Summer or Spring?

The weather is heating up and it's great to meet more of our neighbours. After being here for six months and hardly seeing anyone outside, I was beginning to think there were no other children in the neighbourhood. It turns out there are lots, particularly young teens. As there are no fences on the gardens (yards!) young people just walk anywhere they want getting from A to B. Last night we had a large group of teenage girls singing happy birthday at the top of their voices taking a stroll through our yard past our house! : 0) I enjoyed cooking for a few MMS families last night and it was great to set some tables up outside under the shade and enjoy fellowship together.

A few weeks ago myself and the kids took a trip to North Carolina for a friends birthday party and had a super time. There were gator rides, horses and goats to pet, milking to see, baby Robert to play with, a little bouncy castle, and friends for Abi and Matthew to play with - we all had a great time. Meanwhile back in Ohio Andy got some time to fix the fuel tank on his jeep (he can now put more than $10 of gas in without it leaking) and Paul Jones took him flying. He got a great aerial picture of our house. Yes, we do have a large garden which has it's pros and cons. The weekly mowing has been proving very time consuming. Even with both of us doing it, it takes about three whole evenings. and in four days it needs done again! Then there is the slopes and ditches around the edges that need to be trimmed. I have never seen grass grow so fast! Our landlords had a ride on mower which they took away when we moved in. Last weekend we went on the trail for a second hand ride on and managed to get one -old but working! What a huge difference! Andy can do the grass in a few hours, and the trimming to keep the ditches clear in a few hours also - he is beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel for study time now over the summer.

Last weekend we were invited to a birthday party for Lucy who was 1 year old. Her parents , Ben and Caroline are the newest additions to MMS. They have moved from Missouri where recent tornadoes have killed over a hundred people. Thankfully their families back home where all safe but there was a worrying moment when they couldn't get hold of Caroline's parents due to the phone line chaos in Missouri. It was 90 degrees F and when we arrived at the party I could see this big bonfire. I thought they must be burning some rubbish etc. but no - it was purely for toasting hot dogs and marshmallows! This was definitely the first time I had ever done this in such heat! While the Scots were stewing the Americans still felt it was a "little Chilly!"LOL!

Abi has been to dancing weekly since November last year and her special show is on June the 4th at 2pm. I think the highlight may have shifted however to the father and daughter part of the show! There has been two rehearsals for this and Andy and Abi will be showing the world their moves along with other dad's and their daughters. He really will do anything for his little girl! I can't wait to see it and will definitely be armed with the video camera!

Matthew is doing well yet continues to be my biggest motherhood challenge. I am reading James Dobson's book on the Strong Willed Child and this has been so helpful. I have found someone (the author) who understands what it is like to have a child that continually wants to push boundaries, and how to cope without crushing his personality. In the book he talks about a comparison between two shopping trolleys - one which just glides down the isles, you only need one finger to push it and you get all your shopping done in minutes and are oh so happy at the end of it - the other you realise it has a mind of it's own, the wheels are stiff and it is a nightmare to push and the whole shopping trip takes hours, you are exhausted at the end of it and you dread the next trip. The latter shopping experience I can relate to often (and this "shopping experience" refers to many experiences out with shops) and it is just nice to hear someone say that it is not my parenting as a mother but just the fact I have a child with a very strong will. I do thank God for his character as I know it is shaping mine, hopefully in a good way. Maybe this will encourage any other mother's reading this who are suffering from daily "battle fatigue" and feel like the only one! chin up! : 0)

On the 6th of June I will be off to Columbus airport to pick up Gary, Johanne and Iona Smith from Scotland who are coming to the USA for three weeks! Then on the 9th of June I will be back again picking up more Scots - Sarah from Moodiesburn and my neice Kirsten. : 0) Sarah will be staying a month and Kirsten, two months. Please pray for safe travels for all! We are so excited have everyone coming to visit. I hope we can all handle the Summer heat!

Standing on her own three legs... almost!

