Tag Archives: Christian bloggers

King Priest

19 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are and conquered sin. So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness. 

Photo Credit:Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Father’s Day 2023

18 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Re-post I would like to re-post this from 2017 – It’s still relevant today

Another Father’s Day dawns this morning.  As someone recently said, it’s such a pity that in today’s world of TV and comedy, fathers are portrayed as clueless and laughable.  How are our boys and young men going to grow up to be the strong men of God that we want them to be, when that is their example?  I am so glad that my father, my brother, and my husband grew up in times when men were, indeed, strong men of God, and spiritual leaders in their household.

And how are our girls and young women going to grow up, thinking that all the boys/men in their lives are luckless creatures – only to be tolerated?  In watching the TV programs that are out there now – unfortunately including some of the current Disney programs – adults in general, and men in particular –  are portrayed as stupid and ignorant, while their teenagers – and younger – are the “smart” ones.  It just ain’t so, folks!

And since that was a rather depressing way to begin this post, let me get back to the men in my life who were strong believers in God and Jesus Christ, and were able to be strong, safe, places for me.

Let me tell you about my own father.

Mother, Father, Bill and me – 1952

I’ve written other posts about my father (June 16, 2013; June 15, 2014; September 28, 2014) and the influence he had in my life.  He was gone quite a bit – traveling around the state – but I always knew he loved me, and I looked up to him.

Daddy getting ready for one of his trips – 1959

He was, indeed, the spiritual leader in our household.   He always took us to church with him, and our family life revolved around church and our belief in God.

Daddy, me, Mother, Bill – 1956

Fred’s father – a second father to me after Fred and I married – was dedicated to God and His work in this world.

Charles Wills – Chaplain – 1951

Charles Wills – Base Chaplain, Tyndall AFB, FL – 1951-1955

He was a pastor for a while, but then most of his life was doing God’s work as a military chaplain.  And yet, with all that work, he was devoted to his family.  He, too, was the spiritual leader in his family.

Charles and Kitty Wills – 1950’s

Fred and I both look back on our lives, and are so grateful that each of our fathers-in-law treated us like their son or daughter.  I never felt out of place in Fred’s family, and Fred has said so many times that my father enjoyed him as if he were another son of his.  We were so blest to have that in our lives.

And because of that, Fred grew up in a household that showered him with love – family love and God’s love.  He grew to be a self-assured man that I am proud to call my husband.  He taught our girls what a true man – a gentleman – is like, and what they should expect from their spouses.

Fred, me, Karen and Janet – 1976

And my brother, Bill, grew up in a household that taught him how to be a true man of God, as well.  He gave his children God’s word, and the strength to be what God wants them to be. 

Bill, DiVoran, Billy, Charlene – 1985

Both of our girls have married men who are strong personalities, and are dedicated to the Lord.  We pray for each member of their families, as they begin to have families of their own.

Brian,Savannah, Forrest, and Karen

On our 50th wedding anniversary cruise to Bermuda May 2011

Hannah, Janet, Tom and Connor – October 2022

There is a scripture that helps with this:

Start children off on the way they should go,

and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6 

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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My Favorite Breakfast-Part 1

14 Jun

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

What is your favorite breakfast? To keep healthy, my daily breakfast is a mix of 3 or 4 cut-up strawberries, ¼-cup of blueberries, 1/8th-cup of chopped walnuts, 1-cup of plain yogurt sweetened with Swerve, into which I stir in two packets of (Immnicol) Glutathione power.  This is not the most delightful tasting combination, but health wise, my health coordinator wife, DiVoran, tells me it’s the best I can do for my own particular body needs right now.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

For pure pleasure, when I go out to eat, my favorite breakfast is two eggs (over medium), a couple of pork sausage links (maple flavored), the bacon is optional (only if it come with the order), hash-brown potatoes (grilled to a golden brown), and a steaming cup of hot Earl Grey tea.  I can take my wife, DiVoran, out to one of our favorite restaurants for this delightful meal or I can order the same thing at most any restaurant of my choosing on one of my road trips (I know I fudged on the eggs in the photo).

Photo Credit: https://nextdoor.com/bob-evans/

DiVoran tells me her favorite breakfast is two poached eggs with one (thin) slice of buttered Sourdough toast, and homemade jellies, when it is available.  She is a coffee drinker and a cup of her favorite home-made brew (half full caffeinated & half decaffeinated) is always a part of her breakfast.  Of course, she is also an avid reader, so, some sort of daily devotional is an important part of her breakfast time.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I remember my mother and dad‘s favorite breakfast was pecan waffles with a strip of bacon grilled into the waffle.  As I grew older, I learned to enjoy pecan waffles, but I never developed the taste for the bacon in them. Of course, their alternate to the pecan waffles was scrambled eggs, with Canadian bacon and fresh baked bread and butter with Granny’s homemade peach preserves.  I got in on that type of delicious breakfast once-in-a-while as I grew older and wanted something other than cold cereal and milk.

Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/Waffle+with+bacon+inside

As youngsters, my little sister, Judy, and I began most of our days with cold cereal with milk.  As we grew older, we became Aunt Jemima pancake lovers, with lots of butter and maple syrup.  After our mother had used all of the pancake batter for our pancakes, we were allowed (under her supervision) to make tiny ‘one-drop’ or ‘two-drop’ sized pancakes, in the big cast iron skillet. Sometimes there was enough batter left to make a small ‘heart-shaped’ pancake, which we were thrilled to create.

Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/search/images;_pancake-clipart

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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God Gives Us Faith

12 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Hebrews 11:1-4

Faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation to acquire what we long for. 

Faith is all that is required to prove what is still unseen.

This testimony of faith is what previous generations were commended for. 

Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words!

He spoke, and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen. 

Love Lifted Me

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Random Memories of Virginia-Part 3

11 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

6.    Every time we go to Virginia to visit, we always like to drive by our old house.

Photo Credit Judy Wills

We lived in that house nearly 13 years, and really loved it.  We notice changes that were made from when we lived there.  When we purchased the house, it had brown shutters (for looks only) on the windows.  After Fred found decay and critters in the shutters, he removed them. There are now forest green shutters on all the windows.  Looks nice, and we don’t have to care for them.  There were evergreen trees just beside the front door that are now gone, and only small shrubs are all across the front of the house now.

Credit Google Search and Zillow

When we lived there, someone before us had made a patio in the back of the house out of slate stones.  

Photo Credit Judy Wills

I could stretch a line across from a tree to the trellis there, and hang clothes and sheets on that line to dry.  I now saw that a deck had been built over that patio, that looked quite nice. But no hanging clothes there now!  They had also added a shed in the backyard.  We did have a nice, large backyard with lots of trees – almost 1/2 acre of land for the house and yard.

We purchased this house in Seaford, Virginia in 1983.  Wikipedia states:   Seaford is an unincorporated community in York County, Virginia, United States, on the Virginia Peninsula. As of the 2010 Census, the Seaford postal area (ZIP Code 23696) had a population of 3,669.

And Wikipedia also states:  Seaford is mostly a rural area and includes Seaford Road and the roads attached to it. There are different neighborhoods within Seaford, some of these include Port Meyers, Sommerville, and Cheadle Loop. Seaford is located on multiple creeks including Chisman Creek and Back Creek, both of which lead out to the York River, which eventually takes you to the Chesapeake Bay. Most people in Seaford work in the surrounding areas such as, Newport News, Hampton, and Williamsburg.

We lived in the neighborhood off Cheadle Loop.

As we drove through Seaford, we reminisced about people we had known who lived in Seaford and what house they had lived in.  We remembered the first pastor of our church in Seaford when we arrived in 1983 – Jim Weston.  He was a single man at that time.  But he eventually married and he and his wife had children, and he built a house along the water in Seaford.  Literally built that house himself!  It was a bit of an odd-shaped building, but was more unique than weird!  The man who was Fred’s dentist at the time also lived in a house near the water in Seaford.  We wondered whether or not he was still there and living in the house that was his.  His children would be grown by this time.  He and his family came to our church.

7.   Driving around Seaford we noticed some new sub-communities within the small community of Seaford itself.  I can just hear the Seafordites now:  we don’t want Seaford to grow more!  We want it to be kept small!  (We heard these types of comments when we lived there)  Well cupcake, times change, and growth is inevitable.  And Seaford has to grow as well.

And that reminds me that, while we were living there, a Vietnamese family had purchased a house in Seaford and essentially turned it into a restaurant.  They served really good food in that little house, and we enjoyed eating there many times.  There was a local newspaper from Yorktown, called The Yorktown Crier, that published a story on this family and their eatery in Seaford.  That story increased their business so much that they moved from Seaford into Newport News – and the business failed.  We were sorry to see that happen to them.  We just wished they had stuck it out in Seaford, but they didn’t.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Happiness is Flying Model Airplanes-Part 5

7 Jun

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

 My largest and favorite scale model R/C airplane is a big ¼ scale Bellanca Citabria.  The real high-wing aerobatic airplane is famous with flyers all over the country and my R/C model is a beautiful airplane, and it flies like a dream.  Someone told me that the unusual name of this airplane is really “Airbatic” spelled backwards.  How about that for someone with nothing to do but think up an unusual name for a new aerobatic airplane for his boss at Ballanca Manufacturing in 1964 (or maybe it was the boss himself).

