Mission Trips to Venezuela

Our church begins its new emphasis
on missions with a partnership

Our family trip to Venezuela in June of 2001 started something. Something big! At the time, it was just nice to be able to see where Karen spent most of her childhood. It also explained a lot of things about her :-) But then we found out that the Baptists of Alabama just happened to be in the midst of a multi-year partnership with the country of,...you guessed it, Venezuela! (what an amazing coincidence!) As a result, there had been several trips to Venezuela sponsored by the state convention, and numerous churches in the state had formed partnerships with churches there. Seeing an opportunity, Karen sent out some emails about the possibility of going down as a translator, and before we knew it, it was August 2003 and she was winging her way back to Venezuela as part of a trip to start new churches and establish partnerships. As it happens, our church was experiencing a real awakening to missions. (what an amazing coincidence!) Individuals from our church had recently gone on trips to places like China and Cuba; groups had been to Kenya as well as a number of places in the states; and we hosted missionaries from Brazil in our church mission house. The groundwork was laid. During the same time, our church was working through the book "40 Days of Purpose", and towards the end it really focuses on the fact that we were "made for a mission". (what an amazing coincidence!) So, not long after she returned from Venezuela, Karen was given the better part of a Sunday morning service to share what her trip had meant to her. The response was overwhelming!

Within weeks, our church had voted to form a partnership with a small start-up church in the town of Miranda, Venezuela. In November, a delegation consisting of a Pastor, a Trustee, and a Deacon (plus Karen as translator) was sent to make it official. The trip was very quick, but the relationships we established with Pastor Jimmy and the church in Miranda will last a lifetime! Two (or maybe three?) trips are planned for 2004, and more are being planned. On looking back, it's now clear that all the "coincidences" that brought us to where we are were obviously God's leading. It's an awesome thing to be involved so directly in His business!

Photos from previous trips:

Aug 03

Sep 03

Last Gasp of Summer

Road Trip to Georgia!
to see the Wilsons, Stone Mountain and Six Flags

Alabama public schools are moving closer and closer to a year-round schedule, so the boys are scheduled to start on August 6th this year. As the end of July rolled around, we realized we really hadn't had much of a vacation yet, so we started thinking about where we might go.

We found out that Megan and Laurel were going to be starring in their church's production of "Solid Rock Cafe" on a Sunday night, so we decided to head toward Atlanta and make it a long weekend. We kept the boys in suspense until we were right outside of Atlanta, which drove Tucker, in particular, nuts.

The show was great, hilighted by Megan's solo, and by Laurel's winning one of the chalk drawings that had been used on the set. We set off from the church to Stone Mountain, to see the famous laser light show. THAT was cool! We arrived in time to see the sites before it got dark, then settled in with a few thousand of our closest friends to watch the light show. We drove back to Amy's house for the night, where we were graciously admitted despite the late hour.

The next morning we were greeted with a handsome breakfast, and then we set off for Six Flags. It's been a while since we've been to Six Flags. As near as we can figure from these pictures (taken at the same location at Six Flags) it's been something like five or six years! The boys seem to have gotten a lot older, but Karen and I appear to be much the same :-)

We stayed the entire day, until they closed up at 9 pm. Along the way, we rode all the rollercoasters and major rides, walked about a hundred miles, and drank gallons of coke. All in all, a pretty good trip.

Karen and Gerrit in the front car of the Ninja	Much needed refreshment
Gerrit and Tuck preparing for "Acrophobia"	Another great ride!

First Solo Flight

After years of gazing at the skies,
Dave finally gets the chance to
live his dream!

From the time I was a kid, I've has always loved being up high,... mountain tops, tall buildings, and especially airplanes. Even now, I try to get the window seat whenever I fly for business trips. The idea of actually piloting an airplane was just a dream, though,... something best left for those far-off, halcyon days of retirement.

Then, late last Fall, Karen took me to dinner and made an announcement. She had decided that it was silly to put off the dream when we had the means to make it happen now. What a wife!

So, in February, I started ground school at Madison County Executive airport, under the entertaining tutelage of Rob Lindstrom. Later the same month I began flying lessons at Redstone

Returning from a successful flight: the plane is still in the same number of pieces as when it left, and so were we :-) Army Airfield with a fellow Lockheed employee, Dave Williams. Doing both at the same time was like "sipping from a fire hose", but somehow that new knowledge leaked in. By the end of May, ground school was over, the FAA written test had been passed, and it looked like the first phase of flight training was coming to it's logical conclusion,...the first solo.

