exempt in the jungle either. They had recieved a lot of rain, thus explaining the muddy trail.
I purposely didn't mention what was cooking for lunch in the picture above. I wanted to show you first hand what it looked like. The big claw/foot/leg on my plate is armadillo. Behind it is the typicall chicken, and in the green mug at the top of the picture is a drink called chicha. I have to admit, it was my first time eating armadillo. The funny thing...yes it did taste like chicken. Despite it's poor presentation, it was actually very edible. The drink is made from yucca root. It was a little harder to put down than the armadillo. Luckily, they gave me the non-fermented version. Chicha is notorious as the jungle alchohol. After the pulp is juiced from the yucca root, then village members begin to chew up pulp pieces, and spit it into a common pot. The saliva quickly ferments and makes the chicha alchoholic. Mine was "freshly" made, and was not the pre-chewed or spit-out version. Despite my hosts increadible hospitality and friendliness towards me, I am not in the mood for chicha or armadillo in the near future. Also in the top corner of the picture you can see what looks like a banana. They are plantains, which are similar, but not sweet.

From the logbook...

Today I flew to two villages. First I went to Ayuy (I-U-EEE) to get a patient, and then to Makuma to bring out some bible translators. Below you will see a bit of what Ayuy is like, and what it can be like to live there.
Here is what school in the jungle usually looks like. It is just a simple wooden building with all the kids from the village inside. They did come out for recess while I was there and there was probably 25 of them, ranging from 1rst grade to 5th. For those of you that were wondering, the flag is the Ecuadorian flag.

The man on the left is the dad of the patient that I brought out. He is walking to the hospital to be with his daughter. He said he should be there by tommorow afternoon. He is holding the boys pet mouse/rabbit thingy. I forgot what they called it in the Shuar language, and I know there is a name in Spanish, but I forgot it as well. The little boys dad is the one with the rifle. It is an old style flint lock gunpowder rifle. I asked them what they were hunting and they said "whatever." And then of course there is the mom with her trusty machete. They use those things for more than you would imagine.

This is a jungle stretcher. The girl I flew out is inside the blanket, as though she was a dead pig or something. She was unable to walk, so therefore some men of the village had to bring her out this way. It took them about an hour to bring her to the plane, and finally we were off to our second stop of Makuma. The patient was a girl of 15 years, and she was in a lot of pain and scared to leave. She was originally scheduled to leave to have a checkup after breaking both of her legs. I don't know all the story, but her legs didn't work after some time without the casts, and she had many other problems as well, which her dad thought he needed to show me.

Madison 4 Weeks Old!

From the Logbook...La Co-pilota

On Wednesday we recieved a call late in the afternoon for a medi-vac. Because of the distance of the airstrip, and the time of the day in which we revieved the call, we had to put it on hold until the following day, which was yesterday. I was on the schedule yesterday to get this patient out, but the weather was to bad all day yesterday. So, the patient was still needing transport today, so me and my new little co-pilota went and got her from her village called Montalvo.
Brooklyn did pretty good on her first jungle flight with her dad. She had flown some when we were in the States, but she was really young then. Our flight was about 45 minutes each way, and I think she was getting a little airsick by the time we landed in Montalvo. Other than that, she did great. On our way back, she was my little stewardess. I also brought out 2 doctors with my patient and her mom. She kept handing pieces of her bread roll to the doctors sitting right behind us. They thought it was pretty cute, as did I. But it did leave a lot of crumbs in the plane. But there has been a lot worse left in the plane, believe me. We also sang a lot of songs on the way home, Ol' McDonald, ABC's, Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves me this I know, ect. It was a first class flight on the way home, full of entertainment and food. I got another good glamour shot of my co-pilota. Isn't she cute!

Wisdom teeth con't...