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Of course, I just had to have a ¼ scale Piper Cub in my stable of model R/C airplanes, as a constant reminder of that very first little hard-wood Piper Cub I built when I was eight years old.  This airplane is a model of the famous Piper J-3 Cub that was designed in the 1930s and has been one of the basic trainers used by people all over the world to learn how to fly.  My model uses a .91 CID four-stroke engine and looks, sounds, and flies very realistic in the air and on the ground.   Great fun!

An R/C model airplane enthusiast from Michigan joined our Titusville Model Airplane Club sometime in 2001 and introduced the members in our club to the Simple Plastic Airplane Designs (SPAD) Coroplast R/C model airplanes.  These amazing model airplanes are very inexpensive to build, while being of a very simple and rugged construction.  They are designed and built to represent a verity of real airplanes and also used as expendable “Combat” contenders where a pilot tries to clip a 100’ streamer off the tail of his opponent’s airplane (with his propeller) without damaging either airplane (causing lots of mid-air collisions

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The body is made from a 2”X2” section of PVC downspout and all the other components, such as wing and tail are made of Coroplast sheet.  The engine is mounted on a ¾“ thick block of plywood or hardwood, which is held in place with (4) screws.  The fuel tank, flight receiver, and flight battery are installed inside of the fuselage with Velcro while the control servos are installed on the outside of the fuselage.  The wing is usually held in place with big strong rubber bands.

Design Credit: https://www.spadtothebone.net/

Most of these basic SPAD airplanes are hand launched and belly landed because they have no landing gear.  It took a coordinated effort, and a lot of practice to get used to: 1. Start up the engine (in the starting station), then 2.  Run the engine up to full power, and 3. Launch the plane (underhanded), while holding the radio in the other hand (a neck strap to hold the radio helped).  It was a practiced procedure that we SPAD flyers all learned to do after a few failed attempts.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I enjoy going to R/C model airplane airshows and fly-ins whenever I get the chance.  One of the biggest R/C model airplane airshows I ever attended was the 25th Annual Joe Nall Memorial R/C Model Fly-in held at Joe’s Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, SC in 2007.  The year I attended, there were over 500 R/C model airplanes there of all sizes and descriptions from all over the country.  A crowd of over 2000 avid spectators showed up, including as many as 60 R/C model airplane vendors.  What a spectacular all-week event that was!

Photo Credit: yahoo.com/search/images;Joe+Nall+Triple+Tree+Aerodrome

One of the most thrilling events I ever witnessed was when I attended the 2009 Dawn Patrol Rendezvous Fly-in at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.  There were some 30 real and replica WWI biplanes and triplanes that flew in from many parts of the country to participate in that event.  There were many WWI reenactors dressed in period costumes who brought their antique automobiles, motorcycles, and bicycles to the event.  There were replicas of field hospitals with doctors and nurses for the French, German, and U.S. soldiers

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

There were also many WWI R/C model biplanes and triplanes at the fly-in, which ranged in size from the smallest (¼ scale) to the largest (½ scale) models that flew at intermissions.  Of course, the R/C pilots were also dressed in WWI costumes with leather coats, caps, and flight goggles to make their appearance fit in with the overall reenactment venue of the event.

Photo Credit:  yahoo.com/search/images;dawn+patrol+rendevoue 

The fuel powered R/C model airplanes of the past, that I grew up with, are losing their popularity in many model airplane clubs now-a-days, with the influx of inexpensive foam airplanes and the availability of more powerful flight batteries.  However, flying R/C model airplanes has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I have done over the years, and I plan to continue enjoying the sport of flying R/C model airplanes (fuel powered or electric powered) as long as I am able.  See you at the flying field.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–The End—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Deeper

5 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

John 20:29

Jesus said, So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes.  

Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing: 

Photo Credit :Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Random Memories of Virginia-Part 2

4 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

2.    There is an area along my journey to work in Williamsburg that is called Lee Hall.  Wikipedia explains:

Lee Hall, located in the former Warwick County, was named for nearby Lee Hall Mansion which was built in 1859 as the home of Richard Decatur Lee, a prominent local farmer who was not directly related to the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The mansion was used as headquarters for Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Magruder during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War in 1862. 

Lee Hall Mansion

Credit Google Search and Lee Hall Website

I used to drive through Lee Hall often to get to U.S. 60 and on to Williamsburg.  But the funny thing about Lee Hall was that, if it was raining at my house  in Seaford as I started out – in winter at least – when I got to Lee Hall it was snowing!  And it was snowing all the way into Williamsburg!  I guess the elevation was just enough higher to make the rain turn to snow!  

