Last Summer in Coshocton - Part 1

Early morning surprise!

The month of June has flown past.  School finished at the end of May and Abi and Matthew have been having a great time so far.  They have enjoyed Vacation Bible school,  a week long camp at Kids America Sports Complex,  swimming with friends and the odd sleep over here and there.  For Abi's birthday she got some water colours and oil pastels and has been able to get some coaching from a local art teacher.  Matthew has enjoyed getting some soccer lessons and meeting some new friends his own age.   The Coshocton foundation also funded a week long Science camp at the start of June which Abi was able to take part in - completely free! We like those kind of camps : 0) 
Coshocton had it's annual Hot-Air balloon festival in June and we had the privilege of seeing three balloons lifting off from our street early one Saturday morning. 





Andy has just finished an annual inspection on a Piper Aztec and is beginning to get into a weekly routine of study.  In his spare time he is kept very busy with his newly dug garden or "veggie patch" as we say in Scotland -  We are growing sweet-corn for the first time,  peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and we are having a go at sun-flowers also. 

So far I am enjoying the summer holiday's although I have only managed to sit outside on the decking once so far and I can't say I have started reading any books - I use the word "holiday" very loosely as I think it only really applies to the children. lol!   We did manage to get a night away ourselves recently which was a real treat.  Not having any relatives or grandparents nearby means nights away require a huge amount of planning and organizing and we are so blessed to have wonderful friends who were willing to take our three precious bundles for the night. 

We have enjoyed two 'out of state' visitors this month.  My brother Kenny lives in Israel now and was in America for a few weeks. He was able to spend a night with us.  Then later in the same week our friend Scott Baisley from South Carolina was working nearby and stopped past for the weekend.   Abi and Matthew just LOVE having people to stay over and talk about them for weeks after they have gone.

This time last year the month of June saw record high temperatures and we had the huge storm on June 29th which knocked our power out and resulted in us travelling to North Carolina for me to give birth to Eilidh. This June the temperature as been wonderful for Andy and I, and I think pretty miserable to the American's who have been going about in jeans, boots and long sleeves while we have been in the shorts and sandals.  It has been cloudy,  frequent rain showers,  nice and breezy and in the seventy's  - pretty much like a British summer in a good year! We have been able to get outdoors almost every day and take advantage of the cooler temperatures.  There have been a lot of scattered thunderstorms and a few tornado warnings that had us hiding in our basement.  All in all though we secretly wish it would stay like this for the next few months but I seriously doubt that. The highlight of my week at present is getting to watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon,  knowing that myself and at least half of the British nation are watching it with me is really exciting!  The men's final always seems to conflict with the grand-prix but I am doing my best to convert Andy to his first ball game! lol!

Eilidh has enjoyed her first birthday on the 4th of July.  We were invited to another MMS family's house to celebrate her birthday (and independence day).


4th of July Dinner 2013.

  I have always loved meeting new people and there just so happened to be another family there with six children we had never met before! They were more than happy to celebrate Eilidh's birthday with us. The Weavers have two children of their own, two adopted,  and another two they are fostering at present - wow! Hats off to them! Just a flavor of what is to come as we move to Uganda next year and settle quickly into new relationships - we hope. :0)  We have officially confirmed Uganda as our placement I am starting to do my research.   We thought we would start with a general travel guide to Uganda and get to know as much as we can about the place,  the people and the culture.  We are really excited but trying not to get too far ahead of our selves.  Andy will be taking his exams in September and this is our focus as present.  Trying to keep the balance between study, work and demands of being a dad and husband are a big challenge and we would appreciate your prayers in this area.

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