The Final Countdown

Ba da da dahhhhh

Ba da dat dat dahhhh

Ba da da dahhhhh

Ba da dat dat dat dah dahh, dah dah dah, dah dah dah dat dat dat dah

Dah, Dahhhhhhhhh

Yeah you get it.  I'm singing Europe's classic.  (If you don't know what that is, ask your parents or Google it.)  

I am starting to freak out a little.  My nerves are on edge.  I keep trying different arrangements of the carry-ons, only to pull everything back out and stare at it more.  You know, progress.  

 I've strategically laid out all our packing cases, and I'm keeping a list of all that is included in them.  I don't know if this is all that important, but it makes me feel better.  As I don't have a huge amount of summer clothing, the packing of such has been relatively easy.  Shoes have been a struggle for me since I don't know if I will want to wear tennis shoes (and socks) or go sockless with sandals.  I've seen my share of "Monsters Inside Me", so I'm basically never going to try the barefoot option that was such a pinnacle of my youth.   I have hidden copies of our passports and vaccination records in different places and plan to keep a copy on me at all times.  We have boxes of gluten-free mixes for brownies and cakes and pancakes, so Pat won't starve.  I have our supplements and medications, just in case.  I have a book or two, though I doubt I'll get to them.  Our earplugs and eye masks are ready in the carry-ons as well as some extras in the cases (they have feral roosters, I hear).

I'm excited to go on this trip and have a lot of questions answered!  I will try as much as I can to blog and facebook.  Pray that we will be excited and enjoy all the crazy aspects of this adventure!

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!

Recent Goings On

Most of you know by now that we have plans to go to Ghana, Africa next year.  These plans are going forward and from what I can tell, are going well.  We were able to go out this last weekend for a long weekend of team meeting and greeting out at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.  It was a great time of getting to know one another and get updated on the latest progress.

Pat had met most of the team, but until now I had not.  Would they like me?  Yep, I'm a little insecure.  I also wondered how well they had gotten to know Pat!  We made sure to show our true selves, made even easier by the fact that we had a serious hit of allergies.  We just didn't feel the energy to fake anything, not that we do that sort of thing anyway! So they all got to see our snorting, nose-blowing, sneezy selves.  I know they were thrilled.

Fortunately, we stayed in a beautiful place made possible by some friends of Don, our fearless leader.  Because I was horrible with taking pictures, I have very few, and even less of actual people.  Someday I will steal respectfully ask to borrow and repost pictures that others took!  Then you can see who we are.  I am the only one with wild hair.  All the other women have this beautiful smooth hair.  I expect I'll live.  Digression...back to all seriousness.

Pat was able to show his exceptional outdoor skills by arranging a scavenger hunt/race for the kids one of the days, which included the use of our two canoes!  He was also the king of fishing, setting up pole fishing for bluegill off the docks.

  Eventually, he was able to teach the 3 older girls how to use grown-up fishing rods and reels to fish for large mouth bass, white bass, and even a blue catfish!  Those girls weren't afraid to bait with worms or "pet" their catches, which of course were all christened before returning to their watery homes.  In case you were worried, we did keep one day's catch and fried it up to reward all the new anglers.  Fun was had by all, and thankfully, no hooks ended up in fingers, toes or any other body part.

Our next step in this journey is to spend some time in Pella, Iowa to manufacture two prototypes of the vehicle we will be manufacturing in Africa.  Once this is complete, our fearless leader and his family will blaze the trail for the rest of us in Ghana where we will meet them in January to build two more in country.  We will then return to the U.S. and complete more of the business side of things before we return to Africa, hopefully in March(ish).  That's the nutshell!  Again, if you are interested in Vytrak or have more questions for us, please give us a call/email/skype/whatever!  We, and especially our team, will love to have your prayers as we go forward.

So, since that was informational but less photographic, I'll finish with a few pictures of a walk we took to see some ruins of an estate that was built in the early 1900's, and burned in the '40's.  It was a beautiful day and had some gorgeous views!

 The ruins of the "castle" were captivating.  In the midst of the awe, it seemed sad to me that so much effort was put into something to serve himself and now literally lays in ruins.  It made me really think about what I put my efforts and resources toward and what others will see when I am gone.

 It was a beautiful place and I am thankful for the people who let us stay in their condo's.  It was a real retreat for all of us, and a perfect place for us to connect with the people who will be our closest connections for a while - snot and all!