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Moving Coffee Table

It's getting close to my deadline. My new time to turn into a pumpkin. As you might have noticed from the times on many of my posts, I stay up late. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, and make sure I'm in bed by 11 PM. And, that I'm up by at least 6:30 AM. We'll see how long it lasts. I hope I can make it a habit. Today after lunch Bruce asked if I was tired. I told him, yep, I sure was. Got up early two mornings, and this morning I went running. Let's see how I feel in a week. Oh, and I'm trying to give up my afternoon coffee. Six cups a day seems like a bit much.

I'm trying to recover from a fall--but not off my bike. Actually, a couple weeks ago I did fall off of Dustin's bike at a little BMX track I took him to. My chest, maybe a rib, still hurts a bit from going over the handlebars. Then, tonight, I had just turned off the living room light and turned around to cross the living room and go down the hall. It was dark, and I tripped head-long over the coffee table! I've got a scraped shin and a sore shoulder. That table wasn't there this morning, and maybe all day yesterday. Ellyn keeps moving it back and forth, and I just can't seem to figure it out. If it didn't hurt so much, it might be funny!

Everything Works Out

Dan, who flies here, and who has flown in Suriname (among other places) in the past mentioned something that was a very good reminder to us. As bad as our situation here seems, maybe it's not such a dark cloud over our heads. When Dan was in We think our current situation as such a dark cloud maybe because we haven't had very many problems in this arenabefore - some, but not so serious. However, for many MAFprograms, this is normal not unusual. Dan mentioned that while they were in Suriname the Civil Aviation Department grounded the MAF planes for six months. They never did find out why.

Dave, the Program Manager, was talking with Dave, the Regional Director today. It was passed on that maybe the Ecuadorian DAC is taking lessons from African countries. The MAF program in the Congo was just fined $10,000 for pollution from their Cessna Caravan. At any rate, it could be worse, and God certainly has things under His control. He's got us right where he wants us.

Dave reminded us of his favorite expression for this country--"nothing works, but everthing works out". Please continue to pray with us as God works this out.

MAF in Ecuador

There's not much good news to share this evening about our pilot licensing situation. After a meeting today it seems that the Civil Aviation Department is not going to budge on their requirement that we have an Ecuadorian pilot and mechanic on staff by October 12. I think I said earlier that we already have one Ecuadorian mechanic. Turns out at the meeting today they said we have to have one MORE, and that Mateo, our existing mechanic, doesn't count. Go figure! So we continue to look for ways to employ an Ecuadorian pilot and another mechanic. This is not easy for us, because the way we operate is with staff who raise their support in the US. We can't afford as an MAF program to pay the salary of Ecuadorian pilots and mechanics. And, the local Ecuadorian church can't afford to support two or more full-time missionaries. By the end of October we'll have five pilots grounded. Dan's license is good until January, and Dave's expires in February. One thing that didn't seem to make any difference is that we do a lot of air ambulance flying for the Ministry of Health. If we stop flying it will have a huge impact on the indians in the jungle, as they rely on the air ambulance flights in emergencies. After some inquiries to the local operators, it doesn't seem like there is any other groups that would be interested in taking over the flights. The Civil Aviation Department doesn't seem to be moved by the potential impact on the Ecuadorian people of the Oriente. Please pray as we work to seek a solution.

Lucy Bird

Lucy was hanging out under the roof while I was in the shower this morning. She doesn't usually do that, but today she thought it fun to hang out with me. For a bird who doesn't fly, she sure manages to get around.

Snake On The Trail

I'm really tired and I need to get to bed. But, if I don't write this now, it probably won't get done. About a week ago Jim Shoberg, a GMU missionary here in Shell, asked if I wanted to walk out of Makuma with him. That sounded like a neat opportunity to me. I'd been into Makuma several times before, but alway flew in and out. So I put in a flight request to our Flight Scheduler. Yesterday morning I gave the talk in Chapel at the school, then walked across the street to the hangar. I found Fred, who was getting the plane ready for the flight to Makuma. He didn't know anything about me going with him, but was waiting for a patient to arrive who needed to go back to Makuma. The patient didn't show up, and I was able to go. I was all packed, with a small pack that had a few CDs and one change of clothes. Oh, also I had my rubber boots, which are your best friend when walking trails in Ecuador.