Well it has been quite a while since my last blog post, but it is certainly not because nothing has been happening at the hangar! Heather wrote a post the other week, but for some reason it disappeared into the web about a day after it arrived, so we will see how long this one lasts!

Those of you who get our newsletter will be familiar with the “Gabon 207”, a Cessna 207 air ambulance that was seriously damaged in an accident last year. It was shipped from Gabon to Ohio, arriving about the same time as we did, and as of a month and a half ago, I have been working full time on this project. A project as large and involved as this has to be approached with a bit of strategy, and Dale Coates, the supervisor in charge, has a simple but effective one… start at the front and work backwards, one job at a time! Since I arrived in Hanger C the engine bay area has been completely rebuilt and repainted, the engine reinstalled, the fuel system removed, tested and reinstalled, the nose landing gear removed, rebuilt and reinstalled and a damaged wing sent to a specialist to be rebuilt on a jig.

The engine bay area all prepped and ready for painting.


Moving aft, the next job was to remove the main landing gear legs, and gearbox assembly. The legs themselves were relatively straight forward to take out, but the gearbox was installed by Cessna when the plane rolled out of the factory, and it didn’t think too much of our plans to bring it back into the daylight! Quite a few man-hours went into removing hundreds of screws and rivets, then doing a lot of very technical “wiggling” to get the gearbox out of it’s home in the belly of the plane.

Josh removing one of the more awkward rivets from the gearbox assembly.


The gearbox is made up on 3 bulkheads which sandwich the four aluminium castings through which the gear legs are installed. When the plane had it’s accident, the right hand landing gear leg was one of the parts of the plane that took a big impact. The gear leg acted as a lever, pivoting on one of the castings and leaving a nice big kink in the forward bulkhead(see the pic above!) This bulkhead was damaged way beyond repair and a new replacement part was ordered up for reassembly. The other bulkheads and the 4 castings were tested by an external specialist to confirm they had not been damaged, and once this was confirmed we were able to put them back into the plane. As with most work on older aircraft, doing one job often exposes another hidden job, and this was no exception! In the process of removing the gearbox we discovered some corrosion and other damage in the right hand side door sill. This was removed and a replacement part ordered up.

Trial fit of gearbox; you can see the 4 castings, 3 bulkheads and

the holes where the gear legs are mounted.


When I first started on this project Josh and Paul were also working here in Hangar C, but they are now over in Zambia on a Rapid Response trip, so the “207 team” is now just myself and Dale. This is great for giving me opportunities to be fully immersed in learning new skills on a real project with real deadlines (believe it or not we hope to have this project flying in Africa by autumn this year!). It has been good to get lots of opportunity to work on riveting technique – it is one thing riveting 2 little squares of 0.0025” aluminium together whilst holding it in a bench vise (see http://andy-heather-swanson.blogspot.com/2011/01/started-at-mms.html), but doing it upside down underneath a plane is quite a bit different!

Working on the rivet holes running the full width of the plane


Another of the highlights this month has been spending a day getting a bit of an introduction to the paint booth with Josh. It is definitely art as much as science, but the bits I painted are still painted so I am taking that as a good start! I don’t know if it is a coincidence that my first painting experiences were on parts that will hopefully not be seen by too many eyes for quite some time!

First "proper" painting experiences...

Newly installed door sill


As I write this, we have just completed refitting the new door sill, and today we made a repair to the other door sill in anticipation of refitting floor skins next week. We had hoped we would have the plane sitting on it’s own 3 wheels again by now, but the aircraft is built like a large and complicated jigsaw, and we are taking plenty of time to make sure we do everything in the correct order before moving on to the next job.
Thank you for your interest in what we are doing out here, and for your support and prayers that make it possible.
Andy

Spring is here!

At last, in only a few days the buds have opened and we are seeing green on the trees and marvelling at the beautiful colours around us. We are also enjoying temperatures in the upper 70's so the shorts are on and we are beginning to come out of hibernation! Mum and dad have made it back to Glasgow after spending four weeks with us. We enjoyed celebrating Dad's birthday on the 17th of April with one of mum's delicious home made chocolate cakes. Abi now has curtains in her bedroom and shorts and leggings adjusted at the waist thanks to Mum!

