Christmas Card 2012

Merry Christmas!

We have gone through quite a bit this last year.  At the start of the year, Melissa started a new job with an oilfield inspection company.  Pat worked long hours outdoors welding at a natural gas storage site in Kenai.  Our house was beginning its 3^rd year for sale.  We had no idea what was in store for us.

In the spring, we connected with a man named Don who was looking for help to begin a manufacturing company in Ghana, Africa building a 3-wheeled vehicle with a full ton payload capacity.  After praying about this heavily for a short period of time, Pat met with him in Pella, Iowa and we decided that we would join this venture.  Just a few short days later, our house sold!  In short, we gathered our belongings, much scaled down, and moved in with Melissa’s mom in Wichita.  We haven’t been there much, however, as we spent time with our new Vytrak Team in Missouri for a fun meet-and-greet, and then several weeks in Pella to build a 3-wheeled Intermediate Transportation Vehicle.  So, we have been a little busy this year with plans we never dreamed a year ago!

We have very fluid plans from here on out.  We hope to go to Ghana in January to build another I.T.V.  When this is complete, we will return to the States until further business building is completed; a few months give or take.  We will move to Ghana once this is wrapped up and begin our adventures in Accra (uh-‘craw)!  We anticipate learning so much as God takes us out of our comfort zones and into His purposes for us.

Keep up with us via our blog; www.teakells.blogspot.com.  If you want to keep up with our company, Vytrak, check out their site www.vytrak.com.  

There's no place like...

 I have been thoroughly enjoying being in a snow-less land this winter!  There is such a beauty in the earth that I am so happy to witness that had been previously covered in feet of snow by this time of year in Alaska.  Being able to walk to a lovely park just across the river behind the house is a real treat (though don't think my walks are without my Alaska Bear Spray in hand - one just never knows what lurks behind those menacing cottonwood trunks!)

 I was able to take in some Christmas joys like Christmas Windows and lights recently with my "Beaches" friend.  To clarify if you haven't ever seen the epic friendship film, we connected many years ago and now see each other rarely (much less than we'd like), but I would do just about anything for her and we pick up like we haven't been apart at all!  Unlike "Beaches," we are not competitive, and neither of us has any life-threatening disease.  I'm waiting for her to begin her singing career though.

M has this neighbor who I think is just hilarious.  He is slowly decorating his car.  Notice the "YOLO" shout out.  The tree on the top of his car is not en-route to any further location.  It is for the car.  He has a Christmas Tree for his car.  I find this fascinating.

 I have finally decided to begin preparing Christmas cards.  I am about 2 weeks late.  I know. You may not even get one because in reality, just because I have purchased the cards does not mean I will get these out.  I don't believe the meaning of Christmas is to update all my friends and family of my goings-on.  I do want to share what we are doing, though, so I will try.  Plus, I like to get your cards!

 Speaking of the meaning of Christmas, I want to share one of my favorite things with you.  If you have been around me much during Christmas, you know I love the music of the Charlie Brown Christmas. (Charlie Brown music is pretty fabulous anyway.)  I love the jazzy low-key flow of the tunes in a total juxtaposition of the chaos that the commercial Christmas brings.  In fact, the true meaning of Christmas, that being the momentous miracle of the coming of the Savior of the world in human form, is the pivotal message in the classic tale of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  The boldness, and consequent staying power of this Peanuts cartoon special are such a sweet surprise to me every year.

Thankful

Since we have been spending much time in Iowa, it was so providential that God would place family nearby, just for me.  Sometimes I am just in awe of what He does for me.  O.K., perhaps there was more to it, but nonetheless, I have been extremely thankful for the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with family whom I have not seen in years!  I took the time to enjoy being with them as opposed to taking many pictures, but I was able to capture the festive mood the Barr family showed to the neighborhood!