Like I mentioned previously in my blog when I got my wisdom teeth pulled, the wife of the dentist (who is also a dentist) took some pictures of me. She sent them to me today and I think they turned out pretty good.
Here is the general picture of what over 40 people went through in the 3 days that they were with us. The famous dentist's chair is only a lawn chair on some saw horses. Everything that came out of the mouth went into the trash can right next to Jay the dentist. This incluided teeth, gauze, whatever. They had a really neat portable set-up, and you could tell they had done it before.
One more pic looking a little more down the "trap." I think at this point they were telling me a story to keep my mind on other things. If I remember right it had to do with a "surgury" they performed on a dog the previous weekend before coming to Shell. Lucky guy...

Lots of airtime...

Today I had my biggest flying day yet. In fact when I finally got home around 4:30, I sat down to talk to Becca and the next thing I know I woke up a little after five. I went to work just before 7:00am because I knew our flight schedule was busy. Weather shut us down totally yesterday. With the flights we couldn't get done yesterday, on top of having a lot on the schedule for today, we all tried to arrive a bit earlier to get things going today. I flew a total of about 3 hours, and had 8 landings, which put me landing every 22 minutes or so. I had two flights to a village called Villano full of 4 Compassion International staff, plus their weeks worth of cargo. They have many things to accomplish on this trip. For those of you that maybe support a child monthly, or know someone that does, you have no dought seen the pictures and yearly stats of the supported child. That is the main purpose of this trip; to take pictures of the children, get current updates, and even have the children write something to thier supporters. My third flight was taking some missionaries from Quito to a village called Kusutka. They will be there about 5 days doing some construction work. Overall it was an uneventfull day, but it is sure strange how flying can make you so tired. Even my co-workers that have been doing this for years say that is doesn't end. But it was a great feeling to be flying so much today. The way things are looking at the hangar because of a "lack" of pilots, I will be flying more and more like I did today.


Usually I ride my bike to and from the hangar from our house. Along the way I pass the town "plaza" or center. EVERY afternoon there is a soccer game. It is fun sometimes to sit and watch and see the passion that the latins have for the game. It is also a good place to go and learn new vocabulary if you know what I mean. This picture of the plaza, and its poverty motife is basically how most of Shell looks. We are constantly reminded of the poverty that we live among, and in some cases the desperation that accompanies it. One of my co-workers usually goes and plays soccer here at the plaza about 3-4 times a week. In fact he was playing when I got there. I admire him, he has more guts than I do. One of the desires for the teams that show up to play is to wear thier shirts. They always play shirts and skins, and for obvious reasons, you don't want to fall and slide on this "field."

Good food and Good Fixins'

GOOD FOOD:

Yesterday we suprised ourselves with some simple yet awesome food dishes. A few weeks ago we found some fresh blueberries at the store, and bought them with the intent on making blueberry pancakes. I try to cook breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I really enjoy the freedom of just relaxing and making some breakfast, not trying to hurry and be off to work or any other appointment. So, I made some pretty good apple/walnut/cinnamon pancakes on Saturday. But Sunday morning was the real deal. Those blueberry pancakes were some of the best we have ever eaten if I must say so myself. Not to mention it has been years since we ate such an American breakfast icon.

Then came dinner. Ahhhh yesssss...that one will go down in the record books. Also a few weeks ago when we bought the blueberries, we found some nice T-bone steaks. Three steaks for five dollars. That was a good deal we thought, and if they didn't turn out too good, we weren't out a whole lot of money. The various cuts of meat that we as Americans are used to don't exist here. They simply take the cow, chicken, pig, ect. and cut off a piece of itt. It isn't un-common to order chicken at a reasturant and get some meatless piece of the back. You asked for chicken didn't ya? They don't get the concept of cuts of beef either. New York strip, t-bone, filet mingon, rib eye, ribs, ect. don't exist, except in the larger city supermarkets...sometimes. And even then, the cows aren't corn or grain fed like those in the States. They are mostly grass fed. This gives the meat a little different flavor, but mostly a lot less fat. Now, I grilled our three steaks while Becca made corn on the cob, sauted mushrooms, peas, and baked potatoes. I could go on about how different the corn and potatoes are here, but I don't want to bore you too bad. Let's just say they were not typical either. So, our meal wasn't anything extremely elaborate, or well prepared. It was just food that we were accustomed to in the States, that we were able to find here, and it was STINKIN' GOOD!

