Rapid Responses!

When we came back from Scotland in October, I had some really good intentions of keeping the blog posts regular… It seems like the last couple of months have flown by, so my apologies for turning regular into “once a month”.
As Heather said a week-an-a-bit ago, I had a fantastic opportunity to spend the first couple of weeks of December down in Florida on a “Rapid Response” trip. MMS’s mission statement is to “prepare people and planes for worldwide mission service”, and for the most part, that means having apprentices work on mission aircraft at our hangar here in Ohio. The training is fantastic, but if it lacks one thing it is the chance to work in an “operational” environment, maintaining planes that are being used on a daily basis. Sometimes it isn’t possible to have aircraft transported to Ohio, and the opportunity comes along for apprentices and staff to travel to the plane to carry out the work needed. This kills two birds with one stone, giving mission organisations an opportunity to benefit from MMS’s service, whilst giving apprentices valuable experience working in other “field” environments.

One of MFI's DC-3's prepares to leave the hangar

Missionary Flights International have been offering a regular service to missionaries operating in Haiti and the West Indies since the 60’s. As well as a Cessna 310, the MFI fleet is made up of 4 DC-3 aircraft. These planes were built from the 30’s through to the end of WWII, and as you can imagine for aircraft that are in their 70’s, they take a lot of looking after. Of the 4 planes MFI operate, 2 are turbine powered and 2 have the original type radial engines. The turbine planes are more powerful, able to carry more payload, faster and more economical to run, so it makes sense that they are the ones normally flown. When the opportunity came up to sell one of the radial engine planes, the need to carry out some major maintenance became a bit more urgent. As MMS have a long history with MFI, we were asked to go down and help out with this work.

Old engine on the right, new engine on the left, and 400MF behind.

Myself and Chuck flew down the Monday after Thanksgiving, and got stuck straight into removing the engine from the left wing of N400MF. Most of our fortnight was spent on transferring brackets, hoses and accessories onto the new engine, and getting the new engine ready to hang on the wing. When we run out of parts, there were lots of other jobs to do, with some airframe repairs underway in the tail of the plane. On our last day there I was able to get involved in a 100hr service on one of the turbine planes, then help out with an oil change on the Asas de Socorro float plane which stopped off in Florida while on it’s flight to Brasil from MMS in Ohio. (See below for Keith's video on that)

It was a busy two weeks, but a fantastic opportunity to get a taste of another organisation’s ministry, and the way they operate. Working on these old aircraft was made even more special when I discovered that one of our good friends from Pitlochry Baptist Church (and one of the people who first got me interested in MAF) was one of the pilots who ferried N300MF to Florida from England in the early 80’s!

N300MF

The New Year will probably be bringing another Rapid Response trip, provided all the visa applications currently in progress go to plan. JAARS http://www.jaars.org/ have a large base in Papua New Guinea, where they operate a variety of aircraft in support of Bible translators and other missionaries who serve in that part of the world. They recently had one of their aircraft damaged, and myself, another MAF apprentice, and one of the MMS Staff, have been asked to go and help them carry out the repairs needed to get the plane back into service. That will be a slightly longer trip (3 or 4 weeks), and the internet won’t be as “high speed” as it was in Florida. Please pray that Heather and the kids will be well while I am away from home. Abi and Matthew were a bit out of sorts while I was gone earlier this month, not understanding why dad was working “at the hangar” but not coming home at night. I will be literally on the other side of the world this time away, so having the kids settle well while I am gone will be a real blessing to Heather, and a reassurance to me. I can’t even imagine still being in my old job on the ships with my wee family left at home!!
Right now we are busy getting packed up for our Christmas holiday. We are going to visit our good friends in North Carolina for the week, returning next Saturday. We’re all looking forward to catching up with them again, and to celebrate the birth of Christ together.
Wishing you all a happy Christmas, and all the very best for 2012.

A baby changes everything!

November has flown past and I can hardly believe it is less than two weeks until Christmas day! We enjoyed two wonderful thanksgiving meals with friends near the end of November. One was with our church (about 300 people), the other was with out MMS friends here (about 30). We have now been in the states over a year and Andy and I still have our Scottish accents, but alas both our children are talking more and more like Americans! :0)

Andy went to Florida for two weeks with another colleague and returned on the 10th of December. They were working with Missionary Flights International in Ft. Pierce. Andy will write more about this in the next blog.