 Once again, I was able to go along with Paul and Shannon and crew to an Iowa State Game.  This time I took Pat!  It seemed that I brought along with me the Alaska air, as both games I attended were bitterly cold.  Yes, it is cold in other places besides Alaska - and I would know.  This particular game began around the 36 degree range, but with the winds at 27 miles per hour, it felt like 16.  I checked the temperature in Nikiski and it read a similar 17, with no wind.  Honestly, that sounded much better.  This particular day in Ames was sunny, though, and even though the crowd was less dense than regular, it was an excellent day for football!  ISU played West Virginia, ranked 12th in the nation, and played a strong game despite the fumble at the end that really cost them the game.

 It was right after this game that we made our Iowa exit and "moved" back to Kansas.  No more living in the RV.  (Not exactly roughing it, mind you.)  I was able to make it back for my sister-in-law's baby shower!  These are things that I know I will miss out on in the future, so I was thankful to get to participate.  I also have been thankful to get to see my eldest niece play her first basketball game of 7th grade!  She did great and scored 8 of the 40 points that day!

Then, finally, we have been thankful for this time of bonding with my mom!  Pat has gotten a computer now and rather begrudgingly joined the 21st century.  Don't worry, though, he is firmly keeping his distance from smartphones or other touchscreen technology.

Ridin' Around in my Automobile...

 I know, I'm super way behind in blogging.  That's what happens when the only internet you have is graciously stolen from neighbors.  (Thank you, Jesus for allowing some people to have unlocked access.  Please bless them in some way that repays them for their kindness.)

 As you can see, we did have some success in getting our vehicle to run!  It was an exciting day!  We couldn't wait to put the bed on it before we took it out for a spin.  It looks pretty simple, but don't let that fool you.  Simple does not usually equal easy.

 We had so much fun driving it around!  We caught the attention of a local landscaping company that just happened to be located across the street from us.  He asked what we were building and we after we shared the story, he offered to let us test our rig on his property!  That was a huge blessing!  It was so much easier to drive it across the street, run our tests and bring it back to the shop for adjustments.

 Yes, I did take a little spin after the bed was put on.  I thought, mistakenly, that with the extra weight of the lumber it would ride a bit more smooth.  Not enough weight to soften 3500 lb trailer springs.

 We tested the vehicle on Dutch Meadows Landscaping's property out back where they had this giant hill!  It felt really big.  We knew it was huge.  We took bets on the degree of angle.  Pat went out with his range finder and discovered that it wasn't quite as steep as we thought.  We weren't too disappointed, as this was pretty representative of what we expect to find in Ghana.  Oh, I meant the hill, not the cargo below!

 The testing of the vehicle comprised of a series of runs up the now-less-steep hill with increasing amounts of 55 gallon drums filled with water and variously placed cinder blocks.  For example, the first run was empty, the second had 1 water filled 55gal. drum.  The ultimate test was to load the bed with 2000 lbs.

 After a few days of testing and adjusting, switching and tightening, we felt that we found a successful set up that was cost-effective!  We took a full ton of water and cinder blocks up a steep grassy slope with a 10 horsepower engine!

So, our next step is to obtain, fill, and ship a 40' shipping container with the contents of our shop to Ghana.  No biggie.  One more super-steep mountain that will hopefully be revealed as a much less steep hill.  We are praying God will orchestrate the perfect logistical coordinator for us!
 I'll try to do a little better on here.  No promises, though!

Pella Build: Week 1

This has been an interesting week!  We have been introduced to Pella, Iowa and several of it's lovely people, specifically ones who have an interest in what we are doing!  

What are we doing, you ask?  Why, let me tell you!

We are doing a lot of discussing, planning, figuring, thinking, explaining and the like.

We are doing a lot of calling, driving, searching, measuring, searching again...(though this fabulous category mostly falls to Adam).

We are doing a moderate bit of fitting, tacking, welding, grinding, cutting and other metal work.

We are doing some axle breakdown, break replacement, gasket replacement, differential examinations, and more fun auto-learning things.