GOOD FIXINS'

On Saturday, I also took the Bronco to the hangar to work on some various little squaks, and wash and clean it really well. Yesterday morning when I went to pull out of the driveway, my brake pedal went all the way to the floorboard. This raised an eyebrow, but I have seen worse. They pumped themselves back up and I went to do what I had planned. En-route, I heard a funny noise coming from the front left wheel. Upon inspection at the hangar, I found that one of my brake linings had come completely off, and the remenants were trapped in between the caliper and the disc making a lot of racket when I was driving. So once again I was off to Puyo today to see of they had parts, knowing that in the back of my mind they wouldn't and I would have to order them from one of the big cities in Ecuador, and wait. But...lo and behold they had brake parts at the parts store. Not only that, they had two sets to choose from, a regular set, and a fancier set. Feeling unusually gratefull that I found good car parts in the middle of the jungle for a 1994 Ford Bronco, I went ahead and splurged and bought the fancy set of brake linings. I promtly returned to the hangar and put them on, and boy that Bronco will stop on a dime now. Now, I wonder what tommorow will bring...?

What have we been up to?

As always, we have been busy these past few days. I have had some more flights this week, which is always a bonus. I have taken teachers out to the jungle, and then a few days later picked them up after they were done supervising what already exists there in the educational realm. (Here is one of the places I have been the past few days. It is called Liquino -Lee Kee No-)

Wednesday night we were all out late because of an MAF meeting. Two of our "big" bosses flew down here to have this meeting with us. The purpose was to talk about the future of the Ecuador program. With out going into specifics, let's just say it is a much more complicated world we live in, than 50 years ago when Nate Saint was flying here. Westerners aren't the only ones anymore with technical skills, and the equipment to use those skills with.

Yesterday was busy as well. Afterwork, we had some powerfull thunderstorms for several hours. The power was off and on, and finally just off. Becca was at a bible study, so Brooklyn and I just read a book in my bedroom by candle light. It was a good time. But she lasted longer than I did, as I woke up a little while later, and she was still reading her book.

Today I am not expecting much. We are VERY low on avgas, which means we are denying all flight requests at this time, except extreme emergencies. Getting avgas here is always a problem. The gas company has been telling us for the past month that "mañana" we will send you gas. Well, mañana hopefully will arrive today. The other operators on the field are also out of gas. We have about 6-7000 gallons of storage capacity, which keeps us flying for quite a while. The other operators at the airport might be lucky if their tanks hold 1000 gallons. So what usually happens is they run out long ahead of us, and come knocking at our door wanting to "borrow" gas.
Just another slithery guys found crawling across our hangar floor a few days ago. The following morning there was another one doing the same thing, which led me to think that maybe there was a nest nearby. Either way, they both got thrown into the nearby ditch and eaten by the fish.

Pictures

Here are a couple of pics of Maddie. We are all doing great and loving getting to know the newest member of our family!

In the carseat ready for a trip to the store!

Brooklyn is an excellent big sister and has been a great help to Mommy! It is fun to see Brooklyn love on her baby sister. Maddie seems to adore Brooklyn already and is fascinated by Brooklyn's voice and facial expressions when Brooklyn talks to her.