I did not anticipate how hard it would be to find time to blog while he was away but as you can see it did not happen. Being a single parent is tough and I only had to do it for two weeks! Part of the reason it was so tough was due to the fact I am expecting our third child and being in the early stages of pregnancy with two little children by myself was a challenge and we often shared the same bed time! I am so thankful I have an amazing God to depend on and I truly experienced his amazing strength and grace throughout those two weeks. Andy arrived back on Saturday and has a few days off to recover from his long working days. We are really enjoying some family time together before he goes back to work tomorrow.

We are looking forward to Abi's first School production tonight - The Gingerbread Man. She has been entertaining me for weeks with the songs and she is so excited about being on the stage.

Matthew has been quite unsettled without his dad and is glued to his side at the moment in case he should disappear again! LOL!

It was a wonderful experience telling the children on Saturday about there new expected sibling due to arrive next June and quite humorous listening to their reaction. Abi is so excited and is already working on some names! Matthew is just not sure what to think - if he can't see it then it doesn't make too much sense yet.

The mother and toddlers I am starting up is going really well and we have provisionally been offered premises at the Job and Family Services department in the town. This will be finally be confirmed in the next few weeks and we will hopefully be able to start mid to late January.

Andy will post soon about his Florida trip. Sorry there are no pictures with this blog like the others but please bear with us as we adjust to the changes going on and the run up to Christmas. :0)

Thank you for taking the time to read this and share in the adventure with us.

Love from Heather, Andy, Abi , Matthew and bump! ;0)

The 207 finally takes to the skies!

Today has been an exciting day in the hangar. After 7 months of hard work, the Gabon 207 was finally able to make it’s return to service flight! Steve Straw ( http://gabonpilot.blogspot.com/ ) arrived back in the States the day before we left for Glasgow, and I thought that by the time we got back to Ohio, he would have completed the RTS flight, packed up, and headed off back to Gabon. A couple of hiccups with parts not doing what they were meant to do after such a long time out of service, meant that the re-commissioning of all the systems couldn’t go past the ground runs while we were back in Scotland. But the delays that came about from waiting for new parts to arrive gave another opportunity to improve the plane for the work it will be doing in Gabon.

The air traffic control network in Gabon is not as developed as it is here in the States, so the distance between people that can hear you on the radio is much greater. To make for a safer operation, and to open up more opportunities and resources from other people on the ground, a radio system with a greater range was needed. The radios that are installed on most light aircraft are VHF radio, and have a limited range because of the frequency they transmit on. HF radios use a longer wavelength, which gives them a much greater range.









When it comes to aircraft, you can’t just kit your plane out with “go-faster” spoilers and alloy wheels. Every modification that changes a plane from the way it was when it rolled off the production line, needs to be approved by the FAA. The application for the HF radio upgrade went in quite some time ago, but these things take time. Returning the plane to service was more urgent than waiting for this approval to come through, so the plans looked like they might have to be shelved. A little delay in getting off the ground was just enough time for the FAA approval to go through at the 11th hour, so Steve will now be able to return to Gabon with an aircraft that is much better equipped for the work it is meant for.

Having spent so much time working on this plane over the year, it was a bit sad to see it fly off, but knowing it will be back at work in Africa soon is a good compensation… and it free’s up quite a bit of hangar space for the next project… I wonder what that will be???

Off into the next chapter...

The video!

I have just realised that those of you who receive our blog by email probably won't be able to see the video I posted last night.

If you can't see the clip, follow the link below and that should get you to it!

Thanks for checking in!

http://youtu.be/uuF_1BITgK8

When Heather posted our last blog and said that it would be the last one for a while, a bit of me thought that I might get a chance to blog again from Scotland while we were home… I should’ve known that we would be so busy we would have no chance of writing blog posts!