The first solo take-off. On June 5, Dave Williams determined the skies were clear and the winds were acceptable, so together we did a few takeoffs and landings to make sure all the cobwebs were blown out. Then Dave had me drop him off and told me to go make three take-offs and landings on my own. He remained on the taxiway to observe, listening on a hand-held radio and taking pictures.

On final approach, flaps down and lined up with the runway. After the initial "ohmygosh", I steered the Cessna 172 (N35553) onto the runway and took off. As the plane climbed into the air I realized that it was a lot quieter than usual,...due to the absense of my "Constant Flight Interrupter" (the acronym "CFI" actually stands for "Certified Flight Instructor", but they do have a way of peppering you with questions while you're flying!)

The first solo landing,...best of the day. Everyone's first solo is memorable, but Dave found a way to make it even moreso! After three successful landings, I steered the airplane back over to pick him up and found him standing with two security guards. It seems they had seen a guy out on the airfield, with a walkie talkie and taking pictures, and given the heightened security around airports these days, they thought that looked suspicious. Well, after several phone calls it was determined that Dave was probably not a threat to national security, and we were allowed to go on our way. Not many students can say their CFI was willing to get arrested for them on their first solo!

Gerrit and Tucker were waiting us when we pulled up at the flying club, and got to help do the traditional shirt thing. I was a little disappointed that Karen couldn't be there, especially since it was all her idea in the first place. But then, as we rounded the corner for home, it all became clear. To cap the whole day off, she had organized a surprise "first solo" and birthday party for me with all of our friends. What a wife!

Gerrit's Rite of Passage

In our culture, we don’t really have any kind of traditional, ceremonial way for boys to mark their passage into manhood. Our young men have to use things like getting their license, or their first job, or their first whiskers to use as a benchmark that they’ve arrived. And yet, in so many ways, our culture turns right back around and tells them they’re still not ready to do many “adult things”,…they can’t drive by themselves, they can’t vote, they can’t get jobs,…Those are confusing signals.

So we came up with our own way celebrate, in a tangible way, the fact that each of our boys had reached that milestone. The result is our family's "Rite of Passage" during which we challenge the boys (at age 15) to BE the kind of men they want to be rather than just hoping people will think that’s who they are; to decide beforehand how they're going to approach life and its adventures; to live a Life of Faith, a Life of Holiness, a Life of Service and a Life of Excellence.

We ask the boys to identify some men from our church whom they respect , who have exhibited qualities they admire. Each of these men writes them a letter about what they think it means to be a man, and pledges to pray for them through the remainder of their high school years.

We identify a key scripture passage for each area (Faith, Service, Holiness, and Excellence), which they must commit to memory as a “lamp unto their feet, and a light unto their path”.

Finally, each area is represented by a member of our family: the boys' two grandfathers, Karen and Dave, and from each they receive a token of some kind to remember their pledge.

The final act of the ceremony, Dave performs a "knighting" ceremony, using the following words:

"In remembrance of the pledges you have made."
"In remembrance of your lineage and obligations."
"In remembrance of the God whom you serve."
"Son of David, son of Patrick, son of Hubert, son of Clyde and Andrew and Moses, rise and join the company of men."

Christmas at the Mission

Celebrating the Season with our Friends

(and family) at the DTRM

This Christmas was probably the best we've ever had, and a large part of that is because of the friends we've developed at the rescue mission. What started as a service opportunity has quickly become a second home to us, complete with a whole bunch of folks we have come to consider to be a part of our family.

Karen was inspired with a whole bunch of ideas for connecting our church, and us, with the Mission for the Christmas season, but without a doubt, our favorite event was the night we had the workers from the mission over to our house! These folks have grown to be so dear to us over the last year!

The next event to be planned was a dinner for the ladies who live at the mission, or whom we helped move out over the last year. The dinner would be patterned after the annual Christmas dinner the ladies of our church put on each year, and the goal was to make it just as special!
With everything else going on during Christmas, Karen was a little apprehensive about getting enough volunteers to help pull the dinner off. Everyone is already so busy at Christmas! But, she decided to put a little ad in our church newsletter, just to see what would happen. Well, the results were phenomenal! Without Karen calling to recruit a single person, we ended up with over 60 volunteers!

So, the plans were laid. In addition to the dinner for the ladies, there would dinner and activities for their kids, a gospel-oriented magic show, stockings filled with goodies and toys for each person, and a few surprises.

Before the ladies' dinner, however, we found out that the Rescue Mission does a Christmas party for all the little kids who live around the mission. Talk about giving your holidays some perspective,...the folks at the homeless shelter putting on a party for the poor kids in their neighborhood. Wow....

So, Karen put out the word among the Sunday school classes at our church, and, once again, the response was beyond our wildest dreams! The gifts completely filled one of the classrooms at our church, wall to wall!

