Hello again,

  For all my good intentions, I find myself separated from my last posting by a span of six weeks. Bless you for still following along on our journey. We saw Michele's neurosurgeon on Friday, and it was indeed Good Friday. He was very pleased with her progress, and released her from further appointments. More tears of joy were shed, and we had mixed emotions about not seeing these folks again. They have been such a vital part of our lives over the past 9 months, they feel like family. On a personal level we will miss them.

  Michele continues to work hard on her therapy, spending a good part of each day exercising her left arm and hand. The therapist comes in once a week to change up her routine and keep her challenged. It must be paying off, considering the neurosurgeon's blessing. She is beginning to think about driving in the future. To that end, I bought a new battery for our Pontiac, which has been comatose in the garage since September. Not a moment too soon, I might add. The day I put the battery in the car, the garage door spring cable let go on the side I park the van in, trapping the van inside the garage until the spring got fixed. Just another example of God's timely provision!

  We had a beautiful Easter day here in Coshocton. After church, friends of ours from MMS came over for dinner, and we had a super time of fellowship. That evening we hosted our usual Sunday evening Bible study with other dear friends. It was truly a day of blessing!

  In my previous posting, I mentioned a team from LeTourneau University that came in March. They were a really good group, and got a lot of work accomplished. The Aztec I have been working on is nearly complete, due in no small part to their contribution. Today we pulled the Aztec outside and put fuel in the tanks in 3 gallon increments to make a sort of dipstick for the ministry in Alaska to use in case the electric gages prove undependable. The exercise also leak checked the tanks, three of which had been replaced. Once it was full of fuel, we test ran the engines and washed the plane.

  At lunch time, some dear friends of ours from Wisconsin picked up Michele at the house and drove up to the hangar to visit. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, then returned to MMS for a quick look around. This was Michele's first trip to the hangar in nearly a year, so she enjoyed a warm reception from the MMS family while I took our guests on a mini tour. Our friends and Michele left around 2:30 and I went back to work.

  In the mean time, another ministry plane arrived with some maintenance needs, and I split my afternoon between the Aztec and the other plane, a King Air. By four o'clock the King Air was climbing into the sky, and the Aztec was back in the hangar. It was a whirlwind day, but very gratifying. A week from tomorrow we will be flying to California to visit Michele's family, so I need to have the Aztec completed and ready to go before then.

  My intention is to write another update when we return from California. Many people have graciously commented on these posts, so I will try to keep them going. It may seem that the words flow freely, but the reality is that it takes me an inordinately long time to tap out these few lines, but I recognize the need for me to improve my communication skills, so I'll try not to 'fall off the wagon'.

Thank you for your friendship!

Tim and Michele