We had a great trip back over to Scotland for the best part of October – we flew into Glasgow on 13th October, then spent the next fortnight driving about 850 miles, with another 800ish on the sleeper train. We slept in 5 different homes (and the sleeper train!), shared at three Sunday morning services, one midweek meeting, and held a Saturday morning presentation and lunch in a coffee shop. We got ourselves up to date with the dentist’s and the optician’s. We got our fix of Scottish food and enjoyed a bit of Chinese and Indian foods as well!
We were also able to catch up with lots of our friends and family, which was incredibly encouraging for us. Thank you all!! It was a real shame that we just didn’t have enough time to catch up with everyone we wanted to – if we didn’t make it round to you we are sorry.
The main reason for being back this year was to renew our visas. We are here on a vocational student’s visa, with a one year validity period, so every autumn will see a trip back to the UK. The visa interview went without problems, and despite my not being able to follow the instructions on photo’s for the kids visa applications, our visa’s were renewed and we were able to return home to Ohio as planned! After finishing at the American embassy around lunchtime, we had lots of time for a bit of sightseeing in London before our train back north.

Big Ben!!

Our trip back home didn’t go quite to plan. When we arrived to check in at Glasgow airport, we were told that our connection to Columbus had already been cancelled. They managed to book us on a later flight on Saturday night, and off we went to New York. By the time we arrived in Newark, the East coast was caught in the teeth of the first winter storm of the season – a whole 1.3” of slushy snow had fallen, and the airport had ground to a halt! After finding out about our 2nd cancellation of the day, we were able to rebook to fly to Columbus on Sunday morning. We were fortunate enough to find a hotel room to stay in for the night, and all four of us had a great night’s sleep! It probably worked out for the best, as the only option we really had was to go to sleep at 7:30pm – had we been able to get home on Saturday, we would have likely been up too late unpacking, and Sunday would have been spent like Zombies!
Monday morning had us all getting back to normal, with Heather and Matthew running errands around the town, Abi back at school catching up with her friends, and me back in the hangar. It was good to be back at work, and getting my hands dirty again.

While we have been away, the Gabon 207 had a few teething problems as it was being prepared for its Return to service flight, and the FAA gave an 11th hour approval for an HF radio installation which has been pending for a while. The problems have all been straightened out now, and Mike, Phil and Jim are busy working on the radio system. Hopefully it will be back on it’s way to Africa soon, although from a purely selfish point of view, I am glad I will be around to see it’s first flight since arriving in Ohio, having spent so much of this year working on it!

The Gospel Carrier Internation Cessna 172 I am currently working on, in front of the Gabon 207.

This week, I have been helping on an annual inspection on GCI's cessna 172. Yesterday we were overhauling the nose landing gear strut, and today we removed one of the main landing gear wheels for inspection, and to clean and re-grease the bearing.

When we were back in Scotland it was good to be able to show a short video clip of the work I am involved in here in Ohio. Just in case you didn’t see the clip while we were in the UK, here it is!

Almost a year!

We arrived last winter, so this is our first experience of Autumn in Ohio. Let me share a few differences we have noticed. Firstly, it is called "the Fall" which makes perfect sense of course. Also Pumpkin season is here and they are everywhere!! Although not a fan of pumpkin soup, I do like a little pumpkin pie! :0) Another difference is the weather. Last weekend it was windy, cold and raining - not something we are unfamiliar with. I got the duvets all out of storage and washed the blankets and put them away, We got the last air conditioning unit out of the window and stored in the garage. Then by about Thursday, I had to fold all the duvets and put them away again and get a few blankets out for us all it is getting hot again just like summer! The children are never sure weather they need winter or summer pyjamas. I have to watch the weather channel every morning before I get the kids their clothes as although the mornings can be really cold, the afternoon is often shorts and T-shirt weather. Another thing is the bugs that are trying to come into our house to hibernate for winter! Ladybugs (ladybirds) - but I believe they are called the Asian beetle lady bug. they like to swarm and are attracted to light coloured houses on the hillside - just like ours. They are don't do any harm, they are just a pest and even with insect screens on the doors of windows - I have to keep the sun facing ones closed as they get through the nets. Good preparation for what's ahead! :0) The trees are of course beautiful and another highlight of "The Fall" is Coshocton County Fair. Unfortunately it was very wet for the first while so when the first dry day came on Tuesday - I took the kids out for the morning. Eight dollars each gets you into the fair for the day. Almost all the rides are free and there is plenty to see and do. We saw horses, sheep, cows, goats and llamas among others. There were tractors, pick up trucks, horse and harness racing, and lots of interesting new foods to try such as "elephants toes" (made from doughnut batter caked in cinnamon sugar and dipped in butter icing) There were also many prizes for the largest home grown fruit and vegetables as well as crafts and exhibitions. We were really glad to be able to experience it and are looking forward to next year.

