The journey continues!

Steve landed on the island of Grenada last night and has already landed in Boa Vista this morning. He will head on to Manaus after getting a bite to eat in Boa Vista, and then tomorrow he heads to Anápolis! There has been good weather along the whole route so far, so I am hoping things clear out here tomorrow. Today has been a very rainy day with low clouds.

Off again

Steve took off from Fort Lauderdale this morning...as far as I know, anyway! That was the plan last night and he isn't answering his cell phone, so I am assuming he is in the air. Around noon I can call the airport at Providenciales to see if he is still on track. He is feeling good about this trip, having just done it and having a co-pilot that is anxious to help and to please. I'll post his progress here, just like last time. Thanks for you prayers!

A quick touch-and-go

Steve made it home last night!!! We were so happy to see him! When the plane was coming towards the hangar, Michael said, "I just can't keep my mouth from smiling!". Then Maira said, "And I can't stop crying! I'm so happy!"

The documents for the second plane did come through by the end of the day on Friday, so Steve will be taking plane #1 to Victória on Sunday and then take a flight to Miami at 7pm Sunday. He will get into Miami on Monday morning and then drive up to Fort Lauderdale. The plan is for him to start down with the second plane on Tuesday. Jim has a co-pilot lined up to help Steve out and he is arriving in Miami on Sunday morning. Steve hasn't met him yet, but they have talked on the phone several times now. He has no training in this airplane, but Steve says he will still be a big help.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Steve during this trip! And please don't stop!

The plan...

Steve is at Márcio and Keila’s house tonight. I’m so jealous! He gets to see Larissa before I do. So totally not fair. Larissa was the little newborn who spent so much time in the ICU just 10 days after she was born due to a blood clot in her brain and an infection. She is a perfectly normal and healthy little girl now!

The weather does not look so great for tomorrow, but he should be here by the end of the afternoon. The papers for the second plane have not come through yet, so there is plan A, plan B, and plan C.

Plan A: The papers come through on Friday. Steve and Jim take the plane that Steve just brought down to Victória on Sunday and Steve leaves for the US on Sunday night from Victória. He would arrive in Miami on Monday afternoon with plans to start the trip down with the second plane on Tuesday.

Plan B: The papers do NOT come through on Friday. Steve and Jim take the plane down to Victória on Monday. If the papers come through sometime on Monday, Steve will still leave for the US from Victória on Monday night and start bringing the 2nd plane down on Tues.

Plan C: The papers do NOT come through on Friday or Monday. Steve and Jim take the plane to Victória on Monday and Steve comes back home on Tues. Then he heads to the US on Feb.2 (Saturday) to help bring the Wycliffe plane down. The other plane for Jim will wait until he gets back from bringing the Wycliffe plane.

Hope this all makes sense! Personally, I think I would prefer plan C. I’m not too keen on Steve not getting a chance to catch his breath. But I also realize that it will be stressful for him to leave once the students are back and they need him in the school.

I better just relax and let God take care of it! He has it all worked out already anyway! J

Manaus

Steve landed in Manaus at the end of the afternoon! Hopefully he will land here in Anápolis tomorrow!

Grenada

Steve made it to Grenada tonight! Not without giving his wife a real scare thought. I talked to him briefly when he landed at Providenciales and he said his next stop would be in 3 hours on the island of St. Croix. I kept calling the airport there to confirm his arrival, but they kept telling me they hadn't seen the plane! This went on for about 2 hours. Then I called Jim (the one Steve is flying for) and asked him if he had heard anything. Well, he had found out that they had caught a good wind current and decided to head straight for Grenada. What a relief! So I gave them time to get to Grenada and then called the tower there and they confirmed that he had landed. I haven't talked to him yet, although the lady at the hotel said he was checking in when I called. I'll give him time to eat and take a shower before I bug him! Thanks to all who are praying for him!!! (And thank God for skype so I can call all these places for 2 cents a minute!)

Up, Up, and Away!

Steve took off this morning from Fort Lauderdale an hour behind schedule. His co-pilot/owner of the airplane refused to stay in a hotel close to the airport last night and therefore had to drive up from Miami to Fort Lauderdale this morning in order to take off at 6am. Unfortunately, he got lost on the way to Fort Lauderdale and he didn't arrive until almost 7am. I am trying to keep tabs on their progress, but flightaware.com only follows airplanes with a US registry. I'll keep you all up-to-date as best as I can. He should arrive in Boa Vista for customs tomorrow afternoon and then the plan is to continue on to Manaus for the night. Then he would leave Manaus Friday morning and make it to Anápolis by the end of the day on Friday.

Good News!

Looks like Steve will be taking off to cross the Carribean tomorrow morning, weather permitting!!! AND his co-pilot ended up sticking around so he won't be by himself! All in God's timing....

Hangin' Out

Steve is hanging out in Fort Lauderdale for the weekend. Looks like the soonest he will be able to leave is Tuesday morning. That is if things start to fall in place... There is a good chance that Steve will now have to bring the plane down without a co-pilot because the owner (who was to be the co-pilot and who took the training course with Steve) says he needs to be back in his office by Monday. This is not an ideal situation for Steve, but he is not too worried about it.



The new students are arriving now to get settled in before classes start on Feb.13. I had one couple over for lunch on Friday and another couple over today for lunch. A third couple should be arriving tomorrow so I hope to have them over early next week.