Road trip review

Our weekend in Quito taking grandma to the airport went very well...esp. the part where we left grammy at the airport...just kidding!!! As always, it was really hard to leave grandma at the airport EARLY yesterday morning, but we had an awesome time together. We made it home to Shell late afternoon yesterday, and began the process of letting the real world sink in without a live in maid, dish washer, clothes washer, baby-sitter, cook, ect, begin.
Here we are in front of Tungurahua Volcano. It has really been spewing a lot of smoke and ash lately. The girls are standing on one of the lava flows that came down a few months ago.
We also went to the equator on Saturday. It is a really neat place, and I feel like you can get a good feel of what Ecuador is and offers while you are there. We purposely put Brooklyn in the Northern Hemisphere and Madison in the Southern Hempisphere since those are the respective hemispheres in which they were born in. We also took about a 20 minute tour of a rose farm while en-route to Quito on Friday. Ecuador exports an enormous amount of roses, and here is where they are sorting them out getting ready to box them up for shipment. All of the roses seen here were bound for Russia. Our tour guide told us that there are three main export markets, the USA, Europe, and Russia.

These were just some pretty flowers growing at the restaurant that we ate lunch at on Friday. We really enjoyed our time in the Andes these past few days. The climate is so similar to a spring or fall day in Colorado, and of course the mountains are awesome.

At work today, I was on the schedule to make a flight. I flew some college students into the jungle that are studying anthropology, as well as one of my co-workers so that he could install a radio in a nearby jungle village. On the way home, I brought back an 11month old, and a 11 year old for eye surgery. I am not sure what caused their eye problems, but it didn't look good, no pun intended. Tommorow, I am on the schedule again flying; can't wait, it is sure fun, and a great feeling to be back in the air.

Road trip...

Since the pulling of my wisdom teeth on Wednesday, I am feeling pretty good. Yesterday I was able to eat just about anything I wanted, although I had to chew carefully with each bite. It took me a while to finish my food, even Grandma ate faster than me.

Yesterday when we woke up we were greated with an unusuall sight. During the night, volcanic ash from Tungurahua had covered EVERYTHING! I would compare it to a very light dusting of snow, except, it doesn't melt when the sun comes up. Needless to say, it was very dusty yesterday, and the Ecuadorians though it very strange to see so much dust. I was telling them of the amount of dust that we have in my desert region of the USA, and how there is so much in fact that there are huge "piles" of dust also known as the Great Sands Dunes National Park. They didn't quite get it. We had a little rain over the night, so hopefully it settled things down a bit.

This morning we will be on our way to Quito. Becca's mom leaves early Sunday morning to go back home, so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to travel there. We should have a good day today and tommorow. It should also prove intersting as well. Our first big trip as a bigger family, in a car that hasn't quit earned it's trustworthyness. Keep us in your prayers. I'm sure that we will have some funny stories as always when we get back on Sunday.

You never know what a day may bring...

Keeping with tradition over the past few days, we have been very busy. As any parent can attest to, parenting can be an all consuming fire. With our recent addition of Madison we have definetly had our work cut out fir us, especially Becca. We have been so gratefull to have Becca's mom here helping us. True reality is going to hit next week when we get back to normal.

Speaking of normal, you'll never guess what I got to do today. Unfortunatly, I still haven't had any flights this week, so it's not flight related. We recieved an email a few days ago letting us know that there would be a dentist couple coming down to Shell to give a few days of FREE dental treatment to those interested. They are from Ohio and spend about half of the year traveling the world doing medical work. This will be their 16th year coming to Ecuador. They had already spent the past few weeks giving free clinics in the Quito area for Compassion International. This morning they arrived in Shell and my family was one of the first on the list to be seen today. We all 3 (Madison doesn't have teeth yet for those who were wondering) checked out fine, but he did mention to me that I should probably get my wisdom teeth out. I said "I know, my hometown dentist told me the same thing." But then he said "I can do it right now." I was a liitle shocked by that statement! But I knew I have been putting off the inevitable, so this afternoon, after we ate lunch with him and his wife, he took out my two lower wisdom teeth. He jusy numbed me up real good, and yanked those two suckers out. Did I say they were huge! So, needless to say, my mouth is still numb, and I won't be flying until next week now. I also forgot to mention that they set up shop in our hanngar. We just ran them an air hose and they went to town. They took a picture of me on the "operating" table, which I will be sure to post when I get it. Can't say that when I left for work this morning that I thought I would be coming home with 2 fewer teeth. The irony of this lifestyle never ceases to amaze me!