There are very few trails or paths for walking near us, in fact most people have large "no trespassing" signs on their land so mum and dad have had to stay on the tarmac whilst out on their daily walks! A lady spied them out walking and pulled over in her car to enquire if they needed any help. LOL! Walking for pleasure is almost an unknown concept here and I am sure they will have been the talk of the neighbourhood. Abi and Matthew have had a great time with their grandparents and enjoyed many "chocolate button walks", stories and magic shows just for the two of them! I have really enjoyed having some time to play the piano again. Andy and I especially enjoyed a day away just ourselves last Saturday. We went to a nearby city of Canton to explore and managed to find some Heinz baked beans and tomato soup and some Branston pickle! There were hob-nobs and little packs of digestives also but you would need to have robbed a bank to pay for them! We had a great day and finished off with a trip to the "movies".

Abigail has been to visit the local elementary school. She has been three times! Two mornings for individual assessments with the Educational Psychologist Liz, and another to be part of the kindergarten class under observation for a few hours. I met with the head teacher and Liz and received great feedback. Abi scored way above average for her age and displayed a learning ability relating to a child nearing age 6 years ( she is 4 and a half years) The school have agreed to let her start in August which we are thrilled about. We are going to continue with a visit to the Christian school as planned just to make sure we have looked at all the options available and can make the right decision for what is best for Abi. She has a screening test to do for them on the 5th of May. The process for early entry at a private school is not nearly as intense as the public school system, which is good for Abi!

Matthew is loving the nice weather and loves to run laps around the whole house outside! He has found a little branch on a tree on the garden to swing on and play at being a monkey! I am thankful for the lovely weather and that he is able to burn off all his energy and as a result fight less with his sister.

Abi and Matthew have really enjoyed exploring a set of "resurrection eggs"which we were given for Easter. These are a dozen colourful eggs in a box each with tiny visual aids which tell the Easter Story. We have also had a great Easter story book Auntie Hazel gave Abi a year or so ago. We have been reading a chapter or so each evening and it has been such a privilege to share the importance of the death and Resurrection of Jesus with our children who are now beginning to take it all in. Seeing the wonder in their faces as we have shared the story has been priceless!
Abi was also part of the Easter church service and performed on the hand bells with some of the other children.

Matthew is gearing himself up for the next hand bell opportunity.

We are also delighted to hear of a new addition to the MMS family here in Coshocton. The Beckwith's who are also here with MAF UK welcomed Naomi Grace into their family on Good Friday. Mother and baby are doing well and we are looking forward to meeting little Naomi soon. Abi has anounced she would like to have sixty babies - all girls! Matthew would just like one - a boy! LOL! Andy and I are too overwhelmed at the thought to comment! : 0)

Wishing you all a fabulous week as we move into May.

love from the Swanson's.

Rolling their decorated eggs.

Birthdays and visitors.

April has seen a mix of many things. We have seen snow, severe thunderstorm alerts, torrential rain, heat waves all within only two weeks! We are enjoying some lovely warm weather at the moment but I can hear thunder as I am writing this blog and believe there is 100% chance of rain tomorrow!

My parents arrived from Scotland on the 29th March and stay till the 26th of April. We are having lots of fun and Andy and I have been able to get out a few evenings ourselves for the first time since we arrived in America. The neighbours are probably wondering who are these two people walking all over the neighbourhood, even with umbrellas at times. Spot the tourists!: 0)

Matthew had his second birthday last year when we were in Ohio on evaluation and Jenny Beckwith from MMS very kindly made a post man pat cake.