Several of you have asked about Poliana. Poliana is still being cared for my Patricia in a house that she is renting and she is still planning on adopting Poliana. The judge has been gone from Dec. 19 until Jan. 18, so we are hopeful that some decision will be made before the judge takes another break for the Carnaval holidays. First the judge needs to make a decision on if Poliana is required to return to the tribe, then if she can be adopted, and then who can adopt her. We have decided to be a "plan B" should Patricia not be allowed to adopt Poliana. We do not want to take Poliana away from someone who loves her dearly and has sacrificed so much for her. We appreciate your continued prayers for Poliana. Being pregnant was MUCH easier...at least I had a due date! (smile)

Didn't happen...

Well folks, the documents didn't get signed by the end of the day today, so Steve is stuck for the weekend. Happily, his uncle lives about 20 minutes from Fort Lauderdale, so he is going to visit with his uncle and family over the weekend. He has the customs requirements in order now...at least as much as he could get answers to. He spoke with something like 24 different people in the TSA and nobody could tell him about some kind of clearance that they need to give him. He got frustrated with that and decided that it doesn't apply to him since he is not carrying passengers or cargo. We are sad that he is taking longer than we expected, but other than that we are just fine. We are confident that God's timing is perfect and we don't want to get ahead of Him! Thank you for your continued prayers!

Still waiting...

Steve is still waiting for the documentation from Brazil to come through and in the meantime has discovered that he has all sorts of red-tape to sort through for customs on the US end of things. There is a chance that things will come together today in order for him to leave tomorrow.

Bummer....

Steve is still not able to head south yet. He was able to get the expense money for the rest of the trip, but the documentation is still on some desk not getting proper attention! I am thankful that he could should get a full 8 hours of sleep tonight, something that hasn't happened for some time now. A rested pilot is a better pilot, right?! There are all sorts of plans right now...I think there is A, B, and C at this point. He has a reservation for a flight back to Brazil on Friday if there is still no sign of the documents coming through. He is also thinking about just staying in the US so that he can help bring the Wycliffe airplane down as soon as the other Wycliffe pilots are ready. Only time will tell....

An unexpected wait...

Turns out they won't be leaving tomorrow to cross the Caribbean. Two things didn't happen today that needed to happen. First, Steve was supposed to get cash from a bank in Fort Lauderdale that the seller of the airplane had wired for the expenses of the rest of the trip. Turns out the bank would not give him the money because he doesn't have an account at that bank. You would think that would have been discussed before the transfer, but I guess the bank was just happy to receive the money and didn't bother to say anything about that little detail. Second, they are still waiting for some documents for the plane that are being held-up here in Brazil for bureaucracy reasons, a kind of a power struggle that is going on in the aviation departments. So far, Steve is not put-out by all of this because he was very busy today getting the necessary equipment that he needs for going over the Caribbean (life boats, etc.). He is happy to have another day to run after those things and even make a trip to Wal Mart. The kiddos here were pretty disappointed with the news today, but Michael is having a slumber party tonight, so his mind was quickly diverted from the bad news today. I took Michael, Maira, and two of Michael's friends from church to see the Bee Movie at the movie theater and then we came home to make pizzas. We each made our own individual sized pizzas and it was so much fun! We even made sweet pizzas with bananas, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate. MMMMMMMMM!!! It is almost midnight now and I still hear the boys giggling in the bedroom. I guess I won't have to worry about breakfast in the morning...they won't be up until lunch at this rate! Time to go put on the "put-out" mother face and tell them to settle down! At least Maira is snoozing away in my bed...

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Well, I had a wonderful surprise this morning! Steve called me last night at 8:45pm (my time) from Texarkana saying that they had made great progress and would push on to Montgomery, AL. His cell phone was no longer charged, so he told me to just call him this morning. To my surprise, I woke him up this morning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida! He said the weather was great and they were feeling comfortable enough with the plane to fly it at night, so they just kept going. They arrived in Fort Lauderdale around 11:30pm last night and he was wanting to sleep a bit more this morning. They should take-off to cross the Caribbean tomorrow. Thank you all for praying! I'm glad they have had time over land to get used to the plane before they take off over open water!

Good Weather!

Happily, Steve woke up to clear skies today! They were already at the airport at 7:15am and were refueling and warming up the engine of the plane. Apparently, even though the sun is shining, it is a very cold day in Flagstaff. Steve would like to make it to Wichita Falls, TX by the end of the day.

Flagstaff, AZ

Steve made it to Flagstaff, AZ last night, landing around 7pm. He really wanted to make it to New Mexico, but he ran into a cloud bank that he couldn't get above due to icing and snow. So they did a 180 and landed at Pulliam airport in Flagstaff. He was very happy to be on the ground again and is praying for good weather today. He would like to make it to south Georgia today but he needs to get off early today and have good weather for the route. It isn't quite 6am in Flagstaff right now, so I don't know what the weather is like for him yet. I thought I'd let him sleep until 6:30am or so. (smile)

Fallon, Nevada

Steve made it to Fallon, Nevada last night (Jan.12). It is east of Reno. They had to dodge some bad weather and were happy to be on the ground again. I called him with skype just as he shut down the engine of the plane and I was able to go on the internet and tell him what hotels were close by when he was ready to leave the airport. Crazy, huh?! He woke up to a very low, dense fog today and is waiting for the skies to open. He is still hoping to make it to somewhere in Texas today, but that just depends on if or when the weather permits him to take-off.