Madison at 1 Week Old

Checking things out.

Madison resting on Mommy's shoulder.

A Week Later...

Has it really been a week already?! We've been a bit busy this past week, adjusting to a completely different life! I know many of you were probably hoping for more news from us this past week...all I can say is that when it's a choice between sleep and blogging, sleep will always win out!!

Maddie is doing great. She is a great baby and does what babies do best - eats, sleeps, and fills her diaper! She is quite regular :-) She obviously doesn't sleep through the night yet but she does give me a few hours between feedings.

Brooklyn is adjusting to the new addition. She likes to give Madison kisses and seems interested in "helping" when I change diapers or dress Madison. It is hard as a Mommy to not be able to be available to Brooklyn whenever she needs me but it is good for Brooklyn to learn patience and how to share me with her baby sister. I try to have a few special times alone with Brooklyn when Madison is sleeping. Of course, right now, Brooklyn is so busy being spoiled rotten by her Grammy that she doesn't seem to mind that I'm not available at every moment. In fact, the other evening when I was trying to have a special moment alone with Brooklyn she spent the whole time telling me that I was sitting in "Bunny's" chair - for some reason Brooklyn can't quite pronounce "Grammy", so she calls her "Bunny".

I am so grateful to have my mom here to help out. There is nothing like having my Mommy around to take care of me. I'm a tad emotional and hormonal (wonder why?) and I'm grateful that she is around to make things so easy and stress-free. She cooks, cleans, does laundry and dishes, and plays with Brooklyn. It will be a rude awakening when she leaves!

I am finally starting to feel human again. My back was pretty messed up there for a while but it seems to be getting better. I am almost walking normal again! I'm enjoying being able to get around and feeling more energetic everyday, despite the lack of sleep. It is unbelievable what pregnancy does to the body...ugh!

Tonight the other missionary ladies in Shell threw a baby shower for Madison and I. It was a great time. I am reminded of what a blessing it is to work with such awesome people. I was so blessed by their love, understanding and support - it does make being so far away from "home" at this time much easier. God used church this morning and the baby shower this evening to encourage me - both in our calling to reach the people of Ecuador for Christ and in my own personal calling as a mother to raise my girls in Spirit and Truth. There is no higher calling and I am humbled all over again that God has entrusted not one but two beautiful little lives to my care and guidance. What a huge responsibility! But praise the Lord that I don't even have to rely on my own strength to do it. God is good.

--Becca

Released from captivity?

In Tuesday's blog I briefly mentioned the car accident that one of my fellow co-workers wives was involved in. That is when the saga began. Ecuadorian law basically states that those involved in auto accidents (i.e. drivers from ALL autos involved) must be placed in jail until all insurance companies have resolved their issues, and all injured persons are released from the hospital.

Despite our best efforts, my co-workers wife was placed in jail Tuesday afternoon, and was there until this afternoon, 2 nights in the clanker. I don't know all of the details at this point, but the good thing is that she can be at home tonite with her family. This family already has enough on their plate right now as they prepare for a move to Venezuela in the next month; and then for this to happen has been stressfull I am sure.

The ironic thing about this, is my co-worker (the husband) actually spent 10 days in jail after he was involved in an auto accident right after they got to Ecuador a few years ago. So now for stories sake, they can both tell their grandkids some day about how they both were in Ecuadorian jail because of auto accidents. Despite the craziness of how this sounds, and perhaps the absurdity of this Ecuadorian law, God can, and does, use all things to His glory.

The apostle Paul gave us a good example on how to conduct ourselves when we are in jail. (Not that most of us plan on being in jail.) This has also been a good reminder to us as to the extreme nature of our calling, and the situations that happen sometimes, and the raw faith that must be ready "in and out of season" to share our great news. Thanks again for your continued prayers not only for us, but those we work hand in hand with as well.

