Adventure...

The term "adventure" has a connotations of high-risk and adrenaline.

Climbing mountains, jumping off of tall things, exploring the unknown, running long distances, and the like certainly qualify as adventure...and yes...I do enjoy those recreational activities.  However for our family, "adventure" also has a much more encompassing definition...thus the blog title.

It is funny, when I asked Steph to marry me (on top of a mountain...in the freezing cold...light rain...with about a 20mph wind blowing), I told her "I cannot make you any promises about where we are going to be or what we will be doing...in fact, I have this nagging feeling that one day we will be completely broke.  But I can guarantee one thing...life with me will not be boring."

We were telling that story to some friends recently and she added, "and he has lived up to that promise!"

But it is not because our family hikes big mountains, or jumps out of airplanes (which is still on my list), or some other adrenaline-based adventure.  We have just been taking small steps, learning to die to our own selfish desires (which is an ongoing process), while trying to be faithful with what God is doing in and around us.  I have heard it called a long obedience in the same direction.

So by that definition, we are all called in a general sense to our own "adventures."

It looks a lot more like moving out of our areas of comfort and (generally) toward what we as humanity were created for...as well as (specifically) to be "on mission" with God is doing around us.  This can look different for everyone.  For some it means running a company where employees are respected and excess revenues go toward various ministries.  For others it means seeing their job as a repairman as reflecting God's glory as a Restorer of things that are broken and by being a part of His redemptive work by treating customers exceptionally well and fixing things that are broken (understanding that brokenness is a general effect of The Fall).  For our family it means trying to hold possessions loosely.  It means jobs are an opportunity to help solve problems, lead through chaos, invest in the next generation, and try to create shade for others.  It means relationships are valued. All while we work through what it looks like to be authentic followers of Jesus wherever He has us.

As I write that...it sounds both idealistic and impossible...and it is impossible without God breaking our hearts and showing us where we fail to trust him.  And that challenge...is a great adventure.

And our adventure is entering a new season!  Which we will explain over the next few days...

Irene Relief

Hurricane Irene did quite a bit of damage to New England but not before hitting Eleuthera "head-on." Mike and Shannan Fastzkie fared safely but lost all of the shingles off the front half of their house in the storm. Subsequently their roof was leaking terribly and when it rained (which was almost daily), Shannan was breaking out the mop and trying to keep things relatively dry.

When we arrived 10 days after the storm, they still had no power but were able to run lights and fans off of a generator. The storm snapped all of the power poles in their settlement, overturned small buildings, and dumped tons of rancid sea grass inland.

I did not get many pictures of the surrounding community or "before" shots of our jobsites because we got off the plane, dropped our bags in our rooms, and got straight to work.

Here are a few photos from the trip...

We drove to Ft. Pierce, Fl and caught a Missionary Flights International (MFI) flight over to the island. While our task was in the forefront of our minds, the flight over and back on a small private plane was a highlight.

It also brought challenges...when the five of us arrived at the MFI hangar, Dick Snook (our pilot and the president of MFI) informed us that we had about 200lbs of capacity for luggage, supplies, etc. When we weighed our bags, we were originally 100lbs over weight. We knew the air compressor, nailguns, and nails had to make the trip so we began dumping clothes, handtools, snacks, toiletries and any non-necessities. Kudos to Keith Doster who stipped down in the hangar to change into one of the two changes of clothes we wore the whole weekend.

It was a bit snug but the Cessna 310 was a highlight for us all.

I did not get a "before" shot but you can see our progress from day one. The right side of the pic is what the whole front roof looked like when we arrived. The left side shows what we were able to complete in the first afternoon in spite of the rain showers.

Jeremy Keever cleaning nails and getting ready for tar paper...

Keith working on tar paper...

Charlie was tasked with cleaning up the corners so the ridge caps could go down.

For the most part we worked from 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 in the evening. This is Jerry surveying our Day 2 progress as the sun was setting.

The finished product. While there was still much patching to do, we were able to get the Fastzkie's in the dry so they did not have to worry about any more furniture being ruined or the need to break out the mops with every little shower.

We also put tarps on several other homes that were still leaking even after the first round of tarps went on. Charlie spent most of one day traveling the central par of the island with Martin and Kevin (two locals) checking on folks and applying tarps where they were still needed.

Brenda Lee's house was hit particularly hard. They are having to decide whether to try to save the walls or just start over. While thing look ok from a distance, the trip inside tells a very different story.

This is what was left of a back room.

We overlayed existing tarps with a bigger one where this roof was still leaking in Hatchet Bay.