The weather was decent in Shell, but as we headed out, it got worse. We were first to fly to Copataza and drop off a school teacher, and then go to Yuvientsa to pick up a passenger. After that it would be my turn to get off in Makuma. After flying through the soup for thirty minutes, which was made easier by the GPS, we arrived at Copataza. Fred circled the strip twice, and after peering through the rain and patchy clouds, decided the strip was too wet to land. It looked like there was a long puddle down the middle. So we headed up the Rio Pastaza and then turned into the clouds once more. As we got close to Makuma we were just able to see the ground, and then it became a little clearer over Makuma. We circled once and then came in to land. As the rain splattered on the windshield, Fred rocked his head back and forth--a neat jungle pilot trick that helps them see the airstrip through the rain. We touched down and almost immediately I could feel the plane sliding down the runway, twisting towards the left. Fred "goosed" the power and we straightened out, then came to a stop. Later, Jim said he couldn't believe we actually were able to land in that weather. Jim Hedlund, Dwain, and Glen showed up with umbrellas and helped to unload the things for Makuma. Then Jim whisked me off to the translation building where I spend the afternoon re-installing Windows on Dwain's notebook computer. I also tried to help Jim with a couple other issues, both of which we came up short on. That was frustrating, as I like to be able to finish things I start.

Then it was off to a late dinner at the Hedlunds. Norma had made a great pizza, and also served up some fried ants. It's ant season right now, and she had three big pans of ants in the kitchen. She put some on the table, and I realized it had been two years since I'd first eaten ants in Makuma. They're actually very tasty. You pull of the wings, legs, and head and eat the rest! She also had a couple of cooked grubs. She said that since I'm an MK she thought I'd enjoy them. I wasn't too interested. She ended up eating one, and then later when Dwain showed up, he happily at the other. He also had one of her chocolate chip cookies. He thanked Norma for the chocolate and bugs, which he says are two of the food groups. If you know Dwain, you know that he eats a lot of strange stuff as he travels around the jungle!

Everyone in the house was awake by 5:30 AM today, and after a big breakfast, Jim and I were on the trail. That's an early start for me, and I enjoyed being out in a part of the day I usually miss. I had opted not to take a camera and by the time the day was over, I had come to regret that. The walk started out fairly flat, and soon we were walking along the Makuma River. It was very scenic, and a couple times I had to stop for a second and just take it in. Jim has made the walk many times, but to me it was all new. We talked a lot as we walked, and got to know each other a bit. Here in Shell we don't spend a lot of time together, but we had hours of walking and talking today. At one point Jim suddenly stopped and said, "Look at that!" Not five feet from where he was standing a six-foot long snake was stretched across the trail! Yikes! I know the jungle is full of snakes, with thirty species of venomous snakes in Ecuador. But I really hadn't planned on running into one today! Both Jim and I knew what kind of snake it was, and that it wasn't venomous. Dwain, back in Makuma, is a self-trained herpetologist, and we've been able to learn about some of the local snakes from him. Jim got a small stick and threw it next to the snake. Instead of slithering off, it turned to face us. Next he got a long stick, picked it up, and moved it over to a tree beside the trail. As much as I can't stand snakes, it was cool to watch it climb up the branches. The rest of the hike was uneventful. Well, if you can call climbing up a steep, muddy, root-filled, rocky trail for an hour and a half uneventful. At the top of the hill we each ate a couple hard-boiled eggs and a can of tuna. After a short half hour walk down the other side, we were happily bathing in the cool Makuma River at the road. We had two hours to swim and wash clothes before the bus left.

The bus rides--we had to change buses four times--brought us home to Shell at 8 PM tonight. It was a long day (5 1/2 hours hiking and 5 hours on buses), but one I'd easily do over again. The people and country of Ecuador are beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed a day of travel through this temporary home of mine.

Appliance Repair

Wow, it's been a busy Sunday. Didn't feel relaxing at all. It started off with one of those 'animal in the hole' kind of jobs. You know, one you'd rather not do on Sunday but needs to be done. Last night I was washing the dishes and smelled the sooty flames from the water heater, letting me know the flame was burning too yellow. I turned off the gas heater, and figured I'd fix it in the morning. Well, at least I would try to fix it. When it comes to jobs like this, I usually call Ron. But, he's in the States for a month, and won't be back for another week or so. I had worked on the water heater with him once before, so I had an idea of where to start. While Ellyn made breakfast this morning (something I usually do for the family on Sunday mornings) I pulled part of the heater apart and tried to clean the gas orifice. I put it back together and it seemed even worse. By then it was time to eat, so I went in. As we started breakfast, we listened to our church service on tape. After church I took the part out again, and went over to the hangar where I could clean it out with some compressed air. After putting everything back together, it worked! Time to do the breakfast dishes once the water was hot again. I must admit, that once it was working again, and I finished breathing a prayer of thanks, I was proud of myself for being able to figure it out. I've never had to fix so many things on my own before coming to live in Shell. We certainly have to be a bit more self-reliant here when there's no repairman nearby to phone for help.