We are doing some website design, logo research, timelapse photography, web design research, and even some marketing book purchasing.

 And by "we" I do mean "we!"
Notice my dedication to working: I put my work gloves on my head so the hood will fit. 

 Yes, I have had the privilege of getting into a little bit of everything, and I am learning a ton.  I feel a little bit like I'm on overload with it all, but I'll catch up.  We are working long hours, naturally.  You know how Pat is...never a moment without something to do!  I'm trying to keep up with him, but I'm enjoying a blissful moment of internet connection (thank you wb0rn, whose connection I'm using!), to catch you all up on our super exciting and immensely glamorous life right now.

We did get to take a fun trip with our Leader, Don and his family to a pumpkin patch this last Sunday.

 I'm not entirely sure how these are related, so I just leave it to your imagination.

 Hay Jumping has become a new favorite sport among those 4 feet and shorter.  We all took a turn and will probably be coughing the last of the hay dust from our lungs in a few short weeks.

 Taking a hay-less-rack-ride out to the pumpkin patch was a fun activity, with so many sizes and colors to whisk away those boring bills inside one's wallet.  I found a perfect sized one: it fit inside the palm of my hand, but upon further inspection, the squishy-ness of it caused me to decide to save my coins.

 Fortunately for Don and Erin, their 5 kiddo's were all about finding their perfect pumpkin!  I believe they settled for a family representative, and I was impressed by their satisfaction of the singular choice.

 This place seemed to scream Where the Wild Things Are to me, and no more so than when I spotted the fort/teepee made of corn.  We spent the evening exploring the hay train, complete with bell...

 ...and you know Pat was all about the goat education.  Being the frugal folk that we are, Pat showed the kids how to pick up the corn that was left by other obviously financially irresponsible people.  Later we found out the corn was free.  Still, a lesson on waste was learned, maybe.  We finished the evening with a fire and roasted hotdogs and Smores.  A really lovely day off!

 Back to work...things have slowly and methodically progressed.

There have been lots of notes taken and prints consulted.  

 Then this week, Don and I went to an in-town office due to the lack of internet service (except for now!!), and have been working in this super adorable and historic upper level space!  Those stairs are just about the most amazing thing ever.  I love them.  And then look at the view from the windows!

 Seriously the most adorable town I have ever been in.  I think they all mow their yards on the same day and everything.  In this downtown area there is a clock tower that chimes the quarter hours and then on the hour, it plays about 5-6 minutes worth of tunes.  I found myself singing along to "Home on the Range!"

 This place is just too cute.  There are some really fun shops that I may just have to visit one of these days.  Lot's of antiques, a couple coffee shops, gift stores and other quaint shops line the fabulously non-parallel parking streets!  I'm kinda watching for the "Truman Show" staff to accidentally show themselves...

 Yesterday we got to go on a "field trip" to Vermeer production facility, just down the road.  We were able to see a large factory structure and how they operated a $1 billion company.  It was really interesting.  It may be a few years before Vytrak gets to this level, but I could see one thing that we could totally take away from our trip:

The Team!

I have stolen (yes, stolen) these pictures and plan to post them as such.  I just couldn't help it.  I totally dropped the ball and rarely picked up my camera while the Vytrak team met, so I have stooped low to share the amazing people with which we will be travelling to Africa! 

 The adults in the back are: Ryan & Josi, Don & Erin (Leaders Extraordinaire), Me & Pat, Kim & Adam!  The kiddo's are L (the artist), J (shy and sweet), K (the fish-slayer), A (the bookworm - like me!), T (singing boy), & C (the cuddler); ages 4-9!  As you can see, we are really serious about letting everyone know who we really are.  All business here, folks.

Remember those castle ruins?  We took some group photo's here as well.  I guess Pat and I are the "hat people."  This was a fun time of sightseeing and watching the guys rationalize their entry into the fenced off areas to retrieve a certain football that may not have made it through the entire ruin.  You know, regular monument watching activities.  It was a lovely day!