Matthew had a trip to a local Farm to make a scarecrow and pick a pumpkin. We got to ride on the hay wagon behind the tractor and that was fun. The tractor took us on a five minute ride to the pumpkin fields where we were free to choose one to take home. The preschool have another morning available for him starting November so he will be going two mornings a week. He seems to be really enjoying his time there.

Abi has had her fifth birthday party today which was great fun. We played pass the parcel, Simon says, pin the tail, and had a princess treasure hunt outside. The man next door mowing his lawn must of had a good laugh at us running about the garden in pink, blue and yellow fluffy dresses, ( I had my wellie shoes on!) Dangling from different trees in the garden were pink shoes, a pink hat, pink scarf, princess story book, and a hair brush - the things you do for your loved ones! Then it was time for some pampering with nail polish before stuffing our faces full calorific delights! It was a great excuse to dress up and I found another use for a previous bridesmaid dress!

Andy is really busy in the hanger at the moment. They are putting the final touches on the 207 plane as it gets ready for a test flight next week. This will be our last blog post from Ohio until November as we are flying back to Scotland this coming Wednesday until the 29th. Now that the birthday party is over I can focus on packing the suitcases and getting ready for catching up with our supporters, family and friends. I hope we can see as many of you as possible over the next few weeks. Please email me if you would like to recieve our newsletter and are not already doing so, and if you would like any more information about where we will be speaking during our visit - heatherswansonmaf@gmail.com .

Heatherx

Summer in the hangar

Time seems to be flying past just now – I have just had a flick through our blog and realised Heather has been doing all the blogging since the beginning of August! Don’t worry though, I haven’t been sitting around waiting for something to happen! Life at the hangar has been as busy as usual with lots of work going on. So here is a bit of an update for you on what has been happening.

The 207 project has been moving well along since my last post, and for nearly 3 weeks in August, Josh and I were busy rebuilding the tailcone which was damaged in the accident last year. It was great experience for me; the tailcone is a notoriously difficult part of an aircraft to work with, being made up mainly of 16 thousandths of an inch thick aluminium sheet (less than half a millimetre for all you metric folk!) and it is very easy to damage badly if you slip off a rivet head with your rivet gun.

The tail cone, still just flimsy sheets.

It was also amazing to see the structure appear as our work went on. Have you ever done one of those teamwork challenges where you build a bridge from newspaper and sticky tape? When we started putting the tailcone together we had 3 big sheets of aluminium flopping around with some long (and very fragile looking) stringers running the length of the plane. By the time we were halfway through riveting the structure I was able to lie inside to “buck” the rivets as Josh was driving them from the outside.

A few shots of me bucking rivets inside the tailcone

With over a thousand rivets in the tailcone I felt a real sense of achievement at having been so involved in this project!

Driving some rivets on the tailcone

Me, Josh and the finished tailcone!

After we had completed the structural work it was time for the plane to be wheeled into the paint booth and have it’s fresh paint applied. Josh took the time to explain the process to me as he was applying the white to the tail.

The majority of my work when I finish at MMS and move into a field programme will be carrying out annual inspection work, so I was fortunate enough to be able to get involved in the Phase inspection of a King Air 200 operated by www.gcigospel.org
The experience is definitely worthwhile and it has been good to get to work with some of the other mechanics here at MMS. The PT6 turbine engines that this King Air has are being used on more and more mission aircraft due to their much more economical running costs, so getting some exposure to them is definitely a good thing!

For a few days this week we have had Dereck Plante volunteering in the hangar with us. He has had a background in electronics and is looking to see what God has planned for his future. An interest in technical things and aeroplanes led him to MMS, and before he heads off to a YWAM training course for the next 6 months, he was able to come and spend a few days in the hangar. It was good to get to know him a bit as he worked with us, and it was also good to get a few pointers on soldering and circuit boards while he was about!

Bob, Dereck and myself by GCI's King Air

Away from the airport we have all been busy. Our trip back home next month is taking lots of work, as we arrange all the formalities for our visa interview at the American Embassy and a short presentation to share while we are back in the UK. Matthew is really enjoying pre-school, and looks forward to his Friday morning spot there. Abi is still loving school, and amazes us at how much knowledge she can soak in! (Tonight it was a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance… still not sure if Scot’s are meant to say that!!) Heather is busy settling into her new role in the MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group, and this week has had her small group and their children) round to the house for a “wee get-together”. I am enjoying being a part of the Nazarene church here, and am able to get involved with the sound team on a Sunday morning, and the men’s fellowship group that meet once a month.