Tomorrow I'm giving a short talk in chapel at the school. The theme for the semester is "Our God is Real". I'm going to share a few stories from my life that will show how God has revealed himself to be real over the years. After that I'm planning to fly out to Makuma. I'd like to help the GMU missionaries there with some computer issues, and then on Tuesday I'll walk out with Jim Shoberg. It's a five hour hike, and then we take the bus the rest of the way back to Shell. Should be an adventure!

Six Plane Hangar

The hangar has been full every night this week with six Cessna TU206 aircraft. They all fit, but just barely. And last night we even added a Chevrolet Trooper to the mix. Darryl had been up from Sucua doing flying, but this afternoon he headed back home. Darryl, Bruce, and Fred flew today. Bruce was just tired enough at the end of the day to takea nap at his desk. We had four planes in the hangar the past several days, all down for maintenance. We've got three working visitors from the States, and they're getting a lot done this week. I was able to get quite a bit done the past couple days. I'm working on documentation of the system here, as well as working on software updates. Then there are the usual requests from people to have me help them with computer problems, scanning photos for prayer letters, figuring out e-mail passwords, how to log in and get mail from Quito, defragging hard drives and adjusting virtual memory so DVDs will play better, getting the school internet connection going again, and the list goes on. Most days I really like what I do. The days that are hard is when I have a computer problem that I just can't figure out, especially if that problem takes several days to figure out. Wednesday I was out of the hangar for the day. Dustin and I went to Quito for the day again, for an orthodontist appointment. We got on the bus in front of the house at 6:20 AM, and arrived back home about 8:45 PM. That's eleven hours on the bus to go 300 miles. It makes for a long day. I was glad to be back at my desk yesterday morning, doing some paperwork and answering e-mail. Well, I better get to bed. It's late, and all too soon Taylor will be asking for pancakes. He's having a sleep-over downstairs with Joel.

Prayer Point

Here's some news on MAF's current situation in Ecuador. One of the Atshuar church leaders, Walter Jimbikit, was talking with Fred this morning. He knew a bit of what¼s going on and his comment was to not worry because if these efforts against us are of men they will fail. But, if it is a change in direction from God, we should confirm it and move on.

Pray for our MAF program here in Ecuador. This is a bit complicated to explain but I¼ll try and achieve a nutshell version. For the last 6 months we have been under significant pressure from the Civil Aviation authority here (DAC) to nationalize our ministry. We¼ve been trying to move in this direction for the last 15 years and early this year decided to take a different approach since our past efforts have been less than successful. The major hurdle we face is that the National Evangelical Church in Ecuador doesn¼t have sufficient resources to maintain an expensive aviation ministry ‚ funding will need to come from outside of the country. We are still moving toward finding a way to support national pilot/mechanic missionaries but from within MAF (to make funding easier) rather than through a national entity but the process is slow. Meanwhile early this year DAC changed from military to civilian control and their new managers have a different philosophy for nationals in aviation. We have been overcoming obstacles since February with DAC and the most recent one requires us to have at least one Ecuadorian mechanic and one Ecuadorian pilot on staff by October 12. The mechanic requirement isn¼t a problem as we¼ve had an Ecuadorian mechanic on staff for about 17 years. We¼ve had a couple of Ecuadorian pilots in the past too but one was killed in 1997 and the other left to take a commercial job a year ago. Finding one by October 12 isn¼t going to happen.

The law that DAC is applying to us grants us technician licenses only until Ecuadorians are trained to replace us. However, legally this law doesn¼t apply to us because we are a mission and not a company and we have a direct contract with the government to operate here. The difficult part is weaving our way through the law and paperwork to find a solution. This is what we need prayer for. During this process we have had countless opportunities to talk about who we are and why we are here, which is very positive. More than anything, we would like to see a resolution what would maintain positive relationships and bring God the glory.