Well I this year I had a go at a Formula 1 car with surprising success! We enjoyed celebrating his 3rd birthday here at our house with my folks and some of our American friends. My dad did a little magic show which was really special for everyone and we did the usual pass the parcel ( a new game for Americans), musical bumps etc. Debbie and her daughter Elizabeth and Baby Robert were able to come and stay for a few days from North Carolina.

On the Monday 11th we headed off for Canada for three nights to see Niagara Falls. It takes around six hours drive (add on stops) from Coshocton. MMS were gracious enough to let Andy have a few days of his holiday's a little early so we could take my parents for a short trip. The views of the falls were certainly memorable. After much cooler temperatures in Canada we arrived back in Ohio Thursday evening to a pleasant 22 degrees. Andy went back to work today and we straightened out the house and unpacked. Tomorrow -Saturday - we welcome visitors from Tennessee who are going to stay with us till Monday. Bob Jackson was a US Navy Chaplain in Dunoon when my dad was a pastor there. Him and his wife Nancy were dear friends of my parents and it will be great that they can meet up again after a long time. More baking has gone on today and we now have mum's empire biscuits, flapjack, apricot Madeira cake, and a chocolate cake for Dad's birthday this Sunday. I missed his 65th birthday and retirement party last year due to the volcano leaving us (happily) stranded in Ohio so it is great we can celebrate with him this year - and it's an excuse for more cake! : 0) Abi is performing on the hand bells at church tomorrow evening and Sunday morning at a special Easter service and is very excited about getting to go on the stage! She is a born performer! Abi recently had an assessment at the local school and the Educational Psychologist wishes to see her back again on the 18th of April to continue assessment and view Abi in a classroom situation. We are praying this will go well and Abi will be allowed to attend school this August as she would be in the UK.

We hope you are enjoying Spring! We are just beginning to see daffodils at last though the trees are still pretty bare. It is wonderful seeing how the seasons differ and we feel extremely privileged to be able to be here with MMS in Coshocton.

Thanks for the prayers and support you give us. We hope you enjoy reading our blog.

Love from the Swanson's x

Snowing at the hangar...

It's been a while since I blogged, and work in the hangar is as varied as ever, so here's a bit of an update from me!!

Since my last post, I have spent quite a bit of time working on the Pfieffer Evangelistic Assosc's Piper Aztec. It came in for an annual inspection and there were a fair few jobs that needed to be attended to once the inspection had been done. The jobs I ended up doing were a good example of the variety of work that goes on at MMS.

Applying conductive paint to de-ice boots

Nose wheel halves cleaned and freshly painted.

Over the time I was on this project I made repairs to the de-ice boots on wings and horizontal stabilizer (flexible rubber boots that inflate and deflate on a timer when the weather is icy - the flexing stops ice forming on the leading edge which could make flying hazardous.) I also reapplied the special paint used to bond the boot to the wing, overhauled wheel bearings, repainted the nose wheel, greased the main landing gear, repaired some damaged engine baffling and refitted the many panels that had been removed for the inspection. Once we recieve and instal two new wheel halves this plane will be ready to return to service with Pfieffer Evangelistic Assossciation.

A break from the work on the Aztec came early last week, when an aircraft arrived at the hanger. This plane didn't fly in; it had been involved in an incident on landing and arrived at the hangar on a trailer!

Wingless arrival...

With any prop strike incident the engine has to be completely stripped and checked before it can be returned to service, and although the plane's new owner was keen to do the airframe restoration himself, he has asked that MMS do the engine work. It will give me a valuable training opportunity, and I am sure you will see plenty of pictures of the insides of this engine in the months ahead. Tim, Terry and I set to the engine while the plane's trailer was parked outside the hangar, and after a few hours work the engine and prop were inside, and the road-plane was a few hundred pounds lighter!

Prepping the engine for removal

This week has seen me move to the Cessna 207 from Gabon, West Africa. It is getting some serious work done to it after an engine failure then forced landing. Josh and Paul have been rebuilding the nose gear / engine cowling area for the last few weeks, and this week saw me practicing my limited rivetting skills on the lower engine cowling which was ready to be reinstalled. It is an exciting project to be involved in, having seen how badly damaged this plane was when it arrived and having seen the quality of work MMS have roled out in the past.