Thanks for checking in on us!

Auntie Ruth's visit.

Last week we enjoyed another visitor, and little more UK cadburies chocolate! Andy's sister Ruth arrived to stay the week with us before flying to Seattle to see a friend. We were able to take her around the hanger to see what Andy has been up to and show her some of the wonders of Coshocton County. The highlight of the week had to be last friday. On the first Friday of every month an event is put on for families in Main Street Coshocton. The street is closed to traffic apart from a crazy (but fun) wiggling train, and a few tractors. We were able to experience some snake handling. Abi was more than happy to hold a snake much longer than her by herself, and even Ruth was brave enough to have a go! ( I did not!) There were pumpkins piled high, a cake decorating contest, a dog show, and water melon rolling. I had never seen a real frog jumping contest before until last Friday. Abi and Matthew got to pick a frog each out of this huge bucket full of different sized frogs. You then had to sit it on the grass and make it hop three times. The frog that hopped the farthest won. Making the frog jump was quite a challenge. Abi choose a huge frog who could jump very high but was quite content to sit on the grass taking it all in. After some major stamping and beating of the ground we got it moving! Matthew chose the smallest frog which we almost lost in the grass as he was very happy to be free : 0)

We were also able to show Ruth a little of how the Amish folk live near here and of course had to stop by an Amish bakery for some cheese tarts (we try to only buy them when we have visitors!) Andy was more than happy to show Ruth a little of the night life in Coshocton which was basically a trip to Earls ice cream parlour! The weather was variable with cool mornings and then getting into the upper nineties in the afternoon. It is very hard to know what to wear each day. Matthew has decided that shorts and a t-shirt are the only things he wants to wear and I have had a few challenging mornings of late trying to persuade him otherwise. He had his first day at pre-school by himself this morning and managed really well - no tears, just a few extra cuddles and kisses and then he was happy. After I left Matthew I headed over to the first meeting of MOPS (Mother of Pre-schoolers). This year I am a group leader and it was really exciting to meet the mum's in my group and make some new friends. I did take my kettle with me along with some tea-bags and fresh milk - trying to get a hot cup of tea in America still has it's challenges! It is my job to try and arrange a few dates before the next MOPS meeting where we my group can all meet together.

Abi is loving Kindergarten especially her Art and Music classes. We are entertained most evenings by the new songs she has been learning.

The airplane Andy has been working on for months is now almost finished and he has been tasked to a different airplane now and is learning more about the electrical side of things at present. He is going to do the next blog post so if you prefer reading about airplanes rather than frog jumping then the next one is for you :0).

God Bless

Hx

Planes, School, and Bee Stings

Last Monday began with a trip to Keene Elementary on the school bus. Andy was also able to come with us to take Abi to see her new classroom and spend an hour with her teacher while we and the other parents had a meeting.

A couple of hours after we had arrived back home Andy called us from work. We were invited to fly in a Kodiak which was making it's way home from an airshow and was stopping past MMS. MMS families who had never been in a small plane would have the chance to go for a short flight. Abi and Matthew sat in their own seats and we all had an amazing time.

Abi started school last Thursday - I would like to say it all went really smoothly and Matthew and I had a wonderful peaceful day but, life in the Swanson household is never dull! On Wednesday Abi was stung by a bee under her toe. Apart from being painful, her big toe and surrounding area was very swollen. Thanks to a Thunderstorm which lasted most of the night and the bee sting we were all rather tired Thursday morning. Abi hobbled onto the bus wearing her garden shoes (crocs) as nothing else would fit her swollen foot. I had many errands to do in town like taking our rubbish and recycling to the dump ( we do not have it collected), library and a food shop, then stopped at the school to give a very tired Abi some more ibuprofen before returning home. Despite the drama of the first few days of School Abi is having a super time. Over dinner she is so busy telling us about her day that we have to remind her to eat. She also informs me as soon as she gets off the bus who, if anyone, was misbehaving that day! LOL!