Virus Hunting

We've been hit by a few worms and virus on some MAF staff computers in the past several weeks. I just finished cleaning up Darryl's notebook. He's got the Windows ME operating system on there, and he had W95.spaces and W32/Opaserv on his machine. I think we might almost have it taken care of. Just a reminder to everyone to keep their antivirus software up to date, especially if you're using the dangerous Micro$oft operating systems.

Dodging Buses

Today Bruce and I put a network cable from the hangar, across the road, and over to the Schmidt house. This is the start of expanding our computer network to the six houses on the MAF base. I started the job last Thursday when I cut the conduit to length. Saturday we pulled the coaxial cable through the conduit, and today we strung it across the road. The first job of the day was to put a hole in the roof, and add a conduit for the cable. I was able to drill the hole from inside the hangar, but then I had to get on the roof to put some Elasto-Seal around the hole. I took a thermometer up with me, and wasn't surprised to see that it was 114 degrees on the roof. The equatorial sun reflecting off the aluminum coating on the roof was like a furnace. Later, after lunch, Bruce got up on the roof with me, and we started putting up the conduit. We followed an existing antenna cable across the road, and were able to wire the conduit to the cable supporting the antenna. Because we bought the less expensive coax cable, it wasn't rated for outdoor use. To get around that we bought a $12 dollar roll of pipe and put two pieces of the coax through that so it would be protected from the sun. We'll use one piece of coax for now, and the other is extra. To reach the cable over the road, we resorted to putting a step ladder on the roof of the van. We got John to control traffic for us, and slowly worked our way across the road. Nothing like being on the top of the step ladder on a van room and seeing a bus coming down the street right at you! After talking and planning for this for quite a while, I'm glad we were able to pull it off so easily. Now I'm hoping that the existing antenna cable won't interfere with the network traffic on the network cable we just installed. The antenna cable is for the radio e-mail system in Makuma. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Sunday Afternoon

Wow, but it's been hard to keep up with this lately. I want to be able to keep interested people in the loop, but some days I'm too busy with things to stop and add anything. Went to Hola Vida today with a few visitors. It's the tourist thing to do, and most folks really enjoy the half-mile hike that ends at a water fall with a pool you can swim in. It's as close as you can get to the 'jungle' without really going there. Still, it takes a while to get there, travelling on bumpy dirt roads. My boys get a kick out of riding on the luggage rack on the roof, so they took turns doing that. Not too much harm in that when I'm only averaging about 20 miles an hour on the dirt road!

Last night we had Ben and Krissy over for dinner. Krissy is Taylor's teacher. Ben is doing maintenance work with Ron, and our boys think he's great. He's like a big playful puppy, and they like doing things with him. They've expecially liked introducing him to Ecuadorian fireworks. I took our go-kart over to the hangar the other day 'cause I needed to work on the engine. Ben asked me about it at dinner, and he was interested in getting it going for me. Guess he wanted to go for a spin! So we went over after dinner to put our small engines troubleshooting skills to the test while the ladies watched a movie. We go the engine to run, but are still having trouble getting it tuned. We're going to put some fresh gas in the tank next.

Tomorrow we'll have all six planes in Shell. The Sucua plane is already here since the runway there is closed. Darryl and Sandi drove up from Sucua today so he can fly from up here this coming week. I need to work on their laptop when he gets here, as he's got a virus. The Quito plane will likely be flown down by Fred, our regional chief pilot who is returning from a trip to Mexico. The pilots in Quito aren't available to fly for a couple weeks, so we'll use that plane down here. It's always a challenge making the program run as efficiently as possible.

HVO Story Of The Month

Here's the latest story of the month from the Hospital Vozandes del Oriente here in Shell. Many of the patients they write about are people that MAF brings to Shell on emergency medical flights.

Home Again

I'm back in Shell, and very happy to be home. Yes, Quito has some big malls, and restaurants where we can get food and things we don't get in Shell, but I don't care. I like the quiet, slower paced life in Shell. It rained really hard yesterday afternoon, with lots of thunder and lightning. The power went out for a while. After shutting down and unplugging all the computers and networking equipment in the hangar, I walked across the street in the rain and sat in the dark talking to Ellyn for a while. I flew home in the morning with Brian, and had been gone since early Friday morning, so we had lots of catching up to do.