The 207 with most of the front gone.

Lower cowl temporarily held in place with "Cleco's"

Rivetted in place.

This week has also seen a few changes in Hangar A. Hangar A is the oldest of the 3 hangars at MMS, and the doors are showing their age... they let cold draughts in all winter, and starlings in for the rest of the year. The end of last year saw a fundraising campaign to have the door and roof of hangar A replaced, and now the work has begun! The first job was removing the old door. Just as well spring arrived earlier this month.

Unfortunately winter decided to come back for a bit this afternoon, so we are praying the new door arrives tomorrow as planned and we don't have to go too long with just the big blue tarp!!!

Winter comes...

March News!

There has been no homeschooling recently while Abi has been recovering. In fact I have kept my calender pretty empty for a few weeks. So much so that I felt it was time for a little trip to our NC home! I thought the sunshine would be good for Abi ( as well as Mimi and Poppy spoiling them!) and at least we could get outside lots. Andy had a whole day of seminars a week last Thursday in Columbus and would be home late and he had a bit of work to do on the new jeep (leaking fuel tank and brakes!) So myself and the kids packed up for a few days and headed to North Carolina last Thursday. We had a super time as always, though I wished I had packed more shorts for us all! It was almost 30 degrees C one day! and in the high 20's! Abi and Matthew spent loads of time running around outside and I was able to take Abi's bike and a little trike for Matthew in the back of the car so they could get out on these also. Elizabeth and Mitch and baby Robert also live with Debbie and Jeff at the moment so there was much mothering and helping Elizabeth look after Robert. Matthew had his first scary experience with one of the goats which butted him off his feet! He quickly recovered and was delighted to help Jeff rolling up empty sacks of horse feed and sweeping the barn. He is learning lots of new words like "Garbage"! Abi enjoyed cuddling baby Robert lots, twirling on the swing and watching the goats getting milked. I managed to do a little shopping and get Matthew some new shoes. Abi stayed with Elizabeth and Robert one morning and I was able to go to town with just Matthew. Matthew doesn't often get some alone time with Mummy so it was a special trip!

We left on Tuesday and made it home in 9 hours. Andy had survived well and the house was still in tact. : 0) He is starting to get involved in the sound team at our church, so was able to spend time on Sunday sitting at the sound desk and getting to know other people.

Abi is now pretty much fully recovered and I am really enjoying good health at last! My eye is no longer red and sore! PTL!

There is a new family arrived from Missouri to train with MMS. Ben and Caroline Fisher and they have a nine month old girl - Lucy and a two year old boy - Jonas. We were round there the other morning meeting them properly. They just moved to Coshocton three weeks ago and are still settling in. We are really excited that they only stay five minutes drive away from us! Jenny and Mark Beckwith (who are from England and have a two year old also called Abigail) only have four weeks to go till they are proud parents yet again. Although it is exciting when new people/babies arrive, there is still some sadness when it is time for people to move on.

Yesterday we went to a farewell party for an MMS family who have been in Coshocton for nine years and are moving on to another aircraft mission organisation in Florida in mid April. Everyone brought a dish and MMS provided cake and ice-cream. The farewell cake was a two edible suitcases! Delicious!

This week we are getting the house ready for grandma and grandad arriving on Tuesday evening! I believe they have to be at Glasgow Airport around 5am and will get here at 11.30pm their body time! (6.30pm for us) They will be staying for four weeks. We are looking forward to showing them the sights and sounds of coshocton. Originally I thought we may be able to get to our local park quite often but after visiting it on Sunday I am not so sure! perhaps they should get some little boats to take people to and from the swings! : 0)

Akron Adventure!