The last few days Matthew and I have been getting the house ready for Auntie Ruth coming. Andy's sister is the first Swanson to make it to Ohio. She arrived Tuesday night and is here for a week before going onto to visit another friend in the USA. This morning Matthew and I took her up Amish country to Hershbergers Farm. They also had lovely home grown produce for sale and we came home with fresh nectarines, melon, blackberries, gala apples and some freshly baked cheese tarts from Millers Bakery!

Matthew is slowly getting used to the days by himself and we have enjoyed some more frequent trips to the library to get some huge books on fire trucks and giant dump trucks! We also borrowed a video on Monster Trucks so I am feeling a little trucked out at the moment and glad that Auntie Ruth is here to share in this along with me! He was very upset the other day when Abi -who does not appreciate his love of trucks - refused to watch his new video with him! Thankfully, Andy is more than happy to watch it over and over. Please remember Matthew as he adapts to being without Abi all day and as he starts preschool on Friday morning. I will be going with him this week for a few hours and then next week he will start by himself.


Nature in Ohio is always fascinating and we have seen lots of amazing things. Tonight a swarm of bees arrived and have taken rest on our trampoline! Matthew was jumping about on it and Abi was about to go out when we noticed the air was full of bees! Andy rescued Matthew and we watched it all from inside! Thankfully our neighbour is a bee keeper and he came down to have a look. As the bees began to stop flying about and settle on the trampoline we had a cup of coffee outside watching and learning all about swarms of bees. I am really hoping they don't stay too long as I feel I have lost enough sleep over bee stings lately! : 0)

Getting Ready for Kindergarten!

It's hard to imagine that Abigail is going to be starting school next week! A lot of the last week has been spent getting ready. The children here are expected to bring their supplies to school with them. These include things such as crayons, tissues, pencils, erasers, dry wipe markers, and even four tubs of play dough among other stuff! All the schools in the district put out their "supplies list" in the the two main grocery shops in Coshocton. I am expected to go in, find Abi's school list and buy all the supplies listed for Kindergarten - very different to Scotland. Last Saturday morning all the new kindergarten pupils from Coshocton County were invited to a local school to receive some of the supplies for free.

We headed out at 9am determined to beat the rush. We got a lot more than we bargained for! Abi walked around all the tables collecting supplies to put in her bag and there were balloons to decorate also. Outside there was a fire truck where we could spray the hose - I don't ever remember having a shot of a real fire hose myself so of course, I had to have a go! Then Abi climbed into the drivers seat for a look. There was also a school bus there from the Riverview District for everyone to climb aboard and explore. Our house and Abi's school are both in the Riverview district as we are on the outskirts of Coshocton town centre. This meant I was able to gather lots of information from the lady driver, who may even be the one picking up Abi next week!

As if this wasn't enough free stuff and excitement for one day, while walking across the car park I was asked if we would like our child car seats checked by their safety experts. I agreed thinking this should not take too long. I was wrong! It appears that our British Britax car seats are not recognized by US state law as being safe and therefore we could be fined if stopped by the police. Just as my heart was sinking at the thought of having to buy two new American car seats, they offered me two for free!!! This turned out to be another half an hour of form filling and car seat fitting. Abi and Matthew were delighted with their new seats, and so was I. This means that we can take our British car seats back to Scotland in October and leave them. No more flying with two strollers, four cases, AND two car seats! What a blessing! I only wished I had cleaned the inside of my car out before I ventured out last Saturday!

Later on that Saturday we had a lovely family evening out. We went for pizza and took it to a park in town to eat. Then the kids played and rode there bike/trike. Then we went to the video rental place and let the kids pick a movie each We ended up with five DVD's including a new release. The assistant scanned them all and said they were all free today! How does anyone make a living here? LOL! We topped off our family outing with a trip to "Earls" for some crazy, yet utterly delicious ice cream. I believe Abi and Matthew opted for the play dough flavour. We don't eat like this every day may I add!

Last week was not all fun and laughter. Before Abi and Matthew are allowed to start school, or pre-school, they must prove they are up to date with immunisations. This involved a trip to the doctors last Monday. They wanted to give them four shots each but I felt this was a little much at once so they had two and we shall go back in December for another two. The latter are not essential but very beneficial considering where we may be going in a few years. Abi was quite shocked by the ordeal and was convinced she couldn't move her arm or hand all day. Then she commented later on that the needle in her arm was sore. I realised then I had told her a needle would be going into her arm but had forgotten to tell her the needle would be coming out again! She thought it was still in there! LOL! I am glad to report that everyone is back to normal now!