Setting An Example

Is this for real? Ecuador's president says he'll be on time for meetings and appontments.

A Change In Plans

I've just got a minute for a quick entry here. I was hoping to be in Shell today, but that didn't happen. The van was supposed to be ready, with the new window installed today by 11 AM. The plan was to drive to Shell with Ron, Amanda, Justin, and Dustin. Mike called me about 8:15 AM and told me that we wouldn't be driving anywhere, as there was a national strike today, with truckers blocking the roads. They were protesting an increase in tolls. Mike was going to fly to Shell with Brian, as Brian has just returned from two months in the US and needed some dual time. Dustin and Justin went along. I called on the van, and they said it would be ready at 2:30 PM. Why was I not surprised? So Ron, Amanda, and I went and did a little sight-seeing. Mostly the same thing I did with Justin just a couple days before. I got back to the MAF office at 3:30 PM, and we called on the van once again. This time they needed another hour! Needless to say, I didn't pick up the van today.

Tuesday morning I'll fly down to Shell with Ron and Amanda. Brian needs to go down as there are a couple MAF auditors that need a ride up to Quito. I think they strike might be over tomorrow, as I understand it was for today. But, I can't afford to wait any longer on the van. Someone else will be able to drive it down in a couple days. Meanwhile, there was a huge thunderstorm in Shell about 5 AM today. Lightning did quite a bit of damage around the MAF base and hangar, and specifically, I lost a motherboard on my Windows 2000 Server, the machine that does radio e-mail for the Makuma missionaries. I'll find out all the details when I'm back in Shell tomorrow. I have a feeling, based on an e-mail I got from one of the Makuma guys, that Bruce Harcey was able to get a spare motherboard in that machine and get things going again. Sure has been an interesting four days. I left home last Friday morning at 4 AM, and I'm ready to get home.

Tour Guide

It's late, too late, and I'm still up. I just came back from the airport after picking up Ron and Amanda. They will be in Ecuador for two weeks. Ron is going to help me with some IT work and Amanda is going to volunteer at the HCJB hospital in Shell. Last night I picked up Justin at the airport. Justin will be doing volunteer aircraft maintenance work in the hangar at Shell.

Thursday Dave was bring the van down to Shell with a couple visitors. They stopped at one of the scenic spots on the BaÒos road to take a photo. Before they could leave, a bus backed into the van, denting it and breaking a window. They arrived a while later, without a window, and thankful it wasn't raining. That wasn't good news for me at all, since I was to take the van to Quito on Friday to pick up Ron, Amanda, and Justin. After a lot of talking, I decided to take the van anyway, and get it fixed while I was there. It would be a bit of an inconvenience, but the best and earliest chance to get it fixed. Dustin wanted to go, as he had a loose brace bracket that he wanted glued back on. Plus, he wanted to go to Art in the Park, something he'd wanted to do for a long time. I left Shell at 4 AM on Friday, so I could get to Quito and have as much time Friday as possible to get the window worked on. By the time I found the glass place, it was 10 AM. They said they could do the work, but since they only work a half day on Saturday, it wouldn't be ready until Monday. I wasn't happy at the thought of an extra night in Quito, but if that's what it takes, OK. I hope we can leave Quito by 1 PM on Monday.

Meanwhile, Justin, Dustin, and I traipsed around Old Quito this morning. The first thing we did was go to the Basilica. It was Dustin's second trip, and he was an old pro at finding his way around the playground that the towers can be. Justin really enjoyed himself, as it's a once in a lifetime experience. Then it was on to the Plaza Grande where we saw the Presidential Palace. I'd never been there, and it was good to see some of the history of the country. As we left the plaza, Dustin and I ducked into a modern art dispay, where we saw the work of Soto. Then, on to the Plaza de San Francisco, followed by a taxi ride up to the Virgen del Panecillo, who watches over the city of Quito. It was quite a view of Quito, and you could easily see the contrast between old Quito and the newer part of Quito. Finally, after a bit of a break back at the guest house, I took Justin out to see the Equator monument.

It was a busy day. I had terrible allergies yesterday, and started off the same way today. I felt better as the day went on, and hopefully Sunday I'll be fine again. Anyway, Sunday I'll play tour guide again for Ron and Amanda.