There is still much work to be done on the island. Hopefully the repairs will hold with more storms on the way. It was nice to see the roof of the clinic (where we worked in May) was in perfect shape. Not a shingle was bent or out of place.

There is another team expected to head down this weekend and continue the work...Godspeed!

Olivia's Mess

It's official...Olivia is on the move. She isn't crawling yet but she can army crawl anywhere she wants to go. Tonight I was in the kitchen and heard a strange thud in the den. Rob and Zac were outside so there was no one else to blame. I found Olivia with this mess. She had turned over the plant on the hearth.

Let the fun begin!

9 Months

While we were in Eleuthera Sweet Olivia turned 9 months old. I decided to take advantage of the surroundings and have a little photo shoot. I love the way they turned out. I can't believe she's getting so big!

A few things about Olivia...

She is doing well sitting up on her own now but is not crawling just yet. She and Zac are beginning to interact more and more. She likes the attention but he doesn't always like that she is playing with his toys.

She still says "Da Da" a lot and sometimes we think that she is trying to say "Zac".

Just this week she has started eating Cheerios...she still has no teeth.

Her first time at the beach was in Eleuthera and she LOVED the water. Since then we have been to the pool several times and she enjoys lounging in her float and watching the action around her.

At her 9 month appt she was 27 3/4" (50th percentile) and 16lbs 10 oz (22nd percentile).

Zac wanted in on the photo shoot. As usual he was hard to catch.
He wouldn't sit in the chair with O. My independent child had to sit in his own "boy" chair. Here they are checking out the Fastzkie's chocolate lab named "Peanut Butter. "

Is that a real smile I see on my little man?

I just love these little cuties!

Eleuthera Part 3 (The fun stuff)

Once the work was done each day we packed up and headed to the beach to cool off . Most days this included snorkeling and spear fishing. Unfortunately I don't have great shots of the beaches (we were too busy playing) but you get the idea from the shots below.

One evening we went to visit "The Cliffs".

For supper the last night we went to a local cookout by the beach. You can see Z playing with his new buddy Wayne. They had fun throwing rocks in the water.

On the way to the airport the last morning we went to "Preacher's Cave".

Where's Zac?

Here is the team at the "Glass Window Bridge". It used to be a natural land bridge until a storm made it collapse. Now it is a one lane wide road. This is the spot on the island where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet. The Atlantic side is deep blue and you can see the Caribbean side behind us in this picture.

Eleuthera - Part 2

While we were in Eleuthera Rob worked with the team from our church to fix the roof on the Medical Clinic in the settlement of James Cistern. The clinic was damaged in hurricane Francis in 2004. The Bahamian government has been promising money since then to repair the damage done to the clinic but very little of it has shown up. Meanwhile, the nurse is working out of a room in the library and occasionally having to work by the light of her cell phone to treat patients. Our team worked on the two porch roofs (the completed one you see below was the wrong pitch so it had to be redone) and the front half of the building.

Here are a couple of before pictures....

Midweek

The completed project!

The other task was to build a swing set for the Special Needs school in Governors' Harbor. Not an easy task to get it anchored with such rocky soil.

Check out "Bahamas Fastzkie Mission" on Facebook to see some other pictures of this project and fun activities during the week.

www.facebook.com/pages/Bahamas-Fastzkie-Mission/110849512271654

Eleuthera Part 1

We had a great week in Eleuthera! The kids did great on their first plane ride. As you can see Zac was entertained with his videos and once he got used to taking off and landing he liked looking out the window at all the little houses and cars below. On one leg of the trip we flew into Miami. Rob told Zac where we were and he heard it as "My - ami". A few minutes later Zac told me we were in "Daddy's-ami". If he was talking to Rob he would say we were in "your-ami".

Zac also enjoyed the drinks on the plane. On one plane Rob let him get a Coke. From then on we would no sooner board the plane and he would announce that he wanted a Coke!

Here is the team from Grace Church who were with us for the week.

This was our view for the week. We stayed on the grounds of the Eleuthera Bible Training Center. It's the big building you see at the bottom of the hill. The rest of the Grace team stayed in the training center.

We stayed in this two bedroom "apartment" at the top of the hill.

We arrived a day early to get our family settled before the rest of the team arrived. In our down time we enjoyed the sea breeze on the porch.

Zac enjoyed the yard outside the apartment which was pretty much a big sandbox. In true Zac fashion he wouldn't sit or walk in the sand but would sit on the sidewalk and play.

...more pictures to come!