From the logbook...

I had a great time in the cockpit today. I had my longest flight, and my most stops up to this point flying solo. My first stop was to the village of Makuma. I was carring HCJB World Radio folks to another village, but first we had to pick up one of their co-workers that lives in the jungle. When I landed in Makuma, our HCJB passenger was waiting as were numerous others wanting to get a flight with us. I was able to put 2 little kids on board with us plus the HCJB'er and we were off to our next stop of Taisha.

Taisha is another military base out in the jungle. The HCJB crew that I was hauling had to do some business related to a water project with some folks in Taisha. I knew before I left Shell that I would be waiting a bit in Taisha while the HCJB'ers did what they had to do, but 4 hours later when I was firing up to leave was a little longer than I anticipated. When I did call Shell via radio before departing, I learned of another emergency patient that I could get in the nearby village of Cangaime. I was already planning on going back to Makuma to drop off the one HCJB'er, and also put on a waiting patient there as well. I determined that the patient in Cangaime was in worse shape than the one in Makuma if I didn't have room for all of them so I set off for the 5 minute flight to Cangaime.

Taisha and Cangaime were both new strips for me today. Taisha was very long and didn't pose any problem for landing or taking off. Cangaime was a bit different. I still got in and out of there very safely, but if is more the type of strip that we fly into, 200 ft. cliff dropping down into the river at one end, the other end rising sharply into terrain; it was a fun time. The patient that I picked up in Cangaime was an 11 month old girl that had had diarea for the past 10 days. This can pose a serious health threat to any age group, so that is the reason I went there to bring that little girl out for sure today so she wouldn't have to wait another day or two.

Finally, I was back in route to Makuma. Again the flight was only about 5 minutes, and upon landing I unloaded the HCJB guy and ran some calculations. I had to determine that with the two remaining HCJB'ers, my patient and mom from Cangaime, the necessary fuel to get to Shell, and the cargo I was bringing back, if I still had enough room to put on the waiting patient in Makuma. Sure enough I did, and I loaded them up as well. This time it was a young girl who had broken her collarbone, along with her dad going along with her. So, all seven of us filled my 6 seats and 25 minutes later we were back in Shell.

Today was a sneak peak at what my everyday life will be like flying as I get checked out into more of the jungle. I had been flying a lot of out and backs, but as I gain experience they are turning me loose to do more flights where there may be 5 of more stops before I return to Shell, not incluiding the stops that come up from emergencies.

On a family note, we are all doing well, especially Becca and baby. I think Brooklyn is getting more and more used to the idea of being knocked off her throne as the only child as well. Thanks for all of your prayers in all that we do. They truely do sustain us and help us to keep on keepin' on. (Did I mention it was stinkin' hot today!?)

Another day in the life...

Today I had a flight full of doctors. I flew back out to Montalvo taking two doctors, who were "replacing" two that were already there. So I flew out the 2 doctors that were leaving and brought them back to Shell. Very non-eventfull flight, just the way we like them.

After my flight, things slowed down for me at the hangar. I went on our water run this afternoon with my mother-in-law, Vicki, which was fun. Every week MAF takes a trailer and fills plastic jugs for drinking water at a potable spring for the missionary community.

When I returned to the hangar, I was greated by an auto accident in front of the hangar. One of my co-workers wives was t-boned as she turned into the mission school. It seems that everyone is ok, but there is a lot of red-tape to work through now. Please pray for the Shaylor's as they work through this process. They already have a lot on their plate right now as they prepare to move to Venezuela in the next month and a half to serve there.

Becca and baby Madison continue to do awesome! Vicki is definetly a huge help as Becca hasn't had to think about cooking, cleaning, ect.

Introducing....

On Saturday, October 7 at 6:00 a.m. (about 35 minutes after we arrived at the hospital) Madison Elizabeth made her entrance into the world.

She weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces and was 21 inches long. She's beautiful! The labor and delivery went without a hitch - thank you for your prayers! Our experience in the hospital was actually better than what we had in the US when Brooklyn was born. We felt blessed by the care of both our missionary doctor and the Ecuadorian nursing staff...and paid $163 for the whole thing!

Now we are adjusting to life as a family of 4.

From the logbook...

Finally I have found a chance (and a reason) to post a blog. Since Friday of last week, I have been battling what appears to be a severe sinus infection. I missed half a day Tuesday, and all of yesterday from work. I went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and have been on some good drugs ever since. They definetly seem to be working as I was able to be back at work today, feeling almost 100%.

Fortunately, I was able to get airborne today. This morning after the weather finally cooperated, I made the first flight out of the hangar around 11:00 to do a post maintenance flight in Alas 12. Everything checked out fine, and soon after Alas 12 was flying operationaly with my boss Dan.

A bit after I returned from lunch, I was notified that when Dan and Alas 12 got back from their current flight, I would be taking it back into the jungle to pick up an emergency medical patient. It was into a strip called Montalvo. Montalvo is about 45 minutes from Shell, and I had never been there. The military actually has a small base there, therefore the strip is actually "nice." In order to get out there, I was dodging clouds for a while, and finally I just had to accept the inevetable and go IFR, or enter the clouds instead of flying around them. I was only in the clouds for about 15 minutes when I broke out and flew the remaining 10 minutes or so into Montalvo. Soon after our arrival, my patient arrived being towed by her dad. The patient was a 6 year old girl who broke her arm. Nothing life threatening by any means. What made things bad was that she broke that same arm only 4 months ago, and recently, she fell on it, re-injuring it, and breaking the bone in a few new places. Therefore her fracture was requiring special assistance that only a hospital could provide, not the overworked jungle doctor.

So, we were quickly airborne after the little girl and her dad were put onboard, and we were back on our way to Shell. The flight back was uneventful, and after we landed I helped the dad and his little girl find a cab to the hospital.

As always, it is great to be back in the air flying operationaly. I don't know if I will be flying tommorow, but I wish Becca would just have her baby. Tommorow between 8-5 would be a real convenient time for me. I'll be sure to let her know! :) That way I can be home for the weekend and finally get my jungle of a yard tamed!

Good Weekend

It was a good weekend. Sean was able to be home with us instead of working on the Bronco for the first time in 3 weeks. It was great - we did a whole lot of nothing! I was hoping to go into labor but no such luck. I've had contractions off and on but nothing serious so....guess we just keep waiting. It is still about a week and a half early so I shouldn't be expecting anything. But I'm ready. My wonderful husband makes fun of my gimpy waddle. Not only do I waddle but I have an added "hitch in my get along" because of a pinched sciatic nerve. I do look ridiculous and it takes me ages to walk from one point to the next! I have to laugh at myself but it will be a lot funnier when I'm back to "normal" and can look back at how spasmatic and lumbering (yes, both of those at once) my walk has become. Right now it just hurts to move.

So far so good with the Bronco! Have I mentioned how proud I am of my husband for fixing that thing? We drove it around quite a bit over the weekend and never had a problem. We're still leery to proclaim it completely fixed but we're feeling more and more like we can trust it to get us around. It is a great vehicle and we enjoy driving around in it...although it is a bit difficult for me to get up into at the moment.

Sean continues to fight a headache. It might have something to do with the way the poor guy has to sleep lately. He gets about 10 inches of the bed if he's lucky. I'm pretty sure that my fortress of pillows is causing him to sleep in some weird, contorted positions. I think he might also get cold at night. I have the fan going, the window open, and I tend to throw all the blankets off of the bed in an effort to stay cool. And, of course, I'm up a lot during the night, making a big racket just trying to roll myself out of the bed to go to the bathroom. He's sweet and just endures it - he doesn't dare complain! Yup, I think we're both ready for this pregnancy stage to be done with...not that the next stage of having a newborn in the house won't be without its challenges.....

-- Becca