Sucua Airstrip

Here's some news taken from an e-mail update of Chad down in Sucua:

Another interesting change in our lives is the recent closing of the airstrip here in Sucua. Last week the other operator on the airport told us that they had been talking to the city to get them to do some much needed repairs to the grass airstrip. Instead of mowing the grass they have been killing it with chemicals. With no root structure the soil is very often soft and muddy. The center section of the runway is firm with a gravel base, but the sides are very soft. All that to say, we were happy to hear that the city might be willing to do some needed repairs. On Friday of last week the city came out with equipment to grade and roll the runway. They finished a section about as wide as our planes wingspan and left two foot high mounds of dirt on both sides of this section. I assumed that they would be back to finish the next week. I was on call for the weekend emergencies and flew both Saturday and Sunday for a variety of medical reasons. On Monday I flew all day and ended up doing a medical transfer to a Shell at the end of the day. When I returned our secretary informed me that DAC (FAA equivalent) had called to say they were faxing over a notice of closure for the runway.

In reality the runway is in better shape than ever, except for the piles of dirt. We land on airstrips much narrower than this everyday, so it was really not a danger for us. The problem is the city proceeded to do the work without DAC permission and has left it in a state that is not acceptable to DAC. So, you say, "just come finish it". Well, that's not always the easiest thing to do for some reason. We are still trying to communicate with DAC and the city to get the work finished and to convey the importance of our flying, especially the medical transfers that we do every week. We received permission yesterday to move our plane to Shell, but no other operations in Sucua. Today we are going to do some hangar maintenance and other office projects. The notice we received says the runway will be closed for the entire month. Please pray that the work will be finished and DAC will reopen the runway early.

Beetle

This beetle was crawling on the hangar floor this morning. It had a neat gold color to it. Even it's legs looked gold.

This And That

Tuesday morning, and I've got to get going on a few things. I came in a few minutes late, since I was waiting for a cup of coffee. Yesterday I took an allergy pill and went without coffee--I felt like I was in la la land all day. I'd like to drink less coffee, but one day without was enough. Maybe I'll just try to drink less today. And, today so far, no allergies. I don't know what I'm allergic to down here, but something gets me good. I have yet to figure out a rhyme or reason to when I get hit. Some think the air is worse when Tungarahua erupts, others think it's the plants. I tried a new medication yesterday. Not sure that it worked better than what I normally use. It's a drug you can buy over the counter here, but in the US you'd need a prescription for it. We can buy a lot of prescription drugs that way.

Yesterday the Army was flying their DeHavilland Buffalo in and out of Shell. It's fun to watch it come and go, and the engines have a really cool rumble. Take a look at this page for more information on the aircraft flown by the Ecuadorian military. (Click on the 'Order of Battle' button and then on the map of Ecuador click on 'Rio Amazonas'.)

Mike made two flights down from Quito yesterday, both for medical transfers. He also made one flight on Sunday afternoon. The rest of the guys also have been able to get a lot of flying done, as the weather has been reasonably good. It hasn't been as dry lately, and the weather is almost 'normal' again. There's really no such thing as normal here, and I'd love to see a weather forcaster try to predict the weather here. From what I can tell, it's quite unpredictable. A weather forcaster could predict the weather with 90% accuracy by saying the weather will be cloudy skies with scattered rainstorms, occassional sunshine, and the temperature in the high seventies.

Steve flying is getting a bit more flying done. He was able to get in some instrument time yesterday under the hood. He's making slow progress along the checkout route, but I think he was encouraged yesterday.

Sunday night we had my 40th birthday party. Well, I don't know if I've actually had forty parties, but it was to celebrate my fortieth birthday. We had the a few friends over for dessert. I didn't want any presents, but I got a few. One of the presents was a six-pack of A & W Root Beer. Wow! You can't get that stuff down here, but someone was able to buy it in Quito. Dustin and Taylor were drooling all over the place when they saw that. We went around the cirlce and said what we were doing 30, 20, and 10 years ago. That was a lot of fun, and we found out some interesting things about each other. Dustin stayed for all of it, and he was fascinated by some of the stories. Taylor was outside playing guns with his friends in the dark. He did manage to find his way in for a piece of cake.

Root beer floats. That's what we had last night for dessert. Wow, that tasted great. I don't know how many times Dustin thanked me for sharing my Root Beer, but I know he really enjoyed it. What a special treat. This morning I had some home made granola for breakfast. Sylvia made that for me for my birthday. We can't buy that down here, so that gift too was a treasure.