As mentioned earlier, we can confirm that we are returning to Scotland on the 13th of October and will be leaving again on the 29th. Our primary purpose is to renew our visa in London but the rest of the time we will be catching up with family and friends. We will let you know when and where in Scotland we will be sharing and hope you can join us in person.

Love in Christ

Heather

We have had a good week getting back into a routine after all the busyness of the last few months.

Heather has been getting back into her groove, keeping us well fed with cakes and home bakes! She has enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know MMS’s latest arrivals, the Maddux family, as they are temporarily staying just up the road from us, and it has been good to have some of the other MMS wives round for a “catch up”. Tuesday night brought something a bit different, when Heather went out to a “Taste So Simple” party; think “Tupperware party”, but with lots of different foods to try!! It was a good opportunity to socialise with some friends from church, as well as a few new faces to get to know. Right now she is practicing away on the piano – she is singing at church tomorrow, so is giving me a sneak preview!

Since we have arrived in Ohio, it has been interesting to experience nature from the slightly different perspective that we have over here. We have been fascinated by hummingbirds, crickets and fire flies, and we’ve been amazed by freezing rain, floods, heat and thunderstorms. This week has brought a few more things to add to the list.

In the last couple of weeks many of the trees around Coshocton have found themselves becoming home to an army of little web worms. The little caterpillars weave a silk tent then spend the next few weeks eating all the leaves inside before graduating to moth status. Some trees seem to be more appealing than others - this one that sits beside the road I travel to the hangar every morning.




This morning saw the temperature a bit more civilised than it has been for the last few weeks, so we took advantage and got stuck into a bit of gardening, or “yard-work” as they say here! We got lots done, and the place is looking good, but even though the temperatures were cooler, it was still humid, so these two Scots are feeling a bit tired tonight after all our efforts!!! (…and there won’t be any pictures of us hard at work appearing on here!!) We did meet a few of the neighbours though, and Abi and Matthew were kept entertained with grasshoppers and frogs for much of the morning. Everyone stopped for a good look when Heather found a Praying Mantis, though! We kept it in a jar for the afternoon (to allow for a proper scientific examination!) then let it go just before the kids bed time. The kids are really loving seeing so many things over here that they could only experience on tv back home!

Abi with the mantis still in it's jar...

Matthew saying his good-byes!

Work goes on at the hangar with the Gabon 207, and this week has seen me working on repairs to the section of the tail cone below the horizontal stabilizer. The work I was doing at the beginning of the week started with me just stripping paint off the old skin. It needed to be prepared for the fuselage being rolled into the paint booth to get it’s final paint job. As we removed layers of paint, and examined the structure in more detail we found a bit of damage that needed attention. Repairs were made to the aft bulkhead and the rest of the structure was inspected.

The skin that covers this section was also badly damaged, so the decision was made to replace it also. That gave me opportunity for another “first” in my time at MMS – my first skin! The old skin was removed and used as a template and after a bit of drilling, cutting, filing and bending the new skin was all ready to be painted then riveted in place.



The aluminium was .040” thick (quite heavy…) and had a couple of tight bends to be put into it, so that gave us the opportunity for another “first” – the new slip roll we have at the hangar (http://mmsaviation.blogspot.com/2011/05/tennsmith-slip-roll.html#links ) has now had it’s first use “in anger” and has proved it’s worth!



Unfortunately I managed one more “first” on Thursday morning – I have been driving now for almost 17 years, and have never run out of petrol before, until now! Needless to say I was late on Thursday morning, and spent most of the day feeling a bit thick!

Thanks for checking in!

A

July has been a bit of a slow month on the blog front, but certainly not because nothing has been happening!!
Our first Independence day came at the start of the month, and Heather, Kirsten and Sarah were able to get out and enjoy the fireworks! The show put on at the Coshocton Fairgrounds, came complete with an appearance by Elvis himself!! The plan had been for all of us to go out, but the kids were pretty much knackered by the time darkness approached, so I stayed home with them.
The middle of July brought a short break away for us to the Carolina’s. We drove down to our good friends, the Baisley’s, in NC and had a few lovely days there catching up with them. It was good to have some family time as well, and a day trip to the children’s museum gave the kids the chance to experiment with planes and fire engines!