On the day of the party, folks were lined up out the door of the rescue mission, and everyone left with a little something.

Finally, the night of the Christmas dinner arrived. Everything went according to plan,...well, almost everything :-), and it was a wonderful way to cap an already awesome Christmas season!
More pictures,...

Merry Christmas!

Second Annual Football Road Trip!

Seattle vs. Atlanta at the Georgia Dome

After our trip to see the Packers play the Titans last year, Karen decided she liked the idea of getting a whole Sunday to herself once a year. So, when the tickets went on sale last summer, we looked at our options and decided (well, DAVE decided) that since Seattle was to be visiting in Atlanta, it was time to see the Seahawks again! After a couple of weeks, we got our tickets and started making plans for Dec 15th.

Since Atlanta's MARTA system has a station out on the Alabama side of the city and drops off right at the Georgia Dome, we decided we'd give that a shot and hope to avoid the game traffic. It ended up working out great!

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We checked out our seats beforehand on the Georgia Dome web site. It has a great utility that creates a picture of what you'll see from any seat in the stadium, and it turned out to be right on! Compare the result at right with the picture we took from our seats above. Pretty cool! We arrived about 1 1/2 hours before game time and were able to see several of our favorites players warming up. That's Michael Vick below.

Of course, the best part of the game was,...well, the GAME! And in this particular case it was better than we could have dreamed,...lots of exciting plays, down to the wire drama, and the Seahawks actually won it in overtime! The final score was 30 -24. You can check out the NFL films highlights at nfl.com, but for all our enthusiasm and sign waving, we don't appear in the clips. Oh well, maybe next time :-)

We're already saving our nickels for next year,...maybe it'll be the Raider's turn this time,...

Hiking in the Smokies

Our planned three-day hike into the Great Smoky Mountains turns out to be an altogether different adventure than we expected! When the prospect of a hiking trip into the Smokies was raised, most of the Freshman guys at our church were all for it. When it was revealed that the trip would take place in November, visions of icicles hanging off various extremities culled the group down quite a bit. By the time we actually hit the trail, there were only three teens and three dads left,...and those that remained ended up having quite a time!

Day 1- Our feet our fresh, our equipment is dry, and the scenery is beautiful!

We had done a lot of checking on the weather before leaving, and all accounts said that Saturday was going to be gorgeous. Well, it was! The temperature started out in the low 40s but climbed all day, reaching up into the 70s by the time it was over. The skies were clear, and the leaves were at their autumn peak,...the hiking was awesome! The forecast said we might start seeing some clouds by late Sunday, but at that point, everything seemed perfect!

We kicked off the trip by driving to Townsend, TN (southest of Knoxville) and spending the night in a hotel. Bright and early the next day (after a hot breakfast) we struck out on the trail. The plan was to hike about 6 miles up and in on the first day, do another 5 miles or so the second day, then finish it off on Monday by completing the remaining 6 or so miles on the loop.

Still, we all had our ears tuned for sounds in the night, and about 1:30 a.m. a distinct rustle could be heard over the sound of the river and the wind in the trees. Before long it became clear that the rustle wasn't from animals but from rain. By the time the night was over, the rain we weren't expecting had managed to get lots of our stuff pretty wet. Still, it was unseasonably warm, so we set about making our plans for the day and cooking up a delicious hot breakfast.

When we got close to our camp site we were greeted with a big yellow sign that put a whole different twist on things. But, we dutifully hung our packs up off the ground and observed all the other rules that were supposed to make the bears indifferent to our presence. We took our time breaking camp, then headed out on what we thought was our trail. It became clear fairly soon, though, that we weren't on the trail at all

After examining the map, we figured out we'd overshot our mark, so we backtracked and finally found the trail crossing. The weather was on our minds, and though the rain hadn't been too bad, we were carrying a lot of extra "wet weight". Then, the amount of daylight left started becoming a factor. With up to 12 miles to hike (depending on whether we stopped at the second campsite or just hiked all the way out), it was starting to look doubtful that we'd have enough daylight to get us there. Finally we decided to hike back out the way we came in.

Well, it turns out to be a good thing we did! Unbeknownst to us, there was a string of dangerous thunderstorms spawning tornados all across the southeast, especially in Tennessee. As we drove home we noticed that there was lightning flashing on nearly every side of us, but we didn't get rained on much, so we thought little of it. By the time we got home, though, the storm was breaking news on every channel. But, by then we were home and safe. Who would have thought that the biggest hazard we'd encounter wouldn't be bears, or November cold, but summer-like thunderstorms and tornadoes!