I booked Abi's operation for 11th of March as I was sure there would be no snow around then. All was fine untill I had a facebook comment that said " are you travelling before the snow storm comes?" (thanks for the heads up Rena!: 0) I had no idea we were due for more snow. I was glad I had booked the hotel the night before and wasn't traveling through the night. Abi and I arrived at the comfort Inn in Akron around 5.30pm and she was very excited to see the room. She then asked when we were going to look in all the other doors, and where was the living room? LOL! I think her expectations of a budget hotel were a little high! So we unpacked and then went out for some food. I was keen for Abi to have a good last meal before the operation but she was much more interested in the desert buffet! Ice cream, jelly beans, candy corn and all sorts of unhealthy things! Full of sugar ( just Abi of course - I had a salad!) we headed off for a dummy run to the hospital. It was dark and raining and a little crazy in the busy traffic. Akron is like being in the centre of Glasgow and the roads were like being on the M8 only with huge pot holes everywhere, It was tempting to try and doge them but obviously you couldn't risk getting out of your lane. We got back to the hotel at around 6pm and so began Abi's nail spa pampering! The alarm was set for 4.30am and I looked out the window at 5am and could hardly believe my eyes. The car was covered in about 6 inches of snow and I had to leave Abi in sight at the doorway to go and try and find the door handle to get the snow brush out of the car. I was covered in snow as it was blowing a gale and still snowing and as I cleared the roof it was blowing all over me. With the roof, windscreen and lights semi - cleared we headed off in the dark. I was very glad to get to the hospital car park at 5.30am. Abi got dressed into her tiger outfit. Then we were taken to a little bay where we had to sit and wait for about two hours while various people came in and out. It was very difficult for both of us as you are not allowed any food or drink in this area as there were babies who of course had had no bottles all night or morning waiting for their operations. I was soooo thirsty and often thought about sneaking off to the toilets for a quick drink of my water bottle in my bag , but no there was no escape! I wished I had thought to have a drink before we left the hotel but the snow took my all attention. Abi did really well and went through the door herself to get put to sleep with her "raspberry" air! The operation went really quickly and the surgeon came out to see me about forty minutes later. Then I could comfort her as she was waking up. We were back home again by half past four that evening. Thankfully the roads were all clear of snow and to my own annoyance I missed a slip road and had to drive ten miles before I could turn round. That added another twenty minutes onto our journey! Abi was feeling a bit sick with the pain medication so I though I would just try two spoons of calpol instead last night but that was a big mistake! It was obviously not strong enough to cover the pain so we are back to the hospital pain relief. It works a treat though and ten mins after it she has spurts of energy where she wants to jump off the couch and run around a little and then collapse into her little home made bed on the couch!

Andy is back to work Monday after having Friday off to look after Matthew. He is attending an annual aircraft maintenance seminar on Thursday in Columbus so is looking forward to

that.

He is delighted to have passed his two electrics tests recently and move far, far away from that chapter!

Every Wednesday we have all been going to Kirsty and Ruth-Anne's house up the road to take dinner for them at 5.30pm. Their Parents are with MMS and are away to South Africa for three weeks. Different families in MMS are taking meals up to the girls every evening and on a Wednesday it is our turn. Kirsty is 16 and Ruth-Anne is 13. This will be our third Wednesday up there this week. We have had a lovely time with them and their giant friendly dog Lola who is the same height as Matthew! Lola has a little bell she rings with her nose when she needs to go outside! Andy usually takes the kids back to the house around 6.30pm and I stay with the girls till near 9pm till the carer returns. We have had some lovely sing-songs around the piano on these evenings. They also keep bees and in their house they have an observation hive with lights and magnifying glass. We have loved watching the bees do their thing and last Wednesday Ruth-Anne got some of the honey out so we could try it! I think we will be getting our honey from them now! This Wednesday I will just be going myself as it will probably be too much for Abi.

We are just be laying low this week and have no plans. I have borrowed a sewing machine so this may be my week to get some curtains sorted out! Thank you so much for all your prayers. We have really felt God's strength throughout this time. Abi is sleeping effortlessly at night and now Andy is the only one who snores in the family! : 0)