Credit Google Search

3.   Also along the Colonial Parkway (as well as Jefferson Ave) is the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

Officer Housing on Yorktown Naval Weapons Station

Credit Google Search and YNWS website

It is an active Navy Base, and we occasionally would go there to shop at their facilities, as well as do some of our medical stuff there.  Most of our medical was done either at Langley AFB in Hampton, or Fort Eustis Army Base.  But we enjoyed the smaller, quieter pace of the Weapons Station.  If we happened to be driving along the Colonial Parkway, we could see where the original gate to the Weapons Station was…lovely brickwork. And further down the Parkway was a secondary gate – that was the one we usually used to enter the base.  However, following the events of 911/2001, this secondary gate was closed and barricaded, so that the only entrance was from Jefferson Ave (Virginia road 143).  By that time we had moved to Florida, and didn’t need to go to the Weapons Station.

4.   We used to drive the Fort Eustis Blvd to the Fort Eustis Army Base quite often.

Credit Google Search and Peter Hahn

We would go to that military post for shopping and occasionally some medical reasons.  As we drove along that road recently, we were reminded of a couple from our church in Seaford who moved into a retirement community that was built off Fort Eustis Blvd.  They were pillars of the church and we were sorry to see them leave this earth, but know they are with our Heavenly Father and are in no more pain.  Praise God!

5.   A fun connection with Fort Eustis Blvd is along U.S. 17 and Fort Eustis Blvd.  A McDonald’s eatery was built right on that corner while we were living in VA.  Nothing noteworthy about that, except they had a huge picture-window right on U.S. 17.  And right in front of that window – INSIDE the eatery – they placed a Ford ThunderBird convertible! 

Credit Pixabay

 Amazing!  Right there in the picture window!  It was an eye-catcher, for sure!  Unfortunately, I assume either they needed more eating space, or someone really had a hankering for that T-Bird, because it is no longer in the window.  Shucks!

We also found it interesting that there are now four eateries on that corner of U.S. 17 and Fort Eustis Blvd – the McDonald’s mentioned above, Bojangles, Wendy’s, and Arby’s.  No shortage of places to eat there!  Just whatever your taste buds need that day!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Happiness is Flying Model Airplanes-Part 4

31 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

After DiVoran and I moved to Florida and I got settled into my new job with North American Aviation, working on the Apollo Manned Space Program, I took lessons in a real airplane, working toward receiving my private pilot’s license.  I got as far as soloing twice, but the main problem with that plan was that with a full-time job that involved a hectic work schedule, a new family, and little money to spare, I never was able to find the time or the money to obtain the number of flight hours needed to complete that private pilot’s license.  What a Bummer that was!

Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/cessna+150

It wasn’t until after my interest in model airplanes re-surfaced in the early 1990s that I finally discovered Radio Controlled (R/C) Model Airplanes.  A good friend at work had also been a model airplane enthusiast in his youth and talked me into trying R/C model airplanes.  I started out by buying used planes and equipment to see if I really wanted to spend that kind of time and money on the hobby.  It didn’t take long for me to realize my true love of flying model airplanes was back: and especially when I could fly them around the sky like a real airplane instead of on wires around in circles.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

I was surprised by the number and variety of used R/C airplanes and equipment that were available, just from many of my fellow workers here at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).  I was able to buy a variety of broken airplanes, ready to fly airplanes, and brand-new airplanes still in the box.  The stories that came with these airplanes could pretty much be expected: “I broke the plane on the first flight and didn’t want to try again,” or “The airplane looked so great when I finished it, I was afraid to fly it.” or “I just never got around to putting the airplane together.”

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

My first flight instructor was a member of the Titusville Model Airplane Club that I had joined, and he was great.  He taught me how to go easy on the controls and kept me from crashing my basic trainer airplane on every flight.  Landing was the hardest part of flying for me, and he would tell me, “Easy on the controls now – cut the power and just let the airplane land itself.”  That was easier said than done.  However, with lots of practice, and with his help, it all got easier.  Once I was able to master the basics of R/C flying, I began to expand my stable of R/C airplanes to include sport and scale model airplanes.

=Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

One of the used airplanes I bought was a Neptune Seaplane.  Our model airplane club grass flying field was located adjacent to a small lake and many of the club members flew their models from that lake.  Not me!  I was afraid I would crash during takeoff or landing and ruin my engine and electrical equipment.  Besides, with the engine on my seaplane mounted above the wing, I could takeoff and land easily on the grass without fear of breaking the propeller or getting the airplane and equipment wet.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

One of the most challenging used R/C model airplanes I purchased was a Tower Hobbies TwinStar.  This twin-engine, low-wing R/C model looked a lot like a Piper Seneca and flew really well as long as you could keep both engines running and synchronized.  If one of the engines quit, you had to kill the power on the other engine and hope you could get the airplane on the ground as soon as possible without crashing it.  Now-a-days, all of that is handled electronically by the new radio systems.

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Divine Power

29 May

My Take

DiVoran Lites

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

 Photo Credit: Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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