Heather and I then took a couple of nights away to Charleston SC on our own. It was great to be able to have some time to ourselves after such a busy summer – I got some touristy sightseeing done and Heather topped up her tan!



We’re now back to just the Swanson’s here again, and are adjusting to having our home return to normal for a while!!!
Back at the hangar and things are moving along as always. Work is progressing on the Gabon 207, and the work on the cabin floor has been finished for the time being. The damaged rear wing spar has been removed, and once the new part arrives, it will be installed. That will allow the roof to be put back together, and another major job ticked off the list!



Last week saw work starting on the damaged tail cone, with the damaged skins, spars and ribs all removed. The process of rebuilding has now started and sheet aluminium is being formed into the various skins that are needed to replace the damaged parts, and create the aft half of the plane.



It is exciting to see things moving along so quickly and great for me to be getting so much valuable experience making up skins and doublers for various parts of this aircraft. We are making good progress towards seeing this aircraft to be returned to service and sent back to Gabon to continue its important role there!!
Thanks for your prayers, support and interest!

Scotland comes to Coshocton!

Life has been rather different going from the usual two adults and two children to six adults and three children! June began with Gary and Johanne and Iona Smith coming to visit. A few days later I was back to the airport to pick up Sarah and Kirsten who had spent an unexpected night in Newark Airport due to thunderstorms. We have had a super time exploring animal parks, and Amish country and enjoyed local festivals such as the hot air balloon festival. The weather has been fantastic and we have been able to be outdoors lots. Sarah has been taking Abi and Matthew for a few walks in the cool of the morning and coming back with bunches of wild flowers for me! Gary and Johanne and Iona hired a car and left for a week to explore Niagara falls, and visit a friend in Kentucky. While they were away Andy and I left the children in Sarah and Kirsten's capable hands and I surprised Andy with dinner and a night in Columbus and we were able to explore German village. We had lunch at the famous German Sausage house and then visited a book loft with 32 little rooms for a few hours! Then we enjoyed some child free shopping before returning to a beautifully clean house with the children in bed! I wonder how I can keep our "nannies" forever!;0)

All our visitors have enjoyed a tour around the hanger to see where Andy works and get a real feel of what we have been called to do.

One of the highlights so far has to have been our trip to Columbus Zoo a few weeks ago. We felt so privileged to capture a family of Elephants taking a bath, and to watch the gorillas, and polar bears up close. We arrived at the zoo at 9.30am and we did not leave till near 7pm! It was a wonderful day with a little rain to keep us nice and cool.

Abi, and Iona have really enjoyed each other's company - Matthew has been quite humorous going about hiding prams and toys so Iona does not get them! He is working on the concept of sharing! He doesn't grab toys but instead waits patiently till Iona is distracted and then runs off with the toy she was playing with and puts it somewhere out of her reach!

The Smith's have now returned safely back home. A few days after they left I gave Kirsten and Sarah the choice whether they wanted to visit Canada to see Niagara falls. Obviously I can not take every visitor we have to Niagara mostly due to the expense, but if our visitors are happy to pay for accommodation and fuel then I am happy to chauffeur. So we left last Tuesday and had an amazing time.

We even went to Marine Land in Canada on the Thursday morning and saw the killer whales and dolphins and seals all doing their own shows. We could have stayed there all day but alas we had a six hour trip back to Ohio so left around 2pm. We got back to Ohio near 11pm that if you include all the stops you have to take with small children.

July the 4th is Independence Day so Andy has the day off work. We thought we would go and explore the city of Canton which is an hour and a half away and then enjoy the local fireworks display in the evening. On Wednesday we take Sarah back to the airport as she returns to Scotland. Kirsten remains here till the 25th of July and we plan to take her to North Carolina for a visit on the 11th of July. Andy is taking a weeks holiday from work so will be coming this time. I am glad I will have someone to share the driving with! It certainly has been a busy summer and I have had a few MMS things on also such as a baby shower for my English friend Jenny. Myself and another lady were in charge of the food. It's amazing how a watermelon can inspire you! You can see my food project below with Abi's old baby hat on and a dummy (pacifier) kindly donated by Iona! :0) Thanks for sharing this journey with us. God Bless, Hx